Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, current leader Neon Vincent, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, Interceptor7, Magnifico, annetteboardman, jck, and Besame. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) Man Oh Man, wader, palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse (RIP), ek hornbeck, 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.
Please feel free to share your articles and stories in the comments.
And yes, I know that there was a Democratic debate tonight and comment threads are everywhere on Daily Kos at the present time, so I will not be covering that here.
The Daily Northwestern: Borrok: There’s a problem with political fandoms by Ben Borrok (Opinion)
Political discourse on social media is a virulent pool that perfectly captures the toxicity of the environment in which the people of this country live. Democrats and Republicans seem to live in completely different spheres from each other, with their own news corporations, boycotts and activists to boot.
It isn’t surprising that a country with a two-party system would result in this situation, in fact, it seems like a natural conclusion to teaching the general public to pick one side or the other.
Our politics have become so ingrained in our personality that we often view a contrasting opinion as a personal attack on us. This is the central cause of animosity in online debate. The transition from a simple discussion on important topics — such as healthcare — to ad hominem frenzy is rapid. Think of the archetypes that we have carved out for each party: One party is seen by many as bigoted and anti-immigration, wearing the ubiquitous red hats and advocating to make the country great again while the other, is seen as overly politically correct, hypersensitive, and reliant on handouts.
Now, how many people do you actually know that fit all of these descriptions? One, two at most? Despite this, we have come to convince ourselves that the world operates within these strictly defined teams, with each archetype being the flagbearer of political identity.
What do you think?
I agree with portions of Borrok’s oped and disagree with other portions, FTR.
Macomb Daily: Warren Mayor Jim Fouts accused of fostering ‘racially hostile’ environment by Norb Franz
Warren’s former diversity coordinator is suing Mayor Jim Fouts and the city’s former top police administrator, claiming he was wrongfully terminated following his attempts to address racial and gender discrimination by officials and employees.
In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, Gregory Murray alleges Fouts downplayed or failed to take sufficient action when he brought serious concerns to the mayor’s attention. Murray claims Warren has “a notorious history of racially discriminatory practices, customs and policies,” particularly in the police and fire departments. He also alleges he was constructively discharged because he is African American.
“When addressing the institutional racism and the lack of training within the defendant City of Warren, plaintiff was ignored then retaliated against even though he had been hired by defendant City of Warren to address unlawful racial and gender discriminatory employment practices are institutional within the defendant City of Warren and City of Warren Police and Fire Departments,” the 21-page lawsuit states.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Murder warrant for ex-officer says victim was holding gun, but that’s legal in Texas by Mitch Mitchell
The murder arrest warrant for a white officer who shot and killed a black woman on Saturday says that the victim was holding a gun after she heard noises outside her window.
But holding a gun inside your home is not illegal in Texas, and the former police officer who shot her was arrested on Monday.
Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price said on Monday that the gun was irrelevant to the investigation. In Texas, homeowners have a right to be armed on their own property, Price said.
A witness, the woman’s 8-year-old nephew, told a forensic interviewer that after Atatiana Jefferson heard noises outside their home and thought there might be a prowler in the back yard, she reached into her purse, grabbed a handgun and pointed it toward the window, the warrant said.
...
This key detail here: According to the warrant, the officers never announced their presence.
It would seem important that if you are an LEO in a state that allows for the right to be armed on your own property, that you should announce your presence...particularly if you received a non-emergency call.
Orange County Register: Mosquitoes carrying rare encephalitis virus discovered in Westminster, Anaheim by Theresa Walker
As if Orange County residents didn’t already have enough to be wary of — with the perennial alerts about mosquitoes that carry West Nile virus and the recent Southern California uptick in invasive Aedes mosquitoes — now, recently collected mosquito samples have tested positive for Saint Louis encephalitis, the Orange County Mosquito and Vector Control District announced Tuesday, Oct. 15.
The samples were collected Oct. 10 at Old Bolsa Chica Road in Westminster and near Dale and Orange avenues in Anaheim.
“This is the first detection in these areas in three decades,” vector control spokeswoman Heather Hyland said in a press release. “We are encouraging residents to take the necessary precautions to keep themselves and their families safe.”
Mosquitoes feeding on infected birds contract the virus and can pass it on to humans. There are as yet no confirmed cases of human infection.
Harvard Crimson: Prevalence of Sexual Misconduct at Harvard Remains Unchanged From Four Years Ago, AAU Survey Finds by Simone C. Chu and Iris M. Lewis
Four years and several administrative changes after Harvard first participated in a national sexual misconduct climate survey, the prevalence of sexual assault and harassment on campus remains stagnant, according to the results of a 2019 iteration of the survey.
This year’s version of the Association of American Universities survey was administered nationwide in April. Across the 33 participating schools, 180,000 students responded, making this the largest ever survey of its kind. Harvard had an overall response rate of 36.1 percent — slightly more than 8,300 students.
Since the first iteration of the survey in 2015, Harvard’s Title IX Office has undergone substantial structural changes and instituted several new programs. The Office split into two offices in 2017, a move separating administrators who investigate sexual assault complaints from those who provide Title IX training and resources. Additionally, the University has since implemented mandatory trainings for students, faculty, and staff.
