It's all about volume. Thousands of factories. Countless SKUs. Endless hours for workers. It takes a village. One known as Schein Village. It's a world away in China, but the shirt on your back could be cut from the same cloth featured in this story. Welcome to human-powered machine behind those cheap threads. "The buildings have been hollowed out to make way for sewing machines, rolls of fabric and bags brimming with cloth scraps. The doors to their basements are always open for the seemingly endless cycle of deliveries and collections. As the day passes, the shelves fill up with warehouse-bound, clear plastic bags labelled with a now-distinctive five-letter noun. But even past 10:00pm, the sewing machines - and the people hunched over them - don't stop as more fabric arrives, in trucks so full that bolts of colour sometimes tumble onto the factory floor." A special report from BBC has the who, what, why, and wear: The truth behind your $12 dress: Inside the Chinese factories fuelling Shein's success.

+ As you'll learn in the piece above, there are reasons beyond lax labor rules that give China a competitive advantage when it comes to clothing. But fast fashion isn't the only Chinese industry that's bursting at the seams. NYT (Gift Article): China’s Trade Surplus Reaches a Record of Nearly $1 Trillion. "When adjusted for inflation, China’s trade surplus last year far exceeded any in the world in the past century, even those of export powerhouses like Germany, Japan or the United States. Chinese factories are dominating global manufacturing on a scale not experienced by any country since the United States after World War II." (As you might imagine, this is going to be a very loud topic in DC in about a week...)

2

The Fire Still Burns

LA firefighters (with help from around the state and around the world) have finally made some good progress containing the multiple, devastating fires that have scorched the region. That's the good news. The ominous news is that more fierce Santa Ana winds are in the forecast. CNN: At least 24 killed as returning winds threaten to undo progress. And another headline weary Los Angelinos really don't want to see from the LA Times: Increasing winds bring potential for ‘explosive fire growth’ across L.A. County this week.

+ "To live here, alongside the Santa Monica Mountains, in the flightpath of Santa Ana winds, is either to accept fire as part of the ecology, as natural as the Pacific’s waves, or to live in denial." In GQ (Gift Article), Rosecrans Baldwin, a resident and excellent chronicler of LA, reflects on this moment. "To live in LA, even if you never leave your neighborhood, is to live in Greater Los Angeles, to know you reside in one of the world’s largest megacities, a mountainous, immense plaited landscape—Los Angeles County alone constitutes 88 separate cities, from Beverly Hills to Azusa—that unfurls in all directions. And one that also burns recurrently."

+ "Predictably, thousands of people on social networks have suddenly become experts in large-scale fire prevention. Some people are convinced the Palisades was lost because of too little water pressure, too few firefighters, an offline reservoir, insufficient controlled burns, a mayor who happened to be on a trip, a losing mayoral candidate who allegedly would have prevented the whole thing, a firefighting budget that was supposedly cut but really was not, and yes, even DEI programs. My meteorologist dad is now 90 years old, and still in perfect intellectual health. I went to visit him and my mom this weekend, and we talked a little bit about the fires and this formative piece of our lives that had been completely destroyed a few days earlier." Mike Davidson (and his meteorologist dad) on the community, the risks, the fires, and what, if anything, can be done to stop this kind of destruction. 47 Years Later, The Palisades Disappeared Overnight.

+ "The disgraced conspiracy theorist Alex Jones claimed on X that the fires were 'part of a larger globalist plot to wage economic warfare and deindustrialize the United States before trigger total collapse.' ... 'True,' Elon Musk wrote in a response to Jones." The truth, it turns out, is even more flammable than tinder. And among other things, the LA fires may be known as the last stand of Meta's fact checkers. Soon to be out of a job, Meta’s fact-checkers battle a blaze of wildfire conspiracy theories.

+ Amid the ashes, there are still sparks of community and inspiration. Here's just one of many examples. A Los Angeles Teen Started a Recovery Fund for Wildfire Victims. Now It’s a Movement.

+ If you want to support those facing and fighting the fires, here are some organizations doing the work.

3

At Pains to Explain Pain

"Scientists used to be mystified by persistent pain but now recognize that chronic pain is a disorder of the central nervous system. In some cases, pain signals just keep firing, driven by what researchers now think is a complex set of genetic, endocrinological and immunologic processes." (Anyone who has experienced chronic pain knows about trying to break the cycle. We're learning most about the science behind the feeling.) Jennifer Kahn in the NYT: 5 Things We Know About Chronic Pain. And a much deeper dive into the subject from the NYT Mag(Gift Article): Chronic Pain Is a Hidden Epidemic. It’s Time for a Revolution. (For those who deal with it, just having people acknowledge that it exists can feel like a revolution.)

4

I Get Where You're Coming From

How much will you have to pay for hotel room? That depends, of course, on where you're going. You might not realize that it can also depend on where you're coming from. Keith A. Spencer in SF Gate: Hotel booking sites caught overcharging travelers from Bay Area. "I found consistently that consumers browsing from the Bay Area were offered far higher rates for hotel rooms compared with users browsing from less affluent cities, like Phoenix and Kansas City. In one shocking case, the Bay Area test user was offered a nightly rate for a Manhattan hotel room that was $500 more per night than the rate offered to consumers in the less affluent cities for the exact same room and dates."

5

Extra, Extra

Civil Wrongs: "Incoming senior Trump administration officials have begun questioning career civil servants who work on the White House National Security Council about who they voted for in the 2024 election, their political contributions and whether they have made social media posts that could be considered incriminating by President-elect Donald Trump’s team." Incoming Trump team questioning civil servants at NSC about their loyalty. (We're going to lose a ton of expertise and gain a ton of blind loyalty.)

+ Zuckering Up: "Certain business titans have made Mar-a-Lago a scene of such flagrant self-abnegation, ring-kissing, and genuflection that it would embarrass a medieval Pope." David Remnick in The New Yorker: The Inauguration of Trump’s Oligarchy.

+ Vouching Tiger Hidden Dragon: "What happened in Ohio was a stark illustration of a development that has often gone unnoticed, perhaps because it is largely taking place away from blue state media hubs. In the past few years, school vouchers have become universal in a dozen states, including Florida, Arizona and North Carolina. Proponents are pushing to add Texas, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and others — and, with Donald Trump returning to the White House, they will likely have federal support." Alex MacGillis: On a Mission From God: Inside the Movement to Redirect Billions of Taxpayer Dollars to Private Religious Schools.

+ Throwin' Away Our Shot: "Nationwide, less than 93 percent of kindergartners completed the measles vaccine last year, down from 95 percent, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Immunization rates against polio, whooping cough and chickenpox fell similarly." NYT (Gift Article): Falling Child Vaccinations. "There have been far more precipitous drops in some states, counties and school districts."

+ Drowning in Good Fortune: The moment a kitesurfing Olympian rescues drowning woman.

+ Caught in the Act: Catch these great shots from the World Sports Photography Awards.

6

Bottom of the News

"Philadelphia Eagles star receiver A.J. Brown could launch a book club of his own after a little sideline reading skyrocketed self-help author Jim Murphy to the hottest seller on Amazon overnight." A.J. Brown’s sideline read skyrockets to No. 1 hottest seller on Amazon. (How could my book publicist have failed to get a few copies on the sidelines on NFL games?!)