Good morning. Okay so, the Mega Millions is up to $1.1 billion, which, according to our attorney, is false advertising (“a billion is not a million”). 

Just think about it: there you are, having just won the actual lottery, so excited and hugging your family and crying for joy, naturally – and then you’d get a call saying "Sorry bub, you actually won $1.1 billion.”

The emotional damage would be far too great to even mention here in this fairly family-friendly newsletter. But don’t worry: our lawyer has promised us an open-and-shut lawsuit victory against Mega Millions, wherein we shall pocket the entire $1.1 billion and make them change their name to Mega Millions and Sometimes Also Billions.

At least we hope we’ll win. Cuz we’ve made some purchases – houses, planes, planes that are houses – and, um... yeah it’s getting a little dicey out here.

By the way, Stan “Open and Shut” McDonald, if you're reading this, PLEASE call us back.

But enough about us – we know why you’re here. THE NEWS.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news takes 3.63 minutes to read.

"Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved."

–Helen Keller (1880-1968)

Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy (CA) was elected Speaker of the House on Saturday morning, following four days and 14 failed attempts to win the necessary votes. It marked the longest election for House leader since 1859, when it took 44 ballots.

🗳️ Background: The House began voting on a leader last Wednesday in the first session of its new term, with most analysts predicting Rep. McCarthy would win. But for the first two days, a group of around 20 GOP members – mostly belonging to the “Freedom Caucus” – continually refused to vote for McCarthy, leaving the chamber unable to perform its duties due to lack of a speaker.

🏛️ That brings us to Friday… when things started to shift, after McCarthy approved a number of concessions to get the holdout GOP votes moving in his direction. These included agreements to:

• Allow a single GOP member to call for a vote to remove the House Speaker
• Create a new committee to investigate the alleged weaponization of the FBI against its political foes
• Cap government spending for 2024 at the same level as 2022
• Establish a 72-hour window for House members to read any new bill before it can be voted on
• Hold separate votes on all 12 annual government spending bills, rather than bundling them together in a single massive omnibus measure
• Add more members of the conservative House “Freedom Caucus” to key committees

And it eventually worked – on the 15th ballot early Saturday morning, McCarthy received 216 votes compared to 212 for Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY). (Six Republicans voted present, allowing McCarthy to win the speaker position with less than a majority.)

📝 Bottom line: All 434 House members were finally sworn into office around 1:30am Saturday morning, roughly an hour after McCarthy was elected – meaning the House can finally start performing its legislative and administrative duties.

The first item on the agenda? Voting on a new rules package that’ll govern procedures in the chamber for the next two years.

📊 Flash poll: How do you feel about the listed concessions that House Speaker McCarthy made to get elected?

I agree with all of them

I agree with most of them

I don’t feel strongly either way

I disagree with most of them

I disagree with all of them

Unsure/other

🇧🇷 Supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro stormed government buildings in Brazil’s capital yesterday. Thousands of pro-Bolsonaro protesters broke into Brazil’s Congress, presidential palace, and Supreme Court while calling for military intervention to remove President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who took office last week (and was in a different state when the attack occurred). At least 170 people were arrested after riot police arrived on the scene to restore order, per local officials. Bolsonaro hadn't commented on the events as early as this morning; the former prez also hasn't explicitly conceded the election but didn't impede the presidential transition – da Silva was sworn in on January 1 – and is believed to have traveled to Florida in December.

🇨🇳 China officially reopened its borders on Sunday following three years of isolation. Tens of thousands of travelers flew in and out of mainland China yesterday as Beijing removed nearly all of its border restrictions, including quarantine requirements for international visitors. Experts said it’ll likely take some time before travel between China and the rest of the world reaches pre-pandemic levels, as many airlines have adjusted their routes to avoid the country over the past three years.

🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia allegedly jailed two Wikipedia administrators in a bid to control content on the website. A pair of human rights groups reported late last week that an investigation by parent company Wikimedia had revealed Saudi Arabia previously infiltrated Wikipedia’s senior ranks in the region. It also discovered that Saudi officials in September 2020 sentenced two high-ranking Wikipedia admins to prison sentences of eight and 32 years as part of its infiltration.

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Also, volunteers (AKA Dooberteers) can register to transport animals or for other roles. So far, Doobert has facilitated over 15,600 rescues and 6,100 transports, while adding over 35,500 Dooberteers to their ranks.👏

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Or become a Dooberteer! All hands on deck are needed, and there are multiple ways to help:

• Pet foster
• Animal transporter
• Pet photographer
• Virtual Volunteer
• In-person volunteer
• Lost pet support

🐶💖 Doobert isn’t just committed to helping animals – they want to help every animal lover out there do their part as well.👍

Help animals today by shopping Doobert (Or become a Dooberteer!).

Around 100,000 tech enthusiasts gathered in Las Vegas last week and over the weekend for CES 2023, an annual affair that bills itself as the most influential tech event in the world.

And as you’d expect from one of the world’s preeminent tech conferences, the companies showcasing products brought more heat than Gordon Ramsay’s face in the middle of a tirade. For example:

• The world’s first color-changing concept car – a midsize electric sports sedan from BMW, covered in futuristic panels, that’s able to change color on demand.
• A smart display for aquariums that tracks line of sight or gestures to determine what an observer is looking at, then uses AI to identify facts about the fish.
• Computer screens from Samsung that fold and stretch, which the company said will be integrated into future laptop designs. (Sources tell us that Elastigirl was a key consultant.😜)

But while most of these products are years away from commercial viability, others are much closer to claiming a spot on next year’s holiday gift list.

