Sunday, December 21
STREAMING
Netflix is dipping into Santa’s bag
Charley Gallay/Getty Images
What’s dressed in red, was a home delivery pioneer, and wants to bring holiday magic to your household this season? Netflix, of course. The streaming giant has bulked up its library with Christmas content to make sure jingle bells don’t drown out that “tudum” sound.
Snowball effect: Netflix released its first fully festive original movie, A Christmas Prince, in 2017. Now, it has dozens of holiday movies, including two additional Christmas Prince installments.Last year’s hit rom-com, Hot Frosty, was Netflix’s No.1 movie for a spell.
And this year, several newcomers (My Secret Santa, Jingle Bell Heist, and Champagne Problems) have been shoulder-to-shoulder with nonseasonal content at the top of the Netflix leaderboard.
The streamer also has plenty of holiday specials and several themed virtual fireplaces to warm up your home, figuratively speaking.
Sharing Hallmark’s crown: In addition to streaming its own movies, Netflix also partners with Hallmark for some content. Last year, Netflix added 10 Hallmark productions to its holiday lineup, and this year, the two signed a multiyear licensing agreement.
It’s not just Netflix. The Great American Family network (formerly known as GAC Family) has found similar inspiration, scooping up Hallmark veterans like Candace Cameron Bure and Lori Loughlin to star in holiday fare. This year’s “Great American Christmas” programming kicked off in October and will run through January 1.—BC
Charley Gallay/Getty Images
What’s dressed in red, was a home delivery pioneer, and wants to bring holiday magic to your household this season? Netflix, of course. The streaming giant has bulked up its library with Christmas content to make sure jingle bells don’t drown out that “tudum” sound.
Snowball effect: Netflix released its first fully festive original movie, A Christmas Prince, in 2017. Now, it has dozens of holiday movies, including two additional Christmas Prince installments.Last year’s hit rom-com, Hot Frosty, was Netflix’s No.1 movie for a spell.
And this year, several newcomers (My Secret Santa, Jingle Bell Heist, and Champagne Problems) have been shoulder-to-shoulder with nonseasonal content at the top of the Netflix leaderboard.
The streamer also has plenty of holiday specials and several themed virtual fireplaces to warm up your home, figuratively speaking.
Sharing Hallmark’s crown: In addition to streaming its own movies, Netflix also partners with Hallmark for some content. Last year, Netflix added 10 Hallmark productions to its holiday lineup, and this year, the two signed a multiyear licensing agreement.
It’s not just Netflix. The Great American Family network (formerly known as GAC Family) has found similar inspiration, scooping up Hallmark veterans like Candace Cameron Bure and Lori Loughlin to star in holiday fare. This year’s “Great American Christmas” programming kicked off in October and will run through January 1.—BC
Robert Reich
Friends,
Trump calls it “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” I have a more accurate description: our political trauma.
After almost a year of Trump’s second term, I and many other people — including, very likely, you — are feeling exhausted, distraught, and sickened by what’s happened to our country and the world.
As Times columnist Bret Stephens puts it, we are being led by the most loathsome human being ever to occupy the White House — a petty, hollow, squalid, ogre-in-chief.
Every day that goes by seems to bring uglier vindictiveness, bigger lies, wilder boasts, and worse policies.
At A Glance
Handel's 1741 "Messiah" saved the music star from financial ruin.
The eerie, "liminal" vibes generated by touring abandoned malls.
The CEO of retail trading platform Robinhood is a cult hero among risky traders.
Explore the 186,000 miles of ancient Roman roads.
How eight distinct cultures mark the winter solstice.
Oil prices have been volatile for decades.
The case for preserving Britain's "Coalhenge," monumental cooling towers.
An interactive map of more than 7,000 global languages.
Robert Louis Stevenson wrote "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" in three days, then burned it.
The "Book of Judith" is a noncanonical Hanukkah story of deliverance.
Explore all the particles that make up the Standard Model of physics.
It takes an average of 14 days of work to afford a monthly mortgage in the US.
Revisiting why readers (and viewers) love Jane Austen, 250 years after her birth.
Eighty artists on their favorite Bob Dylan songs.
