• After 19-year-old Kira Iaconetti was diagnosed with musicogenic epilepsy, a form of epilepsy where listening and singing music can trigger seizures, she needed brain surgery.
• After consulting with doctors at Seattle Children's Hospital, Iaconetti underwent an awake surgery where she remained conscious and sang throughout the procedure.
• Awake surgeries can be used to protect brain functions like musicality or speech during the removal of a tumor, Dr. Jason Hauptman, Iaconetti's surgeon, told INSIDER.

When 19-year-old Kira Iaconetti went tone deaf and began slurring song lyrics, she knew something was wrong. A talented singer since the age of six, Iaconetti began having episodes four years ago where she, "couldn't process the words in time with the music" and "couldn't sing," she told Teen Vogue.

It turns out, Iaconetti had musicogenic epilepsy — a form of epilepsy where listening and singing music can trigger seizures, according to the Epilepsy Society — and she needed surgery to remove a brain tumor and stop the seizures.

In an effort to help Iaconetti without harming the parts of her brain where her musicality stems from, Dr. Jason Hauptman and his team performed an awake surgery at Seattle Children's Hospital.

"In the short time I got to know Kira, I learned her passion was in singing and acting and I thought the worst thing I can do is take that away from her,"Hauptman told INSIDER.

The risks of awake brain surgery aren't much different than the risks of regular brain surgery

According to Teen Vogue, Iaconetti was initially put to sleep, then woken up when it was time to remove her tumor. Once awake, Iaconetti was asked to sing and perform other musical tasks so Hauptman could determine what parts of her brain to touch and which were off-limits. 

Read more:A woman thought she had a hangover but it turned out to be a brain tumor

"One advantage of doing surgery while a patient is awake is that it's very reassuring that function is being preserved," Hauptman told INSIDER. He also noted this type of surgery can be useful for people with epilepsy who need to preserve their speech or other brain functions, not just music-related ones.

An awake surgery sounds scary, but Hauptman said the procedure has similar risks as a regular brain surgery. "In a small percentage of patients, [awake brain surgery] could cause transient seizures, but we can fix it immediately if necessary," he told INSIDER.

According to the Mayo Clinic, other risk factors include changes to your vision, impaired coordination and balance, impaired speech, and memory loss. 

Iaconetti's procedure was a team effort and the "performance of a lifetime"

Brain surgery is a complex procedure that requires teamwork, and Hauptman said his team rose to the challenge. From the anesthesiologists who were in charge of keeping Iaconetti awake and comfortable to the neurosurgeons performing the procedure and all of the hospital staff in between, Hauptman said it was a fulfilling experience to watch his team flawlessly complete the surgery.

As for Iaconetti, "it was a performance of lifetime," Hauptman told INSIDER of her work in the operating room. "She was performing for her health and did it incredibly well. I couldn't think of a better patient to do this surgery on."

Hauptman hopes this procedure and Iaconetti's story give others going through similar experiences hope in the midst of scary, uncertain times in their lives.

Visit INSIDER's homepage for more.

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NOW WATCH: There's so much CO2 in the atmosphere that planting trees can no longer save us

• Since Adam Silver took over as Commissioner of the NBA in 2014, the league has taken on a new reputation as a progressive organization that is willing to embrace social change.
• In a conversation with MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle, Silver leaned into that reputation and expressed his hopes that the NBA would become the first major professional men's sports league to employ a female head coach.
• Silver named San Antonio Spurs assistant coach Becky Hammon, Washington Mystics guard and Washington Wizards player development assistant Kristi Toliver, and Seattle Storm star and newly-appointed Denver Nuggets basketball operation associate Sue Bird as likely candidates to break the NBA's glass ceiling.

Since Adam Silver took over as commissioner of the NBA in 2014, the league has embraced its new reputation as a progressive organization.

In direct opposition to the NFL, the NBA has supported its athletes as they use their platforms to promote social change. Silver has also made multiple decisions that have made it clear that the league will not tolerate hate of any kind, including barring former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling from the league after his racist comments and actions and relocating the 2017 All-Star game from Charlotte, North Carolina in light of the state's anti-LGBTQ legislation.

But even given all of these actions geared towards pushing the league into the future, the NBA is still hoping to overcome one significant hurdle in the realm of diversity.

In the NBA's 72-year history, there has never been a single female head coach at the helm of any of the league's 30 teams. But according to Silver, all of that could change soon.

Silver spoke to MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle at the Economic Club of New York on Tuesday about his expectation that the NBA will have a woman head coach soon. According to Kevin Draper of the New York Times, Silver hopes that the NBA will become the first major professional men's sports league in the United States to employ a female head coach.

"We are very focused on a woman being a head coach in our league," Silver said, per the New York Times. "I am very confident it is going to happen at some point."

Silver named San Antonio Spurs assistant coach Becky Hammon, Washington Mystics guard and Washington Wizards player development assistant Kristi Toliver, and Seattle Storm star and newly-appointed Denver Nuggets basketball operation associate Sue Bird as likely candidates to break the NBA's glass ceiling.

Former WNBA stars Lindsey Harding and Jenny Boucek also currently hold positions with NBA franchises and could advance through the ranks in the coming years.

Back in March of 2017, Silver told ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk that he hopes a female ascends to the helm of one of the NBA's teams "sooner rather than later." In that same interview, Silver addressed the lack of gender diversity among the league's officiants.

"It would be my goal as we look to increase that pool of officials that we recruit equally from pools of potential women as we do from men," Silver told Youngmisuk. "We will be looking very hard at dramatically increasing the representation of women in our officiating ranks."

He has already begun to make good on that promise. The league recently promoted two female referees to full-time positions, making them the fourth and fifth women to ever officiate in the NBA. Now it appears Silver will focus his attention on the lack of female representation in coaching.

"When it comes to coaching, when there is absolutely no physical requirement, when it is not a function of how high you can jump or how strong you are, there is no physical litmus test to being a head coach in the league, there is absolutely no reason why a woman will not ascend to be a head coach in this league," he told Youngmisuk. "We are very focused in on it."

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NOW WATCH: Inside an intense training session where aspiring WWE wrestlers learn how to fight

• President Donald Trump lashed out at Chief Justice John Roberts on Twitter Wednesday.
• He also doubled down on criticism of the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.
• Earlier on Wednesday, Roberts rebuked Trump, saying, "We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges."
• Roberts was responding to Trump calling a judge who ruled against the Trump administration on a matter related to asylum requests at the US-Mexico border an "Obama judge."

President Donald Trump on Wednesday lashed out at Chief Justice John Roberts, continuing his criticism of the federal judiciary and repeating suspect claims about the caravan of migrants from Central America.

"Sorry Chief Justice John Roberts, but you do indeed have 'Obama judges,' and they have a much different point of view than the people who are charged with the safety of our country," Trump tweeted.

"It would be great if the 9th Circuit was indeed an 'independent judiciary,' but if it is why are so many opposing view (on Border and Safety) cases filed there, and why are a vast number of those cases overturned," he said. "Please study the numbers, they are shocking. We need protection and security - these rulings are making our country unsafe! Very dangerous and unwise!"

Earlier in the day Roberts had made a rare statement defending the federal judiciary against attacks from Trump.

