Good morning. In this edition:

• 🏡 Unpacking 50-year mortgages
• 📝 Trump’s Epstein reversal
• 🌕 The plan to nuke the Moon

…and much more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~4.02-minute read (1,069 words).

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“Don't try to be young. Just open your mind. Stay interested in stuff.”

–Betty White (1922-2021)

Owning a home has long been part of the American dream. But for many people, that dream remains just out of reach due to rising home prices, limited inventory, and elevated mortgage rates in recent years.

Enter a new suggestion: changing the average mortgage length from 30 years to 50 years, a move proposed by the Trump admin earlier this month as a way to make homes more affordable.

While the finer details are currently being fleshed out by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the idea has drawn both praise and criticism from policymakers.

The arguments

Supporters of 50-year mortgages—which already exist in countries like Japan and Switzerland—note that spreading house payments over 50 years helps lower monthly bills, making homes more accessible for first-time buyers and lower-income Americans.

• For example: someone looking to purchase the median US home (priced at $415,200) with a 10% down payment and an average interest rate (6.17%) would see their payments decrease from $2,288/month to $2,022/month.

On the flip side: The idea of 50-year mortgage terms also carries a number of potential drawbacks. The largest roadblock stems from federal legislation approved after the 2008 financial crisis, which explicitly limits most regulated mortgages to a maximum of 30 years.

Critics also note that:

• Total interest on a 50-year mortgage would be nearly double that of a 30-year agreement, leaving homeowners to build equity slower than a sloth on NyQuil.
• Americans would be far less likely to fully pay off their home in their lifetimes.
• Longer-term mortgages decrease flexibility for consumers, making it harder to sell quickly, refinance terms, and make future home purchases.

Looking ahead… Making 50-year mortgages widely available to Americans would require significant changes to US federal policy, meaning broad adoption is unlikely anytime soon. But the idea is slowly gaining traction among a certain subset of decision makers.

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Shoppers looking to decorate their homes this holiday season may find a surprise or two on the shelves, and none of them involve voyeuristic elves.

Certain holiday decorations are projected to be significantly more expensive this year, largely due to new tariffs on imported goods, according to several recent industry reports.

• Artificial trees are projected to cost up to 20% more on average than last year.
• Prices for holiday lights could also jump as much as 63%.

Why costs are nudging north: Some 90% of mass market holiday décor is manufactured in China, which has faced elevated US tariff rates this year under the Trump administration (between 30%-145%).

Industry experts say it’s unrealistic for production of these goods to shift back to the US in the short term, since items like pre-lit trees rely on specialized machinery and large-scale factories that domestic manufacturers don’t currently have.

But…There are some holiday bright spots. Shoppers who go the “fresh pine smell” route are in luck, with the vast majority of wholesale holiday tree growers (84%) saying they don’t plan to increase prices this year, per the Real Christmas Tree Board.

Big picture: Even with the potential price bumps, US consumers are still gearing up for a major season. Overall holiday spending is projected to top $1 trillion for the first time ever in 2025, at an average of $890.49/shopper.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 💉 Novo Nordisk cuts direct-to-consumer prices for Wegovy and Ozempic to $349/month, down from $499/month previously; it follows recent Trump admin efforts to make the treatments more accessible.
• 🪙📉 Bitcoin has now erased all of its year-to-date gains (30+%) just over a month after reaching an all-time high.
• 🛻 Amazon to sell certified preowned Ford vehicles online through franchised dealers; some steps, like a final signature, may still be needed in-person.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏈 Virginia Tech hires James Franklin as the school’s new head football coach; deal includes a $9 million settlement from Penn State, which had originally owed Franklin a $49 million buyout after firing him last month.
• 🎭 Live-action Moana starring Dwayne Johnson and newcomer Catherine Laga’aia drops first official teaser trailer. | Tom Cruise wins lifetime achievement Oscar, his first-ever Academy Award.
• 🥊 Jake Paul to box against Anthony Joshua, a former unified heavyweight champ and 2012 Olympic gold medalist, on Netflix next month.

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SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 👃 First-ever look at the inner workings of Neanderthals’ nasal cavities reveals their large noses weren’t well adapted to cold climates, contrary to previous belief.
• 🧠 High blood pressure can cause premature aging in certain brain cells much earlier than expected, per new mouse study; results could explain the link between hypertension and increased risk of cognitive impairment.
• 🧑‍🚀 Three more Chinese astronauts (or taikonauts) are now stranded at China’s Tiangong space station, following the successful return of their previously stranded comrades.

US, WORLD & POLITICS

• 🏛️ President Trump says he would sign bill to released Epstein files if Congress passes it; his comments came one day ahead of a House vote on the topic, and reverses Trump’s previous stance. | Trump says the US plans to sell F-35 jet fighters to Saudi Arabia; comments came one day ahead of a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the White House.
• 🧑‍⚖️ Federal judge orders DOJ to hand over grand jury material related to charges brought against former FBI Director James Comey, citing misconduct by federal prosecutors; Trump previously ordered that Comey be charged before statutes of limitation expired.
• 🌏 Former Bangladesh leader Sheikh Hasina sentenced to death for her role in the killing of 1,400+ protesters who participated in nationwide demonstrations last year that ultimately led to her ouster. | Polish PM Donald Tusk says explosion on a railway line leading to the Ukraine border this weekend was caused by "an unprecedented act of sabotage"; it’s unclear who was responsible.

☝️ A Palm Beach home is the latest property vying to become the first to sell for $200+ million on Florida’s East Coast; the ~23,000-square-foot home features eight bedrooms, two outdoor pools, highly sought-after ocean views, and a list price of $205 million.

🤔 Did you know? Medieval alchemists associated the seven known metals at the time (gold, silver, quicksilver, copper, iron, tin, and lead) with the seven classical planets (the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, respectively). This association is why the modern English word for quicksilver is “mercury.”

📰 Worth a read: The crazy plan to explode a nuclear bomb on the Moon

🖱️ What we’re clicking:

• He’s been right about AI for 40 years. Now he thinks everyone is wrong
• 6 haunting, unsolved maritime mysteries
• Why are most people right-handed?

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Yesterday we covered new Billboard data that shows the #1 and #3 most-downloaded country songs in America are written and sung by artificial intelligence, marking a first for the music industry.

❓ Our question to you: Assuming the quality is identical: does it matter to you personally whether a song is written/performed by a human, or instead generated by AI?

• Yes: 82%
• No: 11%
• Unsure/other: 7%

Click here to read more of the most thoughtful responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 737 votes and 97 longform responses.

❓ Trivia: Which country grows the most avocados?

🐂 True or false?...The Torro scale measures the health of cattle bull populations.

🤔 Riddle me this… What belongs to you but is used by everyone else?

❤️ Prinnie and John are a best-friend duo who's melting the internet one visit at a time. John, a nursing home resident, found joy in life again after meeting Prinnie, a tiny doodle with a huge personality.

❓ Trivia: Mexico

🐂 T/F: False, it measures the intensity of tornadoes

🤔 Riddle: Your name

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