Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen started CNN New Year’s Eve show off with a bang, toasting not just the end of 2023, but also the end of the network’s prohibition for alcohol during the show.

Last year, the two hosts were ordered by CNN’s policy to have none of their personnel drink during the show, a company decision that drew tremendous outrage from media observers. This year, as Cooper and Cohen previewed the evening ahead, Cohen brought up the elephant in the room by turning to the question of whether they’d get to be sloshed up this time.

“Speaking of traditions, it’s the top of the hour. We’ve been here for seven years doing this, and for most of those years — well, at the top of the hour we typically have a toast,” Cohen said. “And I feel that I’m hearing from a lot of people, and I guess I’m just wondering, does daddy get his juice?”

“Can daddy get his juice responsibly?” Cooper dryly responded, to which, Cohen mischievously answered “of course! Always.”

When Cooper said he had no booze, Cohen showed he was completely prepared, pulling a bottle of tequila out of his bag.

“Anderson, this is why I’m a really good partner to you. I got it! We’re doing this!” Cohen exclaimed to Cooper’s chagrin.

After inviting the viewers to toast with them, Cohen and Cooper extended their “Cheers to everyone,” and the first shots were downed.

Will this lead to more alcohol-fueled antics throughout the evening? Maybe even a shenanigan or two? Who knows? Let’s find out!

Watch above via CNN.

If you’re looking for the Connections answer for Monday, January 1, 2024, read on—I’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solutions to all four categories. Along the way, I’ll explain the meanings of the trickier words and we’ll learn how everything fits together. Beware, there are spoilers below for January 1, NYT Connections #204! Read on if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today’s Connections game. 

If you want an easy way to come back to our Connections hints every day, bookmark this page. You can also find our past hints there as well, in case you want to know what you missed in a previous puzzle.

Below, I’ll give you some oblique hints at today’s Connections answers. And farther down the page, I’ll reveal the themes and the answers. Scroll slowly and take just the hints you need!

Credit: Connections/NYT

Does today’s Connections game require any special knowledge?

There are some more TV references today!

Hints for the themes in today’s Connections puzzle

Here are some spoiler-free hints for the groupings in today’s Connections:

• Yellow category - How to take care of a vegetable.

• Green category - How to eat a vegetable.

• Blue category - Ways you can win money (or watch someone win money)

• Purple category - Alliterative sounds.

Does today’s Connections game involve any wordplay?

The purple category is based on the words’ construction, but if you just leave this category for last it will be pretty obvious. The yellow category also has a wordplay bonus: the words can each be more than one part of speech. (You don’t need to know that to pick them out, though.) 

Ready to hear the answers? Keep scrolling if you want a little more help.

BEWARE: Spoilers follow for today’s Connections puzzle!

We’re about to give away some of the answers. Scroll slowly if you don’t want the whole thing spoiled. (The full solution is a bit further down.)

What are the ambiguous words in today’s Connections?

• A WEED can be in your lawn or something you smoke; it’s also a verb for a gardening chore. 

• A WEDGE is not a type of shoe today, nor a metaphorical device for a political argument. Today we celebrate the WEDGE salad, a thing that looks delicious but that I am never sure how to actually eat.

• A WHEEL can be made of cheese, it can help a car to roll, or it can be that thing you spin on TV to make Vanna White (documented friend of Lifehacker) turn the letters. 

What are the categories in today’s Connections?

• Yellow: GARDENING NOUNS/VERBS

• Green: KINDS OF SALADS

• Blue: CLASSIC GAME SHOWS, FAMILIARLY

• Purple: W + VOWEL SOUND

DOUBLE BEWARE: THE SOLUTION IS BELOW

Ready to learn the answers to today’s Connections puzzle? I give them all away below.

What are the yellow words in today’s Connections?

The yellow grouping is considered to be the most straightforward. The theme for today’s yellow group is GARDENING NOUNS/VERBS and the words are: PLANT, SEED, WATER, WEED.

What are the green words in today’s Connections?

The green grouping is supposed to be the second-easiest. The theme for today’s green category is KINDS OF SALADS and the words are: CAESAR, GREEK, GREEN, WEDGE.

What are the blue words in today’s Connections?

The blue grouping is the second-hardest. The theme for today’s blue category is CLASSIC GAME SHOWS, FAMILIARLY and the words are: FEUD, PYRAMID, MILLIONAIRE, WHEEL.

What are the purple words in today’s Connections?

The purple grouping is considered to be the hardest. The theme for today’s purple category is W + VOWEL SOUND and the words are: WAY, WEE, WHY, WHOA.

How I solved today’s Connections

I wanted a Las Vegas connection with PYRAMID and CAESAR, but for some reason FEUD and MILLIONAIRE stuck out to me. They reminded me of game shows, and somewhere in the back of my memory I recalled watching a $64,000 PYRAMID at my Grandma’s house. (I was mixing up the $64,000 Question with the $100,000 Pyramid, but close enough.) 🟦 

CAESAR and GREEK next to each other made me think of salads 🟩 and I picked out the gardening words pretty quickly after that. 🟨 The remaining “W” words seemed like a strange group, but they’re pretty much all what they look like—syllables starting with W. 🟪

Connections 
Puzzle #204
🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟪🟪🟪🟪

How to play Connections

I have a full guide to playing Connections, but here’s a refresher on the rules:

First, find the Connections game either on the New York Times website or in their Crossword app. You’ll see a game board with 16 tiles, each with one word or phrase. Your job is to select a group of four tiles that have something in common. Often they are all the same type of thing (for example: RAIN, SLEET, HAIL, and SNOW are all types of wet weather) but sometimes there is wordplay involved (for example, BUCKET, GUEST, TOP TEN, and WISH are all types of lists: bucket list, guest list, and so on).

Select four items and hit the Submit button. If you guessed correctly, the category and color will be revealed. (Yellow is easiest, followed by green, then blue, then purple.) If your guess was incorrect, you’ll get a chance to try again.

