The Overnight News Digest is a nightly series chronicling the eschaton.
The Washington Post
OpEd/Fareed Zakaria: It’s hard to be an optimist about America right now
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It’s a secular celebration of America, and as an immigrant, I feel I have much to be grateful for. I am an optimist who tends to see the story of this country as one of addressing its shortcomings and making progress. Lately, it has been tough to maintain that sunny outlook. America’s greatest assets — its constitutional republic and its democratic character — seem to be in danger of breakdown.
Witness testimony and records raise questions about account of Trump’s ‘no quid pro quo’ call
Trump was cranky when they spoke on the phone in September, Ambassador Gordon Sondland told members of Congress, but his words were clear: Trump wanted no quid pro quo with Ukraine.
“This is Ambassador Sondland speaking to me,” Trump said outside the White House last week, looking down to read notes he’d taken of Sondland’s testimony. “Here’s my response that he just gave: ‘I want nothing. . . . I want nothing. I want no quid pro quo.’ ”
Sondland’s recollection of a phone conversation that he said took place on Sept. 9 has emerged as a centerpiece of Trump’s defense as House Democrats argue in an impeachment inquiry that he abused his office to pressure Ukraine to investigate Democrats.
However, no other witness testimony or documents have emerged that corroborate Sondland’s description of a call that day.
A former conservative talk radio host and naval intelligence officer who suggested dropping nuclear bombs on Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks now works on arms control issues at the State Department, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the matter.
Frank Wuco, a senior adviser at the State Department’s Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance, came under scrutiny last year when his past comments involving the promotion of far-right conspiracy theories surfaced.
Ken Cuccinelli walked into a bar. And Martin O’Malley lit into him.
… a “shame-invoking tirade” by Martin O’Malley, the former Democratic governor of Maryland, directed at Ken Cuccinelli II, the former Virginia attorney general who is acting deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
The two political polar opposites crossed paths Wednesday night at the Dubliner, a Capitol Hill Irish pub popular on Thanksgiving Eve with Gonzaga College High School graduates. Both men attended the school, graduating five years apart in the 1980s.
xMartin O’Malley just drove Ken Cuccinelli out of the Dubliner in DC w/ a passion-laced and shame-invoking tirade on behalf of immigrant refugee children!!!
— Siobhan Houton Arnold (@siobhanphilly) November 27, 2019
Los Angeles Times
As Beijing seethes, protesters celebrate Trump’s signing of Hong Kong act
Dozens of American flags fluttered in the wind on Thanksgiving night in Hong Kong as thousands gathered at a rally in appreciation of the U.S. passage of two bills supporting human rights in Hong Kong that were signed into law by … Trump.
As a man sang “The Star-Spangled Banner,” a sea of cellphone torches lighted up the spaces between glittering skyscrapers in the city’s financial district. The crowd waved banners bearing the protest slogan: “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times.”
“I guess Trump wanted to give us a Thanksgiving present, and we’re glad to accept,” said Wong Yiu-Chung, a professor of politics at Lingnan University in Hong Kong who was attending the rally with his wife. Wong said Trump likely signed the bill for his own benefit. “But sometimes interests coincide,” he said. “This act gives us a lot of hope.”
Trump visits U.S. troops in Afghanistan on Thanksgiving
Trump paid a surprise Thanksgiving visit to Afghanistan, where he announced the U.S. and Taliban have been engaged in ongoing peace talks and said he believes the Taliban wants a cease-fire.
In his first trip to the site of America’s longest war, Trump arrived at Bagram Air Field shortly after 8:30 p.m. local time Thursday and spent more than two and a half hours on the ground, serving turkey, thanking the troops and sitting down with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.
U.S. military aid to Lebanon on hold amid unprecedented protests
As Lebanon convulses under an unprecedented wave of antigovernment protests, U.S. security assistance to the country’s army — viewed as a guarantor of stability — remains suspended by the Trump administration with little explanation, even as Lebanon teeters towards a financial and security meltdown.