"We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges," Roberts said in a statement to the Associated Press. "What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them."

He added: "That independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for."

Trump's Wednesday tweets were a response to Roberts' statement, and a doubling down of criticism against the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. He also repeated a claim that there were "criminals" in the caravan of migrants either at or heading to the border, which in a fact-check The Washington Post gave three Pinocchios.

Earlier this week, Judge Jon Tigar of the US District Court in San Francisco blocked the Trump administration from applying a new immigration rule that would bar immigrants from applying for asylum if they did not cross at a legal checkpoint.

"Whatever the scope of the president’s authority, he may not rewrite the immigration laws to impose a condition that Congress has expressly forbidden,"Tigar's order stated.

On Tuesday, Trump called Tigar an "Obama judge," and he claimed that the 9th Circuit where, according to The New York Times, the case will likely head, a "disgrace."

"This was an Obama judge," Trump said of the ruling. "And I'll tell you what, it's not going to happen like this anymore. It means an automatic loss no matter what you do. ... People should not be allowed to immediately run to this very friendly circuit and file their case."

Trump had previously clashed with the courts — especially over his immigration policies. In June, however, in a 5-to-4 decision, the Supreme Court upheld the third iteration of the Trump administration's "travel ban," barring entry from certain majority-Muslim countries and North Korea.

The president's open hostility toward courts and judges that rule against him is unprecedented.

"The courts are bulwarks of our Constitution and laws, and they depend on the public to respect their judgments and on officials to obey and enforce their decisions," the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, a nonpartisan organization, wrote last year.

"Fear of personal attacks, public backlash, or enforcement failures should not color judicial decision-making, and public officials have a responsibility to respect courts and judicial decisions. Separation of powers is not a threat to democracy; it is the essence of democracy."

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NOW WATCH: This top economist has a radical plan to change the way Americans vote

The International Space Station (ISS) celebrated its 20th anniversary on Tuesday, marking two decades since the station's first component launched into orbit on a Russian rocket.

Since November 2000, when NASA astronaut Bill Shepherd and Russian cosmonauts Sergei Krikalev and Yuri Gidzenko became the first humans to stay long-term on the ISS, more than 230 people have visited the $150 billion laboratory in space. 

Today, the ISS is voluminous enough to fill a six-bedroom house. It's the largest space vehicle ever built, and scientists have conducted more than 2,500 investigations there.

To celebrate the ISS' birthday, we've rounded up what some astronauts have said about their time onboard.

SEE ALSO: Stunning video captures what it's like to live on the International Space Station

The space station, which hovers about 250 miles above the Earth, is the size of a football field. It was envisioned as both a laboratory and a potential pit stop for missions to the moon or Mars.

A spacecraft can reach the ISS as little as six hours after launching from Earth, and six spaceships can be connected to the station at the same time.

Astronaut Peggy Whitson was the first woman to command the ISS. Whitson, who retired in June, holds the US record for most time in space: 665 days. Whitson told Business Insider that she won't miss the food, which is on a 16-day rotation cycle. "The motto 'it's all about the sauce' really is true, because it all kinda starts tasting the same after a while," she said.

Read more: The incredible career of NASA's Peggy Whitson, who applied to become an astronaut 10 times before she broke the American record for space travel

The Insider Picks team writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships, so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase.

Maybe it's the shadow cast by Prime Day, or the need to be the biggest and best, or the seemingly infinite number of products available in its marketplace, but Amazon does not play around when it comes to Black Friday. As a result, plenty of shoppers will spend most of the holiday in the weeds of thousands of those deals — trying to stay on top of them while new discounts drop by the minute.

To make Black Friday on Amazon less overwhelming and more impactful for you, we 'll be logging the best deals below for easy reference: Amazon devices, robot vacuums, Instant Pots, HD TVs, and pretty much anything else you could need — and actually want — all in one scrollable place. 

Below are the deals currently active to shop. We'll be updating this article as more deals become available. Bookmark this page and check back in if you want to be kept up-to-date. 

Looking for more deals? We've rounded up the best Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals on the internet.

To potentially save more on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, you can visit Business Insider Coupons to find up-to-date promo codes for a range of online stores.

SEE ALSO: All of Insider Picks' holiday gift guides, in one place

• Fire TV Stick 4K with Alexa Voice Remote, $34.99 (originally $49.99) [You save $15]
• Fire TV Cube with Alexa and 4K UHD/HDR, $59.99 (originally $119.99) [You save $60]
• Fire TV Recast 500 GB, $179.99 (originally $229.99) [You save $50]
• Fire TV Recast 1 TB, $219.99 (originally $279.99) [You save $60]

• Fire 7 Kids Edition tablet, $69.99 (originally $99.99) [You save $30]
• Fire HD 8 Kids Edition tablet, $89.99 (originally $129.99) [You save $40]
• Fire HD 10 tablet, $99.99 (originally $149.99) [You save $50]

Over-ear

• Monoprice Over the Ear Professional Headphones, $17.24 (originally $64.76)[You save $47.52]

In-ear

• Bose SoundSport Wireless Sport Headphones, $169 (originally $199) [You save $30]

This is a preview of a research report from Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service. To learn more about Business Insider Intelligence, click here.

Edge computing solutions are key tools that help companies grapple with rising data volumes across industries. These types of solutions are critical in allowing companies to gain more control over the data their IoT devices create and in reducing their reliance on (and the costs of) cloud computing.

These systems are becoming more sought-after — 40% of companies that provide IoT solutions reported that edge computing came up more in discussion with customers in 2017 than the year before, according to Business Insider Intelligence’s 2017 Global IoT Executive Survey. But companies need to know whether they should look into edge computing solutions, and what in particular they can hope to gain from shifting data processing and analysis from the cloud to the edge.

There are three particular types of problems that edge computing solutions are helping to combat across industries:

• Security issues. Edge computing can limit the exposure of critical data by minimizing how often it’s transmitted. Further, they pre-process data, so there’s less data to secure overall.
• Access issues. These systems help to provide live insights regardless of whether there’s a network connection available, greatly expanding where companies and organizations can use connected devices and the data they generate.
• Transmission efficiency. Edge computing solutions process data where it’s created so less needs to be sent to the cloud, leading to lower cloud storage requirements and reduced transmission cost.

In this report, Business Insider Intelligence examines how edge computing is reducing companies' reliance on cloud computing in three key industries: healthcare, telecommunications, and the automotive space. We explore how these systems mitigate issues in each sector by helping to efficiently process growing troves of data, expanding the potential realms of IoT solutions a company can offer, and bringing enhanced computing capability to remote and mobile platforms.

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

• In healthcare, companies and organizations are using edge computing to improve telemedicine and remote monitoring capabilities.
• For telecommunications companies, edge computing is helping to reduce network congestion and enabling a shift toward the IoT platform market.
• And in the automotive space, edge computing systems are enabling companies to increase the capabilities of connected cars and trucks and approach autonomy.

In full, the report:

• Explores the key advantages edge computing solutions can provide.
• Highlights the circumstances when companies should look into edge systems.
• Identifies key vendors and partners in specific industries while showcasing case studies of successful edge computing programs.

