Light News Dump

Translation: “I wake up thinking about Nancy Pelosi. I go to bed thinking about Nancy Pelosi.”
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1210183406904074240

TOXMAP, Federal Database Allowing Public to Track U.S. Pollution, Shut Down After 15 Years by Republicans
https://www.newsweek.com/toxmap-federal-database-allowing-public-track-us-pollution-shut-down-after-15-years-trump-1479146

The U.S. recalled its ambassador to Zambia on Monday after he criticized the government for sending a gay couple to prison, and accused officials of stealing millions of dollars of public funds
https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1209692776646021121
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/24/world/africa/zambia-ambassador-gay-rights.html
https://zm.usembassy.gov/press-statement-from-u-s-ambassador-daniel-l-foote/

Bush fires rage on as hundreds of homes destroyed. As Australians wake to Christmas Day, bushfires continue to rage across the country, with more than 3000 homes lost or destroyed and several lives lost.
https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/black-christmas-bush-fires-rage-on-as-hundreds-of-homes-destroyed/news-story/5dd990beff4a06dd47ab451234cfb88f

Canadian geologist who revealed fraud in a Dubai-based company detained since 2015
https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/canadian-geologist-will-spend-christmas-behind-bars-in-dubai-1.4742809

The Taliban ambushed a peace convoy in western Afghanistan and abducted 26 activists, members of a peace movement, a police spokesman said Wednesday. The insurgents staged the ambush in the district of Bala Buluk in Farah province on Tuesday. The Taliban forced the six-vehicle convoy to a halt, then got into the cars and drove them and the activists to an unknown location, said the provincial police spokesman Mohibullah Mohib.
https://apnews.com/de99fe0efa6a858b41bf624d4858623e

Iran, Russia and China team up for military drills as America boosts troops in Saudi Arabia
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/iran-russia-and-china-team-up-for-military-drills-as-america-boosts-troops-in-saudi-arabia/?intcid=CNI-00-10aaa3b

U.S. CyberCom contemplates information warfare to counter Russian interference in the 2020 election
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/us-cybercom-contemplates-information-warfare-to-counter-russian-interference-in-the-2020-election/2019/12/25/21bb246e-20e8-11ea-bed5-880264cc91a9_story.html

Department of Natural Resources asks for $595K to work on ‘federal plans,’ including ANWR drilling
https://www.adn.com/business-economy/energy/2019/12/24/department-of-natural-resources-asks-for-595k-to-work-on-federal-plans-including-anwr-drilling/

Report Finds One Third Of Trump Appeals Court Judges Have History Of Anti-LGBT Bias
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/12/lambda-report-one-third-trump-appeals-circuit-court-judges-anti-lgbt-bias.html

‘Fox & Friends’ Throws Fit Over CBC Editing Trump Out Of ‘Home Alone 2’
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/fox-and-friends-katie-pavlich-cbc-trump-home-alone

Russia's warm winter has deprived Moscow of snow, caused plants to bloom and roused bears out of hibernation
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/russias-warm-winter-has-deprived-moscow-of-snow-caused-plants-to-prematurely-bloom-and-woken-bears-out-of-hibernation/2019/12/23/6ecf726c-2590-11ea-9cc9-e19cfbc87e51_story.html

Behind a U.A.W. Crisis: Lavish Meals and Luxury Villas | A federal investigation has led to accusations that union leaders diverted funds to perks like a $6,500 steak dinner and golf outings and gear costing $80,000. | On a single day in December 2015, Gary Jones, who resigned last month as president of the United Automobile Workers, spent more than $13,000 of the union’s money at a cigar store in Arizona. His purchases included a dozen $268 boxes of Ashton Double Magnums and a dozen boxes of Ashton Monarchs at $274.50 each. “Hi Gary, Thank you & Happy New Year,” read a handwritten note from the store. The purchases, documented by a federal complaint filed against a union leader in September, were part of more than $60,000 in cigars and cigar paraphernalia that Mr. Jones and other U.A.W. officials expensed to the union between 2014 and 2018. And the cigar purchases were in turn just a small portion of the roughly $1 million in union money that court filings say U.A.W. officials spent on golf outings, four-figure dinners and monthslong villa rentals during regular retreats in Palm Springs, Calif., and elsewhere. The scandal comes on top of an investigation into company and union officials’ improper use of millions of dollars from a joint Fiat Chrysler-U.A.W. training center. Mr. Jones’s predecessor as president, Dennis Williams, is accused of encouraging the use of Fiat Chrysler funds meant for worker education as a way to pay for the extravagant spending in Palm Springs and other places.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/26/business/uaw-gary-jones-investigation.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/20/business/gm-fiat-chrysler-lawsuit.html
https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/chrysler/2019/09/12/uaw-corruption-vance-pearson-charged-gary-jones/2302899001/

Huawei received $75 BILLION in tax breaks, special financing and cheap resources as it became the world’s top telecom vendor.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/state-support-helped-fuel-huaweis-global-rise-11577280736

