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FBI Flags Rising Holiday Scams Spreading Across Email, Social, and Web (Maria)

The author writes, “Scammers are decking the halls early this year, popping up everywhere from inboxes to fake storefronts. The FBI warns that this year’s fraud surge is spreading across all major consumer channels. In a new holiday alert, the bureau flagged a jump in non-delivery and nonpayment complaints tied to last year’s shopping season, a pattern it said is reappearing. … Scammers are pushing schemes through multiple entry points to catch people during moments of distraction or routine, according to the FBI.”

Minneapolis Police Chief Warns Officers: Stop Unlawful Force by ICE or Lose Your Job (Dana)

From MS Now: “Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara issued a stern warning to his officers on Thursday: Intervene when you see Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents using unlawful force or lose your job. ‘If unlawful force is being used by any law enforcement officer against any person in this city and one of our officers is there, absolutely, I expect them to intervene, or they’ll be fired,’ O’Hara said when asked how his officers should respond to excessive force by ICE agents. O’Hara noted that cases of ‘excessive’ force that were ‘readily apparent’ would merit officer intervention. A sergeant from O’Hara’s department later clarified that while Minneapolis Police Department officers may physically intervene in the case of unlawful force, they would stop short of arresting ICE agents.”

China Trade Surplus Tops $1TN for First Time Amid Pivot to Counter US Lull (Sean)

From Al Jazeera: “China’s annual trade surplus in goods has topped $1 trillion for the first time, with plunging exports to the United States amid a tariff war more than compensated for by shipments to other markets, new data shows. Figures released by China’s General Administration of Customs on Monday showed the trade surplus for the first 11 months of the year hit $1.08 trillion in November, as exports climbed 5.9 percent year-on-year that month, reversing a 1.1 percent decline the month prior. The leap came despite a continued slump in exports to the US, which fell 28.6 percent to $33.8bn last month, the data showed.”

Immigrants Approved for Citizenship ‘Plucked Out’ of Line Moments Before Pledging Allegiance (DonkeyHotey)

The author writes, “Immigrants were moments away from pledging allegiance to the United States in Boston — the final step of the long process to becoming a US citizen — when government officials pulled them out of line, according to a new report. The scene unfolded at Boston’s Faneuil Hall on Thursday, Dec. 4, according to the report from WGBH, a National Public Radio member station. As people who were already approved to be naturalized — having completed the lengthy US citizenship process — lined up to pledge allegiance, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) officials told them they could not continue due to their countries of origin, the outlet reported.”

A Small Illinois City at the Center of a Seismic Shift in Abortion Access (Laura)

The author writes, “The cars and pickup trucks from Missouri, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, Indiana, and Mississippi started arriving early in the morning at the Alamo Women’s Clinic in Carbondale, Illinois. Men were not allowed inside, so most waited in the parking lot, scrolling or dozing, exhausted after driving through the night. Abortion is legal in Illinois, but the state is surrounded by others that have largely banned the procedure in the three years since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. As a result, Illinois now leads the nation in out-of-state abortion patients. Carbondale, a college town in Illinois’s southern tip within driving distance of 10 states with abortion bans, has become a major abortion hub. Last year three clinics in this city of 21,000 provided close to 11,000 abortions, almost all for women from other states.”

As California Limits Water Use, People in Prison Face Punishment for Showering (Reader Jim)

From Truthout: “As droughts, extreme heat, and other climate disasters increasingly plague California, people throughout the state have been subject to water restrictions. For many Californians, this means emergency regulations like limitations on lawn watering. But one group of people has been forced to bear the brunt of the state’s water restrictions: those in prison. People in California prisons already face an acute vulnerability to extreme heat and cold, wildfires, droughts, and flooding. … And despite this increased vulnerability, incarcerated Californians have been forced for years to heavily limit their water use, including through restricted shower access, limited toilet flushing, and other extreme measures that people living outside prison walls would never be expected to endure.”

How Putting Your Thoughts Into Words Can Rewire Your Brain (Russ)

The author writes, “Ordinary and universal, the act of writing changes the brain. From dashing off a heated text message to composing an op-ed, writing allows you to, at once, name your pain and create distance from it. Writing can shift your mental state from despair and feeling overwhelmed to grounded clarity — a shift that reflects resilience.”