Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, Interceptor7, Magnifico, annetteboardman, Besame and jck. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) Man Oh Man, wader, Neon Vincent, 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.
Vox Matthew Yglesias
The scandals, the leaks, the outrages, and the bizarre tweets of the last three years can distract from an important fact about President Donald Trump: He has changed policy in ways that affect the lives of millions of Americans.
Some of the Trump agenda is standard for a Republican president. White-collar criminal prosecutions have hit a 33-year low. The Justice Department defends state laws that could kick thousands off the voting rolls. The National Labor Relations Board is now more sympathetic to employers than unions. And military spending is on track to reach the same levels as during the height of the Iraq War.
But he’s gone further. While the media, understandably, focuses on Trump’s many scandals, his administration has quietly enacted a far more aggressive agenda than his Republican predecessors. Big boosts to fossil fuel production have come at the expense of an unprecedented deterioration in air quality. Tens of thousands of people have lost health insurance by administrative fiat, and millions are in the process of losing their nutritional assistance through the same mechanism. He’s remade the judiciary, installing conservative judges at twice Obama’s pace, and he’s consolidated a conservative majority on the Supreme Court that may endure for decades.
HuffPost
Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) appears poised to plead guilty to federal campaign finance charges on Tuesday morning after more than a year of claiming the federal investigation into his spending habits was a “witch hunt.”
The court docket in Hunter’s case indicated on Monday that Hunter has a change of plea hearing set for Tuesday morning, as first reported by The San Diego Union-Tribune. He’ll appear before U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Whelan, according to the notification.
Hunter was indicted in August 2018. Months later, he won reelection after launching false, racist attacks against his opponent, who was of Palestinian and Latino descent.
Washington Post
Lobbyists either helped draft or made extensive revisions to opinion columns published by three state lawmakers in a way that warned against the dangers of Medicare-for-all and other government involvement in health care, according to emails obtained by The Washington Post.
Montana state Rep. Kathy Kelker (D) and Sen. Jen Gross (D) acknowledged in interviews that editorials they published separately about the single-payer health proposal included language provided by John MacDonald, a lobbyist and consultant in the state who disclosed in private emails that he worked for an unnamed client.
Gross said MacDonald contacted her on behalf of the Partnership for America’s Health Care Future, a multimillion-dollar industry group founded in 2018 and funded by hospitals, private insurers, drug companies and other private health-care firms.
Agence France Presse
President Donald Trump branded Democrats a "disgrace" Monday for holding impeachment proceedings while he attends a NATO summit in England and rejected participating in what he called "a hoax."
"The Democrats, the radical-left Democrats, the do-nothing Democrats, decided when I'm going to NATO -- this was set up a year ago -- that when I'm going to NATO, that was the exact time," Trump said angrily on departing the White House.
"It's an absolute disgrace what they're doing to our country," he said. "The whole thing is a hoax. Everybody knows it."
While Trump is away, House Democrats will ramp up what appears to be inevitable momentum to making the real estate tycoon only the third president ever impeached.
Agence France Presse
Confronted with a climate crisis threatening civilisation itself, humanity must choose between hope and surrender, UN chief Antonio Guterres told the opening plenary of a UN climate conference Monday.
"One is the path of surrender, where we have sleep-walked past the point of no return, jeopardising the health and safety of everyone on this planet," Guterres said.
"Do we really want to be remembered as the generation that buried its head in the sand, that fiddled while the planet burned?"
Some 40 presidents and prime ministers took turns working that theme as the 12-day talks began, with Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen at one point holding up a plush polar bear.
"All of you, just like me, are so-called decision-makers, and probably have children or grandchildren who you love," he said in a scolding tone. "Think about those children when you take a decision on behalf of your country."
Deutsche Welle
The head of the UN says he is "disappointed" in global efforts made to limit emissions as the international climate conference COP25 began in Madrid. 200 countries have pledged a "green revolution" on the first day.
Leaders from over 200 countries pledged a "green revolution" as they gathered for the first day of the COP25 climate summit, which kicked off in Madrid on Monday.
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he is "disappointed" with efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions, speaking on the first day of the two-week summit.
"Do we really want to be remembered as the generation that buried its head in the sand?" said Guterres in his opening address. He urged country delegates not to take "the path of surrender" in dealing with climate change.
Deutsche Welle
Should they stay or should they go? DW games out the likeliest scenarios for Chancellor Merkel’s fragile coalition government following the bombshell leadership decision of her Social Democrat partners.
The party has spoken: Lawmaker Saskia Esken and former regional Finance Minister Norbert Walter-Borjans are set to become the next leaders of Germany's center-left Social Democrats (SPD).
With two left-wing, anti-establishment Social Democrats poised to lead Germany's oldest party, Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition government is more fragile than ever. Here are three scenarios to follow as the SPD considers both its future and that of Germany.
The Guardian
Google and YouTube have pulled hundreds of ads for Donald Trump over the last few months, according to 60 Minutes on CBS.
A review of the tech companies’ advertising archive found at least 300 Trump ads had been pulled from the platforms, mainly over the summer, after they had been found to violate advertising policies.
In an interview with 60 Minutes, YouTube chief executive officer Susan Wojcicki confirmed that there were “ads of President Trump that were not approved to run on Google or YouTube”.
Facebook, Google, YouTube and Twitter have faced scrutiny over political ads. In October Twitter announced it was banning political advertising on its platform.
