Academics concerned about foreign intervention in election
A number of academics and activists are urging Hillary Clinton to call for a recount of the electoral votes in key battleground states following her failed bid for the presidency, citing the possibility of foreign intervention. One group will deliver an 18-page report to congressional committee chairs and federal authorities early next week on the results in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan. There has been speculation around Wisconsin where counties with electronic voting delivered Trump much higher margins. However, pollsters such as Nate Silver have dismissed doubt about the integrity of the result. Nonetheless, dozens of academics specializing in cybersecurity, defense and elections signed a letter stating they were concerned about foreign intervention.
Hillary Clinton urged to call for election vote recount in battleground states
Trump adviser to Nasa: no more climate change research
The incoming administration will scrap Nasa’s climate change research and crack down on “politicized science”, Bob Walker, Donald Trump’s senior adviser on issues related to the space agency, said. The agency will focus on deep space exploration, following Trump’s campaign promise to explore the entire solar system before the end of the century. Nasa’s earth science division will have its budget cut, which will reduce its world-renowned research into temperature, ice, clouds and other climate phenomena. It was set to have its budget increased to $2bn in 2017, while space exploration was set to see $2.8bn. Walker said earth-centric science was better addressed by other agencies and that Nasa should step away from what he previously called “politically correct environmental monitoring”.
Trump to scrap Nasa climate research in crackdown on ‘politicized science’
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UK says Farage will not be ambassador to US
British ministers resoundingly rejected Trump’s suggestion on Monday that interim UK Independence party leader Nigel Farage should become ambassador to the US. The foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, rejected the president-elect’s suggestion, made on Twitter, as there was no current vacancy. The prospect was rejected across government but many generally refrained from critiquing Trump’s interference, or his stated preference. In a break with diplomatic protocol, Trump tweeted on Tuesday that many people would like to see Farage become the British ambassador to the US: “He would do a great job!” Farage also published an op-ed in Breitbart News, in which he urged Downing Street to use his connections.
Ministers reject Trump’s call to appoint Nigel Farage ambassador
‘Alt-right’ upset with Trump
Reddit, 4Chan and the comment threads of Breitbart were littered with dismay from members of the “alt-right” over how the president-elect has attempted to distance himself from the movement since his election victory. Speaking to the New York Times in an on-the-record chat at their offices, Trump disavowed Richard Spencer and his far-right thinktank the National Policy Institute. “This constant virtue signaling needs to finally end, otherwise our civilization will simply collapse,” a commenter wrote underneath the article on Trump’s disavowal on rightwing news site Breitbart. Another wrote on 4Chan: “Already reneging on his word before he even takes office?! People will remember that.”
Donald Trump’s ‘alt-right’ supporters express dismay at disavowal
Women and girls victimized by Central America gangs
Increasing numbers of women and girls are fleeing El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras amid mounting evidence that criminal gangs are systematically targeting adolescent girls as sexual slaves. Of the 32,142 female migrants detained by Mexican immigration agents in the first nine months of this year, almost one in three were under 18. Almost 15,000 12-to-17-year-old girls from Central America’s so-called northern triangle have been apprehended here since 2014.
‘It’s a crime to be young and pretty’: girls flee predatory Central America gangs
Trump, champion of the 1%?
Trump’s tax plan will give America’s richest 1% an average annual tax cut of $214,000 a year. The tax plan is also expected to hurt more than 8 million families. Despite Trump’s promises to massively cut taxes for the middle class, independent experts have found that his plan will overwhelmingly help America’s millionaires and billionaires. As the US continues to struggle with income inequality, experts argue that Trump’s tax plan will only make things worse.
Trump’s tax plan: massive cuts for the 1% will usher ‘era of dynastic wealth’
Time to pretend to be Canadian – again
Lilit Marcus feigned being Canadian while backpacking in Europe during the Bush years, and writes that she may have to once again under Trump. All was well when Obama was in office but “not so now”, she writes: “Donald Trump’s first forays into foreign policy this week have made me, as a Jew, a woman and an American, deeply concerned about the fate of my nation, not just eager to feign Canadianness again but to go there on a longer-term basis.”
As a US traveller, I sported a Canadian flag patch under Bush. Time to dust it off
NFL kickers have a case of the yips
The Minnesota Vikings’ decision to let go of out-of-form kicker Blair Walsh has sent ripples through the NFL. Kickers missed a collective 12 points on Sunday, a first for the league. “I’m sure that was in the back of every kicker’s head this weekend,” former kicker Michael Husted told the Guardian, when speaking of the fear that others also might be let go.
Blair Walsh Syndrome: why NFL kickers are playing afraid
In case you missed it …
Outgoing president Barack Obama admitted to getting “kinda choked up” while presenting the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Ellen DeGeneres. “It’s easy to forget now just how much courage was required for Ellen to come out on the most public of stages 20 years ago.”
