These are the headlines you Need 2 Know. * **Pentagon: Mattis Out:** Defense Secretary James Mattis resigned in protest over President Trump’s decision to pull out of Syria in a scathing letter he delivered to the president. The president says a new defense secretary will be named shortly. Mattis will stay until the end of February. Read the letter [here](https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/20/politics/james-mattis-resignation-letter-doc/index.html). * **Afghanistan Pull Back:** Trump is also ordering the Pentagon to begin plans to withdraw 7,000 troops from Afghanistan, about half the U.S. force that remains in that country, in another surprise decision that Afghan officials had not been briefed on. Read more [here](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/20/us/politics/afghanistan-troop-withdrawal.html). * **Shutdown Status:** The House passed a stopgap funding bill that includes funding for a $5.7 billion border wall after President Trump had said he wouldn’t sign the earlier Senate bill because it didn’t fund the wall. The bill passed in the House likely will not pass the Senate ー leaving open the strong possibility that the government will partially shut down tonight. Read more [here](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/trump-continues-retreat-on-government-shutdown-threat-pledges-to-renew-border-control-battle-in-2019/2018/12/20/3143a752-0457-11e9-b6a9-0aa5c2fcc9e4_story.html?utm_term=.da40f2bb9297). * **Holiday Weather:** The Northeast is waking up to heavy rain, flooding and gusty winds that will stick around until tonight, causing a travel nightmare at airports and on roads as people head home for Christmas. Read the weekend forecast [here](https://weather.com/holiday/christmas/news/2018-12-18-christmas-travel-forecast). * **Debate Season:** We’re six months away from the first debates of the 2020 presidential election. The DNC says it is planning 12 primary debates for what is expected to be a jam-packed Democratic field of contenders. The first debates will be split up over consecutive nights if there are too many candidates. Read more [here](https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/422283-dnc-rolls-out-debate-reforms-ahead-of-2020). * **Markets:** The political dysfunction in Washington is not helping the stock market as it limps toward the end of the year. News that a government shutdown became much more likely sent stocks lower, with the Dow closing down another 2 percent. Read more [here](https://www.cheddar.com/videos/looming-government-shutdown-fed-hikes-deepen-markets-losses). * **Hacking:** The Justice Department charged two Chinese hackers for breaking into business, government, and military computers and stealing the personal information of 100,000 Navy personnel and data from 45 U.S. businesses. The duo was part of a group allegedly backed by the Chinese government. Read more [here](https://www.wired.com/story/doj-indictment-chinese-hackers-apt10/). * **Travis Scott:** Rapper Travis Scott will reportedly perform with Maroon 5 at the Super Bowl halftime show. According to Variety, Jay-Z is trying to talk Scott out of performing due to the league’s treatment of Colin Kaepernick. Read more [here](https://variety.com/2018/music/news/travis-scott-to-perform-with-maroon-5-at-super-bowl-report-1203094035/). * **Spotted:** Billy Joel’s 3-year-old daughter Della Rose, taking the stage at Madison Square Garden as she performed a duet with her dad. Read more [here](https://pagesix.com/2018/12/20/billy-joels-daughter-is-his-spitting-image-and-more-star-snaps/slide-1/?_ga=2.148768369.750256350.1545347910-1408034486.1545073996). * **J. Lo:** Jennifer Lopez has released her new music video for the single "Limitless" from the new movie "Second Act." In it, Lopez’s daughter Emme, 10, can be seen singing and dancing. Watch [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JmtmpOQdng&feature=youtu.be). * **Most Mispronounced Words:** A British survey collected the most mispronounced names and words of 2018. On the list: actress Saoirse Ronan and the Belgian city Ypres. Read more [here](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-46632322). Cheddar's Hena Doba gets into the latest. Subscribe to the Need 2 Know newsletter [here](https://theneed2know.com).
