The Overnight News Digest is a nightly series chronicling the eschaton.
The Washington Post
In Trump Country, a season of need on family farms
The grocery list took Anne Lee hours to make, an exercise in her increasingly desperate effort to feed her family of seven. […]
When Anne and her husband, Andy, took over his parents’ 305-acre dairy farm in 2013, they made a good living. But years of falling milk prices, complicated by … Trump’s trade wars, have left the couple nearly $200,000 in debt.
Farmers around the country are struggling to pay for basics like groceries and electricity as farm bankruptcies rise and farm debt hits a record high. Calls from farmers in financial crisis to state mediators have soared by 57 percent since 2015.
“We’re supposed to be feeding the world, and we can’t even put food on our own table,” Anne said.
Hispanic voters are growing in power. Why are Democratic presidential candidates ignoring them?
When the Latino Community Foundation sent questionnaires to the Democratic presidential candidates asking where they stood on issues such as education, health care and immigration, the result was hardly what it anticipated: no response at all.
Even after the deadline was extended, nine out of 15 candidates, including former vice president Joe Biden, did not submit answers.
When the League of United Latin American Citizens, the country’s oldest Hispanic civil rights group, invited Pete ]\ to events in Milwaukee and Des Moines, the South Bend, Ind., mayor declined. When the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials held a summit this summer, Biden and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) did not attend. Both passed up a second chance to address the legislators in the fall.
“It’s always scheduling,” NALEO chief executive Arturo Vargas said of their explanations. “But you know, scheduling is a reflection of your priorities.”
One of the nation’s largest school districts will allow students time off to participate in protests, a novel policy that proponents argue is the only way to handle a wave of student activism roiling the nation.
Starting Jan. 27, Fairfax County Public Schools in Northern Virginia will permit students in seventh through 12th grades one excused absence each school year for loosely defined “civic engagement activities,” school system spokeswoman Lucy Caldwell said. Such activities might include marches, sit-ins or trips to Richmond to lobby legislators, said Fairfax School Board member Ryan McElveen, who introduced the policy.
“I think we’re setting the stage for the rest of the nation with this,” he said. “It’s a dawning of a new day in student activism, and school systems everywhere are going to have to be responsive to it.”
Los Angeles Times
California, climate change and the trauma of the last decade
The wildfires were more destructive. The drought was the longest on record. And the storms, when they finally came, unleashed more water than our dams could contain.
To live in California over the last decade has meant enduring a steady procession of weather-related disasters, each one seemingly worse than the last.
Five of the 10 largest fires in state record books have occurred since 2010. So has California’s third driest year since 1895, as well as its third wettest year since 1895, according to the Western Regional Climate Center. In 2015, the Sierra snowpack — the source of one-third of the state’s fresh water — reached its lowest level in 500 years.
In years past, we might have attributed these events to a string of bad luck. But now they stir up a sinking sense of dread. This is climate change…
Congolese woman dies after entering U.S. border custody
A 41-year-old Congolese woman died Wednesday in U.S. government custody shortly after she entered a border station in south Texas, Customs and Border Protection said Thursday.
The agency said the woman, whom it did not identify, had arrived at an official port of entry in Laredo, Texas, early Tuesday afternoon. The woman came with paperwork that documented a “previous medical condition,” Customs and Border Protection said. The agency’s medical personnel cleared her to be detained overnight.
According to the agency, the woman told officers early Wednesday that “she was suffering from abdominal pain and had vomited.” The agency says it contacted emergency personnel “immediately” and had her taken to a hospital.
The Guardian
Vast patch of warm water off New Zealand coast puzzles scientists
A spike in water temperature of up to 6C above average across a massive patch of ocean east of New Zealand is likely to have been caused by an “anti-cyclone” weather system, a leading scientist says.
Appearing on heat maps as a deep red blob, the patch spans at least a million square kilometres – an area nearly 1.5 times the size of Texas, or four times larger than New Zealand – in the Pacific Ocean.