The military assistance, worth $105 million in materiel and ammunition for the Lebanese Armed Forces, has been in limbo for months pending approval from the Office of Management and Budget. But it has taken on renewed significance for U.S. lawmakers amid an impeachment inquiry into whether … Trump held up $391 million of military aid while pressing Ukraine for political favors.
“This is very disturbing but eerily familiar,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) in a phone interview on Wednesday. “There’s a hole in the funding with no reason given by the administration … and no accountability so we can find the person holding it.”
Portland Monthly
Multiple Women Recall Sexual Misconduct and Perceived Retaliation by Gordon Sondland
Three women say they experienced sexual misconduct by Gordon Sondland before he was the US ambassador to the European Union and at the center of the presidential impeachment inquiry. They say he retaliated against them professionally after they rejected his advances.
In one case, a potential business partner recalls that Sondland took her to tour a room in a hotel he owns, only to then grab her face and try to kiss her. After she rejected him, she says, Sondland backtracked on investing in her business.
Another woman, a work associate at the time, says Sondland exposed himself to her during a business interaction. She also recalls falling over the back of a couch trying to get away from him. After she made her lack of interest clear, she says Sondland called her, screaming about her job performance.
A third woman, 27 years Sondland’s junior, met him to discuss a potential job. She says he pushed himself against her and kissed her. She shoved him away. His job help stopped.
AP News
40 Iraqi protesters slain in 24 hours as violence spirals
Security forces shot dead 40 anti-government protesters during 24 hours of bloodshed amid spiraling violence in the capital and Iraq’s south, security and medical officials said Thursday, one day after an Iranian consulate was torched.
Iran condemned the burning of its consulate in the holy city of Najaf as violence continued into the night across southern Iraq, where security forces had killed 36 protesters and wounded 245 since Wednesday evening, the officials said. Another four protesters were shot dead in the capital. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
‘Generation Greta’: Angry youths put heat on climate talks
It’s safe to say that anyone flying to this year’s global climate conference in Madrid had better have a watertight excuse if they meet Greta Thunberg.
The Swedish teen has set a high standard for government officials, scientists and environmental campaigners attending the Dec. 2-13 talks by deciding to sail back across the Atlantic following a last-minute switch of venue from Chile.
Thunberg’s steadfast refusal to take the plane to Spain is a key plank of the message of the worldwide movement she has helped create, and of the earnestness with which its followers pursue their cause.
Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of mostly young people are expected to rally in cities around the world Friday to demand that governments step up their efforts to curb climate change.
Colleges struggle with soaring student demand for counseling
More college students are turning to their schools for help with anxiety, depression and other mental health problems, and many must wait weeks for treatment or find help elsewhere as campus clinics struggle to meet demand, an Associated Press review of more than three dozen public universities found.
On some campuses, the number of students seeking treatment has nearly doubled over the last five years while overall enrollment has remained relatively flat. The increase has been tied to reduced stigma around mental health, along with rising rates of depression and other disorders. Universities have expanded their mental health clinics, but the growth is often slow, and demand keeps surging.
UPI
Army develops hearing protection for military working dogs
From Ephesian war dogs to Conan, the dog honored this week for her role in the capture of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, dogs have been members of the battlefield since ancient times.
But the effects of combat on dogs' longterm health -- including their hearing -- weren't closely examined until recently. And this week, the Army announced it has developed the Canine Auditory Protection System, or CAPS, to better protect the dogs while they're at work. […]
Loud noises and the risk they pose to dog ears are not a problem unique to the battlefield, but one military working dogs and police dogs are more likely to face -- not just due to the sounds of bombs or gunfire, but also air travel and the poor acoustics of kennels.
U.S. to decrease financial contribution to NATO
The United States will reduce its financial contribution to NATO in a largely symbolic gesture announced a week before the military bloc's annual summit.
Member nations agreed to a new formula for NATO's common funding, under which the United States will pay about 16 percent of the alliance's budget, a drop from the current 22 percent. It amounts to a reduction of about $150 million, funding that covers the cost of NATO's Brussels headquarters and limited military operations.