Correct — the administration blocked these witnesses ....
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1210168044376526848

This amazing woman offers free beauty services for the homeless | Shirley Raines offers food, showers, and beauty services to the homeless people of Skid Row in Los Angeles. She started offering the services after many women showed interest in her hair and makeup.
https://twitter.com/InactionNever/status/1209698772231557121

Poll workers in Georgia were instructed that the default password for iPads used to check in voters and update statuses was "1234." After this issue was reported on, state elections officials said that the password had been changed. See the documents:
https://www.americanoversight.org/document/carroll-county-georgia-records-regarding-knowink-poll-pads

Pathological Liar Elizabeth Warren's Brother Reportedly 'Furious' She Claims Their Father Was a Janitor (there is a MAJOR CLEAR difference between maintenance man and janitor)
https://www.mediaite.com/news/elizabeth-warrens-brother-reportedly-furious-she-claims-their-father-was-a-janitor/

Wasn't it Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell who said he wants a quick trial? Fuck off Trump
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1210172955982016512

An White Pro-Trump Iowa woman who told police she ran over a teen because she "was a Mexican" has been charged with another attempted murder after police say she hit a 12-year-old boy, who is black, on the same day
https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/24/us/iowa-woman-ran-over-girl-hit-black-child-trnd/index.html

Turkey’s highest court ruled against its government’s more than 2.5-year-old ban of Wikipedia.
https://www.courthousenews.com/court-rules-turkey-violated-freedoms-by-banning-wikipedia/

This is Orwellian. Trump blocks documents from House investigators and keeps witnesses from testifying. Now he complains about the absence of documents and witnesses. He's like the guy who kills his parents, then begs the judge to have mercy on a poor orphan.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1210168044376526848

Email misuse in the Trump administration has been ongoing for nearly three years — and there have been few or no consequences for it. Government officials should be held accountable. See our investigation:
https://www.americanoversight.org/investigation/the-trump-administrations-questionable-email-practices

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is delivering more than $1 billion worth of federal spending and tax breaks to his Kentucky constituents, just in time for Christmas and ahead of a potentially tough reelection campaign.
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/475831-mcconnell-flexes-reelection-muscle-with-1b-gift-for-kentucky

"According to Feeding America, 43% of people who visit a food bank have at least one family member who is working full time but still doesn’t earn enough...If business leaders genuinely care about eradicating poverty, paying people a living wage matters." | Dear C.E.O.: Before You Give to Charity, Look at Your Own Workplace | Many business leaders commendably donate to charity. But they don’t do enough to support their employees and the less fortunate they work with daily.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/24/business/dealbook/income-inequality-corporate-response.html

The Republican party is a predatory criminal enterprise. It should be disbanded for the same reasons law enforcement dissolves organizations, which exist primarily to facilitate the commission of illegal acts and to disburse the ill-gotten gains.

Today, the idea that a cadre of nonpartisan civil servants can loyally serve presidents of either party in pursuit of shared national interests — a bedrock principle of the country’s approach to foreign policy — is under attack.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/in-aftermath-of-ukraine-crisis-a-climate-of-mistrust-and-threats/2019/12/24/03831e3e-2359-11ea-a153-dce4b94e4249_story.html

25% of Bernie Sanders supporters in the 2016 primary did not vote for Hillary Clinton in the general
https://twitter.com/NormOrnstein/status/1210077139992756224

Russian authorities raid Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny's Moscow office
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-politics-navalny/russian-authorities-raid-kremlin-critic-alexei-navalnys-moscow-office-idUSKBN1YU0I6

Just in case anyone is curious, CBC says it first cut the Trump cameo out of the movie in 2014 -- it says it cut eight minutes for TV length, seven seconds of which were the Trump cameo, and the shorter version has aired annually since. People started tweeting about this in 2015.
https://twitter.com/ddale8/status/1210354765466624000

A death on Christmas Day in CBP custody. She'd arrived the previous day, was cleared by "contracted medical personnel" and transferred for hold overnight.
https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/speeches-and-statements/statement-death-congolese-national-laredo

Mike Bloomberg met with a group of Democratic power players last week to show his path to victory in 2020, even though he isn't taking their money. The team brought up a map and highlighted the states of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/26/mike-bloomberg-tries-to-convince-big-money-democratic-donors-he-can-win.html

Mike Bloomberg is investing more than a hundred million dollars of his own money into flipping seats at the local/state/federal level in the swing states and beyond, he's running ads every that promote the Democratic platform, in 2018 he invested double-digit millions into several organizations to help flip seats blue and he invested money in the 2019 Virginia elections to flip their state legislature blue. Bloomberg is investing HIS OWN MONEY into promoting the DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM across all the swing states and other states where Democrats have a chance to flip seats blue. FUCK THE LEFT FOR ATTACKING HIM. Republicans have outraised Democrats by HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS ALREADY. Bloomberg is investing a fortune to BAIL OUT DEMOCRATS AND HELP THEM WIN.