The Guardian
A final hit from a seemingly endless winter storm that affected most of the US over the long Thanksgiving weekend was bearing down on the east on Monday, dumping heavy snow, shuttering schools and stymying travel.
The storm dropped one round of snow on parts of the region late on Sunday and could bring 10in to 20in total by Tuesday morning from Pennsylvania to Maine, forecasters said. Heavy snow was also expected in the Appalachian mountains down to Tennessee and North Carolina.
“It’s moving very slowly, so the snow is just going to continue through the day,” National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologist Jennifer Vogt said.
Since Sunday, the storm has already dropped 20in of snow in East Glenville, New York, 15 miles north-west of Albany, the highest snow total in the north-east so far.
The storm has pummelled the US for days, dumping heavy snow from California to the midwest and inundating other areas with rain.
The Guardian
The US will take action on greenhouse gases and engage with other countries on the climate emergency despite Donald Trump’s rejection of international cooperation, a delegation from the US Congress has told the UN climate conference in Madrid.
Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, struck a defiant stance on Monday, declaring: “Congress’s commitment to action on the climate crisis is iron-clad. This is a matter of public health, of clean air, of clean water, of our children, of the survival of our economies, of the prosperity of the world, of national security, justice and equality. We now must deliver deeper cuts in emissions.”
Her rallying call came as developing countries accused the US president of “ecocide” and the UN secretary-general said the world’s biggest emitters were falling behind.
Reuters
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street stepped back from last week’s record highs on Monday, with weak U.S. manufacturing data and fresh trade worries keeping buyers on the sidelines.
All three major U.S. stock averages began the last month of the year in the red as investors returned from the long holiday weekend.
A report from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) showed U.S. manufacturing activity contracted in November for the fourth consecutive month, stoking concerns that the longest period of economic expansion in U.S. history could be losing steam.
Reuters
(Reuters) - A panel of judges in North Carolina ruled on Monday that a new congressional map approved by lawmakers last month will be used for the state’s 2020 primaries, saying there was not enough time to determine whether it was a form of partisan gerrymandering.
The same three-judge Wake County Superior Court panel several weeks ago blocked the state from using a congressional map created in 2016 in next year’s elections, suggesting that map’s boundaries were gerrymandered to favor Republicans.
[...]
“North Carolina Republicans yet again run out the clock on fair maps, denying justice to North Carolina voters and forcing our state to go another election using undemocratic district lines,” the state’s Democratic Party Chairman Wayne Goodwin said in a statement.
BBC
The US is preparing tariffs on $2.4bn (£1.85bn) worth of French exports as retaliation against the country's new digital services tax.
The top US trade official said the new tax, which France approved in July, unfairly targets American tech giants.
He said the potential tariffs were intended to deter other countries from taking similar steps.
The items that could face tariffs at rates up to 100% include cheese, sparkling wine, make-up and handbags.
The decision "sends a clear signal that the United States will take action against digital tax regimes that discriminate or otherwise impose undue burdens on US companies", said US Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer.
BBC
The Trump campaign says it will refuse credentials to reporters with Bloomberg News, the outlet owned by Democratic presidential hopeful Michael Bloomberg.
After Mr Bloomberg's official entry to the 2020 race last week, Bloomberg said it would stop critically covering the Democratic candidates.
But the outlet said it would continue to investigate US President Donald Trump's administration.
Mr Trump's campaign called the Bloomberg decision proof of "bias".
"Since they have declared their bias openly, the Trump campaign will no longer credential representatives of Bloomberg News for rallies or other campaign events," said Mr Trump's campaign manager, Brad Parscale, in a statement on Monday.
NPR
For the first time in 10 years, the U.S. Supreme Court has heard a major gun-rights case. But the drumroll of anticipation seemed to fade, as the debate in the high court Monday focused almost exclusively on whether the case should be dismissed as moot.
At issue was a New York law that allowed New York City residents to have a permit for a gun at home but barred them from transporting the gun elsewhere except to seven New York City shooting ranges. Three handgun owners who had such "premises licenses" challenged the law as a violation of their Second Amendment right to bear arms because they could not transport their guns to shooting ranges and competitions outside the city or to second homes.
NPR
I’ll be surprised if Governor Kemp actually appoints a non-Trump choice despite all the hullabaloo. The Republican Party demands fealty to Trump.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp plans to appoint Kelly Loeffler on Wednesday as the state's next U.S. senator, effective Jan. 1, according to two sources with knowledge of Kemp's decision. The businesswoman and Republican donor will fill the seat held by Sen. Johnny Isakson, who plans to retire Dec. 31 for health reasons.
The pick comes despite strong opposition from prominent allies of President Trump, who is reported to have favored Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., for the seat. Loeffler's conservative bona fides have been questioned, with conservative talk show host Mark Levin referring to her as a "RINO" (Republican in name only) on Sunday.
NPR
Bernadette Demientieff hails from a region marked by pristine panoramas, droves of Arctic wildlife and decades of controversy. For millennia, her people, the native Gwich'in Nation, have guarded the precious swath of Alaskan land today known by many as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
But in the coming months, the Interior Department will sell leases to companies that intend to drill for oil and gas in the refuge's coastal plain. The sale comes two years after the Trump administration first opened the refuge to energy development, inciting widespread opposition and halting a decades-old struggle over the refuge's natural resources.
So this October, as on countless other occasions in recent years, Demientieff was far from home. Instead, she was on her way to Wall Street with one mission in mind: to convince several of the world's most powerful banks to officially — and publicly — say they won't finance oil drilling in her ancestral land.