  Subscribe to a Premium pass to Business Insider Intelligence and gain immediate access to:

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• Apple has considered the release of a lower-priced Apple TV dongle similar to the Google Chromecast and Amazon Fire Stick, according to a report by The Information on Wednesday. 
• For Apple, a low-price dongle could make sense, given the upcoming launch of the company's streaming video service. 
• A device that's cheaper than the Apple TV could help broaden Apple's audience for its original and licensed content. 

Apple has considered the release a lower-priced Apple TV dongle similar to the Roku Streaming Stick or Amazon Fire TV Stick, according to a report by The Information on Wednesday.

It's not clear if Apple ultimately decided whether or not to move forward with plans to release such a device. For Apple, though, a lower-price TV dongle could make sense, given that the company's upcoming streaming service is set to launch as early as March 2019.

The streaming service will only be available on the iPad, iPhone, and Apple TV. Given that the Apple TV costs at least $149, a cheaper device for accessing the company's content could help broaden Apple's audience. 

Today, Amazon and Roku dongles — which plug into the back of televisions and allow users to stream content— cost as little as $25 and $30 respectively. 

Apple's streaming service will include a combination of original content and licensing deals with production companies. The company has already announced 19 original series, including a biographical drama about Kevin Durant and an untitled series starring Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston. 

Read more: The 19 original shows Apple is producing in its push into TV as an 'expensive NBC'

Apple has already spent more than $1 billion producing its original content. In October, CNBC reported that Apple's original TV and movie content might be free for anyone accessing it through an iPhone or iPad. 

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

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NOW WATCH: 7 places you can't find on Google Maps

• INSIDER rounds up this year's most sought-after toys.
• Hatchibabies, L.O.L. Surprise, a Hogwarts Lego castle, and "Incredibles 2" action figures are among the toys you'll want to look for.

The biggest shopping days of the year are nearly upon us and if you're unsure what to go out and buy this holiday season for the kids in your life, we have you covered.

This year is all about L.O.L. Surprise, dinosaurs, "The Incredibles 2," and some good old '90s nostalgia. 
After attending several toy fairs, visiting a few major retailers, and attending toy review site TTPM's annual holiday showcase this year, INSIDER rounded up the toys every kid will want on their holiday list. 

Keep reading to see what toys are going to sell out fast. 

One of the biggest toys this year is L.O.L. Surprise.

Don't wait until the last minute to nab one of these. No matter what Target I head to, this toy is always sold out. And don't settle for just any version of this toy.

There are a few different categories of the toy you can purchase. There are "Pets" and "Lil Sisters." Don't make the mistake of picking up the pets. I've never had a problem finding those in any store. It's the dolls everyone is seeking out. Aim for a "Glam Glitter" or "Under Wraps" kit seen above. 

Fair warning: These toys are all about the unboxing experience. Parents may not be big fans of all the wrappers and clean up involved just for their kids to get to the doll and its accessories inside. If your child is really into the unwrapping experience and you're OK with the mess, go for the L.O.L. Bigger Surprise, which contains 60 surprises.

Price: $9.95 to $80
Ages: 5+
Where to find them: Target, Walmart, Walgreens, Kohls, and Amazon

Another huge toy is Hatchimals' Hatchibabies.

Similar to the original popular Hatchimals, Spin Master's big fall release is a baby version of the interactive animals which hatch from eggs. Part of the play is hatching the egg, which you need to tap and hug for the little guy (or girl) inside to come out.

The babies have bigger eyes than their predecessors and respond to being fed, tickled, burped, and more. The hatchlings come with accessories including a hairbrush, rattle, and bottle to help care for them. 

Price: $59.99
Ages: 5 and up
Where to find them: Target, Walmart, and Amazon

Fingerlings Hugs are a major upgrade to last year's popular must-have.

If the original Fingerlings toys were a bit too small for you, WowWee is back this year with a larger version of its hit. Just like the tiny Fingerlings baby monkeys, the stuffed versions can be rocked to sleep, blow kisses, and respond to being held upside down. 

A new addition is that kids can record their words and have them repeated back to them. You can read more about Fingerlings hugs here. The plush toys aren't limited to monkeys either. There are also sloth and unicorn stuffed animals to choose from. 

Price: $29.99
Ages: 2+
Where to find them: Target, Walmart, Amazon, and Kohls

• LeBron James is taking deeper three-pointers and making more of them than ever before, adding a Stephen Curry-esque trait to his game.
• James' shooting has helped the Los Angeles Lakers find their groove in recent weeks.
• If James can continue to become a better shooter as he gets older, he could stretch his prime even longer and maintain his effectiveness on the court.

LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers have found their groove in recent weeks, winning five of their last six games and seven of their last nine to improve to 9-7 on the season.

In the process, James has become more comfortable with his new teammates, and it's showing on the court. In his last nine games, James is averaging 29.7 points per game on 53.6% shooting, 50.9% from three, with 6 rebounds and 6 assists per game.

James has improved as a shooter during his career, and his accuracy from beyond the three-point line has made him a more dangerous and versatile player. This year, James looks even more willing to let it fly from well beyond the line, as if he studied Stephen Curry in the offseason. James hasn't admitted to such, but it's not a stretch to think he might have viewed the way Curry bends the floor.

Curry's ability to launch from anywhere inside of half court has changed the NBA. Teams now practice shooting from well beyond the arc, with teams like the Houston Rockets emphasizing to their players to take a few steps behind the line to create more spacing.

After starting hot from three-point range last season, James said he changed his form in the offseason and worked on his shot. Perhaps he was back in the lab this summer.

For the season, James is shooting 39% from three-point range, the second-best mark of his career. According to the NBA's stats site, James has taken 68 field-goal attempts from between 25-29 feet and six attempts from 30-34 feet. He's hit 39% of his attempts from beyond 25 feet, which is any noncorner three-pointer. James is also taking more attempts from three than ever before, with 30% of his overall shots coming from long range, up from 25% in the last two seasons.

In other words, James is launching from deep more than ever before and hitting them at a nearly career-best clip.

Another noteworthy addition to James' game is that he's taking more pull-up shots than before. According to the NBA's stats site, 42.8% of James' shots this year have been pull-up jumpers. That's up from 36% last year and 34% the year before. He's averaging a whopping 3.8 pull-up three-pointers per game and hitting 43% of them. That is Stephen Curry-esque!

This development is about more than James expanding his game, however.

First, if James can sustain this type of shooting, it changes the Lakers' offense. Much was made about the Lakers' roster and the lack of shooting around James. That hasn't changed, though fears of a cramped floor have slowly dissipated as the season has gone on. The Lakers are shooting 36.1% from three, 11th best in the league. Last season, that mark would have placed them at 15th in the league, smack-dab in the middle.

Before the season, James was said to be eyeing a move to the low post, which would help mitigate the Lakers' spacing issues and also allow him to do less dribbling and play-making from the perimeter.

Read more: LeBron James is reportedly already eyeing a role change with the Lakers that would emulate past NBA greats

But James isn't posting up more — in fact, he's averaging two fewer post-ups per game this year. Instead, he's stretched his game farther from the basket. In doing so, he creates more space for his teammates and gives the Lakers' offense an added dose of efficiency.

