Get ready for a grueling new normal. Starting early next year, we will repeatedly have to squeeze whatever drops of economic assistance and stimulus spending can be wrung out of congressional Republicans.

Even if Congress gets its act together soon on a new stimulus bill — as is now expected following months of failed negotiations — it has already run out the clock, so much so that millions of unemployed workers will likely still be harmed. It turns out governance via extreme procrastination is not an ideal approach.

The bipartisan negotiators, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, will have only days to complete a government funding deal by the Friday deadline, as well as finalize the stimulus package… With an agreement made… aid would likely begin to go out within weeks, with certain groups possibly receiving financial help before the end of 2020.

Biden went ahead and nominated a guy whose greatest transportation feat until now was making South Bend’s downtown streets more pedestrian-friendly… Buttigieg’s nomination cannot be interpreted as anything other than Biden repaying a political debt to the former mayor who crucially bowed out of the Democratic primary before Super Tuesday and endorsed Biden, arguably securing his eventual victory in the primary and then the White House.

Is Pete Buttigieg the most deserving person for this job? Emphatically not… I think Buttigieg is an above-average choice. The things that people don’t like about him—the perfect résumé, and the unguarded ambition that’s helped him leap way beyond it—set him up to really make an impact in a field that is a total disaster.

While mayor, Buttigieg focused disproportionately on transportation and infrastructure issues. He adopted Smart Streets, meaning streetscapes designed for easy and safe use by pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and public transit riders, and created $200 million in new area investments… Buttigieg has long had a fascination with infrastructure. He has called wastewater “pretty sexy,” and mentioned roads and trash pickup in the same breath as the “meaning of life.”

Special counsels are allowed under the law to investigate and prosecute matters that would present a conflict of interest for the Department of Justice, or in other extraordinary circumstances. The Hunter Biden investigation falls in both categories as an extraordinary circumstance that will pose a significant conflict of interest for the Biden Justice Department.

Now that Mr. Biden has been elected pres­i­dent, surely it’s even more im­per­a­tive the Amer­i­can peo­ple learn ex­actly what Hunter was trad­ing, as well as what his fa­ther knew and when he knew it. Still, a spe­cial coun­sel isn’t the only way to get those an­swers.

Whitewater, Benghazi. The lesson from each is the same: They are coming after you, and you had better be prepared. What to do? Clearly this doesn’t call for a special counsel, as Joe Biden’s major offense was misplaced loyalty to his son.

As a child growing up in Tunisia, Peggy Cidor and her sister would count the days to Hanukkah.

But the traditional lighting of the menorah and the eating of fried foods was only part of the excitement. The other part was Rosh Chodesh el Benat, or “head of the month of daughters,” a holiday that North African Jews would celebrate on the sixth day of Hanukkah, the first day of the Hebrew month of Tevet.

As for gelt, the original Hanukkah coins weren’t made of chocolate — they were real. In countries like Yemen, Jewish parents would give their children a daily coin to buy sugar and red food dye to make “Hanukkah wine,” and in North Africa, poor children would knock on the doors of Jewish homes and offer protection from the “evil eye” by burning special grasses. They were paid with coins.

Aruk are full of Italian parsley, cilantro, scallions and onions. The potatoes are boiled in their skins and mashed. Sometimes, ground beef, ground lamb or finely chopped chicken breast are added. But I love to keep the ingredients vegetarian.

Shallow frying results in a fragrant, crispy, golden fritter, with a creamy potato center. They taste amazing hot and are pretty good at room temperature the next day.

The holiday time of year always makes me happy.

I know that I am supposed to be a nice Jewish girl/woman, but I LOVE the Christmas lights and decorations and accoutrements that go with the season. Every year we would go into the city to see the decorated windows at the department stores. The beautiful tree.

The fact is, Jews, and the people who love them, mark this holiday season in a variety of ways. Your adult child, your cousin, your sister, or anyone you love might celebrate these holidays differently from you. There might be a Christmas tree with a Star of David topper; there might be blue and white lights on the house; there might be a playlist with “Maoz Tsur” intermixed with “Silent Night.”

As hard as it may be, this year, I urge you to separate Hanukkah from Christmas and appreciate the holiday for what it is. We should be happy about our amazing tradition and not belittle it by bringing in other people’s customs.

This is the holiday when we reaffirmed our belief in our religion and didn’t let the outside world destroy who we were. Be proud of it, and don’t let anyone diminish your joy.

The blowup is unsettling, most obviously because it’s a rich, powerful man yelling curse words at people who work for him. It’s additionally unsettling because it’s this particular rich man—Tom Cruise has allegedly cursed out underlings at least once before, and in a situation with lower stakes than the spread of the coronavirus… But: Cruise is also not wrong.

Although Cruise perhaps acted inappropriately, behind the actor’s yelling and cursing lies a deeper and true point: The coronavirus pandemic has ravaged Hollywood, and it continues to be a significant problem for making movies — especially when it comes to cost.

The entertainment industry professionals who spoke to NBC News generally agreed that the angry tone of Cruise’s apparent outburst was out of bounds. The recording is sure to draw particular scrutiny, given renewed focus on what has been described as Hollywood’s culture of bullying.

“Hollywood has an entrenched and endemic issue with bullying that is exacerbated by the industry’s power imbalances,” the Hollywood Commission on Eliminating Sexual Harassment and Advancing Equality, led by Anita Hill, said in a report released in October.