Source: SFGate
“Rep. Jerry Nadler announced Wednesday that he will be stepping down as the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee next year, avoiding an intra-party fight over a prominent position as the party prepares to confront a second Trump presidency. Nadler’s decision to relinquish control of the powerful committee came a day after fellow Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin announced his bid for the job and quickly amassed support from colleagues. ‘I am also proud that, under my leadership, some of our caucus’s most talented rising stars have been given a platform to demonstrate their leadership and their abilities,’ Nadler wrote in the letter to Democrats that was obtained by The Associated Press. ‘That includes Jamie Raskin, who in just a few terms in Congress has already proven himself to be an exceptional leader and spokesperson for our party’s values.'” (12/04/24)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/democrat-jerry-nadler-steps-aside-from-top-19960214.php
Source: Washington Post
by Natalia Molina
“My mother’s brother, Carlos, recently passed away at 92. When I called my mom to see how she was doing, she told me she was looking at a picture from the day 87 years earlier when the two of them were taken into their adoptive mother’s home. ‘He looked so scared,’ she said. I couldn’t help thinking how their experience as orphans with an uncertain future resonates with the fears of many families facing the threat of separation and mass deportation today. Carlos and my mother were U.S. citizens, born in California to immigrant parents. With their birth parents gone, they could easily have fallen into the foster system and been separated — and even deported to Mexico. … as someone who has studied immigration policy and immigrant communities, family separation seems like one of the most American stories there is.” (12/04/24)
https://archive.is/mzp52
Source: New York Daily News
“Brian Thompson, the CEO of United Healthcare, was killed by a masked gunman early Wednesday outside a Hilton hotel in Midtown where he was expected to speak to a ballroom full of colleagues, officials said. Detectives are investigating the possibility that the gunman was lying in wait for Thompson before the shooting. Thompson, 50, was walking past the Residences Hilton Club on Sixth Ave. near W. 54th St. about 6:45 a.m. when the gunman stormed up and opened fire, cops said. … According to preliminary reports, witnesses told police that the gunman, who was dressed in a cream-colored coat and was sporting a backpack, stepped out of an alley before shooting Thompson, who was expected to give a speech at a symposium at the hotel.” (12/04/24)
https://www.nydailynews.com/2024/12/04/midtown-shooting-hilton-hotel-man-brian-thompson-united-healthcare-ceo/
Source: The Dispatch
“The Bullshit Artists Coming for the Deep State.” (12/04/24)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/remnant/the-bullshit-artists-coming-for-the-deep-state/
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille
“It’s good to know that people who are usually political foes can agree on at least one important point: The authority of the federal government has been corruptly misused for partisan purposes. After years of arguing over the weaponization of the FBI and the biases of long-serving government officials, Republican President-elect Donald Trump’s supporters and Democratic President Joe Biden concur that government power is often abused to achieve political goals outside normal processes.” (12/04/24)
https://reason.com/2024/12/04/after-hunters-pardon-joe-biden-should-support-de-weaponizing-government-power/
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“A majority of US Supreme Court justices appear reluctant to lift Tennessee’s ban on hormone therapy and puberty blockers for children under 18. The high court heard arguments about the transgender law on Wednesday and its decision, expected next year, could impact similar laws in 25 other states. Three Tennessee transgender teenagers, their parents and a doctor have argued that the 2023 ban violates a US constitutional guarantee of equal protection, saying it discriminates based on sex. The hearing was the first time that the current court, which has a conservative majority, openly discussed a significant battle in the US ‘culture wars.’ The Biden administration and US medical groups argue that the law prohibits transgender individuals from accessing drugs and therapies that are available to other adolescents with medical need. They also say it hinders parents’ rights to seek needed care for their children.” (12/04/24)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3wepv7jyvdo
Source: The UnPopulist
by Hugo Bueno
“Elon Musk, the U.S. tech magnate and world’s richest man, regularly presents himself as one of society’s greatest champions of free speech. When he bought Twitter two years ago, he promised to reconfigure the social media behemoth so that it reflects his ‘free speech absolutism.’ But the billionaire businessman … has a selective commitment to ‘free speech,’ invoking it only when it advances his anti-left crusade and abandoning it when it doesn’t. On X, his rebrand of Twitter, he has suppressed benign terms used by political outgroups, banned accounts critical of him or his companies, and petitioned the state to take punitive action against organizations for their constitutionally-protected speech. But Musk’s cynicism about free speech is evident even in the event he’s gotten the most credit for: his protracted international standoff with Brazilian authorities, particularly Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.” (12/04/24)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/musk-has-defended-his-right-wing
Source: Inequality.org
by Sarah Anderson
“President-elect Donald Trump has selected an unprecedented total of seven reported billionaires for senior positions in his administration. Including himself, that makes eight. This figure could continue to grow as Trump fully staffs up. After all, he has nearly 800 additional U.S. billionaires to choose from. Here’s a quick rundown of the ‘original seven’ members of the nine-figure club on Trump’s employee wish list …” [editor’s note: So by picking people who will neither collect a salary nor need money, he is corrupting the process? – SAT] [additional editor’s note: How many of them are corporate welfare queens who will likely steer yet more government money to their enterprises? – TLK] (12/04/24)
https://inequality.org/great-divide/billionaires-trump-has-tapped-for-top-jobs/
Source: US News & World Report
“Iranian Nobel peace prize winner Narges Mohammadi was released from Evin prison after the suspension of her jail term to undergo medical treatment, her husband Taqi Rahmani told Reuters on Wednesday. Mohammadi is serving multiple sentences in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison on charges including spreading propaganda against the Islamic Republic. … Mohammadi was awarded the Nobel peace prize in 2023, following her three-decade campaign for women’s rights and the abolition of the death penalty in Iran.” (12/04/24)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2024-12-04/iranian-nobel-prize-winner-mohammadi-released-from-jail-for-medical-treatment
Source: The New Republic
“Welcome to the Trump Oligarchy: Latest Billionaire Pick Is a Stunner.” (12/04/24)
https://newrepublic.com/article/188999/welcome-trump-oligarchy-latest-billionaire-pick-stunner
