Good morning. Sunny today with a nominal high around 39, which will feel much colder thanks to wind. A low near 27 overnight. The Capitals host Carolina tonight. You can find me on Bluesky, I’m @abeaujon.87 on Signal, and there’s a link to my email address below. Thanks to Kate Corliss for cover ing for me yesterday. This roundup is available as a morning email newsletter. Sign up here. I can’t stop listening to: Ducks Ltd., “Train Full of Gasoline.” These Canadian indie-rockers will appear at local label Carpark Records’ 25th anniversary show at Songbyrd tonight alongside Phoebe Rings and Geologist. Take Washingtonian Today with you! I’ve made a playlist on Spotify and on Apple Music of my daily music recommendations this year. Here’s some administration news you might have blocked out: Neighbor rattling: The US seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, a legally interesting move apparently designed to pressure Nicolás Maduro. “Well, we keep it, I guess,” President Trump said about the oil onboard. (NYT) Trump, who recently pardoned Honduras’s former president Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been convicted of being part of a massive drug-trafficking conspiracy, said Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, is next in his war against drug traffickers. (Politico) The administration will establish a military zone along the US-Mexico border in California, another step along the way of Trump making the US military effectively a border police force in that region. (Axios) Health on the shelf: Some Republicans in the House moved to circumvent Speaker Mike Johnson to force votes on expiring Covid-era Obamacare subsidies, without which health insurance costs will soar for millions of Americans. (Politico) The Senate is likely to vote down two plans to deal with the cost cliff today. (WSJ) Trump hasn’t yet championed any one approach, leading to the flailing in the legislative branch. (Politico) The debate on subsidies could get punted till next year, and “There isn’t any Republican who thinks it’s a good idea for the GOP to be talking about health care — their worst issue — during an election year.” (Punchbowl News) Meanwhile: Trump’s grip on Congress appears to be loosening more: Some Republicans in the House backed a Democratic-led initiative to stop the President’s attacks on federal employee unions. (Fox News) Republicans in the House backed a defense bill that aims to force the Department of Defense to release more information about the administration’s controversial boat strikes. (AP) Administration perambulation: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and “border czar” Tom Homan are on the outs, adding a frisson of palace intrigue to the holiday season. (Axios) Noem’s department signed an almost $140 million contract to create its own deportation fleet. (Washington Post) Residents of countries in the US Visa Waiver program could have to provide five years’ worth of social media histories to enter the US, though “it is not clear how.” (CNBC) The feds can’t seem to decide whether to deport Belarus’s Yana Leonova or prosecute her on charges of fraud or smuggling—which they brought her to the US to face trial over. (Washington Post) Trump announced the start of his “gold card” program, which would allow people to pay $1 million for a visa and a pathway to US citizenship. (AP) Trump confirmed that he called some countries “shithole countries” in 2018 after years of claiming he had not done so. (Washington Post) The Fed cut interest rates yesterday, and that might be it for a while. (WSJ) Federal prosecutors in New York “moved to drop charges against a former Fox employee who was convicted of scheming to pay millions of dollars in bribes in exchange for the lucrative broadcast rights to soccer tournaments.” (NYT) Surprise, surprise, Trump wants CNN to be sold. (CNN) Trump also made more noise about the New York Times, which says it will continue to report on his health and vigor. (AP) Some of Trump’s January 6 pardon recipients want the government to pay them for their inconvenience. (Bloomberg) Administration officials “played a crucial role” in getting “manosphere” stars Andrew Tate and Tristan Tate out of rape charges they faced in Romania and into Florida. (NYT) Brian Glenn, the White House correspondent for the right wing outlet Real America’s Voice, will follow his girlfriend, Marjorie Taylor Greene, back to Georgia after she retires from Congress next month. (Washington Post) A measles outbreak in South Carolina has worsened. (NBC News) Hidden Eats, by Ike Allen: Photo by Ike Allen. There are still a healthy number of bare-bones carryouts in DC that offer wings and mumbo sauce. But there are too few full-service soul food restaurants like Mama Tee’s Kitchen, which opened last fall in an Upshur Street space that unfortunately seems to bear a curse—in the past decade, it’s hosted six ambitious, short-lived restaurants and an injera bakery. Mama Tee’s timeless menu and ambience—when I visited recently, ’70s soul Christmas hits were blasting and the mother-daughter duo of owners recognized all of their customers—give it a feeling of permanence, which I hope will translate to longevity. You can’t go wrong with a fried wing dinner, with smoky collards or the restaurant’s signature teriyaki green beans, and—it goes without saying— a big scoop of mac and cheese. (828 Upshur Street, NW.) Recently on Washingtonian dot com: • A look back at 60 years of Washingtonian’s covers—and what they say about how life in our region has changed. • “Queering the District,” a podcast by siblings Abby Stuckrath and Ellie Stuckrath, just finished its first season, which looks at gay nightlife in DC over the years. • “We want comfort and we want affordability,” Rose Previte says about Sook, her new all-day cafe, market, and wine bar, which has replaced Compass Rose. Local news links: • Jayden Daniels won’t start for the Commanders’ game against the Giants Sunday, which is increasingly looking like an open spot on my calendar. (Washington Post) • Possibly outgoing US Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina floated a plan to rename Black Lives Matter Plaza for Charlie Kirk. (Axios) • The Park Service plans a clean-up project in Columbus Circle, which would coincidentally force a couple of permitted anti-Trump protests to move. (WUSA9) • Some US Capitol Police officers still haven’t received back pay from the shutdown, their union says. (DC News Now) • A judge in Montgomery County found Catherine Hoggle competent to stand trial on charges of murdering her children in 2014. (BethesdaToday) Hoggle was diagnosed with schizophrenia and has been found incompetent since 2017. (WTOP) • The Park Service finished the Tidal Basin seawall replacement early and under budget. (WUSA9) • There might be some bad nuts out there. (DC News Now) • This is still going on. (Telos) Thursday’s event pick: • “An Irish Carol” opens at Keegan Theatre. See more picks from Briana Thomas, who writes our Things to Do newsletter.The post Congress Tries Chaos as Solution to Healthcare Cost Cliff, Mace Floats Plan to Rename BLM Plaza for Charlie Kirk, and Bad Nuts May Be in the Region first appeared on Washingtonian. ...read more read less