* New Star Wars film has biggest opening in movie history despite not opening in China yet. * In Spain, Podemos party surges as two formerly dominant parties both lose votes for the first time in Spanish democracy. * How Israel is trying to restore domestic safety—steps the Palestinians call vindictive and
* Writers, editors, and thinkers reflect on things that were and were not important in 2015. * Encyclopedia for much of what was discussed this past year in the District of Columbia. * Election to head of government is associated with a substantial increase in mortality risk. * DNC suspends Sanders campaign's
* The GOP's foreign policy divide comes down to whom Republicans blame—George W. Bush or Barack Obama—for the rise of ISIS. * Spending bill to lean left, tax bill to tilt right: how Congressional sausage gets made. * GOP uses bills to gut online privacy, which Dems considered “small
We asked writers and thinkers to tell us: What were the most important events of 2015—and what were the least?
Outside Taos, this off-grid community’s 65 homes are made entirely of natural or recyclable materials and collect and produce all their own energy and resources. See also: Photographer Antoine Bruy hitchhiked around Europe’s backcountry, photographing off-the-grid communities struggling to survive apart from society.
* A fact-check of last night's Republican debate. * History shows a mainstream Republican beats Trump. There are no mainstream Republicans in the race. * "Yellen wants borrowing costs to return to pre-recession norms so we can finally declare an end to the Great Recession era." * The
Rachel Kolb’s short helps others understand the life of a lip reader and the magic of human conversation. See also: Rachel Kolb at TEDxStanford: “Navigating Deafness in a Hearing World”
* Acceding to party pressure, Merkel cites limits to multiculturalism, says Germany will soon stop accepting immigrants. * "The top Google search in California with the word 'Muslims' in it was 'kill Muslims.'" * Federal probes of police departments don’t always result in change, but Obama
George Saunders explains the difference between “Frank was an asshole” and “Frank snapped at the barista who reminded him of his dead wife, who he dearly loved.” See also: “I had read Ayn Rand at a vulnerable moment and I didn’t want to be one of those life-sucking
* How the DHS's shoddy beginnings begat pointless oversight and rampant fraud, smuggling, and sexual abuse. * More than 33,000 people who built America's nuclear arsenal have died from health issues sustained in their work. * Suburban office parks are becoming "obsolete." * Investigation into corrections officer-
