December 24, 2016
Trump’s pick for National Security Adviser, former Defense Intelligence Agency head Michael Flynn, allegedly met the leader of a far-right Austrian party founded by Nazis with direct ties to the Kremlin this week. / The Washington Post, HuffPost, The New York Times
Related: An analysis of Flynn’s tweets by the Southern Poverty Law Center shows the disturbing extent of his fanatic Islamophobic beliefs. / splcenter.org
If/when Trump follows through on his promises to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, they will be funneled through ICE’s “removal” apparatus, the detention facilities for which are contracted out to private prison groups. These facilities are already inhumane. / ACLU
A federal appeals court okayed climate scientist Michael Mann’s defamation suit, finding that a reasonable jury would believe that the National Review’s accusations of academic fraud, peppered with comparisons to child molesters, were baseless and harmful to his career. / Mashable
“I don’t know where the reindeer end and he begins.” Fascinating look into culture of Finland’s reindeer farmers. Reindeer meat is becoming chic, but production is falling due to climate change, predators, and logging. / Economist
The campaign supporting California’s secession opened its first embassy in, yes, you guessed it, Moscow. / Vice News
“Our state government can no longer be classified as a full democracy. When it comes to the integrity of the voting district boundaries no country has ever received as low a score as the 7/100 North Carolina received.” By measures of electoral integrity, North Carolina rates only as partly-free, alongside authoritarian states like Cuba, Indonesia, and Sierra Leone. / Raleigh News & Observer
Though it seems to have made some headway with the incoming Trump administration, Taiwan lost another diplomatic ally this week as the government of São Tomé and Príncipe, off the coast of Gabon in West Africa, switched allegience to China. / Quartz
“[Companies that mine lithium] really think the indigenous are like stones in the road. If there’s a problem, they have to kick it aside.” Companies like Apple, Samsung, and LG rely on lithium mined from Andean salt flats on the Argentina-Chile border that are home to thousands of indigenous Atacama people whose water is being tainted by mining. / The Washington Post
The counterfeit fashion industry often relies on child labor, and the profits have gone to fund terrorists, including the brothers who shot up Charlie Hebdo. / complex.com
In an analysis of state health department and CDC data, Reuters identified over 3,000 areas and neighborhoods around the country with worse lead poisoning rates than Flint, Mich. / Reuters
The year that was and wasn’t / TMN
A short article by Mayukh Sen on how and why fruitcake became a slur. / Food52
See also: Why you should go easy on all the free pickles, onions, and white bread in Texas. / tmbbq.com
Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol has been translated into emoji. / Los Angeles Times