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Attorney General Pam Bondi, accompanied by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche (L) and FBI Director Kash Patel (R), speaks during a news conference at the Justice Department on Nov. 19. Some lawmakers said the department’s release of files relating to Jeffrey Epstein had too many redactions as well as missing information. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Andrew Harnik/Getty Images Two lawmakers are threatening a seldom-used congressional sanction against the Department of Justice over what they say is a failure to release all of its files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein by a deadline set in law. Reps.…

Editorial / December 16, 2025 This year, progressive young Democrats sketched a path to meaningful wins in 2026. Is the party paying attention? Ad Policy Volunteers mount a campaign poster for Aftyn Behn on December 2, 2025, in Nashville, Tennessee.(Jon Cherry / Getty Images) This article appears in the January 2026 issue, with the headline “Victory From Defeat.” Democrats have developed an uncanny skill for seizing defeat from the jaws of victory in recent years. That didn’t happen, though, in the December 2 special election to fill a US House seat in Tennessee. While progressive Democrat Aftyn Behn fell short…

Mississippi Supreme Court justices listen to arguments in Jackson, Miss., on July 6, 2023. On Friday, a judge ordered special elections for the court after earlier finding that the electoral map used to select justices violates the Voting Rights Act. Rogelio V. Solis/AP hide caption toggle caption Rogelio V. Solis/AP JACKSON, Miss. — A judge on Friday ordered special elections for the Mississippi Supreme Court after earlier finding that the electoral map used to select justices violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock in August ordered Mississippi to redraw the map, which was enacted…

Politics / December 17, 2025 Trump’s crude disdain for the slain filmmaker was undoubtedly rooted in the fact that Reiner so ably used his talents to help dethrone him in 2020. Ad Policy Rob Reiner attends the Human Rights Campaign’s 2025 LA Dinner at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles, March 22, 2025. (Michael Tran / AFP via Getty Images) In the fall of 2020, at a point when Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden were locked in their high-stakes competition for the presidency of the United States, Wisconsin ranked as the ultimate battleground state. It had backed…

Congress is wrapping up the year in the shadow of the longest government shutdown and with a growing reputation as the least productive in modern history. “Congress is in a coma. It has a pulse, but not many brainwaves,” said former Rep. Jim Cooper, a Democrat who represented Tennessee for 32 years. “It’s hard to tell that it’s even alive as an institution.” A record number of lawmakers are calling it quits ahead of the midterm elections next year and are running for the Capitol exits, pursuing different offices or retiring from political life altogether. While there’s a temptation to…

Jon Wiener: From The Nation magazine, this is Start Making Sense. I’m Jon Wiener.  Later in the hour: the crossword puzzle clues that exposed the hidden politics of the New York Times crossword editors: Natan Last will explain. His new book is Across the Universe: the Past, Present, and Future of the Crossword Puzzle.  But first: the Important People in the Epstein files – what was wrong with them? Katha Pollitt will comment – in a minute. [BREAK] This coming Friday is the big deadline for the Justice Department to turn over its Epstein files to Congress. House Democrats have…

John Lowery, chairman of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina and a state representative (center) is comforted, as he cries tears of joy. Lowery and other members of the tribe gathered in Washington, D.C., to mark the passage of a bill granting full federal recognition on Wednesday. Jacquelyn Martin/AP hide caption toggle caption Jacquelyn Martin/AP After a 137-year struggle, the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina has finally received full federal recognition from the U.S. government. Members of the Native American tribe shed tears as it reached the historic milestone in Washington, D.C., this week. Tribal Chairman John L. Lowery witnessed…

Economy / December 17, 2025 The president’s usual tricks are no match for a weakening jobs market and persistent inflation. Ad Policy Donald Trump in the Oval Office on December 15, 2025.(Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images) In a sane political universe, we’d have cause to hope that Donald Trump would be losing public favor as a result of his many crimes, moral trespasses, abuses of power, and bigotries. The saga of his second term has involved his casually bypassing any and all guardrails to shore up small-r republican self-governance in the crass pursuit of his preferred megalomaniacal obsessions, from the…

With reported months-long consulate and embassy delays, Google and Apple say employees on H-1B visas should stay put in the U.S. right now to avoid the risk of getting stranded abroad. The latter tech company’s headquarters campus is seen in Mountain View, Calif. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Apple and Google are warning some U.S-based employees on visas against traveling outside of the country to avoid the risk of getting stuck coming back, as the Trump administration toughens vetting of visa applicants, according to recent internal memos from the tech companies that were reviewed by…

Feature / December 17, 2025 Twenty years after Katrina, the cultural workers who kept New Orleans alive are demanding not to be pushed aside.  Illustration by Victor Juhasz. This article appears in the January 2026 issue, with the headline “The Remembering Song.” Some people celebrated renewal. Some mourned loss. Still others just hoped for the comfort of a regular day. One word—resilience—kept popping up. That day—August 29, 2025—marked 20 years since the city of New Orleans was flooded after a series of levee failures in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The floods, which submerged 80 percent of the city, killed…