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The Trump administration is turning cautious liberals into paranoid preppers.
From water jugs and dehydrated food, to Faraday cages and unregistered vehicles, liberals are prepping for Trump. The possibility of a civilization-ending disaster “seems so surreal,” one concerned liberal said. “But 2016 was so surreal that you think, well, I guess I should do this.”
Liberal prepping involves a degree of self-consciousness — there’s a sense in which it’s basically incompatible with liberal values — and a lot less weaponry.
And a little extra
A man based in Scotland has revealed to BuzzFeed News how he tricked the right-wing conspiracy site Infowars into publishing a completely fake report about the president-elect. Markus Muir, a 27-year-old marketing professional from Glasgow, sent a direct message on Twitter to Infowars’ editor-at-large, Paul Joseph Watson, claiming BuzzFeed News and CNN were due to release harmful footage of Trump.
The report, which has now been shared over 15,000 times on Facebook, directly quoted the messages that claimed the footage of Trump showed him using the n-word in a previously unseen outtake of The Apprentice. BuzzFeed News’ Jamie Ross has the story.
The new administration: Trump’s health adviser tried to kill HIV/AIDS research funding, claiming the money went to support Russian prostitution. A “queer dance party” erupted outside Vice President-elect Mike Pence’s house in Washington, DC. Russians are trying to figure out Trump too. And former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue will be nominated as Trump’s secretary of agriculture, the final cabinet position to be selected.
WE’RE KEEPING AN EYE ON
The end of the Obama era.
President Barack Obama said in his final news conference on Wednesday that he would oppose Donald Trump if he instituted policies of “systematic discrimination” where the country’s “core values may be at stake.”
Also in the last week, federal agencies have put on a fireworks finale for the Obama administration, suing America’s largest bank, its biggest student loan company, its second-largest software company, and the fourth-best-selling carmaker. The suits claim, among other things:
JP Morgan allegedly engaged in discriminatory mortgage practices (and underpaid its female employees).
Navient, the country’s biggest student loan company, allegedly misled borrowers.
Oracle allegedly paid white men more money to do the same job as female, African-American, and Asian employees.
Fiat Chrysler allegedly used sneaky engine-management software to evade pollution rules.
What’s next?
The companies have had two main responses to the suits: “This is a political move” and “We look forward to working with the incoming administration.”
DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THIS?
It’s official: 2016 was the warmest year on record. Yes, greenhouse gases are to blame.
NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the UK Met Office announced that their separate records of surface temperatures across the globe confirm that last year’s heat was unprecedented.
Natural variation doesn’t seem to explain the warming we’ve seen since the late 1800s. The observed warming fits closely with what climate models predict should have happened, given human emissions of greenhouse gases.
As Bloomberg News showed in a 2015 graphic based on NASA data, greenhouse gases provide by far the best explanation of the observed warming. But climate-change deniers have another story: Some acknowledge that global warming is happening, but argue that it’s mainly due to natural causes.
QUICK THINGS TO KNOW
World: A 15-year-old student shot four people at a private school in northern Mexico, in what authorities called an unprecedented act. And several people are trapped after an avalanche buried an Italian hotel Wednesday night following a succession of earthquakes.
In the UK: Meet the women who are fighting to free prisoners on “completely unjust” sentences without a release date.
The alt-right: If you view the alt-right as an online community rather than a political movement, its trajectory starts to look very, very familiar.
Selfie time: Been wondering why your friends all of a sudden look like weird glamorous cartoons? That's thanks to Chinese selfie app, Meitu.
Tiny Trump troll: A 79-year-old grandmother expertly trolled Trump with her knitting and people can’t handle her crafty burn.
For the latest news and updates, download the BuzzFeed News app for iOS and Android (available in Canadian, UK, Australian, and U.S. app stores).
This letter was edited and brought to you by BuzzFeed News. You can always reach us here.