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🏆 Matchups set Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios The FIFA 2026 World Cup schedule is (mostly) set, Axios' Maxwell Millington and Andrew Pantazi report. Mexico will face South Africa in the opener on June 11 in Mexico City. The U.S. Men's National Team will play its entire Group D stage on the West Coast, along with Paraguay, Australia and the winners of a playoff between Turkey, Slovakia, Kosovo and Romania. The completed groups after all the teams were drawn at the Kennedy Center on Friday. Photo: Carlos Barria/Reuters Nearly 2 million tickets have already been sold. More on marquee matches.

🫡 Pearl Harbor slips from living memory American ships burn during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941. Photo: AP Survivors of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor — 84 years ago today — have long been the center of the annual remembrance ceremony. But only 12, all centenarians, are still alive. For the first time, none can make the pilgrimage to Hawaii for today's ceremony, the AP reports from Honolulu. Survivors have been present every year in recent memory except 2020, when the Navy and the National Park Service closed the observance to the general public because of COVID. 🪖 That means no one attending today's "missing man formation" of fighter jets will have firsthand memories of serving during the attack, which killed more than 2,300 troops and catapulted the U.S. into World War II. The ceremony begins with a moment of silence at 7:55 a.m., the same time the attack began on Dec. 7, 1941. 🎤 As survivors fade, descendants and historians are turning to other ways to memorialize the bombing. Daniel Martinez, a retired National Park Service Pearl Harbor historian, said the circumstances echo the early 20th century, when Civil War veterans were dying in increasing numbers — no longer able to share their stories of Gettysburg and other battles. Martinez knew something similar would happen with Pearl Harbor survivors, so he began recording oral histories. During a 1998 convention, he conducted interviews 12 hours a day for three days. The Park Service today has 800 interviews, most on video. Some are shown in the Pearl Harbor museum. The Library of Congress has collections from 535 Pearl Harbor survivors, including interviews, letters, photos and diaries. Over 80% are online. They're part of the library's Veterans History Project of firsthand recollections of veterans who served from World War I onward. Many were recorded by relatives, Eagle Scouts and other amateurs. An organization of descendants, Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors, speaks in schools and marches in parades.

Winner-take-most economy Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios Everything is becoming more concentrated — from merging streaming giants, to a stock market powered by a handful of AI winners, to an economy increasingly driven by the spending of the wealthy. Why it matters: With fewer participants, winning is harder, whether you're an investor looking for returns, a consumer looking to build wealth or a business trying to compete, Axios' Madison Mills writes. 📺 Netflix's victory in bidding to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery's studio and streaming assets, potentially combining two of the world's largest streaming platforms, is part of a larger trend of dealmaking soaring under the Trump administration — due in part to its friendlier regulatory practices. In streaming, scale has become one of the only viable strategies for growth. (Netflix can't increase its subscriber count forever, which may be why the company stopped reporting that figure in earnings releases.) The big picture: The same forces driving consolidation in media are playing out across the economy. A tiny cluster of AI stocks accounts for 40% of the S&P 500. They've delivered a bull market with back-to-back years of double-digit gains. But a wobble in AI could take down the broader market. The top 10% of earners in America now make up half of all consumer spending — and any pullback by that small group can drag down growth.