It's also an interesting development in James' overall career arc. James will turn 34 in December. No matter how superhuman he may seem on the court, his burst and quickness will start to fade as he gets older. James has already developed into a good-enough shooter to make defenses pay for sagging off on him.

One source familiar with James told Business Insider that teams incorrectly defend James when they give him space to brace for his drives to the hoop. James' first step has slowed down already, this source said, so teams should play him on him, taking away both the drive and his jumper.

Instead, teams continue to give James space, and now he's making them pay with his jumper.

Perhaps this is a sign of what's to come in James' future. He's no longer the highest flyer in the league, but he can still attack the basket with gusto. If James' jumper continues to develop and becomes more accurate as he gets older, he could stretch his prime for longer than anyone expected.

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NOW WATCH: Inside an intense training session where aspiring WWE wrestlers learn how to fight

• LeBron James played in his first game back in Cleveland since signing as a free agent with the Los Angeles Lakers.
• Cavaliers fans gave James a brief standing ovation during the team introductions.
• During an early break in the action, the Cavaliers played a touching video tribute to their former star.
• The tribute touched on James leading the Cavs to a championship and his charitable work in Northeast Ohio.

Here is the video, via ESPN.

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NOW WATCH: Inside an intense training session where aspiring WWE wrestlers learn how to fight

• A new report from the Associated Press details the back-and-forth between President Donald Trump's lawyers and the special counsel Robert Mueller over the terms of a potential interview with Trump. Their compromise? Written answers to questions, which were delivered on Tuesday.
• Logistics for an interview at Camp David on January 27 this year were being worked out before the plan was scrapped after lawyers learned about the scope of Mueller's questions.
• Trump's lawyers and the special counsel's office agreed on the president answering written questions only about the 2016 campaign — not obstruction of justice.
• With the addition of Rudy Giuliani to the team in April, the Trump team's tactics included dragging out the interview and attacking Mueller.

A new report from the Associated Press details the back-and-forth between President Donald Trump's lawyers and the special counsel Robert Mueller's office on whether Trump would sit down with Mueller for an interview under oath.

The matter has been a point of controversy ever since Mueller was appointed as the special counsel in May 2017, shortly after Trump fired FBI director James Comey who had been overseeing the investigation of Russia's meddling in the 2016 US presidential election.

The Mueller-led Russia probe has landed several indictments of Trump associates in the last 18 months. It has also prompted frequent speculation about Trump's possible legal exposure stemming from actions he took during the 2016 campaign and after he took office.

One of the biggest questions has centered on that Trump-Mueller interview, on which the president has expressed conflicting assertions — often changing his tune about whether or not he would attend.

Additionally, the road to get there was long, the Associated Press explained in a detailed report published Wednesday. It included tense negotiations, Trump's initial desire to answer questions, the prospect of a subpoena, and a host of tactics put forth by Trump's lawyers.

Those strategies included saying that all of the documents Trump's lawyers provided to Mueller's office were enough to make a formal sit-down with Trump unnecessary. The lawyers have also argued that questioning Trump about his time in the White House would infringe on "his executive powers."

Attorneys for the president also engaged in a one-sided public war against Mueller. That was another tactic the Associated Press said was meant to drag out the Trump-Mueller meeting negotiations for as long as possible, while also attacking Mueller, an exercise that was led by Rudy Giuliani, who joined Trump's team in April.

According to the AP, an interview was scheduled for January 27, 2018. Chief of staff John Kelly got as far as working on logistics to get Trump to Camp David before the plan was scrapped by Trump's lawyers, after they learned the scope of Mueller's questions.

On Tuesday, the newswire service reported that written answers to Mueller's questions about the 2016 campaign — not potential obstruction of justice — were submitted to the special counsel's office. This compromise was reached in September "when Mueller’s team said it would accept written answers on Russian election interference and collusion," the AP reports.

It's unclear if Mueller will submit more questions to be answered. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for clarification from INSIDER on Wednesday night.

SEE ALSO: Trump’s written answers to Mueller’s questions in the Russia probe are on their way to the special counsel’s office Jay Sekulow, a lawyer for Trump, said in a statement that the answers were provided Tuesday.

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NOW WATCH: Fox News' Harris Faulkner is the only black woman in cable news with a daily show: 'It's a tremendous amount of responsibility'

• Saudi Arabia's human rights record has come under intense scrutiny in recent months. 
• Earlier this year, the country detained dozens of prominent women's rights activists — most without access to communication and many who were never formally charged with a crime. 
• Award-winning campaigner Samar Badawi was arrested in August, which sparked a massive feud between Riyadh and Ottawa over the Kingdom's human rights record. 
• In October, journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered by Saudi agents, possibly at the order of the Saudi crown prince, which thrust the country's human rights violations back into the spotlight. 
• In November, testimonies from detained human rights activists emerged detailing torture, interrogation, and sexual abuse at the hands of Saudi authorities in prison. 

Saudi Arabia's human rights record has come under intense scrutiny in recent months — even before the murder of Jamal Khashoggi made international headlines.

Earlier this year, the country detained dozens of prominent women's rights activists — many without formal charge or access to communication — most of whom still remain in custody.

In May, at least 15 prominent women's rights activists had been arrested, many who had been actively involved in the women's right to drive movement.  

Local media reported that nine of the activists were set to be tried at a criminal court that specifically deal with terrorism-related offenses. And Saudi state media was quick to brand the activists as "traitors," and accused them of forming a "cell" in conjunction with foreign agents, Amnesty International said.

The government finally lifted the driving ban in June after decades of campaigning, though many of the activists still remain in prison.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been leading a push for modernization — cracking down hard on anyone that stands in his way.

The crackdown on rights activists occurred at a time when the country was preparing to lift its ban on women drivers.

Critics of the driving ban say it was symbolic of Saudi Arabia's strong patriarchal society, an image which Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman has eagerly been trying to shed since ascending to the throne and instating his ambitious Saudi Vision 2030 to completely overhaul the Saudi economy and society. 

But along with his major push for modernization came ruthless intolerance towards anyone that stood in his way. The prince arrested hundreds of officials, billionaires, and members of the royal family in massive graft, netting him over $100 billion in settlements.

And human rights campaigners and dissidents continue to be targeted.

In August, award-winning human rights campaigner Samar Badawi — who is best known for challenging the country's restrictive male guardianship laws — was arrested along with several other activists.

She had previously been detained for her advocacy and was banned from travel.

Badawi had been targeted by police in the past for her close ties to several prominent rights activists, including her former husband Waleed Abu al-Khair, a lawyer currently serving a 15-year prison sentence for defending human rights.

She is also the sister of Raif Badawi, a renowned Saudi blogger who gained international recognition after he was sentenced to public flogging and a 10-year prison sentence for his dissenting views. 

Samar Badawi's arrest sparked a massive feud between Riyadh and Ottawa, and shined a spotlight on the Kingdom's human rights record once more. 

In August, Canada's foreign ministry tweeted that it was "gravely concerned" about the new wave of arrests in the Kingdom targeting women's rights activists, which sparked outrage from Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia quickly retaliated with a series of intensifying diplomatic measures, which have since simmered down. 

But Saudi Arabia's human rights record was called into question once more following the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi

The murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi has thrust Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses back onto the global stage.