You win when you’ve correctly identified all four groups. But if you make four mistakes before you finish, the game ends and the answers are revealed.

How to win Connections

The most important thing to know to win Connections is that the groupings are designed to be tricky. Expect to see overlapping groups. For example, one puzzle seemed to include six breakfast foods: BACON, EGG, PANCAKE, OMELET, WAFFLE, and CEREAL. But BACON turned out to be part of a group of painters along with CLOSE, MUNCH, and WHISTLER, and EGG was in a group of things that come by the dozen (along with JUROR, ROSE, and MONTH). So don’t hit “submit” until you’ve confirmed that your group of four contains only those four things.

If you’re stuck, another strategy is to look at the words that seem to have no connection to the others. If all that comes to mind when you see WHISTLER is the painting nicknamed “Whistler’s Mother,” you might be on to something. When I solved that one, I ended up googling whether there was a painter named Close, because Close didn’t fit any of the obvious themes, either.

Another way to win when you’re stuck is, obviously, to read a few helpful hints–which is why we share these pointers every day. Check back tomorrow for the next puzzle!

Steve Kornacki delivered a devastating report on President Joe Biden’s approval ratings on New Year’s Eve, putting the drastic numbers in some historic context.

In the final NBC poll of the year, Biden pulled just 40% approval and hit 57% disapproval. He compared that to past elections.

“How does this compare to past presidents entering the reelection year? Here, you can see it. Here’s the 40 that we have Biden at right now. These are all the final polls heading into the election year, a reelection year that NBC conducted,” he said. He put Biden’s approval up beside numbers from Donald Trump and George Bush Sr., both of whom lost reelection.

“That’s the lowest,” said Kornacki referring to Biden’s record low approval. “That’s the lowest in an NBC poll for an incumbent facing a reelection here.”

Among the top concerns for voters was Biden’s age and competence, a topic that has dogged the now 81-year old president especially over 2023.

Interestingly, both Biden and Trump lose against a generic opposite party opponent in the poll.

Joe Biden seems poised to be the Democratic nominee. What kind of year is he had politically? Well, again, he started 2023 coming off those good midterms for Democrats and his approval rating of 46/50 wasn’t that bad, but he’s taken a hit this year.

And as we start to close out the year, our final NBC poll had him at just 40% approval, 57% disapproval. How does this compare to past presidents entering the reelection year? Here? You can see it. Here’s the 40 that we have Biden at right now. These are all the final polls heading into the election year, a reelection year that NBC conducted.

You just see all the reason President Trump got beat in 2020. He was at 44 heading into his reelection year. Bush Sr. got beat in 92. He was at 52 and heading south rapidly there.

But you see how that number compares. That’s the lowest. That’s the lowest in an NBC poll for an incumbent facing a reelection here.

But it is a tight race when you poll Biden versus Trump at the start of the year and the average of the polls nationally, Biden had a two point advantage.

Now, at the end of the year, it is Trump who on average has a two point advantage here, a very, very close race, obviously. And what are the concerns of voters, the dynamics we’ll be talking about if this race does materialize? Joe Biden, of course, is the oldest president ever at this point and his physical fit, his fitness his age. But three in four voters in our poll say it’s a major or moderate concern.

Big thing. And 24 is going to be Trump’s legal situation or their convictions. What goes on in the courtroom for him? 62% right now say that’s a major or moderate concern for them. Will that number change if there’s if there’s a conviction with that number change based on how these cases start to sort out? Big question.

Obviously, we’ll be following well into 2024. And this is interesting to just there is clearly with this ballot question is showing it here is matching Trump against just a generic Democrat. Trump loses sizable matching Biden against a generic Republican.

Biden loses by double digits is just showing you broadly there’s not a big appetite for Trump versus Biden, even though it seems that each party, at least as we enter 2024, is poised to go in that direction. And that leads to this final graphic here. A poll from The Wall Street Journal recently, they included a bunch of third party options and against Biden and Trump, they added up to 17%. That’s a big question heading into 2024. Is it going to be a real third party candidate to create a wild card in this?

Watch the clip above via MSNBC.

Republicans are appealing Colorado’s ballot removal of Donald Trump to the Supreme Court, and the questions now are whether the Justices will take up the case, and, on CNN, whether the conservative judges should recuse themselves from it.

On CNN’s State of the Union on New Year’s Eve, anchor Dana Bash asked ranking House Oversight Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin about the case, and whether Justices who were appointed by Trump — that’s Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh, and Neil Gorsuch — or any others such as Justice Clarence Thomas, should recuse themselves from the case on ethical grounds.

The assumption being that conservative judges can’t make a ruling objectively if they were appointed by Trump, a prominent assumption not just about the Supreme Court but in media coverage of most cases with Trump-appointed judges at any level. And in the case of Thomas, his wife Ginni Thomas’s connection to January 6 — the precipitating event upon which Trump’s ballot ban in both Colorado and Maine is based.

“Three of the sitting justices were appointed by Donald Trump. And in addition to that, Justice Clarence Thomas’s wife, Ginni, texted with Mark Meadows about the 2020 election in the lead-up to January 6, as you well know,” said Bash. “Should any of the Justices recuse themselves if they take this up?”

Raskin did not weigh in on whether the three Trump appointees are compromised as Bash suggested, but did say that Clarence Thomas “absolutely” should recuse himself. “The question is,” he added rhetorically, “what do we do if he doesn’t?”

BASH: Three of the sitting justices were appointed by Donald Trump. And in addition to that, Justice Clarence Thomas’s wife, Ginni, texted with Mark Meadows about the 2020 election in the lead-up to January 6, as you well know. Should any of the Justices recuse themselves if they take this up?