In The NEWS
US strikes Islamic State infrastructure and weapons sites in Syria.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the US launched the large-scale strike yesterday in response to an attack last week in Syria that killed two US Army soldiers and a civilian US interpreter. US officials said the operation hit roughly 70 targets across central Syria where the Islamic State is situated and that more strikes should be expected. Information about casualties was not immediately available.
Trump suspends visa program used by Brown University, MIT shooting suspect.
Trump paused the diversity visa program shortly after the suspected gunman was identified as a Portuguese national who used it to enter the US in 2017. Accounting for up to 50,000 green cards available annually, the program is a random lottery that prioritizes citizens of countries with low immigration to the US. It’s unclear whether Trump has the power to suspend the lottery, since it was created by Congress.
European Union commits to lending roughly $105B to Ukraine's war effort.
The International Monetary Fund estimates the interest-free loan will cover two-thirds of Ukraine's military and economic needs through 2027. After much debate about how to finance the loan, EU leaders decided to borrow money on capital markets. Some leaders had pushed to use frozen Russian assets, an unprecedented scheme that others deemed legally risky.
Famine averted in Gaza but crisis-level hunger persists, per expert panel.
A United Nations- and World Health Organization-backed report says the Gaza Strip is no longer facing famine. The expert panel, which had declared famine in the Gaza City region in August, credited the improvement to expanded food access following the Oct. 10 ceasefire. However, the report says over three-quarters of the population—or 1.6 million people—are still facing acute hunger and malnutrition.
Living mates may influence each other's gut microbiome.
A new study on rats reveals that their gut microbiomes are shaped by the genes of the other rats they live with. While genes don’t transfer between hosts, gut bacteria shaped by one rat’s genetics can spread to other rats through close social contact. Researchers suspect the same is true for humans, which could deepen our understanding of microbiome-linked diseases such as obesity and Alzheimer’s.
Explore the best resources we've found on the gut microbiome here.
Sony buys majority stake in "Peanuts" comics.
The Japanese conglomerate will pay $457M to roughly double its stake in Peanuts Holdings to 80%. The family of "Peanuts" creator Charles M. Schulz will hold the remaining 20%. Sony first became involved with Peanuts in 2010, over six decades after Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and their friends first appeared in American newspaper comic strips in 1947 as "Li'l Folks." The "Peanuts" name was introduced in 1950.
Wiz Khalifa handed 9 month Romanian jail sentence on drug possession charge.
The American rapper allegedly had over 18 grams of cannabis at a Romanian music festival he headlined in 2024, some of which he smoked on stage. A lower court issued an $830 fine in April, but prosecutors appealed, seeking a harsher penalty. As of this writing, it is unclear whether Romanian authorities will try to extradite Wiz Khalifa from the US. Romania has some of the strictest drug laws in Europe.
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Lessons Learned
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What have I learned during my SEVENTY-EIGHT (78) years of life?
Well... there is definitely a different life lived by the wealthy and by the non-wealthy and by the non-wealthy and the poor and by the military and the rest of us. I can say this because I have lived in all four areas.
Life is different in the county or rural areas than it is in the cities, and the quality of life is different in smaller cities than it is in larger cities as seen in the areas of healthcare, the economy, and education.
Speaking of education, during the 45 years that I worked not one employer, including community colleges, 4-year colleges, and universities ever asked to see my GRADES before hiring me. Nor did they ever visit my classes to see what kind of teaching I was doing.
It is apparent to me that being DEBT FREE as a family is a hugely overlooked area of responsibility that most Americans for some reason have no desire to observe.
I have also noticed that no financial awareness classes are being taught in high school and if they just taught the RULE OF 72, most high school graduates, if they used that information could be financially well off by the time they retired. This is based upon saving $2.50/day for 40 years. How much is $2.50?
Regrettably, it also appears that the youth of today, for whatever reason(s) are moving in the area of SOCIALISM without fully understanding the pros and cons of socialism versus the pros and cons of capitalism. While it is regrettable to me, it is inevitable that this will happen, especially when one takes into consideration the probability of robots and/or robots replacing 80% of the available jobs.
All Life on Earth Comes From One Single Ancestor
Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:
- All life on Earth can be traced back to a Last Universal Common Ancestor, or LUCA.