Tuesday’s data, however, suggests that these changes have yet to make a substantial impact on sexual misconduct culture at the University. Roughly 32 percent of undergraduate women surveyed this year reported that they had experienced some form of nonconsensual sexual contact. In 2015, when the survey was only administered to senior undergraduate women, 31 percent reported experiencing some form of sexual assault
Same story out west on The Farm.
Washington Post: White House directed ‘three amigos’ to run Ukraine policy, senior State department official tells House investigators by Paul Kane, Karoun Demirjian, and Rachel Bade
Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney organized a meeting this spring in which officials determined to take Ukraine policy out of the traditional channels, putting Energy Secretary Rick Perry, U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland and special U.S. envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker in charge instead, a top State Department official told lawmakers Tuesday.
George Kent, the deputy assistant secretary of state responsible for Ukraine, told House investigators that he was instructed to “lay low,” focus on the five other countries in his portfolio, and defer to Volker, Sondland and Perry — who called themselves the “three amigos” — on matter related to Ukraine, Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.) told reporters Tuesday.
The meeting, which Kent told lawmakers took place on May 23, according to Connolly, was just days after the administration recalled Marie Yovanovitch from her post as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. Yovanovitch spoke to House investigators last week about the campaign against her, which she and other former diplomats have said was organized by Trump’s lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani.
Buzzfeed: Asylum Officers Are Urging A Court To Strike Down Trump's Asylum Ban And Saying It "Rips At The Moral Fabric Of Our Country" by Hamed Aleaziz
Hundreds of Department of Homeland Security asylum and refugee officers urged a federal appeals court on Tuesday to block a policy from the Donald Trump administration that virtually bans asylum at the southern border, writing that it “defies our nation’s asylum laws and ... rips at the moral fabric of our country.”
The amicus brief filed in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is the latest public challenge by the union representing the officers, which has previously pushed back on a policy forcing asylum-seekers to remain in Mexico as their cases proceed in the US. Its latest move offers a window into the struggles of the officers who are forced to carry out policies under the Trump administration that they find illegal and unconstitutional.
“Asylum officers who do this work are the ones tasked with applying it. We are the hands-on agents of this policy, and I don’t know of any asylum officers who think it is the right thing to do,” said Michael Knowles, an asylum officer and spokesperson for the National CIS Council 119, the union that filed the brief and represents thousands of US Citizenship and Immigration Services employees worldwide, including about 700 refugee and asylum officers.
I’m reminded of a moment at NN19 in Philadelphia where Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley reminded us that many (if not most) of these workers at the employment levels this Buzzfeed article focuses on are people of color, themselves.
Roll Call: House passes trio of measures supporting Hong Kong protesters by Rachel Oswald
The House passed on Tuesday legislation aimed at helping Hong Kong democracy activists in their fight to preserve political freedoms from encroachment by mainland China.
The most important of the three bills, which passed by voice vote under suspension of the rules, would threaten Hong Kong’s continued special trade status with the United States if the State Department is unable to certify that the city is sufficiently autonomous from Beijing. The status gives Hong Kong easier rules on foreign investment, customs and export regulations.
The legislation from Rep. Christopher H. Smith, R-N.J. would require the State Department to provide a yearly report to lawmakers confirming Hong Kong’s political autonomy from China. If Foggy Bottom is unable to make that certification, the city’s special trade status would have to be ended, in whole or in part.
Reuters: Americans divided: Neighbors turn enemies over Trump in swing-vote Michigan suburbs by Tim Reid
LIVONIA, Mich. (Reuters) - At first glance, Cavell Street in Livonia, Michigan, looks tranquil enough - until the subject of the Democratic-led impeachment probe of President Donald Trump comes up.
A kind of suburban trench warfare is simmering amid the small detached houses and neatly trimmed lawns where diehard Trump lovers live next to Trump haters, and both sides are dug in.
Tensions run so high that nobody on the street displays a political yard sign, says Josh Robinson, 35, a steelworker who voted for Trump in 2016.
“I’m sick and tired of the Democrats bitching and moaning,” Robinson says, noting that the impeachment probe of Trump makes him want to fight harder for the president.
A few doors up, sitting on her front step, Kristine Flaton says she cannot stand Trump. “I wish he’d been impeached a long time ago,” said the 39-year-old, who is currently unemployed.
NBC News: U.S. charges state-owned Turkish bank in multibillion-dollar sanctions-busting scheme by Tom Winter
Federal prosecutors in New York announced charges Tuesday against a Turkish state bank accused of a multibillion-dollar scheme to violate United States sanctions on Iran.
The prosecutors said Halkbank and its "officers, agents, and co-conspirators directly and indirectly used money service businesses and front companies" in Iran, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and other countries to violate prohibitions on Iran's access to the American financial system and the use of revenue from Iranian oil and gas sales, among other offenses.
The U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Geoffrey Berman, said, "The bank's audacious conduct was supported and protected by high-ranking Turkish government officials, some of whom received millions of dollars in bribes to promote and protect the scheme."