On October 2, the Washington Post contributor was murdered at the Saudi embassy in Istanbul after attempting to retrieve routine documents for his upcoming wedding to his Turkish fiance. His fiance waited outside for hours, but Khashoggi never left the embassy.

His body has not been recovered. 

The country has repeatedly denied that the crown prince had any role in Khashoggi's death, though its version of the events surrounding Khashoggi's murder have shifted several times over the last several weeks, fueling suspicions. Recent CIA assessments have reportedly determined that the prince directly ordered the assassination, accusations the Kingdom has swiftly rejected. 

Reports of torture in Saudi prisons have recently emerged 

On Tuesday, reports emerged detailing abuse inflicted on activists caught up in the crown prince's crackdown on dissent.  

Amnesty International obtained three separate testimonies which reveal instances of sexual harassment, electrocution, and flogging while in detention at the country’s Dhahban Prison, where many human rights activists have been held for months. Some of the detainees were so badly harmed that they were left unable to walk or stand properly. Human Rights Watch also reported similar torture at the hands of Saudi authorities, including whipping and sexual assault.

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump released a lengthy defense of Saudi Arabia, despite the country's mounting human rights abuses and unanswered questions surrounding Khashoggi's killing. Trump signaled he does not intend to call for significant changes to the US-Saudi relationship, despite global calls for sanctions against Saudi officials and those involved in the gruesome murder plot. 

Still, it appears Trump is unwilling to press the Saudi leadership too hard; his businesses have made millions from the Saudi government, and the crown prince gave his New York City hotel a huge boost. 

It is growing increasingly clear that slapping sanctions on Riyadh will be a difficult option for the Trump administration, given the size of the economic ties between Washington and Riyadh, though some experts speculate that Saudi Arabia may actually need the US more than ever.

SEE ALSO: Women in Saudi Arabia can now join the army but still need permission from a male guardian first

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NOW WATCH: Megyn Kelly in 2017: 'I regret a lot' of the controversial stuff I've said on live television

• Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa said he had reservations about Chief Justice John Roberts' response to President Donald Trump's controversial remarks about a federal judge.
• In a tweet, Grassley, the Judiciary Committee Chairman, referenced Roberts' previous interactions with the executive branch during President Barack Obama's administration.
• Grassley suggested Roberts was curiously silent when Obama allegedly "rebuked" Justice Samuel Alito in 2010.
• It was unclear what Grassley was referring to.

Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa said he had reservations about Chief Justice John Roberts' response to President Donald Trump's controversial characterization of a federal judge and the 9th District court, and suggested it was a hypocritical move based on Roberts' previous interactions with Trump's predecessor.

"Chief Justice Roberts rebuked Trump for a comment he made [about a] judge's decision on asylum," Grassley said in a tweet on Wednesday. "I don't recall the Chief attacking Obama when that Prez rebuked Alito during a State of the Union."

Grassley, the Judiciary Committee Chairman, appeared to be referencing a State of the Union address Obama gave in 2010, where Obama criticized the Supreme Court's 5-4 landmark decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. The decision eased restrictions that blocked corporations and unions from funding political campaigns without limits.

But Obama did not single out Justice Samuel Alito during that State of the Union address. Obama referred to the Supreme Court broadly, without mentioning any names.

"With all due deference to separation of powers, last week the Supreme Court reversed a century of law that I believe will open the floodgates for special interests — including foreign corporations — to spend without limit in our elections," Obama said at the time.

Alito appeared to have a visceral reaction to Obama's remarks during the speech, which was captured on video. He was seen shaking his head and mouthing some words as Obama commented on the court's decision.

Alito voted in favor of the ruling, and also joined concurring opinions from Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Antonin Scalia.

Roberts later alluded to the State of the Union address and questioned the Supreme Court's presence in that setting, stopping short of criticizing Obama.

"There is the issue of the setting, the circumstances, and the decorum," Roberts said to students at the University of Alabama Law School, two months after Obama's speech. "The image of having the members of one branch of government, standing up, literally surrounding the Supreme Court, cheering and hollering, while the Court, according to the requirements of protocol, has to sit there expressionless, I think is very troubling."

"And it does cause me to think whether or not it makes sense for us to be there," Roberts added. "To the extent the State of the Union has degenerated into a political pep rally, I'm not sure why we're there."

Although Obama may not have singled out a specific Justice during his speech, as a former senator from Illinois in 2006, he was critical of Alito and grudgingly joined a Democrat-led filibuster against him.

"I think Judge Alito, in fact, is somebody who is contrary to core American values, not just liberal values," Obama said during an interview on ABC News in 2006, days before Alito's eventual confirmation to the Supreme Court.

"When you look at his decisions in particular during times of war, we need a court that is independent and is going to provide some check on the executive branch, and he has not shown himself willing to do that repeatedly," Obama added.

Read more: Trump lashes out at Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts after he reminded the president that judges are supposed to be independent

Grassley's quip comes amid a terse back-and-forth between Trump and the federal judiciary. On Monday, a federal judge from the Northern District of California stopped Trump's move to curb the number of asylum-seeking migrants who cross the US-Mexico border at ports of entry.

The following day, Trump described the judge as "an Obama judge" and railed against the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, the appellate jurisdiction for the Northern District of California, by suggesting its rulings were inherently prejudiced.

"You go the 9th Circuit and it's a disgrace," Trump said on Tuesday. "And I'm going to put in a major complaint because you cannot win — if you're us — a case in the 9th Circuit and I think it's a disgrace."

Roberts responded to Trump's comments on Wednesday by suggesting the federal judiciary remained free of political biases.

"We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges," Roberts said in a statement. "What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them."

Trump later shot back and reiterated his allegation that the 9th Circuit, the largest appeals court overseeing the western US, was prejudiced.

"Sorry Chief Justice John Roberts, but you do indeed have 'Obama judges,' and they have a much different point of view than the people who are charged with the safety of our country," Trump tweeted. "It would be great if the 9th Circuit was indeed an 'independent judiciary,' but if it is why are so many opposing view (on Border and Safety) cases filed there, and why are a vast number of those cases overturned."

"Please study the numbers, they are shocking," Trump added.

However, Democratic lawmakers praised Robert's statement and thanked him for taking a stand.

"Thanks Chief Justice Roberts for your powerful rebuke to Trump— refuting his demagogic denunciation of an 'Obama judge,' Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said on Twitter. :When the history of this dark era is written, our independent judiciary (& free press) will be the heroes. Our gratitude goes to them this Thanksgiving."

SEE ALSO: Trump lashes out at Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts after he reminded the president that judges are supposed to be independent

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NOW WATCH: The Obamas are worth $40 million — here's how they make and spend their money

• Michelle Obama's book "Becoming" sold more than 1.4 million copies in its first week, her publisher Crown Publishing told the Associated Press.
• On its first day on sale, the former first lady's memoir sold more than 725,000 copies.
• In it, she opens up about personal details from couples therapy, a miscarriage and a delightful anecdote about how she and one of her daughters, Malia, snuck out of the White House to see the building lit up in rainbow colors in celebration of the US Supreme Court decision on marriage equality.

Michelle Obama's book "Becoming" sold more than 1.4 million copies in its first week, her publisher Crown Publishing told the Associated Press.