RASKIN: Well, finally the Supreme Court has developed what they’re describing as a Code of Ethics. It’s not binding in the sense that they’re not going to anyone else They could have gone to, for example, Circuit Court justices, You could have had state Supreme Court justices on a panel. But so they’re they’re deciding for themselves again, whether they’re in violation of their code of ethics. But I think anybody looking at this in any kind of dispassionate, reasonable way would say, if your wife was involved in the “Big Lie” and claiming that Donald Trump had actually won the presidential election and been agitating for that and participating in the events leading up to January 6, that you shouldn’t be participating in —

BASH: So he should recuse himself?

RASKIN: He sh- Oh, he absolutely should recuse himself. The question is, what do we do if he doesn’t recuse himself?

Watch the clip above via CNN.

A person is only about 20% responsible for their own relative healthiness, MSNBC guest Dr. Uché Blackstock told host Charles Coleman Jr. on Saturday’s Velshi. The rest of what affects an individual’s health is decided by systemic factors such as the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.

Dr. Blackstock joined Dr. L. Ebony Boulware on for a discussion Saturday on Boulware’s recently published study on the “strong link between racism and chronic poor health conditions for Black and Brown communities in America.”

“This study, it defines structural racism as the means by which societies perpetuate discrimination through interconnected systems,” said Coleman, who was filling in for show host Ali Velshi. He asked Blackstock, author of the book “Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine”, to explain how structural racism affects health outcomes.

“I think so often we think about health as individual choices that patients that patients make excuse me, that patients make. And instead, we really need to understand how practices and policies, you know, the legacy of slavery, the legacy of Jim Crow, current-day systemic racism impacts the health of our communities,” said Blackstock.

“Individuals are only responsible for about 20% of what makes them healthy,” she said. “The other 80% are these systemic factors that Dr. Boulware and her colleagues studied in this very, very important research.”

She added that such factors have the “highest and most significant impact” on health vs. individual choices or particular instances of medical prescription or care.

Blackstock said that for these reasons it’s the “obligation” of for policymakers, local and federal government, and the healthcare industry to work with “community organizations” to address community disparities and systemic racism that are the true cause of chronic bad health.

COLEMAN: This study, it defines structural racism as the means by which societies perpetuate discrimination through interconnected systems, including housing, education and unemployment. Can you clarify for our audience how the prevalence of certain factors like inadequate housing and schools and even the quality of nearby medical facilities, they are all indicators of structural racism which can then negatively affect these actual health outcomes.

BLACKSTOCK: You know, thank you so much, Charles, for having me and honored to be on with Dr. Boulware. Thank you for this study. It’s important information policymakers need to do. I think so often we think about health as individual choices that patients that patients make excuse me, that patients make. And instead, we really need to understand how practices and policies, you know, the legacy of slavery, the legacy of Jim Crow, current-day systemic racism impacts the health of our communities.

So when we have people who have housing insecurity, who live in food deserts, who live in communities where there’s not enough green space for them to walk around or to work out, where they’re not able to find gainful employment, where they’re not able to have healthy education. We know that racism is a key driver of what we call the social determinants of health. And what we see in terms of health inequities and health disparities are the downstream outcomes of those. And so I think it’s so important for us to connect the dots.

And the dots that need to be connected are that, you know, individuals are only responsible for about 20% of what makes them healthy. The other 80% are these systemic factors that Dr. Boulware and her colleagues studied in this very, very important research that needs to inform how, you know, communities and resources are given. So, for example, we have seen a chronic disinvestment in Black communities and communities of color which have led to these poor health outcomes. So the results that, you know, Dr. Boulware’s study showed really need to inform policies. Policies that impact health on a more holistic level.

So it’s not just about what medications a physician prescribed or a health professional prescribed, it’s about what is the prescription for making a community healthier? What will allow it to have higher quality education, better job opportunity, more greenspace? All of that is critically, critically important. And I’m so glad that we are now discussing those factors instead of what happens inside of an exam room or clinic room, because we know what happens at the community level has the highest and most significant impact on the health of our communities.

And our communities deserve that. Because of discriminatory housing policies and other racist practices, we are seeing what we’re seeing now in terms of these high burdens of chronic disease in our communities. Diabetes, high blood pressure, chronic kidney disease, essentially it’s killing us.

And so I think there’s an obligation for policymakers at the local, state, federal level to partner with community organizations. I think also for health care institutions, there’s an obligation for them as well to really look at what strategies do we need to employ to mitigate how the impact of the legacy of systemic racism, past and present, and what’s happening even current day in our communities.

Watch the clip above via MSNBC.

AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall

No, this isn’t Nikki Haley’s biggest gaffe of the week. But this one is not likely to go over well with basketball fans in the Hawkeye state.

According to Iowa Gazette reporter Tom Barton, Haley — speaking at a tailgate event ahead of a University of Iowa women’s basketball game on Saturday — bricked the name of the team’s superstar, Caitlin Clark.

“What a team they are,” Haley said, according to Barton. “What a great coach. … Caitlin Collins is phenomenal.”

.@nikkihaley flubs Caitlin Clark’s name at “Lady Hawkeye’s Tailgate” event in Coralville. Haley will attend the women’s game this afternoon. “So we’re super excited” to see the Iowa women, Haley says. “What a team they are. What a great coach. … Caitlin Collins is phenomenal.” pic.twitter.com/fqp1H1Ii2Z

— Tom Barton (@tjbarton83) December 30, 2023

Yes, Haley appeared to mix up Clark — the reigning women’s college basketball player of the year and one of the biggest stars in women’s college basketball history — with CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins. Granted, it’s a very easy mistake to make. But still, imagine botching Michael Jordan’s name at a gathering of Chicago Bulls fans. While she hasn’t quite achieved MJ status, Clark is nothing short of a beloved icon among Hawkeye supporters. A women’s basketball record 55,000 fans turned out to watch Clark play back in October.

What’s more, Kaitlan Collins weighed in on the airball by Haley:

“I can assure you her free-throw percentage is much better than mine,” Collins joked.

