Good morning.
Here’s what you need to know:
What taxpayers will find under the tree.
• President Trump has called the tax bill that Republican lawmakers hope to pass this week a Christmas present for the nation. Some gifts will be nicer than others.
Here’s how the $1.5 trillion bill could affect you, and a calculator to help you determine how your taxes might change.
Kathleen Hall Jamieson, a public policy expert at the University of Pennsylvania, said that while some might find dissonance between what Mr. Trump says and does, his supporters primarily view him through the lens of an improving economy.
• On Sunday, Senator John McCain’s office announced that he would undergo treatment for brain cancer in Arizona this week. His absence from the tax overhaul vote probably wouldn’t jeopardize its passage.
Friction between White House and Mueller.
• In recent weeks, President Trump’s lawyers and supporters have significantly increased their attacks on Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating Russia’s ties to the Trump campaign.
Over the weekend, a Republican senator said Mr. Mueller should examine his team’s political leanings, after the discovery of text messages supportive of Hillary Clinton.
Continue reading the main storyAnd a lawyer for Mr. Trump said that the special counsel had improperly obtained emails from the presidential transition team.
• The president said he was not considering firing Mr. Mueller, but the mounting attacks have fueled concerns among Democrats that he is preparing to do so.
“My child has died.”
• Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world, but in the last three years its economy has collapsed.
For five months, The Times tracked 21 hospitals in the country, where doctors are seeing record numbers of children with severe malnutrition. Hundreds have died.
• The government knows, but won’t admit it.
Deliverance, from 27,000 feet.
• About 5,000 people have reached the top of Mount Everest since the feat was first accomplished in 1953, and nearly 300 people have died in the attempt.
In 2016, two climbers perished near the summit, where their bodies lay frozen for a year.
• This is the story of the journey to bring them home.
The truth is out there.
• One of our most popular stories over the weekend was about a secretive program at the Pentagon that investigated reports of U.F.O.s.
The Defense Department had never before acknowledged the existence of the $22 million program, which it said ended in 2012.
• A video shows an encounter in 2004 between two Navy jets and an unknown object. “It accelerated like nothing I’ve ever seen,” one of the pilots said.
“The Daily”: The Pentagon’s U.F.O. program.
• A Times investigation discovered a shadowy effort that looked at the potential threat of unidentified flying objects.
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Business
• Airlines are charging more for amenities that used to be included in basic tickets. What does your airfare actually buy?
• The Instant Pot was an instant success. We visited the company to learn why.
• The vote on the Republican tax plan is among the headlines to watch this week.
• U.S. stocks were up on Friday. Here’s a snapshot of global markets.
Market Snapshot View Full Overview
Smarter Living
Tips, both new and old, for a more fulfilling life.
• There’s a smarter way to clean up after your holiday party.
• Ten places around the world that really know how to celebrate Christmas.
• What to cook this week: Our food editor, Sam Sifton, suggests chicken adobo, Russian honey cake and more.
Over the Weekend
• A power failure at Atlanta’s international airport, the world’s busiest, forced the cancellation of about 1,150 flights.
• President Vladimir Putin thanked President Trump for the C.I.A.’s help in preventing an Islamic State attack.
• In Latin America, President Juan Orlando Hernández was declared the victor in a disputed election in Honduras, and former President Sebastián Piñera was re-elected in Chile.
• The police in Toronto announced that a homicide team was leading an investigation into the deaths of a billionaire pharmaceuticals mogul and his wife.
• In the N.F.L., the Carolina Panthers will be sold after their longtime owner, Jerry Richardson, was accused of what the team called “workplace misconduct.”
Here are Sunday’s scores.
• “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” had the second-highest box office opening ever, earning $220 million. “The Force Awakens” made $248 million.
Noteworthy
• A reunion in the Virgin Islands.
In today’s 360 video, watch as the U.S. Coast Guard retrieves boats displaced during Hurricanes Irma and Maria.
• Partisan writing you shouldn’t miss.
Writers from across the political spectrum discuss the repeal of net neutrality rules.
• Austerity at home, luxury abroad.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, heir to the Saudi throne, has led a sweeping crackdown on corruption and self-enrichment.
But an investigation by The Times followed a paper trail from the sale of a $300 million French chateau to the 32-year-old prince. He also recently bought a $500 million yacht and a $450 million Leonardo da Vinci painting.
• Speaking of shopping …
After asking herself “What do I need?” the author Ann Patchett decided the answer was “less.”
She wrote about her no-shopping year in an Op-Ed.
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• Quotation of the day.
“If they’re raising the taxes, you know what’s going to happen: Everyone’s going to raise prices. Raise my taxes, I raise your challah.”
— Jeff Lajqi, manager of a Jewish deli in Livingston, N.J., where residents worry about the economic shock from the Republican tax plan.
Back Story
On Dec. 18, 1941, less than two weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Sunday editor for The Times sent a memo to the publisher, Arthur Hays Sulzberger.
It said: “We ought to proceed with the puzzle, especially in view of the fact it is possible there will now be bleak blackout hours — or if not that, then certainly a need for relaxation of some kind or other.”
That’s how a time of national grief helped lead to one of The Times’s most beloved features. The crossword puzzle debuted two months later as a weekly feature in the Sunday magazine.
The crossword editor at the time, Margaret Farrar, followed a simple rule: good manners. She refused to allow unpleasant or impolite language — a rule that’s still followed by The Times’s current crossword editor, Will Shortz.
Nowadays, we like to think of our crossword puzzle as the form’s gold standard.
But The Times didn’t always hold crosswords in high regard. In 1924, a Times opinion column called the completion of crosswords a “sinful waste.”
Crossword solvers, the column claimed, “get nothing out of it except a primitive sort of mental exercise.”
Many of us would disagree. (We even have some tips on how to get started.)
Stephen Hiltner contributed reporting.
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