| Housekeeping note: Hi folks! This newsletter will break for the holidays, but don't fret — it'll be back in your inbox on Jan 2. THE BIG STORY
To prevent protests against an anti-Muslim law, India’s government turned off the internet in its capital city
Last week, India’s Hindu nationalist government passed a law that makes getting Indian citizenship easier for immigrants who practice all major South Asian religions except Islam.
In response, thousands of people have poured into the streets to protest the law — and clashes between protesters and police sometimes turned violent. As the protests have been escalating all week, police in New Delhi, India’s capital, ordered the country’s largest carriers to stop voice, text, and internet services.
Local, state, and national authorities regularly shut down the internet in India during times of unrest — a digital advocacy that tracks internet shutdowns says it’s been 96 times this year alone. But Thursday’s shutdown marks the first time that New Delhi, home to the country’s Parliament, saw its mobile services blocked.
Sajjad Hussain / Getty Images STAYING ON TOP OF THIS Nancy Pelosi is demanding information from the Senate before sending over articles of impeachment
On Wednesday, the House voted to impeach President Donald Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
The next step in the process is for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to send the articles of impeachment over to the Senate, which then conducts a trial. However, Pelosi is not obligated to immediately send the articles over — and she has said she will not do so until she gets more information about how the trial will be run.
This means the articles of impeachment could sit in limbo through the holiday break or even longer.
THE STORY OF THE 2010s How the 2010s changed us
The 2010s have felt like a particularly exhausting decade. It was all of the beauty and horror, tension and invention, progress and regression of humanity, exaggerated by the sheer speed with which everything moves.
Because everything happened fast, and online, and in full view of everyone, it feels like there’s just so much to reflect on. So now, at the close of the decade, a look at how the 2010s changed us. Here are some essays to sit with over the holidays.
Look back in anger: It began with SlutWalks and morphed into #MeToo. The 2010s was the decade women’s rage moved front and center.
The economy: The Great Recession broke America’s economy — and after Occupy came and went, inequality has become the centerpiece of American national politics.
Technology: In the 2010s, the digital revolution left us alienated, alone, and angry. This wasn’t supposed to happen. We were promised community, civics, and convenience. Instead, we found ourselves dislocated, distrustful, and disengaged.
Climate change: After years of punting the problem to the future, this was the decade we began to wake up to the climate crisis — and still, somehow, we failed to act.
Our words: The internet has changed the way we talk. Here are the 33 decade-defining words of the 2010s. It’s lit.
Time: You often hear people say this decade, time feels like it melted. That’s a product of myriad of changes we didn’t see coming.
Books: Yes, there were so many books published this decade. Here are the ones we’ll never forget.
She’d be the man: You don’t have to think Taylor Swift was the “best” artist of the decade to acknowledge that her cultural domination, and her ability to pivot and reinvent herself, captured the defining tensions of pop music.
The Kardashians: I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but this decade the Kardashians took over everything. Their rise to A-list stars tells us a lot about how fame has changed.
A HOLIDAY NOTE I’m hazarding a guess here, but I don’t imagine this decade will be remembered very favorably. Everything felt tenuous, unsettled, liminal. The news often felt high-stakes. It’s hard to imagine a future nostalgia for this time.
Still, the end-of-decade essays above capture a broader sense of desperation to untangle how the last ten years have changed us, so that we can know ourselves, our circumstances, and one another better.
As we close the book on the 2010s, I’d like to thank you for engaging with hard things. I don’t think we, journalists, do a good enough job of acknowledging that sometimes you have to really work yourself up to dive in to the news. If you’re still here, I’m glad you are.
This newsletter will break for the holidays, and return on January 2. Have a safe, brilliant holiday season.
I wish you a brave new year, Elamin P.S. If you like this newsletter, help keep our reporting free for all. Support BuzzFeed News by becoming a member here. (Monthly memberships are available worldwide). 📝 This letter was edited and brought to you by Elamin Abdelmahmoud and BuzzFeed News. You can always reach us here.
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