Quit Underestimating President Biden  —  If Republicans are going to successfully work through the next two years in Congress - and win the presidency in 2024 - we need to look much more deeply at what worked and what did not work in 2020 and 2022.  —  Republicans must learn to quit underestimating President Joe Biden.

House committee receives Donald Trump's federal tax returns from IRS  —  The House Ways and Means Committee now has six years of Donald Trump's federal tax returns, ending a yearslong pursuit by Democrats to dig into one of the former president's most closely guarded personal details.

Georgia GOP chairman singled out by judge for central role in fake elector plot  —  A state judge singled out Georgia Republican Party chairman David Shafer, one of the fake electors for Donald Trump, for the unique role he played in efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the Peach State as part of a ruling on Wednesday.

U.S. gas prices plunge toward $3 a gallon as demand drops worldwide  —  The average price of gas is back to where it was before Russia invaded Ukraine.  It is putting real money back in Americans' wallets.  —  The cost of gasoline is falling so fast that it is beginning to put real money …

Trump's dinner with antisemites provides test of GOP response to extremism  —  Republicans are showing increasing boldness in criticizing Trump over his meeting with white nationalist Nick Fuentes and Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West who has issued anti-Jewish diatribes

‘Look, I Screwed Up’: Sam Bankman-Fried Is Challenged on the Collapse of FTX  —  FTX, the crypto exchange Mr. Bankman-Fried founded, declared bankruptcy this month in a failure that wiped out billions of investor dollars.  He said his lawyers did not want him to talk, but he answered questions at the DealBook Summit.

'It's all bullshit': Democrats unload on the crypto industry while hearings loom  —  Sign up for Semafor Principals: An insider's guide to power in D.C.  —  Your Email addressSign Up  —  At a moment when Congress is finally debating whether and how to seriously regulate the cryptocurrency industry …

The Washington Post will end its Sunday magazine, eliminate positions  —  Executive editor Sally Buzbee said the magazine would end ‘in its current form’ after printing its final issue on Dec. 25.  —  The Washington Post will stop publishing its stand-alone print magazine …

EU and US turn up the heat on Elon Musk over Twitter  —  EU commissioner warns billionaire he must adhere to the rules as Janet Yellen indicates Washington could review purchase  —  Elon Musk is under renewed pressure from the US and EU over his ownership of Twitter, as regulators clamp …

Musk's Neuralink Hopes to Implant Computer in Human Brain in Six Months  —  Elon Musk's Neuralink Corp. aims to start putting its coin-sized computing brain implant into human patients within six months, the company announced at an event at its Fremont, Calif. headquarters on Wednesday evening.

Happy holidays?  Florida school district walks back decision to nix Hanukkah presentation  —  Pasco County Schools says it has reversed its decision to deny a mother's request to give a Hanukkah presentation to her son's fifth grade class after reporters contacted the district for an explanation.

ICE accidentally released the identities of 6,252 immigrants who sought protection in the U.S.  —  Immigration and Customs Enforcement accidentally posted the names, birthdates, nationalities and locations of more than 6,000 immigrants who claimed to be fleeing torture and persecution to its website on Monday.

Assembly prepared to vote against seating Brooklyn Republican over residency question  —  In an extremely rare move, the Democratic-led state Assembly is preparing to vote against seating the Republican winner of an Assembly race in Brooklyn, Lester Chang, because he may not have moved …

POLITICO Playbook: ‘Dems in disarray’ makes a (brief) comeback  —  Presented by With help from Eli Okun and Garrett Ross  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  Since Election Day, the drama in the House has been concentrated on the GOP side, as KEVIN McCARTHY tries to overcome a MAGA world mutiny to get the gavel …

Friends to the left of him, critics to the right: McCarthy's stuck in the chase  —  House Republicans are playing high-stakes tug of war with Kevin McCarthy's speakership dreams.  And now both sides are digging in their heels.  —  On the GOP leader's right, conservatives are meeting …

NPR to impose near-freeze on hiring but avoids layoffs as budget cuts loom  —  NPR will need to cut at least $10 million from the current fiscal year ending next September 30, the network's chief executive, John Lansing, announced Wednesday, due to a sharp drop in revenue from sponsors.

Rise in Iranian assassination, kidnapping plots alarms Western officials  —  In the summer of 2021, officers from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service showed up at the Vancouver home of Ramin Seyed Emami, an Iranian Canadian musician and performer who hosts a popular Persian-language podcast.

Netflix's Reed Hastings Admits He Was Wrong About Advertising, Says ‘Glass Onion’ Theatrical Release Was Promotional Tactic … Netflix co-CEO and chairman Reed Hastings conceded that he wished the streamer had introduced an ad-supported plan years ago.  —  Netflix's reluctance to adopt advertising was …

Why America's Railroads Refuse to Give Their Workers Paid Leave  —  For months, the world's largest economy has been teetering on the brink of collapse because America's latter-day robber barons can't comprehend that workers sometimes get sick.  —  Or so the behavior of major U.S. rail companies seems to suggest.

EXCLUSIVE: Biden's married, non-binary nuclear waste guru who stole woman's $2,325 bag from airport hosted SPANKING seminar at kink conference just weeks later - under ‘NuclearNerd’ nickname that's still in use on fetish hookup website  — Sam Brinton, a high ranking official in Biden's DoE …

Garland praises Oath Keepers verdict, won't say where Jan. 6 probe goes  —  Justice Dept. will weigh seditious conspiracy conviction in deciding whether to pursue other high-profile Trump allies, people familiar with the matter said  —  A day after a federal jury convicted two far-right extremists …

Hungary: Data Misused for Political Campaigns  —  Threatens Privacy, Democratic Elections  —  (Brussels) - The Hungarian government's misuse of personal data during the 2022 national elections campaign undermined privacy and further tilted an already uneven playing field in favor of the ruling party …

DHS warns of domestic terror threats to LGBTQ, Jewish and migrant communities  —  In a terrorism advisory bulletin issued Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security raised concerns about potential threats to the LGBTQ, Jewish and migrant communities from violent extremists inside the United States.

Danny Masterson rape case declared a mistrial  —  A judge declared a mistrial in the Danny Masterson rape case Wednesday, as the jury could not reach a decision on whether the actor was innocent or guilty.  —  Masterson, 46, had been charged with three counts of forcible rape over incidents …

Fearful of U.S. Jewish Backlash, Netanyahu Tries to Minimize His Extremist Partners  —  The prime minister-designate's tone-deaf attempts to assuage American Jews about his new far-right government will only push liberals further away from him  —  WASHINGTON - Amid growing signs of unease within …

‘Breach of the Big Silence.’ Protests Stretch China's Censorship to Its Limits  —  Days later, videos of chants and confrontations are still visible on the Chinese internet.  It's a sign of how a groundswell outmatched the world's best internet control system.  —  In one video, a man sarcastically sings a patriotic song.

Epstein Estate Agrees to Pay More Than $105 Million to U.S. Virgin Islands  —  The estate of the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein will repay tax benefits and half the proceeds from the sale of an island he owned.  —  Matthew Goldstein, who covers white-collar crimes, has been following the Jeffrey Epstein case since 2019.