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.

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.

LeBron James apologizes for ‘Jewish money’ Instagram post  —  LOS ANGELES — LeBron James apologized Sunday for lyrics he shared on his Instagram account over the weekend that included the line, “getting that Jewish money.”  —  “Apologies, for sure, if I offended anyone,” …

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.

Roberts, Leader of Supreme Court's Conservative Majority, Fights Perception That It Is Partisan  —  “We don't work as Democrats or Republicans,” he has said, a theme he has returned to while trying to strike a delicate balance as the chief justice.  —  WASHINGTON — In his first 13 years …

“They Are Suspicious of Beto”: Why Are Democrats Trying to Annihilate an O'Rourke Campaign Before It Has Even Started?  —  The howls about O'Rourke from the Chapo wing of the Internet say as much about Bernie Sanders's diminished stature as they do about the golden boy from Texas.

U.S. Stocks Hit 19-Month Low as D.C. Tumult Weighs: Markets Wrap  — Trump team attempts to assure markets over Powell, liquidity  — Many exchanges are shut or will close early on Christmas Eve  —  U.S. stocks tumbled to the lowest since May 2017 as the turmoil in Washington kept investors …

Melania Trump closes 2018 with fewer personal woes, but a difficult public perception  —  (CNN)As the second year of Melania Trump's tenure as first lady comes to a close, and she turns the corner to the latter half of her husband's term, one thing is certain, Trump has come into her own.

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.

Wake up.  America's military isn't invincible.  —  The most uncovered story in Washington these days is the loss of U.S. military power — a lesson particularly important in light of recent events: the resignation of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis; President Trump's rash decision to withdraw U.S. troops …

Trump's Populist Schism Over Syria  —  His troop-withdrawal plan is politically risky.  The Republican base is more hawkish than isolationist.  —  The most surprising thing about President Trump's decision to overrule his top advisers and withdraw U.S. forces from Syria and Afghanistan isn't that it was improvised and disruptive.