I can assure you her free-throw percentage is much better than mine. https://t.co/J46hwf5Lq0

— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) December 30, 2023

——

Whether it’s breakfast, lunch, or dinner, sandwiches play a huge role in my average week. (When sandwiches like this exist, how can I stop?) It might be my natural caveman tendency of eating with my hands, but besides that, crushing food between two carbs is satisfying and convenient. Eating sandwiches every day must be repetitive, you say? How do I fend off food boredom, you ask? It’s easy. I slap some life back into my sandwich routine with big, bold bundles of fresh herbs. 

The first time I ate an herb-boosted sandwich, I was visiting my mom. It’s standard practice for her to make me about seven different things to eat all at once (she’d been training me for this life before I had any idea). Lunch Part 1 was a ham and cheese sandwich on a white roll. Boring. But there was a surprise. I took one bite of what I expected to be basic cold cuts and plain bread, but I started tasting bright florals, faint licorice, and sweet greenery snapping among the saltiness of the ham and cheese. It was so delicate but unmistakable: She had added three large, whole, fresh leaves of Italian basil. 

Fresh herbs aren’t conventional sandwich filler in the typical American sandwich. It's more common to add an extra layer of Swiss before even considering lettuce, let alone herbs. Leave it to my Thai mom to turn a ho-hum ham and cheese into a brand new flavor experience. 

When I say add herbs to your sandwich, I don’t mean in the typical way a person might cook with herbs—chopping them into a chiffonade or hiding them in the mix. I mean adding them to the layers of meat and cheese as their very own element. They should parade about between the slices of bread as boldly as lettuce does. Anywhere will do. Drop in a few leaves of basil, or a combination of herbs right on top of the roasted veggies or sliced chicken. This small trick can give even the most bland Subway sandwich the complexity of a Vietnamese bánh-mì. Bánh-mì, besides the number of other flavorful ingredients, like pâté and pickled veggies, gets an entire sprig or two of fresh cilantro, stem and all. If omitted, the whole sandwich suffers a distinctly less flavorful fate. With it, all of the flavors pop in harmony.

It’s the best way to add pizzazz to your everyday turkey and provolone, or even an egg white and broccoli breakfast sandwich. Add a whole stem of cilantro (the stem is edible, and has tons of flavor), sprigs of oregano, a leaf of sage, some dill, or even mint leaves. (Fresh mint is more bright, cool, and sweet rather than toothpaste-y.) Transform a party platter of sliced wraps or sandwiches by tucking a leaf of basil into each serving. With the wide variety of fresh herbs available in the produce aisle, the combinations are endless. It’s the easiest way to wake up a mundane sandwich without having to reinvent the meal.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley discussed Civil War during a public event on Thursday — her first since the viral gaffe she made on Wednesday.

She told voters at a New Hampshire event on Thursday that although the American Civil War was fought over slavery it was also “about the freedoms of every individual.”

On Wednesday, the GOP presidential hopeful avoided mentioning slavery when asked by a voter in New Berlin, New Hampshire what caused the Civil War, leading to widespread criticism from her political opponents. She later claimed the question came from a Democratic plant.

Haley addressed her comments adding that the Civil War was also “about the role of government” and not just slavery. She claimed that as a governor of a southern state she “removed the Confederate flag off the statehouse grounds.”

Last night I was asked about the Civil War and what I think of the Civil War. What was the cause of the Civil War? Of course, the Civil War was about slavery. We know that that’s unquestioned. Always the case. We know the Civil War was about slavery. But it was also more than that. It was about the freedoms of every individual. It was about the role of government. For 80 years, America had the decision and the moral question of whether slavery was a good thing and whether government, economically, culturally, any other reasons had a role to play in that. By the grace of God, we did the right thing. And slavery is no more. But the lessons of what the bigger issue with the Civil War are is that let’s not forget what came out of that, which is the government’s role. Individual Lebanese freedom for every single person. Freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom to do and be anything you want to be without anyone or government getting in your way. That should be the goal of what we always try and take away from that. Right, Because we never want to return back to that place, but we always want to remember the lesson. Of what it means to be a free individual and that everyone deserves to be a free individual. So we stand by that. I say that as a southerner. I say that as a southern governor who removed the Confederate flag off the statehouse grounds. And I say that as a proud American of how far we have come.

Watch the clip above via CNN.

You can get a lifetime subscription to Babbel Language Learning on sale for $159.97 right now (reg. $599) through Jan. 1. The subscription comes with access to a catalog of lessons for 14 languages (English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, Swedish, Turkish, Dutch, Polish, Indonesian, Norwegian, Danish, and Russian), and the curriculums are geared toward promoting conversation and familiarity with real-life topics. Babbel is good for learners of all levels, and it uses speech-recognition technology to listen to how you speak and help you adjust your pronunciation accordingly.

You can get a lifetime subscription to Babbel Language Learning on sale for $159.97 right now (reg. $599), though prices can change at any time.

Tim Alberta spoke in depth of how Donald Trump supporters accosted him during his father’s funeral over his various criticisms of the former president.

The Atlantic reporter joined NBC’s Kristen Welker on Sunday’s Meet The Press to talk about his new book: The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism. In the book, Alberta speaks about the Christian values he held as the son of a pastor, Trump’s relationship with evangelicals, and how the Christian right has changed amid the former president’s political ascendance.

Alberta, in the book, wrote about his father’s death in 2019, and the memorial services his family held at the church where he grew up. In Alberta’s recollection, the remembrance took a turn for the worse when attendees repeatedly brought up Rush Limbaugh, who recently went after Alberta on his radio show over his “unflattering” Trump reporting.