December 7, 2025 Good morning. Today, Wirecutter helps Morning readers with their trickiest holiday gift searches. Michael Murtaugh/NYT Wirecutter The gift of giving By Hannah Morrill I’m a Wirecutter editor focused on gifts. My team rigorously assessed hundreds of gifts this year, including a golden analog nose hair trimmer. I often get texts from long-lost acquaintances around this time of year. Parents of my children’s preschool friends, the sibling of a college boyfriend, a former neighbor — they all suddenly recall my existence (and my number) when they’re in a pickle to find a gift. Here’s the thing: The panicked texts are never really about a gift, or at least not only about a gift. Beneath the surface there’s almost always something more personal — a strained relationship, different income brackets, generational divides — that the gifter hopes to overcome. It’s one of the things I find most beautiful about giving gifts. It can be the ultimate act of relationship hope, a prettily wrapped chance to do better, start anew and express one’s love, acceptance and appreciation. We recently invited readers of The Morning to tell us about the people they’re having trouble shopping for. Below, I offer some advice. (And if you’re one of the intended recipients, sorry for the spoilers!) Submissions have been lightly edited for length and clarity. My 82-year-old uncle, who loves books, art and L.G.B.T.Q. history, and who recently started using a wheelchair. —A.A.F. If your uncle is a little closer to home these days, he might appreciate some of the beautiful finds in our guide to housewarming gifts. I’m particularly fond of the Heller Asti ice bucket — which actually is a piece of art, with a permanent home in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Or how about a Danny DeVito head planter, or, from that same Etsy store, a cast of Lucille Ball or Sir Elton John? My son and his wife. Both 43-year-old doctors. Vegetarian foodies. I am on Social Security and it’s difficult to think of something —R.A.J. My colleague Mari Uyehara put together some great ideas in our gift guide for foodies — and the silicone pot grips shaped like jumbo pasta bow ties are a real standout. They’re just over $20 and so functional. And we agree with our colleagues at New York Times Cooking that “Six Seasons of Pasta” is one of the best cookbooks of the year. My husband. He is a tool guy and has just about every tool known to man. —R.I. Bet he doesn’t have this $300 titanium hammer that Doug Mahoney, Wirecutter’s home improvement writer (and an ex-carpenter), swears by! “As impossible as it sounds, the benefits of titanium justify its ridiculous cost, especially to someone used to swinging a hammer,” Doug says. Or maybe he needs a set of air wedges, which have saved the lumbar of Liam McCabe, another home improvement writer. My grandchildren, ages 4 ½ and 3. They have lots of toys, art supplies, books and gadgets already! I don’t want anything with A.I. in it and I’m also concerned about too much “stuff.” —P.W. What about a book subscription service? Our favorite allows you to personalize by the child’s age and interests. Or you could go with some practical items to help them get involved in everyday tasks, like an apron and a set of mini cooking tools. One of our favorite STEM toys is a programmable robot — our experts on babies and kids appreciate how it offers loads of screen-free fun, but is still modern enough to hold kids’ attention. My mom, who hates everything I get her. She doesn’t like robes or skin care and doesn’t have any hobbies outside of taking care of her adult kids and her own mother. —M.B. For the trickiest recipients, go back to basics. Even this woman eats and sleeps. I wonder if she’d enjoy noshing on any of our kitchen team’s favorite food gift baskets? (The sweet and savory Zingerman’s one, which has a transcendent sour cream coffee cake and excellent Maine Cheddar, is particularly nice to share.) A box of chocolates could also be a lovely offering. And I can’t help but think a digital frame preloaded with photos of the people she loves could spark joy — or at least something like it. For more gifting help, check out: The best gifts for everyone on your list. Gifts for people who have everything. And here’s our big holiday gift guide, a joint effort from Times and Wirecutter journalists. THE LATEST NEWS Trump Administration James Comey Doug Mills/The New York Times A federal judge halted the Justice Department’s attempt to seek another indictment against James Comey, the former F.B.I. director, over concerns that the bulk of evidence in the case was obtained improperly. President Trump’s approval rating has dipped slightly after months of holding steady, according to a Times analysis. The Trump administration issued a new security strategy that called for European countries to take “primary responsibility” for their own defense. Hong Kong The Hong Kong government is pushing to increase turnout in today’s legislative elections, which are going ahead despite last month’s deadly apartment complex fire. The elections are largely devoid of opposition parties, and pro-establishment candidates approved by Beijing are all but certain to dominate. Hong Kong’s national security police arrested a 71-year-old man and accused him of posting videos about investigations related to the fire. Immigration Joe Biden at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2023. Doug Mills/The New York Times Early in his administration, Joe Biden ignored warnings about a surge at the border and rejected recommendations that could have alleviated it, a Times investigation found. Those decisions helped Trump win back the White House. ICE agents arrested a Harvard professor weeks after he fired a pellet gun near a synagogue and officials accused him of antisemitism. He said he had been hunting rats. Other Big Stories Japan accused China of aiming military radar at its fighter jets as they flew over international waters; China disputed the account. Tensions between the countries are rising over Japan’s support for Taiwan. Experts warn that the increasing availability of stablecoins, a cryptocurrency tied to the U.S. dollar, could make it harder to cut off criminal networks from the global banking system. A man in Michigan died of rabies after receiving a kidney transplant from another man who had died of the virus. THE SUNDAY DEBATE Should schools let students use artificial intelligence? No. A.I. as a tool encourages students to cheat and to stop thinking. “Artificial intelligence, simply, takes the onus for learning away from the student,” Barth Keck writes for CT News Junkie. Yes. Students need to be proficient with A.I. in order to be prepared for the next generation of work. “If the true goal of K-12 education is to equip students with the skills for the future, then we must be honest about what that future includes,” Ruhan Gupta writes for The Austin American-Statesman. FROM OPINION The Supreme Court’s conservative justices are enabling Trump’s campaign to undermine the Constitution, the editorial board writes. Here are columns by Ross Douthat on the deficit of Christian morality in the Trump administration and Jessica Grose on a contentious paper at the University of Oklahoma. Morning readers: Save on the complete Times experience. Experience all of The Times, all in one subscription — all with this introductory offer. You’ll gain unlimited access to news and analysis, plus games, recipes, product reviews and more. MORNING READS Mario Nawfal Katarina Premfors for The New York Times Influencing the influencer: This man has a knack for getting Elon Musk’s attention, and for turning that into big business. Young Republicans: William Hendrix dreamed of a life in politics. This is how he ended up joining a racist, antisemitic group chat and losing his job. What a Waymo couldn’t see: A video shows what happened before a self-driving taxi killed a beloved cat in San Francisco. Your pick: The Morning’s most-read story yesterday was an overview of the work of Frank Gehry. SPORTS College football: Indiana capped off its undefeated season with a win over Ohio State in the Big Ten title game, while Duke knocked Virginia out of playoff contention in the A.C.C. Here’s a recap of the conference championship games. M.L.S.: Lionel Messi helped Inter Miami claim the M.L.S. Cup for the first time in a 3-1 win over the Vancouver Whitecaps. BOOK OF THE WEEK By Elisabeth Egan “The American Revolution,” by Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns: Leave your elementary school civics lessons at the door as you tackle this best-selling companion to Ken Burns’s PBS series about the Revolutionary War. It turns out, Washington’s crossing of the Delaware happened a bit differently than many of us learned it; he wasn’t “standing up in the ice-filled river in the middle of a winter storm at night,” Ward and Burns write. Nor did anyone on Bunker Hill yell, “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes!”; the battle wasn’t even on Bunker Hill. With the help of maps, paintings, meticulous research and essays from six well-known historians, Ward and Burns shed new light on our country’s complicated and bloody origin story. “We can’t avoid the American Revolution,” our reviewer wrote, “so we might as well face it squarely.” Related: Looking for a gift for a reader? Here are a few recent releases to consider. THE INTERVIEW Kristen Stewart Devin Oktar Yalkin for The New York Times By David Marchese This week’s subject for The Interview is the actor Kristen Stewart, whose feature-film directorial debut, “The Chronology of Water,” which is in select theaters now, raises questions about womanhood, sexuality, excess and the stories we choose to tell about ourselves. I was watching another interview you did recently, and at the end, the interviewer asked you for a cultural recommendation that you would give for Hollywood, and you mentioned a film by Barbara Hammer called “Multiple Orgasm.” For people who aren’t familiar with that work, can you explain what it is? It’s an impressionistic, experimental short film by a woman who’s just astoundingly prolific. I saw that movie and was so shocked, because there’s a sequence in my film that is very similar. You buried the lede. The film is close-up images of a woman masturbating, interspersed with images of natural scenery. It’s relating the female body to organic material that feels very Georgia O’Keeffe. The fact that you recommended that film, combined with the sexual forthrightness of “The Chronology of Water,” and then last year you made “Love Lies Bleeding,” which had so much to do with queer eroticism — all these in conjunction made me wonder if there are things you’ve realized about sex that you’ve wanted to explore in your work recently. I love watching things that don’t feel performative, that feel inhabited and instinctive, instead of: Oh, I’m thinking about this from the outside. How does this look? That’s often how women have sex. You want to perform and display that you’re into it and good at it — maybe if you can perform that, then it can be true. There’s a slower, more undulating experience that can happen as you get older that I would like to start seeing in art. I think that my movie emulates the more pleasantly frustrating, longer experience of a success story, which is potentially also related to climax: You plateau into contentment after a lot of false victories and false starts, and then you achieve something that feels self-earned, even if accompanied. I’ve seen a lot of sex scenes that are titillating and exterior. I never again want to stand in a room and watch two people [expletive]. That’s our whole lives. It’s nice to get an odd angle of it. Read more of the interview here. Or watch a longer version on YouTube. THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE Photo illustration by Justin Metz Click above to read this week’s magazine. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Quit caffeine, if you dare. There’s never been a better time to try. Add some vintage touches to your home. See what one designer did. Reconsider wallpaper. New technology allows printing that can mimic three-dimensional scenes. MEAL PLAN Ghazalle Badiozamani for The New York Times We’re in the lull of early December, the time before Holiday Party Season really heats up, when you can still have a bowl of soup for dinner, affix yourself to the couch and then get a good night’s sleep. Emily Weinstein’s Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter suggests a plush red lentil soup made with coconut milk and curry powder, plus more options. NOW TIME TO PLAY Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were autocracy and carryout. Can you put eight historical events — including the Gulf of Tonkin incident, the pirate Blackbeard and “E.T.” — in chronological order? Take this week’s Flashback quiz. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Host: Sam Sifton Editor: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Evan Gorelick, Brent Lewis, Lara McCoy, Karl Russell News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Editorial Director, Newsletters: Jodi Rudoren

Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day - Dec. 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day It is important for all of us to take a moment and remember the December 7th, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor - a defining moment in history. The Pearl Harbor "surprise" helped shape a generation of National defense policy and was not forgotten by those who had lived through the war. Monuments were created on the battle sites and around the country Veteran reunion groups met regularly to keep the memory alive. Brief History - "Day that shall live in Infamy" -Under the greatest secrecy, Japanese Vice Admiral Nagumo took his ships to sea on the 26th of November 1941, as a result of Japan's pressing need for secure flanks during their planned offensive into Southeast Asia and the East Indies. -Before dawn on the 7th of December, a carefully planned attack wave of over 180 aircraft, including torpedo planes, high-level bombers, dive bombers and fighters, was launched in the darkness and flew off to the south. When the first group had taken off, a second attack wave of similar size, but with more dive bombers and no torpedo planes, was brought up from the carriers' hangar decks and sent off into the emerging morning light. -Dive bombers attacked airfields at about 7:55 AM, destroying many aircraft. This attack prompted the dispatch of the famous message "Air raid, Pearl Harbor -- this is no drill", the outside World's first indication that war had come to the Pacific. -Within a few moments, torpedo planes attacked from east and west, with one of the latter torpedoing the USS Helena at 1010 dock. Others, from the same direction, hit USS Utah and USS Raleigh, off the western side of Ford Island. -Within a short time, five of eight battleships at Pearl Harbor were sunk or sinking, with the rest damaged. Several other ships and most Hawaii-based combat planes were also knocked out and over 2,400 Americans were dead. -The United States Navy's battleship force was removed as a possible threat to the Japanese Empire's southward expansion. As a result, America was abruptly brought into the Second World War as a full combatant. VetFriends.com salutes and supports all of you, our U.S. Veterans, active & reserve military. We thank you for your service to our country. VetFriends would also like to take a moment to reflect and honor the many brave men and women who have sacrificed the ultimate for our country. The memory of the "sneak attack" on Pearl Harbor fueled a determination for Americans to fight on against all opposed to World peace. VetFriends.com is honored to support and assist all U.S. Veterans and military personnel. Join us today and everyday in keeping the memory of Pearl Harbor alive.   Pearl Harbor Tribute Photos: 1941 - PFC Jensen A picture of my father on the USS Pennsylvania late November 1944. My father was on board in dry dock Pearl Harbor 12-7-41. Marines   1942 - Navy USS Wasp - My father who was on the Nevada at Pearl Harbor is returning to the Wasp after meeting my Mom in San Francisco. His nickname was Slim.   1944 - Dec 25, 1944 Nancy, France This is only picture I have of my Dad in WWII, 3514 ORD M.A.M.   1944 - B17 Crew, 15th AF, 97th Bomb Group, 340th Squadron Air Force   1981 - Pearl Harbor - C co. 1st. BN. 3rd Marines   2011 - Hand on Pearl Harbor This is all what I was in the Navy for.   Thanks again & may your day be filled with Pride, Honor, Remembrance & Tradition. Cpl. Andrews & Your Friends at VetFriends.com Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard Connecting People, Reuniting Thousands... VetFriends Customer Support#: 1-800-975-1618 To ensure delivery of special VetFriends.com e-newsletters, please add newsletter@vetfriends.com to your email address book or safe list. You can reply to support@vetfriends.com.Thank You Veteran & Military Brothers & Sisters!

THIS DAY IN HISTORY December 07 1941 Pearl Harbor bombed On December 7, 1941, at 7:55 a.m. Hawaii time, a Japanese dive bomber bearing the red symbol of the Rising Sun of Japan on its wings appears out of the clouds above the island of Oahu. A swarm of 360 Japanese warplanes followed, descending on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in a ferocious […]... read more Sponsored Content by REVCONTENT 19th Century 1805 Lewis and Clark temporarily settle in Fort Clatsop 1970s 1975 Indonesia invades East Timor Arts & Entertainment 2001 “Ocean’s Eleven” remake opens in theaters Civil War 1862 Battle of Prairie Grove, Arkansas Crime 1982 First execution by lethal injection 1993 Shooter opens fire on Long Island Railroad train 1996 A first-time offender ends up on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List Early U.S. 1787 Delaware becomes the first state to ratify the Constitution Natural Disasters & Environment 1988 Earthquakes wreak havoc in Armenia Sports 1989 Sugar Ray Leonard fights Roberto Duran for the third and final time U.S. Presidents 1941 FDR reacts to news of Pearl Harbor bombing

