Editor's Choice: Scroll below for our monthly blend of mainstream and December 2023 news and views

Note: Excerpts are from the authors' words except for headlines and occasional "Editor's notes" such as this.

Dec. 6

Top Headlines

• New York Times, U.N. Says Israel’s Intense Bombing Leaves Gazans With Few Places to Go
• New York Times, Israel-Hamas War: Israeli Military’s Focus on Southern Gaza Could Signal Expanded War
• Associated Press, Senate approves hundreds of military promotions after Sen. Tommy Tuberville ends blockade of nominees
• Washington Post, Tommy Tuberville announces end to blanket military holds
• New York Times, Republicans Block Ukraine Aid Bill Over Border Objections
• New York Times, President Biden called on Republicans in Congress to approve aid to Ukraine, warning that “this cannot wait”
• Washington Post, U.S. files its first war-crimes charges related to Russia-Ukraine war
• New York Times, Israel-Hamas War: Israel Says 5 Hamas Military Leaders Have Been Killed
• New York Times, Tens of thousands of Gazans fled to areas west and south of the embattled southern city of Khan Younis
• Washington Post, Former speaker Kevin McCarthy will retire from Congress at end of year
• Washington Post, Norman Lear, who brought social commentary to the sitcom, dies at 101
• Politico, Haley discovers the downsides of being the candidate on the rise 

Destroying Democracies

• Washington Post, The Trump Cases: Special counsel alleges Trump ‘sent’ supporters on path to Jan. 6 violence
• New York Times, Donald Trump’s 2024 Campaign, in His Own Menacing Words
• Washington Post, Election 2024: Trump says he wouldn’t be a dictator ‘except for Day One’
• Politico, Trump’s ‘dictator’ remark jolts the 2024 campaign — and tests his GOP rivals on debate day
• Washington Post, Pro-Trump electors indicted in Nevada, the third state to issue charges 
• Washington Post, Wisconsin Trump electors settle lawsuit, agree Biden won in 2020
• New York Times, Why a Second Trump Presidency May Be More Radical Than His First, Charlie Savage, Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman

More On Israel's War With Hamas

• Washington Post, Traders earned millions anticipating Oct. 7 Hamas attack, study says
• New York Times, A meeting at the U.N. accused the body of ignoring the rape and mutilation of women in the Oct. 7 assault on Israel
• New York Times, Israel’s Military Expands Evacuation Orders in Southern Gaza
• New York Times, Hostages Freed From Gaza Recount Violence, Hunger and Fear
• New York Times, Commentary: Over 60 Journalists Have Been Killed in the Israel-Gaza War. My Friend Was One, Lama Al-Arian
• The Intercept, Netanyahu’s goal for Gaza: “Thin” population “to a minimum,” Ryan Grim
• Washington Post, Israel’s assault forced a nurse to leave babies behind. They were found decomposing

More On Trump Battles, Crimes, Claims, Allies

• Washington Post, Defending his 2020 fraud claims, Trump turns to fringe Jan. 6 theories
• Washington Post, Trump loses chance to challenge N.Y. gag order before trial ends
• New York Times, Opinion: The Resolute Liz Cheney, Katherine Miller
• New York Times, What to Know About Trump’s Civil Fraud Trial
• Washington Post, U.S. judge rejects Trump immunity claim in Jan. 6 criminal prosecution
• Washington Post, Trump lawyer: Georgia trial would have to wait if Trump wins in 2024

 U.S. Military, Security, Intelligence, Foreign Policy, JFK Death

• Washington Post, Ex-U.S. ambassador accused of being Cuba’s secret agent since 1981
• New York Times, The U.S. blamed Yemeni rebels for ship attacks in the Red Sea, the latest by Iran-backed groups since the war began
• New York Times, Henry Kissinger (1923-2023): A Player on the World Stage Until the Very End,
• New York Times, Guest Essay: Henry Kissinger, the Hypocrite, Ben Rhodes

U.S. 2024 Presidential Race

• Washington Post, Election 2024 Analysis: No previous primary debates centered on such unpopular candidates, Philip Bump
• Washington Post, Opinion: The folly of poll-dependent commentary, Jennifer Rubin
• Washington Post, Election 2024: Liz Cheney, outspoken Trump critic, weighs third-party presidential run
• New York Times, As Donald Trump continues to skip debates, Republicans are weighing looser rules
• New York Times, Some Republicans Have a Blunt Message for Chris Christie: Drop Out
• New York Times, Doug Burgum, Wealthy North Dakota Governor, Ends White House Run
• New York Times, Analysis: Here’s why Nikki Haley is rising among the rivals to Donald Trump, Nate Cohn

More On U.S. National Politics, Governance

• Washington Post, Analysis: James Comer’s Biden claims do not deserve the benefit of the doubt, Philip Bump
• The Warning, Commentary: How George Santos's absurdity helps Donald Trump's re-election chances, Steve Schmidt
• New York Times, Adams’s Approval Rating Sinks to Lowest for Any N.Y.C. Mayor Since 1996
• Washington Post, Vice President Harris casts record-breaking vote in Senate
• Washington Post, ‘Detransitioners’ wield influence in shaping conservative transgender laws
• Washington Post, Rep. Patrick McHenry, who briefly served as acting House speaker, will not seek reelection
• New York Times, Retirement Without a Net: The Plight of America’s Aging Farmworkers
• Washington Post, Florida GOP chairman under fire as more details emerge in rape inquiry
• Washington Post, HOME-SCHOOL NATION, Peter Jamison
• Washington Post, Rep. George Santos expelled from Congress on bipartisan vote
• New York Times, Opinion: Farewell to George Santos, the Perfect MAGA Republican, Michelle Goldberg

Global Disputes, Disasters, Human Rights

• New York Times, The United Nations plays a vital role on the ground in wars and disasters
• New York Times, Sunak’s New Rwanda Bill Aims to Override Some Human Rights Law,
• Washington Post, ‘Bombing mishap’ by Nigeria military kills 85 civilians
• New York Times, Vladimir Putin to Visit Saudi Arabia and U.A.E. on Wednesday 
• New York Times, China’s rising debt spurred the ratings agency Moody’s to lower the country’s credit outlook
• New York Times, Chinese Developer’s Crash Was Propelled by Questionable Accounting
• New York Times, The Wild Card in Taiwan’s Election: Frustrated Young Voters
• New York Times, Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, has reignited a border dispute with an oil-rich neighbor, Guyana

U.S. Supreme Court

• New York Times, Supreme Court Will Hear Arguments in the Purdue Pharma Bankruptcy Case

More On U.S. Courts, Crime, Guns, Civil Rights, Immigration

• Associated Press, Sheriff: Gunman’s parents among 6 dead in Texas attacks; he was earlier arrested for family assault
• New York Times, Shooter Injures 3 at U. of Nevada Then Dies After Confrontation With Police
• Washington Post, With ‘conversion switch’ devices, machine guns return to U.S. streets
• Politico, Democratic prosecutor suspended by DeSantis takes fight to Florida high court
• Washington Post, Arlington man whose house exploded had history of rambling lawsuits
• Associated Press, Prosecutors push back against Hunter Biden’s move to subpoena Trump documents in gun case
• New York Times, More Chinese Are Risking Danger in Southern Border Crossings to U.S.
• New York Times, Tyler Goodson of ‘S-Town’ Podcast Is Shot Dead in Police Standoff
• New York Times, House in Virginia Explodes as Police Prepare to Serve Search Warrant

Climate Summit in Dubai, More On Disasters, Climate Change, Environment, Transportation

• New York Times, Air-conditioning use will surge in a warming world, the U.N. warned
• New York Times, Fighting Crises With Cash, Except for the Climate Crisis 
• New York Times, It Could Be a Vast Source of Clean Energy, Buried Deep Underground
• New York Times, Biden Administration to Require Replacing of Lead Pipes Within 10 Years
• New York Times, Investigation: Drunk and Asleep on the Job: Air Traffic Controllers Pushed to the Brink

More On Ukraine-Russian War, Russian Leadership

• Washington Post, Investigation: In Ukraine, a war of incremental gains as counteroffensive stalls, Washington Post Staff
• New York Times, Former Ukrainian Lawmaker Who Defected Is Killed Near Moscow
• New York Times, A Prison at War: The Convicts Sustaining Vladimir Putin’s Invasion

U.S. Economy, Jobs, Strikes, High Tech

• New York Times, Why Doctors and Pharmacists Are in Revolt
• New York Times, They Charge $6 to Clean Your Shirt, and Make 13 Cents
• New York Times, The Fed’s Preferred Inflation Measure Eased in October

U.S. Abortion, Family Planning, #MeToo

• New York Times, New Lawsuit Accuses Sean Combs of Raping 17-Year-Old Girl in 2003
• Politico, Police investigating Florida Republican Party chair over alleged sexual assault 
• Washington Post, DeSantis calls for resignation of embattled Florida GOP chairman

Pandemics, Public Health, Privacy

• New York Times, White House Delays a Decision on Banning Menthol Cigarettes
• New York Times, At the Core of Purdue Pharma Case: Who Can Get Immunity in Settlements?
• New York Times, Families of opioid victims are awaiting a Supreme Court ruling that could bring them billions of dollars from the Sacklers
• Washington Post, What you can do to boost your covid and flu shots’ effectiveness
• New York Times, Why Doctors and Pharmacists Are in Revolt
• New York Times, ‘Medical Freedom’ Activists Take Aim at New Target: Childhood Vaccine Mandates
• New York Times, Desperate Families Search for Affordable Home Care, Reed Abelson, Photographs by Desiree Rios

Media, High Tech, Sports, Education, Free Speech, Culture

• Washington Post, ​​Yale sparked a U.S. News rankings revolt. Here’s what happened next
• New York Times, Former Top Tucker Carlson Producer Is Accused of Sexual Assault
• New York Times, Big Tech Muscles In: The 12 Months That Changed Silicon Valley Forever

Top Stories

New York Times, U.N. Says Israel’s Intense Bombing Leaves Gazans With Few Places to Go, Victoria Kim, Dec. 6, 2023 (print ed.). As the Israeli military appeared to advance into the last area under Hamas control, civilians were pushed further into spaces with no guarantee of safety.

Israel has been heavily bombarding southern Gaza in recent days as its troops appear to be closing in on its main city, Khan Younis and concerns grow that there is almost nowhere left for civilians to flee.

The United Nations’ office for humanitarian affairs said the 24 hours leading up to Monday afternoon marked some of the most intense bombing by Israel since the war started on Oct. 7.

The bombardment has come despite strong warnings from U.S. officials to their Israeli counterparts to take a more precise approach in the second phase of war that leads to fewer civilian deaths. The first stage of the war left widespread destruction and casualties in northern Gaza.

Satellite imagery analyzed by The New York Times showed that the Israeli military had expanded its ground offensive into southern Gaza between Friday and Sunday, advancing into the last section of the strip under full Hamas control. Images from Monday showed smoke rising from flattened buildings and people carrying bodies swaddled in blankets.

Here’s what we know:

• As the Israeli military appeared to advance into the last area under Hamas control, civilians were pushed further into spaces with no guarantee of safety.
• Bombardment intensifies as Israel closes in on southern Gaza.
• Israel has entered southern Gaza, images show, setting the stage for a possibly decisive battle.
• The State Department says Hamas ‘reneged’ on a deal to release all the women being held hostage.
• U.S. considers a task force to guard Red Sea ships from Iranian proxy forces.
• Humanitarian groups say civilians in Gaza have ‘no safe place to go.’

Associated Press, Senate approves hundreds of military promotions after Sen. Tommy Tuberville ends blockade of nominees, Kevin Freking, Dec. 5, 2023. The Senate in a single stroke approved about 425 military promotions after Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama ended a monthlong blockade of nominations over his opposition to a Pentagon abortion policy.

Tuberville had been under pressure from members of both sides of the political aisle to end his holds as senators complained about the toll it was taking on service members and their families, and on military readiness.

President Joe Biden called the Senate’s action long overdue and said the military confirmations should never have been held up. “In the end, this was all pointless. Senator Tuberville, and the Republicans who stood with him, needlessly hurt hundreds of servicemembers and military families and threatened our national security — all to push a partisan agenda. I hope no one forgets what he did,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer teed up the military confirmations for a vote just a few hours after Tuberville emerged from a closed-door lunch with fellow GOP senators and told reporters he’s “not going to hold the promotions of these people any longer.” He said holds would continue, however, for about 11 of the highest-ranking military officers, those who would be promoted to what he described as the four-star level or above.

There were 451 military officers affected by the holds as of Nov. 27. It’s a stance that had left key national security positions unfilled and military families with an uncertain path forward.

Tuberville was blocking the nominations in opposition to Pentagon rules that allow travel reimbursement when a service member has to go out of state to get an abortion or other reproductive care. The Biden administration instituted the new rules after the Supreme Court overturned the nationwide right to an abortion, and some states have limited or banned the procedure.

Critics said that Tuberville’s tactics were a mistake because he was blocking the promotions of people who had nothing to do with the policy he opposed. “Why are we punishing American heroes who have nothing to with the dispute?” said Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska. “Remember, we are against the Biden abortion travel policy. But why are we punishing people who have nothing to do with the dispute and if they get confirmed can’t fix it? No one has had an answer for that question because there is no answer.”

For months, many of the military officers directly impacted by Tuberville’s holds declined to speak out, for fear any comments would be seen as political. But as the pressures on their lives and the lives of the officers serving under them increased, they began to speak about how the uncertainty surrounding their next move was impacting not only them, but their children and spouses.

They talked about how some of their most talented junior officers were going to get out of the military because of the instability they saw around them, and they talked about how having to perform multiple roles because of so many vacancies was putting enormous additional stress on an already overworked military community.

The issue came to a head when U.S. Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Eric Smith suffered a heart attack in October, just two days after he’d talked about the stress of the holds at a military conference.

“We can’t continue to do this to these good families. Some of these groups that are all for these holds, they haven’t thought through the implication of the harm it’s doing to real American families,” said Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa.

In response to the holds, Democrats had vowed to take up a resolution that would allow the Senate to confirm groups of military nominees at once during the remainder of the congressional term, but Republicans worried that the change could erode the powers of the minority in the Senate.

Tuberville emerged from his meeting with GOP colleagues, saying “all of us are against a rule change in the Senate.” He was adamant that “we did the right thing for the unborn and for our military” by fighting back against executive overreach. He expressed no regrets, but admitted “we didn’t get as much out of it as we wanted.”

“The only opportunity you got to get the people on the left up here to listen to you in the minority is to put a hold on something, and that’s what we did,” Tuberville said. “We didn’t get the win that we wanted. We’ve still got a bad policy.”

Washington Post, Tommy Tuberville announces end to blanket military holds, Liz Goodwin and Dan Lamothe, Dec. 6, 2023 (print ed.). ‘We fought hard,’ he said after telling his Republican colleagues he was lifting his holds. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), shown above in a Washington Post file photo, announced Tuesday that he would lift his blanket hold on military promotions, ending a nearly 10-month standoff over a Biden administration abortion policy that made the former football coach the target of bipartisan ire.

"It’s been a long fight, we fought hard,” Tuberville said after announcing his decision to his colleagues at a closed-door lunch. “We just released them.”

The hold, which Tuberville began in February, applied to all senior military promotions, and hundreds of officers were caught up in its net. As officers increasingly complained of the toll on military readiness and morale, and as a war raged in the Middle East, Tuberville faced increasing pressure from his fellow Republicans to drop the hold.

He has now narrowed his hold to the 10 or so promotions at the four-star rank. Tuberville said he relinquished the hold because he wanted to keep Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) from bringing up a vote to get around his maneuver. He did not receive any concessions he previously demanded, such as a change to the military funding bill to address the abortion policy.

“We got all we could get,” he told reporters.

The affable former football coach was left with few options after Schumer put forward a proposal that would allow the Senate to go around Tuberville’s holds, which had the Republican votes necessary to pass.

Tuberville’s hold led to a remarkably public confrontation with some of his GOP colleagues, who staged a late-night attempt to promote the officers he had blocked, forcing Tuberville to personally object to each one. Republican Sens. Dan Sullivan (Alaska), Joni Ernst (Iowa), Todd C. Young (Ind.) and Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.), all veterans, implored Tuberville on the Senate floor to lift his hold for the sake of national security.

“No matter whether you believe it or not, Senator Tuberville, this is doing great damage to our military,” Graham said then. “I don’t say that lightly; I’ve been trying to work with you for nine months.”

Behind closed doors, Republicans complained that Tuberville’s blockade was hurting them politically as well, given the harm to the military and the focus on abortion, which has been a losing issue at the polls for the GOP in recent elections. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell took the rare step of publicly rebuking Tuberville, saying he should not be punishing “military heroes” for a Biden administration policy. Other Republican colleagues thought that Tuberville moved the goal posts of his demands, from initially just wanting a vote on the military abortion policy to demanding that it be rescinded altogether to allow promotions to go through.

For months, Tuberville said he wanted Schumer to do a full floor vote on each nominee to get around his hold, arguing that each one would enjoy bipartisan support and easily pass. But making it through the hundreds of nominees individually would take months of nonstop floor time — a prospect Schumer ruled out. And Democrats were concerned that allowing an individual senator to effectively shut down the chamber to confirm nonpolitical nominees would set a bad precedent.

A senior defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said that as of Nov. 27, Tuberville’s hold had blocked 451 senior officers from promotion. They include Adm. Samuel Paparo, who is expected to take over as the next chief of the Indo-Pacific Command; Air Force Lt. Gen. Gregory M. Guillot, who is expected to become the four-star commander of Northern Command; and several officers who are expected to immediately take on responsibilities in the Middle East and Europe, as the Biden administration manages wars in both regions.

The list of promotions on hold was expected to continue growing if Tuberville did not drop his objections, with about three-quarters of the military’s more than 850 generals and admirals due to be blockaded by year’s end, the senior defense official said.

New York Times, Republicans Block Ukraine Aid Bill Over Border Objections, Karoun Demirjian, Dec. 6, 2023. The vote spotlighted waning support in Congress for backing Ukraine’s fight against Russia, and left the fate of the effort uncertain.

Republicans on Wednesday blocked an emergency spending bill to fund the war in Ukraine, demanding strict new border restrictions in exchange and severely jeopardizing President Biden’s push to replenish the war chests of American allies before the end of the year.

The failed vote highlighted waning support in the United States for continuing to fund Ukraine’s war effort at a perilous time in the conflict, with Kyiv’s counteroffensive failing to meet its objectives and Russia’s forces on the offensive. While the bill faltered over an unrelated immigration policy dispute, the resistance it has met in Congress reflects a dwindling appetite among Republicans for backing Ukraine, as polls show that Americans are losing interest in providing financial assistance.

In the Senate, the vote to move forward on the bill was 49 to 51, short of the 60-vote threshold needed to advance.

Republicans held ranks against the $111 billion bill, which would provide about $50 billion in security assistance to Ukraine, more for economic and humanitarian aid, and another $14 billion toward arming Israel in its war against Hamas. They voted no despite a series of last-ditch appeals from Democrats and an appeal by Mr. Biden, who said he was prepared to offer “significant compromises” on the border and scolded them for abandoning Ukraine in its hour of need.

“Make no mistake: Today’s vote’s going to be long remembered, and history is going to judge harshly those who turned their backs on freedom’s cause,” Mr. Biden said on Wednesday at the White House, just hours before the vote. He said Republicans were “willing to literally kneecap Ukraine on the battlefield and damage our national security in the process.”

The demise of the legislation in the Senate meant that Ukraine was exceedingly unlikely to be able to secure the additional American aid before the end of the year — and possibly beyond. White House and Ukrainian officials have been sounding alarms in recent days, telling lawmakers that without an influx of weapons, Kyiv will run out of resources to defend against Russia’s invading army by the end of the year.

New York Times, President Biden called on Republicans in Congress to approve aid to Ukraine, warning that “this cannot wait,” Peter Baker, Dec. 6, 2023. The administration has already alerted Congress that money for Ukraine will run out by the end of the year.

President Biden called on congressional Republicans on Wednesday to put aside “petty, partisan, angry politics” and pass a multibillion-dollar aid package for Ukraine, warning that failure to do so could enable President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to reclaim momentum in the war and even draw in American troops.

The president said that he was willing to make “significant compromises” on border security to satisfy Senate Republicans who have refused to support further Ukraine aid without a new crackdown on illegal immigration. But Mr. Biden complained that they have been unwilling to back off what he characterized as “extreme” demands.

Republicans have insisted that the immigration measures be attached to an emergency spending measure. A classified briefing for senators on Tuesday devolved into a partisan shouting match, and prospects for bipartisan consensus seemed to fade, even though senators in both parties express support for Ukraine’s efforts to defend itself against Russia.

“This cannot wait,” Mr. Biden said in a televised statement at the White House. “Congress needs to pass supplemental funding for Ukraine before they break for the holiday recess. Simple as that. Frankly, I think it’s stunning that we’ve gotten to this point in the first place. Republicans in Congress are willing to give Putin the greatest gift he can hope for and abandon our global leadership.”

An annotated photo released by the Israeli military shows 11 senior Hamas military leaders. The army said the photo had been taken in a tunnel in northern Gaza.Credit...Israel Defense Forces

New York Times, Israel-Hamas War: Israel Says 5 Hamas Military Leaders Have Been Killed, Adam Goldman, Dec. 6, 2023. The Israeli military has released a photo of 11 senior Hamas military leaders gathered in a tunnel beneath Gaza and said that five of them had been killed.

Among those in the annotated photo the army said it had eliminated were the head of Hamas’s aerial division, two battalion commanders, a brigade commander and a deputy brigade commander. The rare photo of the Hamas leaders released on Tuesday, the Israeli military said, was taken while the group hid in a tunnel underneath a residential neighborhood near the Indonesian hospital in the northern Gaza city of Beit Lahia.

An Israeli intelligence unit analyzed the picture after it was seized in Gaza but did not reveal who took it. Some of the photograph’s details, including its exact date and location, could not be independently verified.

Israeli forces have targeted the Hamas leadership since the group launched an attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, the deadliest day in Israeli history.

The military wing of Hamas, the Qassam Brigades, confirmed last month that at least three of the men in the picture had been killed, including Ahmed al-Ghandour, the northern Gaza military leader known as Abu Anas, and his deputy, Wael Rajab. Another was Rafet Salman, a Hamas battalion commander. In November, a spokesman for the Israeli military said its forces had attacked an underground site where Mr. al-Ghandour had been hiding.

Two other men in the picture that Israel said it had killed were accused of taking part in the planning of the Oct. 7 attacks. One, Asem Abu Rakba, oversaw Hamas’s drone program, the military said.

New York Times, Tens of thousands of Gazans fled to areas west and south of the embattled southern city of Khan Younis, Liam Stack Dec. 6, 2023. Tens of thousands of Gazans have been fleeing to areas west and south of the embattled southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, including to the nearby border town of Rafah, where an airstrike on Wednesday brought new bloodshed and chaos to an area overflowing with people displaced by the war.

The strikes came as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli forces had surrounded the home of Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza’s largest city. Israeli officials have directed their attentions to southern Gaza and on Mr. Sinwar, though his exact location is unknown.

In a video posted Wednesday on the X platform, Mr. Netanyahu said: “Our forces are encircling Sinwar’s house. He can escape, but it is only a matter of time until we reach him.”

Shortly after, Israel’s chief military spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, specified that Mr. Sinwar’s house was in “the Khan Younis region,” and said, “Our mission is to find, to locate him, together with more of Hamas’s leadership, and kill them.”

Washington Post, Former speaker Kevin McCarthy will retire from Congress at end of year, Mariana Alfaro, Jacqueline Alemany and Leigh Ann Caldwell, Dec. 6, 2023. “I have decided to depart the House at the end of this year to serve America in new ways,” McCarthy said in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. “I know my work is only getting started.”

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), right, the former House speaker who was ousted from his position in October in a revolt by hard-right members, will not seek reelection to his congressional seat and will retire from Congress at the end of this month, he announced Wednesday.

“I have decided to depart the House at the end of this year to serve America in new ways,” McCarthy said in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. “I know my work is only getting started.”

McCarthy’s retirement will bring to an end a 16-year House career that saw him quickly rise through the ranks of Republican leadership, culminating with his stint as speaker. His ouster marked the first time in history that the House voted to remove its leader, a move that threw the chamber into a period of instability.

McCarthy’s departure before the end of his term means California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) will have to call a special election to replace him. In the meantime, McCarthy’s departure will further narrow a fractious Republican majority in the House at a time when the chamber faces major decisions on government spending and foreign aid.

McCarthy’s term was set to end in January 2025. He represents California’s 20th District, which covers much of the state’s Central Valley.

McCarthy’s decision comes in the wake of an announcement Tuesday by one of his closest allies, Rep. Patrick T. McHenry (R-N.C.), that he is retiring at the end of his term. McHenry served as acting speaker during the three weeks in October after McCarthy’s ouster.

McCarthy will join the more than three dozen House members who have announced they will not seek reelection in 2024, because they are either retiring or seeking other office.

Actors Jean Stapleton, seated, left, and Carroll O’Connor, seated, right, from “All in the Family” hold their Emmys for outstanding lead actress and actor in a comedy series, as they pose with co-star Rob Reiner, who won for supporting actor in a comedy series, standing left, producer Norman Lear, and executive producer Mort Lachman, standing right, in Los Angeles on Sept. 18, 1978. (AP file photo.)

Washington Post, Norman Lear, who brought social commentary to the sitcom, dies at 101, Louis Bayard, Dec. 6, 2023. Archie Bunker, Maude Findlay and George Jefferson were among the characters he brought to America’s living rooms.

Norman Lear, the TV writer and producer who transformed the bland porridge of situation comedy into a zesty stew of sociopolitical strife and brutally funny speech and who gave the world such embattled comic archetypes as Archie Bunker, Fred Sanford, Maude Findlay and George Jefferson, died Dec. 5 at his home in Los Angeles. He was 101.

A family spokeswoman, Lara Bergthold, announced the death but did not provide an immediate cause.

Mr. Lear’s entertainment career spanned the late 1940s to the 21st century, and he also found prominence in later life as a liberal political activist. But his legend was sealed in the 1970s, when he created a handful of shows that transformed the television medium into a fractious national town meeting and showcased the American family in all its hopes and dysfunctions.

Racial prejudice, divorce, rape, Black inner-city struggle, upward social mobility — themes almost nonexistent on commercial television — were suddenly brought to compelling life through Mr. Lear’s juggernaut of hits, including “All in the Family,” “Sanford and Son,” “Maude,” “Good Times,” “The Jeffersons” and “One Day at a Time.”

Far from sermonizing, the shows were master classes in broad comedy. Their success was undeniably due in large measure to the actors, who brought shadings of empathy to troubled, worried and often deeply flawed characters.

“Norman Lear took television away from the pimps, hookers, hustlers, private eyes, junkies, cowboys and rustlers that constituted television chaos, and, in their place, he put the American people,” screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky once observed. “He took the audience and put them on the [TV] set.”

By the 1990s, the adult sensibility that Mr. Lear Norman Lear (shown in a New York Times file photo by J. Emilio Flores) brought to television found a new home in cable drama. “You can trace the impact of his shows in ‘The Sopranos,’ ‘The Shield,’ ‘The Wire,’ wherever you have complex characters of questionable morality,” said Ron Simon, a curator at the Paley Center for Media in New York. “Nothing was ever neatly wrapped up in Lear’s world.”

Politico, Haley discovers the downsides of being the candidate on the rise, Sam Stein, Jessica Piper, Lisa Kashinsky and Meridith McGraw, Dec. 6, 2023. Four Republican candidates took the stage Wednesday. The focus was on one.

Being the ascendant candidate in a primary field is what everyone running for president wants. But it also comes with a price. And on Wednesday night, at the fourth primary debate in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Nikki Haley was paying for it.

The former U.N. Ambassador, right, was on the receiving end of a number of early broadsides from the others on stage; attacked over her accumulation of wealth, her paid speeches, the donations received by her super PAC and her social media policy.

“I love all the attention, fellas,” said Haley. “Thanks for that.”

The debate, like the three before it, was done without the presence of the frontrunner, Donald Trump. And at one early point, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie lamented that all the attention was being placed on Haley (who has seen her standing in the polls improve in recent weeks) rather than the actual frontrunner.

The debate, like the three before it, was done without the presence of the frontrunner, Donald Trump. And at one early point, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie lamented that all the attention was being placed on Haley (who has seen her standing in the polls improve in recent weeks) rather than the actual frontrunner.

“I’m looking at my watch now. We’re 17 minutes into this debate, and except for your little speech in the beginning, we’ve had these three acting as if the race is between the four of us,” he stressed.

Within minutes, the rest of the field, which included Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy was back to arguing with each other.

“We disagree about some issues,” Christie said, gesturing to Haley. “What we don’t disagree on is this is a smart, accomplished woman. You should stop insulting her.”

Ramaswamy swung back, referencing the “Bridgegate” scandal that tarred Christie’s career.

“Chris,” he said, “your version of foreign policy was closing a bridge from New Jersey to New York. So do everybody a favor, just walk yourself off that stage, enjoy a nice meal and get the hell out of this.”

“I’m in this race because the truth needs to be spoken. This is a guy who said this past week he wants to use the Department of Justice to go after his enemies when he gets in there. The fact of the matter is he’s unfit to be president. There’s no bigger issue in this race than Donald Trump and those numbers prove it,” Christie said.

Washington Post, U.S. files its first war-crimes charges related to Russia-Ukraine war, Devlin Barrett and Perry Stein, Dec. 6, 2023. Charges unsealed Wednesday emerged from U.S. pledge to help Ukraine investigate and prosecute war criminals.

The nation’s top law enforcement officials on Wednesday announced war crimes charges against four Russian soldiers accused of torturing an American in the Ukraine war — saying it was the first time the United States has brought an indictment based on a war crimes statute passed nearly 30 years ago.

The charges unsealed Wednesday in federal court in Virginia include torture, mistreatment, and unlawful confinement of an American citizen who was living in Ukraine following the Russian invasion of its neighbor in 2022.

The four people charged — Suren Seiranovich Mkrtchyan, 45, Dmitry Budnik, and two others whose full names are not yet known — allegedly interrogated, tortured and threatened to kill the victim, even holding a mock execution. The alleged torment occurred over the course of 10 days in April 2022. All four men remain at large, and the chances of them being captured or turned over to U.S. authorities are low.

The nation’s top law enforcement officials — including Attorney General Merrick Garland, FBI Director Christopher A. Wray and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas — announced the charges Wednesday morning at Justice Department headquarters, describing the men as Russian soldiers and accusing them of heinous crimes.

“The Justice Department — and the American people — have a long memory,” Garland said. “We will not forget the atrocities in Ukraine. And we will never stop working to bring those responsible to justice.”

The indictment says that Mkrtchyan and Budnik were commanding officers of military units of the Russian Armed Forces and/or the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic. The two others, known only by their first names, Valerii and Nazar, were lower-ranking military personnel. They were reportedly fighting on behalf of Russia when they allegedly tortured the American.

Garland said the victim was not fighting in the conflict and, under international law, was considered a “protected person.” Kidnapping and torturing a protected person would constitute a war crime. The indictment portrays chilling abuse allegations in which the four men repeatedly beat the victim and made him think he was about to be killed — at one point even asking for his last words.

Destroying Democracies

New York Times, Donald Trump’s 2024 Campaign, in His Own Menacing Words, Ian Prasad Philbrick and Lyna Bentahar, Dec. 6, 2023 (print ed.). Trump’s language has become darker, harsher and more threatening during his third run for the White House.

As he campaigns for another term in the White House, Donald Trump sounds like no other presidential candidate in U.S. history.

He has made baldly antidemocratic statements, praising autocratic leaders like China’s Xi Jinping and continuing to claim that the 2020 election was stolen. “I don’t consider us to have much of a democracy right now,” Trump said.

He has threatened to use the power of the presidency against his political opponents, including President Biden and Biden’s family. Trump frequently insults his opponents in personal terms, calling them “vermin,” as well as “thugs, horrible people, fascists, Marxists, sick people.”

He has made dozens of false or misleading statements. He has advocated violence, suggesting that an Army general who clashed with him deserved the death penalty and that shoplifters should be shot. And he describes U.S. politics in apocalyptic terms, calling the 2024 election “our final battle” and describing himself as his supporters’ “retribution.”