From the book, via The Atlantic:

They kept on coming. More than I could count. People from the church—people I’d known my entire life—were greeting me, not primarily with condolences or encouragement or mourning, but with commentary about Limbaugh and Trump. Some of it was playful, guys remarking about how I was the same mischief-maker they’d known since kindergarten. But some of it wasn’t playful. Some of it was angry; some of it was cold and confrontational. One man questioned whether I was truly a Christian. Another asked if I was still on “the right side.” All while Dad was in a box a hundred feet away.

When Alberta spoke to Welker about the comfort he received from his fellow mourners, he also expanded on those who took that opportunity to go after him for criticizing Trump.

“There were some of these folks who didn’t see a grieving son,” Alberta said. “They saw a vulnerable adversary in that moment, someone who was on ‘the other side,’ and that’s heartbreaking. It’s not just heartbreaking because it was me and my dad’s funeral. It’s heartbreaking because this happened inside a sanctuary… It is a place set apart for the purpose of believers to come together and to worship and be one body in Christ. And this was not that.”

Alberta then told Welker about how he received a letter during the funeral from a church elder and family friend who condemned him a “traitor” working with the Deep State “to undermine God’s ordained leader of the United States.” He also spoke of how he has reaffirmed his faith despite those in the evangelical community who’ve compromised their religious values in order to stand with Trump.

Watch above via NBC.

Once prices go up on merchandise, they rarely—if ever—go back down. Even if the systemic reasons behind their initial rise change or improve, prices typically stabilize at the new, higher point—until the next shock raises them again. Everything is more expensive today than it was just a short time ago, so you probably could use every bargain you can find. One of the best tools for finding discounted items has become a rapidly growing trend around the U.S.: the bin store. Chances are there’s one or more of them near you right now, and the way they operate can translate into incredible savings if you’re willing to put a little effort into their gamified shopping experience.

What is a bin store?

A “bin store” is a store that takes all the overstock, returned, and clearance merchandise that big retailers like Amazon or Target need to get rid of. These stores deal in huge volumes (Americans return a little over $800 billion worth of stuff every year), and need to make room for incoming inventory on a regular basis. Bin stores accept weekly shipments of this unwanted inventory, and then dump it all into categorized bins—hence the name. The stores are typically large retail spaces filled with tables covered in bins, and in each bin is a jumbled collection of similar products (shoes, electronics, clothing, etc.).

Most of these stores then operate on a weekly schedule of declining prices. A typical schedule works like this: They receive a fresh shipment of merchandise on Thursday, so they’re closed. On Friday, they open again, and everything in the store is $12. On Saturday, everything is $10. On Sunday, it’s $8—and so on, until the next Thursday, when they close to restock and the pricing resets.

This turns shopping into a bit of a treasure hunt or a game. If you go on the first day of the cycle, you’ll pay more—but there will be more to choose from, and your chances of getting a bargain on what you're looking for are much higher. Go later in the cycle and you can buy more with your money, but you might have a harder time finding what you want or need. Some bin stores keep a flat price all week, but those are uncommon exceptions.

How to find a bin store near you

Bin stores are a relatively new phenomenon, but they’re multiplying rapidly. There’s probably a bin store near you, and there are a few ways to find them:

• Websites like Bin Store Finder offer listings by state. Just click on your state to see a list of the bin stores located there.

• Bin store companies like Opan Bins or Where Ya Bin maintain listings of their locations on their sites as well.

• Facebook. A lot of bin stores use Facebook as their point of contact, so searching through local listings on the social media platform can help identify bin stores that aren’t in other listings.

Tips for shopping at a bin store

Shopping at bin stores can be chaotic fun, but they don’t operate like other retailers. Aside from the declining prices, which adds an element of strategy to your shopping excursion, there are a few other things to consider in order to amplify the potential savings:

• It’s physical. The merchandise is dumped into bins, so you’ll need to be ready to dig through piles of boxes and bagged stuff to see what’s there. These stores can get crowded, especially on the first day of the price cycle, so there’s an element of Black Friday energy, as well; be prepared for some jostling and crowding.

• Scout. Many bin stores post previews of the latest shipments the day before they reopen, and this can give you an idea of what to look for—and where. Noting the physical location of specific bins can help you zero in on the good stuff immediately. Plus, bin stores all have their own policies; for example, some only accept cash. Scout those policies as well so you’re prepared.

• Inspect. The stuff in these stores is often “like new,” but they can also have defects and damage. Examine everything before you buy it. If it’s boxed, most bin stores have employees who will unbox it for you so you can see what you’re buying.

CNN panelists were taken aback by a “devastating quote” in The New York Times that seemed to indicate a death knell for Gov. Ron DeSantis’ (R-FL) presidential campaign.

“It’s going to be fascinating to watch as this kind of three-week final sprint to the caucuses, and no one is going to have the spotlight shining brighter on them than Ron DeSantis, who has made very clear his campaign, his super pac, his whole operation, has made very clear that Iowa was their ballgame, and that hasn’t worked out great,” said Phil Mattingly who was filling in for Dana Bash.

“In fact, The New York Times had a pretty devastating — I don’t want to call it postmortem, I guess pre-mortem — story, in which they quote one longtime pollster and close advisor saying, at this point, they need to, quote, ‘make the patient comfortable.’ That’s the part of the campaign they’re in right now. That adviser then denied ever saying that, but in terms of where things stand for the DeSantis campaign, in this critical moment in the lead up to Iowa, what’s your read on that,” he asked The Washington Post’s political reporter Isaac Arnsdorf.

“Yeah, an absolutely devastating quote by any objective measure. Just not the situation that you wan to find your campaign to be in with staff leaving clear signs that money is a big concern,” Arnsdorf said. “And having staked it all on Iowa, and the polls just constantly going in the wrong direction, it’s hard to see, unless DeSantis really pulls a rabbit out of his hat and, somehow, not just has a strong second, but really pulls something incredible off, it’s hard to see where the campaign goes from there.”