James Renwick, the head of geography, environment and earth sciences at Victoria University in Wellington, said the scale of the temperature spike near the sparsely populated Chatham Islands archipelago was remarkable, and had been building for weeks.
Hong Kong protesters accused of 'reckless' violence over Christmas
Hong Kong protesters and police clashed for a third day in a row over the Christmas holiday with demonstrators vowing to return on New Year’s Day.
Police fired pepper spray and blue dye at protesters, chanting anti-government and anti-police slogans, marching in shopping malls. Clashes broke out in other malls with police arresting more than 300 people.
Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, accused protesters of “ruining” the holiday with protests on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Police said they arrested 165 people on Christmas Eve, when police fired teargas on thousands gathered outside malls and hotels.
Vox
Trump really doesn’t want to talk about his health care record
[…] The Trump administration spent months pushing a variety of Affordable Care Act repeal plans, each of which would have cost tens of millions of people their health insurance. None of those efforts succeeded, but it wasn’t for lack of trying.
He has followed that up by pushing a variety of Medicaid waiver schemes to allow GOP-held states to restrict low-income families’ access to health care. His administration is particularly enthusiastic about work requirements that reduce coverage while doing nothing to encourage work. Work requirements in several states were put on hold by federal courts, but Trump is also remaking the federal judiciary and confirming sympathetic judges at a record pace. Consequently, he’s likely to ultimately prevail in this effort to reduce coverage. […]
The result of all this is that the uninsured rate in America is actually rising even though the labor market is getting stronger — a clear sign that health care remains an important policy area that won’t be fixed just by good generic economic conditions. And it’s a policy area where Trump is pursuing priorities — less insurance — that his own team has no defense for.
Mother Jones
In 1979, Danish anthropologist Peter Aaby, in his mid-30s, was studying malnutrition in the small West African country of Guinea-Bissau when the outbreak hit—a measles epidemic of horrific proportions. At least 20 percent of children under 5 years old who got measles that year would die. He and his colleagues began vaccinating, hoping to save the remaining healthy children.
His team’s effort would lead to a remarkable discovery: The vaccinated children, about 1,500 of them, didn’t die—not from measles or any other condition. In a year, the kids’ mortality rate for all causes declined threefold compared to unvaccinated children. “This is strange,” he began to think. “Something incredible happened here.”
The Sydney Morning Herald
'It will come': Anxious wait for residents in the path of Gospers Mountain fire
As the sun sets over Mark and Vickey Chapman’s house in Capertee, kangaroos drink from a nearby dam. They’ve been building the place for the last five years, making it the perfect home.
But this weekend, the home, 50 kilometres from Lithgow, will be under threat from the Gospers Mountain fire and Palmers Oaky fire that burn in the couple’s direction.
High temperatures around the state will also worsen conditions, with Capertee expected to hit the mid-30s and Penrith to reach the high 30s.
"One will hit here, but we don’t know which one," he said. "I feel alright at the moment but you don’t know what’s going to happen - we’ll have to wait until it happens.
Chilean Christmas blaze leaves 200 families homeless
A coastal Chilean community spent Christmas Day combing through the remnants of their homes, after a massive bushfire consumed the outskirts of a popular holiday spot, destroying hundreds of homes.
Firefighters struggled to control the rapidly spreading blaze, prompting an evacuation order in Valparaiso, a popular tourist destination north-west of Santiago known for its vividly coloured wooden houses.
Globe and Mail
Activist who raised awareness about transphobia murdered in Toronto
When Julie Berman came up to the open mic at the trans day of remembrance event on Nov. 20, 2017, she delivered a speech about transphobia in Toronto. She talked about a trans friend of hers that was murdered.
On Sunday, a little over two years later, the trans woman and activist was assaulted and murdered.
