The Independent (2026-01-03). U.S. in 2025: Chaos and polarization. independent.co.ug NEW YORK, the United States | Xinhua | The past year ended with an ugly drama for Americans: thousands of pages of documents from sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's case were finally made public, yet many appeared as little more than fields of blacked-out text, entire pages obscured by heavy redactions. During the unprecedented government shutdown …