Citizen Cartwright

Note to readers

As I sit here searching the web for news, it appears that the media already have fled for the airports and kitchens.

Bottom line, there's not much in the way of news, ideas and trends to share with you.

So here is the top news.

And other than that, rather than waste your time palavering about the presidential poultry pardoning, I'll just wish you a very happy Thanksgivukkah.

(It's the first time since 1888 — and apparently the last for nearly 80,000 years — that Thanksgiving and the first night of Hanukkah are on the same day.)

See you again on Monday, Dec. 2. Warm wishes to you all!

In the news

U.S. asserts air rights, sending 2 B-52 bombers into zone claimed by China

IMF proposes shifts in country bailouts to impose upfront losses on bondholders

Obama administration proposes rule to rein in political activity of nonprofits

Supreme Court to hear contraception cases challenging Obamacare

Obama's nightly reading reveals angst about Obamacare website fix

Nearly 40 news outlets accuse Obama administration of limiting photographers' access

Group releases annual 'Trouble in Toyland' report on dangerous toys

Watchdogs: Senate surveillance bill isn't 'true reform'

The bill approved recently by the Senate Intelligence Committee squanders Congress' current opportunity to "reassert constitutionally guaranteed liberties by reforming the NSA's overbroad collection of Americans’ personal data," Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden, Ore.; Mark Udall, Colo.; and Martin Heinrich, N.M., write in an opinion piece in The New York Times.

The bill, they say, would explicitly allow the National Security Agency to engage in "dragnet collection" of phone records as long as there were rules about when officials could look at the records.  And it would give intelligence agencies "wide latitude" to conduct warrantless searches for Americans’ phone calls and emails.

“The NSA call-records program is legal and subject to extensive congressional and judicial oversight, and I believe it contributes to our national security,” says Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Intelligence Committee.

The ACLU has said the committee-approved bill would "make the worst abuses of the Patriot Act permanent.”

The senators — Wyden and Udall long have been trying to call attention to NSA surveillance issues — are seeking support for their own bill. It would prohibit the government from conducting warrantless searches of Americans’ emails, texts and Internet use and would establish an advocate to present an opposing view when the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court considers major questions of law or constitutional interpretation.

Preparing for Thanksgiving: The Obamacare conversation

Here is The Washington Post's guide for young people, including what to tell your grandfather if he's worried about being "death paneled."

Black Friday discounts may be 'carefully engineered illusion'

That hypothetical red cardigan sweater on sale for more than 40 percent off at $39.99 never was intended to sell at its $68 starting price; the discount was built in.

But buyers don't seem to mind, says The Wall Street Journal.

They want "the feeling of the deal," the paper says.

"The manufactured nature of most discounts raises questions about the wisdom of standing in line for the promotional frenzy that kicks off the holiday shopping season," says the WSJ.

Turkey Day travel: Tricks to outwit 'fee-hungry' airlines

Spirit Airlines and its "ultralow-cost" peers are giving rise to a new breed of "extreme budget travelers" who pack ultralight and brainstorm other tricks to avoid the fees that come with cut-rate fares.

For example, more than 25,000 people have watched a YouTube video produced by a Spirit flier detailing how to best pack a bag for a weeklong vacation to avoid Spirit's fees.

Also in the news

Afghan accord seen near collapse due to new Karzai demands

Syria peace talks set for January

Iran deal, Syria talks seen showing U.S. shift from military might to diplomacy

Pakistan unveils its own military drones as protests continue against U.S. strikes

NSA may have penetrated fiber-optic cable links of Google, Yahoo

Poll finds 'unprecedented' anxiety about jobs, economy

Johnson & Johnson, lawyers criticized over settlement plan for hip implants

Wal-Mart changes leadership amid flattening sales, employee protests

Students at 400 colleges pushing for fossil-fuel divestment over climate change

U.S. emissions of methane exceed estimates, climate scientists say

Credibility of new cholesterol guidelines is 'shattered,' many cardiologists say

FDA orders genetic testing firm 23andme to stop selling DNA analysis service

Hospitals doing more to help people with 'post-intensive care syndrome'

The agreement with Iran

Over the weekend, the "Great Satan" met a part of the "Axis of Evil" and struck a deal, to paraphrase a Reuters headline.

Under the agreement, Iran will pause its nuclear program for six months while diplomats hold talks aimed at preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. While the talks continue, international observers are to monitor Iran's nuclear sites.

The agreement is the product of two separate diplomatic tracks, one top secret and the other widely publicized — "a risky gambit spearheaded by the White House that nearly derailed the talks," says The Wall Street Journal.

U.S. allies in Israel and Saudi Arabia worry that the negotiations with Iran are just the latest evidence that a war-weary America is slowly seeking to close the books on a series of long-term problems, allowing Washington to pull back from its longtime commitment to the Middle East, says a Wall Street Journal analysis.

Meanwhile, lawmakers from both parties who are skeptical of the deal are making plans to increase economic sanctions on Iran if the accord falls apart, The Associated Press reports.

Here is the full text of the agreement.

And here is a White House fact sheet on the deal.

The results of the Warsaw climate talks

The two weeks of international negotiations that ended Saturday "nearly collapsed in overtime before agreements were watered down to a point where no country was promising anything concrete," according to The Associated Press.

Conflicts between rich nations, led by the United States and the European Union, and developing countries, led by China, India and Brazil, stalled progress and threatened to scuttle the conference altogether, media report.

The United States and the EU wanted to set a firm deadline in Warsaw for each of the 195 countries party to the talks to make commitments on emissions reductions that will be enshrined in a new global climate pact at a meeting in Paris in December 2015.

But China, India and a self-proclaimed group of "like-minded" countries said they shouldn't be required to make the same investments to cut carbon emissions as rich nations that created the climate problem by burning fossil fuels during their largely unregulated industrialization in past centuries.

The Warsaw gathering did make notable progress in pledging greater protection of forests in developing nations, says the Los Angeles Times. Trees mitigate emissions by absorbing carbon dioxide, and deforestation is said to account for 20 percent of greenhouse gas accumulation.

Here are some of the main actions agreed on in Warsaw, compiled by Reuters.

Many climate initiatives are happening far from the U.N. talks, as local and national governments pursue low-carbon energy sources and energy efficiency, says AP. And even international efforts increasingly are taking place outside the U.N. climate framework.

Syria: 'Most dire refugee crisis in a generation'

Three years into a civil war with no end in sight and with large parts of Syria destroyed, governments and organizations are preparing for the refugee crisis to last for years, says The New York Times.

The United Nations this year has asked for more than $5 billion in humanitarian aid for Syria — its biggest financial appeal ever for a single crisis, says the Times.

The high cost comes not only from the scale of the crisis but from the difficulties of helping a refugee population used to middle-class conditions, according to officials.