Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, eeff, Magnifico, annetteboardman, Besame, jck, and JeremyBloom. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) Interceptor 7, Man Oh Man, wader, Neon Vincent, palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse (RIP), ek hornbeck (RIP), rfall, ScottyUrb, Doctor RJ, BentLiberal, Oke (RIP) 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 12:00 AM Eastern Time.
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Detroit Free Press: Whitmer kidnap plot leader Adam Fox spared life sentence, gets 16 years by Tresa Baldas
More than two years after his arrest, Adam Fox was sentenced Tuesday to 16 years in prison for plotting the kidnap of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in what the government has described as one of the biggest domestic terrorism cases in recent American history.
The government had sought a life sentence for Fox, arguing he was part of a violent extremism movement that sought not only to kidnap the governor, but to spark a civil uprising.
But U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker in Grand Rapids gave the 39-year-old Fox the mercy he was looking for as his lawyer, Christopher Gibbons, had long argued against a life sentence. Gibbons maintained Fox was a follower, not a leader, and looked up to FBI informants and undercover agents who cased Whitmer's vacation home alongside Fox, and accompanied him and others during training sessions.
The New York Times: ‘It Was Just a Crying Day’: Families Mourn Those Killed in the Storm by Lola Fadulu, Hurubie Meko, and Sarah Maslin Nir
Trapped in her car as a blinding snowstorm engulfed Buffalo, Anndel Nicole Taylor, 22, texted her family that she was scared. She had been calling emergency services for hours on Friday but kept being put on hold.
At midnight, with four feet of snow piling up on the ground and her car still stuck, she told her family she was going to try to get some sleep.
“That was the last time we spoke to her,” said her older sister, Shawnequa Renee Brown, 35, who lives in Charlotte, N.C.
Ms. Taylor was found dead in her car on Christmas Eve.
A certified nursing assistant, Ms. Taylor had moved from Charlotte to Buffalo about two years ago, to care for their ailing father. On Christmas Day, the family gathered in North Carolina, mourning at what should have been a celebration. Ms. Taylor’s presents were under the tree, still wrapped.
Washington Post: Southwest draws regulatory scrutiny as thousands more flights canceled by Justin George, Rachel Lerman, Hannah Sampson
Southwest Airlines accounted for about 85 percent of canceled domestic flights Tuesday, drawing the attention of U.S. regulators and lawmakers amid a days-long meltdown of holiday air travel that began with a winter storm late last week.
More than 3,000 U.S. flights were canceled Tuesday among all carriers, with Southwest accounting for more than 2,600 of the total — a problem the airline blamed partly on tools for tracking and creating employee schedules. The airline grounded 64 percent of its scheduled flights Tuesday, even as other carriers appeared to recover. Among other major domestic carriers, about 2 percent of flights were not operating as planned, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware.
The carrier’s disruptions attracted fresh scrutiny from Capitol Hill and the Transportation Department, which said it was looking into Southwest’s “unacceptable” handling of cancellations. The chaos upended plans for tens of thousands of frustrated air travelers at a time when industry executives and analysts had expressed optimism over their ability to handle an onslaught of holiday passengers.
CNN: George Santos faces growing condemnation as House GOP leadership remains silent by Kate Sullivan and Melanie Zanona
GOP Rep.-elect George Santos is facing growing condemnation from House Democrats, some of whom have called on him to step aside, and even from some corners of the GOP, with at least one of his fellow incoming Republicans calling for him to face an ethics investigation. House GOP leadership, however, remains silent over revelations that the New York Republican lied about parts of his biography.
Santos has admitted to fabricating sections of his resume – including his past work experience and education – and has apologized but says he intends to serve in Congress.
Democratic Reps. Joaquin Castro of Texas and Ted Lieu of California were among those calling on Santos – after the congressman-elect gave interviews acknowledging “embellishing” his resume – to resign and if he refuses, for the House to expel him.
Castro called for Santos to be investigated by authorities and argued if the New York Republican is allowed to serve in Congress after lying about his resume, “There will be more who seek office up and down the ballot who will believe that they can completely fabricate credentials, personal features and accomplishments to win office.”
BBC News: Ukraine war: Civilians flee Kherson as Russian attacks intensify by Yogita Limaye
Thirteen-year-old Nika Selivanova made a heart shape with both her hands, waving goodbye to her best friend Inna who was pressed up against the glass partition that divided the entrance hall of Kherson's train station from the waiting area.
Moments earlier, they'd hugged, tears welling up in their eyes. Inna had kissed Asia, a tan dachshund dog wrapped up in a warm blanket, carried by Nika in her arms.
The girls didn't know when they might see each other again.
Nika's family was leaving Kherson, not sure of where they would end up eventually. For now, they were heading to the western city of Khmelnytskyi, hoping they would get some help there.
The past few days in Kherson had simply been too much for Nika's mother Elena.
"Before, they [Russian forces] shelled us seven to 10 times a day, now it's 70-80 times, all day long. It's too scary." Elena said. "I love Ukraine and my dear city. But we have to go."
Elena and her three daughters are among more than four hundred people who have left Kherson since Christmas Day, after a sharp increase in the intensity of the bombardment of the city by the Russian military.
AlJazeera: Kosovo minister sees Russian influence in growing Serbian tension
Kosova’s Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla has accused Serbia, under the influence of Russia, of attempting to destabilise his country by supporting the Serb minority in northern Kosovo who have blocked roads in an escalation of weeks of protests.
Serbs in the ethnically-divided city of Mitrovica in northern Kosovo erected new barricades on Tuesday, hours after Serbia said it had put its military on the highest combat footing following weeks of escalating tensions between Belgrade and Pristina over the protests.
The new barriers, made of heavily-loaded trucks, were put in place overnight in Mitrovica and represent the first time since the recent crisis started that Serbs have blocked streets in one of Kosovo’s main towns. Until now, barricades had been set on roads leading to the Kosovo-Serbia border.
The trucks have been parked to block the road linking the Serb-majority part of the town to the Albanian-majority part.
Washington Post: Lula won Brazil’s closest-ever election. That was the easy part. By Gabriela Sa Passoa, Anthony Faiola, and Diana Durán
SAO PAULO — Lulapalooza, the Jan. 1 inauguration of Brazil’s once and future president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, will be a carnival for this country’s progressives. Hundreds of thousands are expected to gather in the capital to see the lion of the Latin American left sworn in, then samba and sway to an all-star concert headlined by Pabllo Vittar — Brazil’s most famous drag queen and a favorite target of the defeated right.
But the party is unlikely to last.
Lula, 77, defied history in October to win a third term as president just three years after exiting a jail cell. But now he’s facing a greater challenge: how to govern a country divided, plug fiscal holes and make good on a host of politically difficult campaign pledges — protecting the Amazon jungle, tackling police brutality and toughening the gun laws that were relaxed by his predecessor, Donald Trump ally Jair Bolsonaro.
He’ll be trying to do it in a political atmosphere familiar to Americans. Bolsonaro, who lost the election in October, has allowed a transition, but he has yet to actually concede — a refusal that has encouraged his core supporters to refute the legitimacy of a Lula presidency. Thousands of them remain camped out at army barracks across the country, calling for a military overthrow of the incoming government. Weeks before the inauguration, violent Bolsonaristas attacked police and burned buses in Brasilia. Raids in eight states soon after yielded weapons and arrests for alleged “anti-democratic acts.”
Have a good evening, everyone!