The former first lady's memoir chronicles her journey from childhood on the South Side of Chicago to post-White House days. On its first day the book sold more than 725,000 copies — beating out former Hillary Clinton's 2003 memoir "Living History," which according to the AP sold 600,000 copies in its first day.

In the book Michelle writes openly about a host of subjects:

1. She discusses the difficult parts of marriage, and how going to couples therapy helped her "figure out how to build my life in a way that works for me."
2. How she struggled with conceiving and had a miscarriage. "We had one pregnancy test come back positive, which caused us both to forget every worry and swoon with joy, but a couple of weeks later I had a miscarriage, which left me physically uncomfortable and cratered any optimism we'd felt," she wrote.
3. Her feelings about President Donald Trump. In the book Michelle Obama writes about the impact of the "birther" conspiracy, which was loudly parroted by Trump. She says that beyond being bigoted, it was dangerous. "Donald Trump, with his loud and reckless innuendos, was putting my family’s safety at risk," Obama said in the book. "And for this I’d never forgive him."
4. Sneaking out of the White House with Malia to see the building lit up in rainbow colors to celebrate the US Supreme Court decision on marriage equality. "It had taken us 10 minutes to get out of our own home, but we'd done it," she wrote. "We were outside, standing on a patch of lawn off to one side, out of sight of the public but with a beautiful, close-up view of the White House, lit up in pride."

Her book was released on November 13, the totals include sales across formats in both the United States and Canada.

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NOW WATCH: The Obamas are worth $40 million — here's how they make and spend their money

• The death toll from the California wildfires has risen to 84. Around 990 people are still missing.
• The Camp Fire in Northern California destroyed an entire town in less than a day and has killed at least 81 people, making it the deadliest fire in the state's history. It was 80% contained on Wednesday.
• The Woolsey Fire on the outskirts of Los Angeles burned nearly 97,000 acres and is now 100% contained. 
• California wildfires are becoming so frequent and pervasive that local officials say there's almost no need for the term "wildfire season" anymore.

The flames from California's deadliest wildfire have mostly retreated into forested, unpopulated areas of the state, but the death toll is still rising.

Rains are now soaking the water-starved northern part of the state, but the precipitation brings a threat of  mudslides and makes efforts to recover human remains trickier.

Two more victims were found on Tuesday, bringing the death toll from Northern California's Camp Fire to 81 people. Roughly 989 others are still missing, according to the Butte County Sheriff's Office.

"We put the list out. It will fluctuate. It will go up, it will go down, because this is in a state of flux," Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said Monday. 

The Camp Fire, located less than 100 miles north of Sacramento, is now 80% contained. To date, it's burned up roughly 240 square miles of land, an area larger than the city of Chicago.

President Donald Trump visited the wreckage in Paradise, California on Saturday and described the area as "total devastation."

"We're going to have to work quickly," he said. "Hopefully this is going to be the last of these because this was a really, really bad one."

The other deadly wildfire in California, the Woolsey Fire, burned 96,949 acres in the hills around Los Angeles and is 100% contained, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. Residents of Malibu and other LA suburbs whose houses were in the path of the fire have begun to return home to charred shells.

Two people were killed in the Woolsey Fire on November 9, and a third body was found in a burned home in Agoura Hills on November 14, bringing the death toll from both the Woolsey and Camp fires to 84.

Already this year, 7,778 fires have burned across California, fueled by hot, dry conditions and aggressive winds. The causes of both the Woolsey Fire and the Camp Fire are still under investigation, but sparking power lines may have played a role in the Camp Fire.

The Camp Fire is the deadliest and most destructive in California's history

The Camp Fire moved at a deadly pace— about 80 football fields a minute — after breaking out at about 6:30 a.m. on November 8. The 27,000-resident town of Paradise was in flames within hours.

That speed made successful evacuations nearly impossible.

"I was sitting in my car just screaming, waiting to die," Paradise resident Jackie Rabbit told INSIDER. She ditched her car and started running. She didn't even notice her bloody knee or injured ankle as she raced to safety. 

At least six people burned to death in their cars as they tried to escape, the Butte County Sheriff's Office said.

"The fire was so close I could feel it in my car through rolled-up windows," Rita Miller, who fled Paradise with her mother, told The Associated Press.

More than 13,700 homes and 500 businesses have been destroyed so far, along with over 4,100 other buildings, making the Camp Fire the most destructive wildfire in California's history in terms of structures lost. Cal Fire doesn't expect the blaze to be extinguished until the end of the month. 

You can learn more about damage from the Camp Fire on Cal Fire's Structure Status Map and see evacuations on the Camp Fire Evacuation Map.

Searching for human remains among the ash is tricky 

Coroner search teams are looking for victims in Paradise, where rain is beginning to fall for the first time in months.

More than 450 people were dispatched to look for human remains in the debris, the Associated Press reported. Abandoned cars in driveways can be a sign that residents might not have escaped in time.

Sifting through the ashes, the teams sometimes recover only the partial remains of a victim to place in a body bag.

"The long bag looks almost empty as it's carefully carried out of the ruins and placed in a black hearse,"the AP's Gillian Flaccus reported from Paradise.

Sheriff Honea said Butte County is working with anthropologists from California State University at Chico to help identify bone fragments among ash in the area, and some residents have given cheek swabs that might help officials identify their relatives' remains.

You can register yourself as safe or search for loved ones who are missing using the Red Cross' "Safe and Well" list online.

The rain this week will help firefighters, but it could make searching for remains more difficult.

The National Weather Service has issued a flash flood watch for areas where the Camp Fire burned, which is in effect from Wednesday afternoon through Friday morning. 

Federal assistance is coming, but Trump blamed a lack of raking for the fires

Governor-elect Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in Butte County the day the fire broke out and sent a letter to President Donald Trump and the Federal Emergency Management Agency asking for federal assistance.

Trump approved some federal assistance for the California fires on November 9 and said on November 12 that he approved an "expedited request for a Major Disaster Declaration," which allows people whose homes or workplaces were hit by the Woolsey or Camp Fires to apply for federal assistance.

But on Twitter, the president blamed the fires on poor forest management, and threatened that there may be "no more Fed payments." (The federal government oversees more than 40% of California's land.) When visiting, Trump also criticized Californians for not doing more raking. 

"I was watching the firemen the other day, and they were raking areas — they were raking areas where the fire was," Trump said on Fox News Sunday. "That should have been all raked out and cleaned out," he added. "You wouldn't have the fire." 

He suggested that's how Finland prevents forest fires, but the president of Finland said it's not true.

FEMA said in a release that federal disaster assistance for the fire victims "can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster."

The aid is much needed among fire victims who lost everything. Troy Miller, a Butte County resident, is camping in a truck next to the remains of his house in Concow. 

"I'm alive and I'm still up here," Miller told the Associated Press. "There are plenty of other people worse off than I. I've got a lot of faith in God. I think things will be OK."

Smoke from the fires has traveled hundreds of miles and made San Francisco air unhealthy

Smoke from the Camp Fire has made it difficult for people to breathe for nearly two weeks. Soot and chemicals released from the flames blanketed wide swaths of Northern California in a gray haze.

Last weekend, the Environmental Protection Agency described the air throughout much of the Bay Area as "very unhealthy" to breathe. Federal air monitors suggested that residents limit time outside and avoid outdoor exercise.