December 6, 2025 Good morning. I’m off this week, so my colleague Emily Weinstein is filling in to tell you about the return of NYT Cooking’s holiday cookie extravaganza. —Melissa Kirsch Rachel Vanni for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Samantha Seneviratne. Prop Stylist: Megan Hedgpeth. Sweet season By Emily Weinstein I’m the editor in chief of New York Times Cooking and Food. I’ve always had a sweet tooth; I have memories of stirring heaps of extra powder into my chocolate milk when I was a child, until it was lumpy and stunningly sugary. But my love of desserts didn’t actually extend to making them, even as I got older. I found baking in particular to be a frustrating and messy exercise, and unsatisfying too — after the haphazard measuring and beating, with my counters a crime scene of spilled cocoa powder and splattered egg, the recipe rudely wouldn’t turn out right. (Even back then I understood the problem wasn’t the recipe. It was the baker.) At one point, I told Dorie Greenspan, the cookbook author and queen of home baking, that I found baking to be more difficult than cooking. No, she said, sage and kind, baking is easier than cooking! In baking, you just have to follow the directions. In that spirit — and in honor of Cookie Week, New York Times Cooking’s annual holiday baking spree, with seven new recipes and videos to match — I have some directions and advice for you. Try them and I promise that you’ll be happier in the kitchen. These days, I bake a lot, and I’ve found a kind of bliss in the process, and the same childhood euphoria that comes from that first sweet bite (or in the case of that chocolate milk, the first sweet sip). Read the recipe all the way through before you start baking. I know this is boring, an assignment in English class when you’re ready for recess. Do it so you’re not caught off guard when, for instance, a recipe calls for you to chill the dough for three hours, but the party starts in 20 minutes. Measure and prepare all your ingredients first. This is also a little dull. But once you start moving through the recipe, you’ll find how amazing it is to have everything you need at hand so you can glide through the steps, no pausing to frantically search for the salt. And, if your cookie recipe calls for room temperature butter (many do), take it out of the fridge to soften as soon as you’ve decided to bake. Cookie dough generally freezes well; make extra. Freeze the dough in individual portions if you want to be able to bake a single cookie on a whim. (You can easily double recipes using our new scaling feature. You’ll need to be in the Cooking app on Android or iOS; click on the little icon at the top right of the ingredients list.) It’s better to underbake than to overbake. You can’t unbake a cookie any more than you can unsalt a soup. So take the pan out of the oven when the cookies look just done; they’ll firm up as they cool. (And if you take them out of the oven and they’re still raw, just put them back in for a minute.) Really, follow the directions, especially if you’re making a recipe for the first time. If the recipe says to leave two inches between the cookies on the baking sheet, do it. If it says not to move the baked cookies until they are completely cool, listen. And now, the cookies. Here are three from this year’s delicious batch. Mint chocolate cool Rachel Vanni for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Samantha Seneviratne. Prop Stylist: Megan Hedgpeth. My favorite ice cream flavor, reborn as a cookie. Eric Kim’s recipe is easy to make and has such a fun and striking appearance, with its green angles and chocolate curls. You don’t even need an electric mixer, though it’s helpful to have an offset spatula to spread the melted white chocolate (tinted green with food coloring) that coats the shortbread base. If you don’t have an offset spatula, a regular rubber one or even the back of a spoon works fine. Coffee and spice Rachel Vanni for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Samantha Seneviratne. Prop Stylist: Megan Hedgpeth. Melissa Clark funnels the signature flavors of Vietnamese coffee — espresso and condensed milk — into the hypnotic swirls of a marbled brownie. I learned something new from this recipe, which is that the neatest way to cut brownies once you’ve baked them is to chill them in the pan for at least an hour, flip the whole slab out upside down, and then slice them that way. Ginger, lime and a bit of a buzz Rachel Vanni for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Samantha Seneviratne. Prop Stylist: Megan Hedgpeth. Dan Pelosi’s Dark ’n’ Stormy Cookies have dark rum in the dough and the glaze, inspired as they are by the cocktail made with ginger beer, rum and a bright slash of lime. This is a festive cookie for an excellent party (but maybe not one for the school volleyball team’s bake sale). THE LATEST NEWS In the Courts The Supreme Court agreed to review the constitutionality of President Trump’s effort to end birthright citizenship. A judge ruled last week that Lindsey Halligan, a federal prosecutor appointed by Trump, was in the job illegally. But she has still not left her post. A federal judge in Florida approved the release of grand jury documents from an investigation of Jeffrey Epstein nearly two decades ago. Trump Administration A federal vaccine committee voted to end the longstanding recommendation that all newborns be immunized against hepatitis B. A video of the U.S. military’s Sept. 2 attack on a boat in the Caribbean shows the survivors waving overhead, according to people who saw it. Some interpreted it as an attempt to surrender. FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, awarded Trump with a new peace prize after its leader had publicly lobbied for Trump to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Other Big Stories Vanity Fair will not renew its contract with the journalist Olivia Nuzzi, extricating itself from the controversy over her relationship with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The E.U. fined X, Elon Musk’s social media company, $140 million for violating a law that regulates digital content. The New York Times sued Perplexity, an A.I. start-up, claiming that Perplexity repeatedly used its copyrighted work without permission. THE WEEK IN CULTURE Frank Gehry Frank Gehry at his studio in Los Angeles in 2021. Erik Carter for The New York Times Frank Gehry, a titan of architecture who designed some of the world’s most recognizable buildings, died at 96. Many of Gehry’s projects, including the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, are regarded as masterpieces. See 12 projects that show the scope of his work. Netflix-Warner Bros. Deal Netflix announced it would acquire Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio and streaming business for $83 billion. The deal, which includes TV and film studios as well as HBO Max (but not CNN), would give Netflix even more leverage over Hollywood — and a greater presence in theatrical releases. Film and TV Nick Wilde (voiced by Jason Bateman) and Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) in “Zootopia 2.” Disney/Disney, via Associated Press The animated couple from “Zootopia” has its own fandom, some of which hails from the furry community. The love runs deep. The race for this year’s Academy Award for Best Picture has five sure bets. What about the other slots? Theater At least six stage productions this year have a homophobic slur in their titles — sometimes to shock or provoke, but also to reclaim the word. Does that make it OK? The authorities in Japan said Jeremy O. Harris, the Tony-nominated playwright and actor, was arrested on suspicion of attempting to smuggle illegal drugs. More Culture Gellért Bath Stephen Hiltner/The New York Times In Budapest, political disputes and aging infrastructure have led to cascading problems at some of the city’s beloved baths. Brasses roared with punitive force; strings attacked notes as if lashing them. The Pittsburgh Symphony, playing at Carnegie Hall, sounds exactly how an orchestra should sound, writes David Allen. A new $40 million exhibit at the National Archives, opening nine months after Trump fired the chief archivist, uses technology to explore the items in its vaults. Morning readers: Save on the complete Times experience. Experience all of The Times, all in one subscription — all with this introductory offer. You’ll gain unlimited access to news and analysis, plus games, recipes, product reviews and more. CULTURE CALENDAR 📺 “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery” (Netflix): The third installment in this whodunit series, featuring Daniel Craig’s drawling detective Benoit Blanc, hits the streaming service on Friday. The mystery this time concerns “a very 2025 case” our critic Alissa Wilkinson writes: a murder in a church with a charismatic preacher who has been radicalizing his flock against the evils of modernity. And while the film takes on some big ideas around religion, Alissa writes, it does so with “a remarkably light, affectionately irreverent touch.” Read our review. RECIPE OF THE WEEK Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini. By Melissa Clark Kharra masala fish (fish with onions and tomatoes) If a fragrant seafood dish seems like just the thing for this cold December weekend, make Zainab Shah’s speedy kharra masala fish. She starts by seasoning tomatoes and onions with whole spices — coriander, cumin, mustard seed and dried chiles. Then she adds fillets of white fish (any kind you like), letting them steam and absorb all the rich flavors. A garnish of fresh ginger, green chiles and cilantro gives it all a pungent freshness. Serve with rice, roti or by itself for a saucy, savory meal. REAL ESTATE Jeff Allyn, left, and David Barenholtz. Philip Cheung for The New York Times The Hunt: A pair of business consultants looked for a low-maintenance place near Palm Springs, Calif., to spend the winters. Which home did they choose? Play our game. What you get for $975,000 in Missouri, Florida and New Mexico: a Tudor Revival near a university; a bungalow in West Palm Beach; and an adobe farmhouse close to art galleries and skiing. Not-so-smart home: A fight over who can control the garage has opened up a wider debate about consumer rights. T MAGAZINE Drawing by Chris Ware Read this weekend’s issue of T, The Times’s style magazine. LIVING Ah, Paris: Visiting the City of Light for the first time and feeling a bit overwhelmed? Our guide will help make sure you hit the highlights and leave time for serendipitous discovery. Life of the party: If you want to have people over for the holidays but don’t want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen, try these three-ingredient appetizers. ADVICE FROM WIRECUTTER Limited space? Add some mirrors. Typically, to create spaciousness, we have to take things away: objects, clutter, walls. But adding a mirror is an often-overlooked way to make a space feel bigger. Any of Wirecutter’s favorite mirrors can help facilitate this optical illusion — with some strategic placement, that is. Tight hallway or entryway? Try hanging your mirror on a wall across from a light source so the glow reflects into the rest of the room. Or try two instead of one: Mirrors placed on opposite walls can create a sense of infinity. And consider height. A tall mirror can have the effect of raising your ceilings. — Ivy Elrod GAME OF THE WEEK Indiana’s quarterback, Fernando Mendoza. Doug Mcschooler/Associated Press No. 1 Ohio State vs. No. 2 Indiana, Big Ten championship: Is this the most important college football game of the year? Is it basically pointless? Might it be both? Why it matters: For powerhouse Ohio State, an undefeated season is just another year. For Indiana, it’s once-in-a-lifetime. Before Coach Curt Cignetti arrived and performed something of a college football miracle, Indiana had more losses in its history than any other program. The Hoosiers have never played in a Big Ten championship game, and they haven’t beaten Ohio State since the 1980s. Why it doesn’t: There was a time when this game — between two undefeated, major conference teams — would decide who plays for a national championship. But no longer. These days, college football greatness is determined by a 12-team playoff, and both of these teams are comfortably in that field. The winner today will get a first-round bye. The loser might, too. Tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern on Fox NOW TIME TO PLAY Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were ambiance and ambience. Take the news quiz to see how well you followed this week’s headlines. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Host: Sam Sifton Editor: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Evan Gorelick, Brent Lewis, Lara McCoy, Karl Russell News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Editorial Director, Newsletters: Jodi Rudoren

