A surprising sense of hope after our hellish year

The MoJo Daily newsletter, Monday through Friday. [View in browser]( [Mother Jones Daily Newsletter](     December 29, 2023 As we head into the final weekend of 2023, many of us are taking stock and wondering, did the scale tip towards good or bad? One question that keeps bouncing around my head as I attempt to answer this is how we reckon with the [profound horrors]( that [erupt with a relentlessness]( that flies in the face of hope. I wondered this, perhaps for the 100th time this week alone, while reading the [New York Times' investigation into Hamas' use of rape and barbaric torture]( against Israeli women on October 7th. The report is nothing short of stunning and the testimonies from eyewitnesses are unlike anything I've read before. I happened to be in the emergency room with my son when I read the investigation. (He's okay!) Don't ask me why I clicked, knowing full well the content would be disturbing, and the situation in front of me was already awful. But after a two-night hospital stay that featured panicked efforts to find a surgeon, as well as constant flashes of what I had read in the Times, I have strangely emerged... hopeful. I can't explain why or how. And I know this feeling won't last. But in the past 48 hours, a sense of gratitude, even amidst one of the most stressful experiences in recent memory, is buoying me. So, I wanted to end the year with wishes of comfort for you and yours. Because even though the world doesn't make sense anymore, there are still unexpected, totally inexplicable moments of light. And I guess that's what it's all about. Catch you in 2024. —Inae Oh Advertisement [National Park Foundation]( [Top Story] [Top Story]( [Climate Wrapped: Top 10 Terms That Capture the Climate in 2023]( Which one leaves you the most panicked? BY KATE YODER MOJO MUST-READS BY DANIEL SCHULMAN   The Money Kings: The Epic Story of the Jewish Immigrants Who Transformed Wall Street and Shaped Modern America The incredible saga of the German-Jewish immigrants—with now familiar names like Goldman and Sachs, Kuhn and Loeb, Warburg and Schiff, Lehman and Seligman—who profoundly influenced the rise of modern finance, from New York Times best-selling author Daniel Schulman. [Get The Money Kings here.]( [Trending] [Rep. Lauren Boebert swaps Colorado congressional districts]( BY ABBY VESOULIS   [New Year, same Congress: Politicians block livestock emission reporting rules]( BY GEORGINA GUSTIN AND PHIL MCKENNA   [How I bribed my dog to recognize me on FaceTime]( BY JULIA MÉTRAUX   ['Tis the season for wasting tons of food]( BY ARIANNA COGHILL Advertisement [National Park Foundation]( [Special Feature] [Special Feature]( [The far-right pushes a new conspiracy theory to discredit Jack Smith]( BY DAVID CORN AND DAN FRIEDMAN [We need your help right now] We have a big $350,000 year-end fundraising goal, and whether or not we raise [the money we need]( is going to come down to the wire. If there’s any way you can right now, please help and support the journalism you get from Mother Jones with a year-end gift of whatever amount works for you. $5 or $50, it all makes a difference when added up with your fellow readers. [Donate]( Did you enjoy this newsletter? Help us out by [forwarding]( it to a friend or sharing it on [Facebook]( and [Twitter](. [Mother Jones]( [Donate]( [Donate Monthly]( [Subscribe]( This message was sent to {EMAIL}. To change the messages you receive from us, you can [edit your email preferences]( or [unsubscribe from all mailings.]( For advertising opportunities see our online [media kit.]( Were you forwarded this email? [Sign up for Mother Jones' newsletters today.]( [www.MotherJones.com]( PO Box 8539, Big Sandy, TX 75755