Let's change things up and start with a classic Russian love story. This tale features Boris and Svetlaya who grew up in the same orphanage after being rescued from the wild in the Sikhote-Alin mountains. The two unrelated Amur tiger cubs were raised in captivity before being released into the wild, more than 100 miles apart, at the ripe old age of 18 months. Boris, as it turns out, had the eye of the tiger. (Cue the Dr Zhivago soundtrack ... or, if you'd prefer Eye of the Tiger. Either works.) "Scientists tracked the cubs until, more than a year after their release, something strange happened: Boris walked over 120 miles, almost in a straight line, to where Svetlaya had made a home. Six months later, Svetlaya gave birth to a litter of cubs." (Whoa, whoa. Easy Tiger.) NYT (Gift Article): 120 Miles of Russian Forest Couldn’t Keep These Two Tigers Apart. 2Chipping Away at GuacTwo big plans for the administration include trade war threatening tariffs and the deporation of millions of undocumented workers. As economist Rebecca Patterson explains in the NYT (Gift Article), if these two things happen, Prepare for Guacamole to Be a Luxury Item. "The American food ecosystem, including farms, ranches and processors, has heavily relied on immigrant labor for decades. More than half of farmers reported labor shortages in 2022, up from 14 percent in 2014, according to surveys conducted by researchers at the University of California, Davis, and Michigan State. In 2022, about seven in 10 farm workers were foreign-born, according to the National Agricultural Workers Survey. Many of those workers obtain seasonal visas. The rest of the immigrant labor pool, as much as 44 percent of foreign farm workers, are undocumented and have no work authorization." 3One Horse Town"Eastern Kentucky is one of the places where you’re most likely to die of a drug addiction but also the place where you’re most likely to receive treatment for it." NYT Magazine (Gift Article): Opioids Ravaged a Kentucky Town. Then Rehab Became Its Business. "In Louisa, an unbearable social crisis has become the main source of economic opportunity." 4What the F?"Before they got to the pit, Julian removed his SpongeBob sandals, took off his helmet, vomited and cried. Alessandro, who wore only gray and black Nike apparel, repeated over the grunts of go-kart engines what he had said to himself many times before: 'I’m not here to make friends.'" The two kids are only 11 and 12. Neither is old enough to have a license. But both are years into their training to achieve a longshot dream of being a Formula One driver. It all starts with the increasingly big business of Go Karts. WaPo (Gift Article): The First Step to F1. 5Extra, ExtraWray ban: "After weeks of careful thought, I’ve decided the right thing for the Bureau is for me to serve until the end of the current Administration in January and then step down." FBI Director Christopher Wray says he'll resign as Donald Trump takes office. (Wray was appointed by Trump and firing one's FBI director before the ten year term is up is not normal. Is this the right thing for the FBI or obeying in advance? The pit in my stomach makes me think it's the latter.) Meanwhile, Greece gave us modern democracy. We gave them Kimberly Guilfoyle. Foyled again... 6Bottom of the NewsThis New Jersey representative faked his Spotify Wrapped results to look like more of a Springsteen fan. (He says his kids listening skewed his actual report which sounds ... relatable.)
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