Many Americans have heard only snippets of these statements because Trump makes them on Truth Social, his niche social media platform, or at campaign events that receive less media coverage than when he first ran for president eight years ago. But his words offer a preview of what a second Trump term might look like.

For years, Trump has insulted political opponents, painted a dark picture of the country and made comments inconsistent with democratic norms. But his language has grown harsher, as he admits. “These are radical left people,” Trump said of Democrats in Salem, N.H., in January. “I think in many cases they’re Marxists and Communists. And I used to say that seldom. Now I say it all the time.”

Trump’s stolen-election talk, preoccupation with his criminal indictments and pledges to seek revenge have become organizing principles of his current campaign. He has made the same case — sometimes word for word — in dozens of appearances since announcing his candidacy last year. “He’s not laying out a political agenda,” said Didi Kuo of Stanford University’s Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law. “His campaign is based purely on stoking division and on attacking our institutions in order to defend himself.”

(In a continuing series of Times stories, our colleagues Jonathan Swan, Charlie Savage and Maggie Haberman have previewed a potential second Trump presidency. Among the subjects: legal policy, immigration and the firing of career government employees.)

Many democracy experts are deeply alarmed. “If he says what he means and means what he says, and someday is able to implement it, it’s an existential crisis that the U.S. would face,” said Barbara Perry, a presidential historian at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center.

Politico, Trump’s ‘dictator’ remark jolts the 2024 campaign — and tests his GOP rivals on debate day, Adam Wren, Dec. 6, 2023. The former president’s remarks came on the eve of what may be the final GOP primary debate of the 2024 campaign.

Sean Hannity was trying to throw Donald Trump a life vest, and Trump was waving it off.

At a town hall in Davenport, Iowa, on the eve of what may be the final Republican primary debate of the campaign, the Fox News host asked the likely GOP nominee whether he had “any plans whatsoever, if reelected president, to abuse power? To break the law? To use the government to go after people?”

Trump parried. Hannity probed. He again asked Trump whether he was indeed “promising America tonight you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody?”

“Except for Day One,” Trump said.

Were Trump’s initial remarks a Trumpian jest? A threat? A promise?

Whether Trump was smiling and winking at a dictatorship, his declaration marked a pivotal point in the race — coming as he and those who would likely populate his second-term administration spark concerns that they are laying the groundwork for a more authoritarian style of governance.

And the timing could hardly have been more significant — immediately throwing down a gauntlet for his remaining four challengers as they gather in Alabama tonight. Implicitly, his interview served as an invitation for them to either acquiesce or criticize their party’s frontrunner in a primary where they have been reflexively reluctant to do so. His day-one dictator remarks offer Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy the opening to either reject or affirm that a thread of authoritarianism is now woven into the fabric of the Republican Party.

Politico, Democratic prosecutor suspended by DeSantis takes fight to Florida high court, Gary Fineout, Dec. 6, 2023.  Worrell, who says her removal was politically motivated to help DeSantis’ bid on the presidential campaign, contends her suspension is invalid.

Florida’s conservative-leaning Supreme Court sounded skeptical on Wednesday about whether it would back a Democratic prosecutor’s bid to win back her job after she was ousted by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

But the court was equally skeptical about a push from lawyers representing DeSantis seeking a ruling that would wipe out future legal challenges to his suspension powers.

DeSantis in August removed Monique Worrell, a Democrat elected by voters in Orange and Osceola counties, after he contended that she was too lenient with criminals and endangering the public by the way she was prosecuting crimes in her central Florida circuit that includes Orlando. DeSantis’ removal of Worrell followed his ouster of Andrew Warren, another Democratic prosecutor he expelled from office.

Worrell, who says her removal was politically motivated to help DeSantis’ bid on the presidential campaign, contends her suspension is invalid and that the governor cannot rely on examples of prosecutorial discretion as proof that she neglected her job or is incompetent.

Worrell, who attended the hearing with a crowd of supporters from the Orlando area, said afterward she remained hopeful the court would side with her. She called DeSantis’ actions “authoritarian” and said if the justices side with the governor “it will set the precedent whether or not the governor can single-handedly remove every Democrat in this state.”

“Our votes have been stolen, our justice has been killed and our democracy is being destroyed,” Worrell said.

The ruling could have broad implications since DeSantis has used his suspension power in a much more extensive way than previous governors, including removing an elected sheriff and an elections supervisor over their job performance. Past governors usually removed officials after they had been arrested.

DeSantis has frequently mentioned his decision to suspend Worrell and Warren as examples of him fighting back against “leftist” ideas on criminal justice that are in vogue in California.

Justices sounded unsure on whether Worrell’s case was something for them to decide, saying the facts behind the suspension are supposed to be reviewed by the Florida Senate. The Senate can uphold the governor’s suspension — or it has the power to reinstate someone back to office.

“The governor and the Senate have the constitutional responsibility to determine what falls in the scope of neglect of duty,” Justice Charles Canady, a former GOP member of Congress first appointed to the court by then-Gov. Charlie Crist, told the lawyer representing Worrell.

Justice John Couriel, a DeSantis appointee, said that some of the statistics compiled by the governor’s office to justify the suspension were a “fairly concrete allegation.”

Chief Justice Carlos Muñiz, also appointed by DeSantis, pointed out that the court had been “deferential” to the governor and his power in the past — a nod to rulings where they upheld previous suspensions, including that of the Broward county sheriff removed in part for his response to the mass shooting in Parkland.

Washington Post, The Trump Cases: Special counsel alleges Trump ‘sent’ supporters on path to Jan. 6 violence, Spencer S. Hsu and Devlin Barrett, Dec. 6, 2023 (print ed.). Jack Smith accused the former president of a history of election lies and ‘encouragement of violence.’

Federal prosecutors on Tuesday accused former president Donald Trump of a long pattern of lying about elections and encouraging violence, saying he “sent” supporters on Jan. 6, 2021 to criminally block the election results.

In a new court filing, prosecutors working for special counsel Jack Smith went further than in their August indictment in attempting to tie him to that day’s violence, saying they intended to introduce evidence of his other acts both before the November 2020 presidential election and subsequent alleged threats to establish his motive, intent and preparation for subverting its legitimate results.

“Evidence of the defendant’s post-conspiracy embrace of particularly violent and notorious rioters is admissible to establish the defendant’s motive and intent on January 6 — that he sent supporters, including groups like the Proud Boys, whom he knew were angry, and whom he now calls ‘patriots,’ to the Capitol to achieve the criminal objective of obstructing the congressional certification,” prosecutors alleged in a nine-page filing.

They added, “At trial, the Government will introduce a number of public statements by the defendant in advance of the charged conspiracies, claiming that there would be fraud in the 2020 presidential election,” laying the “foundation for the defendant’s criminal efforts.”

Attorneys for Trump did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges in what prosecutors say was a broad conspiracy to subvert the 2020 election by spewing a gusher of lies about purported election fraud and trying to get state local and federal officials to change the legitimate results to remain in power.

A four-count federal indictment in Washington, D.C., alleges he plotted to defraud the federal election process, obstruct Congress’s certification of the vote in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, and deprive Americans of their civil right to have their votes counted. It is one of four criminal cases charged this year against the former president.

The others include a federal indictment in Florida over Trump’s alleged retention and mishandling of classified documents and obstruction after leaving the White House; a state trial in Georgia that involves similar allegations of trying to obstruct the state’s election results; and a New York state business fraud prosecution accusing Trump of covering up hush money payments made during his 2016 election campaign.

They added, “At trial, the Government will introduce a number of public statements by the defendant in advance of the charged conspiracies, claiming that there would be fraud in the 2020 presidential election,” laying the “foundation for the defendant’s criminal efforts.” Federal prosecutors on Tuesday accused former president Donald Trump of a long pattern of lying about elections and encouraging violence, saying he “sent” supporters on Jan. 6, 2021 to criminally block the election results.

 New York Times, Why a Second Trump Presidency May Be More Radical Than His First, Charlie Savage, Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman, Dec. 5, 2023 (print ed.). Donald Trump has long exhibited authoritarian impulses, but his policy operation is now more sophisticated, and the buffers to check him are weaker.

In the spring of 1989, the Chinese Communist Party used tanks and troops to crush a pro-democracy protest in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. Most of the West, across traditional partisan lines, was aghast at the crackdown that killed at least hundreds of student activists. But one prominent American was impressed.

“When the students poured into Tiananmen Square, the Chinese government almost blew it,” Donald J. Trump said in an interview with Playboy magazine the year after the massacre. “Then they were vicious, they were horrible, but they put it down with strength. That shows you the power of strength. Our country is right now perceived as weak.”

It was a throwaway line in a wide-ranging interview, delivered to a journalist profiling a 43-year-old celebrity businessman who was not then a player in national politics or world affairs. But in light of what Mr. Trump has gone on to become, his exaltation of the ruthless crushing of democratic protesters is steeped in foreshadowing.

Mr. Trump’s violent and authoritarian rhetoric on the 2024 campaign trail has attracted growing alarm and comparisons to historical fascist dictators and contemporary populist strongmen. In recent weeks, he has dehumanized his adversaries as “vermin” who must be “rooted out,” declared that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country,” encouraged the shooting of shoplifters and suggested that the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, deserved to be executed for treason.

As he runs for president again facing four criminal prosecutions, Mr. Trump may seem more angry, desperate and dangerous to American-style democracy than in his first term. But the throughline that emerges is far more long-running: He has glorified political violence and spoken admiringly of autocrats for decades.

Washington Post, Pro-Trump electors indicted in Nevada, the third state to issue charges, Amy Gardner and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez, Dec. 6, 2023. A Nevada grand jury on Wednesday charged six Republicans who claimed to be presidential electors in 2020 and submitted certificates to Congress falsely asserting that former president Donald Trump had won the election in their state.

Nevada Attorney General Aaron D. Ford (D), right, launched an investigation earlier this fall, making his the third state after Georgia and Michigan to seek charges against the pro-Trump activists who met and cast ballots for the then-president on Dec. 14, 2020, despite Joe Biden’s victory.

“When the efforts to undermine faith in our democracy began after the 2020 election, I made it clear that I would do everything in my power to defend the institutions of our nation and our state,” Ford said in a statement Wednesday. “We cannot allow attacks on democracy to go unchallenged. Today’s indictments are the product of a long and thorough investigation, and as we pursue this prosecution, I am confident that our judicial system will see justice done.”

In all, Trump electors met in seven states that Biden had won that year, with investigations into electors also underway in Arizona and New Mexico. The electors sent official-looking, signed documents to the Senate and National Archives, and Trump’s allies used them to try to prevent the certification of the election on Jan. 6, 2021, before and after Trump supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol that day.

So far, the Nevada grand jury, as in Michigan, has limited its charges to the electors themselves, although it’s unknown if additional charges are possible.

That contrasts with Georgia, where Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis (D) alleged in August that the Dec. 14, 2020, gathering in Atlanta of 16 pro-Trump presidential electors was part of a vast conspiracy to unlawfully overturn the 2020 election result.

In addition to the electors, the Georgia indictment also charges several lawyers with helping to plan the meeting of the electors. And it accuses Trump himself of leading the conspiracy, one of four criminal cases in which the former president is currently a defendant.

The Nevada probe is also on a separate track from a broader election-interference investigation into Trump and his allies conducted by special counsel Jack Smith for the U.S. Department of Justice, in which only Trump has been indicted so far. Smith in June provided limited immunity to two Nevada Republican electors, Michael J. McDonald and Jim DeGraffenreid, according to CNN. Both McDonald and DeGraffenreid were indicted in Nevada Wednesday, along with Jesse Law, Durward James Hindle III, Shawn Meehan and Eileen Rice.

Washington Post, Wisconsin Trump electors settle lawsuit, agree Biden won in 2020, Patrick Marley, Dec. 6, 2023. In a legal settlement Wednesday, the 10 Republicans who signed official-looking paperwork falsely purporting Donald Trump won Wisconsin in 2020 have agreed to withdraw their inaccurate filings, acknowledge Joe Biden won the presidency and not serve as presidential electors in 2024 or in any election where Trump is on the ballot.

Wednesday’s civil settlement marks the first time pro-Trump electors have agreed to revoke their false filings and not repeat their actions in the next presidential election. It comes as Republicans in two other states face criminal charges for falsely claiming to be presidential electors, and investigations are underway in three additional states.

Documents released as part of the settlement revealed one of the Wisconsin Republicans appeared to refer to the attempt to install Trump for a second term as a “possible steal.” That Republican expressed skepticism about the plan but told others he was going along with it in part because he feared he would face blowback from Trump supporters if he didn’t.

The lawsuit, filed last year by two of the state’s rightful electors, alleged the Republicans had taken part in a conspiracy to defraud voters and sought up to $200,000 from each Trump elector. No money is being exchanged as part of the settlement.

The Biden electors are continuing their lawsuit against two attorneys who assisted the Wisconsin Republicans — Jim Troupis, a former Dane County judge who led Trump’s recount efforts in the state, and Kenneth Chesebro, who advised Republicans around the country and pleaded guilty in October to conspiring to overturn Biden’s win in Georgia.

Republicans in seven states that Biden won — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — filled out paperwork in December 2020 falsely claiming Trump had actually won, and Trump’s supporters used that material to try to prevent Congress from certifying Biden’s victory. Congress confirmed Biden had won on Jan. 6, 2021, hours after a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol.

Special counsel Jack Smith has been investigating the attempt to overturn the 2020 results for the Department of Justice, while some state and local prosecutors are conducting their probes of the GOP electors. Prosecutors in Michigan and Georgia have filed felony charges against some Republican electors, and state probes are underway in Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico.

Washington Post, The Trump Trials: See you in 2029? Perry Stein and Devlin Barrett, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). If Donald Trump wins the 2024 election, he can’t face a criminal trial in Georgia until at least 2029 — after he leaves the presidency — his Atlanta-based defense attorney argued in a state courtroom Friday. The prosecution team has asked for a trial to start in August 2024 — and strongly rejected the 2029 option.

Now we wait for Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, who said Friday that it was too early to set a date, citing, in part, the uncertain schedule in Trump’s three other criminal cases.

In the election-obstruction case in D.C., special counsel Jack Smith has until the end of the week to fire back against Trump’s wide-ranging and at times imaginative demands for information he claims exists at a host of government agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Capitol Police. The requests are legal long shots, but Trump’s lawyers said last week that the information will help them fight charges that the former president conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Former President Donald J. Trump and several of his fellow defendants, in mug shots released by the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office in Atlanta (Photos by Fulton County Sheriff’s Office).

New York Times, Donald Trump is responding to the charge that he’s anti-democratic by accusing President Biden of posing a bigger threat, Michael Gold, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). Indicted over a plot to overturn an election and campaigning on promises to shatter democratic norms in a second term, Donald Trump wants voters to see Joe Biden as the bigger threat.

Former President Donald J. Trump, who has been indicted by federal prosecutors for conspiracy to defraud the United States in connection with a plot to overturn the 2020 election, repeatedly claimed to supporters in Iowa on Saturday that it was President Biden who posed a severe threat to American democracy.

While Mr. Trump shattered democratic norms throughout his presidency and has faced voter concerns that he would do so again in a second term, the former president in his speech repeatedly accused Mr. Biden of corrupting politics and waging a repressive “all-out war” on America.

”Joe Biden is not the defender of American democracy,” he said. “Joe Biden is the destroyer of American democracy.”

Mr. Trump has made similar attacks on Mr. Biden a staple of his speeches in Iowa and elsewhere. He frequently accuses the president broadly of corruption and of weaponizing the Justice Department to influence the 2024 election.

Relevant Recent Headlines

• New York Times, Investigation: How a ‘Goon Squad’ of Deputies Got Away With Years of Brutality
• New York Times, Opinion: It’s Time to Fix America’s Most Dangerous Law, David French
• Washington Post, The Trump Trials: See you in 2029?
• New York Times, Donald Trump is responding to the charge that he’s anti-democratic by accusing President Biden of posing a bigger threat
• Washington Post, Opinion: A Trump dictatorship is increasingly inevitable. We should stop pretending, Robert Kagan
• Washington Post, U.S. stops helping Big Tech spot foreign meddling amid GOP legal threats
• Washington Post, Opinion: The billionaire myth takes a beating, Jennifer Rubin
• New York Times, 4,789 Facebook Accounts in China Impersonated Americans, Meta Says
• WhoWhatWhy, Commentary: The Fake Populists Who Serve Elites While Claiming to Stand for the People, Ruth Ben-Ghia
• New York Times, 6 Takeaways From Liz Cheney’s Book Criticizing Trump and His ‘Enablers,’ Peter Baker
• Washington Post, Analysis: Why new Ariz. indictments are key in the fight against election subversion, Aaron Blake

More On Israel's War With Hamas

Washington Post, Traders earned millions anticipating Oct. 7 Hamas attack, study says, Andrew Jeong, Tory Newmyer and Eli Tan, Dec. 6, 2023 (print ed.). Israeli regulators are looking into a report claiming that investors earned millions of dollars by short-selling Israeli stocks days ahead of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, apparently profiting off foreknowledge of the bloody incursion, multiple media outlets reported Tuesday.

The unknown traders behind the activity placed bets against the value of a bundle of Israeli stocks five days before the massacre, leading to a “significant spike in short selling” of that fund, professors Robert J. Jackson Jr. of the New York University School of Law and Joshua Mitts of Columbia Law School wrote in a study published Monday.

Traders made similar bets against the value of “dozens” of Israeli companies that trade in Tel Aviv, the authors note.

“Our findings suggest that traders informed about the coming attacks profited from these tragic events,” Jackson and Mitts wrote.

Short selling is a trading strategy that allows investors to bet that the value of a stock will decline. Short sellers borrow shares in a company or fund and sell them at the current market price, with the expectation that the price of those shares will fall soon. If prices decline, investors buy shares back at the lower value and return them to the lender, taking the margin between the original share value and the new, lower value, as profit.

“The short selling that day far exceeded the short selling that occurred during numerous other periods of crisis, including the recession following the financial crisis, the 2014 Israel-Gaza war, and the covid-19 pandemic,” Jackson and Mitts wrote.

In one instance, investors short-sold the unusually high sum of 4.43 million new shares of Bank Leumi, an Israeli bank, on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in the Sept. 14-Oct. 5 period, Jackson and Mitts wrote.

The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange pushed back on initial claims by Jackson and Mitts that traders profited $859 million on the Bank Leumi short position, citing a mistake in their methodology. The authors then corrected that figure to about $8 million, but stood by their finding that 4.43 million shares had been short-sold.

New York Times, A meeting at the U.N. accused the body of ignoring the rape and mutilation of women in the Oct. 7 assault on Israel, Katherine Rosman and Lisa Lerer, Dec. 5, 2023 (print ed.). A meeting at the U.N., organized in part by Sheryl Sandberg, accused the body of ignoring the rape and mutilation of women in the Oct. 7 assault on Israel, and heard gruesome details from witnesses.

The body of one woman had “nails and different objects in her female organs.” In another house, a person’s genitals were so mutilated that “we couldn’t identify if it was a man or a woman.”

Simcha Greinman, a volunteer who helped collect the remains of victims of the Hamas-led Oct. 7 assault on Israel, took long pauses as he spoke those words on Monday at an event at the United Nations.

“Horrific things I saw with my own eyes,” he said, “and I felt with my own hands.”

Shari Mendes, a member of an Israeli military reserve unit tasked with preparing the bodies of fallen female soldiers for burial, said her team saw several who were killed on Oct. 7 “who were shot in the crotch, intimate parts, vagina, or were shot in the breast.” Others had mutilated faces, or multiple gunshots to their heads.

Since the Oct. 7 attack, during which more than 1,200 people were killed and some 240 people were kidnapped, Israeli officials have accused the terrorists of also committing widespread sexual violence — rape and sexual mutilation — particularly against women.

Yet those atrocities have received little scrutiny from human rights groups, or the news media, amid the larger war between Israel and Hamas — and until a few days ago, they had not been specifically mentioned or condemned by UN Women, the United Nations’ women’s rights agency, which has regularly spoken out about the plight of Palestinian women and girls.

Israelis and many Jews around the world say they feel abandoned by an international social justice community — women’s groups, human rights groups, liberal celebrities, among others — whose causes they have supported in crises around the world.

On Monday, some 800 people, including women’s activists and diplomats representing about 40 countries, crowded into a chamber at U.N. headquarters in New York for a presentation laying out the evidence of large-scale sexual violence, with testimony from witnesses like Ms. Mendes and Mr. Greinman.

New York Times, Israel-Hamas War: Israeli Military’s Focus on Southern Gaza Could Signal Expanded War, Andrés R. Martínez, Dec. 5, 2023 (print ed.). The military said it was expanding ground operations “all across the Gaza Strip,” though it remained unclear if its forces had entered the south.

Israeli warplanes struck targets in southern Gaza on Monday as the military demanded that more civilians evacuate their homes in the area, signaling a possible expansion of its ground war in the battered Palestinian enclave.

Days after a truce with Hamas collapsed, Israeli forces have turned their focus to southern Gaza, hitting areas where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have sought shelter since the start of the war on Oct. 7. Israeli airstrikes targeted urban areas in the south, where photos on Monday showed smoke rising from flattened buildings in the city of Khan Younis and people carrying bodies swaddled in blankets away from scenes of destruction.

Adding to speculation that Israel is preparing a ground invasion of the south, the Israeli military’s chief spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said late Sunday that Israel “continues and expands its ground operations against Hamas strongholds all across the Gaza Strip,” although he did not elaborate.

A senior official with Hamas, the armed group that controls much of Gaza, said late Sunday that Israeli ground troops had not entered the south. But Hamas’s military wing said that its fighters had targeted a tank and personnel carrier north of Khan Younis and several Israeli military vehicles in central Gaza. The claims could not be independently verified, and with communications networks disrupted, it was not possible to gain an independent assessment of the fighting.

After more than a month of fighting concentrated in northern Gaza — and a weeklong cease-fire that expired last Friday — Israel believes that the Hamas leaders who planned the Oct. 7 attacks that officials say left at least 1,200 people dead in Israel are hiding in the south. Israel’s military has responded to the attacks with nearly two months of airstrikes and a ground invasion of northern Gaza that have killed more than 15,000 Palestinians, according to Gazan health officials, and pushed an estimated 1.75 million Gazans south.

Hundreds of people have been killed since hostilities resumed on Friday, according to Gazan health officials, who have warned that medical facilities remain desperately short of supplies, as Israel has sharply restricted the amount of humanitarian aid allowed to enter the enclave.

Fighting has continued in other parts of Gaza. The Israeli military reported the deaths of three of its soldiers on Sunday, two in battles in northern Gaza and one in a battle in the central part of the strip.

The Biden administration is pushing Israel and Hamas to resume negotiations that could lead to a new cease-fire. Under the previous truce, Hamas released scores of hostages held in Gaza in exchange for more than 200 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, and Israel allowed more trucks carrying relief supplies into Gaza.

U.S. officials, including Vice President Kamala Harris, and international leaders, including President Emmanuel Macron of France, have said that Israel must do more to protect civilians in Gaza. Mr. Macron is headed to Qatar, which mediated the original truce, in hopes of restarting talks.

Here’s what we know:

• The military says it is expanding ground operations ‘all across the Gaza Strip,’ though it remains unclear if its forces have entered the south.
• Israel orders more evacuations ahead of a possible invasion of southern Gaza.
• Confusing evacuation orders leave Gazans to make painful decisions.
• The U.S. is pressing Israel and Hamas to return to talks, a White House official says.
• The U.S. shoots down 3 drones in the Red Sea as Iran-backed groups ramp up attacks.

The Intercept, Netanyahu’s goal for Gaza: “Thin” population “to a minimum,” Ryan Grim, Dec. 3-4, 2023. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, above, has tasked his top adviser, Ron Dermer, the minister of strategic affairs, with designing plans to “thin” the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip “to a minimum,” according to a bombshell new report in an Israeli newspaper founded by the late Republican billionaire Sheldon Adelson.

The outlet, Israel Hayom, is considered to be something of an official organ for Netanyahu. It reported that the plan has two main elements: The first would use the pressure of the war and humanitarian crisis to persuade Egypt to allow refugees to flow to other Arab countries, and the second would open up sea routes so that Israel “allows a mass escape to European and African countries.” Dermer, left, who is originally from Miami, is a Netanyahu confidante and was previously Israeli ambassador to the United States, and enjoys close relations with many members of Congress.

The plan to ethnically cleanse Gaza of Palestinians faces some internal resistance from less hard-line members of Netanyahu’s cabinet, according to Israel Hayom.

Israel Today and other Israeli media are also reporting on a plan being pushed with Congress that would condition aid to Arab nations on their willingness to accept Palestinian refugees. The plan even proposes specific numbers of refugees for each country: Egypt would take one million Palestinians, half a million would go to Turkey, and a quarter million each would go to Yemen and Iraq.

The reporting relies heavily on the passive voice, declining to say who put the proposal together: “The proposal was shown to key figures in the House and Senate from both parties. Longtime lawmaker, Rep. Joe Wilson, has even expressed open support for it while others who were privy to the details of the text have so far kept a low profile, saying that publicly coming out in favor of the program could derail it.”

To underscore how absurd the refugee resettlement plan is, the de facto Houthi government in Yemen claimed an attack today on a U.S. ship as well as commercial vessels in the Red Sea.

Back on October 20, in a little-noticed message to Congress, the White House asked for $3.495 billion that would be used for refugees from both Ukraine and Gaza, referencing “potential needs of Gazans fleeing to neighboring countries.”

“This crisis could well result in displacement across border and higher regional humanitarian needs, and funding may be used to meet evolving programming requirements outside of Gaza,” the letter from the White House Office of Management and Budget reads. The letter came two days after Jordan and Egypt warned they would not open their borders to a mass exodus of Palestinians, arguing that past history shows they would never be able to return.

Washington Post, Israel’s assault forced a nurse to leave babies behind. They were found decomposing, Miriam Berger, Evan Hill and Hazem Balousha, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). A nurse at al-Nasr hospital was caring for premature babies. Then he faced the most difficult decision of his life.

The nurse in the besieged hospital was caring for five fragile babies. Infants, born premature, their parents’ whereabouts after a month of war unknown. Now he faced the most difficult decision of his life.

It was the height of Israel’s assault on northern Gaza last month, and al-Nasr Children’s Hospital was a war zone. The day before, airstrikes had cut off the Gaza City facility’s oxygen supplies. Israeli tanks had surrounded the hospital complex, and the Israel Defense Forces were calling and texting the doctors, urging them to leave.

But ambulances couldn’t safely reach al-Nasr to transport the wounded, and doctors refused to leave the facility without their patients.

The five premature babies were particularly vulnerable. They needed oxygen, and medication administered at regular intervals. There were no portable respirators or incubators to transport them. Without life support, the nurse feared, they wouldn’t survive an evacuation.

Then the IDF delivered an ultimatum, al-Nasr director Bakr Qaoud told The Washington Post: Get out or be bombarded. An Israeli official, meanwhile, provided an assurance that ambulances would be arranged to retrieve the patients.

The nurse, a Palestinian man who works with Paris-based Doctors Without Borders, saw no choice. He assessed his charges and picked up the strongest one — the baby he thought likeliest to bear a temporary cut to his oxygen supply. He left the other four on their breathing machines, reluctantly, and with his wife, their children and the one baby, headed south.

“I felt like I was leaving my own children behind,” said the nurse, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect his privacy. “If we had the ability to take them, we would have, [but] if we took them off the oxygen they would have died.”

New York Times, Israel’s Military Expands Evacuation Orders in Southern Gaza, Vivian Yee, Iyad Abuheweila and Ameera Harouda, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.).The U.S. has increasingly stressed the need to limit civilian harm as Israel turns its focus to the enclave’s south. Confusion and fear gripped much of southern Gaza on Sunday as Israel’s military ordered more residents to clear out and fighting there intensified.

The Israeli military’s latest evacuation orders appeared to be setting the stage for a ground invasion in the south since hostilities started again after the collapse of a weeklong truce with Hamas. They evoked similar orders given by the Israeli military before it invaded northern Gaza in late October. But the announcements were prone to change with almost no notice, leaving many Gazans confused and with little time to flee.

The list of areas had swelled from 19 the previous morning to 34 on Sunday, all clustered southeast of the city of Khan Younis. The Israeli military marked each on a map of Gaza that divided the territory into nearly 2,400 “blocks,” advising residents to pay attention to Israeli announcements about whether their block was being evacuated.

Some families whose homes and shelters were not included in the initial evacuation areas announced by Israel’s military, and who had thought they would be able to stay put, said they had later received recorded calls ordering them to leave.

Many people under evacuation orders had already been displaced at least once before, forced to leave northern Gaza when the fighting and the airstrikes began. Now they found themselves once again at a loss for where to go in an already overcrowded area under threat of bombardment.

“I cannot overstate the fear, panic & confusion that these Israeli maps are causing civilians in Gaza, including my own staff,” wrote Melanie Ward, head of the humanitarian organization Medical Aid for Palestinians, on social media, adding that “people cannot run from place to place to try to escape Israel’s bombs.”

Hospitals in the south were also under pressure. A team from the World Health Organization visited a hospital in Khan Younis on Saturday that was three times over its capacity, according to the agency’s head, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

“Countless people were seeking shelter, filling every corner of the facility,” he wrote on X. “Patients were receiving care on the floor, screaming in pain.”

The Israeli military’s evacuation map showed big orange arrows directing people toward already-overflowing shelters or what it called the “humanitarian zone” in Al-Mawasi, an agricultural area toward the Mediterranean Sea.

But it was not clear whether the zone provided sufficient supplies or shelter, with some Gazans who fled there describing little awaiting them and no visible presence of humanitarian aid.

The idea of “safe zones” in Gaza, as was envisioned for Al-Mawasi, is opposed by the United Nations. Last month, U.N. agencies and other groups said they would not participate in setting up any such zones in Gaza.

New York Times, Commentary: Over 60 Journalists Have Been Killed in the Israel-Gaza War. My Friend Was One, Lama Al-Arian (Lama Al-Arian is a multi-Emmy-award-winning journalist based in Beirut), Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). I was sitting in my apartment in Beirut on the evening of Oct. 13 when I read that journalists had been struck by a missile attack in southern Lebanon.

My close friend, Issam Abdallah, was working in the area as a cameraman for Reuters to cover the border clashes between Israel and Hezbollah after the war in Gaza began just days earlier. I called him immediately. It was a ritual we had developed over the years: Whether we were on the front lines in Ukraine or Syria, each of us knew to expect a call from the other anytime a disaster struck.

Issam didn’t answer. I couldn’t remember the last time he let one of my calls go to voice mail. Within minutes, cellphone footage of the attack appeared online. In one video, a journalist for Agence France-Presse lies in a pool of blood, screaming that she can’t feel her legs. I listened over and over, desperately trying to find Issam’s voice in the chaos.

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More On Trump Battles, Crimes, Claims, Allies

New York state judge Arthur Engoron, left, who presides over Donald Trump's civil fraud trial and former President Trump (file photos).

New York Times, What to Know About Trump’s Civil Fraud Trial, Kate Christobek, Dec. 5, 2023 (print ed.). Last week, bankers from Deutsche Bank testified on behalf of former President Trump, while a gag order was reinstated against him.

Donald J. Trump’s defense lawyers will call his son and fellow defendant Eric Trump back to the witness stand this week, along with more expert witnesses to testify on the former president’s behalf.

Mr. Trump, who already testified during his civil fraud trial last month, is scheduled to testify again on Dec. 11 before his lawyers rest their case.

The trial, which started in October, stems from a lawsuit brought by the New York attorney general, Letitia James. She has accused Mr. Trump and other defendants, including his companies and his sons Donald Jr. and Eric of inflating the value of assets to obtain favorable loans and insurance deals.

Today marks the 39th day of the civil fraud trial and kicks off the fourth week of the defendants’ case.

The judge, Arthur F. Engoron, ruled even before the trial began that Mr. Trump and the other defendants were liable for fraud. After the trial he will decide what punishments they should face. Ms. James has asked that the former president pay $250 million and that he and his sons be permanently barred from running a business in New York.

Mr. Trump has denied all wrongdoing. His lawyers have argued that the assets had no objective value and that differing valuations are common in real estate.

Washington Post, Defending his 2020 fraud claims, Trump turns to fringe Jan. 6 theories, Rachel Weiner and Isaac Arnsdorf, Dec. 6, 2023 (print ed.). Ever since he was indicted on charges of interfering in the 2020 election results, Donald Trump has relished the chance to use the case in Washington as a venue to air his baseless claims of fraud.