- A study suggests that this organism likely lived on Earth only 400 million years after its formation.
- Further analysis also shows that this life form likely sported an early immune system, which means it was probably fighting off viruses.
Saturday, December 20
Headlines
Charges against Jeffrey Epstein being announced in 2019. Stephanie
Keith/Getty Images
Justice Department releases first batch of Epstein files. The DOJ released tens of thousands of documents yesterday from its investigation into the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein because Congress passed a law last month requiring the public disclosure of all related files within 30 days. The newly released materials include photographs of celebrities, including former President Bill Clinton. According to news outlets, President Trump does not feature much in the documents. However, many documents are heavily redacted, and the DOJ has said there were too many to process, so it will continue releasing materials over the next few weeks. Democratic lawmakers have criticized that delay as illegal.—AR
Elon Musk’s massive 2018 pay package got reinstated. Yesterday, the Delaware Supreme Court overturned a lower court’s ruling that barred Elon Musk from receiving a performance-contingent stock pay package—now worth a whopping $140 billion—that Tesla’s board gave him in 2018. Previously, the Delaware Chancery Court sided with a minority Tesla shareholder who sued the EV-maker alleging that its board was improperly influenced by Musk when awarding him the compensation package, which was unfair to investors. Yesterday’s unanimous ruling lets Musk have his bag because blocking the pay package left him “uncompensated for his time and efforts” as Tesla CEO. The decision ends a seven-year legal battle that prompted Musk to yank Tesla out of corporate America’s favorite state to incorporate in and call on others to do the same.—SK
A Reddit post helped police find the Brown University shooting suspect. While they’re certainly dedicated, Reddit sleuths aren’t always Sherlock-level detectives—but court documents show that a poster helped lead investigators to the suspect in the Brown University shooting that killed two students. “He blew this case right open,” Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said. The Reddit user, called only “John” in court papers, posted that he’d seen a “grey Nissan with Florida plates, possibly a rental” near the crime scene. Fellow Redditors urged him to contact the FBI, which he did, telling investigators of his strange encounters with the suspected shooter. His tip ultimately led authorities to connect the suspect to the car, and to the murder of an MIT professor they had previously believed to be unrelated. Authorities said the suspect was found dead from a self-inflicted wound on Thursday night.—AR
Justice Department releases first batch of Epstein files. The DOJ released tens of thousands of documents yesterday from its investigation into the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein because Congress passed a law last month requiring the public disclosure of all related files within 30 days. The newly released materials include photographs of celebrities, including former President Bill Clinton. According to news outlets, President Trump does not feature much in the documents. However, many documents are heavily redacted, and the DOJ has said there were too many to process, so it will continue releasing materials over the next few weeks. Democratic lawmakers have criticized that delay as illegal.—AR Elon Musk’s massive 2018 pay package got reinstated. Yesterday, the Delaware Supreme Court overturned a lower court’s ruling that barred Elon Musk from receiving a performance-contingent stock pay package—now worth a whopping $140 billion—that Tesla’s board gave him in 2018. Previously, the Delaware Chancery Court sided with a minority Tesla shareholder who sued the EV-maker alleging that its board was improperly influenced by Musk when awarding him the compensation package, which was unfair to investors. Yesterday’s unanimous ruling lets Musk have his bag because blocking the pay package left him “uncompensated for his time and efforts” as Tesla CEO. The decision ends a seven-year legal battle that prompted Musk to yank Tesla out of corporate America’s favorite state to incorporate in and call on others to do the same.—SK A Reddit post helped police find the Brown University shooting suspect. While they’re certainly dedicated, Reddit sleuths aren’t always Sherlock-level detectives—but court documents show that a poster helped lead investigators to the suspect in the Brown University shooting that killed two students. “He blew this case right open,” Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said. The Reddit user, called only “John” in court papers, posted that he’d seen a “grey Nissan with Florida plates, possibly a rental” near the crime scene. Fellow Redditors urged him to contact the FBI, which he did, telling investigators of his strange encounters with the suspected shooter. His tip ultimately led authorities to connect the suspect to the car, and to the murder of an MIT professor they had previously believed to be unrelated. Authorities said the suspect was found dead from a self-inflicted wound on Thursday night.—AR
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