Let’s start this week with what amounts to an obituary for what we used to call the “mainstream media.” At the end, there’s a terrifying New York Times story about the 1983 war game that convinced U.S. leaders that nuclear war, once started, could not be contained — and how a new batch of U.S. leaders might be forgetting that lesson.

Sounds bleak. And it is!

But I’ll scatter some lighter pieces between those bookends to brighten what’s shaping up as a rainy (but, thankfully, warmer) weekend. Let’s get started:

Here’s Helen Lewis of The Atlantic, writing a eulogy for those media outlets that used to make up the “mainstream media” — you know, The New York Times, CNN, the Gazette-Times — institutions that might have had flaws and issues with bias, but at least tried to deal in those sticky things that we call “facts.” Joe Rogan’s podcast and other online influencers are the mainstream media now. Turns out Elon Musk was right.

Leaders in the Greater Idaho movement — the people who argue that 13 counties in eastern Oregon should join Idaho, a state that’s more in tune with the politics, culture and economics of that region — have asked to meet with President-elect Donald Trump or a representative of the incoming administration. It’s the sort of request that might appeal to Trump, who rarely has shown much interest in the issues facing the western United States. But as of Thursday, at least, there’s been no response from the Trump camp.

By the way, don’t make the mistake of assuming that Greater Idaho proponents are a bunch of yahoos. When I’ve talked with them, I’ve always found them articulate and thoughtful. And after two years working for newspapers in eastern Oregon, I think there’s some validity to one of their main complaints: that leaders of state government too often fail to take into account the concerns of residents who live east of the Cascades.

Jensen Huang is the CEO of Nvidia and the 10th-richest person in the United States, worth $127 billion, according to a recent story in The New York Times. He’s also a graduate of and major benefactor to Oregon State University, where the Huang Collaborative Innovation Complex is set to open in 2026. Now, you don’t get to be a billionaire in the United States — or, for that matter, get a chance to have your name on buildings on college campuses — by paying too much in taxes. So this recent story in The New York Times outlines in detail how Huang has taken advantage of perfectly legal tax dodges that will save his family some $8 billion in taxes. Again, all of this is perfectly legal. And Huang is far from the only ultrawealthy man taking advantage of these tax breaks: The story quotes a former Goldman Sachs executive as saying “only morons pay the estate tax.”

Republicans have long tried to eliminate the estate tax, arguing that it unduly harms family farms and small businesses — and there’s some truth to that. But surely there’s a way to protect those small businesses while ensuring that the ultrawealthy pay more taxes — although maybe I’m a moron for saying that. (I should emphasize that I’m not particularly irritated at OSU; after all, when you’re trying to raise as much money as you can to cover what the state isn’t paying for anymore, it only makes sense to first ask people who are really rich.)

It turns out that the voting bloc of women who own cats was not sufficiently large enough to carry the presidential election for Kamala Harris, as The Associated Press reports in this dispatch. Voters who own only dogs — both women and men — tended to support Donald Trump. Maybe this would be a safe way to discuss politics with your family at holiday gatherings. Or maybe not.

If you read the Weekend Reader on a regular basis, you know I regularly offer links to columns by Nicholas Kristof, the globe-trotting correspondent for The New York Times. Here’s a question I bet you’ve never thought to ask: How does Kristof pack for these expeditions to far-flung (and occasionally dangerous) destinations? The Times’ Wirecutter site got Kristof to share his tips, which could come in handy if you’re planning a trip to a dangerous destination — such as a family holiday gathering. (Since this is from Wirecutter, it could be that this story requires a subscription to access. As usual, though, every other link in this week’s Reader should be free for you to access.)

You might recall a conversation I had a few weeks ago with a Weekend Reader reader after I argued that it might be OK in some cases for billionaires to own newspapers. Since then, both Jeff Bezos of The Washington Post and Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong at the Los Angeles Times have continued to dig deeper holes for their newspapers — actions which have tended to weaken my argument. But here comes Rick Edmonds of Poynter with examples of places where billionaire ownership has paid off thus far. The common thread, as you might expect, is that the best owners hire the best available talent and then mostly keep their hands off the operations.

The Medill Local News Initiative has found that “news deserts” — areas that aren’t served with any reliable source of local news — voted decisively for Donald Trump in the November election. But don’t jump to the conclusion that uninformed voters preferred Trump. The more likely conclusion — and one that may be more troubling — is that news deserts tend to be concentrated in rural counties and have populations that are less educated and poorer than the national average. Those are areas that strongly supported Trump in 2024 and in 2020.

Need something cool to look at to put things in perspective? The Atlantic may have the answer with one of its holiday traditions, an Advent calendar of sorts featuring photos from the James Webb Space Telescope and the old Hubble telescope, which still has a trick or two up its sleeve. Here are the first seven images from this year’s calendar, with more to come.

And, finally, as promised, here’s this week’s long (and oh-so-depressing) read: Writing for The New York Times Magazine, William Langewiesche reports on the terrifying 1983 war game that convinced Pentagon brass and President Ronald Reagan that nuclear war — even one that breaks out in a relatively small “regional” conflict — never can be contained. The problem today, as Langewiesche writes, is that the lessons of 1983 are in danger of being forgotten.

Let me recommend that after you read that piece, go back and look again at some of those space photographs. The universe doesn’t care if we blow ourselves up. Happy holidays! See you next weekend.