 Many museums opened their doors admission-free to help people find indoor activities.

The San Francisco Air Quality Index, which measures the number of dangerously small pollutants in the air, was worse than Beijing or New Delhi last Friday, prompting San Francisco public schools to close.

The conditions are expected to improve as rain continues to fall, though.

The Woolsey fire, which burned nearly 97,000 acres near LA, is 100% contained

The Woolsey Fire, fueled by fierce Santa Ana winds, has destroyed 1,643 structures, mostly homes.

The fire was 100% contained on Wednesday, and red-flag wind warnings that were in effect around Southern California last week have expired.

Three people died in the Woolsey Fire. Two burned bodies were found in a car in Malibu near Mulholland Highway, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said, while a third victim was discovered in the wreckage of a home in Agoura Hills.

At its peak, the fire forced over 275,000 people from their homes. Carol Napoli, who lives at the Vallecito mobile-home park for seniors in Newbury Park, told the AP that the flames approached the park so fast that her mother didn't have time to grab her oxygen tank before they bolted in a car.

"We drove through flames to get out," Napoli said, adding: "My girlfriend was driving. She said, 'I don't know if I can do this.' ... Her son said, 'Mom you have to — you have to drive through the flames.'" 

The fire threatened mobile homes and mansions alike. Celebrities including Gerard Butler, Miley Cyrus, and Neil Young lost their houses.

More than 80% of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, the country's largest urban national park, burned, according to the Los Angeles Times. Flames and smoke sent bobcats and mountain lions in the area scampering.

The blaze also destroyed the storied filming location of Paramount Ranch, where the shows "Westworld" and "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman" were shot.

You can view current fire perimeters, evacuation updates, and shelter and donation information on the Ventura County Emergency Information site, the Ventura County Recovers site, and LA County's Woolsey Fire site.

Both the Woolsey Fire and another small fire, the Hill Fire, threatened the town of Thousand Oaks, where residents were already reeling from a mass shooting that left 12 people dead. 

A resident named Cynthia Ball told the AP it was "like 'welcome to hell.'"

The LA County website says: "If you are affected by the Woolsey or Hill fires, the Thousand Oaks mass shooting, or both, you can call the Disaster Distress Helpline at 1-800-985-5990 or text 'TalkWithUs' to 66746 for emotional support and resources."

Wildfires are no longer limited to one season

The flames in Southern California have been fueled by hot, dry conditions and spread by Santa Ana winds, which tend to blow in from the desert in the fall months.

Read more: Why wildfire season is getting longer and stronger

As the LA Fire Department's Erik Scott pointed out on Twitter, some houses are better protected from fires than others, since green vegetation can help keep back flames.

Wildfire season in California technically runs from late summer through the fall. But as the planet heats up, higher-than-average temperatures and drought conditions are becoming more common. Meanwhile, developers continue to build homes in places that are naturally prone to wildfires.

"Whether it is to allow a rock star to build on a ridgeline in Malibu or a manufactured-home community that nestles into the foothills, the decision is the same and the consequences are the same," Char Miller, the director of environmental analysis at Pomona College, told the Times.

Fire officials in the state are now acknowledging that wildfires may not be limited to any specific season.

Ellen Cranley, Bryan Logan, and David Choi contributed reporting.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

SEE ALSO: A California wildfire just demolished an entire town and forced the Kardashians to evacuate. Here’s why wildfire season is getting longer and stronger.

DON'T MISS: Here's what the wildfires look like on the ground

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: A 'firenado' is a real thing — here’s how the dangerous phenomenon forms

• Thanksgiving is a day for family, mediocre NFL games, voracious caloric consumption, and quite often,  political arguments that quickly devolve into fruitless acrimony. 
• The internet is filled with advice takes on how to politically engage your adversarial relatives at dinner. 
• The advice runs the gamut from meditation and deference to call-outs and conflict escalation.

Thanksgiving is a day for family, mediocre NFL games, voracious caloric consumption, and quite often — political arguments that quickly devolve into fruitless acrimony. 

In what has become a pre-Thanksgiving tradition, the interwebs are awash with advice on how to politically engage your adversarial relatives at dinner. 

ABC News correspondent Dan Harris recommends in Men's Health meditation before entering the Turkey Day family maelstrom, followed by a three-step process:

1. "Don't try to change minds. ... Instead, go in with the goal of simply trying to understand where people are coming from."
2. "Make 'I' statements rather than truth statements. ... For example, a Democrat might have better luck saying to a Trump supporter, 'I'm worried that President Trump may be violating the emoluments clause of the Constitution' rather than 'The president is irredeemably corrupt, and you're a horrible person for supporting him.'"
3. "Don't characterize the other side's opinion; just characterize your own. ... For instance, a pro-Trumper would be advised to say, 'I'm worried about higher taxes damaging the economy' rather than 'You Democrats just want to feed at the trough of a bloated welfare state.'"

Writing in The New York Times, Lisa Lerer also dispenses some peacekeeping advice. 

1. "Don't mention President Trump," Lerer advises, citing a SurveyMonkey poll showing "37% of respondents saying mention of the president was most likely to start an argument"— regardless of the respondents' political party.
2. "Focus on the food."
3. "Lay down the law," by declaring some topics off-limits and "starting the night with a toast to civility."
4. "Forget about winning."

Read more: How liberals and conservatives do Thanksgiving dinner differently

But not all Thanksgiving survival advice is conciliatory. Also in The New York Times, Karen Tamerius introduces an interactive bot representing your dreaded "angry uncle," and a game plan on how to convince him that you are right and he is wrong — but only if he's conservative. If he's liberal, you should defer to his wisdom.

Amy McCarthy writes in Eater.com that "you have an obligation to push back against harmful rhetoric simply because others do not," which in McCarthy's view includes calling out problematic relatives not just for odious racism and homophobia, but also controversial yet mainstream political positions such as support for the Second Amendment. 

Clearly no one-size-fits-all advice will be practicable for every family, but if you're someone who would rather avoid the strum und drung of maximalist political warfare among "loved ones" assembled for a mere few hours, Conor Friedersdorf at The Atlantic offers a tongue-in-cheek 13-step guide to handling every political issue likely to cause resentment among any faction of the family. Point six is the one I'm most inclined to abide by this Thanksgiving:

"Every family has a patriotic duty to debate the most important unsettled political question of our era: Is President Donald Trump a sexually predatory Nazi who praises murderous tyrants while normalizing a Margaret Atwood dystopia? Or is he a latter-day Midas who beds porn stars only with their consent … with the same manly hands he used to romance North Korea’s leader out of his nukes? At my house, each faction will nominate a champion to argue its position, those of us who remembered to bring IDs will vote on who won, and absent unanimity, we’ll settle the matter by combat."

SEE ALSO: How liberals and conservatives do Thanksgiving dinner differently

SEE ALSO: More people are going to be shopping on their phones under the Thanksgiving dinner table this year

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Lindsey Graham once warned there would be 'holy hell to pay' if Trump fired Jeff Sessions

Hello! Here's whats happening on Thursday.

1. Facebook says it asked an opposition research firm to link its critics to George Soros. Facebook's outgoing boss of policy and communications, Elliot Schrage, says he's taking the blame for the scandal.

