Good morning and Happy Thanksgiving! Thank you for reading the Morning Brief. Send me a line—Ivan Pentchoukov.
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- President-elect Donald Trump said that Mexico had agreed to block migration to the U.S. border. The Mexican president offered a very different account of the conversation.
- Three Americans imprisoned in China for years are returning to the United States following a diplomatic agreement between Washington and Beijing.
- Cabinet members of the incoming Trump administration were targeted by bomb threats and swatting attempts on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, a Trump spokeswoman said.
- France said on Wednesday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had immunity given Israel was not a party to the statutes of the International Criminal Court (ICC) that is seeking his arrest, adding it would continue working closely with Netanyahu.
- Thanksgiving Inspiration: Presidents have issued Thanksgiving proclamations for decades. Our columnist finds inspiration within. Story after the news.
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Ivan Pentchoukov
National Editor
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Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) speaks at the 2024 Road to Majority Conference in Washington on June 21, 2024. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)
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Several members of President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming cabinet were targeted by bomb threats and swatting attempts on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, a Trump spokeswoman said.
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- Trump transition team spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said that unnamed Cabinet nominees and administration officials were subjected to “violent, un-American threats to their lives and those who live with them.”
- Leavitt said that law enforcement officials acted quickly to mitigate the problem, but didn’t provide further details.
- “President Trump and the entire transition team are grateful for their swift action,” she said, referring to law enforcement officials.
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The FBI, in a statement later Wednesday, said it is aware of swatting incidents and bomb threats targeting Trump nominees and appointees.
“We are working with our law enforcement partners,” the FBI’s statement said. “We take all potential threats seriously, and as always, encourage members of the public to immediately report anything they consider suspicious to law enforcement.” (More)
More Politics
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- Kamala Harris’s campaign managers blamed her loss to President-elect Donald Trump on their limited time to promote the vice president as a “new generation of leadership.”
- Vice President Harris, who returned this week from a post-election vacation in Hawaii, told supporters during a call with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Nov. 26 that they still have power, even in uncertain times.
- House Freedom Caucus chairman Andy Harris (R-Md.) lays out the agenda for how the influential group will work with the Trump administration in an interview with our colleague, Jackson Richman.
- Keith Kellogg is President-elect Trump’s choice for special envoy for the Ukraine–Russia conflict. Kellogg served as chief of staff for the White House National Security Council during Trump’s first term.
- Meet the Cabinet: 5 Things to Know About Jay Bhattacharya, Trump’s Choice for NIH Director
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Three Americans imprisoned in China for years are returning to the United States following a diplomatic agreement between Washington and Beijing.
The three are Mark Swidan, Kai Li, and John Leung, businessmen whom the United States said China had detained on wrongful charges.
The announcement caps off months of negotiations between the Biden administration and China over the deal.
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- Swidan has spent more than a decade in Chinese jail over drug-related charges. A Chinese court sentenced him to death in 2019.
- Li, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was convicted of espionage in a short secret trial and put under a 10-year sentence in Shanghai.
- Leung, 79, a Hong Kong-born American, headed groups that promoted Chinese influence in America and supported the regime’s stance on Taiwan and Hong Kong. A Chinese court in Suzhou sentenced him to life in May 2023 on espionage charges.
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“Soon, they will return and be reunited with their families for the first time in many years,” a National Security Council spokesperson told The Epoch Times.
With their release, the spokesperson said, “all of the wrongfully detained Americans in the PRC are home.” (More)
More U.S. News
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Some mayors and governors are suggesting they will strengthen sanctuary policies to protect illegal immigrants from deportation, and Trump’s incoming border czar is saying he’s now willing to put these officials in jail for doing so. Watch ➞
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The influence of the United States in Africa, a continent that’s grown in geopolitical importance in recent years, declined during President Joe Biden’s term in office, say analysts and former U.S. government officials.
