Where Credit is Due: No one can accuse Maxwell Frost of not being able to relate to the problems faced by his constituents. First Gen Z congressman says he was rejected from Washington DC housing for poor credit.

+ Sinema Verite: Kyrsten Sinema did what you do when no one in either party really likes you much. She became an independent. How Kyrsten Sinema’s decision to leave the Democratic Party will change the Senate.

+ Held Hostage By Partisanship: Bill Plaschke: “An American who has been wrongfully detained for 10 months in brutal Russian prisons is coming home. Why are so many other Americans so angry about it?” Of course, we wish we could have gotten Paul Whelan, too. And we wish we didn’t have to give up the world’s most notorious weapon’s tracker. But we’re negotiating with a man who in is in the process of committing nonstop mass murder in Ukraine, and America has done a pretty good job of rallying Europe to stop that incursion. And our current president is not pro-Putin. And the former one who’s rallying his base and enablers to attack Biden over the deal was president for two years of Paul Whelan’s imprisonment. Why didn’t he bring him home?

+ That’s a Wrap: France makes condoms free for 18 to 25 year olds. “Emmanuel Macron said young people would be able to collect them from pharmacies, and described the move as a ‘small revolution in prevention.'” A small revolution? This could be the worst condom marketing of all time.

+ Let’s Review: There are few better ways to review a year than through photos and no one collects those better than Alan Taylor. Here’s his annual collection: Part One, Part Two, Part Three. Not a photo person? Try this from Vox: An incomplete guide to this very weird year, in charts.

+ Lava Camp: Sometimes a headline can sum up a story. Other times, it can sum up an era. Hawaii mayor asks people to stop throwing marshmallows into Mauna Loa lava.