The Guardian
Polio outbreaks in Africa caused by mutation of strain in vaccine
New cases of polio linked to the oral vaccine have been reported in four African countries and more children are now being paralysed by vaccine-derived viruses than those infected by viruses in the wild, according to global health numbers.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and partners identified nine new cases caused by the vaccine in Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic and Angola last week. Along with seven other African countries with outbreaks, cases have also been reported in Asia. In Afghanistan and Pakistan polio remains endemic, and in Pakistan officials have been accused of covering up vaccine-related cases. […]
The onset has been caused by a type 2 virus contained in the vaccine. Type 2 is a wild virus that was eliminated years ago, but in rare cases the live virus in oral polio vaccines can mutate into a form capable of igniting new outbreaks of the disease.
'Our house is on fire': EU parliament declares climate emergency
The European parliament has declared a global “climate and environmental emergency” as it urged all EU countries to commit to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
The vote came as scientists warned that the world may have already crossed a series of climate tipping points, resulting in “a state of planetary emergency”.
Intended to demonstrate Europe’s green credentials days before a crucial UN climate conference in Madrid, the vote also ratchets up pressure on Ursula von der Leyen, the incoming president of the European commission, who declared this week that the EU would lead the fight against “the existential threat” of the climate crisis
12 EU states reject move to expose companies' tax avoidance
Twelve EU countries, including Ireland, have blocked a proposed new rule that would have forced multinational companies to reveal how much profit they make and how little tax they pay in each of the 28 member states.
The proposed directive was designed to shine a light on how some of the world’s biggest companies – such as Apple, Facebook and Google – avoid paying an estimated $500bn a year in taxes by shifting their profits from higher-tax countries such as the UK, France and Germany to zero-tax or low-tax jurisdictions including Ireland, Luxembourg and Malta.
Ireland is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the current rules. The country hosts corporate offices that collect revenue and profits generated by many multinational companies across the EU bloc. Ireland allows global technology companies to pay corporation tax at rate as low as 6.25%, compared with 19% in the UK.
BBC News
Why Australia is expecting a long and dangerous summer
Already ravaged by bushfires and drought, Australia is about to enter its hottest season amid forecasts that bring more concern.
The official outlook by the Bureau of Meteorology, released on Thursday, shows the nation's summer is likely to be dry and see above-average heat.
It is expected to fuel conditions which have caused blazes across the nation. Since September, bushfires have burnt through more than a million hectares in New South Wales (NSW) alone.
Amazon fires intensify Andes glacier melt
Smoke from burning forests in the Amazon can intensify glacier melt, researchers say, fuelling concern about a water crisis in South America.
The team found evidence that snow and ice was being "darkened", accelerating the melt rate, threatening supplies. Melting tropical glaciers provide water for millions of people in the region.
Scientists modelled the movement and effect of smoke particles from fires on Andean glaciers, and checked their conclusions against satellite images. And they say the impact will be felt across the continent.
Deutsche Welle
Flags outside schools: Patriotic or populist?
Germany's troubled relationship with its flag has hit the headlines again as conservative politicians debate putting the national color outside schools. Will the move help the country reclaim the flag from the far-right?
Chancellor Angela Merkel's party will vote on whether all schools in Germany should fly the national flag outside their buildings, alongside the flag of the appropriate state and that of the European Union, following an initiative launched by one regional organization of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
The motion will be put before delegates at the CDU conference in Leipzig this weekend by the branch representing the southwestern German state of Baden-Württemberg. Several leading party members support the plan, and many expect the motion to be adopted into party policy.
Flight shame: Climate-conscious migrants face environmental dilemma
As activists such as Greta Thunberg boycott flying and airlines come under fire for carbon emissions, diaspora communities grapple with the choice between stepping on a plane and cutting physical family ties. […]
Moving country can mean leaving behind children, parents, spouses and friends. Subtler ties also keep people yearning to return, such as being near their birthplace or surrounded by their mother tongue.
Burning huge quantities of jet fuel to launch into the air and soar above clouds, planes emit about 2% of global CO2. They also release pollutants such as water vapor and nitrogen oxides that, at high altitudes, increase the warming effect on the planet further.