Over the past four years, the United States:
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- Lost diplomatic and military presence in key regions
- Did not make significant advances in countering China’s growing footprint in Africa
- Lost ground to Russia
- And was unable to secure adequate and reliable supplies of minerals critical to U.S. national security.
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The administration also failed to address chronic staff shortages at U.S. embassies; surrendered the information space to Chinese and Russian propagandists who spread anti-American messaging across the continent; and took limited action against jihadist groups that have vowed to attack U.S. infrastructure and citizens.
Focused on wars in Gaza and Ukraine, and China’s military maneuvering around Taiwan, the outgoing Democrat administration “took its eye off the ball” in Africa, with Beijing and Moscow subsequently “running with it,” said Chris Isike, director of the Africa Center for the Study of the United States in Johannesburg.
“On paper, Biden and his people certainly credited Africa with the importance it deserves,” Isike told The Epoch Times.
“But, in practice, a lot of the talk didn’t translate into action, except for trade and business deals here and there.” (Full Story)
More World News:
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- The Group of Seven (G7) countries are “increasingly aligned” in their efforts to confront economic and security risks posed by communist China, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
- The Department of the Treasury imposed new sanctions on 21 security and Cabinet-level officials aligned with Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
- Australia’s House of Representatives passed a bill that would ban children under 16 from social media.
- Volkswagen will sell its operations in China’s far-western Xinjiang region, citing the need to maintain business competitiveness and emphasizing that the company is primarily geared toward manufacturing traditional gas-powered cars, a focus increasingly out of step with China’s rapid adoption of electric vehicles (EVs).
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Autumn leaves at their peak as they surround Tsutenkyo Bridge amongst the grounds of Tofukuji Temple, in the city of Kyoto, Japan, on Nov. 27, 2024. STR/JIJI Press/AFP via Getty Images
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“Awe is the feeling of being in the presence of something vast that transcends your current understanding of the world,” writes Dacher Keltner in his book “Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life.”
This feeling is usually associated with observing sublimeness in nature: grand mountains, trees, vast dunes, or the wide ocean horizon.
However, nature is not the only source of awe, nor the most common. Moreover, awe extends far beyond a momentary feeling of wonder or inspiration, influencing our health in at least five ways.
People can be awestruck by philosophical insights, scientific discoveries, music, visual design, spirituality and religion, personal realizations, impressive feats, and epiphanies. Even simply learning about other interesting people stimulates awe. Research suggests that when participants watch videos of inspiring people like Mother Teresa, this can, in turn, trigger awe. (Full Story)
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Past presidential Thanksgiving proclamations can inspire us to remember the bounties we enjoy as a nation. (Biba Kayewich)
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The magic of Thanksgiving conjures up a trunkful of images and memories.
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- Some think of that long-ago harvest feast of Pilgrims and Wampanoag Indians.
- Others might recreate Norman Rockwell’s painting “Freedom from Want,” in which Grandma presents a roasted turkey to a table crowded with her delighted family.
- Our own Thanksgiving meals may pop to mind, along with those dishes that mark the holiday as special.
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But whatever thoughts Thanksgiving brings to mind, it’s a pretty safe bet that presidential proclamations aren’t among them.
And yet these form an untapped source of inspiration to look back on and reflect on today.
The Pilgrim Hall Museum of Plymouth, Massachusetts, has done the rest of us a great favor by making all of these proclamations available online in an easy-to-use format.
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- In these documents are bits of our national history, words of solace, and encouragement during times of crisis and, most importantly, a summons to all of us to pause and reflect on the manifold blessings bestowed on us as a people.
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Here are two ways we can shake the dust off these declarations and include them in our Thanksgiving Day festivities:
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- Go online to the Pilgrim Hall list, find the president’s proclamation for the year you were born, and read and meditate on it.
- With some light editing, you can easily shape the second and third paragraphs of Washington’s first (1789) proclamation into a special blessing perfect for your holiday meal.
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Read the full article by our colleague Jeff Minick here.
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Thanks for reading.
Have a wonderful day.
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