Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, current leader Neon Vincent, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, wader, Doctor RJ, rfall, JML9999 and Man Oh Man with guest editors annetteboardman and Chitown Kev. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse, ek hornbeck, ScottyUrb, Interceptor7, BentLiberal, Oke and jlms qkw.
OND is a regular community feature on Daily Kos, consisting of news stories from around the world, sometimes coupled with a daily theme, original research or commentary. Editors of OND impart their own presentation styles and content choices, typically publishing each day near 12:00AM Eastern Time.
Special thanks to JekylinHyde for the OND banner.
This week I’ve included a couple of articles from McClatchy DC addressing the fears of white Christians in the heartland. It generally boils down to fear of losing control, without realizing they never had control. The fear is palpable and it is of everyone not white, not Christian and/or poor. Everything wrong in their lives is the fault of “this other.”
SOME WORRY GUANTÁNAMO DETAINEES COULD COME NORTH AS OBAMA’S TERM ENDS
McClatchy DC
When Sen. Tim Scott visited the Guantánamo Bay military prison in Cuba last month, he left with one overarching impression: The U.S. has found and created “the only location on Earth” secure enough to hold enemy combatants and suspected terrorists.
“You walk away realizing that the world’s worst terrorists are housed at a location that is isolated by an ocean, mountains and deserts, and the deserts have old Cuban landmines,” he said. “So the enemy combatants are safer, the soldiers are safer, and anyone who wants to come rescue anybody has to go through those three major barriers.”
For nearly eight years President Barack Obama has pledged to close the Guantánamo Bay facility, which he says costs too much to operate and could be a recruiting tool for jihadists, without success. With little more than a year left in office, some worry that he may use an executive order to get around Congress – a move that could possibly relocate detainees to a naval facility outside Charleston, S.C.
FOR GOP, FEAR AND ANXIETY IN THE HEARTLAND
McClatchy DC
COUNCIL BLUFFS, IOWA
Sometimes this fall, it feels as if the contours of a familiar world for Republicans are under assault.
They worry that immigrants here illegally are gobbling up jobs and benefits. They fear that Islamic State terrorists could sneak across a porous border with Mexico and find their way into the United States. They complain that the U.S. is bowing to political correctness in response to racial tensions and the legalization of gay marriage.
Together, the newest worries lend a sharp new edge to anxiety over wages, jobs and debt.
“We’re going down the tubes and I don’t know if we can recover,” said James Burrack, 77, a farmer in northeastern Iowa who believes illegal immigration poses a major threat to the country’s economy and security. “Just give it all to the Muslims and we can be their subjects.”
US NEWS
U.S. issues global travel alert as manhunt continues for Paris attackers
Reuters
Citing "increased terrorist threats" from militant groups in various regions of the world, the U.S. State Department issued a global alert on Monday for Americans planning to travel following deadly militant attacks in France and Mali.
As millions of Americans prepare to travel for the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, the agency said potential attackers could target private or government interests.
The department did not advise people against travel but said U.S. citizens should be vigilant, especially in crowded places.
In Michigan, Syrian Refugees Cling to a Longtime Haven
New York Times
BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. — In late 2011, as killings, kidnappings and sectarian strife crept across the battle-scarred city of Homs, Syria, the family of four made a sorrowful decision: to fleeRadwan Mughrbel; his wife, Sanaa Hammadeh; and their two young sons packed their bags with only a single change of clothes per person. They took a bus to Damascus and hired a taxi to spirit them across the border into Jordan. For years, they patched together a meager life, barely making enough money to eat and desperately seeking refugee status.
When the United Nations refugee agency asked where they wanted to go, the answer was obvious.
“America,” said Mr. Mughrbel, a short, wiry Muslim man of 52, his face lighting up in a smile as he sat in his bare-walled living room in this Detroit suburb last week. “They brought us here, and I feel safe, like nothing bad can happen to us. Now we have a beautiful life.”
Maryland residents fight poultry industry expansion
Al Jazeera America
PRINCESS ANNE, Md. – Steve Glasgow says things are changing on the Delmarva Peninsula.
The air smells bad now, he said, and the environment feels soiled. The gruff electrician who built his house in rural Somerset County in 1983 remembers being able to trap muskrats whenever he wanted. Today, he said, they’re all gone — and last year he saw a rat in the area for the first time. The population of flies has exploded, Glasgow said. He can leave five flytraps out in his garage, and they’ll be full in two days or less.