The Atlantic
Older voters warp their countries’ policies because of their political power. One British politician has a plan to end that dominance.
For more than two decades, the Conservative politician David Willetts was the member of Parliament representing Havant, a cozy middle-class town in southern England. He dealt with the usual problems: traffic in the town center, littering along the seafront.
After the 2007 financial crash, though, he noticed something alarming. He was regularly visited by young couples—the man might be a nurse, his partner might be a cashier at the local supermarket—who worked hard and lived frugally, yet found themselves “camping in the spare room of his parents’ house, with a baby in a box at the bottom of the bed, and they couldn’t see how they would ever get anywhere to live.” Often, Willetts would give them whatever help he could—very little—and then head over to a local residents’ association meeting, where he would talk to “completely decent people” in their 50s and 60s who owned their own home but wanted no further houses to be built in their neighborhood.
Willetts had stumbled onto one of the great divides of modern politics: young versus old.
The Democrats’ Next Goal for Impeachment
[…] The House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Representative Jerry Nadler of New York, will pick up the impeachment baton, kick-starting this phase with a public hearing after Thanksgiving where it will discuss whether Trump’s alleged wrongdoing is impeachable.
Democrats have a lot riding on this: This next phase of the inquiry will offer them one last chance to sell Republicans in Congress, as well as a divided American public, on impeachment. The success of their efforts will hinge on whether they are able to effectively articulate the case—and on whether there’s anyone left to convince.
“This is a persuasive exercise,” says Frank O. Bowman III, a law professor at the University of Missouri. “You need to persuade [the public] not only that the president did XYZ, but that what he did is of sufficient gravity to merit his removal.”
Vox
The alarming trend of beached whales filled with plastic
Our oceans are filling with plastic, which in turn is filling up the bellies of the creatures in the sea.
Recently, researchers examined seven beluga whales harvested by Inuvialuit hunters in Canada. This month they reported that they’d found microplastics in the digestive systems of every whale.
“Our observation that that microplastics were present in every individual beluga we sampled underscores the global nature of this emerging pollutant, and the vulnerability of remote regions to contamination,” researchers wrote in a paper published in the Marine Pollution Bulletin.
Microplastics aren’t the only concern; this year we’ve seen several whales wash ashore with huge chunks of plastic inside them.
Warren has staked her campaign in part on a narrative-setting proposal to break up Big Tech, a message she first unveiled this winter but that she has sharpened in the last few weeks to include criticisms of Facebook’s unwillingness to fact-check politicians and of the personal net worths of billionaires like Zuckerberg. There have been recent stretches where she has picked a fight with a tech company or figure every day, eclipsing everyone except perhaps Donald Trump in her willingness to rattle the cage of Silicon Valley.
But there is an emerging disconnect between what Warren sees on the surface when asked about Zuckerberg, for instance, and public opinion: She may be talking into the void. When Recode interviewed 50 voters — black, Hispanic, Native American, and white; millennial to elderly; Warren-curious to Warren fan-girl — at five Warren campaign events over three days across the Carolinas earlier this month, not a single person volunteered tech issues when asked to share their top concerns.
With their blank stares, head shakes and are-you-kidding-me laughs, voters all made something plain: The tech debate is hardly a political priority when Democrats are trying to choose their next president.
Ars Technica
Supreme Court allows climate scientist’s defamation case to proceed
Climate scientists take a lot of abuse. The political opposition to climate science in some countries breeds nasty attacks on the scientists themselves. Penn State's Michael E. Mann, for example, became a favorite target after his work on tree-ring records of past climate produced a "hockey stick" graph showing that a gradual cooling trend flipped into sharp, human-caused warming.
In 2012, Mann decided he'd had enough and did something few other scientists have—he filed a defamation lawsuit. After years bouncing around in court, with the defendants appealing decisions that would let the case proceed, the suit's last obstacle was cleared Monday as the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal. A 2016 decision by a District of Columbia court will stand, and the case will now have to be heard.