Trump threatens to close the border — permanently

Monday, November 26

Central American migrants climb the border fence between Mexico and the United States, near El Chaparral border crossing, in Tijuana, Baja California State, Mexico, on November 25, 2018.

Long day? Short list. In the news today: Escalating border crisis, GM slashes staff, and the best Cyber Monday deals you can still click.

The Short List is back. But if you're traveling to or from the Midwest you may not be. Heavy snow and driving wind created near-blizzard conditions across a swath of the Midwest on Monday, grounding flights by the thousands and snarling highways as America struggled back to work after the Thanksgiving weekend.

Speaking of travel, Elon Musk says there's a "70 percent chance" he will head to Mars (which after "seven minutes of terror" welcomed a new visitor today).

The family crisis at the border, explained

The photos are heart-wrenching. Children in diapers running from tear gas. A toddler playing between shields in a line of Mexican riot police. A baby passed hand to hand as migrants try to climb the border fence.

As President Donald Trump continued attacks against a caravan of Central American migrants Monday, describing some of them as "stone cold criminals" (a statement the administration has provided scant details on), images of families at the U.S.-Mexico border sparked outrage online. The president tweeted Monday he will "close the Border permanently if need be."

What's going on? Thousands of migrants from Central America are waiting in makeshift shelters in Tijuana for a chance to apply for asylum in the U.S. But U.S. officials at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, the nation's largest land port of entry, can only process up to 100 asylum requests, creating an enormous line that threatens months of waiting for some migrants.

Why the protests? Migrants have organized protests to pressure the U.S. to devote more resources to the process. One protest turned chaotic Sunday when several hundred migrants rushed a border fence. U.S. agents fired tear gas into the crowd, leaving a tense standoff that could escalate in coming days. Photos showed migrants running from the scene, some of them women with small children.

What does the law say? Trump has repeatedly told caravan members to go to their home countries, but U.S. law clearly states that foreigners are allowed to enter the U.S. and request asylum. And so far, at least one federal judge has ruled that the president can't just make that law go away.

A family from Honduras poses for a picture outside a temporary shelter in Tijuana, Baja California State, Mexico, near the U.S.-Mexico border on November 26, 2018.

Pedro Pardo, AFP/Getty Images

GM's future: Self-driving cars, layoffs

General Motors sees a future defined by self-driving cars and electric vehicles. And that means fewer GM employees, for now: The automaker is poised to shutter factories in Michigan, Ohio, Maryland and Canada by late 2019, slashing 15 percent of its salaried workforce . The cuts aim to make GM "lean and agile" in its bid to "lead in autonomous and lead in electric vehicles," CEO Mary Barra said. Talks with the United Auto Workers next year could lead to vehicles devoted to those facilities, but there's a serious chance that the plants close for good.

What else?

•	Nope, still not OK to eat romaine lettuce.
•	A Little Free Library honoring Michelle Obama was vandalized with Trump's name.
•	Kim Kardashian admits she got married on ecstasy.
•	Oprah Winfrey's mom died at 83. Here's the name she actually gave her daughter.
•	It's Christmas at the White House.

It's not too late to fill your cart

It may have started as a way for online merchants to claim a digital-only Black Friday of their own, but Cyber Monday has become the capstone on a 4-day shopping bonanza that spans nearly every sector of the retail world. The team at Reviewed, part of the USA TODAY Network, has been tracking the best Cyber Monday sales all day. The most popular items? Robot vacuums, 4K TVs, and the Amazon Echo Dot.

But if you're shopping for apps, know this

Apple's pricing policies for iPhone apps bought on its exclusive App Store ran into trouble Monday at the Supreme Court . The question: whether consumers have the right to sue Apple directly for overcharges, or whether their beef is with app developers who pass along Apple's 30 percent commission and insistence that prices end in $0.99. All four liberal justices clearly were skeptical of Apple's monopoly and were joined at points by three conservatives: Associate Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. The real download: If the Supreme Court ultimately rules against Apple, consumers then would have standing to sue the company directly in a case potentially affecting millions of iPhone app purchasers.

This compilation of stories from across the USA TODAY Network was brought to you by Alia E. Dastagir and Josh Hafner.