You're now entering Act III.

The shutdown is now our government’s longest. Around 800,000 federal employees missed their first paycheck. 1/19

About 40 percent of Americans have said in surveys that they can't handle a surprise $400 expense. 2/19

Trump's national emergency gambit, an "obvious face-saving off-ramp for the president," is everyone in DC's second-best option. 3/19

Pelosi and Schumer, facing Trump’s Tuesday speech, too often relied on alliteration over substance. 4/19

From Andrew Sullivan: “Welcome to Act III of the Trump Tragedy.” 5/19

In one of his most curious contradictions, Pompeo pledged that the United States 'will not retreat until the terror fight is over.'  6/19

A study claiming to explain why falsehoods go viral—findings that were widely covered by the media—has turned out to be false. 7/19

Human beings are irrational, algorithms are not. Guess who’s in charge? (Hint: It’s not your Instagram husband.) 8/19

"Then there’s the problem of conscience." A recent history of political assassination. 9/19

Fifty things turning 50 this year. 10/19

An oldie but a goodie: "We need to rewrite the stories we tell about nature and Los Angeles is the best place to do it." 11/19

About 95% of the Earth's land surface has some indication of human modification. 12/19

Last year was the warmest year on record for the Earth's oceans, “beating the second-place year (2017) by a comfortable margin.” 13/19

History teachers often focus more on the European conquest of Africa rather than African resistance. A map to reverse that. 14/19

A quick look at the histories of cholera, city design, and colonialism suggests that microbes have political properties. 15/19

The D'Angels Motorcycle Club, Nigeria's first all-female bikers club, spreads health information about cancer prevention. 16/19

Video: When rescue pilots appear to be insane. 17/19

Accompanying the recent rise of marijuana: an increase of schizophrenia in otherwise stable middle-class professionals. 18/19

In pictures: It's been snowing in the Arizona desert. 19/19

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