Now he is using it to circulate a new set of falsehoods: that the federal government staged or incited violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to discredit Trump and his supporters.

In court filings last week, the former president revealed that he has been pressing the Justice Department for information on far-right claims often elevated in his speeches, on his social media feeds and by his conservative allies in Congress — further blurring the line between his campaign and his court battles.

Trump’s legal filings typically include a political dimension, as the core of his defense is seeking to position the prosecutions as politicized, advisers said. He has frequently claimed in campaign speeches, without evidence, that President Biden ordered Trump’s arrest to damage his candidacy, and his lawyers have likewise claimed in court that he is fighting “tyranny” and “oppression” by the Biden administration.

“One of the great things about these trials, if the judge allows us … we want to show how we won the election,” Trump said Saturday at a speech in Iowa.

Now Trump is also suggesting that the government is withholding information on people known as “Fence Cutter Bulwark” and “Scaffold Commander” — nicknames given by conspiracy theorists to people they claim are government agents who instigated the Jan. 6 riot. Trump asked for “all documents regarding” Ray Epps, a supporter of the former president who has been falsely accused of being an undercover operative, and John Nichols, a liberal journalist in Wisconsin who right-wing media have suggested encouraged violence at the Capitol on behalf of the “deep state.” He also asked for any intelligence the government had on “Antifa,” on pipe bombs found near the Capitol on Jan. 6, and on “informants, cooperators [and] undercover agents … involved in the assistance, planning, or encouragement” of the events of that day.

These are all references common on right-wing social media, including Trump’s “Truth Social” feed, and among his most conservative supporters in Congress. But they are far outside even many Trump supporters’ view of the Capitol attack and have been repeatedly rejected in federal court by the judges overseeing hundreds of Jan. 6-related cases.

Washington Post, Trump loses chance to challenge N.Y. gag order before trial ends, Shayna Jacobs, Dec. 5, 2023 (print ed.). A New York appellate court Monday told lawyers for Donald Trump that they missed a deadline to seek permission from a panel of judges to quickly consider a request to file a higher court challenge to a gag order against Trump in connection with a $250 million civil fraud case.

Trump lawyers sought prompt permission from the appellate court to ask the Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, to pause a gag order against the former president issued by New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, who is presiding over the fraud trial.

Trump is scheduled to testify for the defense on Monday and is expected to be the final defense witness called in the fraud case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James. He previously testified in the trial when called to do so by state lawyers.

Engoron issued the gag order Oct. 3 to prevent Trump from commenting on court staff after he deemed Trump’s references to a law clerk problematic because they generated an overwhelming number of threats and harassing messages. There has been a barrage of calls to the clerk’s personal cellphone and a flood of alarming messages to her email accounts.

Trump has twice been found in violation of the order and has been fined a total of $15,000.

Trump’s lawyers say he will be irrevocably harmed by the gag order lasting through the end of testimony. His lawyers were barred from publicly discussing the law clerk’s frequent interactions with Engoron, which they have argued is evidence that the clerk, who has been active in local Democratic politics, is biased and too involved in decisions.

Washington Post, Analysis: James Comer’s Biden claims do not deserve the benefit of the doubt, Philip Bump, Dec. 6, 2023 (print ed.). There has been a consistent pattern displayed over the 11 months since Republicans regained control of the House majority and, with it, the leadership of the chamber’s investigatory committees.

The pattern: House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) will make a claim alleging wrongdoing by President Biden and then, in short order, that allegation will be shown to be incorrect or baseless.

Thanks to his stewardship of the endlessly wolf-crying effort to impugn the president, Comer’s profile has risen dramatically in the past few months. He’s aided in this by the extensive right-wing media universe, in which his claims are immediately celebrated and through which they propagate quickly. But because more objective audiences have not been paying close attention to the claims he’s made since taking over leadership of Oversight, many observers aren’t aware of the extent of his track record of making false or indefensible claims about Biden.

So we should put a fine point on it: Comer’s track record makes it obvious that he does not deserve the benefit of the doubt. Allegations that he offers should not be granted the baseline assumption that they are true.

We can begin with the development he announced Monday and work backward.

For months, Comer and his allies have insisted that Biden was the beneficiary of payments from his son Hunter Biden or his brother James Biden, despite a lack of evidence of such payments. So it was with no small amount of smugness that Comer announced the discovery that there were direct payments to Joe Biden: a recurring payment originating from Hunter Biden’s law firm to the current president.

“Hunter Biden’s legal team and the White House’s media allies claim Hunter’s corporate entities never made payments directly to Joe Biden,” Comer said Monday in a recorded statement. “We can officially add this latest talking point to the list of lies.”

You’ll notice how precisely Comer phrased that: that the media said “corporate entities never made payments.” It is true there was no evidence of such a payment, but the broader issue, highlighted by the media, was that there was no evidence that Biden was benefiting from Hunter’s or James’s deals.

There still isn’t. As The Washington Post reported Monday afternoon, the payments from Hunter Biden’s law firm in 2018 — just over $4,000 in total — were repayments for a truck Joe Biden helped his son purchase.

Text messages released as part of the cache of digital files related to Hunter Biden that became public in 2020 include an interaction between the president’s son and a salesman at a Ford dealership in June 2018. Hunter Biden was running late; the dealer confirmed that his father had already arrived as, it seems, the purchase was being finalized. Another message in that set of documents (which have not all been verified by The Post) identifies Joe Biden as the person holding the insurance on the truck.

Comer mischaracterizes Hunter Biden car payment reimbursement to his dad

In fact, the truck repayment — in the specific amount elevated by Comer — was reported by the New York Post in April 2022.

What this new revelation from Comer suggests is not that Biden was integrated into his family’s business interests, earning gobs of money on the sly. It’s that Hunter Biden needed help buying a truck and turned to his dad.

Remarkably, we went through a similar thing with Comer just last week. Then, he asserted that “Joe Biden received $40,000 in laundered China money in the form of a personal check from his sister-in-law.” Biden received a personal check from his sister-in-law, Sara Biden, but this, too, was a repayment for a loan Joe Biden had extended to her husband, James. One good indication of this is that the memo field on the check read “loan repayment.”

But Comer, coming up dry after nearly a year of investigating Biden, was intent on overhyping what his probe had found. The “laundered China money” part of it is unsubstantiated, depending on transfers of money between multiple accounts over a matter of several weeks to tie the $40,000 Biden was repaid to funding from Chinese business partners of Hunter and James Biden. At first, he even tried to cast suspicion on the idea that this repayment (and another, larger one), were loan repayments at all. At another point, he suggested that, “even if” it was a loan, Joe Biden had “benefited from his family cashing in on his name,” as though being repaid for a loan was an enormous financial gain.

New York Times, Opinion: The Resolute Liz Cheney, Katherine Miller, Dec. 6, 2023 (print ed.). There’s a scene in Liz Cheney’s new memoir, Oath and Honor, when she was still in Congress, she walks through the Capitol and into the Republican cloakroom, enters a phone booth, closes the door and calls Mitch McConnell.

There aren’t so many people who can just call up Mr. McConnell nor was this quite standard procedure on Capitol Hill but, as she writes, “I had known Mitch McConnell for decades.”

In 2023, a lot separates Ms. Cheney from the average Republican politician. But reading her memoir, it’s clear how unusual her position was in late 2020 — a true insider who was also listening to and believing what was going on with Donald Trump and the conservative base. That combination seems to have inspired her turning every key available to stave off Mr. Trump’s efforts to subvert the outcome of the election, and inspired her overpowering anger toward Kevin McCarthy.

Politico, New York court reinstates Trump’s gag orders in civil fraud case, Erica Orden, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). The gag orders bar Trump and his lawyers from disparaging court staff. A New York state appeals court on Thursday reinstated the gag orders issued by the judge overseeing Donald Trump’s $250 million civil fraud trial, lifting a pause on the orders that was put into effect earlier this month by one of the court’s judges.

In its two-page order, the appeals court didn’t explain its decision for reinstating the gag orders, which bar Trump and his lawyers from commenting on staff working for the trial judge, Justice Arthur Engoron.

The gag orders have been a central focus of the two-month trial, often eclipsing even the testimony. The initial gag order came just days into the trial, after Trump posted a disparaging social media message about the judge’s law clerk, Allison Greenfield, who sits alongside the judge on the bench. Engoron found that Trump subsequently violated the gag order twice, issuing him two fines totaling $15,000.

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More On U.S. National Politics, Government

New York Times, Retirement Without a Net: The Plight of America’s Aging Farmworkers, Miriam Jordan, Photographs and Video by Adam Perez, Dec. 6, 2023 (print ed.). Immigrants who worked decades on U.S. farms are reaching retirement age in a country that offers them neither Medicare nor Social Security.

Esperanza Sanchez spends eight hours a day, Sunday to Friday, crouched down to the ground, trimming and picking leafy greens and packing them into boxes.

She pauses only if a dizzy spell throws her off balance, which she chalks up to high blood pressure, something she learned about last year when a raging headache prompted her to visit a doctor for the first time in recent memory.

“I feel tired,” she said, seated at her mobile home’s kitchen table after a day’s work. “I feel like stopping, but how can I?”

At 72, Ms. Sanchez is the oldest on her crew working in California’s Coachella Valley. She is among tens of thousands of undocumented farm workers who have spent decades working in the United States — doing the kind of sweaty, backbreaking work that powers much of the country’s farming industry — but are ineligible for Social Security, Medicare or the other forms of retirement relief that would allow them to stop working.

Some have children or grandchildren to help provide for them in their old age. In California, Oregon and Washington, undocumented farmworkers are entitled to health care and overtime. But most states do not offer them any benefits.

For decades, retirement was not an issue: Farmworkers sneaked across the Mexico-U.S. border for the harvest and then returned home until it was time to start all over again the next season. But this kind of circular migration became increasingly risky and expensive, as successive U.S. presidents, beginning in the 1990s, erected barriers and deployed technology and agents along the border to curb illegal entries.

At that point, many field hands crossed the border and stayed for good — aging with each successive crop.

The Warning, Commentary: How George Santos's absurdity helps Donald Trump's re-election chances, Steve Schmidt, Dec. 5, 2023 (12:05 mins.).
Steve Schmidt reacts to the news George Santos has joined Cameo. Despite its absurdity on its face, Steve says this sort of action leads to a cynical electorate which could help elect Donald Trump in 2024.

Washington Post, Election 2024: Young conservatives want the Republican Party to make space for them, Sabrina Rodriguez, Dec. 6, 2023. Ahead of the Republican debate at the University of Alabama, young conservatives differed over candidates but were united in calling on the party to pay more attention to their generation.

Here, at the University of Alabama, where the fourth Republican presidential debate will be held Wednesday night, young conservatives offered a range of views on who they find best to take on President Biden in 2024. But they were united in calling for the GOP to pay more attention to their generation, which they feel is part of the party’s path to victory in the next election and beyond.

New York Times, Adams’s Approval Rating Sinks to Lowest for Any N.Y.C. Mayor Since 1996, Emma G. Fitzsimmons, Dec. 6, 2023. At 28 percent, Eric Adams’s approval rating is the worst for any New York mayor in a Quinnipiac University poll since it began surveying the city 27 years ago.

Mayor Eric Adams, who faces a federal investigation into his campaign fund-raising and rampant criticism over his handling of the migrant crisis, has seen his approval rating plunge to 28 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released on Wednesday.

The approval rating — the lowest for any New York City mayor in a Quinnipiac poll since it began surveying the city in 1996 — reveals the extent of the political damage Mr. Adams has suffered in recent weeks, after the F.B.I. seized his cellphones, a woman filed a legal claim accusing him of sexual assault in 1993 and he made unpopular budget cuts to the police, schools and libraries.

Roughly 58 percent of New Yorkers disapproved of Mr. Adams’s job as mayor, and the dissatisfaction was nearly across the board. A majority of those polled said that the mayor did not have strong leadership qualities, did not understand their problems and was not honest or trustworthy.

He also received some of his lowest ratings over his handling of homelessness and the city budget, with only 22 percent of voters supporting him on those issues.

Washington Post, ‘Detransitioners’ wield influence in shaping conservative transgender laws, Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Dec. 6, 2023. Prisha Mosley transitioned from female to male in her teens. Last year, she detransitioned and joined with conservative activists trying to ban gender-affirming treatment.

At 25, college student Prisha Mosley doesn’t consider herself conservative. She was raised “a leftist my whole life, and quite radical at times.” She has face piercings, dyes her hair bright red, supports same-sex marriage, abortion rights and gun control, and rejects gender stereotypes.

But several life-changing decisions forever shaped how others see her.

In her teens, Mosley transitioned from female to male. Last year, she detransitioned and joined forces with conservative activists fighting to ban the gender-affirming care she had received.

Mosley is among more than a dozen detransitioners who have gained prominence this year, suing the doctors and clinics from which they received care in more than half a dozen states, headlining conservative events and starring in documentaries often sponsored by right-wing groups.

Washington Post, Florida GOP chairman under fire as more details emerge in rape inquiry, Lori Rozsa and Will Oremus, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). Republican Party chair and his wife, shown above, a Moms for Liberty co-founder, part of three-way encounter with alleged victim, affidavit says.

Leaders of the Florida Republican Party criticized state GOP Chairman Christian Ziegler as details emerged in a rape allegation by a woman with whom he and his wife previously had a three-way sexual encounter.

Ziegler is under investigation by Sarasota police but has not been charged. A search warrant affidavit obtained by the Florida Center for Government Accountability, a nonprofit watchdog group, and provided to The Washington Post reveals additional details about the allegations of the assault. Police also obtained from the woman’s cellphone messages between her and Ziegler in the hours leading up to the encounter, the affidavit states.

On Oct. 2, the woman had agreed to have a sexual encounter with Ziegler that was to include his wife, Bridget, the affidavit says. But when the woman learned that Bridget couldn’t make it, she changed her mind and canceled. When Ziegler told her in one message that his wife was no longer available, she replied, “Sorry I was mostly in for her,” she said in a message, according to the affidavit.

According to the affidavit, the woman told Sarasota police that Ziegler then showed up at her apartment uninvited and raped her. The woman reported the alleged assault to police two days later, and a rape kit was done at a Sarasota hospital, the affidavit states.

Christian Ziegler later told detectives that he had consensual sex with the woman, and that he had video-recorded it and uploaded the video to Google Drive, according to the affidavit, but police were not able to locate the video. Sarasota police served a search warrant to Google last month, the affidavit says. Google did not respond to a request for comment Saturday.

In a 911 call two days after the alleged assault, a recording of which was also obtained by the Florida Center for Government Accountability and shared with The Post, a friend of the woman asked emergency responders to check on the woman at her apartment. According to the call’s recording, the friend said the woman hadn’t shown up for work for two days. When the friend called the woman, the woman sounded “drunk” and was “slurring her words,” the friend told dispatchers. “She told me she was raped and that she’s scared to leave her house,” the friend added, according to the recording of the call.

Bridget Ziegler, who is not named in the complaint against her husband, is a co-founder of Moms for Liberty and has worked closely with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on legislation that opponents have described as anti-LGBTQ+. Bridget Ziegler “confirmed having a sexual encounter with the victim and Christian over a year ago and that it only happened one time,” the affidavit says.

News reports emerged several days ago about the allegations of rape, but more records were obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request late Friday and reported by several Florida news outlets. They include details of recorded conversations via Instagram and phone calls between the woman and Christian Ziegler that detectives obtained. Police have filed search warrants for Ziegler’s phone, email and other devices. The Sarasota Police Department did not reply to several requests for comment.

Washington Post, HOME-SCHOOL NATION: What home schooling hides: An 11-year-old boy tortured and starved by his stepmom, Peter Jamison, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). Roman Lopez was 11 when he went missing. His years of torment were concealed by home schooling.

Nobody could find Roman Lopez.

His family had searched, taping hand-drawn “missing” posters to telephone poles and driving the streets calling out the 11-year-old’s name. So had many of his neighbors, their flashlights sweeping over the sidewalks as the winter darkness settled on the Sierra Nevada foothills.

The police were searching, too, and now they had returned to the place where Roman had gone missing earlier that day: his family’s rented home in Placerville, Calif. Roman’s stepmother, Lindsay Piper, hesitated when officers showed up at her door the night of Jan. 11, 2020, asking to comb the house again. But she had told them that Roman liked to hide in odd places — even the clothes dryer — and agreed to let them in.

Brock Garvin, Roman’s 15-year-old stepbrother, was sitting in the dimly lit basement when police came downstairs shortly after 10:30 p.m. He ignored them, he said later, watching “Supernatural” on television as three officers began inspecting the black-and-yellow Home Depot storage bins stacked along the back wall.

Brock had no idea what had happened to Roman. But he did know something the police did not: Much of what his mother had said to them that day was a lie.

When she reported Roman’s disappearance, Piper told the police she was home schooling the eight kids in her household. This was technically true. It was also a ruse.

Most schools have teachers, principals, guidance counselors — professionals trained to recognize the unexplained bruises or erratic behaviors that may point to an abusive parent. Home education was an easy way to avoid the scrutiny of such people. That was the case for Piper, whose children were learning less from her about math and history than they were about violence, cruelty and neglect.

Left to their own devices while she lay in bed watching TV crime procedurals, and her husband, Jordan, worked long hours as a utility lineman, their days and nights passed in a penumbral blur of video games, microwave dinners and fistfights. Almost nothing resembling education took place, her sons said. But there was a shared project in which she diligently led her children: the torture of their stepbrother, Roman.

Roman had been a loving, extroverted 7-year-old who obsessed over dinosaurs when Piper came into his life, a mama’s boy perpetually in search of a mother as Jordan, his father, cycled from one broken relationship to the next.

On the day he was reported missing, he was a sixth-grader who weighed only 42 pounds. He had been locked in closets, whipped with extension cords and bound with zip ties, according to police reports and interviews with family members who witnessed his treatment. Unwilling to give him even short breaks from his isolation, Piper kept him in diapers.

New York Times, Opinion: Farewell to George Santos, the Perfect MAGA Republican, Michelle Goldberg, Dec. 3, 2023 (print ed.). Should the blessed day ever arrive when Donald Trump is sent to federal prison, only one of his acolytes has earned the right to share his cell: George Santos, who on Friday became the sixth person in history to be expelled from the House of Representatives, more than seven months after he was first charged with crimes including fraud and money laundering. (He’s pleaded not guilty.)

A clout-chasing con man obsessed with celebrity, driven into politics not by ideology but by vanity and the promise of proximity to rich marks, Santos is a pure product of Trump’s Republican Party. “At nearly every opportunity, he placed his desire for private gain above his duty to uphold the Constitution, federal law and ethical principles,” said a House Ethics Committee report about Santos released last month. He’s a true child of the MAGA movement.

That movement is multifaceted, and different politicians represent different strains: There’s the dour, conspiracy-poisoned suburban grievance of Marjorie Taylor Greene, the gun-loving rural evangelicalism of Lauren Boebert, the overt white nationalism of Paul Gosar and the frat boy sleaze of Matt Gaetz. But no one embodies Trump’s fame-obsessed sociopathic emptiness like Santos. He’s heir to Trump’s sybaritic nihilism, high-kitsch absurdity and impregnable brazenness.

Washington Post, Rep. George Santos expelled from Congress on bipartisan vote, Amy B Wang and Mariana Alfaro, Dec. 2, 2023 (print ed.). The House voted to expel the New York Republican (shown above in a file photo via the Associated Press) in response to an array of alleged crimes and ethical lapses.

The House voted Friday to expel Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) from Congress — an action the chamber had previously taken only five times in U.S. history, and not for more than 20 years — in response to an array of alleged crimes and ethical lapses that came to light after the freshman lawmaker was found to have fabricated key parts of his biography.

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U.S. Military, Security, Intelligence, Foreign Policy, JFK Death

Manuel Rocha, serving as U.S. ambassador to Bolivia, speaks with journalists in La Paz on July 11, 2001 (Photo by Gonzalo Espinoza via AFP and Getty Images) 

Washington Post, Ex-U.S. ambassador accused of being Cuba’s secret agent since 1981, Devlin Barrett, Mary Beth Sheridan and Karen DeYoung, Dec. 5, 2023. Manuel Rocha is charged with acting on Cuba’s behalf for decades. The Justice Department unsealed charges Monday against a retired ambassador, accusing him of being a “clandestine agent” for decades — allegedly betraying his country by acting on behalf of Cuba’s spy agency.

The arrest of Manuel Rocha, 73, capped a year-long undercover sting operation in which an FBI agent pretending to be a Cuban intelligence operative secretly recorded Rocha making incriminating statements about his life of diplomatic deception.

Attorney General Merrick Garland, left, called the Rocha case “one of the highest-reaching and longest-lasting infiltrations of the United States government by a foreign agent,” adding that in those secretly recorded conversations, Rocha repeatedly referred to the United States as “the enemy.”

The news of Rocha’s alleged duplicity stunned his friends and colleagues in U.S. diplomatic and intelligence circles.

“I never suspected, never had the slightest suspicion that he might be living a double life like the charging document describes,” said Brian Latell, a former senior CIA intelligence official who met Rocha in the early 1980s.

“I think I knew him as well as anyone else, and I never thought it was possible. I think Manuel was someone with many more talents, and many more facets, than frankly I had ever imagined, even as close as we were for so many years,” Latell said. “He was obviously doing very useful work for the Cubans.”

Former FBI agent Peter Lapp said the Rocha case is “very disturbing and concerning” because of the amount and types of intelligence Rocha could access. Lapp — whose book “Queen of Cuba” recounts a case he investigated against a different Cuban spy, U.S. defense analyst Ana Montes — said the court papers in Rocha’s case suggest that the FBI used the undercover agent to get Rocha talking, and that he apparently talked himself into criminal charges.

New York Times, The U.S. blamed Yemeni rebels for ship attacks in the Red Sea, the latest by Iran-backed groups since the war began, Helene Cooper, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). A Pentagon official said the U.S.S. Carney shot down the drones as several commercial ships nearby came under fire on Sunday, in attacks that U.S. Central Command said came from Iran-backed Yemeni Houthis.

A U.S. Navy destroyer shot down three drones during a sustained attack in the Red Sea on Sunday, the Pentagon said, in what could signal another escalation in the tit-for-tat attacks between the American military and Iranian-backed militants.

A Pentagon official said the U.S.S. Carney shot down the drones as several commercial ships nearby came under fire as part of an attack that began at 9:15 a.m. and lasted for several hours on Sunday. The destroyer intercepted three drones during the attack, United States Central Command said in a statement, including one that was headed in the direction of the Carney. The Pentagon said there were no injuries onboard the destroyer and that the ship was not damaged.

In the statement, Central Command said the attacks originated from areas in Yemen that are controlled by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia. Since the Oct. 7 incursion into Israel led by Hamas, the Houthis based in Yemen have launched a series of attacks — including with drones and missiles — on Israeli and American targets in the Red Sea.

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U.S. 2024 Presidential Race

Washington Post, Election 2024 Analysis: No previous primary debates centered on such unpopular candidates, Philip Bump, Dec. 6, 2023.  The headline at the Tuscaloosa, Ala., News was effusive. “All eyes on Tuscaloosa for GOP presidential candidate debate,” it read, excited exclamation point implied though not manifested.

One can appreciate what they were going for and, certainly, the enthusiasm of playing host to what has traditionally been a central part of the process for determining the next president. But the sad reality of this particular debate and this particular debate season is that relatively few eyes will be paying attention to Tuscaloosa on Wednesday night because, once again, the guy who has a massive lead in Republican presidential primary polling will not be participating.

Wednesday’s is the fourth debate of the 2024 primary cycle, but you’d be forgiven for not knowing that. I’ve written before about the lack of interest in the debates, a disinterest validated by the lack of impact the debates have had on the primary contest. That itself isn’t unusual, really; debates often only goose candidates a bit, if at all. It’s just that, this year, former president Donald Trump is so far ahead that having a significant effect on the race is a much more challenging task than it would normally be. And since Trump isn’t participating in the debates, that challenge becomes harder still.

In 164 debates that have been held since 1980 for which 538 has (in some cases retroactively) calculated national polling averages, the participants in debates have averaged a cumulative 72 percent of national polling support. The average is higher for Democratic debate participants (75 percent vs. 69 percent) but it’s still the case that debates have generally included candidates supported by at least three-quarters of those with a preferred candidate.

Washington Post, Opinion: The folly of poll-dependent commentary, Jennifer Rubin, right, Dec. 5, 2023. My dim view of polling a year out from the election is no secret. To illustrate the foolishness of building punditry around meaningless, premature polling, consider what would unfold if pundits ran with a spate of recent polling in President Biden’s favor.

Democratic consultant Simon Rosenberg pointed out on his website that four recent polls show Biden with small leads over four-time indicted former president Donald Trump:

Rosenberg pointed out that in the Morning Consult poll, Biden gained four percentage points over the prior week, and he gained three percentage points in the Economist/YouGov poll.

Now imagine if, as the mainstream media did when the New York Times released a poll showing Biden trailing in five of six key battleground states (improbably showing Biden leading among 18- to 29-year-olds by only one point and trailing among 30- to 44-year-olds), the media blanketed the airwaves and splashed these findings over the front pages for days on end. We would see headlines such as: “Biden rebounds with young voters!” and “Trump lead collapses!”

Well, you say, this is all preposterous. These polls are within the margin of error. Moreover, we are a year away from the race. That is my point exactly. It would be absurd to rationalize data of questionable value to pontificate with great certainty about the state of the race.

Political reporters are so used to this flawed approach to campaign coverage that many might be stumped if you told them they could not base their reporting on any polling this far out. But what would we say?! As media critic and New York University professor Jay Rosen is found of saying, they would need to cover “not the odds but the stakes.”

In other words, the mainstream media would have to focus (not just for a single story but extended over weeks) on the consequences of electing a candidate echoing Adolf Hitler and vowing to use the military and Justice Department against his enemies. They would have to look not at polling about the economy but the actual economic record of the administration (e.g., inflation flattened, more than 14 million jobs created, record low unemployment for Black people, Hispanics and women). They would need to examine the decisions of Trump-appointed judges and the social uproar it set off, especially among women in the wake of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

Washington Post, Election 2024: Liz Cheney, outspoken Trump critic, weighs third-party presidential run, Maeve Reston, Dec. 5, 2023. The former congresswoman says she is determined to stop Trump. Other Trump critics think a third-party candidacy could help him.

Liz Cheney, one of the most vociferous critics of Donald Trump in the Republican Party, says she is weighing whether to mount her own third-party candidacy for the White House, as she vows to do “whatever it takes” to prevent the former president from returning to office.

While promoting her new book Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning, the former Wyoming congresswoman — who was defeated by a Trump loyalist last year — is warning that Trump could transform America’s democracy into a dictatorship if he is reelected; anticipating, she said, that he would attempt to stay longer than his term.

“Several years ago, I would not have contemplated a third-party run,” Cheney said in a Monday interview with The Washington Post. But, she said, “I happen to think democracy is at risk at home, obviously, as a result of Donald Trump’s continued grip on the Republican Party, and I think democracy is at risk internationally as well.”

New York Times, As Donald Trump continues to skip debates, Republicans are weighing looser rules, Shane Goldmacher and Maggie Haberman, Dec. 5, 2023. The party is considering whether to open the door to debates not sponsored by the Republican National Committee, which could lead to more onstage clashes but also diminish their fanfare.

The next Republican debate on Wednesday could be the last one sponsored by the Republican National Committee in the 2024 primary race, with the party considering debate rule changes that would open the door to more onstage clashes but also diminish the fanfare around them.

The debate in Tuscaloosa, Ala., comes as Nikki Haley, the former United Nations ambassador, is trying to assert herself as the main rival to former President Donald J. Trump, after months in which Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida has ceded ground. The R.N.C. is weighing a proposal to end its demand that candidates participate exclusively in the party’s debates, with a final decision expected this week.

Few have been happy with how the debates, which are overseen by the R.N.C., have unfolded so far. Mr. Trump has boycotted them, dampening interest and lessening the stakes. His rivals have been forced to fight among themselves. And lower-polling candidates have steadily been pushed out by rising thresholds to qualify.

Debates are traditionally the marquee events of a presidential primary contest, with voters eagerly tuning in to watch the candidates disagree on policy and vie for their support. But the Republican front-runner’s stubborn absence this election cycle has robbed them of much of their drama.

New York Times, Some Republicans Have a Blunt Message for Chris Christie: Drop Out, Lisa Lerer and Chris Cameron, Dec. 5, 2023. Several anti-Trump Republican donors and strategists are pushing Mr. Christie to end his presidential campaign and back Nikki Haley.

Republican donors, strategists and pundits are publicly pressuring Mr. Christie to follow the lead of Tim Scott and Mike Pence and formally end his campaign. Many would like him to throw his support behind Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor who has risen in the polls in early-voting states in recent weeks.

The focus on Mr. Christie’s bid reflects the anxiety that has consumed anti-Trump Republicans as the race moves into the final weeks before the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 15. Despite three debates, tens of millions of dollars and many months of campaigning, none of the six candidates still challenging Mr. Trump have made much of a dent in his double-digit lead. And they are rapidly running out of time.

Yet in a race in which Mr. Trump has maintained an expansive lead, Mr. Christie’s small foothold on the New Hampshire electorate may not make that great a difference.

Patrick Murray, a New Jersey pollster who is the director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, said his data indicated that only about half of Mr. Christie’s support in New Hampshire would go to Ms. Haley, while the rest would be distributed among the other candidates. The five or six points that Ms. Haley would earn would not be enough for her to come close to Mr. Trump, who leads New Hampshire by nearly 30 points.

Mr. Christie’s advisers argue that he is playing an important role by being the only candidate willing to take direct and frequent shots at Mr. Trump. Mike DuHaime, one of Mr. Christie’s top strategists, said a case could be made for any of the candidates other than Mr. Trump to drop out, given that none have been able to break the 20 percent mark in polling.

“Whatever case people make to you about Christie, the other two have no path either,” Mr. DuHaime said, referring to Ms. Haley and Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida. “Should everybody just drop out, or should we try to beat the guy?”

New York Times, Doug Burgum, Wealthy North Dakota Governor, Ends White House Run, Jonathan Weisman, Dec. 5, 2023 (print ed.). The little-known former software executive had hoped his business acumen and relentless focus on the economy, energy and foreign policy would lift his campaign. It didn’t.

Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota, right, the wealthy former software executive who entered the presidential campaign in June hoping a back-to-basics appeal on the economy would propel him forward, dropped out of the race for the Republican nomination on Monday.

Though his personal fortune could have kept his campaign afloat, Mr. Burgum’s mild demeanor and resolute focus on three issues, the economy, energy and foreign policy, never caught on with a G.O.P. electorate steeped in the pugilistic flash of Donald J. Trump and the more visceral appeal of social issues.

Mr. Burgum claimed on Monday that he had shifted the conversation on the campaign trail from divisive social issues to energy and foreign policy. He blamed media inattention and Republican Party rules for his poor showing.

New York Times, Analysis: Here’s why Nikki Haley is rising among the rivals to Donald Trump, Nate Cohn, Dec. 5, 2023 (print ed.). She has gained with educated and relatively moderate Republicans and independents, but that is also a big liability in today’s G.O.P.

Over the last few months, Nikki Haley has gained enough in the polls that she might be on the verge of surpassing Ron DeSantis as Donald J. Trump’s principal rival in the race.

With Ms. Haley still a full 50 percentage points behind Mr. Trump in national polls, her ascent doesn’t exactly endanger his path to the nomination. If anything, she is a classic factional candidate — someone who’s built a resilient base of support by catering to the wishes of a minority of the party. So if you were reading this only on the off chance that Mr. Trump might be in jeopardy, you can doze off again.

But even if it’s still hard to imagine a Haley win, her rise may nonetheless make this race more interesting, especially in the early states, which will begin to vote in six weeks. Ms. Haley is now neck-and-neck with Mr. DeSantis in Iowa, a state he is counting on to reverse a yearlong downward spiral in the polls. She’s well ahead of Mr. DeSantis in New Hampshire and South Carolina, two states where a moderate South Carolinian like her ought to fare relatively well.