The fouling of the Delmarva, Glasgow and other residents say, can be attributed to the rapid proliferation of chicken CAFOs —“concentrated animal feeding operations”— which critics refer to as factory farms. Tens of thousands of chickens live in close quarters in these enclosed poultry houses, which are usually run by national producers such as Tyson and Perdue.
Pfizer to buy Allergan for $160 billion
Al Jazeera America
Pfizer and Allergan will join in a $160 billion deal to create the world's largest drugmaker.
It's the biggest health care deal ever and the largest so-called inversion in history, a tax-saving maneuver in which a U.S. company reorganizes in a country with a lower corporate tax rate. U.S. efforts to curb the practice have so far proven ineffectual.
Botox maker Allergan is based in Ireland but runs much of its operations out of New Jersey.
The deal would create a pharmaceutical colossus with annual sales of more than $60 billion, putting the merged group well ahead of No. 2 U.S. drugmaker Merck & Co, which has annual sales of about $40 billion.
Widely used Pfizer drugs such as Lipitor, Viagra and nerve pain treatment Lyrica would be brought together with Allergan's Namenda memory loss treatment, Restasis dry eye medication and other leading eye-care brands.
It would be the biggest merger of the year, topping beer maker Anheuser-Busch InBev's proposed $107 billion takeover of SABMiller Plc.
New Orleans mayor asks for witnesses as gunmen remain at large in shooting
The Guardian
Police were trying to figure out what sparked a gun battle in a crowded New Orleans park that left 16 people wounded on Sunday. The mayor called on witnesses to come forward.
Hundreds of people were gathered at a playground for a block party and music video shoot when two groups in the crowd opened fire on each other on Sunday evening, police said.
Police were on their way to break up a big crowd at Bunny Friend playground when gunfire erupted at the park in the city’s Ninth Ward, the police said in a statement.
New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu, speaking in a news conference aired on WWL-TV, called on people who were in the park to come forward with information. The police have also asked people who might have any video of the shooting to bring it to police.
U.S. Bioterrorism-Detection Program Is Unreliable, Report Finds
NPR
A government watchdog says the Department of Homeland Security can't say for sure whether its system to detect a biological terror attack actually works.
In a report released today, the Government Accountability Office says the BioWatch system has issued dozens of false alarms since its introduction. It recommends that Homeland Security, which oversees the system, hold off any upgrades until the department can be sure of BioWatch's current capabilities.
The BioWatch system was implemented in 2003, two years after five people died and 20 others were sickened by letters containing anthrax spores. The system involves aerosol collectors deployed in 30 U.S. cities, including on top of buildings and in subways and airports. Personnel remove filters from each of the detectors and check them for the presence of airborne pathogens, a process that can take up to 36 hours. The program operated with an $87 million budget last year, according to the GAO.
Planned Parenthood sues Texas over blocked Medicaid funding
The Guardian
Planned Parenthood sued again on Monday over efforts by Republican governors to block Medicaid funding to the nation’s largest abortion provider, this time against Texas, where the organization says healthcare access to 13,500 women is on the line.
The lawsuit filed in Austin begins another legal showdown between Texas and abortion providers. Earlier this month, the US supreme court announced it will hear arguments over a 2013 law that abortion rights groups say would leave about 10 abortion clinics open statewide.
Texas student arrested over clock seeks $15 million
Reuters
The family of a Texas Muslim teenager arrested for bringing a homemade clock that was mistaken for a bomb to school demanded $15 million in damages and an apology from the city of Irving and its schools to avoid a lawsuit, lawyers said on Monday.
The lawyers represent the family of Ahmed Mohamed, 14, a student who dabbles in robotics and attended a Dallas-area high school. His arrest in September sparked controversy, with many saying he was taken into custody because of his religion.
In separate letters to the city of Irving, located west of Dallas, and the Irving Independent School District, lawyers said the ninth grader was wrongfully arrested, illegally detained and questioned without his parents.
Mendocino Coast Fights To Keep Its Lone Hospital Afloat
NPR
Board meetings for the Mendocino Coast District Hospital are usually pretty dismal affairs. The facility in remote Fort Bragg, Calif., has been running at a deficit for a decade and barely survived a recent bankruptcy.
But finally, in September, the report from the finance committee wasn't terrible. "This is probably the first good news that I've experienced since I've been here," said Dr. Bill Rohr, an orthopedic surgeon at the hospital for 11 years. "This is the first black ink that I've seen."