THIS DAY IN HISTORY December 06 1884 Washington Monument completed On December 6, 1884, in Washington, D.C., workers place a nine-inch aluminum pyramid inscribed with “Laus Deo,” meaning praise (be) to God, atop a tower of white marble, completing the construction of an impressive monument to the city’s namesake and the nation’s first president, George Washington.... read more Sponsored Content by REVCONTENT Arts & Entertainment 1933 “Ulysses” is ruled not obscene 1969 Murder at the Altamont Festival brings the 1960s to a violent end Civil War 1865 13th Amendment ratified European History 1921 Irish Free State declared Natural Disasters & Environment 1907 The Monongah coal mine disaster Sports 1961 Ernie Davis becomes first Black player to win Heisman Trophy World War I 1917 The Great Halifax Explosion World War II 1941 FDR to Japanese emperor: “Prevent further death and destruction”

The Blame Game (Patrick Smith / Getty)   View in browser President Donald Trump has promised not only that America will be “great again” but also that it will be “healthy again,” “wealthy again,” “beautiful again,” and—crucially—“affordable again.” Now, as the country faces persistent inflation, a housing crisis, and rising prices on consumer goods, he claims that affordability is nothing more than a “con job,” an opportunistic buzzword leveraged by a rival party. “The word affordability is a Democrat scam,” he said during a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. Incoming presidents don’t get to pick the economy they inherit, but they can only credibly blame their predecessors for so long. In a Fox News poll last month, almost twice as many respondents said that Trump, not Joe Biden, is responsible for current economic conditions. Per new polling from Politico, 46 percent of Americans say the cost of living in the United States is the worst they can remember it being, and 46 percent think Trump is to blame for those high costs. The trend isn’t entirely new; voters have blamed Trump for the economy throughout the year. As frustration persists, the president is pointing fingers at the Democrats, but he can’t dispute the data. Americans now face both a weakening dollar and stagnant income levels. Trump’s surprise implementation of punitive tariffs this summer ended up making all sorts of goods, including clothing and beef, more expensive. Meanwhile, millions have left the country (voluntarily or not) amid the administration’s crackdown on immigration, according to the Department of Homeland Security’s estimates. This exodus, combined with a reduction in newcomers, has the potential to harm local economies. Trump has tried conflicting strategies to deal with voter frustration. He has a tendency to invoke the previous administration when things go wrong—at the start of his term, he said Biden’s name an average of six times a day, often to fault him for the economy or immigration issues. But during a recent meeting with New York City Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani, the president appeared to check his impulse to vilify Dems, beaming over Mamdani’s proposals to fix the cost-of-living crisis. “Some of his ideas really are the same ideas I have,” Trump said: “The new word is affordability.” About a week later, he dubbed himself the “AFFORDABILITY PRESIDENT” on Truth Social. But again, that only lasted so long: Affordability actually “doesn’t mean anything to anybody,” he said on Tuesday. Next week, he’ll pivot once more as he sets off on a national tour to assuage voters’ concerns about the economy and inflation. Sentiments about a president’s approach to the economy usually carry over to the incumbent party—and at the moment, Trump’s relative unpopularity is Democrats’ gain. The party has jumped at the chance to pummel Trump on affordability, which proved to be a winning issue in recent elections: The cost-of-living rhetoric that catapulted Mamdani to victory in New York City also helped two other Democrats win important races last month. The political scientist Lynn Vavreck told me yesterday that when Trump downplays the issue, he risks repeating some of what led to George H. W. Bush’s downfall in 1992: Bush lost that election to Bill Clinton in large part because his optimism about the economy failed to connect with voters’ reality. Biden suffered from a similar disconnect—and the same problem is creeping up on Trump ahead of the midterms. Approval ratings for a president’s first year in a new term often benefit from what the economic historian Robert J. Gordon calls the “honeymoon effect”—a bump that isn’t neatly explained by anything other than voters’ inclination to give leaders time to warm up. But by the time midterm season rolls around, voters tend to be less forgiving. Ten months into Trump’s presidency, the polling is starting to track a similar pattern: His approval ratings started at 47 percent and have since slipped to 36 percent (thanks to more than just affordability). Trump has been known to bounce back. But if the honeymoon is ending, that’s one thing he can’t blame Biden for. Related: Derek Thompson on the affordability curse Trump doesn’t understand inflation, James Surowiecki argues.

