Analysis: Afghanistan Pullout Date Not Definite

“The situation at the Washington Post is so dire that two candidates to run the paper — Cliff Levy of the New York Times and Meta’s Anne Kornblut, a former Post editor — both withdrew from consideration for the top newsroom job over the paper’s strategy,” Axios reports.

“If you ask many a Wall Street investor, tax cuts are poised for extension, deregulation is all but guaranteed, immigration reform for high-skill workers has real potential and President-elect Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency might just cut the deficit,” the New York Times reports. “Tariffs, by contrast, are a mere bargaining chip.

Punchbowl News: “Federal agencies run out of money at midnight on Friday night, and as of now, there’s no text available for a funding bill needed to avert a shutdown.”

If you've been following Crooksandliars for the last 20 years, you probably remember I'm a huge Buffy fan. (I also loved the Angel series as well.) Previously, Sarah Michelle Geller had said that she thought the series was complete, but now, in an interview with Variety, she's open to the idea of bringing back the iconic character. Variety: In an appearance on “The Drew Barrymore Show,” Gellar shared that she has been considering reprising her role as Buffy in a potential project. “I always used to say no, because it’s in its bubble and it’s so perfect,” Gellar said on the talk show.

The Denver City Council voted Monday to ban sales of nearly all flavored tobacco and nicotine products in city limits. The council majority brushed aside arguments from convenience store and smoke shop owners facing potentially steep revenue losses and warnings about the potential of a black market forming for flavored products.

NEW YORK — A judge Monday refused to throw out President-elect Donald Trump’s hush money conviction because of the U. S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling on presidential immunity. But the overall future of the historic case remains unclear. Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan’s decision blocks one potential off-ramp from the case ahead of the former and future president’s return to office next month.