The committee erupted in applause, even a few cheers. But the joy was short-lived. By the next month, the hospital was back in the red.
Things first started going badly for the hospital in 2002, when the lumber mill in Fort Bragg closed down. Many people lost their jobs — and their health insurance, which had paid good rates to the hospital. Today, about 7,000 people are left in the blue-collar town, and the economy is propped up by tourists who come to the rugged Mendocino coastline to hike or fish. Visiting the hospital does not usually make it onto their itinerary.
Trump 'wrong' in claiming US Arabs cheered 9/11 attacks
BBC
A US mayor has said businessman Donald Trump "is plain wrong" in claiming Arabs in his city cheered the attacks of 9/11.
Mr Trump, who is running for president, said he saw "thousands and thousands" of people in New Jersey celebrating.
But the mayor of Jersey City said no such thing happened and accused the Republican of "shameful politicising".
Mr Trump, who leads his party's race for the White House, has also urged increased surveillance of Muslims.
His comments come after the attacks in Paris which left 130 people dead, and evidence suggesting that some of the attackers used refugee routes to enter the country.
Since the attacks, the issue of national security and threat of homegrown terrorism has come to dominate the national political conversation.
These 3 charts show homegrown terrorists are a bigger threat than refugees
Vox
Last week, the House of Representatives passed a bill that would halt the resettlement of Syrian refugees in the US and impose an even stricter vetting process, including case-by-case approval from the FBI director.
Data from the New America Foundation suggests this effort to better secure America's borders is misguided: When you look at the history of terrorism in America, the perpetrators are rarely foreign nationals. The story of terrorism in America is one of homegrown radicalism.
WORLD NEWS
Refugees: That Time Everyone Said 'No' And Bolivia Said 'Yes'
NPR
"The refugee has got to be checked because, unfortunately, among the refugees there are some spies, as has been found in other countries." It could have been said today about the Syrian refugee crisis, but those words belong to President Franklin Roosevelt, in 1940.
Back then, many of those refugees — Jews fleeing Nazism in Europe — turned to South America instead. But one by one, those countries stopped issuing visas to fleeing Jews. It was no surprise: for years Nazi and fascist ideology had incubated deep in South America.
But away from all oceans and high up in the Andes, one small South American country kept its door open — a country that has had its share of economic problems and that even today is considered part of the developing world.
Bolivia.
Turkey divided after a summer of blood
AFP
Ankara, November 23, 2015 -- It all started on a balmy early summer’s evening on June 5.
I had been sent to cover the final election rally of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in the main southeastern city of Diyarbakir ahead of the June 7 poll. Thousands filled the central square in a blaze of colour to listen to the charismatic HDP leader Selahattin Demirtas, who had emerged as a key player in the campaign, seeking to broaden the party's appeal to a wider cross-section of Turkish voters as well as Kurds.
Suddenly, an explosion shook the square. I initially didn't think it was a bomb and a party official on stage told the crowd it was a blast from a nearby generator and called for calm. But about 10 minutes later came a second blast, suggesting it was something much more serious.
Sadness and civic pride as Helmut Schmidt laid to rest
DW
No full-length church service, not too many speeches - those were among the stipulations that nonreligious former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt , who died on November 10 aged 96, set for his own state funeral . But the most important of these was that it should take place in his hometown rather than the nation's capital. Hamburg was the city he grew up in, the one he represented in the German parliament, the one he retired to, and the one he has now been buried in, alongside his parents and wife, Loki.
The sadness at his death was mixed with civic pride among the onlookers on the narrow cobbled streets around St. Michael's church, where Schmidt's state funeral was held - while another child of the city, Angela Merkel, gave one of the speeches inside.
"I can't sum up in words what he meant to this city," one woman told DW. "It was symbolized in so many gestures - that he'll be buried here, that he made sure he would live here later in life. I can't explain it, but it's a very deep feeling - in my belly, something to do with pride, the soul of Hamburg. It's really touched my heart that he's not here anymore."
In Brussels, a manhunt, tourists and terror alerts
DW
Many children in Brussels were excited. They had Monday off from school, and not because of extreme heat or cold, but because the Belgian capital has declared its highest level of terror alert . It's not just schools, day care centers and universities that were closed. Many big companies, including insurance firms and banks, told their employees to work from home. Many parents were also at home, simply because they had to take care of their children. The sun was shining, and it was a beautiful winter's day.