2. Tesla is cutting the price of its Model X and Model S cars in China by up to 26 percent. The price cut comes amid rising trade tensions and increasing tariffs between China and the US.

3. A new report reveals the behind-the-scenes battle royale between Trump and Meuller's teams over the president's Russia interview. The report details tense negotiations, Trump's desire to answer questions up front, a likely subpoena, and obstruction from Trump's lawyers. 

4. Foreign investors are watching China's murky debt markets. A looming crash for a debt laden coal outfit could be a sign of things to come.

5. The death toll from California's wildfires keeps rising - now its at 84. Nearly 1,000 people are still missing.

6. An American tourist has allegedly been killed by a remote indigenous tribe near India. The Sentinelese tribe on Andaman and Nicobar Islands have very little contact with the outside world.

7. Singapore’s ruling party will disclose new positions within its top decision making body on Friday. The announcement could give a strong indicator of who the country's next leader might be as Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has pledged to step down in the coming years. 

8. Michelle Obama's 'Becoming' is a bigger hit than Hillary's book.  Its sold over 1.4 million copies already.

9. The oldest US military survivor of the infamous Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor has died. Ray Chavez, recently honored by President Donald Trump, died at the age of 106.

10. Its almost Black Friday. Get out ahead and go crazy with our best of Amazon guide. We've prepared a list ahead of the biggest shopping day of the year. 

And finally...

One ticket, two days, 50+ insightful speakers, and 600+ executives. Business Insider's flagship IGNITION conference headliners include Mark Cuban, Janice Min, Sir Martin Sorrell and Barbara Corcoran. Join us for IGNITION, December 3-4, New York City.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The science of why human breasts are so big

• Twelve elementary students were injured, on Monday, in a dog attack at their elementary school in Oklahoma City.
• According to local news reports, 28 third-and fourth-grade students and three teachers were on the playground at Fillmore Elementary School when a dog came through an open gate and began chasing students.
• Five students were taken via ambulance to the hospital. Seven children were taken there by parents. None of the injuries were serious and consisted of superficial bites and other injuries from running away.

Twelve elementary students were injured, on Monday, in a dog attack at their elementary school in Oklahoma City.

According to local news reports, 28 third-and fourth-grade students and three teachers were on the playground at Fillmore Elementary School when a dog came through an open gate and began chasing students.

The dog, which was reportedly a pit bull mix, according to local station Fox 25, made it inside the school, and was then tackled by special education teacher Lee Hughes.

Five students were taken via ambulance to the hospital, and seven children were taken by their parents. None of the injuries were serious and consisted of superficial bites and other injuries from running away.

"Dog came on and started to attack some of the kids, and of course kids began to scream and panic, which excites the dog and scared the dog even more," Capt. David Macy, from Oklahoma City Fire Department, told Fox 25. "His natural instinct was to keep biting and go after the kids."

Frantic 911 calls were made public earlier this week, with one caller saying, "we need animal control immediately. We've got a pit bull on our playground, attacking children."

On Tuesday, Oklahoma News 4 reported that the dog was in custody at Oklahoma City Animal Welfare.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: 4 lottery winners who lost it all

The Insider Picks team writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships, so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase.

If you asked us why we love shopping at Nordstrom, we wouldn't even know where to begin.

Maybe it's the curated selection of top brands across clothing, home, and beauty, or the unique limited-time collaborations with celebrities, influencers, and top designers. Perhaps we really enjoy the great customer service, on top of perks like free shipping all year round, in-store tailoring, and its free rewards program. 

For these numerous reasons, we look to Nordstrom when it's time to shop for holiday gifts. It only carries the best brands, so it's hard to mess up while shopping here, but if we had to narrow down the selection to only 50, these are the gifts we would choose. 

Shop all gifts at Nordstrom here.

Looking for more gift ideas? Check out all of Insider Picks' holiday gift guides for 2018 here.

A stylish, modern record player

Crosley Radio Cruiser Deluxe Turntable, $69.95, available at Nordstrom

Though it has a classic look, the turntable is also Bluetooth-compatible, bridging the gap for the tech-savvy who also happen to love a solid vinyl record. 

A leather phone case with card slots

Madewell Card Slot Leather iPhone X/Xs Case, $29.50, available at Nordstrom 

They don't have to choose between protection and aesthetic in their phone case. The leather develops a patina over time, plus the tight card slots are very useful for cards and IDs.  

A soft lounger for their bed

Nordstrom at Home Soft Texture Rib Plush Lounge Pillow, $99, available at Nordstrom

"I think I'll stay in tonight" may be a refrain you hear after they've experienced the plush, supportive comfort of this pillow. 

• D.G. Yuengling & Son started producing beer in 1829 in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, making it the oldest family-run ;brewery in America.
• The four Yuengling sisters who run the brewery today did not realize the significance of their last name until they went to college.
• Working with family can be difficult at times, but family is a core value at Yuengling, which has been passed down within the family for six generations.

Growing up in a small town with a family brewery made the Yuengling sisters unaware of the significance of their last name.

"I don't think I realized the power of the brand until I went away to college and people recognized it,"Wendy Yuengling, who now runs the brewery with her three sisters, said on an episode of Business Insider's podcast "This Is Success."

"And, you know, you grow up in a small town in Pennsylvania and we were just another family business in town," she continued. "And I don't think we thought twice about, you know — we made beer."

The oldest family-run brewery in America, D.G. Yuengling & Son started producing beer in 1829 in Pottsville, Pennsylvania. Dick Yuengling bought the brewery in 1985, which made 137,000 barrels at the time.

Today, Yuengling has several breweries producing 2 million barrels annually. With other family businesses in the small town, Yuengling sisters Wendy, Jen, Debbie, and Sheryl didn't stand out in the community.

"When I got into college, the brands were growing. My dad had done a lot to turn around the company and he had introduced some new flavors that really put us on the map, so it was a much different company then. And then, as you get into the 2000s, our brands just took off," Wendy said.

The sisters were asked by their father if they were interested in helping run the brewery in the late 1990s, to which they all said yes. Each sister plays a different role within the company. Wendy handles marketing and Jen, who also sat down with "This Is Success," handles operations.

Read more:Yuengling, America's largest independent brewery, is a sixth-generation family company run by 4 sisters who have figured out how to work with family without losing their minds/a>

"We each made commitments to the family business because there's a tremendous sense of pride in keeping it going. That's a big part of our identity in my mind, and I think it's important to our employees, who are also heavily invested in the company with their own families," Wendy said.

Working with family can be difficult at times, but family is a core value at Yuengling — which has been passed down within the family for six generations.

"It feels really good to know you have that support. And I think we're very lucky — to be a six-generation family business is unbelievable, but we're four women in the sixth generation and, for our company, this is the first time the business will go from father to daughters," Wendy said. "I think when you look around and you see, I get to work every day with my three sisters, that is very satisfying."

SEE ALSO: 2 of the 4 sisters behind Yuengling, America's largest independent brewery, explain how they're making the 190-year-old family beer business their own

DON"T MISS: Yuengling, America’s largest independent brewery, is a sixth-generation family company run by 4 sisters who have figured out how to work with family without losing their minds

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