The New York Times article titled, “What Went Wrong For DeSantis in 2023,” says, “The Florida governor entered the year flush with cash and momentum. In the months since, internal chaos and Donald Trump’s indictments have sapped even his most avid supporters.”

Watch the clip above via CNN and read the NYT article here.

Colorado Governor Jared Polis (D-CO) got absolutely roasted for releasing a “Christmas Cringe” video on his Spanish-language X account.

The 14-second video featured the governor dancing around and singing a cappella the 1970 José Feliciano Christmas classic, “Feliz Navidad,” while the post wished, “¡Feliz Navidad Colorado!”

Media notables such as Sean Hannity and Eric Bolling expressed their dismay at the “strange” video that’s “going viral — for all the wrong reasons.”

Polis himself seemed downright elated by Hannity’s mention.

But, alas, the cringe comments continued.

One person simply typed, “Yikes,” while others wrote the person who green-lit the idea should be fired.

Polis was most recently in the news for being shouted down by pro-Palestinian protesters earlier this month. The governor, who is  Colorado’s first Jewish and openly gay governor, was being interviewed on stage during the Axios Denver Power Players event when protesters interrupted, accusing him of supporting Israeli “genocide” and for having “blood on your hands.”

In recent days, Colorado has faced an influx of migrants bused up from the southern border with Mexico. Hundreds of people were moved into Denver over a 24-hour period amid limited resources, according to CBS Colorado.

Watch the video above via X (formerly Twitter).

If you’re looking for the Connections answer for Tuesday, December 26, 2023, read on—I’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solutions to all four categories. Along the way, I’ll explain the meanings of the trickier words and we’ll learn how everything fits together. Beware, there are spoilers below for December 26, NYT Connections #198! Read on if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today’s Connections game. 

If you want an easy way to come back to our Connections hints every day, bookmark this page. You can also find our past hints there as well, in case you want to know what you missed in a previous puzzle.

Below, I’ll give you some oblique hints at today’s Connections answers. And farther down the page, I’ll reveal the themes and the answers. Scroll slowly and take just the hints you need!

Credit: Connections/NYT

Does today’s Connections game require any special knowledge?

Publishing or bookbinding nerds (you know who you are) might have an easier time than the rest of us with one category, but if that’s not you, you’ll probably figure it out anyway.

Hints for the themes in today’s Connections puzzle

Here are some spoiler-free hints for the groupings in today’s Connections:

• Yellow category - You’ll find these in addresses.

• Green category - This category is paper thin.

• Blue category - Don’t let these hold you back.

• Purple category - This one is as plain as the nose on your face!

Does today’s Connections game involve any wordplay?

The purple category is not exactly a fill-in-the-blank, but all four words can fit into a similar phrase. 

Ready to hear the answers? Keep scrolling if you want a little more help.

BEWARE: Spoilers follow for today’s Connections puzzle!

We’re about to give away some of the answers. Scroll slowly if you don’t want the whole thing spoiled. (The full solution is a bit further down.)

What are the ambiguous words in today’s Connections?

• A CURB may be at the edge of a STREET, but today you want to think of the verb that means to LIMIT.

• Shakespeare’s plays famously appeared in FOLIOs, but that word can also apply to a large sheet of paper or parchment used in a book.

• You may have to HOLD your nose to get through some of these categories. Just saying.

What are the categories in today’s Connections?

• Yellow: ROAD NAMES

• Green: PAPER IN A BOOK

• Blue: RESTRAIN

• Purple: THINGS YOU CAN DO TO YOUR NOSE

DOUBLE BEWARE: THE SOLUTION IS BELOW

Ready to learn the answers to today’s Connections puzzle? I give them all away below.

What are the yellow words in today’s Connections?

The yellow grouping is considered to be the most straightforward. The theme for today’s yellow group is ROAD NAMES and the words are: ALLEY, DRIVE, LANE, STREET.

What are the green words in today’s Connections?

The green grouping is supposed to be the second-easiest. The theme for today’s green category is PAPER IN A BOOK and the words are: FOLIO, LEAF, PAGE, SHEET.

What are the blue words in today’s Connections?

The blue grouping is the second-hardest. The theme for today’s blue category is RESTRAIN and the words are: CHECK, CURB, LIMIT, STEM.

What are the purple words in today’s Connections?

The purple grouping is considered to be the hardest. The theme for today’s purple category is THINGS YOU CAN DO TO YOUR NOSE and the words are: BLOW, HOLD, PICK, THUMB.

How I solved today’s Connections

I got the nose words first! 🟪 I also wanted “in your LANE” and “up your ALLEY” to go together as ways of defining someone’s LIMITs, but that didn’t look promising enough to submit. Fortunately there was another way to use CURB and LIMIT, 🟦leaving me with the more obvious SHEETs of paper 🟩 and STREET names. 🟨

Connections 
Puzzle #198
🟪🟪🟪🟪
🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟨🟨🟨🟨

How to play Connections

I have a full guide to playing Connections, but here’s a refresher on the rules:

First, find the Connections game either on the New York Times website or in their Crossword app. You’ll see a game board with 16 tiles, each with one word or phrase. Your job is to select a group of four tiles that have something in common. Often they are all the same type of thing (for example: RAIN, SLEET, HAIL, and SNOW are all types of wet weather) but sometimes there is wordplay involved (for example, BUCKET, GUEST, TOP TEN, and WISH are all types of lists: bucket list, guest list, and so on).

Select four items and hit the Submit button. If you guessed correctly, the category and color will be revealed. (Yellow is easiest, followed by green, then blue, then purple.) If your guess was incorrect, you’ll get a chance to try again.

You win when you’ve correctly identified all four groups. But if you make four mistakes before you finish, the game ends and the answers are revealed.

