CNN 10 12/7/2020 ~ 12/11/2020

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Monday, December 7, 2020

There are still two weeks left until the official start of winter, but the East Coast is already being hit by its first Nor'easter storm. It cut electricity to hundreds of thousands of homes and released more than a foot of snow in some areas. It also met the criteria for a bomb cyclone, which occurs when a storm's pressure drops by over 24 millibars in 24 hours. Nor'easters are most common between September and April. It starts as a low-pressure front in the southeast that gradually moves northeast. The warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico and around Florida warm the air, which clashes with colder air coming down from the north. This causes heavy winds, beach erosion, coastal flooding, and rough beach conditions. Not all of them have snow, though. "A date which will live in infamy". That's what President Franklin D. Roosevelt said 79 years ago on this day after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, drawing the US into World War II. During the surprise attack, which lasted just over an hour, dozens of ships were damaged and thousands of soldiers were injured or killed. The USS Arizona, which has a memorial over it, burned for 2 days and just over a fifth of its crew survived. Although the US did not see a record fire season, California did. Over 4 million acres burned in the state, and that leaves the problem of reforestation. Currently, growing new saplings and planting them is a very long, grueling process. But a company called Drone Seed believes it has an answer. It employs drones that drop seed packets with fertilizer and pest repellant onto the ground in which the plant can survive. It's significantly faster than human planting, and at a large scale, it could speed up the regrowth of burned forests.

Time: Grave new world: How Trump’s disruptions could be Biden’s opportunity

By Kimberly Dozier and W.J. Hennigan

    Although much of the world and even some Republicans were relieved by Biden's election to the presidency, they all know that things cannot go back to normal after what President Trump has done. The NATO alliance is the weakest it's ever been, and relations with enemies are also bad. And to top it off, Biden has to prove to the world that the United States can handle a pandemic. However, this does give Biden a unique chance to completely alter US foreign policy after Trump's "America First" presidency.

    First, Biden must refill all the state and defense level positions that Trump has left empty. Then he has the problem of everything Trump left behind. The trade war with China, handing Jerusalem to Israel, and the floundering NATO alliance. He'll likely have difficulty with many strategies. China has been growing steadily, and Russia took advantage of the Trump area to expand its influence in Europe. One key tool he does have, though, is empathy. Even his biggest rivals recognize it as his strongest point.