The 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton leads the popular vote by hundreds of thousands of ballots, but she lost the Electoral College to Republican Donald Trump. The last time this type of outcome occurred was in the 2000 Bush vs. Gore presidential race. Meanwhile, electoral reform initiatives are underway to get states to adopt the National Popular Vote bill. The legislation could transform the way we elect the president of the United States. Under the compact for a national popular vote, states across the country have pledged to award their electoral votes to the presidential candidate who wins the nationwide popular vote. If enough states sign on, it would guarantee the presidency goes to the candidate who wins the most votes across the country. The compact will kick in only when enough states have signed on to reach a threshold of 270 electoral votes. We are joined by John Koza, chair of National Popular Vote.
Democracy Now!
4: SURVEILLANCE SELF-DEFENSE AGAINST THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
ON TUESDAY, Americans handed the U.S. presidency to a racist, xenophobic, authoritarian, climate-science-denying, misogynistic, revenge-obsessed ego-maniac — and with it control over a vast and all-too-unaccountable intelligence apparatus; and in a speech less than three weeks ago, Trump promised to sue all of the women who have come forward with sexual assault accusations against him.
Trump has repeatedly shown utter disrespect for the rule of law. He doesn’t believe in freedom of religion. He advocates torture. He has said he’ll instruct his Justice Department to investigate Black Lives Matter activists, and it’s likely he’ll appoint Rudy Giuliani, of New York City’s racist and unconstitutional “stop-and-frisk” fame, as his attorney general to do the investigating. The New York Times also reports that “Mr. Trump still privately muses about all the ways he will punish his enemies after Election Day.”
With Trump eager to misuse his power and get revenge on his perceived enemies, it’s reasonable to conclude there will be a parallel increase in abuse of power in law enforcement and the intelligence community. Activists who put their bodies on the line trying to protect basic rights — freedom of religion, freedom of speech, civil rights, reproductive rights, voting rights, privacy rights — will face the brunt of it.
The Intercept
3: Street battles rage in Mosul as ISIL counterattacks
ISIL fighters have launched several fierce counterattacks on Iraqi forces in Mosul city, underscoring the intense battle ahead as government troops and their allies push into densely populated neighbourhoods.
An ISIL suicide car bomber targeted Iraqi troops in the city’s eastern Qadisiya neighbourhood early on Saturday, setting off heavy fighting that involved mortar rounds, gunfire, and rocket-propelled grenades.
Iraqi officers told the AFP news agency fighting was also under way in the adjoining Arbajiya area.
“The fighting is intense this morning. We’re trying to fortify our positions in Arbajiya before continuing our attack into al-Bakr,” Colonel Muntadhar Salem of the counterterrorism unit said.
Aljazeera
2: Photos From an Anti-Trump Protest in Auckland
Since Donald Trump became the President-elect of the United States, people have been taking to the streets to voice their revulsion. The wave of anti-Trump sentiment hit the centre of Auckland yesterday with about 100 people gathering at Aotea Square to protest.
Mackenzie Valgre, one of the protest’s organisers, was working her nanny job when news of the election results broke earlier in the week. “I was messaging my friend saying what the fuck is happening? Is anything going on [to protest]?” So they decided to organise their own. “We wanted to stand in solidarity with the people protesting in the States,” Mackenzie told VICE. “Now is the time we need to stop and listen.”
Vice News
1: Anti-Trump protests continue across US as 10,000 march in New York
Protests against the election of Donald Trump continued across the US on Saturday.
In New York, where peaceful marches along downtown streets have taken place since Wednesday – the day after Trump’s shock presidential election victory over Hillary Clinton – more than 10,000 people indicated on Facebook that they would attend a noon march from Union Square to Trump Tower, the future president’s home and corporate headquarters.
As marchers mustered at East 17th Street and Broadway, organisers estimated the turnout at 2,000. As the march began to move, however, the true figure seemed closer to the promised 10,000.
Chanting “Not my president!”, the crowd set off up Fifth Avenue under heavy police escort. A call-and-response developed, protesters chanting: “Whose streets? Our streets!”
The Guardian