Tourists continued to wander around the Grand Place, the big square in the center of town with its famous renaissance-era facades. They snapped photos of the city hall and study their travel guides. Anna Makri, a native of Germany who flew to Brussels for a short visit, said she was convinced that the terrorists being sought by police had long since left the city. "The soldiers with the machine guns are scary," she said. "You're here in the European capital, and it feels like a ghost town." Makri said security was lax when she arrived at the airport. She planned to catch a flight to Greece Monday night, and said the thought of that had left her a little fearful. About half of the shops, cafes and restaurants in the historic town center around the Grand Place were closed. Some shop owners complained that they were making just 10 percent of their usual turnover.
Bomb attacks kill 17 in Nigeria, Cameroon
Al Jazeera America
Seventeen people were killed over the weekend in Nigeria and Cameroon after explosives strapped to five girls were detonated, officials said Monday.
Nigerian police, who blamed armed group Boko Haram for the attacks, said one girl’s explosives detonated on Sunday evening at a military checkpoint in Nigeria’s northeastern city of Maiduguri.
Police Commissioner Aderemi Opadokun said she died along with seven other passengers who got off a bus to be searched. A dozen people were also injured.
t was the first bomb attack in nearly a month in Maiduguri, the birthplace of Boko Haram, whose six-year insurgency has killed about 20,000 people and driven 2.3 million others from their homes.
Rational Monster: How Terror Fits into Islamic State's Plan
Spiegel Online
“It was a terrible night. We heard the roar of the jets, the detonations. Then, the power suddenly went out and everything sunk into darkness," the young woman on the phone says. She said that she could only see the flashes from the explosions, with one bomb landing right near where she was. "But I don't want to die after all that we have already gone through here."
The woman is from Raqqa, where Islamic State has its headquarters in Syria. She lives there together with her parents and brothers. Still. As do so many other civilians. On the phone, she was describing the first wave of attacks in the "war" that French President François Hollande declared against Islamic State following the attacks in Paris. The bombs dropped by French fighter jets hit both used and abandoned IS bases, the former army camp of Bashar Assad's Division 17, the polyclinic, the horse racetrack and a main power cable. The woman's brother is a taxi driver, and he witnessed numerous injured fighters being brought to the hospital, which had been closed to civilians.
Polish minister tries to ban Nobel winner's ‘pornographic’ play
The Guardian
Poland’s new culture minister wants to ban a production by one of the country’s leading theatre companies of a play by a Nobel prize-winning author, claiming public money must not be used to subsidise “pornography”.
The move by Piotr Gliński, who is also deputy prime minister in the new conservative Law & Justice government, is seen by civil liberties groups as a sign that Poland is poised for a return to draconian state censorship.
In a letter to the governor of Lower Silesia on the eve of the premiere of Der Tod und das Mädchen (Princess Dramas: Death and the Maiden) by Elfriede Jelinek, Gliński called for the cancellation of the play. The venue, the Polski theatre, was publicly funded, he argued, and “we are dealing with pornography in its full and literal meaning”.
France finds explosive belt, detects Paris suspect's phone
Reuters
A suspected explosive belt was found dumped near Paris on Monday and the mobile phone of a fugitive believed to have taken part in the attacks on Nov. 13 was detected in two locations in the city, a source close to the investigation said.
France and Belgium have launched a manhunt following the attacks that killed 130 people, with a focus on Brussels barkeeper Salah Abdeslam, 26, who returned to the city from Paris hours after the attacks and is still at large.
Abdeslam's mobile phone was detected after the attacks in the 18th district in the north of Paris, near an abandoned car that he had rented, and then later in Chatillon in the south, the source said on Monday.
THE ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE, HEALTH AND TECHNOLOGY
U.S. appeals court rules against Wisconsin abortion doctor law
Reuters
A Wisconsin law requiring doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital is unconstitutional, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Monday, addressing a topic the U.S. Supreme Court is considering during its current term.
Abortion providers in Wisconsin had challenged the state law, which requires doctors to have privileges at a hospital within 30 miles (50 km). The law's supporters said the measure ensures continuity of care while opponents say it serves almost no public health value and is intended to shut clinics.
A federal judge in March permanently blocked the Wisconsin law, ruling that the health benefits, if any, were outweighed by the burden on women's health caused by restricted access to abortion.
