THE BIG STORY

Protests rock India for nearly a week straight over a new citizenship law that excludes Muslims

Last week, Indian lawmakers voted through the Citizenship Amendment Act, offering a path to citizenship for persecuted religious minorities from India’s neighboring countries. But the definition of religious minority includes almost every religion except Islam.

The law’s passage comes after comments from India’s minister of home affairs that the government would launch a nationwide campaign to identify undocumented migrants, prompting concerns that India’s Hindu nationalist ruling party will selectively target the country’s Muslims for detention and deportation.

Critics of the law say it goes against the principles of India’s foundation as a secular democracy. Protests broke out in northeastern India last week and have spread to other major cities across the country.

While the demonstrations began peacefully, clashes broke out when police moved in, with footage showing police firing tear gas into the university library and assaulting students inside campus bathrooms.

The protests have been intense, but footage of one exchange has gone mega-viral — of a group of women forming a human shield around a bloodied man, confronting police brutality and yelling at riot police to “go back!”. Here they are:

Adnan Abidi / Reuters

IMPEACHMENT TODAY

Feels like the very first time. On our daily impeachment podcast: We look back on the first time the US impeached a president — Andrew Johnson, in 1868. Brenda Wineapple, who literally wrote the book on this, joins us. Listen and subscribe.

SNAPSHOTS

The family of the Barnard student killed in a park said the police union chief tried to victim-blame her. Police have not released information about what prompted the attack that killed Tess Majors. Her family is speaking out after the president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association said on a radio show that the 18-year-old was in the park “to buy marijuana.”

Students displayed a Confederate flag in a high school cafeteria in response to pride flags. After a group of friends handed out pride flags at a Missouri high school in support of LGBTQ students, other students responded by displaying a Confederate flag in the school cafeteria, sparking a contentious debate.

Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” is at the top of the Billboard chart for the first time ever. 25 years after the song’s release, the seasonal banger has reached No. 1 on the Hot 100 for the first time, giving Carey her 19th No. 1. She’s now second only to the Beatles.

Moms are angry that their Yankee Candle orders are delayed big time. The favorite holiday candle brand of moms everywhere has infuriated hundreds of customers who have not received their beautifully colored candles in jars as Christmas approaches.

A NEW STANDARD

Adam Driver really might be *the* actor of his generation

I am an Adam Driver enthusiast. I find he is often the best part of the films I see him in. Let me wholeheartedly recommend Logan Lucky to you.

While Driver has been working, he’s been building quite a reputation: he’s an understated comedy actor; he can deliver devastating dramatic performances; he can move well in the spotlight, but still manage to be an enigmatic, private person. (He somehow managed to hide the existence of his son from the press for two years!).

Driver’s body of work led Martin Scorsese to call him “one of the best, if not the best, actors of his generation.”

Anne Helen Petersen looks at the way Driver has changed the standards of Hollywood: “With just eight years onscreen, his career nevertheless feels epic, canonical. He already adds up to something much more, and much more enduring, than the sum of his parts.”

THE THIRST IS REAL

Kumail Nanjani wrote a refreshingly honest caption about how he got jacked

I regret to inform you that beloved comedian Kumail Nanjani is now the target of a thirst so fierce, a camel couldn’t survive it.

Nanjani, who got so ripped his muscles have muscles, showed off the results after working out for a year for his role in Marvel’s Eternals. But alongside his abs, his words are also drawing praise — Nanjani is being thanked for his honest caption about his transformation.

The actor wrote, “I would not have been able to do this if I didn’t have a full year with the best trainers and nutritionists paid for by the biggest studio in the world.”

Because of his muscles honesty, thirst springs eternal.

I hope you get to be your most compassionate and patient self today,

Elamin