“It’s really heartbreaking ... the same thing that she was trying to be vocal about happened to her,” said Davina Hader, a friend of the victim and a member of The 519, an organization that advocates for the inclusion of LGBTQ communities’ members and provides services for them.
Ninth earthquake in three days recorded off Canada’s west coast
Two more earthquakes have hit in the waters off Canada’s west coast on Christmas Day.
Earthquakes Canada says a magnitude 4.9 earthquake hit 198 kilometres west of Port Hardy, B.C., shortly before 1 p.m. local time.
A smaller earthquake was also recorded at 8:25 a.m. about 153 kilometres west of Port Alice, B.C.
Slate
What Happened When Trump Reshaped a Powerful Court
With the help of Senate Republicans, Donald Trump spent the first three years of his presidency remaking the federal judiciary in his own image. The president has appointed 133 district court judges, 50 appeals court judges, and two Supreme Court justices—meaning about one-fifth of the nation’s federal trial judges, and one-fourth of its federal appellate judges, are Trump appointees. These jurists are leading a conservative revolution that will upend decades of precedent and enshrine reactionary policies into the law. The transformation has only just begun. But for a glimpse of where the judiciary is heading if Trump wins a second term, Americans can look to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. A traditionally conservative bench, the court has been newly reshaped by Trump—and quickly got to work translating right-wing priorities into legal doctrine that will govern generations.
The 5th Circuit’s descent into lawlessness did not happen by accident. Senate Republicans would not let President Barack Obama fill several seats on the court, allowing Trump to reshape it after taking office. He appointed five of the court’s seventeen active judges, who immediately allied with the court’s existing far-right bloc, which includes extremists like Judges Jerry Smith and Edith Jones (appointed by Ronald Reagan) and Jennifer Walker Elrod (appointed by George W. Bush). There are now 11 GOP nominees on the court and just five Democratic nominees. (There’s also one vacancy, because some Republican senators deem Trump’s choice for the seat insufficiently militant.)
Miami Herald
Desantis has been reshaping Florida’s Supreme Court. Now he has 32 more candidates
With Gov. Ron DeSantis preparing to make his second round of appointments to the Florida Supreme Court, 32 candidates submitted applications before a Christmas Eve deadline.
The candidates, primarily appellate and circuit judges from across the state, are seeking to replace former justices Robert Luck and Barbara Lagoa, who were appointed by … Donald Trump to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission will review the applications, interview candidates and submit the names of finalists to DeSantis, who will select the replacements for Luck and Lagoa.
BBC News
Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu claims win in party leadership challenge
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed a "huge win" in a vote that challenged his leadership of the Likud party.
About 49% of Likud's 116,000 eligible members voted on Thursday, party figures show. Challenger Gideon Saar conceded defeat, saying he would now back Mr Netanyahu in March's general election.
The internal party vote was seen as a test of Mr Netanyahu's hold on power at a time of mounting difficulties. Mr Netanyahu, 70, faces trial on bribery and corruption charges, as well as a third national election within a year.
Kulubá: Dig uncovers large Mayan palace in Mexico
Archaeologists in Mexico have uncovered the ruins of a large palace they believe dates back to the height of the Mayan civilisation, 1,000 years ago.
Remains of a building six metres (20ft) high, 55m long and 15m wide were found at a dig on the site of the ancient city of Kulubá in Yucatán state.
It is thought the structure was used over two periods of Mayan history as far back as 600 AD. The Mayan civilisation flourished before Spain conquered the region.
CNN
Russian opposition leader says staffer 'kidnapped' and sent to Arctic base
Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny has said one of his employees was "kidnapped" from his Moscow apartment and sent to a remote Arctic military base, amid a year-end crackdown ahead of Russian holidays.
Navalny, President Vladimir Putin's most vocal opponent, said Ruslan Shaveddinov, a staffer at his Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), was taken to Novaya Zemlya island in the Arctic Ocean, "in less than a day."
The Russian military accuses Shaveddinov of dodging the draft. Russia maintains a military conscription system that requires young men to perform a year of mandatory military service, with a number of exceptions.
