Playbook: The 2024 political trends that mattered  —  With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  FOR YOUR CALENDAR — Former President JIMMY CARTER will lay in state in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol from Jan. 7 through the morning of Jan. 9, congressional leaders announced yesterday.

Aaron Brown, former CNN anchor and influential newsman, dies at 76  —  Aaron Brown, the renowned CNN anchor who gained prominence for his coverage of the September 11 attacks and his pivotal role in shaping the network's evening news format, died Sunday at 76, his family said.

Trump begins his lame duck term pre-hobbled  —  🎆☃️🍾💃🎄 SUPPORT INDEPENDENT MEDIA THIS HOLIDAY SEASON 🎄💃🍾☃️🎆  —  🥳🥳 Subscribe to Public Notice 🥳🥳

Chinese hackers accessed workstations and documents in a ‘major’ cyber incident, Treasury says  —  Chinese hackers remotely accessed several U.S. Treasury Department workstations and unclassified documents after compromising a third-party software service provider, the agency said Monday.

South Korea court issues arrest warrant for impeached President Yoon … - South Korean police announced earlier this month they were investigating Yoon for possible insurrection and he has through his lawyers denied the allegations.  — Yoon could face life in prison or the death penalty …

Pentagon Releases Detainee Held at Guantánamo Since Day 1  —  The prisoner, who was repatriated to Tunisia, was never charged.  His transfer is part of a Biden administration push to further reduce the dwindling detainee population at the wartime prison.

Biden World Thinks He Should Have Stayed in the Race.  What Are They Smoking?  —  SHOULD JOE BIDEN HAVE STAYED in the 2024 presidential race?  Would he have done better than Kamala Harris did?  —  The latest version of this fantasy showed up in Saturday's Washington Post story about Biden's legacy and regrets.

In a war between tech bros and core MAGA, the winner is easy to spot  —  They are a selfish bunch who have shown time and again that what interests them most is themselves.  —  The spiteful bickering in recent days between Donald Trump's Silicon Valley enablers and his MAGA acolytes …

Americans Love to Hate the State.  But Do They Really Want This?  —  President-elect Donald Trump's picks for many of the top cabinet positions in his upcoming administration are unorthodox, to say the least.  In some cases, it would be hard to think of of people less qualified for their proposed jobs.

The Atlantic Beefs Up Politics Coverage Under Trump  —  The magazine is recruiting from a crosstown rival, The Washington Post, to bolster its political staff.  —  As news organizations gear up to cover President-elect Donald J. Trump's return to the White House, The Atlantic is going big to cover the story.

UnitedHealth's Army of Doctors Helped It Collect Billions More From Medicare  —  The biggest Medicare Advantage insurer presented physicians with checklists of potential diagnoses; 'I didn't think I was obese'

The Ground Is Shifting in American Politics.  Here's What I Saw on the Trail.  —  Politics Editor David Siders has been traveling the country to chronicle how American politics is shifting from the ground up.  Here's what some of the people he visited are thinking heading into 2025.

US imposes sanctions on entities in Iran, Russia over election interference  —  The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions on entities in Iran and Russia, accusing them of attempting to interfere in the U.S. election this year.  —  The U.S. Treasury Department in a statement said the entities …

Puerto Rico New Governor Pivots to Gas to Fix Crumbling Grid  —  When Jenniffer Gonzalez takes over as Puerto Rico governor on Thursday she will have to navigate one of the biggest energy messes in the US.  Her solution: Embrace fossil fuels.  —  Gonzalez, 48, is proposing the US commonwealth drop …

How Trump's tariffs could impact the pharmaceutical market  —  President-elect Trump's plan to enact heavy tariffs on certain imports could affect the prices and availability of pharmaceutical drugs in the U.S.  —  Trump has floated 25 percent tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada, as well as expanded tariffs on Chinese imports.

Knife-wielding Tren de Aragua gangbangers are repeatedly attacking border crossings in desperate move to force their way into US before Trump takes office  —  Knife-wielding Tren de Aragua gang members are mobbing border crossings at El Paso, Texas, in an attempt to break into the US …

Elon Musk is on a collision course with Stephen Miller  —  The Trumpworld feud over H-1B visas, explained. … A bitter public feud split the MAGA movement over the holidays, as supporters of high-skilled legal immigration like Elon Musk argued vociferously (and sometimes profanely) …