Jim Mattis and I Fought Together.  No One Called Him Mad Dog.  —  Jim Mattis was a scholar of war, blunt, courageous and loyal to his troops.  Our enemies will cheer his departure.  —  Mr. Nagl is a former Army officer.  —  I met Jim Mattis in Anbar Province, Iraq, in 2004.

Treasury secretary startles Wall Street with unusual pre-Christmas calls to top bank CEOs  —  Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin startled financial analysts, bankers and economists on Sunday by issuing an unusual s declaring that the nation's six largest banks had ample credit to extend to American businesses and households.

Supreme Court Intervenes In Apparent Mystery Mueller Case  —  Chief Justice John Roberts stayed a subpoena and contempt order in a case that likely arose from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation in a Sunday night order.  —  Sunday's order could mark the first time that the Supreme Court …

Trump Rings in the New Year in the Worst Possible Way  —  One week sums up a failing presidency.  —  There are many reasons to be optimistic about 2019.  The increasingly isolated man in the Oval Office is not one of them.  —  With the first two years of Donald Trump's presidency drawing to a close …

How Banks Unwittingly Finance Mass Shootings  —  The New York Times reviewed hundreds of documents including police reports, bank records and investigator notes from a decade of mass shootings.  Many of the killers built their stockpiles of high-powered weapons with the convenience of credit.

Court says Justice Ginsburg up and working after surgery  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is up and working as she recuperates from cancer surgery.  —  A spokeswoman for the court, Kathy Arberg, also says that Ginsburg remained in New York at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center on Sunday.

Trump says he had a “long” call with Turkish president Erdogan  —  Days after announcing the U.S. would exit Syria, President Trump tweeted: … Why it matters: Turkey is also the country that was most active in sharing information about the Saudi killing of Jamal Khashoggi.

Bottleneck at Printers Has Derailed Some Holiday Book Sales  —  This year has been, much to everyone's surprise, a blockbuster for the publishing industry.  Despite the relentless news cycle, readers have bought books in droves.  Hardcover sales are up, and unit sales at independent bookstores have risen 5 percent.

The ‘all-I-want-for-Christmas-is-$5- billion-for-the-wall’ shutdown  —  It's the “All-I-Want-For-Christmas-is-$5- billion-for-the-wall” shutdown of 2018.  Well, actually $2.6 billion.  OK, $2 billion.  Or the “Please just give us something” shutdown.  —  The partial government closure …

Schiff: Democrats will subpoena Mueller report if Trump tries to hide it  —  Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the incoming chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, says Democrats will subpoena special counsel Robert Mueller's report if President Trump tries to invoke executive privilege to keep it secret.