Ok, sounds cool?

This is a competition for the world’s best Christmas feast, and the prize is my gluttonous Jewish heart. Spoiler: Everyone wins

For most of America’s 10 million middle schoolers, English class means enjoying—or, perhaps, enduring—the timeless narratives of the Western canon: Fahrenheit 451, Black Boy, The Giver, Parable of the Sower, 1984. Teachers order these books every year, and school librarians stock up for fall classes. It’s a cash cow for book publishers and distributors—and they intend to keep it that way. Over the past decade, Silicon Valley’s tech behemoths have discreetly and methodically tightened their grip on American schools, and the pandemic has given them license to squeeze even tighter. By 2017, tens of millions of students were already using Google Chromebooks and apps for reading, writing, and turning in their work. Google Classroom now has more than 100 million users worldwide—nearly seven times the number reported in The New York Times three years ago. When we emerge from the pandemic, schools will be even more reliant on such systems. Industry is bolting an adamantine layer of technology onto the world’s classrooms, in what amounts to a stealth form of privatization. The benefits of e-books may seem obvious. They should provide a cheap, convenient way to supply millions of kids with classic novels: They don’t wear out, they can’t get lost or be defaced with underlining, doodles, or the name of your latest crush, and, with a pandemic still raging, they provide a safe, instantaneous way to distribute books to students who are stuck at home. But in practice, this convenience comes at a staggering cost. Billion-dollar companies like Follett and EBSCO are renting e-books to schools each year, rather than selling them permanent copies. By locking school districts into contracts that turn them into captive consumers, corporate tech providers are draining public education budgets that don’t have a penny to spare.

The eight-month impasse for additional COVID relief, unconscionable as it may have been, opportunistically gave time and space to those members of Congress most interested in policy. The 5,500-page, entire-session-of-Congress-in-a-bill that passed last night reflects some of their ready-made language. It’s going to take weeks to dig through this thing and fully decipher it, but I’ve already noticed several good measures. Still, Congress cannot help but throw up roadblocks for people who need help.

Deciphering the most beloved, most reviled children’s-book author in history.

A six-week, 37-source search for answers.

Congress has now passed the second stimulus bill, which includes $300 weekly unemployment benefits and $600 direct checks.

More than 20 women accused Harry Morel, a longtime district attorney in Louisiana, of sexual misconduct. But Morel pleaded guilty to just a single obstruction of justice count while Mike Zummer, the FBI agent who investigated him, was fired. Now, Zummer is speaking about what he says is a grave injustice—at the hands of the Justice Department.

Just when you thought you'd seen it all from McDonald's—cue the Flaming Hot Doritos Quarter Pounder and Hula Burger—the fast-food chain is raising eyebrows again with its latest menu creation. This time, the brand's bizarre burger concoction combines super-salty meat with a super-sweet cookie for a mashup that's equal parts intriguing and questionable.According to the Associated Press, McDonald's just released the "Lunchmeat Burger," aka a Spam burger topped with Oreo cookie crumbs. But you won't be able to get this burger by driving to your nearest Mickey D's… considering the item is only available in China. (Here are 8 other major changes McDonald's currently has in the works.)The burger consists of two thick slices of Spam, Oreo cookie crumbles, and mayonnaise—which, in fairness, provides all the elements for a really juicy flavor bomb (salty, sweet, and fatty).Some are calling this an attention-grabbing move, and they're absolutely on the money. McDonald's...

American conservative organization Turning Point USA was ridiculed on social media after videos from its most recent conference showed women shooting money out of a cannon into the audience. The clips from Turning Point USA’s Student Action Conference in Palm Beach, Florida this past weekend – which featured two women blasting cash into a scrambling crowd of young conservative activists – went viral on Twitter, with many on both the left and right deriding the organization’s attempt at youth outreach.

Seattle police broke up what participants called an “antifa soccer” game and arrested seven people Sunday in Cal Anderson Park, where the city recently cleared a homeless encampment. One person required paramedic care during the confrontation between police and the group, as shown in photos by Matt Mitgang, who was walking in the neighborhood during the incident. The 26-year-old man, who had a medical issue, was taken to Harborview Medical Center in stable condition, said David Cuerpo, Fire Department spokesperson. On-scene video shows several officers walking toward the soccer game, and the dispute, which occurred at about 4:30 p.m. “You all do realize the double standard here, right?” a participant tells police who arrived to remove the black-clad group, according to Instagram footage. Group members said other people have been playing in the park without being shooed out by police.

Searching for the soul of America in Mormon mommy blogger Instagram

Bellingcat can now disclose that it and its investigative partners are in possession of a recorded conversation in which a member of the suspected FSB poison squad describes how his unit carried out, and attempted to clean up evidence of, the poisoning of Alexey Navalny. The inadvertent confession was made during a phone call with a person who the officer believed was a high-ranking security official. In fact, the FSB officer did not recognize the voice of the person to whom he was reporting details of the failed mission: Alexey Navalny himself.

Inside the unexpected pleasures of hardcore ‘nussy’ stimulation

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican on Monday declared that it is “morally acceptable” for Roman Catholics to receive COVID-19 vaccines based on research that used fetal tissue from abortions. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican’s watchdog office for doctrinal orthodoxy, said it had received several requests for “guidance” during recent months. The doctrinal office pointed out that bishops, Catholic groups and experts have offered “diverse and sometimes conflicting pronouncements” on the matter. Drawing on Vatican pronouncements in past years about developing vaccines prepared from cells derived from aborted fetuses, the watchdog office’s statement was examined by Pope Francis, who ordered it to be made public.

The Russo brothers, directors of the all-time top grossing film “Avengers: Endgame,” quietly secured a roughly $50 million cash infusion from Saudi Arabia earlier this year.

Baltimore's most powerful institutions put a bizarre story to use for their purposes, shedding light on who counts in the city, and why.

Roughly 20 percent of all state and federal prison inmates in the U.S.

It reminds me that the holidays don’t need to be perfect (or even particularly normal).

A trip to the ranch with the morale-boosting Mayor of Flavortown.