Happy New Year from the TSB family! Fun fact: 2026 is the Year of the Horse in the Chinese almanac and the Horse signifies overcoming obstacles through determination!

NATIONAL

US unemployment claims fall again last week, remain at historically healthy level: The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell last week and remains at a historically healthy level despite some signs that the labor market is weakening. Last week, however, the government reported that the U.S. gained a decent 64,000 jobs in November but lost 105,000 in October as federal workers departed after cutbacks by the Trump administration. The unemployment rate also rose to 4.6% last month, the highest since 2021. AP

Latest Epstein files name Trump multiple times: The newly released batch of some 10,000 files makes numerous references to President Donald Trump, including a January 2020 memo by an assistant US attorney revealing that Trump was on many more flights than the DOJ was aware of between 1993 and 1996. On one of the flights, there were three passengers: Trump, Epstein and a 20-year-old woman; on two other flights, the prosecutor noted that Trump was on the plane with two women who could potentially be witnesses in the criminal case they were building at the time against Maxwell. MIAMI HERALD

How Did DOGE Disrupt So Much While Saving So Little? The group’s biggest claims were largely incorrect, a New York Times analysis found. And its many smaller cuts added up to few savings. NYT (paywall)

INTERNATIONAL

Trump says US military struck ISIS terrorists in Nigeria: President Donald Trump said on Christmas Day that he’d ordered a deadly strike on Islamic State terrorists in Nigeria, who he has accused of persecuting Christians in the country. CNN

IMMIGRATION

Trump administration wants to set quota for denaturalizing American citizens: The Trump administration says it wants to establish a quota for next year to denaturalize up to 200 American citizens per month. NPR

Trump administration moves to overhaul how H-1B visas are granted, ending lottery system: The Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday it was replacing its longstanding lottery system for H-1B work visas with a new approach that prioritizes skilled, higher-paid foreign workers. The change follows a series of actions by the Trump administration aimed at reshaping a visa program that critics say has become a pipeline for overseas workers willing to work for lower pay, but supporters say drives innovation. AP

ICE is now richer than most world militaries thanks to Trump’s new funding: Through the president’s signature domestic policy, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, ICE’s annual budget is expected to increase from $8.7 billion to approximately $27.7 billion, with $75 billion allocated for the agency over the next four years. INDEPENDENT

Postponed '60 Minutes' segment on Salvadoran prison is streamed by Canadian outlet: While the furor over CBS News’ decision to delay a “60 Minutes” report about deportees sent by the Trump administration to a notorious Salvadoran prison and the brutal conditions there persisted, the finished segment was already circulating online after streaming in Canada. (Despite the attempts of the US government to censor the video, bootleg copies continue to circulate the internet.) NBC

CORRUPTION ALERT

Inside the New Fast Track to a Presidential Pardon: In the first year of his first term, Trump granted a single pardon and commuted one sentence. He waited until his final day in office to issue around 140 additional acts of clemency. This term, he pardoned more than 1,500 people on his first day alone, and has since granted clemency to a further 87 people and companies. The new approach…has spawned a pardon-shopping industry where lobbyists say their going rate is $1 million. Pardon-seekers have offered some lobbyists close to the president success fees of as much as $6 million if they can close the deal, according to people familiar with the offers. WSJ (paywall)

Hundreds of Big Post-Election Donors Have Benefited From Trump’s Return to Office: A detailed investigation published this week by the NYT shows that many wealthy and powerful contributors to US President Donald Trump’s staggering post-election fundraising haul—now at roughly $2 billion—have seen a return on their money in the form of pardons, corporate-friendly regulatory changes, government contracts, and dropped enforcement cases. COMMON DREAMS

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND SAFETY

President Trump denies Colorado's disaster declaration request for wildfire, flood recovery efforts: Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper are asking President Trump to reverse a decision, saying the president denied disaster declaration requests for major wildfires and flooding across the state earlier this year. CBS

Trump administration suspends leases for major offshore wind projects: The Trump administration has suspended the authority of five major offshore wind farms to keep building in federal waters, yet another escalation of the administration’s attacks on the wind energy industry. THE HILL

GOOD NEWS

Federal judge says Trump administration must restore disaster money to Democratic states: A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to reallocate federal Homeland Security funding away from states that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. CNN

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