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Skimm for December 17th

Skimm’d while strategizing how to get Adele tickets this morning

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Watch yourself to sleep” - The tagline for Netflix’s new DIY project: socks that detect when you’re falling asleep and automatically pause your show. And they won’t even ask to cuddle after.

SO YOU'RE SAYING YOU'RE INTERESTED...

THE STORY

After a longggg dry spell, the Fed got some yesterday. It raised interest rates for the first time in almost a decade.

WHY SO LONG?

A bad date called the financial crisis. Since ’08, the Fed’s been keeping rates near zero — thinking that if it’s cheaper for consumers to borrow money, they might do economy-boosting things like buy a house or car. The Fed’s been waiting…and waiting…for the economy to get its groove back so it could raise interest rates. It looked like the raise might happen over the summer. It didn’t. Then it looked like it might happen over the fall. It didn’t again .

SO WHY NOW?

Job growth’s looking good and the US economy’s expanding. But inflation - aka the rate of how much the prices of goods are rising- hasn’t gone up as much as the Fed would like. That’s thanks to things like low oil prices. But the Fed thinks-slash-hopes those gas pains are just temporary.

theSKIMM

This is the Fed letting the US economy do its own thing, and praying it doesn’t F it up. It’s a big vote of confidence that some feel is way overdue — while others wonder whether it’s too soon. Your move, economy.

REPEAT AFTER ME...

WHAT PEOPLE ARE WATCHING…

Baltimore, MD. Yesterday, a judge there declared a mistrial in the case of police officer William Porter, one of the officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray. Reminder: Gray was arrested earlier this year after running away from police; he later died from a spinal cord injury he got while in police custody. After his death, mostly peaceful protests erupted in Baltimore that later turned violent. Five other officers were charged in Gray’s death, but Porter is the first to go to trial. After days of talking it out, the jurors said they couldn’t all agree on a verdict. So the judge declared a mistrial. After the announcement yesterday, protesters started gathering in the city. No word on the new trial date, but yesterday Gray’s family asked the public to “remain calm.”

WHAT TO SAY WHEN YOU CAN’T GET ‘STAR WARS’ TICKETS…

Not a real problem. Yesterday, North Korea sentenced a Canadian pastor to life in prison with hard labor. Over the summer, Hyeon Soo Lim publicly confessed to trying to overthrow the country’s government. But Lim’s family isn’t buying the confession. They say he was in North Korea on a humanitarian trip. But when North Korea took him into custody back in February, it charged him with things like ‘harming the dignity of the supreme leadership’ and ‘trying to use religion to destroy the North Korean system.’ And staring curiously at Kim Jong-un’s haircut. Apparently Canada’s been trying to contact Lim, but North Korea isn’t exactly the best at returning phone calls.

WHAT TO SAY WHEN YOU CALL IN ‘SICK’ THE DAY AFTER YOUR HOLIDAY PARTY…

I’ve caught the affluenza. Two years ago, a Texas teenager killed four people in a drunk driving crash. His lawyers used “affluenza” as a defense, saying the 16-year-old was a rich kid who never had limits set for him. He was sentenced to probation, to which the rest of the world said ‘seriously, that’s it?’ Now, it appears that he and his mother have gone missing. There’s a warrant out to have him detained. And a warning that he might be contagious.

WHAT TO SAY TO YOUR FRIEND WHO PAINTED HIS FACE FOR THE WORLD CUP…

Yesterday was Abby Wambach’s last game. And now she wants you to forget her.

THING TO KNOW

Bowe Bergdahl: That soldier everyone keeps talking about. Also the star of “Serial” season two. We Skimm’d it for you.

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