Happy Monday. We hope you took some time this weekend to relax and decompress. Now, back to it. Here’s what you need to know to Get Up to Speed and Out the Door.
1. Presidential transition
The Donald Trump White House is starting to take shape. Reince Priebus will be his Chief of Staff and Steven Bannon his chief strategist. Also, Trump softened on some of his harshest promises: Obamacare? Eh, parts of it are okay. The wall? Some of it may be a fence. Oh, and no deportation force.
2. Presidential backlash
The first weekend of a Trump America brought even more protests nationwide. One person was shot and 71 arrested in Portland, but otherwise they have been peaceful. Sadly, the racist attacks continue, prompting Donald Trump to tell his supporters to “stop it.”
3. South Korea
South Korea’s having presidential drama of its own. Hundreds of thousands took to the streets to rail against Park Geun-hye. They want her gone because she shared classified information with a confidante who a) doesn’t have security clearance, and b) may be using her access to Park to make money.
4. Colombia
Let’s try this again, shall we? Colombia’s government has signed a revised peace deal with FARC. You may remember that voters shut down the previous deal because they wanted the rebel group punished for its crimes. The new deal requires FARC to pay reparations to victims.
5. New Zealand
A huge quake struck New Zealand this morning, killing at least 2 and leaving damage the country’s president said may cost billions to repair. There was a small tsunami, too, but the region has since been given the all-clear. A quake in 2011 killed 185 there, so citizens were rightly freaked out today.
Breakfast Browse
People are talking about these. Read up. Join in.
Two entertainment greats, gone
Singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen is dead at 82. Rock & Roll Hall-of-Famer Leon Russell is dead at 74. We get it, 2016. You can stop now.
Still want to move to another country, Americans?
Seems extreme, but here are the best international cities for American expats.
Bikers rescue a stranded Bruce Springsteen
Motorcycles, the Boss and a little kindness. We definitely needed all of this.
Here are the dirtiest things on a plane
Aaand we definitely needed none of this.
New Zealand builds tiny underpass for tiny penguins
These creatures are so small and precious and now they can cross under roads safely and maybe mankind is good after all.
And finally …
You know they’d go there.
SNL does election night. It’s only, like, the most popular thing on Youtube right now. (Click to view)