Christian Science Monitor: Sea levels are rising, so why is coastal construction? By Patrik Jonsson
CHARLESTON, S.C.- As she recalls the flood waters rising once again last month around her Charleston, South Carolina, home, Elizabeth Cooper says she can still hear her mom’s voice on the phone from Iowa.
The home here in Harleston Village – a kind of Colonial-era suburb of mansions and leaning freedmen’s shacks – has seen a slow-motion catastrophe unfold, with six floods in as many years from rain events and hurricanes.
“My mom told me on the phone, ‘Come back to Iowa, we’ll have a beach here soon!’ Ha-ha, right?” says Ms. Cooper, who gave no thoughts to flooding when she bought her house 35 years ago.
To be sure, she says, property values are holding steady for the moment, given the charm of the neighborhood and magnetic pull of the ocean lapping against the city’s world-class waterfront.
But because comedy hints at truth, mom’s joke hit a nerve.
AlJazeera: New front in Syria's war: Why Manbij matters by Farah Najjar
Sanliurfa, Turkey - Despite mounting international pressure, fresh US sanctions and the potential of a direct confrontation with Syrian government forces, Ankara is pressing ahead with its week-long military operation in northeast Syria.
Following the seizure of border towns and villages from Kurdish fighters, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday pledged to push on with a plan to further drive the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which Ankara considers a "terrorist" organisation, away from the border area.
With its forces having made their way east of the Euphrates River, Ankara has now set its sights on Manbij, a strategic Arab-majority city that has been under SDF control since 2016.
Turkey-allied fighters with the opposition Free Syrian Army (FSA) began gathering on Manbij's outskirts late on Monday, a day after the United States announced it was withdrawing its troops from the region.
El País: Catalonia faces second day of protests with disruption on roads and at airport
Catalonia was facing another day of disruption on Tuesday, as protests over the Supreme Court ruling against pro-independence leaders continued. After the demonstrations seen around the northeastern Spanish region on Monday, including flight cancelations and skirmishes with police at El Prat airport in Barcelona, pro-independence groups announced new protests for today.
Grassroots organization ANC called for people to assemble at 7pm outside the central government’s delegations in Catalan provincial capitals. And during the morning on Tuesday, protestors blocked freeways such as the AP-7 near Sant Gregori in the province of Girona.
There were also more police charges against demonstrators in a bid to unblock roads, including on the C-17 road near Gurb, Barcelona. Meanwhile, on the C-25 road in Gurb, hundreds of protestors managed to block the road off to traffic.
Guardian: Boris Johnson 'on brink of Brexit deal' after border concessions by Daniel Boffey, Jon Henley, Lisa O’Carroll, and Rowena Mason
Boris Johnson appears to be on the brink of reaching a Brexit deal after making major concessions to EU demands over the Irish border.
A draft text of the agreement could now be published on Wednesday if Downing Street gives the final green light, according to senior EU and British sources.
It is understood that the negotiating teams have agreed in principle that there will be a customs border down the Irish Sea. A similar arrangement was rejected by Theresa May as a deal that no British prime minister could accept.
Johnson will still have to win over parliament – including the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) and the hardline Tory Brexiters of the European Research Group (ERG) – on the basis that, under the deal, Northern Ireland will still legally be within the UK’s customs territory.
One Eurosceptic source close to both camps indicated that such an arrangement would be “extremely difficult for the DUP to swallow”, but neither the DUP nor ERG publicly made any criticism of Johnson’s efforts.
BBC News: Mexico: Army deployed after police killed in ambush
Mexico has sent 80 soldiers and an army helicopter to the western Michoacán state after a shooting in which at least 13 police officers were killed.
The police were carrying out a court order in the town of El Aguaje when their convoy was ambushed by unidentified gunmen on Monday.
A powerful criminal group, the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel, is believed to have carried out the attack.
Mexico's president defended his security policies following the attack.
At a news conference on Tuesday, Andrés Manuel López Obrador said his tough policies on drug crime would eventually pay dividends.
"I'm optimistic we'll secure peace... we're completely dedicated to this issue, but [past governments] allowed it to grow," the president was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.
AFP: Japan in non-stop search for typhoon survivors; toll at 74
Rescuers in Japan worked around the clock Tuesday in an increasingly desperate search for survivors of a powerful weekend typhoon that killed more than 70 people and caused widespread destruction.
Hagibis slammed into Japan on Saturday, unleashing fierce winds and unprecedented rain that triggered landslides and caused dozens of rivers to burst their banks.
By late Tuesday, public broadcaster NHK put the toll at 74, with around a dozen people missing. The government's tally was lower, but it said it was still updating information.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said there was no plan to slow rescue operations that involved around 110,000 police, coast guard, firefighters and military troops.
"Rescue work and searches for the missing are continuing around the clock," Abe told parliament.
AP: College Football Top 10
1. Alabama
2. LSU
3. Clemson
4. Ohio State
5. Oklahoma
6. Wisconsin
7. Penn State
8. Notre Dame
9. Florida
10. Georgia
Yep, I’m shelving it.
Everyone have a great evening!