Source: SFGate
“Indiana House members are expected to press forward Monday with redrawing the state’s congressional districts in Republicans’ favor, increasing pressure on their defiant counterparts in the GOP-led Senate to meet President Donald Trump’s demands. Republicans who control the House have said there’s no doubt that redistricting will pass that chamber. But the fate of any proposal remains uncertain in the Senate. Republicans control that chamber, but caucus members have resisted pressure to redistrict for months. Senate leadership recently backed off its previous intentions not to meet at all, agreeing to convene next Monday. However, it’s still unclear whether enough senators will support a new map. Republicans hold seven of Indiana’s nine U.S. House seats. Trump and other Republicans want to make the map 9-0 in the GOP’s favor, seeking to give the party two extra seats in the 2026 elections that will determine control of the U.S. House.” (12/01/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/indiana-lawmakers-in-state-house-to-convene-21215942.php
Source: Law & Liberty
by Stone Washington
“Unbeknownst to most Americans, federal regulatory agencies have their own court system for adjudicating disputes that businesses and citizens have with regulators. These agencies rely on special courts headed by administrative law judges (ALJs). One big problem with this system is that it operates independently of legitimate Article III courts. Another problem is that agency-housed tribunals have a strong tendency to favor regulators over the regulated. And yet another problem is how these judges (which I call ‘transitory’) get loaned out between agencies. Inter-agency borrowing of ALJs may not immediately stand out to the average citizen as problematic, but it raises serious questions about constitutionality, executive transparency, and bureaucratic oversight.” (12/01/25)
https://lawliberty.org/americas-hidden-judiciary/
Source: New York Times
“Mayor Eric Adams announced a $38.9 million settlement with Starbucks on Monday over violations of New York City’s law guaranteeing fair working conditions, a resolution that city officials said was the largest worker protection settlement in the city’s history. The city’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection found that Starbucks had violated the law more than half a million times since 2021 by failing to provide workers with stable schedules. More than 15,000 hourly workers are expected to receive restitution payments under the agreement. … Under the settlement, most employees who worked for Starbucks in an hourly position from July 2021 through July 2024 will receive $50 for each week they worked.” (12/01/25)
https://archive.is/ALRRL
Source: EconTalk
“The Perfect Tuba: How Band, Grit, and Community Build a Better Life (with Sam Quinones).” (12/01/25)
https://www.econtalk.org/the-perfect-tuba-how-band-grit-and-community-build-a-better-life-with-sam-quinones/
Source: The American Conservative
by Liam Childers
“or years, Xi Jinping has encouraged the usage of many Maoist era slogans. One such slogan, ‘Sailing the Seas Depends on the Helmsman,’ was a Cultural Revolution staple, used in song, speeches, and on posters praising the chairman. The slogan’s reemergence highlights a connection in how the state viewed itself then and now. The slogan also reflects Xi’s view of himself. As his years in office have gone on, this self-portrait has also been imposed on the party itself. Xi is presented as singular and irreplaceable. And yet, inevitably, he will need one day to be replaced.” (12/01/25)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/life-after-xi/
Source: Fox News
“A judge in Minnesota is facing heat after she overturned a guilty verdict for an individual convicted in a $7.2 million fraud scheme that involved taxpayer money. Abdifatah Yusuf and his wife Lul Ahmed were charged in June 2024 after they were accused of stealing $7.2 million from the state’s Medicaid program while running a home healthcare business that lacked an office building and operated ‘for years out of a mailbox,’ according to the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office. Prosecutors said Yusuf received Medicaid money for services that weren’t provided and overbilled for services that didn’t have documentation. Yusuf allegedly used the money to fund ‘a lavish lifestyle’ that included shopping sprees at ‘luxury clothing stores including Coach, Canada Goose, Michael Kors, Third Degree Heat, Nike, and Nordstrom.'” (12/01/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/us/minnesota-judge-under-fire-tossing-7-2m-taxpayer-fraud-conviction-tied-alleged-lavish-lifestyle
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Almut Rochowanski
“Before the two sides have even sat at the same table, the fate of the Donbas territories has emerged as the issue on which the sides are so far apart, and so unlikely to give in to the other, that it may doom peace talks before they even open. Ukraine considers conceding territory bitter, humiliating, and painful. Understandably so: giving up even more, after the country has lost so much and so many in defending itself, is intolerable. Russia seems grimly determined to gain the territory, if need be militarily, its recent progress on the battlefield making this threat all too credible. In this conundrum, the inhabitants of this sliver of the Donbas are offered only two futures, both of them devastating.” (12/01/25)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/donbas-peace-plan/
Source: The American Prospect
by Paul Starr
“‘Everyone is a V.I.P.’ was the motto of the Disney theme parks for decades after the opening of Disneyland in 1955. A broad middle class could afford a trip to a Disney park, and visitors had equal access to the attractions once they were there. Unfortunately, America is a long way from that middle-class ideal today. Disney and other companies now make more money from people with high incomes, and they tailor their services accordingly. So much for the old Disney theme song: ‘When you wish upon a star / Makes no difference who you are.’ The original Disney vision reflected a long history of popular cultural affordability that once set America apart.” (12/01/25)
https://prospect.org/2025/12/01/historic-reversal-of-cultural-affordability/
Source: ABC News
“Four Sydney men have been charged with criminal offenses over their alleged involvement in the distribution of child sexual abuse material linked to an international child sex abuse ring, police said Monday. A New South Wales state police task force identified the Sydney-based network while investigating the online distribution of encrypted child sexual abuse material involving ritualistic and satanic themes, Det. Supt. Jayne Doherty said. … Police also seized electronic devices allegedly containing thousands of videos depicting the abuse of children from babies to 12-year-olds. ‘Police will allege in court that this international group were engaging in conversations and the sharing of material which depicted child abuse and the torture of children involving symbols and rituals linked to Satanism and the occult,’ Doherty said.” (12/01/25)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/sydney-men-charged-spreading-child-sexual-abuse-videos-127992650
Source: The New Republic
“Trump’s Fury at NYT Explodes amid Fresh Concerns about Mental Decline.” (12/01/25)
https://newrepublic.com/article/203763/trump-fury-nyt-explodes-amid-fresh-concerns-mental-decline
