Happy Thursday! It’s been a rough year for U.S.-China relations, but this may be the final straw: Beijing is recalling its loaner pandas that have been the highlights of American zoos for 50 years. 

Get your fix of the panda cam now, folks.

Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories 

• The U.S. suspended some of its non-humanitarian aid to Gabon following the military takeover in the central African nation last month. The State Department announced Tuesday the U.S. “is pausing certain foreign assistance programs benefiting the government of Gabon while we evaluate the unconstitutional intervention by members of the country’s military.” Some aid to Niger has also been suspended, but U.S. officials have yet to formally designate the takeovers in both countries as coups. 
• Chinese hackers stole 60,000 emails from the State Department when they breached a Microsoft email system in late spring, according to information shared in a classified Senate briefing Wednesday. The emails were lifted from 10 State Department accounts, nine of which belonged to individuals who work on East Asia and the Pacific. The hack also affected the Commerce Department, including Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
• Travis King—the American soldier who has been detained in North Korea since July after he intentionally ran across the North Korean border on a tour of the demilitarized zone—is in U.S. custody in China and will soon be en route back to the United States,  U.S. officials said Wednesday. Pyongyang had earlier signaled its intention to “expel” King from the country. Pentagon officials said King would be transferred to a military hospital in Texas. 
• New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez and his wife pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to bribery charges. The couple was released on bond, but the court confiscated Sen. Menendez’s personal passport, ordering he could only travel out of the country on official business and with prior notification to the court. The three New Jersey businessmen accused of bribing Menendez also pleaded not guilty in hearings Tuesday and Wednesday. 

The Search for a Trump Challenger Continues

With five minutes left in the broadcast of last night’s second Republican presidential debate, Fox Business moderator Dana Perino said the quiet part out loud. “It’s now obvious that if you all stay in the race, former President Donald Trump wins the nomination,” she told the seven assembled candidates on the stage at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. “None of you have indicated that you’re dropping out.” 

But rather than have any of them make the case that they should be the one to take on Trump, or give candidates an opportunity to express—as several had in the previous 115 minutes—their frustration at their party’s standard-bearer for playing hooky from the proceedings, she took a different tack. “So which one of you on stage tonight should be voted off the island?” Perino asked, to uproarious laughter from the candidates and audience alike. That laughter turned awkward—and the candidates’ faces confused, and then indignant—when she asked them all to write another candidate’s name on a provided notepad, à la Survivor. 

It seemed like the only thing (almost) all seven could agree on last night was that there was no way, no how they would be playing that game. But the bizarre moment wasn’t the first time the event had felt more like a reality TV program than a substantive debate on the issues—Perino at one point shouted “cue the music” over the din of the candidates sniping at each other as she tried to cut to a commercial break. Chaos reigned in Southern California Wednesday night, with an abundance of internecine fighting. Very little of it was focused on real policy differences, and almost none of it offered any additional clarity on which candidate might pose the most significant challenge to Trump, the far-and-away frontrunner, as the clock ticks down to the Iowa caucuses in January. 

Worth Your Time

• Several high-profile authors are suing Meta for using the text of their books to train its generative AI model, potentially in violation of copyright law. Ian Bogost, whose books were among those used by Meta, doesn’t understand the outrage. “I’d joined the ranks of the aggrieved,” he writes in a piece for the Atlantic, upon discovering that his books fed the AI machine. “But then, despite some effort, I found myself disappointingly unaggrieved. What on earth was wrong with me? Authors who are angry—authors who are effing furious—have pointed to the fact that their work was used without permission. Whether or not Meta’s behavior amounts to infringement is a matter for the courts to decide. Permission is a different matter. One of the facts (and pleasures) of authorship is that one’s work will be used in unpredictable ways. The philosopher Jacques Derrida liked to talk about ‘dissemination,’ which I take to mean that, like a plant releasing its seed, an author separates from their published work. Their readers (or viewers, or listeners) not only can but must make sense of that work in different contexts. A retiree cracks a Haruki Murakami novel recommended by a grandchild. A high-school kid skims Shakespeare for a class. My mother’s tree trimmer reads my book on play at her suggestion. A lack of permission underlies all of these uses, as it underlies influence in general: When successful, art exceeds its creator’s plans. To bemoan this one unexpected use for my writing is to undermine all of the other unexpected uses for it. Speaking as a writer, that makes me feel bad.”

Presented Without Comment

Insider: Latino lawmakers dismiss Sen. Bob Menendez’s claims that he’s being racially targeted: ‘This is not that’ 

“Democratic Rep. Pete Aguilar of California—the current House Democratic Caucus chair and the highest-ranking Latino in the House—said as much on Wednesday morning … ‘Latinos face barriers and discrimination across the board in so many categories, including in our justice system. This is not that,’ said Aguilar. ‘We should not conflate the discrimination, and the issues, and the barriers that Latinos have in the justice system, and across industries too, to what we see there today.’”

Also Presented Without Comment

The Hill: [Former New Jersey Gov. Chris] Christie Sends Message to Trump: ‘We’re Gonna Call You ‘Donald Duck’

Also Also Presented Without Comment 

Washington Examiner: Republican Debate Takes Bizarre Twist Over Who is ‘Sleeping’ with Teachers

Toeing the Company Line 

• In the newsletters: Scott argues the UAW’s demands run contrary to economic realities, the Dispatch Politics team examines Nikki Haley’s prospects as a consensus candidate ahead of last night’s debate, Jonah bemoans (🔒) the shamelessness of American politicians, and Nick parses (🔒) how much credit we should give Democrats condemning Bob Menendez. 
• On the podcasts: Sarah is back from maternity leave and joins David at Georgetown University for a live taping of Advisory Opinions where they preview the Supreme Court’s upcoming term, while Jonah is joined on the Remnant by Brink Lindsey to discuss social policy, libertarianism, and the role of intellectualism in shaping society. 
• On the site today: Philip Wallach dives into the shutdown showdown and Kay S. Hymowitz explains the results of a recent Pew survey on marriage and family. 

Let Us Know

Do you think the debate last night mattered? Did it change your opinion of any of the candidates on stage?