Over the next few weeks and months, consumers will be able to purchase the world’s first “drive & fly” car from startup Aska (for a cool $789,000), a laptop-charging stationary bike desk from Acer, a self-driving lawn mower robot from Worx, and a smart mixer from GE that weighs ingredients directly in the mixing bowl.

📸 Big picture: In addition to being fictional billionaire Miles Bron’s favorite event – ya know, because of all the disruption – CES 2023 boasts some big-name attendees. This year’s event included reps from 323 of the Fortune Global 500 companies, and 85 of the Interbrand Top 100 – with 60% of all attendees being senior-level execs.

💬 Quoted…​​ “OMFG!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Yesterday, on the Buffalo Bills’ very first play following last week’s canceled contest due to safety Damar Hamlin’s on-field cardiac arrest, running back Nyheim Hines returned the opening kickoff from the New England Patriots for a 96-yard touchdown – with Hamlin live-tweeting from the hospital.

• The Bills’ safety also released his first public statement since suffering the cardiac arrest, and "continues to progress remarkably in his recovery," according to the team.

🚀 Stat of the Day: If Robert Frost were alive to write about the road less traveled, it probably wouldn’t lead to space. A record 180 rocket launches reached orbit in 2022, up from 86 five years ago, per a new report from astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell, who tracks global space flight.

🤯 Did You Know?... Websites built on WordPress account for ~40% of the web.

📖 Worth a Read: What naked mole-rats can teach us about treating cancer → (BBC Future)

• ☝️ Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano, one of the world’s most-active volcanoes, began erupting on Thursday; it came weeks after Kilauea concluded 16 straight months of erupting that started in September 2021.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 💼 The US added 223,000 nonfarm jobs in December, the Labor Department announced on Friday, marking the lowest monthly gain in two years; the unemployment rate clocked in at 3.5%, tying a 53-year low.
• 💊 Alzhemer’s drug lecanemab received fast-track FDA approval last Friday; the drug, which appears to slow onset of the disease, also sparked safety concerns after some patients had serious adverse events, including brain swelling and bleeding.
• 📺 Roku ended 2022 with over 70 million users, the company announced last Thursday, it marks a year-over-year increase of 16.5%; the streamer also launched its own brand of TVs at CES last week.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏈 The NFL season concluded yesterday. (See who made the playoffs.)
• 🏆 Speaking of football: The CFP National Championship between TCU and Georgia kicks off tonight at 7:30 ET.
• 🍿 Avatar 2 topped the box office for the fourth straight weekend; its global box office total has now surpassed $1.7 billion, making it the seventh-highest grossing film of all time; director James Cameron announced that, in addition to the already-filmed Avatar 3, he’ll be making both Avatar 4 and 5.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🐶🐱 US adults over the age of 50 who owned a pet for five years or longer scored better on cognitive memory tests than those living without animal companions, per a new peer-reviewed study from the University of Michigan.
• 🛰️ A 5,400-pound defunct NASA satellite that had been in space since the 1980s crashed back down to Earth late last night.
• 🦠 A new Covid variant called XBB.1.5, which the WHO called the most transmissible to date, is currently spreading across the Northeast US; health officials said existing Covid vaccines and treatments appear to be effective against XBB.1.5.

EVERYTHING ELSE

• ⚖️ A Wells Fargo executive was arrested on Saturday and later fired for allegedly urinating on a passenger while onboard a flight to India.
• 🏛️ Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) officially resigned from the Senate yesterday – two years into his second term – to assume the role of president at the University of Florida; the move opens the seat up to an appointment by Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen (R).
• ⛈ Hundreds of thousands are without power in California following storms that brought heavy rains and strong winds.
• 🇲🇽 President Biden visited the US-Mexico border yesterday – El Paso, TX, specifically – for the first time since he was elected president. (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)

CLICKBAIT

• 🕵️ Amateur UK sleuth helps solve a 20,000-year-old mystery.

On Friday, we covered the final report released by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riots at the US Capitol before it disbanded late last month.

❓ Our question to you: In your opinion, should former President Trump be criminally charged for Jan. 6?

• 👍 Yes: 70%
• 👎 No: 22%
• 🤷 Unsure/other: 8%

Click here to read some of the best responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 14,822 votes, and 1,199 longform responses.

Monday: President Biden meets with Mexico’s president in Mexico City

Tuesday: Connecticut starts allowing recreational weed sales; Prince Harry's memoir Spare goes on sale; the next Mega Millions drawing to win the at least $1.1 billion prize takes place; so does the Golden Globes

Wednesday: National Human Trafficking Awareness Day

Thursday: Consumer Price Index for December

Friday: the 13th👻; President Biden meets with Japan’s PM at the White House

As members of The Yosemite Women’s Fire Internship program head to their daily training, they know they're helping benefit the environment and equality in the workforce.

🌲 Females for the forest... The program, launched in 2021, aims to introduce more women to wildland firefighting in the National Park Service.

• The industry is currently dominated by men and severely understaffed. By opening the door to female candidates, it keeps our forests safe and more people employed. A win-win for everyone.😎

Can you guess the definitions of these Greek/Latin root words?

1. Lev
2. Foss
3. Propri
4. Retro
5. Spec

(keep scrolling for the answers)

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1. Lev = Lift (e.g., elevator, levitate)
2. Foss = Dig (fossil, fossa)
3. Propri = One’s own (proprietary, appropriate)
4. Retro = Backward (retrograde, retrospective)
5. Spec = Look (inspect, specimen)