Compared with last year’s Saturday Night Live Christmas show, when the extremely contagious Omicron coronavirus variant necessitated a reduced cast and crew, this year’s managed to avoid any major disruptions. But one piece of news, released mere hours before last night’s airing, delivered an unexpected turn: The show would be Cecily Strong’s last.
During the holidays, “people are gathering, as they should,” White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Ashish Jha said.
Picture scenes of a battle or from a play; a massive religious ritual; a game of chess. The penalty kick that decided the Argentina-Netherlands quarterfinal game was all of these things.Overhead footage showed the Argentine goalie Emiliano Martínez at far left; seated alone on the turf, he looked as if he was surrounded by a sea of grass. By blocking two earlier penalty kicks from the Dutch team, Martínez orchestrated this opportunity.
There were two Hannahs. There were
eight Amandas. There were three Lindsays,
and each one wanted a nose job.
One got it. One Hannahran 12 miles in the morning,
the Los Angeles dust moving under her steps.
The other studied the brains of zebra finches
that were simultaneously held captiveand falling in love. Two rings of purple
culled Lindsay’s white face,
and for six months all her expressions
she could not express. The other Lindsay said, I support it.
This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here.Good morning, and welcome back to The Daily’s Sunday culture edition, in which one Atlantic writer reveals what’s keeping them entertained.Today’s special guest is Spencer Kornhaber, a staff writer who covers music and pop culture.
The report by Democrats on the House Intelligence Community says the CIA and other spy agencies “took too long to pivot.
The agency’s report comes as Congress is considering whether to fund research and treatment.
Nearly 30,000 people currently in the hospital have tested positive for Covid-19, up 30 percent since Thanksgiving.
This is an edition of The Great Game, a newsletter about the 2022 World Cup—and how soccer explains the world. Sign up here.“The thing with the royal family is that for most of the time, it’s just a slightly tawdry soap opera,” a friend of mine reflected when we met up in the days after the funeral of Queen Elizabeth earlier this year. “But then, occasionally, it rises to become pure opera.
This is an edition of The Great Game, a newsletter about the 2022 World Cup—and how soccer explains the world. Sign up here.There is a video from the World Cup that I can’t stop watching.It’s not of Christian Pulisic’s self-sacrificial goal against Iran that sent the United States into the round of 16, or Lionel Messi dancing past a Croatian defender before providing the assist that sealed Argentina’s place in the final.
Even with last month’s further easing of inflation, the Federal Reserve plans to keep raising interest rates.
Inflation has cooled only slightly and job growth remains strong.
A new POLITICO-Morning Consult poll suggests voters’ views of the economy are baked in.
Housing investment, though, plunged at a 26 percent annual pace, hammered by surging mortgage rates.
A new UNICEF report finds that over 11,000 children have been killed or injured in the U.S.-backed, Saudi-led war in Yemen since 2015. A six-month ceasefire between warring parties expired in October. Meanwhile, Senator Bernie Sanders withdrew a Senate resolution Tuesday that would have ended U.S. support for the war, following pressure from the White House. Sanders said he would bring the resolution back if they could not reach an agreement.
President Biden has pledged $55 billion to Africa over the next three years, announced during a three-day summit in Washington with leaders from 49 African nations. The U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit was held as the United States is trying to counter the growing influence of China and Russia across the continent.
Mass protests are intensifying in Peru following the ouster and jailing of President Pedro Castillo, who was impeached on December 7 after attempting to dissolve Congress and rule by decree. At least 17 protesters have been killed in the unrest as police have attacked crowds with tear gas and live ammunition.
As the world’s attention turns to the World Cup final on Sunday between Argentina and France, we look at the case of imprisoned World Cup whistleblower Abdullah Ibhais, a former communications director for Qatar’s 2022 World Cup organizers, who has been imprisoned since November 2019.
“Republicans are the gang that couldn’t shoot straight — except at one another,” mocked an editorial in the newspaper.
Donald Trump is urging his followers on Truth Social that the “weaponized thugs and tyrants” in the FBI and DOJ “must be dealt with.
Over Thanksgiving weekend, I wrote about a longtime friend, “Kathleen,” who learned—on Halloween, of all days—that she had a severely damaged liver. According to her doctor, the likely culprits were cancer or complications from four bouts with COVID-19. Despite being fully vaccinated, Kathleen was still at risk for COVID, due to having Type 1 diabetes.
Voters rejected election deniers in key states, but the path to extremism remains open.
By Jessica Goodheart, for Capital & Main
First the good news.
One of the biggest concerns heading into November’s midterm elections had been the possibility that election deniers would sweep statewide offices that oversee elections in key battleground states. Another was that they would refuse to concede once they lost.
There’s a stereotype out there—pushed by the predictable crop of white centrist pundit bros—that elite liberals are just too worried about COVID-19 and favor precautions that alienate the ordinary folk. Call it the latest iteration of the impulse that produced so many New York Times interviews with Trump-supporting Midwestern diner patrons.
The data does not support that.
The victim, 63, broke his hand and chipped a tooth in the assault, according to the NYPD.
On Friday, Starbucks workers started a three-day strike at as many as 100 stores, following a one-day, 110-store walkout last month.
The workers are protesting the closure of some stores that have unionized, as well as Starbucks management’s refusal to negotiate in a timely way, as the company continues to drag its feet on reaching a first contract agreement at any of the more than 250 stores that have unionized so far.
Hmm, what could possibly make the mortal embarrassment surrounding Donald Trump’s recent MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT even worse? Oh, Satan, please send him more tribulation! Exactly how many albino goats does one have to sacrifice to get you to do one’s bidding? Because the goat viscera is really piling up in the garage, and you can’t put it in the city compost for some reason. Just saying.
The digital trading cards cost $99 each and included depictions of the former president as a cowboy and race car driver.
This is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning.Like most other humans I know, I’m still trying to remember how to act normal when socializing.
The Mars rover was out and about, doing its normal rover things inside one of the red planet’s craters, when there was a sudden shift in the atmosphere. A vortex of air and dust had swirled into shape, and it was fast approaching. The rover, named Perseverance, didn’t move from its spot. The whirlwind slammed into the robot, tiny particles pinging its exterior. Within seconds, the bombardment was over, and the vortex was gone.Perseverance was fine.
Photographs By Jeffrey MilsteinIt was a sunny day in New York City when I realized that my sky was being stolen.The first sign of trouble was the crane. Its thin finger appeared over the old brick building outside my window, scratching at the sliver of sky I could just make out above the rooftops. My sky. In a city where you can sprain your neck searching for sky, I relished this shard of blue, so tiny that I could cover it with my thumb.