🚨 Republicans turn on legal immigrants In Congress, the GOP's immigration crackdown increasingly includes more scrutiny of people who have already navigated the lengthy legal process. The big picture: After two National Guard personnel were shot last week in D.C., the Trump administration has paused asylum, vowed to expand its travel bans to more than 30 countries and called for a review of green card holders from 19 countries. The suspected assailant arrived in the U.S. from Afghanistan under a Biden-era parole program and was granted asylum this year. Another Afghan national was arrested this week on suspicion of making a bomb threat online. Driving the news: Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) introduced legislation on Monday banning dual citizenship — forcing immigrants to choose just one citizenship. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) announced a new bill on Wednesday that, among other restrictions, would allow the Homeland Security secretary to strip citizenship from immigrants if they join riots or violent protests. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) has been pushing his "PAUSE Act," which would freeze all legal immigration and end automatic birthright citizenship. Zoom out: Online, MAGA influencers and candidates have been promoting their own aggressive anti-immigration wish lists — from shutting down the refugee program to mass denaturalization, as Axios' Tal Axelrod reported. President Trump on Sunday said he would "absolutely" denaturalize certain Americans if he could. Multiple Senate Republicans were not ready to weigh in on such an idea, citing unfamiliarity with the legal arguments. What's next: The Supreme Court announced today it will take up a case on Trump's executive order to end birthright citizenship. If the justices agree with the president, the court could overrule a constitutional right it has previously upheld, Axios' April Rubin reports. — Stef Kight

⚡️ GOP's health care mess Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson are both considering votes on GOP health care priorities next week — if they can figure out what those priorities are. Why it matters: Democrats are unified in their demand for a three-year extension of the Affordable Care Act's enhanced subsidies, which expire Dec. 31. Republicans are still divided and debating their counteroffers. Johnson hopes to reveal a House GOP health care package early next week, though some sources are skeptical that will happen. Thune has promised Democrats a vote on their health care bill next week. But his conference is still in the idea stage on their counters, which are more likely to come as amendment or unanimous consent votes rather than a single broader GOP package. Between the lines: Don't expect any health care package to pass next week. The real question is whether the voting exercise in the Senate and maybe the House fuels ongoing bipartisan dealmaking — or hampers it. Zoom in: Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) is circulating a plan that would extend the expiring subsidies — but with a $200,000 income cap and no zero-dollar premium packages, Semafor's Burgess Everett reports. Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) told us he hopes a GOP package will include moving the expiring subsidies into health care savings accounts and adding his bipartisan bill requiring more price transparency. Republicans are also again eyeing changes known as cost-sharing reductions, aimed at lowering premiums, but that could cut subsidies for some enrollees. Multiple senators described the conversations as broad and fluid, with no real consensus this week on any single GOP package. And Hyde protections continue to be a sore spot, with some Republicans demanding increased assurances that subsidies aren't used for abortions. In the House, Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) has been holding "listening sessions" with committee leaders and rank-and-file Republicans for weeks to find a consensus GOP plan. A bipartisan group of 35 centrist lawmakers, led by Reps. Jen Kiggans (R-Va.) and Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) unveiled a two-year extension of the ACA subsidies yesterday, but it doesn't have buy-in from leadership. "We're going to come up with something that I think even people like Jen would support," Scalise said yesterday. House GOP leaders have also discussed proposals that would not extend the enhanced subsidies but instead expand association health plans, in which employers band together to purchase health coverage for workers. House Democrats, meanwhile, filed a discharge petition for a clean three-year extension — the same approach Senate Democrats say they'll put on the floor next week. No Republicans have signed on, and few seem willing to do so. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) is also floating a plan that mirrors a White House proposal that was postponed after conservative pushback. Reality check: A sizable bloc of Republicans in both chambers remains ideologically opposed to extending the subsidies in any form. Getting a plan with only GOP buy-in through the House looks nearly impossible — if Johnson omits an extension of the ACA subsidies, he'd lose vulnerable Republicans who are fighting to extend them. And even if House GOP leadership opted to bring up a bipartisan bill under suspension, they'd still need to find 80 willing Republicans. It will also take time for leadership to familiarize members with the proposal. The bottom line: With only 10 session days to go, it looks increasingly likely the health care fight will continue into next year. — Stef Kight, Kate Santaliz and Hans Nichols

Frank Gehry, Titan of Architecture, Is Dead at 96 https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/arts/design/frank-gehry-dead.html?

🏛️ Dems bet on affordability Illustration: Natalie Peeples/Axios Congress' top Democrats want to make next year's elections a referendum on affordability under President Trump, Axios' Stephen Neukam and Hans Nichols report. Making America affordable again will run through nearly every part of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries' efforts to pit their economic plans against Trump's record. 💰 Their goal: isolate and amplify the affordability issue at nearly every turn. Schumer wants lawmakers to push legislation aimed at lowering costs across health care, housing, food and energy. The other side: White House officials know they have a political problem, and they insist relief is coming. Trump recently lifted reciprocal tariffs on several grocery staples, including coffee, tea and beef. ⛽️ Officials also tout cheaper gas, and insist prices generally are leveling off. But Trump has dismissed Democrats' cost-of-living focus, saying earlier this week that affordability is a "con job" that "doesn't mean anything to anybody." Go deeper.

Cauldron for Milan Cortina Winter Olympics lit at Italy’s presidential palace with 2 months to go A preliminary cauldron was lit by the Olympic flame at Italy’s presidential palace on Friday as the countdown to the Milan Cortina Winter Games approached the two-months-to-go mark. International Olympic Committee president Kirsty Coventry, Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Premier Giorgia Meloni were in attendance for the ceremony. AP Video shot by Silvia Stellacci https://apnews.com/video/cauldron-for-milan-cortina-winter-olympics-lit-at-italys-presidential-palace-with-2-months-to-go-7b6fb2c991eb4cc1b4d12193be6eb6a4?

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, actor who performed in ‘Mortal Kombat,’ has died at 75 https://apnews.com/article/cary-hiroyuki-tagawa-died-2a5ac471aa2dd5d7218205ff8b654b08?

EU hits Elon Musk’s X with 120 million euro fine for breaching bloc’s social media law LONDON (AP) — European Union regulators on Friday fined X, Elon Musk’s social media platform, 120 million euros ($140 million) for breaches of the bloc’s digital regulations, in a move that risks rekindling tensions with Washington over free speech. https://apnews.com/article/x-elon-musk-twitter-european-union-regulations-0a135601e050518d5aa0a0155f973177?

Suspect in DC pipe bomb case said to have confessed in interviews with investigators, AP sources say The man accused of planting a pair of pipe bombs outside the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic national parties in Washington on the eve of the U.S. Capitol attack confessed to the act in interviews with investigators, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. Brian Cole Jr. also indicated that he believed the 2020 election was stolen and expressed views supportive of President Donald Trump, said the sources. A spokesperson for the federal public defender’s office, which will be representing Cole at a Friday court appearance, declined to comment. Read more. RELATED COVERAGE ➤ BREAKING: Grand jury transcripts from abandoned Epstein investigation in Florida ordered released Trump administration will expand travel ban to more than 30 countries, Noem says Trump’s security strategy slams European allies and asserts US power in Western Hemisphere Renewed fighting in eastern Congo threatens ‘historic’ peace deal brokered by Trump US Treasury slaps $7.1M fine on New York firm for managing properties for Putin ally 🏞️ U.S. national parks will offer free entry on President Trump's birthday — but not MLK Day or Juneteenth. Go deeper.

Grand jury transcripts from abandoned Epstein investigation in Florida can be released, judge rules ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A federal judge on Friday gave the Justice Department permission to release transcripts of a grand jury investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse of underage girls in Florida — a case that ultimately ended without any federal charges being filed against the millionaire sex offender. https://apnews.com/article/jeffrey-epstein-florida-bd036cbe2fa4e98d27aa473fd6daa3bd?

Powerhouse Attorney Hammers Bondi’s DOJ Over ‘Unprecedented’ Humiliation The Justice Department failed to re-indict New York’s attorney general after the first case fell apart. Letitia James’ lawyer blasted the Trump administration’s “unprecedented” efforts to bring a baseless case against her after a grand jury refused to indict the New York attorney general for mortgage fraud.After a judge threw out the Justice Department’s cases last month against James and another one of President Donald Trump’s foes, former FBI Director James Comey, Attorney General Pam Bondi’s DOJ rushed to secure a new indictment and presented it to a grand jury just 10 days later, CNN reported. The move backfired, though, and the grand jury on Thursday took the unusual step of failing to return an indictment, James’ attorney Abbe Lowell told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on The Source. “I’ve practiced law for a long time, and in my experience as both a prosecutor, when I was that in the Justice Department, and as a defense attorney, I can’t tell you a time… where a federal prosecutor thought a case was strong enough to bring to a grand jury, and the grand jury has said no,” she said. Lowell has represented numerous high-profile clients—including Hunter Biden, Jared Kushner, and Ivanka Trump—and is also defending another Trump target, Fed Governor Lisa Cook, against the president’s attempts to fire her. During a federal grand jury hearing, which is conducted in secret, the prosecutor presents evidence to the jury to show probable cause—or reasonable grounds to believe—that a crime was committed. Given that the prosecutor only has to present favorable evidence and there’s no defense to make a counter-argument, the popular saying goes that a prosecutor could get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich. Lowell said it was already “unprecedented” for the government to bring a case “with no basis,” but that she’d heard the government might try bringing the case before a new grand jury in a different city in Virginia. “If they do that, people need to pay attention,” she said. “It’s not like this is normal, but what it does do is show how far they’ll go to break the rule of law, to do a revenge tour that President Trump has ordered.” The White House and the DOJ both declined to comment. In September, the president inadvertently published a private Truth Social message intended only for Bondi calling for the prosecutions of Comey, James, and Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California. Trump had long called for them to be prosecuted after James led a civil fraud case against Trump in New York and Comey oversaw a probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Schiff, who served 12 terms in the U.S. House of Representatives before running for Senate, led the House’s 2020 impeachment of Trump. Around the same time that Trump accidentally published his message to Bondi, acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, veteran prosecutor Erik Siebert, refused to charge James with mortgage fraud, citing a lack of evidence in the case. Trump replaced him with his personal attorney Lindsey Halligan, a former beauty pageant contestant and insurance lawyer with no prior prosecutorial experience. A judge ruled on Nov. 24 that Halligan’s appointment was invalid, so the DOJ brought in a new prosecutor from Missouri to try Thursday to secure an indictment, Lowell said. The latest failure was a “pretty big embarrassment” for both Trump and the DOJ, the CNN host noted, given how rare it is for a grand jury to refuse to indict. Asked if there was any indication why the grand jury refused to indict, Lowell said more information about the secret proceedings might come out over the next few days. “We filed a motion that probably had seven single-spaced pages of statements President Trump has made to go after [James],” she said. “If they re-indict or if they try to up it again and they keep trying, and again, all they’re doing is making our motion stronger and stronger.” James said in a statement Thursday, “As I have said from the start, the charges against me are baseless. It is time for this unchecked weaponization of our justice system to stop.” “I am grateful to the members of the grand jury and humbled by the support I have received from across the country,” she added. “Now, I will continue to do my job standing up for the rule of law and the people of New York.” https://www.thedailybeast.com/powerhouse-attorney-abbe-lowell-hammers-pam-bondis-doj-over-unprecedented-letitia-james-humiliation/?

Republican Secretly Gives Mike Johnson Bombshell Warning as MAGA Mutiny Spirals GOP lawmakers are increasingly furious with the House Speaker’s leadership. House Republicans are privately fuming at Speaker Mike Johnson over his failure to lead on issues such as the cost-of-living crisis and skyrocketing healthcare premiums, according to CNN. GOP lawmakers were already on edge over voters’ economic concerns, President Donald Trump’s falling approval ratings, and Democrats’ success last month in a slate of crucial statewide races—not to mention the administration’s efforts to block the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files and the president’s risky nationwide gerrymandering campaign. This week, they received yet another wake-up call after the Republican candidate in a special election in bright-red Tennessee vastly underperformed against his progressive challenger, winning by just single digits. Privately, a GOP lawmaker told Johnson, 53, his leadership was “slipping away,” and that frustration was “boiling over” among the members of his caucus, CNN reported. “Morale has never been lower,” the lawmaker, whose identity was not revealed, told Johnson. House members returned from their Thanksgiving break expecting to vote on a bill that would show Republicans are taking their constituents’ economic concerns seriously, according to CNN. Instead, they were told the week’s main legislative effort would involve regulating college athletics. In the meantime, Republicans still don’t have a plan for bringing down healthcare costs after the latest GOP spending bill cut nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid spending and failed to extend health insurance subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. Premiums for about 22 million Americans will skyrocket next year after the ACA credits expire, with the average recipient seeing their premiums double. Although Johnson keeps saying he’s working on a plan, some House members are frustrated because they don’t see any progress. GOP Rep. Carlos Gimenez insisted to CNN that he had confidence in the speaker. Johnson promised on Thursday to unveil a plan next week, but many members of his own party still have no idea what it will include. They also worry that it’s too late to pass legislation by the end of the year, and unless the plan includes some version of extending the enhanced subsidies—which is seen as unlikely—millions of Americans could be priced out of their healthcare plans. “We’re trying to get consensus on it. It’s a complicated matter. Lots of opinions on it,” Johnson told reporters. The Daily Beast has reached out to Johnson’s office for comment. GOP lawmakers are frustrated that the House has been “missing in action,” as one California representative put it, thanks in part to Johnson’s willingness to cede power to Trump, CNN reported. Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, who has clashed repeatedly with the president, accused Johnson of being a “rubber stamp” for Trump, and warned that a flood of Republican retirement announcements was coming. “You have a lot of intelligent, hard-working people who gave up a lot of things to be here in Congress, only to find out that all they get to do is come here and rubber-stamp whatever Donald Trump wants, and that’s kind of humiliating,” he told CNN. “That’s why you have so many people running for statewide office and retirements being announced, because nobody wants to be a rubber stamp. You could get a monkey to do this job,” he added. https://www.thedailybeast.com/republican-secretly-gives-mike-johnson-bombshell-warning-as-maga-mutiny-spirals/?

Trump said the award was “truly one of the great honors of my life” in a speech where he bragged about World Cup ticket sales immediately after touting the wars he claimed he solved. “The world is a safer place now,” Trump said. “The United States one year ago was not doing too well, and now I have to say we’re the hottest country anywhere in the world, and we’re going to keep it that way.” Trump was welcomed onto the stage at the Kennedy Center by FIFA President Gianni Infantino, where he immediately put on the medal as the top soccer organization official sang his praises. “You definitely deserve the first FIFA Peace Prize for your action, for what you have obtained in your way, but you have obtained it in an incredible way. ” Infantino said. “You can always count as a president on my support.” Ahead of the announcement, Trump insisted he had not been told he would receive the prize, but he said it would be a great honor. He also bragged about solving eight wars with “another one coming.” The “FIFA Peace Prize–Football Unites the World” was created in the weeks after it was announced that Trump was not being given this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. Trump, 79, had conducted an all-out campaign to receive that long-coveted prize and remains deeply bitter that it slipped through his grasp this time. He continues to bring it up, including earlier this week. Infantino even called for Trump to win the Nobel Peace Prize, but after the snub, Infantino came up with his own award to give the president he has wooed for months. FIFA announced its peace prize last month, which it said would be given annually to individuals who have taken “exceptional and extraordinary actions for peace.” Infantino has worked to ingratiate himself with the president at nearly every opportunity since Trump returned to office. He has gushed over Trump and brought along trophies for the gold-loving president to hold and admire during their appearances together in the Oval Office. The president also took center stage at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup on July 13 where he stood in the middle of Chelsea players as they hoisted the trophy into the air. Infantino was even seen handing a spare winners’ medal to Trump after the team received them, which he pocketed. On Thursday, the president happily greeted Infantino when he spotted him in the audience at his event at the Institute of Peace. Trump went on to boast about World Cup ticket sales. Infantino was also in attendance for Trump’s inauguration and the Sharm El-Sheikh peace summit in Egypt in October. The president has wholeheartedly embraced the planning of the World Cup, which will hold games in the U.S. as well as in Mexico and Canada. He even established a task force to make sure it runs smoothly, led by Andrew Giuliani, the son of his former lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. Friday’s World Cup draw event was a star-studded affair. with Heidi Klum and Kevin Hart co-hosting the final draw. Performances included some of Trump’s favorite artists, including Andrea Bocelli and the Village People, as well as Robbie Williams and Nicole Scherzinger. https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-gets-fake-peace-prize-at-tacky-kennedy-center-takeover/? ps:What does Solomon have to say about this? "Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher; "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity."

US vaccine advisers say not all babies need a hepatitis B shot at birth NEW YORK (AP) — A federal vaccine advisory committee voted on Friday to end the longstanding recommendation that all U.S. babies get the hepatitis B vaccine on the day they’re born. https://apnews.com/article/vaccines-babies-hepatitis-b-10f8db54beb38c5cd39a94f8a3657752?

Lithuanian court convicts the leader of a governing party of inciting hatred against Jews VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — A Lithuanian court on Thursday convicted the leader of one of the parties in the country’s coalition government for making antisemitic comments and fined him 5,000 euros (about $5,800). https://apnews.com/article/lithuania-court-antisemitism-coalition-zemaitaitis-conviction-29e66a87c858671b835a5189f5266e8f?

West Virginia again bans religious reasons for school vaccine exemptions West Virginia’s Supreme Court has reinstated a ban on parents citing their religious beliefs to opt out of required school vaccines for their children. The Supreme Court acted six days after a county circuit judge issued an injunction in a lawsuit filed in June. The judge had said children of families who objected to the state’s compulsory vaccination law on religious grounds would be allowed to attend school. Read more. Key points: West Virginia was among just a handful of states that granted only medical exemptions from school vaccinations when Gov. Patrick Morrisey issued an executive order in January allowing religious exemptions. Morrisey’s authority to issue the order was challenged in a lawsuit. The state’s school vaccination policy has been heralded by medical experts as one of the most protective in the U.S. for children. It requires children to receive vaccines for numerous diseases – including chickenpox, measles, mumps, polio and tetanus – before starting school. At least 30 states have religious freedom laws modeled after the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which allows federal regulations that interfere with religious beliefs to be challenged. RELATED COVERAGE ➤ West Virginia parents can cite religious beliefs to opt out of school vaccines, judge says Groups sue over West Virginia governor’s order on religious exemptions for school vaccines West Virginia GOP governor signs ‘religious freedom’ bill

Vatican commission again says no to ordaining women as deacons; recommends other ministries A second Vatican study commission has determined that women should not be ordained as deacons. The Vatican took the unusual step of publishing a synthesis of the commission’s findings, including the members’ votes on specific theological questions. The conclusion left open the possibility for further study but proposed instead the creation of new lay ministries to give women more participation in the life of the church. Read more. Why this matters: Catholic women do much of the church’s work in schools and hospitals and are usually responsible for passing the faith to the next generation. Some have complained of their second-class status. Deacons are ordained ministers who perform many of the same functions as priests, presiding at weddings, baptisms and funerals. They can preach but cannot celebrate Mass. For male seminarians, the diaconate is a transitional ministry on their way to being ordained as priests. Married men can also be ordained as permanent deacons. Women cannot, although historians say women served as deacons in the early Christian church. RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Pope cancels Holy See fundraising commission announced under questionable circumstances Pope Leo XIV's first full-length US book, 'Peace Be with You,' to be released in February Pope Leo shares his thoughts on the conclave, reflects on spirituality and future travels