'A coup is unfolding'

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What we're reading

• When President Trump announced his proposal for the United States to take ownership of Gaza on Tuesday, he shocked even senior members of his own White House and government. While his announcement looked formal and thought-out — he read the plan from a sheet of paper — his administration had not done even the most basic planning to examine the feasibility of the idea, according to four people with knowledge of the discussions, who were not authorized to speak publicly. The New York Times

• Democracies don’t die in darkness. They die in broad daylight. Over the past three weeks, President Donald Trump and his shadow president, Elon Musk, have worked swiftly to undermine America’s founding principles. York Dispatch (a local newspaper in Pennsylvania)

• It didn’t take long for the border and immigration enforcement industry to react to Donald Trump’s reelection. On November 6th, as Bloomberg News reported, stock prices shot up for two private prison companies, GEO Group and CoreCivic. “We expect the incoming Trump administration to take a much more aggressive approach regarding border security as well as interior enforcement,” explained the GEO Group’s executive chair, George Zoley, “and to request additional funding from Congress to achieve these goals.” In other words, the “largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history” was going to be a moneymaker. TomDispatch

• As the ceasefire approached on January 19, the machinery of war continued to unleash its fire and target the innocent until the very last second before the agreement came into effect. Indeed, Israeli troops have still not fully withdrawn from Gaza. Yet, despite the darkness of these hours, my hopes soar. My thoughts are consumed with my city, my friends, and my little home. The Nation