🤬 Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Friday shot back at criticism from right-wing figures after a photo of her on vacation with her boyfriend in Florida was shared online, suggesting that her critics stop "projecting their sexual frustrations" on her.

Steve Cortes, a former Trump campaign adviser, tweeted a photo on Friday of Ocasio-Cortez in public with her long time boyfriend, Riley Roberts, vacationing in Florida.

Cortes attacked Ocasio-Cortez for not wearing a mask in public and also took aim at Roberts's "gross pale male feet in public."

Ocasio-Cortez responded by retweeting the photo and writing, "If Republicans are mad they can’t date me they can just say that instead of projecting their sexual frustrations onto my boyfriend’s feet. Ya creepy weirdos."

A Louisiana judge has submitted her resignation to the Louisiana Supreme Court after she was heard using racial slurs on a video, her attorney confirmed.

In a letter to the Louisiana Supreme Court provided by her attorney, Lafayette City Court Judge Michelle Odinet said she takes "full responsibility for the hurtful words" used in the video.

"After much reflection and prayer, and in order to facilitate healing within the community, I hereby resign as judge of the Lafayette City Court effective immediately," the letter said. "I am sending a copy of this letter to the Secretary of State and hope that a special election can be scheduled to fill the vacancy that my resignation creates."

Odinet took unpaid leave on Dec. 16, the same day the Louisiana Supreme Court suspended her. The court appointed an ad hoc judge, Retired Opelousas City Court Judge Vanessa Harris to preside over Odinet's case.

😳 Families dining at a Chuck E. Cheese in Superior, Colorado, had to be evacuated in dramatic scenes as a wildfire took hold nearby - and footage of the event has been compared to something straight out of a disaster movie.

😮 A campaign seeking to unseat Florida GOP Governor Ron DeSantis has joined in the row over his recent absence from public view by flying a plane with a mocking banner over his state.

Launched by Remove Ron, led by an activist who stalks Florida beaches during the pandemic dressed as the grim reaper, the aircraft’s banner reads: “Florida is on fire and Ron is missing” – a reference to the governor’s near-disappearance in recent weeks.

Protesters in Iraq built a model of the US embassy and burned it in effigy: they commemorate Qasem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the Iraqi anti-Daesh commander who was killed with him two years ago, and to express outrage at the American “great devil”

New York City is starting the new year with a new mayor. Eric Adams was sworn in right after the midnight ball drop at Times Square.

The retired police captain served on the state senate and was twice elected the president of one of New York's boroughs, Brooklyn, before tackling mayorship. He is taking over amid a spike in COVID-19 cases.

Photo credit: Adams's Twitter

Devastating consequences of the Marshall Fire in Louisville, Colorado

Retired US general warns that rogue elements within the US military might stage a coup in the US after the 2024 presidential election - a topic of particular relevance as the first anniversary of the Capitol riot approaches.

🇺🇸🇷🇺🇪🇺🇯🇵🇨🇦Meanwhile, NASA announced on Friday that the US administration had committed to supporting the ISS through 2030.

This means the US space agency will continue working on the project with Russia's Roscosmos, the European Space Agency, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.

🔮What did 'The Simpsons' get right in their predictions for US in 2021?

A nightmare before New Year in Philadelphia: Six gunmen jumped out of a van in a busy street and begin shooting. The crime was captured on video. According to Philadelphia police 559 homicides occurred in 2021, the highest number since the city began keeping records in 1960.

A group of former US diplomats and US national security officials called on Joe Biden to publish a list of sanctions that Washington would immediately impose on Russia if tensions over Ukraine were to escalate.

"We believe the United States should, in closest consultation with its NATO allies and with Ukraine, take immediate steps to affect the Kremlin’s cost-benefit calculations before the Russian leadership opts for further military escalation. This means raising the costs that would ensue should the Russian military launch a new assault on Ukraine," the statement published on the website of NATO’s think-tank, Atlantic Council, says.

It was signed by more than 20 people, including former US ambassadors to Russia - Michael McFaul and Alexander Vershbow - former State Department special envoy for Ukraine Kurt Volker and prominent political scientist Francis Fukuyama, best known for his book 'The End of History and the Last Man'.

😞🏒 Former NFL player and head coach Dan Reeves, who during his 38 years in the league participated in nine Super Bowls, the third most for an individual, has passed away. Reeves was 77.

A statement released by his family through former Falcons media relations director Aaron Salkin said Reeves died of complications from dementia. The statement said he died “peacefully and surrounded by his loving family at his home in Atlanta”.

WATCH | Mayor Eric Adams is being recorded calling 911 on his first subway ride to City Hall to report an assault in progress as he awaits a train from Brooklyn to City Hall. He does not immediately identify himself as the new mayor.

🏒❄️ The 2022 Winter Classic: the Saturday game between the Minnesota Wild and the St. Louis Blues may go down as the coldest outdoor NHL hockey game in history.

The temperature on Saturday is supposed to reach -5F with the wind chill hovering around -20F degrees, even as the National Hockey League reported that the ice will need to be heated slightly.

"When the air temperature is above the optimum ice temperature, the glycol and aluminum pans transfer heat away from the ice. But when the air temperature is below the optimum ice temperature, it transfers heat to the ice," according to NHL.com.

"The NHL has used a custom-made inline heater before to warm the glycol in the pipes on the way to the floor, but here it will use two inline heaters for the first time, one at the refrigeration truck and another in the outfield. The crew can calibrate the temperature to a half-degree."

❗️🏙🇺🇸🦠 The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in the state of New York almost doubled in the past ten days.

📈There were 4,452 COVID-19 patients in NY hospitals on December 21. Updated coronavirus data released on Saturday shows that the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 now stands at 8,451.