In Asia Pacific the climate crisis is happening now, not in the future
The world's most disaster-prone region felt the harsh reality of the climate crisis in 2019.
Toxic smog shrouded Asian megacities, hundreds died in flooding and landslides, cyclones battered coastlines and bushfires, droughts and deadly heatwaves led to towns and cities almost running out of water.
Far from being anomalies, scientists say the climate crisis is causing more extreme weather events -- and it's having devastating consequences in Asia and the Pacific.
NPR News
1 Year After Losing Its Hospital, A Rural Town Is Determined To Survive
[…] Nationwide, death rates have been higher in rural America compared with rates in urban areas since the 1980s, and the gap continues to widen. More rural residents live with chronic conditions, like diabetes, that affect their daily lives, and a higher percentage of residents are older. Rates of smoking and premature births are relatively high, and people often die younger than the national average.
Since 2010, 120 rural hospitals have closed across the U.S. — 19 in this year alone, according to data from the University of North Carolina's Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research. A national analysis of Medicare cost reports found that 21% of the nation's remaining rural hospitals are at high risk of closing.
"Frankly, it's not getting better," said Dr. Daniel DeBehnke, the study's co-author and a managing director with Navigant's health care practice.
In Christmas Day Message, Pope Francis Shines Light On Migrant Suffering
In his annual Christmas Day address, Pope Francis offered a message of hope and a call for kindness to migrants around the world.
"May the Son of God, come down to earth from heaven, protect and sustain all those who, due to these and other injustices, are forced to emigrate in the hope of a secure life," the pontiff said from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica.
"It is injustice that makes them cross deserts and seas that become cemeteries," he said. "It is injustice that turns them away from places where they might have hope for a dignified life, but instead find themselves before walls of indifference."
Ars Technica
FAA announces new system for remotely identifying and tracking drones
The Federal Aviation Administration is implementing a new system that will allow comprehensive nationwide tracking of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)—commonly known as drones. The new system will enable regulators, law enforcement, and other interested parties to track drone movements and in some cases obtain identifying information. All new drones will be required to comply with the proposed rules within three years after the regulations go into effect—but that's still months away.
The lack of a comprehensive system for drone identification and tracking has been a long-standing barrier to the adoption of commercial drone technology. Companies like Amazon and UPS, for example, have long dreamed of making package deliveries using unmanned vehicles. But such efforts were blocked by law enforcement agencies worried about unidentified drones being used for terrorism, drug smuggling, or other crimes.
The surprisingly complicated physics of why cats always land on their feet
xScientists are not immune to the alluringly aloof charms of the domestic cat. Sure, Erwin Schrödinger could be accused of animal cruelty for his famous thought experiment, but Edwin Hubble had a cat named Copernicus, who sprawled across the papers on the astronomer's desk as he worked, purring contentedly. A Siamese cat named Chester was even listed as co-author (F.D.C. Willard) with physicist Jack H. Hetherington on a low-temperature physics paper in 1975, published in Physical Review Letters. So perhaps it's not surprising that there is a long, rich history, spanning some 300 years, of scientists pondering the mystery of how a falling cat somehow always manages to land on their feet, a phenomenon known as "cat-turning."
"The falling cat is often sort of a sideline area in research," physicist and cat lover Greg Gbur told Ars. "Cats have a reputation for being mischievous and well-represented in the history. The cats just sort of pop in where you least expect them. They manage to cause a lot of trouble in the history of science, as well as in my personal science. I often say that cats are cleverer than we think, but less clever than they think." A professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Gbur gives a lively, entertaining account of that history in his recent book, Falling Felines and Fundamental Physics.
And so went the Beltway narrative that Democrats are acting against public opinion on the impeachment of a president who ... checks notes ... publicly admitted that he did what he is accused of. https://t.co/qqCRJ9L1g0
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) December 26, 2019