politics

Summary

Senate Democrats are rushing to confirm President Biden’s judicial nominees before Republicans take control in January.

Republicans are frustrated, accusing Democrats of pushing through liberal judges. However, critics point out GOP hypocrisy, as they did the same in 2020 to confirm Trump’s judges.

Democrats have confirmed 217 judges so far and aim to confirm 26 more, potentially surpassing Trump’s first-term total and cementing Biden’s judicial impact.

Schumer has vowed to keep the Senate in session as long as needed to finish the confirmations.

Sorry it's a few days late, I just saw this and thought it was really interesting.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Sunday singled out AIPAC as a 'special interest group pushing a wildly unpopular agenda,' starting a new debate about the pro-Israel organization's involvement in the party

The debate has been simmering since AIPAC's United Democracy Project super PAC spent unprecedented sums to unseat two progressive Democrats in their respective primaries over the summer – largely, but not exclusively, bankrolled by donations from Republican megadonors in an election year that was far and away the most expensive in history.

As internal Democratic debate over the party's ills and its future reached fever pitch in recent days, AIPAC was once again catapulted to the center of the matter.

"Weird to have a whole discourse about 'special interest groups' that completely leaves out corporate and industry lobbies – by far the most influential 'groups' in the Democratic Party," Jeremy Slevin, a senior adviser to AIPAC foe Sen. Bernie Sanders, wrote on Sunday.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the most nationally prominent AIPAC critic despite, ironically, being attacked from the left as an apologist for the group earlier this summer, singled out the pro-Israel organization while echoing Slevin's point. "If people want to talk about members of Congress being overly influenced by a special interest group pushing a wildly unpopular agenda that pushes voters away from Democrats then they should be discussing AIPAC," she tweeted in response.

Summary

Chuck Todd argues that Donald Trump is rapidly spending his political capital by prioritizing revenge and culture wars over governance.

His controversial cabinet picks, like Matt Gaetz and Pete Hegseth, signal instability and risk alienating voters who supported him as a rejection of Biden, not an endorsement of Trumpism.

Todd warns that perceived overreach, like aggressive culture war policies or erratic mass deportation plans, could lead to public backlash and erode Trump’s support.

Without delivering stability and results, his presidency could quickly face the same challenges as Biden’s.

Organizers from Florida, Vermont and Washington discuss the rising exploitation and rollback of protections ahead

Forty Democrat women sent a scathing letter Wednesday calling on state party Chair Mike Schmuhl to take action following another case of sexual harassment.

Summary

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a critic of Donald Trump’s diet, was seen sharing McDonald’s and Coke with Trump and others on a flight.

Kennedy, picked to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, has called Trump’s fast food diet “poison” and pushed for healthier food reforms, like cooking McDonald’s fries in beef fat tallow.

The moment sparked online mockery, with some joking it was a “hazing ritual” for his alliance with Trump.

Donald Trump’s second term promises to deliver historic threats to US press freedom – directly from the Oval Office.

The president-elect made it clear during the campaign that he had the press in his sights. He told a rally on the eve of the election that he “wouldn’t mind” if an assassin shot the journalists standing in front of him.

Ahead of the election, he also signalled his desire to jail journalists, hunt down their confidential sources, cancel the broadcast licences of major networks and criminalise work to counter disinformation.

The U.S. House of Representatives Ethics Committee failed Wednesday to reach agreement on whether to release findings from its nearly finished investigative report on former Republican Representative Matt Gaetz, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general.

Summary

Trump’s popular vote share has fallen below 50% to 49.94%, with Kamala Harris at 48.26%, narrowing his margin of victory.

Trump’s share of the popular vote is lower than Biden’s in 2020 (51.3%), Obama’s in 2012 (51.1%) and 2008 (52.9%), George W. Bush’s in 2004 (50.7%), George H.W. Bush’s in 1988 (53.2%), Reagan’s in 1984 (58.8%) and 1980 (50.7%), and Carter’s in 1976 (50.1%).

The 2024 election results highlight Trump’s narrow victory and the need for Democrats to address their mistakes and build a diverse working-class coalition.

The numbers also give Democrats a reason to push back on Trump’s mandate claims, noting most Americans did not vote for him.

Oz, who has a history of making degrading remarks about women, has no government experience. As a candidate for Senate in 2022, he expressed opposition to abortion at any point in pregnancy.

At least four of the president-elect’s top picks to lead his government have been accused of sexual assault, harassment or child sex trafficking.

The new legislation, prompted by ProPublica’s reporting, comes after 111 Texas doctors signed a public letter urging that the ban be changed because it “does not allow us as medical professionals to do our jobs.”

Summary

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s HHS nominee, expressed belief in the “plandemic” conspiracy, suggesting the COVID pandemic was planned by the government.

He also compared COVID efforts to Nazi experiments and accused the government of using bioterrorism to implement social controls.

Kennedy’s statements raise concerns about his understanding of infectious diseases and his potential impact on pandemic response.

On Wednesday, the US Senate will hold a vote on whether to approve the Pentagon’s request to send another $20bn in armaments to Israel, after a year in which the Biden administration has supplied billions of dollars of arms used in Israel's devastating war on Gaza.

Among the weapons to be approved are 120mm tank rounds, high explosive mortar rounds, F-15IA fighter aircraft, and joint direct attack munitions, known as JDAMs, which are precision systems for otherwise indiscriminate or "dumb" bombs.

Separate resolutions are being brought forward for each weapon type, including its cost to US taxpayers. However, together, the initiative is known as the Joint Resolutions of Disapproval (JRDs).

As a result of intensive lobbying from pro-Israel groups like Aipac and the Democratic Majority For Israel, no arms transfer to Israel has been blocked.

The resolutions likely to gain the highest levels of support are expected to involve the tank rounds, which have been responsible for killing hundreds of civilians in northern Gaza in particular, and the JDAMs, which caused the death of well-known figures such as Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah in southern Lebanon, and six-year-old Hind Rajab in Gaza City.