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
Source: Libertarian Institute
by José Niño
“The chaotic rollout of the latest Ukraine peace initiative reveals a troubling reality that transcends partisan politics. Three years into a devastating European war, American policymakers still operate under the delusion that diplomatic papering over irreconcilable positions can substitute for the hard work of strategic disengagement.” (12/01/25)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/as-trumps-peace-plan-shows-washington-still-doesnt-understand-russia
Source: SFGate
“Prosecutors Monday argued a Massachusetts man was responsible for the grisly murder of his wife who disappeared more than two years ago while his lawyers insisted the man panicked after she suddenly died in bed. Ana Walshe, a real estate agent who immigrated from Serbia, was last seen early on Jan. 1, 2023, following a New Year’s Eve dinner at her Massachusetts home. Her body has never been found. Her husband, Brian Walshe, faces a first-degree murder charge, after agreeing to plead guilty last month to lesser charges of misleading police and willfully disposing of a human body in violation of state law.” (12/01/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/brian-walshe-goes-on-trial-in-death-of-wife-who-21215946.php
Source: Big Head Press
by Scott Bieser
Cartoon. (12/01/25)
https://www.quantumvibe.com/strip?page=2563
Source: Reuters
“Airbus fleets were returning towards normal operations on Monday after the European planemaker pushed through abrupt software changes faster than expected, averting a prolonged crisis over the discovery of a space-related computer bug. Dozens of airlines from Asia to the United States said they had carried out a snap software retrofit ordered by Airbus, and mandated by global regulators, after a vulnerability to solar flares emerged in a recent mid-air incident on a JetBlue A320. … Sources familiar with the matter said the unprecedented decision to recall about half the A320-family fleet was taken shortly after the possible but unproven link to a drop in altitude on the JetBlue jet emerged late last week.” (12/01/25)
https://archive.is/kcTXE
Source: Antiwar.com
“Trump Declares Closure of Venezuela’s Airspace, IDF Kills Two Young Brothers in Gaza, and More.” (12/01/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNw-6rc8Um8