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Global Disputes, Disasters, Human Rights

Washington Post, ‘Bombing mishap’ by Nigeria military kills 85 civilians, Ope Adetayo and Rachel Chason, Dec. 6, 2023. A drone strike by Nigeria’s military killed scores of civilians celebrating a religious festival, the deadliest single incident on a growing list of such mistakes.

Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency put the death toll at 85 civilians in the village in Tudun Biri in Kaduna state on Sunday, following what President Bola Ahmed Tinubu described as a “bombing mishap.”

“President Bola Tinubu sympathizes with the families of victims, the people and government of Kaduna State over the bombing mishap,” said the statement, which said he “describes the incident as very unfortunate, disturbing, and painful, expressing indignation and grief over the tragic loss of Nigerian lives.” The president called for a “full-fledged” investigation.

How climate change inflames extremist insurgency in Africa

Before Monday, more than 300 people were killed in 14 separate reported strikes carried out by the Nigerian Air Force between January 2o17 and January 2023, according to a count by SBM Intelligence, a Lagos-based intelligence company. The drone strike on Sunday was carried out by an aviation wing of the army, said Confidence MacHarry, lead security analyst at SBM, rather than the Air Force.

New York Times, Sunak’s New Rwanda Bill Aims to Override Some Human Rights Law, Stephen Castle and Abdi Latif Dahir, Dec. 6, 2023.  Britain’s prime minister unveiled emergency legislation to salvage a highly contested scheme to deport asylum seekers to the African country. It wasn’t enough for his immigration minister.

New York Times, Vladimir Putin to Visit Saudi Arabia and U.A.E. on Wednesday, Ivan Nechepurenko and Anton Troianovski, Dec. 5, 2023. The trip is part of a series of diplomatic meetings by the Russian leader, and comes as Ukraine tries to shore up eroding support for its war effort.

President Vladimir V. Putin, shown above in a file photo, will make a rare trip to the Middle East on Wednesday, the Kremlin announced, saying he would discuss bilateral relations, oil and international affairs in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The trip is part of a flurry of diplomatic meetings the Russia leader will conduct this week; on Thursday in Moscow, Mr. Putin will host President Ebrahim Raisi of Iran, the leader of another key player in the region.

Mr. Putin, who has not traveled beyond China, Iran and the former Soviet states since he launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, will visit both the Emirates and Saudi Arabia in one day, Dmitri S. Peskov, his spokesman, told journalists during a briefing on Tuesday.

The meetings come as Ukraine tries to shore up Western aid for its war effort, amid signs of eroding support in the United States. President Volodymyr Zelensky will address the U.S. Senate on Tuesday in an attempt to stress the urgency of maintaining American financial and military backing.
Ukraine will be another issue looming over Mr. Putin’s talks, though the Kremlin did not specify it as being on the agenda. Saudi Arabia has attempted to act as a mediator in the war, inviting some 40 countries for a peace conference in August and helping to conduct a successful prisoner exchange last year that included American and British citizens, with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman mediating the release.

Now, there is renewed speculation in Russia about possible peace talks, amid questions over the durability of Western support for Ukraine and as Ukrainian officials acknowledge that this year’s counteroffensive failed to achieve a significant breakthrough.

Citing an unnamed, high-ranking Russian source, Izvestia, a pro-Kremlin daily, reported on Tuesday that Russia would not oppose conducting talks with Ukraine in a European country, such as Hungary. In an interview with RBC, a Russian business daily, Grigory Yavlinsky, a longtime Russian politician who met with Mr. Putin in October, said that he had offered to become an intermediary in such talks.

Mr. Zelensky, who has vowed that Ukraine will keep fighting to liberate its territory, told The Associated Press in an interview last week that he did not yet feel pressure from allies to negotiate with Russia, though “some voices are always heard.”

New York Times, The United Nations plays a vital role on the ground in wars and disasters, Farnaz Fassihi, Dec. 5, 2023. While some critics say the world body is paralyzed by political differences, its humanitarian agencies are helping needy people in Gaza and other places around the world.

As conflicts rage in Ukraine and the Middle East, the picture offered to the world by the United Nations in New York is often one of division and paralysis. But far from U.N. headquarters things look different, its agencies mounting relief efforts in the most challenging of circumstances.

On a recent day in the Gaza Strip, U.N. officials were offering shelter in a vocational center to over 30,000 people sleeping on bare floors amid puddles of mud and overflowing sewage. “People lost everything, and they need everything,” said Juliette Touma, director of communications for UNRWA, the U.N. body that cares for Palestinians, who had traveled to Gaza for two days with the agency’s commissioner general, Philippe Lazzarini.

The officials were also trying to buck up their own staff. One U.N. staff member told them that he finds a place to hide and cry every day in order to cope, Ms. Touma said. So far, 130 staff members for UNRWA have been killed in the war and many are missing, feared dead under the rubble.

The United Nations was created in the aftermath of World War II with the intention of “saving succeeding generations from the scourge of war” by maintaining international peace and stability. While it has failed to achieve that ambitious goal, it has evolved into a vast global humanitarian aid agency that many call more vital than ever.

New York Times, China’s rising debt spurred the ratings agency Moody’s to lower the country’s credit outlook, Keith Bradsher, Dec. 5, 2023. The ratings agency cut its view of the country’s finances to negative, saying it was concerned about the potential cost of local government bailouts.

In another blow to China’s economy, the credit ratings agency Moody’s said Tuesday that it had issued a negative outlook for the Chinese government’s financial health.

Moody’s expressed concern at the potential cost to the national government of bailing out debt-burdened regional and local governments and state-owned businesses. Moody’s, which previously viewed China’s finances as stable, warned that the country’s economy is settling into slower growth while its enormous property sector has begun to shrink.

China’s Ministry of Finance immediately pushed back, saying that the Chinese economy is resilient and that local government budgets could withstand their loss of revenue from the country’s real estate downturn.

New York Times, Chinese Developer’s Crash Was Propelled by Questionable Accounting, Alexandra Stevenson, Dec. 5, 2023. Blame for China Evergrande’s downfall has been placed on Chinese lending policies, but poor corporate oversight was hiding in plain sight.

In January, more than 100 financial sleuths were dispatched to the Guangzhou headquarters of China Evergrande Group, a real estate giant that had defaulted a year earlier under $300 billion of debt. Its longtime auditor had just resigned, and a nation of home buyers had directed its ire at Evergrande.

Police on watch for protesters stood guard outside the building, and the new team of auditors were issued permits to get in. After six months of work, the auditors reported that Evergrande had lost $81 billion over the prior two years, vastly more than expected.

But they still had questions. Some records they had requested from Evergrande were incomplete. Numbers were missing. Important accounting errors or misstatements may have gone undetected. How had things at Evergrande — once one of China’s most successful companies — gone so wrong?

China’s housing boom was the biggest the world has seen, and Evergrande’s rise was powered by rapacious expansion, the system that stoked it and foreign investors who threw money at it. When China’s housing bubble burst, no other company imploded in as spectacular a fashion.

New York Times, The Wild Card in Taiwan’s Election: Frustrated Young Voters, Amy Chang Chien and Chris Buckley, Dec. 5, 2023 (print ed.). An important bloc for the governing party, the island’s youth are focusing on bread-and-butter issues and have helped propel the rise of an insurgent party.

In the months leading up to a pivotal presidential election for Taiwan, candidates have focused on who can best handle the island democracy’s volatile relationship with China, with its worries about the risks of war. But at a recent forum in Taipei, younger voters instead peppered two of the candidates with questions about everyday issues like rent, telecom scams and the voting age.

It was a telling distillation of the race, the outcome of which will have far-reaching implications for Taiwan. The island is a potential flashpoint between the United States and China, which claims Taiwan as its territory and has signaled that it could escalate military threats if the Democratic Progressive Party wins.

But many Taiwanese voters, especially those in their 20s and 30s, say they are weary of geopolitics and yearn for a campaign more focused on their needs at home. In interviews, they spoke of rising housing costs, slow income growth and narrowing career prospects. A considerable number expressed disillusionment with Taiwan’s two dominant parties, the governing Democratic Progressive Party and the opposition Nationalist Party.

That sentiment has helped propel the rise of a third: the Taiwan People’s Party, an upstart that has gained traction in the polls partly by tapping into frustration over bread-and-butter issues, especially among younger people. The two main parties have also issued policy packages promising to address these anxieties.

New York Times, Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, has reignited a border dispute with an oil-rich neighbor, Guyana, Genevieve Glatsky, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, right, finds himself in a political bind. He is under pressure from the United States to hold free and fair elections after years of authoritarian rule or face a reinstatement of crippling economic sanctions. But analysts say he is unlikely to give up power and would most likely lose in a credible election.

Now, Mr. Maduro has reignited a border dispute with a much smaller neighboring country in a move that seems driven, at least in part, by a desire to divert attention from his political troubles at home by stoking nationalist fervor.

Mr. Maduro claims that the vast, oil-rich Essequibo region of Guyana, a country of about 800,000, is part of Venezuela, a nation of roughly 28 million people, and is holding a nonbinding referendum on Sunday asking voters whether they support the government’s position.

Mr. Maduro’s argument is based on what many Venezuelans consider an illegitimate agreement dating to the 19th century that gave the Essequibo region to Guyana.

Although most countries have accepted that Essequibo belongs to Guyana, the issue remains a point of contention for many Venezuelans, and the referendum is likely to be approved, experts said.

President Irfaan Ali of Guyana has said that “Essequibo is ours, every square inch of it,” and has pledged to defend it.

For Mr. Maduro, stoking a geopolitical crisis gives him a way to shift the domestic conversation at a moment when many Venezuelans are pressing for an election that could challenge his hold on power.

“Maduro needs to wrap himself in the flag for electoral reasons, and obviously a territorial dispute with a neighbor is the perfect excuse,” said Phil Gunson, an analyst with the International Crisis Group who lives in Venezuela’s capital, Caracas.

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U.S. Supreme Court

Future Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, right, during her years as a state legislator and campaigner in Arizona (Associated Press photo).

New York Times, Opinion: Sandra Day O’Connor Never Stopped Being a Politician, Jeffrey Toobin (former federal prosecutor andauthor of “The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court”), Dec. 3, 2023 (print ed.). Sandra Day O’Connor, who died on Friday, is forever linked to the word “first” — the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court. But especially when thinking about today’s court, the word that may describe her best is “last” — the last former politician to be a justice.

Justice O’Connor spent a little over five years as a state senator in Arizona, eventually serving as the leader of the Republican majority, and her tenure in the capitol in Phoenix is the key to understanding both her own jurisprudence and what’s missing from the Supreme Court today.

Justice O’Connor loved being a politician and, in a way, never stopped being one. Of course, she didn’t have to face the voters as a justice, but she was acutely aware of the need for the court to remain in the good graces of the public. Her judicial philosophy — which was less an overarching ideology than a case-by-case inclination toward moderation — never found much favor among law professors; she had no overarching theory of jurisprudence, like the contemporary fad for originalism. (Conducting séances with the likes of James Madison for guidance on cases was never for her.) She was a practical problem solver, and she was guided by a keen sense of the political center, where she thought the court always belonged.

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More On U.S. Courts, Crime, Guns, Civil Rights, Immigration 

Associated Press, Sheriff: Gunman’s parents among 6 dead in Texas attacks; he was earlier arrested for family assault, Jim Vertuno and Acacia Coronado, Dec. 6, 2023. One man is custody after a series of attacks in Texas left 6 people dead and three wounded. Authorities say people were found dead in two homes in Austin and a residence east of San Antonio.

A Texas man suspected of killing his parents in San Antonio and four others in Austin in a violent trail of separate attacks had cut off his ankle monitor from a previous misdemeanor domestic violence arrest, authorities said Wednesday.

The suspect, Shane James, 34, also had been confronted by deputies for a mental health call when he was naked at his parents’ home, Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said at a news conference in the San Antonio area. But deputies did not arrest him at that time, despite a misdemeanor warrant for cutting off the ankle monitor. James will be charged with murder or capital murder in his county in the coming days, the sheriff added.

James has already been charged with two counts of capital murder related to the killings in Austin in separate attacks authorities said began Tuesday morning and ended with the suspect crashing his car that evening during a police pursuit. Four people were found dead in two homes in Austin, more than 80 miles (130 kilometers) away from the San Antonio area, officials said.

A cyclist in Austin also was shot and wounded and two police officers were recovering from gunshots, including one who was shot in the leg outside of a high school, Austin interim Police Chief Robin Henderson said.

New York Times, Shooter Injures 3 at U. of Nevada Then Dies After Confrontation With Police, Jesus Jiménez, Dec. 6, 2023.  A shooter opened fire at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, on Wednesday, injuring at least three people, the authorities said. The suspect died after being confronted by the police.

The victims were taken to area hospitals; their conditions were unclear. Those on campus were under a lockdown as the campus police investigated reports of gunfire at Frank and Estella Beam Hall, a business school building, and the nearby student union.

Washington Post, With ‘conversion switch’ devices, machine guns return to U.S. streets, Tom Jackman, Dec. 6, 2023. A small square block enables guns to fire continuously, and a similar device can be placed inside rifles such as the AR-15.

The earsplitting, heart-stopping roar of fully automatic weapons hasn’t been often heard on America’s streets since Congress largely outlawed them in 1934. But now it’s back, owing to a small device that is easily plugged into certain handguns and rifles, converting semiautomatic firearms into guns capable of firing 20 bullets in one second — with one pull of the trigger.

In Sacramento last year, a handgun converted into a machine gun was used during a gun battle that left six dead, in what has been called Sacramento’s deadliest mass shooting. In Minneapolis, eight people were wounded in August amid a spray of 40 bullets fired in just seconds. In 2021, a Houston police officer was killed and another wounded by a suspect with a pistol equipped with the device.

And in D.C.’s NoMa neighborhood in August last year, a drug dealer who was shot at returned fire with 24 shots in one burst along North Capitol Street, authorities said. His target, a car that had been used in a drive-by shooting, sped away, while two people were wounded, according to court records.

“It’s incredibly scary,” said Matthew M. Graves, the District’s U.S. attorney, citing the rising number of conversion devices found in the city in recent years. There were 27 guns recovered with the devices in 2021. The number rose to 119 last year, and, as of late October, the number was more than 150, Graves said. Police often find extended magazines attached to the guns, to hold more than the standard 12 or 13 bullets contained in most magazines, and they have even seized round drum magazines, which can hold 50 or more bullets.

“We have no shortage, unfortunately, of crime scenes where we have strong reason to believe, based on the number of rounds expended, that one of these devices was used,” Graves said. Local and federal authorities could not provide any examples of a converted automatic weapon causing any woundings or deaths in the District so far.
A “switch,” also known as a conversion device, or sear, or “giggle switch,” as displayed by ATF, with an imprint falsely suggesting it was made by Glock. The switch converts a semiautomatic handgun or rifle into an automatic weapon capable of firing 20 rounds in one second. (Tom Jackman/The Washington Post)

The devices have many names: Switch. Giggle switch. Sear. Auto sear. Conversion device. Glock switch (some of which have Glock’s logo fraudulently printed on them). Even though they are small — switches for pistols are about the size of a playing die — and don’t themselves contain bullets, the devices are considered machine guns by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said Craig B. Kailimai, special agent in charge of ATF’s Washington field division.

Washington Post, Arlington man whose house exploded had history of rambling lawsuits, Salvador Rizzo, Omari Daniels and Jasmine Hilton, Dec. 6, 2023. James W. Yoo, 56, had a ‘combative’ divorce and history of alcoholism, according to legal filings.

Before an explosion leveled James W. Yoo’s two-story duplex in Arlington County, Va., during a police standoff Monday night — before the dwelling erupted in a gargantuan fireball, apparently with Yoo inside — the 56-year-old homeowner had gone through a contentious divorce, had a history of alcohol abuse and filing rambling lawsuits, and had repeatedly complained to the FBI, to no avail, that he was a fraud victim, according to authorities and court records.

Yoo, who described himself in some of his many court cases as a former security specialist for telecommunications companies, was rarely seen around his neighborhood in the county’s Bluemont area, residents said. Then, late Monday afternoon, someone began firing projectiles from “a flare-type gun” in the 800 block of North Burlington Street, police said. When officers arrived at Yoo’s home about 5 p.m., they were met with gunfire, and a barricade situation ensued.

Shortly before 8:30 p.m., an enormous blast from inside the home, heard for miles around, reduced the place to splinters and rained debris all over the block. Police said a person’s remains later found in the rubble are presumed to be Yoo’s. They said no one else was seriously hurt and that the cause of the explosion has not been determined.

Neighbors said Yoo recently seemed to be getting ready to move out. Bags were piled atop his garage roof, they said. They said Yoo almost never interacted with others on the block. In fact, they said, they rarely set eyes on him.

“If you saw a human in that house, it would be a miracle,” said Sharney Wiringi, 45, who walked his dog daily by the home at 844 N. Burlington St. Referring to Yoo, he said, “Nobody in the neighborhood really knew him.”

Yoo, who inherited the house from his parents, stated in unsuccessful legal filings over the years that he had long suffered from alcoholism. Arlington County Police Chief Andy Penn said at a news briefing Tuesday that the investigation of the explosion was ongoing and that the Virginia medical examiner’s office had yet to positively identify the person whose remains were found.

The incident began before 5 p.m. Monday, when police received a call about possible shots fired on Yoo’s block. It was “a flare-type gun,” Penn said, and more than 30 projectiles had been fired. As Yoo barricaded himself inside the home, authorities obtained a search warrant to enter the property and look for weapons, Penn said. Firefighters evacuated neighbors as a precaution.

Associated Press, Prosecutors push back against Hunter Biden’s move to subpoena Trump documents in gun case, Lindsay Whitehurst, Dec. 4, 2023. Prosecutors pushed back Monday against Hunter Biden’s move to subpoena documents from Donald Trump and former Justice Department officials in the firearms case filed against the president’s son.

They argued that Hunter Biden doesn’t have enough evidence to support his claims of potential political interference in the criminal investigation against him and urged a judge to reject the subpoena requests.

“His allegations and subpoena requests focus on likely inadmissible, far-reaching, and non-specific categories of documents concerning the actions and motives of individuals who did not make the relevant prosecutorial decision in his case,” prosecutor Leo Wise wrote in court documents.

Hunter Biden is charged with violating measures against drug users having guns when he bought and kept a revolver for about 11 days in 2018. He has pleaded not guilty.

House Republicans are demanding he appear for a closed-door deposition. He has refused the request. His attorney has called the probe a “fishing expedition.” His legal team has taken a more forceful approach to the case in recent months. The case has touched on some less-well-understood aspects of the criminal justice system. Republicans are also pursuing an impeachment inquiry seeking to tie the president to his son’s business dealings.

The investigation into Hunter Biden’s taxes and a gun purchase began in 2018, while Trump, a Republican, was still president. But charges weren’t brought until this year, while his father was president, something Wise called an “inconvenient truth” that undercuts the defense’s argument. The subpoena request is before U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika.

Hunter Biden’s attorneys have alleged there were “certain instances that appear to suggest incessant, improper, and partisan pressure applied” by Trump to his then-Attorney General William Barr and two top deputies, Jeffrey Rosen and Richard Donoghue. They cited public comments made by Trump, information from the House panel that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and details from a book by Barr.

The charges against Hunter Biden allege he broke laws against drug users having guns in 2018. He has pleaded not guilty, and the case is on a track toward a possible trial in 2024 while his father, a Democrat who defeated Trump in 2020, is campaigning for reelection.

The long-running case had appeared to be headed for a plea deal this summer, but the agreement on tax and gun charges broke down after Noreika, a Trump nominee, raised questions about it during a plea hearing. No new tax charges have yet been filed, but the special counsel overseeing the case has indicated they are possible in California, where Hunter Biden lives.

New York Times, Tyler Goodson of ‘S-Town’ Podcast Is Shot Dead in Police Standoff, Jesus Jiménez, Dec. 6, 2023 (print ed.). Mr. Goodson, who had been featured in the investigative podcast set in the town of Woodstock, Ala., “brandished a gun at officers” before he was fatally shot, the authorities said.

Tyler Goodson, a key figure in the popular “S-Town” podcast series, died on Sunday after he was shot during a standoff with the police at a house in Woodstock, Ala., southwest of Birmingham, the authorities said on Monday.

The police responded to a call after midnight on Sunday at a home in Woodstock, where they found that Mr. Goodson had barricaded himself inside, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said. A standoff followed between Mr. Goodson and law enforcement officials from several agencies, during which Mr. Goodson “brandished a gun at officers,” the agency said.

Mr. Goodson, 32, was shot, and was later pronounced dead, according to the agency.

“S-Town” was an instant hit when it was released in 2017, downloaded by listeners 16 million times in its first week, and it later won a Peabody Award.

The series released followed a man named John B. McLemore who hated his hometown of Woodstock, Ala., and reached out to Brian Reed, a producer at “This American Life,” for help investigating the son of a rich family who claimed to have gotten away with murder.

It was unclear who shot Mr. Goodson. Additional details about the standoff and the shooting were not disclosed.

Mayor Jeff Dodson of Woodstock said in a statement on Monday that “everyone wants answers and details, myself included.”

“Tyler was well known and loved by myself, his family and this community,” Mr. Dodson said. “That love extends far beyond due to the S-Town podcast. Please remember at this time that he is so much more than a character to the fans who loved him. This young man was a father, son, brother and friend to many.”

New York Times, House in Virginia Explodes as Police Prepare to Serve Search Warrant, Livia Albeck-Ripka and John Yoon, Dec. 5, 2023. Police said that a man had fired a flare gun 30 to 40 times from inside his home. He discharged several more rounds from a firearm during a standoff.

A house in Arlington, Va., exploded into flames on Monday night while the police were preparing to search it after reports of gunfire and a standoff with the man who lived there.

The police first went to the home around 4:45 p.m. following reports that shots had been heard, the Arlington County Police Department said. A preliminary investigation indicated that the resident had fired a flare gun about 30 to 40 times inside his home into the surrounding neighborhood, according to a statement from the police.

Officers obtained a search warrant and tried to make contact with the resident over the telephone and loudspeakers. But he did not respond and remained barricaded inside the home. As officers were preparing to serve the search warrant, he discharged several rounds from inside his home with what the police believe was a firearm. Then the explosion took place at the residence at 8:25 p.m.

Early Tuesday, the police had not identified the man inside the home or what his condition was. The police said on social media that residents should avoid the area, part of a densely populated suburban neighborhood with parks, restaurants and schools.

“We have not been able to access the home at this point, so I don’t have the status of the suspect,” said Ashley Savage, a spokeswoman for the Arlington County Police Department, by phone. The man was “believed to be inside the residence at the time of the explosion.” The investigation into the explosion is ongoing, the police said in the statement.

New York Times, More Chinese Are Risking Danger in Southern Border Crossings to U.S., Li Yuan, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). Trekking the perilous Darién Gap and seeking asylum are risks worth taking for migrants from China who have lost hope in the country’s future.

Gao Zhibin and his daughter left Beijing on Feb. 24 for a better life, a safer one. Over the next 35 days, by airplane, train, boat, bus and foot, they traveled through nine countries. By the time they touched American soil in late March, Mr. Gao had lost 30 pounds.

The most harrowing part of their journey was trekking through the brutal jungle in Panama known as the Darién Gap. On the first day, said Mr. Gao, 39, he had sunstroke. The second day, his feet swelled. Dehydrated and weakened, he threw away his tent, a moisture-resistant sleeping pad and his change of clothes.

Then his 13-year-old daughter got sick. She lay on the ground, vomiting, with her face pale, her forehead feverish, her hands on her stomach. Mr. Gao said he thought she might have drunk dirty water. Dragging themselves through the muddy, treacherous rainforests of the Darién Gap, they took a break every 10 minutes. They didn’t get to their destination, a camp site in Panama, until 9 p.m.

Mr. Gao said he felt he had no choice but to leave China.

“I think we will only be safe by coming to the U.S.,” he said, adding that he believed that Xi Jinping, China’s leader, could lead the country to famine and possibly war. “It’s a rare opportunity to protect me and my family,” he said.

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Climate Summit in Dubai

Heads of state and government will be speaking at the COP28 summit in Dubai on Friday and Saturday (Photo by Sean Gallup via Getty Images).

New York Times, Fighting Crises With Cash, Except for the Climate Crisis, Lisa Friedman and Somini Sengupta, Dec. 5, 2023 (print ed.). Money is a very big sticking point at this year’s United Nations climate summit. Part of the problem is that American promises often go unmet.

When there’s a global crisis, wealthy countries tend to find money.

That was the case in the United States when big banks were bailed out to soften a global financial crisis. That was the case for the coronavirus pandemic. And for military aid to allies like Ukraine.

But the climate crisis? It’s complicated.

This weekend, Vice President Kamala Harris visited the United Nations climate summit in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, and promised $3 billion for the Green Climate Fund, which benefits poorer nations. But Biden administration officials already are acknowledging it will be a struggle to persuade Congress to approve the money.

A day after that, John Kerry, President Biden’s climate envoy, announced at the talks a new carbon credit initiative in which more than a dozen major companies including Walmart, Pepsi and McDonalds will help developing countries pivot away from fossil fuels toward renewable energy. The creation of the program is a tacit acknowledgment that governments simply aren’t putting up the trillions of dollars needed to fund the energy transition.

One of the big tests facing this summit, known as COP28, is whether it will fare any better than earlier climate talks at shoring up anything close to the money that’s needed.

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More On Disasters, Climate Change, Environment, Transportation

New York Times, It Could Be a Vast Source of Clean Energy, Buried Deep Underground, Liz Alderman, Dec. 5, 2023 (print ed.). In eastern France, and in other places around the world, deposits of natural hydrogen promise bountiful power. But questions remain.

In the rocky soil of Lorraine, a former coal mining region near the French-German border, scientists guided a small probe one recent day down a borehole half a mile into the earth’s crust.

Frothing in the water table below was an exciting find: champagne-size bubbles that signaled a potentially mammoth cache of so-called white hydrogen, one of the cleanest-burning fuels in nature.

“Hydrogen is magical — when you burn it you release water, so there are no carbon emissions to warm the planet,” said one of the scientists, Jacques Pironon, a senior researcher and professor at the University of Lorraine. “We think we’ve uncovered one of the largest deposits of natural hydrogen anywhere in the world.”

The discovery by Mr. Pironon and another scientist, Philippe de Donato, both members of France’s respected National Center for Scientific Research, caused a sensation in France, where the government has vowed to become a European leader in clean hydrogen.

New York Times, Air-conditioning use will surge in a warming world, the U.N. warned, Hiroko Tabuchi, Dec. 5, 2023. By 2050, electricity use for cooling could double, driving up the greenhouse gas emissions that cause warming.

The future facing a warming planet: As global temperatures rise, more people will turn to air-conditioners to ward off the heat.

But the rise in cooling buildings and other spaces, which is also driven by rising incomes, population growth and urbanization, means that the world could use more than double the electricity it does now to stay cool, according to new United Nations research published on Tuesday at the global climate talks in Dubai.

New York Times, Biden Administration to Require Replacing of Lead Pipes Within 10 Years, Coral Davenport, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). The proposal to rip out nine million pipes across the country could cost as much as $30 billion but would nearly eliminate the neurotoxin from drinking water.

The Biden administration is proposing new restrictions that would require the removal of virtually all lead water pipes across the country in an effort to prevent another public health catastrophe like the one that came to define Flint, Mich.

The proposal on Thursday from the Environmental Protection Agency would impose the strictest limits on lead in drinking water since federal standards were first set 30 years ago. It would affect about nine million pipes that snake throughout communities across the country.

“This is the strongest lead rule that the nation has ever seen,” Radhika Fox, the E.P.A.’s assistant administrator for water, said in an interview. “This is historic progress.”

Digging up and replacing lead pipes from coast to coast is no small undertaking. The E.P.A. estimates the price at $20 billion to $30 billion over the course of a decade. The rule would require the nation’s utilities — and most likely their ratepayers — to absorb most of that cost, but $15 billion is available from the 2021 infrastructure law to help them pay for it.

New York Times, What Happens When an Oil Cartel Walks Into a Climate Summit? Jim Tankersley, Dec. 1, 2023. OPEC is a participant at COP28. Unlike the United States, it is moving to cut production.

In a far corner of the temporary village housing the United Nations climate summit, the world’s largest cartel of fossil fuel producers plied skeptical young activists with chocolate and free pens.

It was Thursday afternoon. A continent away, in Vienna, the cartel’s members were voting to give the summit what amounts to another very small climate treat: at least a temporary reduction in oil and gas drilling. That’s the opposite of what President Biden, who has made climate policy a top priority during his administration, is delivering from the United States.

It was an opening-day irony for a COP28 summit that is already full of them, from its host country down to the so-called OPEC Pavilion in a building that is marked “Urbanisation & Indigenous Peoples” on the outside.

Tens of thousands of delegates are descending this month on Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, which is a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and a major oil producer. Those delegates are celebrating an accelerating global transition toward low-emission sources of energy like wind and solar power. But expanding renewables is not enough to save the planet, scientists warn, so many delegates are demanding that the world rapidly phase out its use of fossil fuels.

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More On Ukraine-Russian War, Russian Leadership

Washington Post, Investigation: In Ukraine, a war of incremental gains as counteroffensive stalls, Washington Post Staff, Dec. 5, 2023. Months of planning with the United States were tossed aside after Ukraine’s forces were bloodied by Russia in the early days of the counteroffensive. Soldiers in the 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade waited for nightfall before piling — nervous but confident — into their U.S.-provided Bradley Fighting Vehicles. It was June 7 and Ukraine’s long-awaited counteroffensive was about to begin.

The goal for the first 24 hours was to advance nearly nine miles, reaching the village of Robotyne — an initial thrust south toward the larger objective of reclaiming Melitopol, a city near the Sea of Azov, and severing Russian supply lines.

Nothing went as planned.

The Ukrainian troops had expected minefields but were blindsided by the density. The ground was carpeted with explosives, so many that some were buried in stacks. The soldiers had been trained to drive their Bradleys at a facility in Germany, on smooth terrain. But on the mushy soil of the Zaporizhzhia region, in the deafening noise of battle, they struggled to steer through the narrow lanes cleared of mines by advance units.

By day four, Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, Ukraine’s top commander, had seen enough. Incinerated Western military hardware — American Bradleys, German Leopard tanks, mine-sweeping vehicles — littered the battlefield. The numbers of dead and wounded sapped morale.

Rather than try to breach Russian defenses with a massed, mechanized attack and supporting artillery fire, as his American counterparts had advised, Zaluzhny decided that Ukrainian soldiers would go on foot in small groups of about 10 — a process that would save equipment and lives but would be much slower.

Months of planning with the United States was tossed aside on that fourth day, and the already delayed counteroffensive, designed to reach the Sea of Azov within two to three months, ground to a near-halt. Rather than making a nine-mile breakthrough on their first day, the Ukrainians in the nearly six months since June have advanced about 12 miles and liberated a handful of villages. Melitopol is still far out of reach.

This account of how the counteroffensive unfolded is the second in a two-part series and illuminates the brutal and often futile attempts to breach Russian lines, as well as the widening rift between Ukrainian and U.S. commanders over tactics and strategy. The first article examined the Ukrainian and U.S. planning that went into the operation.

This second part is based on interviews with more than 30 senior Ukrainian and U.S. military officials, as well as over two dozen officers and troops on the front line. Some officials and soldiers spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe military operations.

New York Times, Former Ukrainian Lawmaker Who Defected Is Killed Near Moscow, Ivan Nechepurenko and Marc Santora, Dec. 6, 2023. The lawmaker, Illia Kyva, called for Ukraine to surrender after Russia invaded. He was living in Russia, but Ukrainian authorities had sentenced him to prison in absentia on charges including treason.

A former Ukrainian lawmaker who had settled in Russia and was sentenced in Ukraine for treason, was shot and killed in a village outside Moscow, Russian investigators said on Wednesday.

The lawmaker, Illia Kyva, 46, who had called for Ukraine to surrender when Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, was discovered in the park of a gated community 25 miles west of Moscow, Russian investigators said in a statement. They said that Mr. Kyva died on the spot after being shot at by an unknown individual, and that the authorities were opening a criminal inquiry into the killing.

Russian investigators made no mention of the potential Ukrainian involvement, but a Ukrainian intelligence official, speaking on the condition of anonymity for security reasons, said that Mr. Kyva was killed as part of a special operation orchestrated by the State Security Service of Ukraine.

“The criminal was eliminated with small arms,” the official said.

Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for Ukraine’s military intelligence, said on the country’s national television that Mr. Kyva was “done” and that “such a fate will befall other traitors of Ukraine, as well as the henchmen of the Putin regime.”

New York Times, A Prison at War: The Convicts Sustaining Vladimir Putin’s Invasion, Anatoly Kurmanaev, Ekaterina Bodyagina, Alina Lobzina and Oleg Matsnev, Produced by Gray Beltran, Dec. 4, 2023 (interactive). Nearly 200 inmates left a high-security Russian prison to join the war in Ukraine, seeking redemption, money or freedom. Many were killed or wounded.

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U.S. Economy, Jobs, Consumers, High Tech

New York Times, Why Doctors and Pharmacists Are in Revolt, Noam Scheiber, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). Once accustomed to a status outside the usual management-labor hierarchy, many health professionals now feel as put upon as any clock-punching worker.

Doctors are not the only health professionals who are unionizing or protesting in greater numbers. Health care workers, many of them nurses, held eight major work stoppages last year — the most in a decade — and are on pace to match or exceed that number this year. This fall, dozens of nonunion pharmacists at CVS and Walgreens stores called in sick or walked off the job to protest understaffing, many for a full day or more.

The reasons for the recent labor actions appear straightforward. Doctors, nurses and pharmacists said they were being asked to do more as staffing dwindles, leading to exhaustion and anxiety about putting patients at risk. Many said that they were stretched to the limit after the pandemic began, and that their work demands never fully subsided.

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U.S. Abortion, Family Planning, #MeToo

New York Times, New Lawsuit Accuses Sean Combs of Raping 17-Year-Old Girl in 2003, Ben Sisario and Julia Jacobs, Dec. 6, 2023. In the complaint, an unnamed woman says she was flown from Michigan to New York and gang-raped in a recording studio. Mr. Combs denied the claim.

Sean Combs, the hip-hop mogul who has been named in three recent lawsuits accusing him of rape, now faces a fourth complaint, by a woman who says that Mr. Combs and two other men gang-raped her in a New York recording studio 20 years ago, when she was 17 years old.

In the latest lawsuit, filed on Wednesday in Federal District Court in Manhattan, the woman, who is not named in the court papers, described a nightmarish scene on a night in 2003, when she was in the 11th grade. The woman says in the complaint that she met two associates of Mr. Combs at a lounge in the Detroit area, and they took her on a private plane to New York. There, the suit says, the three men gave the woman copious amounts of drugs and alcohol, and took turns raping her in the studio’s bathroom as she drifted in and out of consciousness.

When they were done, the suit says, the woman fell into a fetal position in a bathroom, lying on the floor in pain, and she was soon driven to an airport and put on a plane back to Michigan.

In a statement, Mr. Combs said: “Enough is enough. For the last couple of weeks, I have sat silently and watched people try to assassinate my character, destroy my reputation and my legacy. Sickening allegations have been made against me by individuals looking for a quick payday. Let me be absolutely clear: I did not do any of the awful things being alleged. I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth.”

Through his lawyers, Mr. Combs has denied the allegations in the three earlier suits.

Douglas H. Wigdor, a lawyer for the unidentified woman, released his own statement that said: “As alleged in the complaint, defendants preyed on a vulnerable high school teenager as part of a sex trafficking scheme that involved plying her with alcohol and transporting her by private jet to New York City where she was gang-raped by the three individual defendants at Mr. Combs’s studio.”

Politico, Police investigating Florida Republican Party chair over alleged sexual assault, Kimberly Leonard and Andrew Atterbury, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). The Sarasota Police Department is investigating Florida Republican Party Chair Christian Ziegler, whose wife, Bridget Ziegler, shown above togther,  co-founded the conservative parents group Moms for Liberty, following allegations of sexual assault.

According to a heavily redacted police report obtained by POLITICO through a public records request, the alleged incident took place on Oct. 2 at a home in Sarasota and the victim filed a complaint two days later. The documents omit details about the victim’s statement to authorities but include the words “rape” and “sexually battered.”

The Florida Trident, the news platform for the open government watchdog Florida Center for Government Accountability, was first to report on the news.

Ziegler, through his attorney, acknowledged the police were investigating him and said he’d been “fully cooperative with every request made by the Sarasota Police Department.”

“We are confident that once the police investigation is concluded that no charges will be filed and Mr. Ziegler will be completely exonerated,” his attorney, Derek Byrd, said in a statement. “Unfortunately, public figures are often accused of acts that they did not commit whether it be for political purposes or financial gain. I would caution anyone to rush to judgment until the investigation is concluded.”

Ziegler is married to Bridget Ziegler, a school board member in Sarasota County and Moms for Liberty co-founder. The group has risen to prominence in Florida under the DeSantis administration, which emphasizes rooting out any traces of liberal “indoctrination” — particularly on the issues of sexual orientation, gender identity and race.

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Pandemics, Public Health, Privacy 

New York Times, White House Delays a Decision on Banning Menthol Cigarettes, Christina Jewett, Sheryl Gay Stolberg and David A. Fahrenthold, Dec. 6, 2023. The proposal has elicited mounting opposition from tobacco companies, Black activists worried about police enforcement and small businesses.

The Biden administration delayed a decision on Wednesday about whether it would ban menthol cigarettes amid intense lobbying from tobacco companies, convenience stores and industry-backed groups that contend that billions of dollars in sales and jobs will be lost.

The proposal has also generated concerns that Black smokers will become the targets of aggressive police tactics, although some Black leaders, top lawmakers and government officials dispute that and say that tobacco companies are financing and fueling those fears.

The plan to eliminate menthol cigarettes has been years in the making. The Food and Drug Administration formally proposed an official rule last year, aimed at reducing health disparities, citing statistics that an estimated 85 percent of Black smokers prefer menthol brands. Black men especially face outsize health risks, including high rates of smoking-related lung cancer and death.

In recent months, dozens of groups have had appointments with administration officials to discuss the proposal. Tobacco companies and convenience store groups fighting the ban have aligned with the National Action Network, founded by the Rev. Al Sharpton, to advance the argument about the potential for racial targeting by the police. The group attended a large meeting with tobacco lobbyists and top administration officials on Nov. 20.

New York Times, At the Core of Purdue Pharma Case: Who Can Get Immunity in Settlements? Abbie VanSickle, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). A Supreme Court ruling could mean the end of a strategy for resolving mass injury claims that gives organizations expansive legal protections.

For years, Purdue Pharma, the maker of the prescription painkiller OxyContin, had been entangled in lawsuits seeking to hold it to account for its role in the spiraling opioid crisis.

A pathbreaking settlement reached last year appeared to signal the end to thousands of those cases, funneling billions of dollars toward fighting the epidemic in exchange for exempting members of the billionaire Sackler family, which once controlled the company, from civil lawsuits.

But on Monday, the Supreme Court will hear arguments over whether the agreement is a violation of federal law in a case that could have ramifications not just for Purdue but also for organizations that turn to bankruptcy court, as the company did, to resolve claims of mass injury.

“There’s huge implications for all of corporate bankruptcy,” said Anthony J. Casey, a law professor at the University of Chicago. “I think this is probably the most important bankruptcy case before the court in 30, maybe 40 years.”

New York Times, ‘Medical Freedom’ Activists Take Aim at New Target: Childhood Vaccine Mandates, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). Mississippi  has long had high childhood immunization rates, but a federal judge has ordered the state to allow parents to opt out on religious grounds.

For more than 40 years, Mississippi had one of the strictest school vaccination requirements in the nation, and its high childhood immunization rates have been a source of pride. But in July, the state began excusing children from vaccination if their parents cited religious objections, after a federal judge sided with a “medical freedom” group.

Today, 2,100 Mississippi schoolchildren are officially exempt from vaccination on religious grounds. Five hundred more are exempt because their health precludes vaccination. Dr. Daniel P. Edney, the state health officer, warns that if the total number of exemptions climbs above 3,000, Mississippi will once again face the risk of deadly diseases that are now just a memory.

“For the last 40 years, our main goal has been to protect those children at highest risk of measles, mumps, rubella, polio,” Dr. Edney said in an interview, “and that’s those children that have chronic illnesses that make them more vulnerable.” He called the ruling “a very bitter pill for me to swallow.”

Mississippi is not an isolated case. Buoyed by their success at overturning coronavirus mandates, medical and religious freedom groups are taking aim at a new target: childhood school vaccine mandates, long considered the foundation of the nation’s defense against infectious disease.

Until the Mississippi ruling, the state was one of only six that refused to excuse students from vaccination for religious or philosophical reasons. Similar legal challenges have been filed in the five remaining states: California, Connecticut, Maine, New York and West Virginia. The ultimate goal, according to advocates behind the lawsuits, is to undo vaccine mandates entirely, by getting the issue before a Supreme Court that is increasingly sympathetic to religious freedom arguments.

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Media, High Tech, Sports, Education, Free Speech, Culture

New York Times, Former Top Tucker Carlson Producer Is Accused of Sexual Assault, Katie Robertson, Dec. 5, 2023.  Fox News fired the producer alongside Mr. Carlson this year after its $787.5 million settlement in the Dominion Voting Systems defamation case.

A former Fox News employee accused a top producer for the host Tucker Carlson of sexual assault in a lawsuit filed Monday.

The accuser, Andrew Delancey, who previously worked as a producer for a Fox News affiliate service, said in the complaint that Justin Wells, formerly the senior executive producer of “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” assaulted him in 2008 after promising to help advance his career.

A summons was first filed in New York State court on Nov. 22, just before the deadline under the state’s Adult Survivors Act, which provided a one-time window for people to file civil lawsuits for assaults that may have happened years or even decades ago. The full complaint was made public on Monday, when it was moved to U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

In addition to Mr. Wells, the suit names Fox News and its parent company, Fox Corporation, as defendants.

Fox News fired Mr. Wells alongside Mr. Carlson in April in the wake of the network’s blockbuster $787.5 million defamation settlement with Dominion Voting Systems. Mr. Wells now works for Mr. Carlson on his show on the social media platform X.

A Fox News spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Harmeet Dhillon, a lawyer for Mr. Wells, called the lawsuit “meritless.”

“Mr. Wells denies the allegations unequivocally, and will contest them vigorously,” Ms. Dhillon said in a statement. “This is yet another attempt by a law firm with a history of suing Fox and its former employees to cash in on frivolous allegations.”

In a statement, Mr. Carlson said: “As a general matter, if you believe you’ve been a victim of a sex crime, you have a moral obligation to alert police, so it doesn’t happen to someone else. If you wait 15 years to cash in with a civil suit, no one should take you seriously. I certainly don’t.”

The lawsuit said that after Mr. Delancey moved to New York City in 2008 for his job at Fox, Mr. Wells began “showering Mr. Delancey with gifts” and told him that he could help him “learn the ropes.” At the time, Mr. Wells was a producer for the host Greta Van Susteren.

The men met in person for the first time outside Mr. Wells’s apartment building, the complaint said, and Mr. Wells insisted that they have a drink in his apartment before walking to a bar. In the apartment and on the roof of the building, the complaint said, Mr. Wells grabbed Mr. Delancey’s genitals and tried to kiss him.

The lawsuit said that Mr. Delancey’s direct supervisor had warned him not to go to human resources with any complaints, and that Mr. Wells had implied he could hinder Mr. Delancey’s career.

“Following Wells’s threats, Mr. Delancey found his career progression at Fox to be obviously halted, a departure from the promised career advancements and warm welcome that he had received when he arrived at Fox,” the complaint said. “As a result, Mr. Delancey returned to his position at the local Fox station in Tampa.”

In 2017, amid the #MeToo movement, Mr. Delancey posted on Facebook about his experience, though without naming Mr. Wells. One former co-worker contacted him, the complaint said, saying she remembered him telling her about the events.

Mr. Wells also reached out to Mr. Delancey on Facebook and said: “Hey. Saw your post. I’m sorry that happened to you. Who was it?” Mr. Delancey didn’t respond, according to the complaint.

New York Times, Big Tech Muscles In: The 12 Months That Changed Silicon Valley Forever,  Karen Weise, Cade Metz, Nico Grant and Mike Isaac, Dec. 5, 2023. ChatGPT's release a year ago triggered a desperate scramble among tech companies and alarm from some of the people who helped invent it.

New York Times, Here’s how Elon Musk and Larry Page’s artificial intelligence debate led to OpenAI and an industry boom, Dec. 5, 2023.

New York Times, Opinion: The Backlash to Anti-Israel Protests Threatens Free Speech, Michelle Goldberg, Dec. 5, 2023 (print ed.). If you want to understand the wrenching generational rift over Israel among many left-leaning American Jews, the documentary “Israelism,” which came out this year, is a good place to start.

Much of it centers on the political evolution of Simone Zimmerman, who was raised to be a staunch Zionist, began questioning her beliefs even as she defended Israel at the University of California, Berkeley, and was transformed by her encounter with the harrowing reality of the Palestinian occupation. Zimmerman went on to co-found IfNotNow, an anti-occupation Jewish group that has been at the forefront of many protests against Israel’s war in Gaza. The filmmakers, Erin Axelman and Sam Eilertsen, are part of the same generation as Zimmerman, and Axelman told me, “We’re telling Simone’s story as a way of partly telling our story.”

But in November, when progressive Jewish students at Penn tried to screen the film, the university denied them permission, reportedly citing fear of a “potential negative response on campus.” The students showed it anyway, and are now facing possible disciplinary action. Earlier that month, New York’s Hunter College also canceled a screening of “Israelism,” with the college’s interim president, Ann Kirschner, citing “the danger of antisemitic and divisive rhetoric.” Amid outrage from staff and students, the event was rescheduled for this week.

The fact that a documentary by and about left-wing Jews is seen, on some campuses, as too insensitive to Israel to be shown publicly demonstrates what a confused moment this is for academic free speech.

New York Times, Ego, Fear and Money: How the A.I. Fuse Was Lit, Cade Metz, Karen Weise, Nico Grant and Mike Isaac, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). The people who were most afraid of artificial intelligence decided they should be the ones to build it. Then distrust fueled a spiraling competition.

Elon Musk celebrated his 44th birthday in July 2015 at a three-day party thrown by his wife at a California wine country resort dotted with cabins. It was family and friends only, with children racing around the upscale property in Napa Valley.

This was years before Twitter became X and Tesla had a profitable year. Mr. Musk and his wife, Talulah Riley — an actress who played a beautiful but dangerous robot on HBO’s science fiction series “Westworld” — were a year from throwing in the towel on their second marriage. Larry Page, a party guest, was still the chief executive of Google. And artificial intelligence had pierced the public consciousness only a few years before, when it was used to identify cats on YouTube — with 16 percent accuracy.

A.I. was the big topic of conversation when Mr. Musk and Mr. Page sat down near a firepit beside a swimming pool after dinner the first night. The two billionaires had been friends for more than a decade, and Mr. Musk sometimes joked that he occasionally crashed on Mr. Page’s sofa after a night playing video games.

But the tone that clear night soon turned contentious as the two debated whether artificial intelligence would ultimately elevate humanity or destroy it.

New York Times, The Who’s Who of the Modern Artificial Intelligence Movement, J. Edward Moreno, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). Before chatbots exploded in popularity, a group of researchers, tech executives and venture capitalists had worked for more than a decade to fuel A.I.

While artificial intelligence has taken the limelight over the past year, technology that can appear to operate like human brains has been top of mind for researchers, investors and tech executives in Silicon Valley and beyond for more than a decade.

Here are some of the people involved in the origins of the modern A.I. movement who have influenced the technology’s development.

New York Times, In Florida’s Hot Political Climate, Some Faculty Have Had Enough, Stephanie Saul, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). Liberal-leaning professors are leaving coveted tenured jobs. And there are signs that recruiting scholars in the state is becoming harder.

Gov. Ron DeSantis had just taken office in 2019 when the University of Florida lured Neil H. Buchanan, a prominent economist and tax law scholar, from George Washington University.

Now, just four years after he started at the university, Dr. Buchanan has given up his tenured job and headed north to teach in Toronto. In a recent column on a legal commentary website, he accused Florida of “open hostility to professors and to higher education more generally.”

He is not the only liberal-leaning professor to leave one of Florida’s highly regarded public universities. Many are giving up coveted tenured positions and blaming their departures on Governor DeSantis and his effort to reshape the higher education system to fit his conservative principles.

The Times interviewed a dozen academics — in fields ranging from law to psychology to agronomy — who have left Florida public universities or given their notice, many headed to blue states. While emphasizing that hundreds of top academics remain in Florida, a state known for its solid and affordable public university system, they raised concerns that the governor’s policies have become increasingly untenable for scholars and students.

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Top Stories

New York Times, Live Updates: U.N. Says Israel’s Intense Bombing Leaves Gazans With Few Places to Go, Victoria Kim, Dec. 5, 2023. As the Israeli military appeared to advance into the last area under Hamas control, civilians were pushed further into spaces with no guarantee of safety.

Israel has been heavily bombarding southern Gaza in recent days as its troops appear to be closing in on its main city, Khan Younis and concerns grow that there is almost nowhere left for civilians to flee.

The United Nations’ office for humanitarian affairs said the 24 hours leading up to Monday afternoon marked some of the most intense bombing by Israel since the war started on Oct. 7.

The bombardment has come despite strong warnings from U.S. officials to their Israeli counterparts to take a more precise approach in the second phase of war that leads to fewer civilian deaths. The first stage of the war left widespread destruction and casualties in northern Gaza.

Satellite imagery analyzed by The New York Times showed that the Israeli military had expanded its ground offensive into southern Gaza between Friday and Sunday, advancing into the last section of the strip under full Hamas control. Images from Monday showed smoke rising from flattened buildings and people carrying bodies swaddled in blankets.

Here’s what we know:

• As the Israeli military appeared to advance into the last area under Hamas control, civilians were pushed further into spaces with no guarantee of safety.
• Bombardment intensifies as Israel closes in on southern Gaza.
• Israel has entered southern Gaza, images show, setting the stage for a possibly decisive battle.
• The State Department says Hamas ‘reneged’ on a deal to release all the women being held hostage.
• U.S. considers a task force to guard Red Sea ships from Iranian proxy forces.
• Humanitarian groups say civilians in Gaza have ‘no safe place to go.’

Washington Post, Tommy Tuberville announces end to blanket military holds, Liz Goodwin and Dan Lamothe, Dec. 5, 2023. ‘We fought hard,’ he said after telling his Republican colleagues he was lifting his holds. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) announced Tuesday that he would lift his blanket hold on military promotions, ending a nearly 10-month standoff over a Biden administration abortion policy that made the former football coach the target of bipartisan ire.

"It’s been a long fight, we fought hard,” Tuberville said after announcing his decision to his colleagues at a closed-door lunch. “We just released them.”

The hold, which Tuberville began in February, applied to all senior military promotions, and hundreds of officers were caught up in its net. As officers increasingly complained of the toll on military readiness and morale, and as a war raged in the Middle East, Tuberville faced increasing pressure from his fellow Republicans to drop the hold.

He has now narrowed his hold to the 10 or so promotions at the four-star rank. Tuberville said he relinquished the hold because he wanted to keep Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) from bringing up a vote to get around his maneuver. He did not receive any concessions he previously demanded, such as a change to the military funding bill to address the abortion policy.

“We got all we could get,” he told reporters.

The affable former football coach was left with few options after Schumer put forward a proposal that would allow the Senate to go around Tuberville’s holds, which had the Republican votes necessary to pass.

Tuberville’s hold led to a remarkably public confrontation with some of his GOP colleagues, who staged a late-night attempt to promote the officers he had blocked, forcing Tuberville to personally object to each one. Republican Sens. Dan Sullivan (Alaska), Joni Ernst (Iowa), Todd C. Young (Ind.) and Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.), all veterans, implored Tuberville on the Senate floor to lift his hold for the sake of national security.

“No matter whether you believe it or not, Senator Tuberville, this is doing great damage to our military,” Graham said then. “I don’t say that lightly; I’ve been trying to work with you for nine months.”

Behind closed doors, Republicans complained that Tuberville’s blockade was hurting them politically as well, given the harm to the military and the focus on abortion, which has been a losing issue at the polls for the GOP in recent elections. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell took the rare step of publicly rebuking Tuberville, saying he should not be punishing “military heroes” for a Biden administration policy. Other Republican colleagues thought that Tuberville moved the goal posts of his demands, from initially just wanting a vote on the military abortion policy to demanding that it be rescinded altogether to allow promotions to go through.

For months, Tuberville said he wanted Schumer to do a full floor vote on each nominee to get around his hold, arguing that each one would enjoy bipartisan support and easily pass. But making it through the hundreds of nominees individually would take months of nonstop floor time — a prospect Schumer ruled out. And Democrats were concerned that allowing an individual senator to effectively shut down the chamber to confirm nonpolitical nominees would set a bad precedent.

A senior defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said that as of Nov. 27, Tuberville’s hold had blocked 451 senior officers from promotion. They include Adm. Samuel Paparo, who is expected to take over as the next chief of the Indo-Pacific Command; Air Force Lt. Gen. Gregory M. Guillot, who is expected to become the four-star commander of Northern Command; and several officers who are expected to immediately take on responsibilities in the Middle East and Europe, as the Biden administration manages wars in both regions.

The list of promotions on hold was expected to continue growing if Tuberville did not drop his objections, with about three-quarters of the military’s more than 850 generals and admirals due to be blockaded by year’s end, the senior defense official said.

Washington Post, The Trump Cases: Special counsel alleges Trump ‘sent’ supporters on path to Jan. 6 violence, Spencer S. Hsu and Devlin Barrett, Dec. 5, 2023. Jack Smith accused the former president of a history of election lies and ‘encouragement of violence.’

Federal prosecutors on Tuesday accused former president Donald Trump of a long pattern of lying about elections and encouraging violence, saying he “sent” supporters on Jan. 6, 2021 to criminally block the election results.

In a new court filing, prosecutors working for special counsel Jack Smith went further than in their August indictment in attempting to tie him to that day’s violence, saying they intended to introduce evidence of his other acts both before the November 2020 presidential election and subsequent alleged threats to establish his motive, intent and preparation for subverting its legitimate results.

“Evidence of the defendant’s post-conspiracy embrace of particularly violent and notorious rioters is admissible to establish the defendant’s motive and intent on January 6 — that he sent supporters, including groups like the Proud Boys, whom he knew were angry, and whom he now calls ‘patriots,’ to the Capitol to achieve the criminal objective of obstructing the congressional certification,” prosecutors alleged in a nine-page filing.

They added, “At trial, the Government will introduce a number of public statements by the defendant in advance of the charged conspiracies, claiming that there would be fraud in the 2020 presidential election,” laying the “foundation for the defendant’s criminal efforts.”

Attorneys for Trump did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges in what prosecutors say was a broad conspiracy to subvert the 2020 election by spewing a gusher of lies about purported election fraud and trying to get state local and federal officials to change the legitimate results to remain in power.

A four-count federal indictment in Washington, D.C., alleges he plotted to defraud the federal election process, obstruct Congress’s certification of the vote in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, and deprive Americans of their civil right to have their votes counted. It is one of four criminal cases charged this year against the former president.

The others include a federal indictment in Florida over Trump’s alleged retention and mishandling of classified documents and obstruction after leaving the White House; a state trial in Georgia that involves similar allegations of trying to obstruct the state’s election results; and a New York state business fraud prosecution accusing Trump of covering up hush money payments made during his 2016 election campaign.

They added, “At trial, the Government will introduce a number of public statements by the defendant in advance of the charged conspiracies, claiming that there would be fraud in the 2020 presidential election,” laying the “foundation for the defendant’s criminal efforts.” Federal prosecutors on Tuesday accused former president Donald Trump of a long pattern of lying about elections and encouraging violence, saying he “sent” supporters on Jan. 6, 2021 to criminally block the election results.

Destroying Democracies

New York Times, Donald Trump’s 2024 Campaign, in His Own Menacing Words, Ian Prasad Philbrick and Lyna Bentahar, Dec. 5, 2023.  Trump’s language has become darker, harsher and more threatening during his third run for the White House.

As he campaigns for another term in the White House, Donald Trump sounds like no other presidential candidate in U.S. history.

He has made baldly antidemocratic statements, praising autocratic leaders like China’s Xi Jinping and continuing to claim that the 2020 election was stolen. “I don’t consider us to have much of a democracy right now,” Trump said.

He has threatened to use the power of the presidency against his political opponents, including President Biden and Biden’s family. Trump frequently insults his opponents in personal terms, calling them “vermin,” as well as “thugs, horrible people, fascists, Marxists, sick people.”

He has made dozens of false or misleading statements. He has advocated violence, suggesting that an Army general who clashed with him deserved the death penalty and that shoplifters should be shot. And he describes U.S. politics in apocalyptic terms, calling the 2024 election “our final battle” and describing himself as his supporters’ “retribution.”

Many Americans have heard only snippets of these statements because Trump makes them on Truth Social, his niche social media platform, or at campaign events that receive less media coverage than when he first ran for president eight years ago. But his words offer a preview of what a second Trump term might look like.

For years, Trump has insulted political opponents, painted a dark picture of the country and made comments inconsistent with democratic norms. But his language has grown harsher, as he admits. “These are radical left people,” Trump said of Democrats in Salem, N.H., in January. “I think in many cases they’re Marxists and Communists. And I used to say that seldom. Now I say it all the time.”

Trump’s stolen-election talk, preoccupation with his criminal indictments and pledges to seek revenge have become organizing principles of his current campaign. He has made the same case — sometimes word for word — in dozens of appearances since announcing his candidacy last year. “He’s not laying out a political agenda,” said Didi Kuo of Stanford University’s Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law. “His campaign is based purely on stoking division and on attacking our institutions in order to defend himself.”

(In a continuing series of Times stories, our colleagues Jonathan Swan, Charlie Savage and Maggie Haberman have previewed a potential second Trump presidency. Among the subjects: legal policy, immigration and the firing of career government employees.)

Many democracy experts are deeply alarmed. “If he says what he means and means what he says, and someday is able to implement it, it’s an existential crisis that the U.S. would face,” said Barbara Perry, a presidential historian at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center.

 New York Times, Why a Second Trump Presidency May Be More Radical Than His First, Charlie Savage, Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman, Dec. 5, 2023 (print ed.). Donald Trump has long exhibited authoritarian impulses, but his policy operation is now more sophisticated, and the buffers to check him are weaker.

In the spring of 1989, the Chinese Communist Party used tanks and troops to crush a pro-democracy protest in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. Most of the West, across traditional partisan lines, was aghast at the crackdown that killed at least hundreds of student activists. But one prominent American was impressed.

“When the students poured into Tiananmen Square, the Chinese government almost blew it,” Donald J. Trump said in an interview with Playboy magazine the year after the massacre. “Then they were vicious, they were horrible, but they put it down with strength. That shows you the power of strength. Our country is right now perceived as weak.”

It was a throwaway line in a wide-ranging interview, delivered to a journalist profiling a 43-year-old celebrity businessman who was not then a player in national politics or world affairs. But in light of what Mr. Trump has gone on to become, his exaltation of the ruthless crushing of democratic protesters is steeped in foreshadowing.

Mr. Trump’s violent and authoritarian rhetoric on the 2024 campaign trail has attracted growing alarm and comparisons to historical fascist dictators and contemporary populist strongmen. In recent weeks, he has dehumanized his adversaries as “vermin” who must be “rooted out,” declared that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country,” encouraged the shooting of shoplifters and suggested that the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, deserved to be executed for treason.

As he runs for president again facing four criminal prosecutions, Mr. Trump may seem more angry, desperate and dangerous to American-style democracy than in his first term. But the throughline that emerges is far more long-running: He has glorified political violence and spoken admiringly of autocrats for decades.

Washington Post, The Trump Trials: See you in 2029? Perry Stein and Devlin Barrett, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). If Donald Trump wins the 2024 election, he can’t face a criminal trial in Georgia until at least 2029 — after he leaves the presidency — his Atlanta-based defense attorney argued in a state courtroom Friday. The prosecution team has asked for a trial to start in August 2024 — and strongly rejected the 2029 option.

Now we wait for Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, who said Friday that it was too early to set a date, citing, in part, the uncertain schedule in Trump’s three other criminal cases.

In the election-obstruction case in D.C., special counsel Jack Smith has until the end of the week to fire back against Trump’s wide-ranging and at times imaginative demands for information he claims exists at a host of government agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Capitol Police. The requests are legal long shots, but Trump’s lawyers said last week that the information will help them fight charges that the former president conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Former President Donald J. Trump and several of his fellow defendants, in mug shots released by the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office in Atlanta (Photos by Fulton County Sheriff’s Office).

New York Times, Donald Trump is responding to the charge that he’s anti-democratic by accusing President Biden of posing a bigger threat, Michael Gold, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). Indicted over a plot to overturn an election and campaigning on promises to shatter democratic norms in a second term, Donald Trump wants voters to see Joe Biden as the bigger threat.

Former President Donald J. Trump, who has been indicted by federal prosecutors for conspiracy to defraud the United States in connection with a plot to overturn the 2020 election, repeatedly claimed to supporters in Iowa on Saturday that it was President Biden who posed a severe threat to American democracy.

While Mr. Trump shattered democratic norms throughout his presidency and has faced voter concerns that he would do so again in a second term, the former president in his speech repeatedly accused Mr. Biden of corrupting politics and waging a repressive “all-out war” on America.

”Joe Biden is not the defender of American democracy,” he said. “Joe Biden is the destroyer of American democracy.”

Mr. Trump has made similar attacks on Mr. Biden a staple of his speeches in Iowa and elsewhere. He frequently accuses the president broadly of corruption and of weaponizing the Justice Department to influence the 2024 election.

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• Washington Post, Analysis: Why new Ariz. indictments are key in the fight against election subversion, Aaron Blake

More On Israel's War With Hamas

Washington Post, Traders earned millions anticipating Oct. 7 Hamas attack, study says, Andrew Jeong, Tory Newmyer and Eli Tan, Dec. 5, 2023. Israeli regulators are looking into a report claiming that investors earned millions of dollars by short-selling Israeli stocks days ahead of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, apparently profiting off foreknowledge of the bloody incursion, multiple media outlets reported Tuesday.

The unknown traders behind the activity placed bets against the value of a bundle of Israeli stocks five days before the massacre, leading to a “significant spike in short selling” of that fund, professors Robert J. Jackson Jr. of the New York University School of Law and Joshua Mitts of Columbia Law School wrote in a study published Monday.

Traders made similar bets against the value of “dozens” of Israeli companies that trade in Tel Aviv, the authors note.

“Our findings suggest that traders informed about the coming attacks profited from these tragic events,” Jackson and Mitts wrote.

Short selling is a trading strategy that allows investors to bet that the value of a stock will decline. Short sellers borrow shares in a company or fund and sell them at the current market price, with the expectation that the price of those shares will fall soon. If prices decline, investors buy shares back at the lower value and return them to the lender, taking the margin between the original share value and the new, lower value, as profit.

“The short selling that day far exceeded the short selling that occurred during numerous other periods of crisis, including the recession following the financial crisis, the 2014 Israel-Gaza war, and the covid-19 pandemic,” Jackson and Mitts wrote.

In one instance, investors short-sold the unusually high sum of 4.43 million new shares of Bank Leumi, an Israeli bank, on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in the Sept. 14-Oct. 5 period, Jackson and Mitts wrote.

The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange pushed back on initial claims by Jackson and Mitts that traders profited $859 million on the Bank Leumi short position, citing a mistake in their methodology. The authors then corrected that figure to about $8 million, but stood by their finding that 4.43 million shares had been short-sold.

New York Times, A meeting at the U.N. accused the body of ignoring the rape and mutilation of women in the Oct. 7 assault on Israel, Katherine Rosman and Lisa Lerer, Dec. 5, 2023 (print ed.). A meeting at the U.N., organized in part by Sheryl Sandberg, accused the body of ignoring the rape and mutilation of women in the Oct. 7 assault on Israel, and heard gruesome details from witnesses.

The body of one woman had “nails and different objects in her female organs.” In another house, a person’s genitals were so mutilated that “we couldn’t identify if it was a man or a woman.”

Simcha Greinman, a volunteer who helped collect the remains of victims of the Hamas-led Oct. 7 assault on Israel, took long pauses as he spoke those words on Monday at an event at the United Nations.

“Horrific things I saw with my own eyes,” he said, “and I felt with my own hands.”

Shari Mendes, a member of an Israeli military reserve unit tasked with preparing the bodies of fallen female soldiers for burial, said her team saw several who were killed on Oct. 7 “who were shot in the crotch, intimate parts, vagina, or were shot in the breast.” Others had mutilated faces, or multiple gunshots to their heads.

Since the Oct. 7 attack, during which more than 1,200 people were killed and some 240 people were kidnapped, Israeli officials have accused the terrorists of also committing widespread sexual violence — rape and sexual mutilation — particularly against women.

Yet those atrocities have received little scrutiny from human rights groups, or the news media, amid the larger war between Israel and Hamas — and until a few days ago, they had not been specifically mentioned or condemned by UN Women, the United Nations’ women’s rights agency, which has regularly spoken out about the plight of Palestinian women and girls.

Israelis and many Jews around the world say they feel abandoned by an international social justice community — women’s groups, human rights groups, liberal celebrities, among others — whose causes they have supported in crises around the world.

On Monday, some 800 people, including women’s activists and diplomats representing about 40 countries, crowded into a chamber at U.N. headquarters in New York for a presentation laying out the evidence of large-scale sexual violence, with testimony from witnesses like Ms. Mendes and Mr. Greinman.

 New York Times, Israel-Hamas War: Israeli Military’s Focus on Southern Gaza Could Signal Expanded War, Andrés R. Martínez, Dec. 5, 2023 (print ed.). The military said it was expanding ground operations “all across the Gaza Strip,” though it remained unclear if its forces had entered the south.

Israeli warplanes struck targets in southern Gaza on Monday as the military demanded that more civilians evacuate their homes in the area, signaling a possible expansion of its ground war in the battered Palestinian enclave.

Days after a truce with Hamas collapsed, Israeli forces have turned their focus to southern Gaza, hitting areas where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have sought shelter since the start of the war on Oct. 7. Israeli airstrikes targeted urban areas in the south, where photos on Monday showed smoke rising from flattened buildings in the city of Khan Younis and people carrying bodies swaddled in blankets away from scenes of destruction.

Adding to speculation that Israel is preparing a ground invasion of the south, the Israeli military’s chief spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said late Sunday that Israel “continues and expands its ground operations against Hamas strongholds all across the Gaza Strip,” although he did not elaborate.

A senior official with Hamas, the armed group that controls much of Gaza, said late Sunday that Israeli ground troops had not entered the south. But Hamas’s military wing said that its fighters had targeted a tank and personnel carrier north of Khan Younis and several Israeli military vehicles in central Gaza. The claims could not be independently verified, and with communications networks disrupted, it was not possible to gain an independent assessment of the fighting.

After more than a month of fighting concentrated in northern Gaza — and a weeklong cease-fire that expired last Friday — Israel believes that the Hamas leaders who planned the Oct. 7 attacks that officials say left at least 1,200 people dead in Israel are hiding in the south. Israel’s military has responded to the attacks with nearly two months of airstrikes and a ground invasion of northern Gaza that have killed more than 15,000 Palestinians, according to Gazan health officials, and pushed an estimated 1.75 million Gazans south.

Hundreds of people have been killed since hostilities resumed on Friday, according to Gazan health officials, who have warned that medical facilities remain desperately short of supplies, as Israel has sharply restricted the amount of humanitarian aid allowed to enter the enclave.

Fighting has continued in other parts of Gaza. The Israeli military reported the deaths of three of its soldiers on Sunday, two in battles in northern Gaza and one in a battle in the central part of the strip.

The Biden administration is pushing Israel and Hamas to resume negotiations that could lead to a new cease-fire. Under the previous truce, Hamas released scores of hostages held in Gaza in exchange for more than 200 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, and Israel allowed more trucks carrying relief supplies into Gaza.

U.S. officials, including Vice President Kamala Harris, and international leaders, including President Emmanuel Macron of France, have said that Israel must do more to protect civilians in Gaza. Mr. Macron is headed to Qatar, which mediated the original truce, in hopes of restarting talks.

Here’s what we know:

• The military says it is expanding ground operations ‘all across the Gaza Strip,’ though it remains unclear if its forces have entered the south.
• Israel orders more evacuations ahead of a possible invasion of southern Gaza.
• Confusing evacuation orders leave Gazans to make painful decisions.
• The U.S. is pressing Israel and Hamas to return to talks, a White House official says.
• The U.S. shoots down 3 drones in the Red Sea as Iran-backed groups ramp up attacks.

The Intercept, Netanyahu’s goal for Gaza: “Thin” population “to a minimum,” Ryan Grim, Dec. 3-4, 2023. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, above, has tasked his top adviser, Ron Dermer, the minister of strategic affairs, with designing plans to “thin” the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip “to a minimum,” according to a bombshell new report in an Israeli newspaper founded by the late Republican billionaire Sheldon Adelson.

The outlet, Israel Hayom, is considered to be something of an official organ for Netanyahu. It reported that the plan has two main elements: The first would use the pressure of the war and humanitarian crisis to persuade Egypt to allow refugees to flow to other Arab countries, and the second would open up sea routes so that Israel “allows a mass escape to European and African countries.” Dermer, left, who is originally from Miami, is a Netanyahu confidante and was previously Israeli ambassador to the United States, and enjoys close relations with many members of Congress.

The plan to ethnically cleanse Gaza of Palestinians faces some internal resistance from less hard-line members of Netanyahu’s cabinet, according to Israel Hayom.

Israel Today and other Israeli media are also reporting on a plan being pushed with Congress that would condition aid to Arab nations on their willingness to accept Palestinian refugees. The plan even proposes specific numbers of refugees for each country: Egypt would take one million Palestinians, half a million would go to Turkey, and a quarter million each would go to Yemen and Iraq.

The reporting relies heavily on the passive voice, declining to say who put the proposal together: “The proposal was shown to key figures in the House and Senate from both parties. Longtime lawmaker, Rep. Joe Wilson, has even expressed open support for it while others who were privy to the details of the text have so far kept a low profile, saying that publicly coming out in favor of the program could derail it.”

To underscore how absurd the refugee resettlement plan is, the de facto Houthi government in Yemen claimed an attack today on a U.S. ship as well as commercial vessels in the Red Sea.

Back on October 20, in a little-noticed message to Congress, the White House asked for $3.495 billion that would be used for refugees from both Ukraine and Gaza, referencing “potential needs of Gazans fleeing to neighboring countries.”

“This crisis could well result in displacement across border and higher regional humanitarian needs, and funding may be used to meet evolving programming requirements outside of Gaza,” the letter from the White House Office of Management and Budget reads. The letter came two days after Jordan and Egypt warned they would not open their borders to a mass exodus of Palestinians, arguing that past history shows they would never be able to return.

Washington Post, Israel’s assault forced a nurse to leave babies behind. They were found decomposing, Miriam Berger, Evan Hill and Hazem Balousha, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). A nurse at al-Nasr hospital was caring for premature babies. Then he faced the most difficult decision of his life.

The nurse in the besieged hospital was caring for five fragile babies. Infants, born premature, their parents’ whereabouts after a month of war unknown. Now he faced the most difficult decision of his life.

It was the height of Israel’s assault on northern Gaza last month, and al-Nasr Children’s Hospital was a war zone. The day before, airstrikes had cut off the Gaza City facility’s oxygen supplies. Israeli tanks had surrounded the hospital complex, and the Israel Defense Forces were calling and texting the doctors, urging them to leave.

But ambulances couldn’t safely reach al-Nasr to transport the wounded, and doctors refused to leave the facility without their patients.

The five premature babies were particularly vulnerable. They needed oxygen, and medication administered at regular intervals. There were no portable respirators or incubators to transport them. Without life support, the nurse feared, they wouldn’t survive an evacuation.

Then the IDF delivered an ultimatum, al-Nasr director Bakr Qaoud told The Washington Post: Get out or be bombarded. An Israeli official, meanwhile, provided an assurance that ambulances would be arranged to retrieve the patients.

The nurse, a Palestinian man who works with Paris-based Doctors Without Borders, saw no choice. He assessed his charges and picked up the strongest one — the baby he thought likeliest to bear a temporary cut to his oxygen supply. He left the other four on their breathing machines, reluctantly, and with his wife, their children and the one baby, headed south.

“I felt like I was leaving my own children behind,” said the nurse, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect his privacy. “If we had the ability to take them, we would have, [but] if we took them off the oxygen they would have died.”

New York Times, Israel’s Military Expands Evacuation Orders in Southern Gaza, Vivian Yee, Iyad Abuheweila and Ameera Harouda, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.).The U.S. has increasingly stressed the need to limit civilian harm as Israel turns its focus to the enclave’s south. Confusion and fear gripped much of southern Gaza on Sunday as Israel’s military ordered more residents to clear out and fighting there intensified.

The Israeli military’s latest evacuation orders appeared to be setting the stage for a ground invasion in the south since hostilities started again after the collapse of a weeklong truce with Hamas. They evoked similar orders given by the Israeli military before it invaded northern Gaza in late October. But the announcements were prone to change with almost no notice, leaving many Gazans confused and with little time to flee.

The list of areas had swelled from 19 the previous morning to 34 on Sunday, all clustered southeast of the city of Khan Younis. The Israeli military marked each on a map of Gaza that divided the territory into nearly 2,400 “blocks,” advising residents to pay attention to Israeli announcements about whether their block was being evacuated.

Some families whose homes and shelters were not included in the initial evacuation areas announced by Israel’s military, and who had thought they would be able to stay put, said they had later received recorded calls ordering them to leave.

Many people under evacuation orders had already been displaced at least once before, forced to leave northern Gaza when the fighting and the airstrikes began. Now they found themselves once again at a loss for where to go in an already overcrowded area under threat of bombardment.

“I cannot overstate the fear, panic & confusion that these Israeli maps are causing civilians in Gaza, including my own staff,” wrote Melanie Ward, head of the humanitarian organization Medical Aid for Palestinians, on social media, adding that “people cannot run from place to place to try to escape Israel’s bombs.”

Hospitals in the south were also under pressure. A team from the World Health Organization visited a hospital in Khan Younis on Saturday that was three times over its capacity, according to the agency’s head, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

“Countless people were seeking shelter, filling every corner of the facility,” he wrote on X. “Patients were receiving care on the floor, screaming in pain.”

The Israeli military’s evacuation map showed big orange arrows directing people toward already-overflowing shelters or what it called the “humanitarian zone” in Al-Mawasi, an agricultural area toward the Mediterranean Sea.

But it was not clear whether the zone provided sufficient supplies or shelter, with some Gazans who fled there describing little awaiting them and no visible presence of humanitarian aid.

The idea of “safe zones” in Gaza, as was envisioned for Al-Mawasi, is opposed by the United Nations. Last month, U.N. agencies and other groups said they would not participate in setting up any such zones in Gaza.

New York Times, Commentary: Over 60 Journalists Have Been Killed in the Israel-Gaza War. My Friend Was One, Lama Al-Arian (Lama Al-Arian is a multi-Emmy-award-winning journalist based in Beirut), Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). I was sitting in my apartment in Beirut on the evening of Oct. 13 when I read that journalists had been struck by a missile attack in southern Lebanon.

My close friend, Issam Abdallah, was working in the area as a cameraman for Reuters to cover the border clashes between Israel and Hezbollah after the war in Gaza began just days earlier. I called him immediately. It was a ritual we had developed over the years: Whether we were on the front lines in Ukraine or Syria, each of us knew to expect a call from the other anytime a disaster struck.

Issam didn’t answer. I couldn’t remember the last time he let one of my calls go to voice mail. Within minutes, cellphone footage of the attack appeared online. In one video, a journalist for Agence France-Presse lies in a pool of blood, screaming that she can’t feel her legs. I listened over and over, desperately trying to find Issam’s voice in the chaos.

Relevant Recent Headlines

Gaza civilians, under Israel’s bombardment, are being killed at a historic pace

New York Times, Gaza civilians, under Israel’s bombardment, are being killed at a historic pace, Lauren Leatherby, Nov. 26, 2023 (print ed.). In less than two months, more than twice as many women and children have been reported killed in Gaza than in Ukraine after two years of war.

• New York Times, Mothers in Israel know their sons could get called up to fight. But they weren’t expecting this war
• New York Times, Ireland’s support for Palestinians has deep roots, in a country with its own history of a seemingly intractable conflict
• New York Times, Israel Launches Strikes and Orders Evacuations in Southern Gaza

More On Trump Battles, Crimes, Claims, Allies

New York state judge Arthur Engoron, left, who presides over Donald Trump's civil fraud trial and former President Trump (file photos).

New York Times, What to Know About Trump’s Civil Fraud Trial, Kate Christobek, Dec. 5, 2023 (print ed.). Last week, bankers from Deutsche Bank testified on behalf of former President Trump, while a gag order was reinstated against him.

Donald J. Trump’s defense lawyers will call his son and fellow defendant Eric Trump back to the witness stand this week, along with more expert witnesses to testify on the former president’s behalf.

Mr. Trump, who already testified during his civil fraud trial last month, is scheduled to testify again on Dec. 11 before his lawyers rest their case.

The trial, which started in October, stems from a lawsuit brought by the New York attorney general, Letitia James. She has accused Mr. Trump and other defendants, including his companies and his sons Donald Jr. and Eric of inflating the value of assets to obtain favorable loans and insurance deals.

Today marks the 39th day of the civil fraud trial and kicks off the fourth week of the defendants’ case.

The judge, Arthur F. Engoron, ruled even before the trial began that Mr. Trump and the other defendants were liable for fraud. After the trial he will decide what punishments they should face. Ms. James has asked that the former president pay $250 million and that he and his sons be permanently barred from running a business in New York.

Mr. Trump has denied all wrongdoing. His lawyers have argued that the assets had no objective value and that differing valuations are common in real estate.

Washington Post, Defending his 2020 fraud claims, Trump turns to fringe Jan. 6 theories, Rachel Weiner and Isaac Arnsdorf,  Dec. 5, 2023. Ever since he was indicted on charges of interfering in the 2020 election results, Donald Trump has relished the chance to use the case in Washington as a venue to air his baseless claims of fraud.

Now he is using it to circulate a new set of falsehoods: that the federal government staged or incited violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to discredit Trump and his supporters.

In court filings last week, the former president revealed that he has been pressing the Justice Department for information on far-right claims often elevated in his speeches, on his social media feeds and by his conservative allies in Congress — further blurring the line between his campaign and his court battles.

Trump’s legal filings typically include a political dimension, as the core of his defense is seeking to position the prosecutions as politicized, advisers said. He has frequently claimed in campaign speeches, without evidence, that President Biden ordered Trump’s arrest to damage his candidacy, and his lawyers have likewise claimed in court that he is fighting “tyranny” and “oppression” by the Biden administration.

“One of the great things about these trials, if the judge allows us … we want to show how we won the election,” Trump said Saturday at a speech in Iowa.

Sign up for "The Trump Trials" newsletter, a weekly update on all four of the former president's criminal cases

Now Trump is also suggesting that the government is withholding information on people known as “Fence Cutter Bulwark” and “Scaffold Commander” — nicknames given by conspiracy theorists to people they claim are government agents who instigated the Jan. 6 riot. Trump asked for “all documents regarding” Ray Epps, a supporter of the former president who has been falsely accused of being an undercover operative, and John Nichols, a liberal journalist in Wisconsin who right-wing media have suggested encouraged violence at the Capitol on behalf of the “deep state.” He also asked for any intelligence the government had on “Antifa,” on pipe bombs found near the Capitol on Jan. 6, and on “informants, cooperators [and] undercover agents … involved in the assistance, planning, or encouragement” of the events of that day.

These are all references common on right-wing social media, including Trump’s “Truth Social” feed, and among his most conservative supporters in Congress. But they are far outside even many Trump supporters’ view of the Capitol attack and have been repeatedly rejected in federal court by the judges overseeing hundreds of Jan. 6-related cases.

Washington Post, Trump loses chance to challenge N.Y. gag order before trial ends, Shayna Jacobs, Dec. 5, 2023 (print ed.). A New York appellate court Monday told lawyers for Donald Trump that they missed a deadline to seek permission from a panel of judges to quickly consider a request to file a higher court challenge to a gag order against Trump in connection with a $250 million civil fraud case.

Trump lawyers sought prompt permission from the appellate court to ask the Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, to pause a gag order against the former president issued by New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, who is presiding over the fraud trial.

Trump is scheduled to testify for the defense on Monday and is expected to be the final defense witness called in the fraud case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James. He previously testified in the trial when called to do so by state lawyers.

Engoron issued the gag order Oct. 3 to prevent Trump from commenting on court staff after he deemed Trump’s references to a law clerk problematic because they generated an overwhelming number of threats and harassing messages. There has been a barrage of calls to the clerk’s personal cellphone and a flood of alarming messages to her email accounts.

Trump has twice been found in violation of the order and has been fined a total of $15,000.

Trump’s lawyers say he will be irrevocably harmed by the gag order lasting through the end of testimony. His lawyers were barred from publicly discussing the law clerk’s frequent interactions with Engoron, which they have argued is evidence that the clerk, who has been active in local Democratic politics, is biased and too involved in decisions.

Washington Post, Analysis: James Comer’s Biden claims do not deserve the benefit of the doubt, Philip Bump, Dec. 5, 2023. There has been a consistent pattern displayed over the 11 months since Republicans regained control of the House majority and, with it, the leadership of the chamber’s investigatory committees.

The pattern: House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) will make a claim alleging wrongdoing by President Biden and then, in short order, that allegation will be shown to be incorrect or baseless.

Thanks to his stewardship of the endlessly wolf-crying effort to impugn the president, Comer’s profile has risen dramatically in the past few months. He’s aided in this by the extensive right-wing media universe, in which his claims are immediately celebrated and through which they propagate quickly. But because more objective audiences have not been paying close attention to the claims he’s made since taking over leadership of Oversight, many observers aren’t aware of the extent of his track record of making false or indefensible claims about Biden.

So we should put a fine point on it: Comer’s track record makes it obvious that he does not deserve the benefit of the doubt. Allegations that he offers should not be granted the baseline assumption that they are true.

We can begin with the development he announced Monday and work backward.

For months, Comer and his allies have insisted that Biden was the beneficiary of payments from his son Hunter Biden or his brother James Biden, despite a lack of evidence of such payments. So it was with no small amount of smugness that Comer announced the discovery that there were direct payments to Joe Biden: a recurring payment originating from Hunter Biden’s law firm to the current president.

“Hunter Biden’s legal team and the White House’s media allies claim Hunter’s corporate entities never made payments directly to Joe Biden,” Comer said Monday in a recorded statement. “We can officially add this latest talking point to the list of lies.”

You’ll notice how precisely Comer phrased that: that the media said “corporate entities never made payments.” It is true there was no evidence of such a payment, but the broader issue, highlighted by the media, was that there was no evidence that Biden was benefiting from Hunter’s or James’s deals.

There still isn’t. As The Washington Post reported Monday afternoon, the payments from Hunter Biden’s law firm in 2018 — just over $4,000 in total — were repayments for a truck Joe Biden helped his son purchase.

Text messages released as part of the cache of digital files related to Hunter Biden that became public in 2020 include an interaction between the president’s son and a salesman at a Ford dealership in June 2018. Hunter Biden was running late; the dealer confirmed that his father had already arrived as, it seems, the purchase was being finalized. Another message in that set of documents (which have not all been verified by The Post) identifies Joe Biden as the person holding the insurance on the truck.

Comer mischaracterizes Hunter Biden car payment reimbursement to his dad

In fact, the truck repayment — in the specific amount elevated by Comer — was reported by the New York Post in April 2022.

What this new revelation from Comer suggests is not that Biden was integrated into his family’s business interests, earning gobs of money on the sly. It’s that Hunter Biden needed help buying a truck and turned to his dad.

Remarkably, we went through a similar thing with Comer just last week. Then, he asserted that “Joe Biden received $40,000 in laundered China money in the form of a personal check from his sister-in-law.” Biden received a personal check from his sister-in-law, Sara Biden, but this, too, was a repayment for a loan Joe Biden had extended to her husband, James. One good indication of this is that the memo field on the check read “loan repayment.”

But Comer, coming up dry after nearly a year of investigating Biden, was intent on overhyping what his probe had found. The “laundered China money” part of it is unsubstantiated, depending on transfers of money between multiple accounts over a matter of several weeks to tie the $40,000 Biden was repaid to funding from Chinese business partners of Hunter and James Biden. At first, he even tried to cast suspicion on the idea that this repayment (and another, larger one), were loan repayments at all. At another point, he suggested that, “even if” it was a loan, Joe Biden had “benefited from his family cashing in on his name,” as though being repaid for a loan was an enormous financial gain.

New York Times, Opinion: The Resolute Liz Cheney, Katherine Miller, Dec. 5, 2023. There’s a scene in Liz Cheney’s new memoir, Oath and Honor, when she was still in Congress, she walks through the Capitol and into the Republican cloakroom, enters a phone booth, closes the door and calls Mitch McConnell.

There aren’t so many people who can just call up Mr. McConnell nor was this quite standard procedure on Capitol Hill but, as she writes, “I had known Mitch McConnell for decades.”

In 2023, a lot separates Ms. Cheney from the average Republican politician. But reading her memoir, it’s clear how unusual her position was in late 2020 — a true insider who was also listening to and believing what was going on with Donald Trump and the conservative base. That combination seems to have inspired her turning every key available to stave off Mr. Trump’s efforts to subvert the outcome of the election, and inspired her overpowering anger toward Kevin McCarthy.

Politico, New York court reinstates Trump’s gag orders in civil fraud case, Erica Orden, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). The gag orders bar Trump and his lawyers from disparaging court staff. A New York state appeals court on Thursday reinstated the gag orders issued by the judge overseeing Donald Trump’s $250 million civil fraud trial, lifting a pause on the orders that was put into effect earlier this month by one of the court’s judges.

In its two-page order, the appeals court didn’t explain its decision for reinstating the gag orders, which bar Trump and his lawyers from commenting on staff working for the trial judge, Justice Arthur Engoron.

The gag orders have been a central focus of the two-month trial, often eclipsing even the testimony. The initial gag order came just days into the trial, after Trump posted a disparaging social media message about the judge’s law clerk, Allison Greenfield, who sits alongside the judge on the bench. Engoron found that Trump subsequently violated the gag order twice, issuing him two fines totaling $15,000.

Relevant Recent Headlines

• Washington Post, Trump appointee sentenced to nearly 6 years for attacking police on Jan. 6
• Washington Post, Olympic swimmer Klete Keller avoids prison time for role in Jan. 6 riot 
• Politico, New York court reinstates Trump’s gag orders in civil fraud case
• Washington Post, Trump co-defendant in Georgia who pleaded guilty could testify in other cases
• New York Times, Lawyer Told Trump Defying Documents Subpoena Would Be a Crime
• New York Times, Trump’s Bankers Say His Exaggerated Net Worth Did Not Affect Loans

More On U.S. National Politics, Government

New York Times, Retirement Without a Net: The Plight of America’s Aging Farmworkers, Miriam Jordan, Photographs and Video by Adam Perez, Dec. 5, 2023. Immigrants who worked decades on U.S. farms are reaching retirement age in a country that offers them neither Medicare nor Social Security.

Esperanza Sanchez spends eight hours a day, Sunday to Friday, crouched down to the ground, trimming and picking leafy greens and packing them into boxes.

She pauses only if a dizzy spell throws her off balance, which she chalks up to high blood pressure, something she learned about last year when a raging headache prompted her to visit a doctor for the first time in recent memory.

“I feel tired,” she said, seated at her mobile home’s kitchen table after a day’s work. “I feel like stopping, but how can I?”

At 72, Ms. Sanchez is the oldest on her crew working in California’s Coachella Valley. She is among tens of thousands of undocumented farm workers who have spent decades working in the United States — doing the kind of sweaty, backbreaking work that powers much of the country’s farming industry — but are ineligible for Social Security, Medicare or the other forms of retirement relief that would allow them to stop working.

Some have children or grandchildren to help provide for them in their old age. In California, Oregon and Washington, undocumented farmworkers are entitled to health care and overtime. But most states do not offer them any benefits.

For decades, retirement was not an issue: Farmworkers sneaked across the Mexico-U.S. border for the harvest and then returned home until it was time to start all over again the next season. But this kind of circular migration became increasingly risky and expensive, as successive U.S. presidents, beginning in the 1990s, erected barriers and deployed technology and agents along the border to curb illegal entries.

At that point, many field hands crossed the border and stayed for good — aging with each successive crop.

Washington Post, Florida GOP chairman under fire as more details emerge in rape inquiry, Lori Rozsa and Will Oremus, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). Republican Party chair and his wife, shown above, a Moms for Liberty co-founder, part of three-way encounter with alleged victim, affidavit says.

Leaders of the Florida Republican Party criticized state GOP Chairman Christian Ziegler as details emerged in a rape allegation by a woman with whom he and his wife previously had a three-way sexual encounter.

Ziegler is under investigation by Sarasota police but has not been charged. A search warrant affidavit obtained by the Florida Center for Government Accountability, a nonprofit watchdog group, and provided to The Washington Post reveals additional details about the allegations of the assault. Police also obtained from the woman’s cellphone messages between her and Ziegler in the hours leading up to the encounter, the affidavit states.

On Oct. 2, the woman had agreed to have a sexual encounter with Ziegler that was to include his wife, Bridget, the affidavit says. But when the woman learned that Bridget couldn’t make it, she changed her mind and canceled. When Ziegler told her in one message that his wife was no longer available, she replied, “Sorry I was mostly in for her,” she said in a message, according to the affidavit.

According to the affidavit, the woman told Sarasota police that Ziegler then showed up at her apartment uninvited and raped her. The woman reported the alleged assault to police two days later, and a rape kit was done at a Sarasota hospital, the affidavit states.

Christian Ziegler later told detectives that he had consensual sex with the woman, and that he had video-recorded it and uploaded the video to Google Drive, according to the affidavit, but police were not able to locate the video. Sarasota police served a search warrant to Google last month, the affidavit says. Google did not respond to a request for comment Saturday.

In a 911 call two days after the alleged assault, a recording of which was also obtained by the Florida Center for Government Accountability and shared with The Post, a friend of the woman asked emergency responders to check on the woman at her apartment. According to the call’s recording, the friend said the woman hadn’t shown up for work for two days. When the friend called the woman, the woman sounded “drunk” and was “slurring her words,” the friend told dispatchers. “She told me she was raped and that she’s scared to leave her house,” the friend added, according to the recording of the call.

Bridget Ziegler, who is not named in the complaint against her husband, is a co-founder of Moms for Liberty and has worked closely with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on legislation that opponents have described as anti-LGBTQ+. Bridget Ziegler “confirmed having a sexual encounter with the victim and Christian over a year ago and that it only happened one time,” the affidavit says.

News reports emerged several days ago about the allegations of rape, but more records were obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request late Friday and reported by several Florida news outlets. They include details of recorded conversations via Instagram and phone calls between the woman and Christian Ziegler that detectives obtained. Police have filed search warrants for Ziegler’s phone, email and other devices. The Sarasota Police Department did not reply to several requests for comment.

Washington Post, HOME-SCHOOL NATION: What home schooling hides: An 11-year-old boy tortured and starved by his stepmom, Peter Jamison, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). Roman Lopez was 11 when he went missing. His years of torment were concealed by home schooling.

Nobody could find Roman Lopez.

His family had searched, taping hand-drawn “missing” posters to telephone poles and driving the streets calling out the 11-year-old’s name. So had many of his neighbors, their flashlights sweeping over the sidewalks as the winter darkness settled on the Sierra Nevada foothills.

The police were searching, too, and now they had returned to the place where Roman had gone missing earlier that day: his family’s rented home in Placerville, Calif. Roman’s stepmother, Lindsay Piper, hesitated when officers showed up at her door the night of Jan. 11, 2020, asking to comb the house again. But she had told them that Roman liked to hide in odd places — even the clothes dryer — and agreed to let them in.

Brock Garvin, Roman’s 15-year-old stepbrother, was sitting in the dimly lit basement when police came downstairs shortly after 10:30 p.m. He ignored them, he said later, watching “Supernatural” on television as three officers began inspecting the black-and-yellow Home Depot storage bins stacked along the back wall.

Brock had no idea what had happened to Roman. But he did know something the police did not: Much of what his mother had said to them that day was a lie.

When she reported Roman’s disappearance, Piper told the police she was home schooling the eight kids in her household. This was technically true. It was also a ruse.

Most schools have teachers, principals, guidance counselors — professionals trained to recognize the unexplained bruises or erratic behaviors that may point to an abusive parent. Home education was an easy way to avoid the scrutiny of such people. That was the case for Piper, whose children were learning less from her about math and history than they were about violence, cruelty and neglect.

Left to their own devices while she lay in bed watching TV crime procedurals, and her husband, Jordan, worked long hours as a utility lineman, their days and nights passed in a penumbral blur of video games, microwave dinners and fistfights. Almost nothing resembling education took place, her sons said. But there was a shared project in which she diligently led her children: the torture of their stepbrother, Roman.

Roman had been a loving, extroverted 7-year-old who obsessed over dinosaurs when Piper came into his life, a mama’s boy perpetually in search of a mother as Jordan, his father, cycled from one broken relationship to the next.

On the day he was reported missing, he was a sixth-grader who weighed only 42 pounds. He had been locked in closets, whipped with extension cords and bound with zip ties, according to police reports and interviews with family members who witnessed his treatment. Unwilling to give him even short breaks from his isolation, Piper kept him in diapers.

New York Times, Opinion: Farewell to George Santos, the Perfect MAGA Republican, Michelle Goldberg, Dec. 3, 2023 (print ed.). Should the blessed day ever arrive when Donald Trump is sent to federal prison, only one of his acolytes has earned the right to share his cell: George Santos, who on Friday became the sixth person in history to be expelled from the House of Representatives, more than seven months after he was first charged with crimes including fraud and money laundering. (He’s pleaded not guilty.)

A clout-chasing con man obsessed with celebrity, driven into politics not by ideology but by vanity and the promise of proximity to rich marks, Santos is a pure product of Trump’s Republican Party. “At nearly every opportunity, he placed his desire for private gain above his duty to uphold the Constitution, federal law and ethical principles,” said a House Ethics Committee report about Santos released last month. He’s a true child of the MAGA movement.

That movement is multifaceted, and different politicians represent different strains: There’s the dour, conspiracy-poisoned suburban grievance of Marjorie Taylor Greene, the gun-loving rural evangelicalism of Lauren Boebert, the overt white nationalism of Paul Gosar and the frat boy sleaze of Matt Gaetz. But no one embodies Trump’s fame-obsessed sociopathic emptiness like Santos. He’s heir to Trump’s sybaritic nihilism, high-kitsch absurdity and impregnable brazenness.

Washington Post, Rep. George Santos expelled from Congress on bipartisan vote, Amy B Wang and Mariana Alfaro, Dec. 2, 2023 (print ed.). The House voted to expel the New York Republican (shown above in a file photo via the Associated Press) in response to an array of alleged crimes and ethical lapses.

The House voted Friday to expel Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) from Congress — an action the chamber had previously taken only five times in U.S. history, and not for more than 20 years — in response to an array of alleged crimes and ethical lapses that came to light after the freshman lawmaker was found to have fabricated key parts of his biography.

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U.S. Military, Security, Intelligence, Foreign Policy, JFK Death

Washington Post, Ex-U.S. ambassador accused of being Cuba’s secret agent since 1981, Devlin Barrett, Mary Beth Sheridan and Karen DeYoung, Dec. 5, 2023. Manuel Rocha is charged with acting on Cuba’s behalf for decades. The Justice Department unsealed charges Monday against a retired ambassador, accusing him of being a “clandestine agent” for decades — allegedly betraying his country by acting on behalf of Cuba’s spy agency.

The arrest of Manuel Rocha, 73, capped a year-long undercover sting operation in which an FBI agent pretending to be a Cuban intelligence operative secretly recorded Rocha making incriminating statements about his life of diplomatic deception.

Attorney General Merrick Garland, left, called the Rocha case “one of the highest-reaching and longest-lasting infiltrations of the United States government by a foreign agent,” adding that in those secretly recorded conversations, Rocha repeatedly referred to the United States as “the enemy.”

The news of Rocha’s alleged duplicity stunned his friends and colleagues in U.S. diplomatic and intelligence circles.

“I never suspected, never had the slightest suspicion that he might be living a double life like the charging document describes,” said Brian Latell, a former senior CIA intelligence official who met Rocha in the early 1980s.

“I think I knew him as well as anyone else, and I never thought it was possible. I think Manuel was someone with many more talents, and many more facets, than frankly I had ever imagined, even as close as we were for so many years,” Latell said. “He was obviously doing very useful work for the Cubans.”

Former FBI agent Peter Lapp said the Rocha case is “very disturbing and concerning” because of the amount and types of intelligence Rocha could access. Lapp — whose book “Queen of Cuba” recounts a case he investigated against a different Cuban spy, U.S. defense analyst Ana Montes — said the court papers in Rocha’s case suggest that the FBI used the undercover agent to get Rocha talking, and that he apparently talked himself into criminal charges.

New York Times, The U.S. blamed Yemeni rebels for ship attacks in the Red Sea, the latest by Iran-backed groups since the war began, Helene Cooper, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). A Pentagon official said the U.S.S. Carney shot down the drones as several commercial ships nearby came under fire on Sunday, in attacks that U.S. Central Command said came from Iran-backed Yemeni Houthis.

A U.S. Navy destroyer shot down three drones during a sustained attack in the Red Sea on Sunday, the Pentagon said, in what could signal another escalation in the tit-for-tat attacks between the American military and Iranian-backed militants.

A Pentagon official said the U.S.S. Carney shot down the drones as several commercial ships nearby came under fire as part of an attack that began at 9:15 a.m. and lasted for several hours on Sunday. The destroyer intercepted three drones during the attack, United States Central Command said in a statement, including one that was headed in the direction of the Carney. The Pentagon said there were no injuries onboard the destroyer and that the ship was not damaged.

In the statement, Central Command said the attacks originated from areas in Yemen that are controlled by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia. Since the Oct. 7 incursion into Israel led by Hamas, the Houthis based in Yemen have launched a series of attacks — including with drones and missiles — on Israeli and American targets in the Red Sea.

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U.S. 2024 Presidential Race

Washington Post, Opinion: The folly of poll-dependent commentary, Jennifer Rubin, right, Dec. 5, 2023. My dim view of polling a year out from the election is no secret. To illustrate the foolishness of building punditry around meaningless, premature polling, consider what would unfold if pundits ran with a spate of recent polling in President Biden’s favor.

Democratic consultant Simon Rosenberg pointed out on his website that four recent polls show Biden with small leads over four-time indicted former president Donald Trump:

Rosenberg pointed out that in the Morning Consult poll, Biden gained four percentage points over the prior week, and he gained three percentage points in the Economist/YouGov poll.

Now imagine if, as the mainstream media did when the New York Times released a poll showing Biden trailing in five of six key battleground states (improbably showing Biden leading among 18- to 29-year-olds by only one point and trailing among 30- to 44-year-olds), the media blanketed the airwaves and splashed these findings over the front pages for days on end. We would see headlines such as: “Biden rebounds with young voters!” and “Trump lead collapses!”

Well, you say, this is all preposterous. These polls are within the margin of error. Moreover, we are a year away from the race. That is my point exactly. It would be absurd to rationalize data of questionable value to pontificate with great certainty about the state of the race.

Political reporters are so used to this flawed approach to campaign coverage that many might be stumped if you told them they could not base their reporting on any polling this far out. But what would we say?! As media critic and New York University professor Jay Rosen is found of saying, they would need to cover “not the odds but the stakes.”

In other words, the mainstream media would have to focus (not just for a single story but extended over weeks) on the consequences of electing a candidate echoing Adolf Hitler and vowing to use the military and Justice Department against his enemies. They would have to look not at polling about the economy but the actual economic record of the administration (e.g., inflation flattened, more than 14 million jobs created, record low unemployment for Black people, Hispanics and women). They would need to examine the decisions of Trump-appointed judges and the social uproar it set off, especially among women in the wake of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

Washington Post, Election 2024: Liz Cheney, outspoken Trump critic, weighs third-party presidential run, Maeve Reston, Dec. 5, 2023. The former congresswoman says she is determined to stop Trump. Other Trump critics think a third-party candidacy could help him.

Liz Cheney, one of the most vociferous critics of Donald Trump in the Republican Party, says she is weighing whether to mount her own third-party candidacy for the White House, as she vows to do “whatever it takes” to prevent the former president from returning to office.

While promoting her new book Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning, the former Wyoming congresswoman — who was defeated by a Trump loyalist last year — is warning that Trump could transform America’s democracy into a dictatorship if he is reelected; anticipating, she said, that he would attempt to stay longer than his term.

“Several years ago, I would not have contemplated a third-party run,” Cheney said in a Monday interview with The Washington Post. But, she said, “I happen to think democracy is at risk at home, obviously, as a result of Donald Trump’s continued grip on the Republican Party, and I think democracy is at risk internationally as well.”

New York Times, As Donald Trump continues to skip debates, Republicans are weighing looser rules, Shane Goldmacher and Maggie Haberman, Dec. 5, 2023. The party is considering whether to open the door to debates not sponsored by the Republican National Committee, which could lead to more onstage clashes but also diminish their fanfare.

The next Republican debate on Wednesday could be the last one sponsored by the Republican National Committee in the 2024 primary race, with the party considering debate rule changes that would open the door to more onstage clashes but also diminish the fanfare around them.

The debate in Tuscaloosa, Ala., comes as Nikki Haley, the former United Nations ambassador, is trying to assert herself as the main rival to former President Donald J. Trump, after months in which Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida has ceded ground. The R.N.C. is weighing a proposal to end its demand that candidates participate exclusively in the party’s debates, with a final decision expected this week.

Few have been happy with how the debates, which are overseen by the R.N.C., have unfolded so far. Mr. Trump has boycotted them, dampening interest and lessening the stakes. His rivals have been forced to fight among themselves. And lower-polling candidates have steadily been pushed out by rising thresholds to qualify.

Debates are traditionally the marquee events of a presidential primary contest, with voters eagerly tuning in to watch the candidates disagree on policy and vie for their support. But the Republican front-runner’s stubborn absence this election cycle has robbed them of much of their drama.

New York Times, Some Republicans Have a Blunt Message for Chris Christie: Drop Out, Lisa Lerer and Chris Cameron, Dec. 5, 2023. Several anti-Trump Republican donors and strategists are pushing Mr. Christie to end his presidential campaign and back Nikki Haley.

Republican donors, strategists and pundits are publicly pressuring Mr. Christie to follow the lead of Tim Scott and Mike Pence and formally end his campaign. Many would like him to throw his support behind Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor who has risen in the polls in early-voting states in recent weeks.

The focus on Mr. Christie’s bid reflects the anxiety that has consumed anti-Trump Republicans as the race moves into the final weeks before the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 15. Despite three debates, tens of millions of dollars and many months of campaigning, none of the six candidates still challenging Mr. Trump have made much of a dent in his double-digit lead. And they are rapidly running out of time.

Yet in a race in which Mr. Trump has maintained an expansive lead, Mr. Christie’s small foothold on the New Hampshire electorate may not make that great a difference.

Patrick Murray, a New Jersey pollster who is the director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, said his data indicated that only about half of Mr. Christie’s support in New Hampshire would go to Ms. Haley, while the rest would be distributed among the other candidates. The five or six points that Ms. Haley would earn would not be enough for her to come close to Mr. Trump, who leads New Hampshire by nearly 30 points.

Mr. Christie’s advisers argue that he is playing an important role by being the only candidate willing to take direct and frequent shots at Mr. Trump. Mike DuHaime, one of Mr. Christie’s top strategists, said a case could be made for any of the candidates other than Mr. Trump to drop out, given that none have been able to break the 20 percent mark in polling.

“Whatever case people make to you about Christie, the other two have no path either,” Mr. DuHaime said, referring to Ms. Haley and Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida. “Should everybody just drop out, or should we try to beat the guy?”

New York Times, Doug Burgum, Wealthy North Dakota Governor, Ends White House Run, Jonathan Weisman, Dec. 5, 2023 (print ed.). The little-known former software executive had hoped his business acumen and relentless focus on the economy, energy and foreign policy would lift his campaign. It didn’t.

Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota, right, the wealthy former software executive who entered the presidential campaign in June hoping a back-to-basics appeal on the economy would propel him forward, dropped out of the race for the Republican nomination on Monday.

Though his personal fortune could have kept his campaign afloat, Mr. Burgum’s mild demeanor and resolute focus on three issues, the economy, energy and foreign policy, never caught on with a G.O.P. electorate steeped in the pugilistic flash of Donald J. Trump and the more visceral appeal of social issues.

Mr. Burgum claimed on Monday that he had shifted the conversation on the campaign trail from divisive social issues to energy and foreign policy. He blamed media inattention and Republican Party rules for his poor showing.

New York Times, Analysis: Here’s why Nikki Haley is rising among the rivals to Donald Trump, Nate Cohn, Dec. 5, 2023 (print ed.). She has gained with educated and relatively moderate Republicans and independents, but that is also a big liability in today’s G.O.P.

Over the last few months, Nikki Haley has gained enough in the polls that she might be on the verge of surpassing Ron DeSantis as Donald J. Trump’s principal rival in the race.

With Ms. Haley still a full 50 percentage points behind Mr. Trump in national polls, her ascent doesn’t exactly endanger his path to the nomination. If anything, she is a classic factional candidate — someone who’s built a resilient base of support by catering to the wishes of a minority of the party. So if you were reading this only on the off chance that Mr. Trump might be in jeopardy, you can doze off again.

But even if it’s still hard to imagine a Haley win, her rise may nonetheless make this race more interesting, especially in the early states, which will begin to vote in six weeks. Ms. Haley is now neck-and-neck with Mr. DeSantis in Iowa, a state he is counting on to reverse a yearlong downward spiral in the polls. She’s well ahead of Mr. DeSantis in New Hampshire and South Carolina, two states where a moderate South Carolinian like her ought to fare relatively well.

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Global Disputes, Disasters, Human Rights

New York Times, Vladimir Putin to Visit Saudi Arabia and U.A.E. on Wednesday, Ivan Nechepurenko and Anton Troianovski, Dec. 5, 2023. The trip is part of a series of diplomatic meetings by the Russian leader, and comes as Ukraine tries to shore up eroding support for its war effort.

President Vladimir V. Putin, shown above in a file photo, will make a rare trip to the Middle East on Wednesday, the Kremlin announced, saying he would discuss bilateral relations, oil and international affairs in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The trip is part of a flurry of diplomatic meetings the Russia leader will conduct this week; on Thursday in Moscow, Mr. Putin will host President Ebrahim Raisi of Iran, the leader of another key player in the region.

Mr. Putin, who has not traveled beyond China, Iran and the former Soviet states since he launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, will visit both the Emirates and Saudi Arabia in one day, Dmitri S. Peskov, his spokesman, told journalists during a briefing on Tuesday.

The meetings come as Ukraine tries to shore up Western aid for its war effort, amid signs of eroding support in the United States. President Volodymyr Zelensky will address the U.S. Senate on Tuesday in an attempt to stress the urgency of maintaining American financial and military backing.
Ukraine will be another issue looming over Mr. Putin’s talks, though the Kremlin did not specify it as being on the agenda. Saudi Arabia has attempted to act as a mediator in the war, inviting some 40 countries for a peace conference in August and helping to conduct a successful prisoner exchange last year that included American and British citizens, with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman mediating the release.

Now, there is renewed speculation in Russia about possible peace talks, amid questions over the durability of Western support for Ukraine and as Ukrainian officials acknowledge that this year’s counteroffensive failed to achieve a significant breakthrough.

Citing an unnamed, high-ranking Russian source, Izvestia, a pro-Kremlin daily, reported on Tuesday that Russia would not oppose conducting talks with Ukraine in a European country, such as Hungary. In an interview with RBC, a Russian business daily, Grigory Yavlinsky, a longtime Russian politician who met with Mr. Putin in October, said that he had offered to become an intermediary in such talks.

Mr. Zelensky, who has vowed that Ukraine will keep fighting to liberate its territory, told The Associated Press in an interview last week that he did not yet feel pressure from allies to negotiate with Russia, though “some voices are always heard.”

New York Times, The United Nations plays a vital role on the ground in wars and disasters, Farnaz Fassihi, Dec. 5, 2023. While some critics say the world body is paralyzed by political differences, its humanitarian agencies are helping needy people in Gaza and other places around the world.

As conflicts rage in Ukraine and the Middle East, the picture offered to the world by the United Nations in New York is often one of division and paralysis. But far from U.N. headquarters things look different, its agencies mounting relief efforts in the most challenging of circumstances.

On a recent day in the Gaza Strip, U.N. officials were offering shelter in a vocational center to over 30,000 people sleeping on bare floors amid puddles of mud and overflowing sewage. “People lost everything, and they need everything,” said Juliette Touma, director of communications for UNRWA, the U.N. body that cares for Palestinians, who had traveled to Gaza for two days with the agency’s commissioner general, Philippe Lazzarini.

The officials were also trying to buck up their own staff. One U.N. staff member told them that he finds a place to hide and cry every day in order to cope, Ms. Touma said. So far, 130 staff members for UNRWA have been killed in the war and many are missing, feared dead under the rubble.

The United Nations was created in the aftermath of World War II with the intention of “saving succeeding generations from the scourge of war” by maintaining international peace and stability. While it has failed to achieve that ambitious goal, it has evolved into a vast global humanitarian aid agency that many call more vital than ever.

New York Times, China’s rising debt spurred the ratings agency Moody’s to lower the country’s credit outlook, Keith Bradsher, Dec. 5, 2023. The ratings agency cut its view of the country’s finances to negative, saying it was concerned about the potential cost of local government bailouts.

In another blow to China’s economy, the credit ratings agency Moody’s said Tuesday that it had issued a negative outlook for the Chinese government’s financial health.

Moody’s expressed concern at the potential cost to the national government of bailing out debt-burdened regional and local governments and state-owned businesses. Moody’s, which previously viewed China’s finances as stable, warned that the country’s economy is settling into slower growth while its enormous property sector has begun to shrink.

China’s Ministry of Finance immediately pushed back, saying that the Chinese economy is resilient and that local government budgets could withstand their loss of revenue from the country’s real estate downturn.

New York Times, Chinese Developer’s Crash Was Propelled by Questionable Accounting, Alexandra Stevenson, Dec. 5, 2023. Blame for China Evergrande’s downfall has been placed on Chinese lending policies, but poor corporate oversight was hiding in plain sight.

In January, more than 100 financial sleuths were dispatched to the Guangzhou headquarters of China Evergrande Group, a real estate giant that had defaulted a year earlier under $300 billion of debt. Its longtime auditor had just resigned, and a nation of home buyers had directed its ire at Evergrande.

Police on watch for protesters stood guard outside the building, and the new team of auditors were issued permits to get in. After six months of work, the auditors reported that Evergrande had lost $81 billion over the prior two years, vastly more than expected.

But they still had questions. Some records they had requested from Evergrande were incomplete. Numbers were missing. Important accounting errors or misstatements may have gone undetected. How had things at Evergrande — once one of China’s most successful companies — gone so wrong?

China’s housing boom was the biggest the world has seen, and Evergrande’s rise was powered by rapacious expansion, the system that stoked it and foreign investors who threw money at it. When China’s housing bubble burst, no other company imploded in as spectacular a fashion.

New York Times, The Wild Card in Taiwan’s Election: Frustrated Young Voters, Amy Chang Chien and Chris Buckley, Dec. 5, 2023 (print ed.). An important bloc for the governing party, the island’s youth are focusing on bread-and-butter issues and have helped propel the rise of an insurgent party.

In the months leading up to a pivotal presidential election for Taiwan, candidates have focused on who can best handle the island democracy’s volatile relationship with China, with its worries about the risks of war. But at a recent forum in Taipei, younger voters instead peppered two of the candidates with questions about everyday issues like rent, telecom scams and the voting age.

It was a telling distillation of the race, the outcome of which will have far-reaching implications for Taiwan. The island is a potential flashpoint between the United States and China, which claims Taiwan as its territory and has signaled that it could escalate military threats if the Democratic Progressive Party wins.

But many Taiwanese voters, especially those in their 20s and 30s, say they are weary of geopolitics and yearn for a campaign more focused on their needs at home. In interviews, they spoke of rising housing costs, slow income growth and narrowing career prospects. A considerable number expressed disillusionment with Taiwan’s two dominant parties, the governing Democratic Progressive Party and the opposition Nationalist Party.

That sentiment has helped propel the rise of a third: the Taiwan People’s Party, an upstart that has gained traction in the polls partly by tapping into frustration over bread-and-butter issues, especially among younger people. The two main parties have also issued policy packages promising to address these anxieties.

New York Times, Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, has reignited a border dispute with an oil-rich neighbor, Guyana, Genevieve Glatsky, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, right, finds himself in a political bind. He is under pressure from the United States to hold free and fair elections after years of authoritarian rule or face a reinstatement of crippling economic sanctions. But analysts say he is unlikely to give up power and would most likely lose in a credible election.

Now, Mr. Maduro has reignited a border dispute with a much smaller neighboring country in a move that seems driven, at least in part, by a desire to divert attention from his political troubles at home by stoking nationalist fervor.

Mr. Maduro claims that the vast, oil-rich Essequibo region of Guyana, a country of about 800,000, is part of Venezuela, a nation of roughly 28 million people, and is holding a nonbinding referendum on Sunday asking voters whether they support the government’s position.

Mr. Maduro’s argument is based on what many Venezuelans consider an illegitimate agreement dating to the 19th century that gave the Essequibo region to Guyana.

Although most countries have accepted that Essequibo belongs to Guyana, the issue remains a point of contention for many Venezuelans, and the referendum is likely to be approved, experts said.

President Irfaan Ali of Guyana has said that “Essequibo is ours, every square inch of it,” and has pledged to defend it.

For Mr. Maduro, stoking a geopolitical crisis gives him a way to shift the domestic conversation at a moment when many Venezuelans are pressing for an election that could challenge his hold on power.

“Maduro needs to wrap himself in the flag for electoral reasons, and obviously a territorial dispute with a neighbor is the perfect excuse,” said Phil Gunson, an analyst with the International Crisis Group who lives in Venezuela’s capital, Caracas.

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U.S. Supreme Court

Future Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, right, during her years as a state legislator and campaigner in Arizona (Associated Press photo).

New York Times, Opinion: Sandra Day O’Connor Never Stopped Being a Politician, Jeffrey Toobin (former federal prosecutor andauthor of “The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court”), Dec. 3, 2023 (print ed.). Sandra Day O’Connor, who died on Friday, is forever linked to the word “first” — the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court. But especially when thinking about today’s court, the word that may describe her best is “last” — the last former politician to be a justice.

Justice O’Connor spent a little over five years as a state senator in Arizona, eventually serving as the leader of the Republican majority, and her tenure in the capitol in Phoenix is the key to understanding both her own jurisprudence and what’s missing from the Supreme Court today.

Justice O’Connor loved being a politician and, in a way, never stopped being one. Of course, she didn’t have to face the voters as a justice, but she was acutely aware of the need for the court to remain in the good graces of the public. Her judicial philosophy — which was less an overarching ideology than a case-by-case inclination toward moderation — never found much favor among law professors; she had no overarching theory of jurisprudence, like the contemporary fad for originalism. (Conducting séances with the likes of James Madison for guidance on cases was never for her.) She was a practical problem solver, and she was guided by a keen sense of the political center, where she thought the court always belonged.

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More On U.S. Courts, Crime, Guns, Civil Rights, Immigration

New York Times, Tyler Goodson of ‘S-Town’ Podcast Is Shot Dead in Police Standoff, Jesus Jiménez, Dec. 5, 2023. Mr. Goodson, who had been featured in the investigative podcast set in the town of Woodstock, Ala., “brandished a gun at officers” before he was fatally shot, the authorities said.

Tyler Goodson, a key figure in the popular “S-Town” podcast series, died on Sunday after he was shot during a standoff with the police at a house in Woodstock, Ala., southwest of Birmingham, the authorities said on Monday.

The police responded to a call after midnight on Sunday at a home in Woodstock, where they found that Mr. Goodson had barricaded himself inside, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said. A standoff followed between Mr. Goodson and law enforcement officials from several agencies, during which Mr. Goodson “brandished a gun at officers,” the agency said.

Mr. Goodson, 32, was shot, and was later pronounced dead, according to the agency.

“S-Town” was an instant hit when it was released in 2017, downloaded by listeners 16 million times in its first week, and it later won a Peabody Award.

The series released followed a man named John B. McLemore who hated his hometown of Woodstock, Ala., and reached out to Brian Reed, a producer at “This American Life,” for help investigating the son of a rich family who claimed to have gotten away with murder.

It was unclear who shot Mr. Goodson. Additional details about the standoff and the shooting were not disclosed.

Mayor Jeff Dodson of Woodstock said in a statement on Monday that “everyone wants answers and details, myself included.”

“Tyler was well known and loved by myself, his family and this community,” Mr. Dodson said. “That love extends far beyond due to the S-Town podcast. Please remember at this time that he is so much more than a character to the fans who loved him. This young man was a father, son, brother and friend to many.”

New York Times, House in Virginia Explodes as Police Prepare to Serve Search Warrant, Livia Albeck-Ripka and John Yoon, Dec. 5, 2023. Police said that a man had fired a flare gun 30 to 40 times from inside his home. He discharged several more rounds from a firearm during a standoff.

A house in Arlington, Va., exploded into flames on Monday night while the police were preparing to search it after reports of gunfire and a standoff with the man who lived there.

The police first went to the home around 4:45 p.m. following reports that shots had been heard, the Arlington County Police Department said. A preliminary investigation indicated that the resident had fired a flare gun about 30 to 40 times inside his home into the surrounding neighborhood, according to a statement from the police.

Officers obtained a search warrant and tried to make contact with the resident over the telephone and loudspeakers. But he did not respond and remained barricaded inside the home. As officers were preparing to serve the search warrant, he discharged several rounds from inside his home with what the police believe was a firearm. Then the explosion took place at the residence at 8:25 p.m.

Early Tuesday, the police had not identified the man inside the home or what his condition was. The police said on social media that residents should avoid the area, part of a densely populated suburban neighborhood with parks, restaurants and schools.

“We have not been able to access the home at this point, so I don’t have the status of the suspect,” said Ashley Savage, a spokeswoman for the Arlington County Police Department, by phone. The man was “believed to be inside the residence at the time of the explosion.” The investigation into the explosion is ongoing, the police said in the statement.

New York Times, More Chinese Are Risking Danger in Southern Border Crossings to U.S., Li Yuan, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). Trekking the perilous Darién Gap and seeking asylum are risks worth taking for migrants from China who have lost hope in the country’s future.

Gao Zhibin and his daughter left Beijing on Feb. 24 for a better life, a safer one. Over the next 35 days, by airplane, train, boat, bus and foot, they traveled through nine countries. By the time they touched American soil in late March, Mr. Gao had lost 30 pounds.

The most harrowing part of their journey was trekking through the brutal jungle in Panama known as the Darién Gap. On the first day, said Mr. Gao, 39, he had sunstroke. The second day, his feet swelled. Dehydrated and weakened, he threw away his tent, a moisture-resistant sleeping pad and his change of clothes.

Then his 13-year-old daughter got sick. She lay on the ground, vomiting, with her face pale, her forehead feverish, her hands on her stomach. Mr. Gao said he thought she might have drunk dirty water. Dragging themselves through the muddy, treacherous rainforests of the Darién Gap, they took a break every 10 minutes. They didn’t get to their destination, a camp site in Panama, until 9 p.m.

Mr. Gao said he felt he had no choice but to leave China.

“I think we will only be safe by coming to the U.S.,” he said, adding that he believed that Xi Jinping, China’s leader, could lead the country to famine and possibly war. “It’s a rare opportunity to protect me and my family,” he said.

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Climate Summit in Dubai

Heads of state and government will be speaking at the COP28 summit in Dubai on Friday and Saturday (Photo by Sean Gallup via Getty Images).

New York Times, Fighting Crises With Cash, Except for the Climate Crisis, Lisa Friedman and Somini Sengupta, Dec. 5, 2023 (print ed.). Money is a very big sticking point at this year’s United Nations climate summit. Part of the problem is that American promises often go unmet.

When there’s a global crisis, wealthy countries tend to find money.

That was the case in the United States when big banks were bailed out to soften a global financial crisis. That was the case for the coronavirus pandemic. And for military aid to allies like Ukraine.

But the climate crisis? It’s complicated.

This weekend, Vice President Kamala Harris visited the United Nations climate summit in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, and promised $3 billion for the Green Climate Fund, which benefits poorer nations. But Biden administration officials already are acknowledging it will be a struggle to persuade Congress to approve the money.

A day after that, John Kerry, President Biden’s climate envoy, announced at the talks a new carbon credit initiative in which more than a dozen major companies including Walmart, Pepsi and McDonalds will help developing countries pivot away from fossil fuels toward renewable energy. The creation of the program is a tacit acknowledgment that governments simply aren’t putting up the trillions of dollars needed to fund the energy transition.

One of the big tests facing this summit, known as COP28, is whether it will fare any better than earlier climate talks at shoring up anything close to the money that’s needed.

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More On Disasters, Climate Change, Environment, Transportation

New York Times, It Could Be a Vast Source of Clean Energy, Buried Deep Underground, Liz Alderman, Dec. 5, 2023 (print ed.). In eastern France, and in other places around the world, deposits of natural hydrogen promise bountiful power. But questions remain.

In the rocky soil of Lorraine, a former coal mining region near the French-German border, scientists guided a small probe one recent day down a borehole half a mile into the earth’s crust.

Frothing in the water table below was an exciting find: champagne-size bubbles that signaled a potentially mammoth cache of so-called white hydrogen, one of the cleanest-burning fuels in nature.

“Hydrogen is magical — when you burn it you release water, so there are no carbon emissions to warm the planet,” said one of the scientists, Jacques Pironon, a senior researcher and professor at the University of Lorraine. “We think we’ve uncovered one of the largest deposits of natural hydrogen anywhere in the world.”

The discovery by Mr. Pironon and another scientist, Philippe de Donato, both members of France’s respected National Center for Scientific Research, caused a sensation in France, where the government has vowed to become a European leader in clean hydrogen.

New York Times, Air-conditioning use will surge in a warming world, the U.N. warned, Hiroko Tabuchi, Dec. 5, 2023. By 2050, electricity use for cooling could double, driving up the greenhouse gas emissions that cause warming.

The future facing a warming planet: As global temperatures rise, more people will turn to air-conditioners to ward off the heat.

But the rise in cooling buildings and other spaces, which is also driven by rising incomes, population growth and urbanization, means that the world could use more than double the electricity it does now to stay cool, according to new United Nations research published on Tuesday at the global climate talks in Dubai.

New York Times, Biden Administration to Require Replacing of Lead Pipes Within 10 Years, Coral Davenport, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). The proposal to rip out nine million pipes across the country could cost as much as $30 billion but would nearly eliminate the neurotoxin from drinking water.

The Biden administration is proposing new restrictions that would require the removal of virtually all lead water pipes across the country in an effort to prevent another public health catastrophe like the one that came to define Flint, Mich.

The proposal on Thursday from the Environmental Protection Agency would impose the strictest limits on lead in drinking water since federal standards were first set 30 years ago. It would affect about nine million pipes that snake throughout communities across the country.

“This is the strongest lead rule that the nation has ever seen,” Radhika Fox, the E.P.A.’s assistant administrator for water, said in an interview. “This is historic progress.”

Digging up and replacing lead pipes from coast to coast is no small undertaking. The E.P.A. estimates the price at $20 billion to $30 billion over the course of a decade. The rule would require the nation’s utilities — and most likely their ratepayers — to absorb most of that cost, but $15 billion is available from the 2021 infrastructure law to help them pay for it.

New York Times, What Happens When an Oil Cartel Walks Into a Climate Summit? Jim Tankersley, Dec. 1, 2023. OPEC is a participant at COP28. Unlike the United States, it is moving to cut production.

In a far corner of the temporary village housing the United Nations climate summit, the world’s largest cartel of fossil fuel producers plied skeptical young activists with chocolate and free pens.

It was Thursday afternoon. A continent away, in Vienna, the cartel’s members were voting to give the summit what amounts to another very small climate treat: at least a temporary reduction in oil and gas drilling. That’s the opposite of what President Biden, who has made climate policy a top priority during his administration, is delivering from the United States.

It was an opening-day irony for a COP28 summit that is already full of them, from its host country down to the so-called OPEC Pavilion in a building that is marked “Urbanisation & Indigenous Peoples” on the outside.

Tens of thousands of delegates are descending this month on Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, which is a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and a major oil producer. Those delegates are celebrating an accelerating global transition toward low-emission sources of energy like wind and solar power. But expanding renewables is not enough to save the planet, scientists warn, so many delegates are demanding that the world rapidly phase out its use of fossil fuels.

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More On Ukraine-Russian War, Russian Leadership

Washington Post, Investigation: In Ukraine, a war of incremental gains as counteroffensive stalls, Washington Post Staff, Dec. 5, 2023. Months of planning with the United States were tossed aside after Ukraine’s forces were bloodied by Russia in the early days of the counteroffensive. Soldiers in the 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade waited for nightfall before piling — nervous but confident — into their U.S.-provided Bradley Fighting Vehicles. It was June 7 and Ukraine’s long-awaited counteroffensive was about to begin.

The goal for the first 24 hours was to advance nearly nine miles, reaching the village of Robotyne — an initial thrust south toward the larger objective of reclaiming Melitopol, a city near the Sea of Azov, and severing Russian supply lines.

Nothing went as planned.

The Ukrainian troops had expected minefields but were blindsided by the density. The ground was carpeted with explosives, so many that some were buried in stacks. The soldiers had been trained to drive their Bradleys at a facility in Germany, on smooth terrain. But on the mushy soil of the Zaporizhzhia region, in the deafening noise of battle, they struggled to steer through the narrow lanes cleared of mines by advance units.

By day four, Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, Ukraine’s top commander, had seen enough. Incinerated Western military hardware — American Bradleys, German Leopard tanks, mine-sweeping vehicles — littered the battlefield. The numbers of dead and wounded sapped morale.

Rather than try to breach Russian defenses with a massed, mechanized attack and supporting artillery fire, as his American counterparts had advised, Zaluzhny decided that Ukrainian soldiers would go on foot in small groups of about 10 — a process that would save equipment and lives but would be much slower.

Months of planning with the United States was tossed aside on that fourth day, and the already delayed counteroffensive, designed to reach the Sea of Azov within two to three months, ground to a near-halt. Rather than making a nine-mile breakthrough on their first day, the Ukrainians in the nearly six months since June have advanced about 12 miles and liberated a handful of villages. Melitopol is still far out of reach.

This account of how the counteroffensive unfolded is the second in a two-part series and illuminates the brutal and often futile attempts to breach Russian lines, as well as the widening rift between Ukrainian and U.S. commanders over tactics and strategy. The first article examined the Ukrainian and U.S. planning that went into the operation.

This second part is based on interviews with more than 30 senior Ukrainian and U.S. military officials, as well as over two dozen officers and troops on the front line. Some officials and soldiers spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe military operations.

New York Times, A Prison at War: The Convicts Sustaining Vladimir Putin’s Invasion, Anatoly Kurmanaev, Ekaterina Bodyagina, Alina Lobzina and Oleg Matsnev, Produced by Gray Beltran, Dec. 4, 2023 (interactive). Nearly 200 inmates left a high-security Russian prison to join the war in Ukraine, seeking redemption, money or freedom. Many were killed or wounded.

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U.S. Economy, Jobs, Consumers, High Tech

New York Times, Why Doctors and Pharmacists Are in Revolt, Noam Scheiber, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). Once accustomed to a status outside the usual management-labor hierarchy, many health professionals now feel as put upon as any clock-punching worker.

Doctors are not the only health professionals who are unionizing or protesting in greater numbers. Health care workers, many of them nurses, held eight major work stoppages last year — the most in a decade — and are on pace to match or exceed that number this year. This fall, dozens of nonunion pharmacists at CVS and Walgreens stores called in sick or walked off the job to protest understaffing, many for a full day or more.

The reasons for the recent labor actions appear straightforward. Doctors, nurses and pharmacists said they were being asked to do more as staffing dwindles, leading to exhaustion and anxiety about putting patients at risk. Many said that they were stretched to the limit after the pandemic began, and that their work demands never fully subsided.