Where Cows and Coal Rule, So Does CO2
Climate Central
In Wyoming, a sparsely populated state where cattle outnumber people more than 2-to-1, electricity is cheap, coal is king, winters are cold and distances are so vast that driving dozens or even hundreds of miles to reach a shopping mall or healthcare is a way of life.
That formula makes the Cowboy State the nation’s leader in per capita carbon dioxide emissions related to burning energy, according to a new U.S. Energy Information Administration report published Monday. The report ranks states by their carbon emissions per person, providing a look into energy and emissions efficiency across the country.
5 Things To Know: FAA Task Force Recommends A Drone Registry
NPR
The Consumer Technology Association forecasts that 400,000 drones will be sold in the United States this holiday season. That's not to mention the commercial drones being developed by Google (now known as Alphabet), Amazon, Walmart and others.
In the face of this drone proliferation, the Federal Aviation Administration called a special task force to develop a way to get a grip on all the drones in the sky. The task force is now recommended that the government set up a simple registration system for anyone who owns an unmanned aircraft heavier than 250 grams, which is about half a pound.
Conflict Makes Nations Vulnerable to Climate Impacts
Climate Central
Syria, Libya and Yemen are among the countries whose ability to withstand climate change shocks and stresses has deteriorated most in the past five years, suggesting conflict makes people more vulnerable to climate impacts, researchers said.
The University of Notre Dame Global Adaptation Index (ND-GAIN) uses 46 indicators to measure climate change risks to 180 countries and how ready they are to accept investment that could help them cope with more extreme weather and rising seas.
Austria's high court to decide on class action suit against Facebook
Al Jazeera America
Austrian student Max Schrems's attempt to bring a class-action lawsuit against Facebook over its privacy policies will head to Austria's Supreme Court to determine whether such collective legal action is allowed, his group said on Monday.
The law student has claimed 500 euros ($531) in damages each for the more than 25,000 signatories to his lawsuit, the latest in a series of European challenges to U.S. technology firms and their handling of personal data.
At issue is whether the claims can be combined into one in Austrian courts. An appellate court has let Schrems file a personal claim but not allowed a class action to form, his Europe-vs-Facebook group said.
"It would not make a lot of sense for the court or the parties before it to file these claims as thousands of individual lawsuits, which we can still do if a 'class action' is not allowed," Schrems said in a statement.
First EPA chief accuses Republicans of ignoring science for political gain
The Guardian
The man considered the father figure of environmental protection in the US has attacked Republicans for “going through all the stages of denial” over climate change, accusing leading presidential contenders Donald Trump and Marco Rubio of ignoring science for political gain.
William Ruckelshaus, who on Tuesday is to receive the nation’s highest civilian honor, the presidential medal of freedom, told the Guardian that leading Republicans are harming the US’s reputation by attempting to stymie efforts to tackle climate change.
The criticism is particularly stinging as Ruckelshaus previously ran for election as a Republican and was appointed by Richard Nixon as the first head of the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970. Ronald Reagan appointed him to a second term at the federal regulator in 1983.
Gravity will rip Martian moon apart to form dust and rubble ring
The Guardian
Mars is on course to become the fifth ringed planet in the solar system according to astronomers, who claim that its mini moon, Phobos, will one day disintegrate into a hoop of dust and rubble.
The small ball of rock is spiralling inexorably down towards Mars; when the tidal forces become too strong to withstand, Phobos will be ripped apart to leave a huge ring of material, much like that seen around Saturn, researchers say.
The act of cosmic violence would make Mars the first rocky world in the solar system to sport a ring, the others being the gas giants Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
Phobos is the largest of the two Martian moons, but the cratered, dusty rock is a mere 22km across. It orbits the planet three times a day at only 6,000km above the surface. The second Martian moon, Deimos, is about half the size of Phobos and orbits much farther out.
'WE HAZ KITTENS!' AND 4 OTHER TWEETS FROM #BRUSSELSLOCKDOWN
NPR
As authorities conducted antiterrorism raids across Belgium, they asked residents not to tweet any information about their movements.
As we've reported, this is a serious situation in Belgium: Brussels has been essentially shut down and police have detained 21 people. Still, the Internet being the Internet, residents of Brussels — and the world — responded to the plea with pictures of cats.
Here are five tweets we found amusing from the #BrusselsLockdown hashtag: