Good morning. Today is December 1. And if you're anything like us, you're mega-stressing about everything left to do before the year ends. Well, consider this advice an early holiday gift: don't worry about it.

You’re not defined by the things you do (or don’t do) – you are already enough, perfect just as you are. So go forth and live! Laugh! And if there's some more time left over, love!

*wakes up from trance* Ah, crap did we disassociate and do a whole big self-help pep talk? Sorry. Unless you dug it, in which case cool we totally intended it.

P.S. Anyone else get their Zillow Wrapped yet? Ours was kind of a bummer.

⏰🚀 Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news takes 3.73 minutes to read.

“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”

–J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973)

The House approved a measure yesterday that would force an end to the ongoing labor dispute between railway companies and their workers, ahead of a possible nationwide strike starting December 9. It now heads to the Senate for a vote – and the stakes are pretty high.

If rail workers collectively walk off the job, it would cost the US economy a projected $2+ billion… per day.

🚂 Background: Railway companies and their unions have been bargaining on a new labor agreement for years, with major sticking points around paid sick leave and time off. The day before workers were set to walk off the job in mid-September, the Biden administration stepped in and brokered a tentative agreement.

• However, the deal was later rejected by four unions representing ~51% of all US rail workers, setting up a potential strike starting next Friday.

🏛️ So, why is Congress involved?... Under the Railway Labor Act – which was initially passed in 1926 after decades of labor disagreements – Congress can unilaterally end contract negotiations by passing legislation that forces both employers and unions to accept a new deal.

🤔 What happens if workers still refuse to return?... Even if Congress approves legislative action to block a strike – an outcome that appears likely – railway employees could gamble on an illegal walkout. Though should this occur, the unions would face hefty fines, plus the prospect of their members being fired.

+Worth mentioning: The House also passed a separate measure that would give rail workers seven days of paid sick leave in their new contract, but it’s unclear if the bill will clear the Senate in the face of Republican opposition.

🇫🇷🥖 The French baguette was one of 23 items added to UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list yesterday. Alongside French baguettes, UNESCO also added traditional tea-making techniques from China, the practice of modern dance in Germany, and a traditional Cambodian martial art form called Kun Lbokator, among others. The list's aim is to represent skills and social habits that the organization deems important to preserve for future generations.

🇨🇳 Chinese residents who attended weekend protests against Covid restrictions are starting to be contacted by police. Officials have clamped down following a weekend of rare anti-government demonstrations, quashing additional protests planned for several major cities. Authorities are reportedly also stopping citizens in major cities, then checking their phones for signs of VPNs or foreign apps like Twitter, Instagram, and Telegram. Separately, former Chinese President Jiang Zemin – who led China out of isolation following the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests – died at 96 yesterday.

🇸🇾 ISIS confirmed its mysterious leader was recently killed in battle in Syria, less than nine months after he assumed the role. The militant Islamist group also named a successor, but provided no information about either men, apart from assumed names. It marks the second ISIS leader to be killed this year, after the group’s previous head died via suicide bomb during a US raid in Syria in February.

🤨 “Gee, thanks Grandma…” you say, after unwrapping yet another out-of-style and terribly-fitting article of clothing. We’ve all been there.

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If the first of every month has you itching to become a card-carrying member of the “Rent is Too Damn High” party, Airbnb may have a solution: rent your apartment out on its platform.

But not in the shady, hopefully my landlord doesn’t discover I’m doing this kind of way. Instead, the company has partnered with some of the largest property managers in the US to launch Airbnb-friendly apartments, a program that currently counts 175 different apartment buildings across 25+ cities as initial partners. Tenants at participating locations can go through a signup process to list their apartment on the platform.

During an initial three-month test period, the company says participating renters:

• Hosted an average of nine nights per month
• Made an average of $900 per month

But just like the great American hero Rocky Balboa once said, tenant-land ain't all sunshine and rainbows. Some places, like New York and various counties in California, have regulations in place geared towards restricting short-term subletting. Plus, Airbnb’s program enables apartment building-owners to place their own rules and restrictions on rentals, as well as charge tenants up to a 20% fee on any income.

🏘 Zoom out: In 2020, the average renter spent 27% of their income on rent, per a report from the National Apartment Association, close to the 30% max threshold many financial experts advise. And that report was published before a record-setting median rent increase of 17.6% in 2021.

Teacher: Okay Pentagon, let’s see the audit.

Pentagon: My dog ate it.

Teacher: You’ve said that for the last four audits.

Pentagon: Super hungry dog, yea.

According to an independent report published last month, the US Department of Defense could only account for 39% of its $3.5 trillion worth of assets in the 2022 fiscal year – a big fat audit “F.” The Pentagon has now failed five straight audits dating back to 2018, when its first such inspection occurred.

And if you’re wondering how many other government agencies are unable to pass an audit, the answer would be zero. The Government Management Reform Act of 1994 requires mandatory audits for all government agencies – though only since 2013 has each been able to satisfy this requirement… all except the Pentagon, that is.

• Some 1,600 auditors took part in reviewing the DOD’s finances this year, which were broken up into 27 separate, smaller audits.
• Of those, just seven earned a clean bill of financial health. “[B]asically the same picture as last year,” per Pentagon Comptroller Mike McCord.

👀 Looking ahead… The DOD hopes to pass its first audit by 2027, per McCord – 14 years after every other US government agency.

That timing could also coincide with another DOD milestone: a $1 trillion US defense budget, which experts predict will arrive sometime between 2027 and 2030 (it's currently $857 billion).

+In the know: The Department of Defense is… fairly large. Its assets this year (that we know of) include nearly 2.9 million military personnel, 19,700 aircraft, 290+ ships, and physical items like buildings, roads, and fences across nearly 5,000 sites worldwide.

💬 Quoted…​​ “It makes sense to moderate the pace of our rate increases as we approach the level of restraint that will be sufficient to bring inflation down.”

In a speech yesterday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell signaled that the central bank is on track to raise interest rates by 0.5% at its next meeting in mid-December, a departure from an unprecedented four straight rate-rises of 0.75%.

• US markets all closed higher following the news. (S&P: +3.1%; Dow: +2.2%; Nasdaq: +4.4%)

💼 Stat of the Day: The newest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, released yesterday, showed 10.3 million job vacancies in October. That’s a decline of 353,000 from September and down 760,000 compared with a year ago.

• Per the most-recent data, there are now 1.7 job openings for every available worker, down from a 2 to 1 ratio just a few months ago.

🤯 Did You Know?... Donald Triplett, the first person ever diagnosed with autism, is still alive today.

📖 Worth a Read: Even university presidents lose their minds when their teens apply to college → (WSJ)

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• ☝️ The global population emits 37.4 billion tons of CO2 each year, per Our World in Data; the above map shows where all those emissions come from.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 💼 Layoffs: DoorDash cut its staff by 1,250. | CNN began laying off an undisclosed number of employees. | Crypto exchange Kraken cut 30% of its workforce, equivalent to 1,100 jobs. | H&M announced plans to fire 1,500 employees.
• 📉 Bank of America downgraded Carvana’s stock yesterday, saying it could go to zero by the end of 2023 without a fresh injection of capital; shares of the online car seller have fallen nearly 97% so far this year.
• 🏢 Twitter CEO Elon Musk said Apple and Twitter have “resolved” their differences after he met with CEO Tim Cook yesterday. | Salesforce announced co-CEO Bret Taylor will step down, with Marc Benioff becoming sole chief executive.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🎁 Spotify Wrapped is back; Bad Bunny became the first artist to hold the title of most streamed artist globally for 3 straight years; "As It Was" by Harry Styles was the most streamed song both globally and in the US.
• ⚖️🎤 A California judge declared a mistrial due to a hung jury in the rape trial of That ’70s Show actor Danny Masterson. | Christine McVie, keyboardist and singer of Fleetwood Mac, passed away at the age of 79. (Read Stevie Nicks’ tribute to her “best friend in the whole world.”)
• ⚽ An all-female referee team will be in charge of today's Germany v. Costa Rica game, a first in men's World Cup history. | Australia, Argentina, Poland, and France advanced to the round of 16 yesterday.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🕳️🧠 US scientists succeeded in creating “the smallest, crummiest wormhole you can imagine making,” per a new study published in Nature. | Neuralink CEO Elon Musk said the company hopes to begin putting its coin-sized brain implant into human patients within the next six months.
• 🚀🌕 SpaceX delayed the launch of the first private lander to the Moon last night; the lander, created by Japanese company ispace, is now set to blast off early this morning; when it does, it’ll carry a 10kg rover built by the UAE called Rashid, which represents the Arab world's first Moon mission.
• 📜 A team of researchers recently cracked a five-century-old secret code that Holy Roman Emperor Charles V – one of the most powerful men of the 1700s – used to communicate with his subordinates.

EVERYTHING ELSE

• 🩸 The FDA is drafting new guidelines that would allow gay and bisexual men in monogamous relationships to donate blood without abstaining from sex, per the WSJ.
• 📸 Want to see what you would’ve looked like if you lived in Ancient Egypt or Medieval Europe? This new AI app renders your face in the style of different historical periods.
• 🏛️ Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (NY) was elected House Democratic Minority Leader yesterday, becoming the first Black leader of a party in Congress. (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)

CLICKBAIT

• 🎄 The best Christmas movies of all time, plus where to stream them.

Yesterday, we covered how a number of large employers are rethinking college-degree requirements for some jobs as they struggle to field applicants.

❓ Our question to you: Do you have a bachelor’s degree or above?

• 👍 Yes: 74% | 92% of this group believed their degree positively impacted their career, while 8% disagreed; 74% said a college degree is necessary to do their current job, while 26% said it wasn’t; the most-worked-in industries were education (29.5%), tech (19.2%), and business/finance (17.6%).
• 👎 No: 26% | 29% of this group believed their lack of degree negatively impacted their career, while 71% disagreed; the most-worked-in industries were business/finance (15.4%), government (12.8%), and tech (10.3%).

See the full 360° view.

+Note on sample size: We received 23,154 total votes, and 671 long form responses.

Eighteen-year-old Olivia Pichardo may only be a freshman, but she's already breaking records.

⚾️ Team player... When Brown University starts its baseball season in February, Olivia will be the first-ever female athlete to play on a Division 1 varsity baseball team in the US. 

• Olivia went through a grueling tryout process and lengthy assessment, where she ultimately impressed head coach Grant Achilles with her versatility and skills. 
• According to the young athlete, when Grant announced during a team meeting that she had made the cut, her new teammates broke out into applause.

💬 What she's saying: "I'm just really glad that we're having more and more female baseball players at the collegiate level, and no matter what division, it's just really good to see this progression."

Angel Falls, the world’s tallest uninterrupted waterfall, is located in which South American country?

(keep scrolling for the answer)

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