“Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) resigned from Congress just before the House Ethics Committee was set to hold a potentially pivotal meeting on its investigation into the Florida congressman, Axios has learned. Gaetz’s resignation, just hours after Trump announced his nomination for attorney general, puts a swift end to the panel’s wide-ranging probe. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Gaetz’s intention was to allow a swift process to fill his seat as Trump’s selection of several House members for administration roles has the GOP anxious about its slim majority.” [editor’s note: My take is that the whole point of the AG nomination — which will not get Senate confirmation — was to allow Gaetz to resign “because he’s getting promoted” rather than “under the shadow of scandal,” and that his real plan is to run for governor of Florida in 2026 – TLK] (11/13/24)
THANK YOU to supporters JdL and MB, whose $120 in donations yesterday bring our fundraiser total to $1,787!
That leaves us only $888.50 short of our $5,531 goal — once we’ve hit $2,675.50, we’ve got “matching funds” pledged by supporter GL for the other half.
But we DO have to knock out that $888.50 to end this fundraiser (and the daily fundraiser appeals).
Can we get there this week?
Yes we can, if YOU support the freedom movement’s daily newspaper at:
“Republicans in the United States Senate picked veteran John Thune to be the chamber’s new leader, as lawmakers, scrambling to prepare for President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration, rejected his camp’s favoured candidate. Thune, who already holds a more junior leadership position, beat Texas Senator John Cornyn in a run-off vote to replace outgoing party leader Mitch McConnell. He had earlier won out against Florida’s Rick Scott, a hardline conservative and Trump loyalist. The South Dakota senator is viewed as a well-regarded insider. His win comes on the heels of a public pressure campaign by supporters of the incoming president to pick Scott, who lost in the first round with only 13 votes. Thune’s win in a three-way contest is a sign the Senate could retain some degree of independence from Trump next year.” (11/13/24)
“A Paris prosecutor has requested a five-year prison sentence and a five-year ban from public office for the far-right leader Marine Le Pen, at a trial in which she and 24 others are accused of embezzling EU funds. The trial, which comes almost a decade after initial investigations started, threatens to undermine her National Rally (RN) party’s efforts to polish its image before the 2027 presidential election, which many believe she could win. … The trial runs until 27 November, after which the judges will retire to consider their verdict and consider what sentence to hand down, taking into account the prosecutor’s requests. The verdict is likely to be announced in early 2025.” (11/14/24)
“A man with explosives died Wednesday trying to enter Brazil’s Supreme Court in what appeared to be a suicide, officials said. ‘This citizen approached the Federal Supreme Court, tried to enter, failed, and the explosion happened at the entrance,’ Brasilia governor Celina Leao told reporters. Early indications are that this was a suicide, and no one else was hurt, she said. The man’s body was found outside the court after two explosions occurred. The first one was from a car in the square outside the court. The second one happened when the man tried to enter the court, and this blast killed him, the governor said. The incident occurred ahead of a G20 summit taking place next Monday and Tuesday in Rio de Janeiro that will gather leaders from around the world.” (11/13/24)
“U.S. inflation rose 2.6% on an annual basis last month, representing an uptick from September when the Federal Reserve began cutting interest rates amid signs of cooling prices and a weaker labor market. That matched forecasts from economists polled by FactSet that the Consumer Price Index rose 2.6% in October. The CPI rose 2.4% in September, when the Fed ushered in a jumbo rate cut of 0.5 percentage points, followed by a second rate cut this month. The slight rise on a month-over-month basis signals that the Fed’s battle to tame inflation to its goal of a 2% annual rate might take a bumpy path over the next months.” (11/13/24)
“A former prosecutor and local police official was arrested Tuesday in connection with the grisly decapitation of a mayor on Oct. 6. Officials in the southern state of Guerrero confirmed that German Reyes was arrested on charges of homicide for the killing of Alejandro Arcos just a week after he took office as mayor of the state capital, Chilpancingo. … officials had previously blamed the killing on a local drug and extortion gang, and Reyes was formerly employed as special prosecutor for Guerrero state, a high-level position. The implication was that Reyes — who was also a former military officer who, according to his official resume, retired with rank of captain in the military justice system — had somehow worked in collusion with the gang.” (11/13/24)
“The United States is opening a new missile base in northern Poland, which the Kremlin criticised as an attempt ‘to contain’ Russia by moving US military infrastructure closer to its borders. Located in the town of Redzikowo near the Baltic coast, the major base that will be formally inaugurated on Wednesday has been in the works since the 2000s. … The base at Redzikowo is part of a broader NATO missile shield, called Aegis Ashore, which the military alliance says can intercept short- to intermediate-range ballistic missiles. Other key shield elements include a second site in Romania, US Navy destroyers based in the Spanish port of Rota and an early-warning radar in the town of Kurecik in Turkey. Russia had already labelled the base in Poland a threat as far back as 2007, when it was still being planned. NATO says the shield is purely defensive.” (11/13/24)
“A federal appeals court on Wednesday declared unconstitutional a New York law that largely banned sales and in-store displays by antiques dealers of ivory and rhinoceros horns in the state. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan sided with two trade groups that said the law signed by former Governor Andrew Cuomo violated antiques dealers’ First Amendment commercial speech rights. The court called the law broader than necessary to promote New York’s substantial interest in stopping illegal ivory sales in the state, noting that it also covered goods that could be sold legally interstate or internationally.” (11/13/24)
“Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte has surprised lawmakers by declaring that he would appear before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague during questioning in the House of Representatives about his administration’s war on drugs. … Duterte’s response was a reversal of his long-standing rejection of foreign interference in his policies. The 79-year-old former leader is facing separate probes in the House and Senate related to crimes that took place during the drug war that was carried out under his term, which human rights activists say has led to the extrajudicial killings of thousands. He is also under investigation by the ICC for crimes against humanity related to the killings.” (11/13/24)