How to win Connections

The most important thing to know to win Connections is that the groupings are designed to be tricky. Expect to see overlapping groups. For example, one puzzle seemed to include six breakfast foods: BACON, EGG, PANCAKE, OMELET, WAFFLE, and CEREAL. But BACON turned out to be part of a group of painters along with CLOSE, MUNCH, and WHISTLER, and EGG was in a group of things that come by the dozen (along with JUROR, ROSE, and MONTH). So don’t hit “submit” until you’ve confirmed that your group of four contains only those four things.

If you’re stuck, another strategy is to look at the words that seem to have no connection to the others. If all that comes to mind when you see WHISTLER is the painting nicknamed “Whistler’s Mother,” you might be on to something. When I solved that one, I ended up googling whether there was a painter named Close, because Close didn’t fit any of the obvious themes, either.

Another way to win when you’re stuck is, obviously, to read a few helpful hints–which is why we share these pointers every day. Check back tomorrow for the next puzzle!

The Federal Bureau of Investigations is investigating violent threats made against Colorado’s Supreme Court justices who removed former President Donald Trump off the state’s ballot.

On Monday, the FBI released a statement claiming it was working with local law enforcement to assist in investigating the threats made against the justices who removed the Republican frontrunner from running for public office.

Earlier this month, Colorado’s Supreme Court made a 4-3 decision ruling that Trump is not eligible to become president again after engaging in insurrection on January 6th, 2021, citing the 14th amendment.

“The FBI is aware of the situation and working with local law enforcement,” said FBI Public Affairs Officer Vikki Migoya in a statement to CNN. “We will vigorously pursue investigations of any threat or use of violence committed by someone who uses extremist views to justify their actions regardless of motivation.”

State law enforcement previously told CNN that threats made against judges would be investigated and handled by local authorities.

Per CNN:

In addition to the federal response, state and local law enforcement officials and non-government research groups have been monitoring rhetoric on extremist online forums for signs it might translate to tangible threats to public officials.

The names of the four Colorado Supreme Court justices who ruled to disqualify Trump from the ballot have appeared frequently in “incendiary” posts on such forums with calls to expose the judges’ personal data, according to an analysis of the online chatter prepared by one non-partisan research organization for US law enforcement agencies that was obtained by CNN.

While the analysis found no specific threats to the judges, it said “there remains a risk of lone actor or small group violence or other illegal activities in response to the ruling.”

One user on a far-right, pro-Trump website posted, “All f— robed rats must f— hang,” an apparent reference to the Colorado justices.

Following the decision, Trump and his supporters criticized the justices claiming the former president cannot be barred from running for office on the grounds of insurrection because he’s never been charged criminally for the offense. Trump faces four criminal indictments in four separate jurisdictions

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited troops in northern Gaza on Christmas morning where vowed to continue the war with Hamas “until the end” despite calls for a ceasefire.

The visit came 24-hours after one of the deadliest nights in the city where dozens were killed by an Israeli airstrike on a refugee camp in central Gaza on Sunday, according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry.

Netanyahu dismissed calls from western allies to halt fighting, while claiming the remaining Israeli hostages would only be freed if Israel continued it’s military siege of Gaza.

“Whoever talks about stopping, there is no such thing,” Netanyahu told Israeli troops on Christmas morning, according to The Standard. “We are not stopping. The war will continue until the end, until we finish it, no less.”

Recently, Egypt has proposed a ceasefire to the leaders of Israel and Hamas that includes Israel withdrawing from the region in exchange for the remaining hostages. Moreover, the deal calls for the creation of a Palestinian government to overlook Gaza and the West Bank.

However, Netanyahu’s recent comments indicate that Israel is not interested in a peace agreement. Meanwhile, a Hamas representative has stated the group will not agree to a temporary truce, according to Axios.

Since the October conflict began, more than 20,000 Palestinian have been killed following the Hamas’ attack on Israel that resulted in 1,200 deaths and 240 hostages

It’s the long Christmas weekend, so most Americans have probably spent the last few days coping with the holiday season hustle and bustle in one way or another. For one family though, their holiday plans took a sharp turn because of an incident that resembled the Home Alone franchise way too well.

Spirit Airlines released an apologetic statement on Saturday over a mishap last week where they put an unaccompanied 6-year-old child on the wrong plane.

The panic began for Maria Ramos at Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers, where she awaited her grandson as he was supposed to fly in from Philadelphia International Airport. Unfortunately, the child was somehow misplaced on a flight to Orlando, forcing Ramos to make a 160 mile drive to go pick him up.

“The child was always under the care and supervision of a Spirit Team Member, and as soon as we discovered the error, we took immediate steps to communicate with the family and reconnect them,” the airline said in a statement to CNN. While the airline didn’t say anything about how this mix-up happened, they added that they “take the safety and responsibility of transporting all of our Guests seriously and are conducting an internal investigation. We apologize to the family for this experience.”

Ramos spoke with WINK-TV about the ordeal, demanding answers while recalling how her grandson called her when he landed to tell her where he was. As the story made its way online, observers commented that this sounds very much like the plot of Home Alone 2, where Kevin McCallister accidentally boards a flight to New York after getting separated from his family as they are about to fly to Florida.

for anyone who thought Home Alone wouldn’t be possible in 2023, your crucial mistake was forgetting Spirit Airlines exists https://t.co/w75tF6wIv0

— Washington Post TikTok Dad (@davejorgenson) December 25, 2023

Spirit Airlines. Making Home Alone come true. https://t.co/8RvZJkaZyx pic.twitter.com/YFAKKb0Zp6

— Rob Lydick (@roblydick) December 25, 2023

“Home Alone 2 could never happen in 2023”

My friend have you considered: Spirit Airlines https://t.co/oXpZztQxqa

— Matt (@MattBerry05) December 24, 2023

Watch above via CBS.

Former President Donald Trump said a lot of controversial things during his term, but one stands out for its grinchiness — the moment five years ago when he seemed to dash a young child’s belief in Santa Claus during a phone call set up by the NORAD Santa Tracker.

“Are you still a believer in Santa? Because at seven, it’s marginal, right?” the ex-president asked a 7-year-old named Collman Lloyd during that infamous Christmas Eve 2018 call, set up by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) as part of their annual holiday online effort to track the whereabouts of Claus and his reindeer transports.

“Collman’s response, though inaudible to the press, left Trump with a chuckle and a smile,” according to a report by CNN.

Lloyd, identified as a South Carolina girl by The Post and Courier, told the paper that she had never heard the word “marginal” before — and a video her family shared showed her telling Trump “yes, sir” when he asked her if she still believed in Santa.

Nevertheless, the video clip of Trump’s call with Lloyd went viral in 2018 and generated a new round of posts this year, on the five-year anniversary of the call.

Yashar Ali’s post on The Platform Formerly Known as Twitter, which has drawn as of the time of publication nearly 1 million views, called the call “Trump’s funniest moment” and declared he would “never apologize for thinking this is funny so don’t waste your time.”

Watch above, via Twitter.

Screenshot via Orlando International Airport (MCO) on Facebook.

The Orlando International Airport set up a Festivus pole for weary travelers on Saturday, complete with an invitation to air grievances — and a request to please not use the pole for dancing.

Festivus, of course, is the December 23 holiday popularized by a 1997 episode of Seinfeld that includes celebrations that include a Festivus pole (unadorned because Frank Constanza says tinsel is “distracting”), airing of grievances, and feats of strength.

MCO, which draws its airport code from its previous identity as McCoy AFB, set up the pole along with a comment box where travelers could submit their grievances, posting photos on its social media accounts and getting lots of positive comments in response.

A closer view of the sign shows the text urges travelers, please “no demonstrations of Feats of Strength at the airport,” and then — perhaps cognizant of the ever-present headline-creating existence of Florida Man (and Woman) — “Please do not climb on the Festivus Pole. The Festivus Pole is not a Dancing Pole.”

Screenshot via Orlando International Airport (MCO).

In other Festivus-related happenings, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) took to The Platform Formerly Known as Twitter for his annual airing of grievances, once again posting a thread bashing former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) “for being too much of a swampy establishment critter even for Congressional leadership,” mocking Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) for his “many failed attempts to ban TikTok,” hoping that Dr. Anthony Fauci would be in prison by next Christmas, and other assorted grumblings about “neocons” and wasteful government spending.

UPDATE: Edited to add perhaps the most famous Florida celebration of Festivus, this pole constructed from Pabst Blue Ribbon beer cans that adorned the Florida Capitol lobby in 2013.

—

Progressive stalwart Cenk Uygur kicked up a firestorm of anger on Friday evening with a tweet accusing Israel of killing more civilians in Gaza than Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad did in Aleppo. Aleppo, a city of over 2 million people, suffered large-scale destruction during the Syrian Civil War, in which pro-democracy factions tried to overthrow the totalitarian Assad regime.

“Bashar Al-Assad in four years of brutalizing Aleppo didn’t kill as many civilians as Israel has in two months. Russians killed fewer Ukranian civilians in Maruipol. Israel has killed 20 times the civilians Hamas did. Netanyahu is one of the biggest terrorists of our lifetimes,” wrote The Young Turks host on X/Twitter.

Uyugur’s comment comes as the death toll in Gaza continues to quickly rise and, according to Hamas-linked officials, it had passed 20,000 this week. While most critics did not take issue with Uygur highlighting the suffering in Gaza, he was roundly slammed for suggesting that atrocities in Syria in Ukraine were somehow lesser.

“‘Less people died in Aleppo’ is factually incorrect according to the Gaza Health Ministry’s own numbers,” wrote the American Enterprise Institute’s Kareem Rifai, adding:

The UN acknowledges that the official Mariupol death toll is a severe undercount.

But most importantly: WHY do we feel the need to erase Syrian and Ukrainian suffering?

Notably, according to the UN the death toll in Aleppo was well over 50,000 in a conflict that left some 350,000 people dead (many estimates put the total death toll over 500,000) and left Assad in power to continue to brutalize his people. The war also created a mass refugee crisis with over 7 million Syrians being forced to flee their country. “The greatest number of documented killings was recorded in the Governorate of Aleppo, with 51,731 named individuals killed,” read a statement from the Office of the High Commissioner For Human Rights at the UN in September of 2021.

Assad’s crimes against humanity have long been documented by foreign governments, the UN, and other watchdog groups. On October 5th, CNN’s Clarissa Ward highlighted a harrowing report on how Assad’s regime today continues to use hospitals to torture and punish its critics at home. “Devastating report by @RohitKachrooITV as Assad continues his rehabilitation,” Ward wrote on Twitter, sharing a clip captioned, “A Damascus hospital has become a secret ‘slaughterhouse’ for Syrians who oppose President Bashar al-Assad, where doctors and nurses use medical equipment to taunt, torture and kill activists during check-ups.”

Other critics of Uygur’s tweet were quick to note that Assad also attacked and starved out Palestinian refugee camps in Syria during the civil war.

“Israel is undoubtedly committing war crimes and ethnic cleansing here and the west should be ashamed for enabling it but no it’s not as bad as Mariupol. And Bashar Al-Assad has murdered far more people including Palestinians in refugee camps,” one user wrote in reply.

The Times of Israel reported in March of 2014 on the issue with an analysis titled, “Assad is starving Palestinians to death in a Syrian camp, and nobody cares.”

A conservative attorney who writes under the pseudonym AG Hamilton also noted that Uygur makes no distinction between Hamas fighters and civilians killed in Gaza. “The lying is bad enough, but the refusal to place any responsibility on the terrorist group that started this war and has actively encouraged/ensured the maximization of civilian deaths is deplorable. That’s why Cenk gets embarrassed any time he debates this topic and that’s why no one serious pays attention to him,” Hamilton concluded in a lengthy reply.

Below are some more replies to Uygur’s tweet:

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