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U.S. Abortion, Family Planning, #MeToo

Politico, Police investigating Florida Republican Party chair over alleged sexual assault, Kimberly Leonard and Andrew Atterbury, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). The Sarasota Police Department is investigating Florida Republican Party Chair Christian Ziegler, whose wife, Bridget Ziegler, shown above togther,  co-founded the conservative parents group Moms for Liberty, following allegations of sexual assault.

According to a heavily redacted police report obtained by POLITICO through a public records request, the alleged incident took place on Oct. 2 at a home in Sarasota and the victim filed a complaint two days later. The documents omit details about the victim’s statement to authorities but include the words “rape” and “sexually battered.”

The Florida Trident, the news platform for the open government watchdog Florida Center for Government Accountability, was first to report on the news.

Ziegler, through his attorney, acknowledged the police were investigating him and said he’d been “fully cooperative with every request made by the Sarasota Police Department.”

“We are confident that once the police investigation is concluded that no charges will be filed and Mr. Ziegler will be completely exonerated,” his attorney, Derek Byrd, said in a statement. “Unfortunately, public figures are often accused of acts that they did not commit whether it be for political purposes or financial gain. I would caution anyone to rush to judgment until the investigation is concluded.”

Ziegler is married to Bridget Ziegler, a school board member in Sarasota County and Moms for Liberty co-founder. The group has risen to prominence in Florida under the DeSantis administration, which emphasizes rooting out any traces of liberal “indoctrination” — particularly on the issues of sexual orientation, gender identity and race.

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Pandemics, Public Health, Privacy 

New York Times, At the Core of Purdue Pharma Case: Who Can Get Immunity in Settlements? Abbie VanSickle, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). A Supreme Court ruling could mean the end of a strategy for resolving mass injury claims that gives organizations expansive legal protections.

For years, Purdue Pharma, the maker of the prescription painkiller OxyContin, had been entangled in lawsuits seeking to hold it to account for its role in the spiraling opioid crisis.

A pathbreaking settlement reached last year appeared to signal the end to thousands of those cases, funneling billions of dollars toward fighting the epidemic in exchange for exempting members of the billionaire Sackler family, which once controlled the company, from civil lawsuits.

But on Monday, the Supreme Court will hear arguments over whether the agreement is a violation of federal law in a case that could have ramifications not just for Purdue but also for organizations that turn to bankruptcy court, as the company did, to resolve claims of mass injury.

“There’s huge implications for all of corporate bankruptcy,” said Anthony J. Casey, a law professor at the University of Chicago. “I think this is probably the most important bankruptcy case before the court in 30, maybe 40 years.”

New York Times, ‘Medical Freedom’ Activists Take Aim at New Target: Childhood Vaccine Mandates, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). Mississippi  has long had high childhood immunization rates, but a federal judge has ordered the state to allow parents to opt out on religious grounds.

For more than 40 years, Mississippi had one of the strictest school vaccination requirements in the nation, and its high childhood immunization rates have been a source of pride. But in July, the state began excusing children from vaccination if their parents cited religious objections, after a federal judge sided with a “medical freedom” group.

Today, 2,100 Mississippi schoolchildren are officially exempt from vaccination on religious grounds. Five hundred more are exempt because their health precludes vaccination. Dr. Daniel P. Edney, the state health officer, warns that if the total number of exemptions climbs above 3,000, Mississippi will once again face the risk of deadly diseases that are now just a memory.

“For the last 40 years, our main goal has been to protect those children at highest risk of measles, mumps, rubella, polio,” Dr. Edney said in an interview, “and that’s those children that have chronic illnesses that make them more vulnerable.” He called the ruling “a very bitter pill for me to swallow.”

Mississippi is not an isolated case. Buoyed by their success at overturning coronavirus mandates, medical and religious freedom groups are taking aim at a new target: childhood school vaccine mandates, long considered the foundation of the nation’s defense against infectious disease.

Until the Mississippi ruling, the state was one of only six that refused to excuse students from vaccination for religious or philosophical reasons. Similar legal challenges have been filed in the five remaining states: California, Connecticut, Maine, New York and West Virginia. The ultimate goal, according to advocates behind the lawsuits, is to undo vaccine mandates entirely, by getting the issue before a Supreme Court that is increasingly sympathetic to religious freedom arguments.

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Media, High Tech, Sports, Education, Free Speech, Culture

New York Times, Former Top Tucker Carlson Producer Is Accused of Sexual Assault, Katie Robertson, Dec. 5, 2023.  Fox News fired the producer alongside Mr. Carlson this year after its $787.5 million settlement in the Dominion Voting Systems defamation case.

A former Fox News employee accused a top producer for the host Tucker Carlson of sexual assault in a lawsuit filed Monday.

The accuser, Andrew Delancey, who previously worked as a producer for a Fox News affiliate service, said in the complaint that Justin Wells, formerly the senior executive producer of “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” assaulted him in 2008 after promising to help advance his career.

A summons was first filed in New York State court on Nov. 22, just before the deadline under the state’s Adult Survivors Act, which provided a one-time window for people to file civil lawsuits for assaults that may have happened years or even decades ago. The full complaint was made public on Monday, when it was moved to U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

In addition to Mr. Wells, the suit names Fox News and its parent company, Fox Corporation, as defendants.

Fox News fired Mr. Wells alongside Mr. Carlson in April in the wake of the network’s blockbuster $787.5 million defamation settlement with Dominion Voting Systems. Mr. Wells now works for Mr. Carlson on his show on the social media platform X.

A Fox News spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Harmeet Dhillon, a lawyer for Mr. Wells, called the lawsuit “meritless.”

“Mr. Wells denies the allegations unequivocally, and will contest them vigorously,” Ms. Dhillon said in a statement. “This is yet another attempt by a law firm with a history of suing Fox and its former employees to cash in on frivolous allegations.”

In a statement, Mr. Carlson said: “As a general matter, if you believe you’ve been a victim of a sex crime, you have a moral obligation to alert police, so it doesn’t happen to someone else. If you wait 15 years to cash in with a civil suit, no one should take you seriously. I certainly don’t.”

The lawsuit said that after Mr. Delancey moved to New York City in 2008 for his job at Fox, Mr. Wells began “showering Mr. Delancey with gifts” and told him that he could help him “learn the ropes.” At the time, Mr. Wells was a producer for the host Greta Van Susteren.

The men met in person for the first time outside Mr. Wells’s apartment building, the complaint said, and Mr. Wells insisted that they have a drink in his apartment before walking to a bar. In the apartment and on the roof of the building, the complaint said, Mr. Wells grabbed Mr. Delancey’s genitals and tried to kiss him.

The lawsuit said that Mr. Delancey’s direct supervisor had warned him not to go to human resources with any complaints, and that Mr. Wells had implied he could hinder Mr. Delancey’s career.

“Following Wells’s threats, Mr. Delancey found his career progression at Fox to be obviously halted, a departure from the promised career advancements and warm welcome that he had received when he arrived at Fox,” the complaint said. “As a result, Mr. Delancey returned to his position at the local Fox station in Tampa.”

In 2017, amid the #MeToo movement, Mr. Delancey posted on Facebook about his experience, though without naming Mr. Wells. One former co-worker contacted him, the complaint said, saying she remembered him telling her about the events.

Mr. Wells also reached out to Mr. Delancey on Facebook and said: “Hey. Saw your post. I’m sorry that happened to you. Who was it?” Mr. Delancey didn’t respond, according to the complaint.

New York Times, Big Tech Muscles In: The 12 Months That Changed Silicon Valley Forever,  Karen Weise, Cade Metz, Nico Grant and Mike Isaac, Dec. 5, 2023. ChatGPT's release a year ago triggered a desperate scramble among tech companies and alarm from some of the people who helped invent it.

New York Times, Here’s how Elon Musk and Larry Page’s artificial intelligence debate led to OpenAI and an industry boom, Dec. 5, 2023.

New York Times, Opinion: The Backlash to Anti-Israel Protests Threatens Free Speech, Michelle Goldberg, Dec. 5, 2023 (print ed.). If you want to understand the wrenching generational rift over Israel among many left-leaning American Jews, the documentary “Israelism,” which came out this year, is a good place to start.

Much of it centers on the political evolution of Simone Zimmerman, who was raised to be a staunch Zionist, began questioning her beliefs even as she defended Israel at the University of California, Berkeley, and was transformed by her encounter with the harrowing reality of the Palestinian occupation. Zimmerman went on to co-found IfNotNow, an anti-occupation Jewish group that has been at the forefront of many protests against Israel’s war in Gaza. The filmmakers, Erin Axelman and Sam Eilertsen, are part of the same generation as Zimmerman, and Axelman told me, “We’re telling Simone’s story as a way of partly telling our story.”

But in November, when progressive Jewish students at Penn tried to screen the film, the university denied them permission, reportedly citing fear of a “potential negative response on campus.” The students showed it anyway, and are now facing possible disciplinary action. Earlier that month, New York’s Hunter College also canceled a screening of “Israelism,” with the college’s interim president, Ann Kirschner, citing “the danger of antisemitic and divisive rhetoric.” Amid outrage from staff and students, the event was rescheduled for this week.

The fact that a documentary by and about left-wing Jews is seen, on some campuses, as too insensitive to Israel to be shown publicly demonstrates what a confused moment this is for academic free speech.

New York Times, Ego, Fear and Money: How the A.I. Fuse Was Lit, Cade Metz, Karen Weise, Nico Grant and Mike Isaac, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). The people who were most afraid of artificial intelligence decided they should be the ones to build it. Then distrust fueled a spiraling competition.

Elon Musk celebrated his 44th birthday in July 2015 at a three-day party thrown by his wife at a California wine country resort dotted with cabins. It was family and friends only, with children racing around the upscale property in Napa Valley.

This was years before Twitter became X and Tesla had a profitable year. Mr. Musk and his wife, Talulah Riley — an actress who played a beautiful but dangerous robot on HBO’s science fiction series “Westworld” — were a year from throwing in the towel on their second marriage. Larry Page, a party guest, was still the chief executive of Google. And artificial intelligence had pierced the public consciousness only a few years before, when it was used to identify cats on YouTube — with 16 percent accuracy.

A.I. was the big topic of conversation when Mr. Musk and Mr. Page sat down near a firepit beside a swimming pool after dinner the first night. The two billionaires had been friends for more than a decade, and Mr. Musk sometimes joked that he occasionally crashed on Mr. Page’s sofa after a night playing video games.

But the tone that clear night soon turned contentious as the two debated whether artificial intelligence would ultimately elevate humanity or destroy it.

New York Times, The Who’s Who of the Modern Artificial Intelligence Movement, J. Edward Moreno, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). Before chatbots exploded in popularity, a group of researchers, tech executives and venture capitalists had worked for more than a decade to fuel A.I.

While artificial intelligence has taken the limelight over the past year, technology that can appear to operate like human brains has been top of mind for researchers, investors and tech executives in Silicon Valley and beyond for more than a decade.

Here are some of the people involved in the origins of the modern A.I. movement who have influenced the technology’s development.

New York Times, In Florida’s Hot Political Climate, Some Faculty Have Had Enough, Stephanie Saul, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). Liberal-leaning professors are leaving coveted tenured jobs. And there are signs that recruiting scholars in the state is becoming harder.

Gov. Ron DeSantis had just taken office in 2019 when the University of Florida lured Neil H. Buchanan, a prominent economist and tax law scholar, from George Washington University.

Now, just four years after he started at the university, Dr. Buchanan has given up his tenured job and headed north to teach in Toronto. In a recent column on a legal commentary website, he accused Florida of “open hostility to professors and to higher education more generally.”

He is not the only liberal-leaning professor to leave one of Florida’s highly regarded public universities. Many are giving up coveted tenured positions and blaming their departures on Governor DeSantis and his effort to reshape the higher education system to fit his conservative principles.

The Times interviewed a dozen academics — in fields ranging from law to psychology to agronomy — who have left Florida public universities or given their notice, many headed to blue states. While emphasizing that hundreds of top academics remain in Florida, a state known for its solid and affordable public university system, they raised concerns that the governor’s policies have become increasingly untenable for scholars and students.

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Dec. 4

Top Headlines

• The Intercept, Netanyahu’s goal for Gaza: “Thin” population “to a minimum,” Ryan Grim
• New York Times, Israel-Hamas War Live Updates: Israeli Military’s Focus on Southern Gaza Could Signal Expanded War
• Washington Post, Israel’s assault forced a nurse to leave babies behind. They were found decomposing
• Washington Post, Florida GOP chairman under fire as more details emerge in rape inquiry
• Washington Post, HOME-SCHOOL NATION, Peter Jamison

Destroying Democracies

• New York Times, Why a Second Trump Presidency May Be More Radical Than His First, Charlie Savage, Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman
• New York Times, Opinion: It’s Time to Fix America’s Most Dangerous Law, David French
• Washington Post, The Trump Trials: See you in 2029?
• New York Times, Donald Trump is responding to the charge that he’s anti-democratic by accusing President Biden of posing a bigger threat

Climate Summit in Dubai

• New York Times, Fighting Crises With Cash, Except for the Climate Crisis
• New York Times, U.S. Announces Plan to Cut Millions of Tons of Methane Emissions
• New York Times, A new forecast shows where countries are — and aren’t — making progress on climate change
• New York Times, A new estimate of climate change’s economic impact could legally justify aggressive regulations in the U.S

More On Israel's War With Hamas

• New York Times, Israel’s Military Expands Evacuation Orders in Southern Gaza
• New York Times, Hostages Freed From Gaza Recount Violence, Hunger and Fear
• New York Times, Commentary: Over 60 Journalists Have Been Killed in the Israel-Gaza War. My Friend Was One, Lama Al-Arian

More On Trump Battles, Crimes, Claims, Allies

• New York Times, What to Know About Trump’s Civil Fraud Trial
• Washington Post, U.S. judge rejects Trump immunity claim in Jan. 6 criminal prosecution
• Washington Post, Trump lawyer: Georgia trial would have to wait if Trump wins in 2024

 U.S. Military, Security, Intelligence, Foreign Policy, JFK Death

• New York Times, The U.S. blamed Yemeni rebels for ship attacks in the Red Sea, the latest by Iran-backed groups since the war began
• New York Times, Henry Kissinger (1923-2023): A Player on the World Stage Until the Very End,
• New York Times, Guest Essay: Henry Kissinger, the Hypocrite, Ben Rhodes

U.S. 2024 Presidential Race

• New York Times, Doug Burgum, Wealthy North Dakota Governor, Ends White House Run
• New York Times, Analysis: Here’s why Nikki Haley is rising among the rivals to Donald Trump, Nate Cohn

More On U.S. National Politics

• Washington Post, Rep. George Santos expelled from Congress on bipartisan vote
• New York Times, Opinion: Farewell to George Santos, the Perfect MAGA Republican, Michelle Goldberg

Global Disputes, Disasters, Human Rights

• New York Times, The Wild Card in Taiwan’s Election: Frustrated Young Voters
• New York Times, Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, has reignited a border dispute with an oil-rich neighbor, Guyana

U.S. Supreme Court

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, left, and his billionaire friend and benefactor Harlan Crow (file photos).

• New York Times, Supreme Court Will Hear Arguments in the Purdue Pharma Bankruptcy Case
• Politico, Senate Judiciary issues subpoenas to Leo, Crow in SCOTUS ethics probe as Republicans boycott
• Washington Post, Sandra Day O’Connor, pathbreaking woman on Supreme Court, dies at 93
• New York Times, Opinion: I Clerked for Justice O’Connor. She Was My Hero, but I Worry About Her Legacy, Oona A. Hathaway
• New York Times, Opinion: Sandra Day O’Connor Never Stopped Being a Politician, Jeffrey Toobin

More On U.S. Courts, Crime, Guns, Civil Rights, Immigration

• New York Times, More Chinese Are Risking Danger in Southern Border Crossings to U.S.
• New York Times, Man Who Posed as Federal Agent Is Sentenced to Nearly 3 Years in Prison
• Washington Post, Charges of corruption, lying against Va. election official dropped
• Washington Post, Inmate who stabbed Derek Chauvin is charged with attempted murder
• New York Times, Stabbing of Derek Chauvin Raises Questions About Inmate Safety
• Politico, Meta files suit to kneecap the FTC

More On Disasters, Climate Change, Environment, Transportation

• New York Times, It Could Be a Vast Source of Clean Energy, Buried Deep Underground
• New York Times, Biden Administration to Require Replacing of Lead Pipes Within 10 Years
• New York Times, Investigation: Drunk and Asleep on the Job: Air Traffic Controllers Pushed to the Brink

More On Ukraine-Russian War, Russian Leadership

• New York Times, A Prison at War: The Convicts Sustaining Vladimir Putin’s Invasion
• New York Times, Ukrainians in Germany Weigh a Wrenching Choice: Stay or Go Home
• Washington Post, Opinion: Ukraine aid’s best-kept secret: Most of the money stays in the U.S.A.
• Politico, NATO vows to stick with Ukraine ‘as long as it takes’

U.S. Economy, Jobs, Strikes, High Tech

• New York Times, Why Doctors and Pharmacists Are in Revolt
• New York Times, They Charge $6 to Clean Your Shirt, and Make 13 Cents
• New York Times, The Fed’s Preferred Inflation Measure Eased in October

U.S. Abortion, Family Planning, #MeToo

• Politico, Police investigating Florida Republican Party chair over alleged sexual assault 
• Washington Post, DeSantis calls for resignation of embattled Florida GOP chairman

Pandemics, Public Health, Privacy

• New York Times, At the Core of Purdue Pharma Case: Who Can Get Immunity in Settlements?
• New York Times, Families of opioid victims are awaiting a Supreme Court ruling that could bring them billions of dollars from the Sacklers
• Washington Post, What you can do to boost your covid and flu shots’ effectiveness
• New York Times, Why Doctors and Pharmacists Are in Revolt
• New York Times, ‘Medical Freedom’ Activists Take Aim at New Target: Childhood Vaccine Mandates
• New York Times, Desperate Families Search for Affordable Home Care, Reed Abelson, Photographs by Desiree Rios

Media, High Tech, Sports, Education, Free Speech, Culture

• New York Times, Ego, Fear and Money: How the A.I. Fuse Was Lit,
• New York Times, The Who’s Who of the Modern Artificial Intelligence Movement
• New York Times, Spotify to Cut 1,500 Jobs After Spending Spree
• New York Times, In Florida’s Hot Political Climate, Some Faculty Have Had Enough
• New York Times, Back at OpenAI, Sam Altman Outlines the Company’s Priorities

Top Stories

The Intercept, Netanyahu’s goal for Gaza: “Thin” population “to a minimum,” Ryan Grim, Dec. 3-4, 2023. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, above, has tasked his top adviser, Ron Dermer, the minister of strategic affairs, with designing plans to “thin” the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip “to a minimum,” according to a bombshell new report in an Israeli newspaper founded by the late Republican billionaire Sheldon Adelson.

The outlet, Israel Hayom, is considered to be something of an official organ for Netanyahu. It reported that the plan has two main elements: The first would use the pressure of the war and humanitarian crisis to persuade Egypt to allow refugees to flow to other Arab countries, and the second would open up sea routes so that Israel “allows a mass escape to European and African countries.” Dermer, left, who is originally from Miami, is a Netanyahu confidante and was previously Israeli ambassador to the United States, and enjoys close relations with many members of Congress.

The plan to ethnically cleanse Gaza of Palestinians faces some internal resistance from less hard-line members of Netanyahu’s cabinet, according to Israel Hayom.

Israel Today and other Israeli media are also reporting on a plan being pushed with Congress that would condition aid to Arab nations on their willingness to accept Palestinian refugees. The plan even proposes specific numbers of refugees for each country: Egypt would take one million Palestinians, half a million would go to Turkey, and a quarter million each would go to Yemen and Iraq.

The reporting relies heavily on the passive voice, declining to say who put the proposal together: “The proposal was shown to key figures in the House and Senate from both parties. Longtime lawmaker, Rep. Joe Wilson, has even expressed open support for it while others who were privy to the details of the text have so far kept a low profile, saying that publicly coming out in favor of the program could derail it.”

To underscore how absurd the refugee resettlement plan is, the de facto Houthi government in Yemen claimed an attack today on a U.S. ship as well as commercial vessels in the Red Sea.

Back on October 20, in a little-noticed message to Congress, the White House asked for $3.495 billion that would be used for refugees from both Ukraine and Gaza, referencing “potential needs of Gazans fleeing to neighboring countries.”

“This crisis could well result in displacement across border and higher regional humanitarian needs, and funding may be used to meet evolving programming requirements outside of Gaza,” the letter from the White House Office of Management and Budget reads. The letter came two days after Jordan and Egypt warned they would not open their borders to a mass exodus of Palestinians, arguing that past history shows they would never be able to return.

New York Times, Israel-Hamas War Live Updates: Israeli Military’s Focus on Southern Gaza Could Signal Expanded War, Andrés R. Martínez, Dec. 4, 2023. The military said it was expanding ground operations “all across the Gaza Strip,” though it remained unclear if its forces had entered the south.

Israeli warplanes struck targets in southern Gaza on Monday as the military demanded that more civilians evacuate their homes in the area, signaling a possible expansion of its ground war in the battered Palestinian enclave.

Days after a truce with Hamas collapsed, Israeli forces have turned their focus to southern Gaza, hitting areas where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have sought shelter since the start of the war on Oct. 7. Israeli airstrikes targeted urban areas in the south, where photos on Monday showed smoke rising from flattened buildings in the city of Khan Younis and people carrying bodies swaddled in blankets away from scenes of destruction.

Adding to speculation that Israel is preparing a ground invasion of the south, the Israeli military’s chief spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said late Sunday that Israel “continues and expands its ground operations against Hamas strongholds all across the Gaza Strip,” although he did not elaborate.

A senior official with Hamas, the armed group that controls much of Gaza, said late Sunday that Israeli ground troops had not entered the south. But Hamas’s military wing said that its fighters had targeted a tank and personnel carrier north of Khan Younis and several Israeli military vehicles in central Gaza. The claims could not be independently verified, and with communications networks disrupted, it was not possible to gain an independent assessment of the fighting.

After more than a month of fighting concentrated in northern Gaza — and a weeklong cease-fire that expired last Friday — Israel believes that the Hamas leaders who planned the Oct. 7 attacks that officials say left at least 1,200 people dead in Israel are hiding in the south. Israel’s military has responded to the attacks with nearly two months of airstrikes and a ground invasion of northern Gaza that have killed more than 15,000 Palestinians, according to Gazan health officials, and pushed an estimated 1.75 million Gazans south.

Hundreds of people have been killed since hostilities resumed on Friday, according to Gazan health officials, who have warned that medical facilities remain desperately short of supplies, as Israel has sharply restricted the amount of humanitarian aid allowed to enter the enclave.

Fighting has continued in other parts of Gaza. The Israeli military reported the deaths of three of its soldiers on Sunday, two in battles in northern Gaza and one in a battle in the central part of the strip.

The Biden administration is pushing Israel and Hamas to resume negotiations that could lead to a new cease-fire. Under the previous truce, Hamas released scores of hostages held in Gaza in exchange for more than 200 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, and Israel allowed more trucks carrying relief supplies into Gaza.

U.S. officials, including Vice President Kamala Harris, and international leaders, including President Emmanuel Macron of France, have said that Israel must do more to protect civilians in Gaza. Mr. Macron is headed to Qatar, which mediated the original truce, in hopes of restarting talks.

Here’s what we know:

• The military says it is expanding ground operations ‘all across the Gaza Strip,’ though it remains unclear if its forces have entered the south.
• Israel orders more evacuations ahead of a possible invasion of southern Gaza.
• Confusing evacuation orders leave Gazans to make painful decisions.
• The U.S. is pressing Israel and Hamas to return to talks, a White House official says.
• The U.S. shoots down 3 drones in the Red Sea as Iran-backed groups ramp up attacks.

Washington Post, Israel’s assault forced a nurse to leave babies behind. They were found decomposing, Miriam Berger, Evan Hill and Hazem Balousha, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). A nurse at al-Nasr hospital was caring for premature babies. Then he faced the most difficult decision of his life.

The nurse in the besieged hospital was caring for five fragile babies. Infants, born premature, their parents’ whereabouts after a month of war unknown. Now he faced the most difficult decision of his life.

It was the height of Israel’s assault on northern Gaza last month, and al-Nasr Children’s Hospital was a war zone. The day before, airstrikes had cut off the Gaza City facility’s oxygen supplies. Israeli tanks had surrounded the hospital complex, and the Israel Defense Forces were calling and texting the doctors, urging them to leave.

But ambulances couldn’t safely reach al-Nasr to transport the wounded, and doctors refused to leave the facility without their patients.

The five premature babies were particularly vulnerable. They needed oxygen, and medication administered at regular intervals. There were no portable respirators or incubators to transport them. Without life support, the nurse feared, they wouldn’t survive an evacuation.

Then the IDF delivered an ultimatum, al-Nasr director Bakr Qaoud told The Washington Post: Get out or be bombarded. An Israeli official, meanwhile, provided an assurance that ambulances would be arranged to retrieve the patients.

The nurse, a Palestinian man who works with Paris-based Doctors Without Borders, saw no choice. He assessed his charges and picked up the strongest one — the baby he thought likeliest to bear a temporary cut to his oxygen supply. He left the other four on their breathing machines, reluctantly, and with his wife, their children and the one baby, headed south.

“I felt like I was leaving my own children behind,” said the nurse, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect his privacy. “If we had the ability to take them, we would have, [but] if we took them off the oxygen they would have died.”

New York Times, Israel’s Military Expands Evacuation Orders in Southern Gaza, Vivian Yee, Iyad Abuheweila and Ameera Harouda, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.).The U.S. has increasingly stressed the need to limit civilian harm as Israel turns its focus to the enclave’s south. Confusion and fear gripped much of southern Gaza on Sunday as Israel’s military ordered more residents to clear out and fighting there intensified.

The Israeli military’s latest evacuation orders appeared to be setting the stage for a ground invasion in the south since hostilities started again after the collapse of a weeklong truce with Hamas. They evoked similar orders given by the Israeli military before it invaded northern Gaza in late October. But the announcements were prone to change with almost no notice, leaving many Gazans confused and with little time to flee.

The list of areas had swelled from 19 the previous morning to 34 on Sunday, all clustered southeast of the city of Khan Younis. The Israeli military marked each on a map of Gaza that divided the territory into nearly 2,400 “blocks,” advising residents to pay attention to Israeli announcements about whether their block was being evacuated.

Some families whose homes and shelters were not included in the initial evacuation areas announced by Israel’s military, and who had thought they would be able to stay put, said they had later received recorded calls ordering them to leave.

Many people under evacuation orders had already been displaced at least once before, forced to leave northern Gaza when the fighting and the airstrikes began. Now they found themselves once again at a loss for where to go in an already overcrowded area under threat of bombardment.

“I cannot overstate the fear, panic & confusion that these Israeli maps are causing civilians in Gaza, including my own staff,” wrote Melanie Ward, head of the humanitarian organization Medical Aid for Palestinians, on social media, adding that “people cannot run from place to place to try to escape Israel’s bombs.”

Hospitals in the south were also under pressure. A team from the World Health Organization visited a hospital in Khan Younis on Saturday that was three times over its capacity, according to the agency’s head, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

“Countless people were seeking shelter, filling every corner of the facility,” he wrote on X. “Patients were receiving care on the floor, screaming in pain.”

The Israeli military’s evacuation map showed big orange arrows directing people toward already-overflowing shelters or what it called the “humanitarian zone” in Al-Mawasi, an agricultural area toward the Mediterranean Sea.

But it was not clear whether the zone provided sufficient supplies or shelter, with some Gazans who fled there describing little awaiting them and no visible presence of humanitarian aid.

The idea of “safe zones” in Gaza, as was envisioned for Al-Mawasi, is opposed by the United Nations. Last month, U.N. agencies and other groups said they would not participate in setting up any such zones in Gaza.

Here’s what we know:

• The Biden administration has increasingly stressed the need to limit civilian harm as Israel turns its focus to the enclave’s south.
• Many Gazans who were already displaced are under orders to move again.
• The U.S. defense secretary cites urban warfare risks as Harris warns against relocation.
• Released hostages give Tel Aviv protesters hope for those left behind.
• A university president was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza, Palestinian officials say.
• Gazans again find themselves in dire straits, searching for safe areas and food.

New York Times, Commentary: Over 60 Journalists Have Been Killed in the Israel-Gaza War. My Friend Was One, Lama Al-Arian (Lama Al-Arian is a multi-Emmy-award-winning journalist based in Beirut), Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). I was sitting in my apartment in Beirut on the evening of Oct. 13 when I read that journalists had been struck by a missile attack in southern Lebanon.

My close friend, Issam Abdallah, was working in the area as a cameraman for Reuters to cover the border clashes between Israel and Hezbollah after the war in Gaza began just days earlier. I called him immediately. It was a ritual we had developed over the years: Whether we were on the front lines in Ukraine or Syria, each of us knew to expect a call from the other anytime a disaster struck.

Issam didn’t answer. I couldn’t remember the last time he let one of my calls go to voice mail. Within minutes, cellphone footage of the attack appeared online. In one video, a journalist for Agence France-Presse lies in a pool of blood, screaming that she can’t feel her legs. I listened over and over, desperately trying to find Issam’s voice in the chaos.

Then my doorbell rang. Two of my friends broke the news that Issam had been killed. They shared more footage of the grisly aftermath of the attack. A wave of nausea washed over me as I watched rescue workers wrap Issam and his severed leg in a white sheet, his body charred, barely recognizable.

Washington Post, Florida GOP chairman under fire as more details emerge in rape inquiry, Lori Rozsa and Will Oremus, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). Republican Party chair and his wife, shown above, a Moms for Liberty co-founder, part of three-way encounter with alleged victim, affidavit says.

Leaders of the Florida Republican Party criticized state GOP Chairman Christian Ziegler as details emerged in a rape allegation by a woman with whom he and his wife previously had a three-way sexual encounter.

Ziegler is under investigation by Sarasota police but has not been charged. A search warrant affidavit obtained by the Florida Center for Government Accountability, a nonprofit watchdog group, and provided to The Washington Post reveals additional details about the allegations of the assault. Police also obtained from the woman’s cellphone messages between her and Ziegler in the hours leading up to the encounter, the affidavit states.

On Oct. 2, the woman had agreed to have a sexual encounter with Ziegler that was to include his wife, Bridget, the affidavit says. But when the woman learned that Bridget couldn’t make it, she changed her mind and canceled. When Ziegler told her in one message that his wife was no longer available, she replied, “Sorry I was mostly in for her,” she said in a message, according to the affidavit.

According to the affidavit, the woman told Sarasota police that Ziegler then showed up at her apartment uninvited and raped her. The woman reported the alleged assault to police two days later, and a rape kit was done at a Sarasota hospital, the affidavit states.

Christian Ziegler later told detectives that he had consensual sex with the woman, and that he had video-recorded it and uploaded the video to Google Drive, according to the affidavit, but police were not able to locate the video. Sarasota police served a search warrant to Google last month, the affidavit says. Google did not respond to a request for comment Saturday.

In a 911 call two days after the alleged assault, a recording of which was also obtained by the Florida Center for Government Accountability and shared with The Post, a friend of the woman asked emergency responders to check on the woman at her apartment. According to the call’s recording, the friend said the woman hadn’t shown up for work for two days. When the friend called the woman, the woman sounded “drunk” and was “slurring her words,” the friend told dispatchers. “She told me she was raped and that she’s scared to leave her house,” the friend added, according to the recording of the call.

Bridget Ziegler, who is not named in the complaint against her husband, is a co-founder of Moms for Liberty and has worked closely with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on legislation that opponents have described as anti-LGBTQ+. Bridget Ziegler “confirmed having a sexual encounter with the victim and Christian over a year ago and that it only happened one time,” the affidavit says.

News reports emerged several days ago about the allegations of rape, but more records were obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request late Friday and reported by several Florida news outlets. They include details of recorded conversations via Instagram and phone calls between the woman and Christian Ziegler that detectives obtained. Police have filed search warrants for Ziegler’s phone, email and other devices. The Sarasota Police Department did not reply to several requests for comment.

Washington Post, HOME-SCHOOL NATION: What home schooling hides: An 11-year-old boy tortured and starved by his stepmom, Peter Jamison, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). Roman Lopez was 11 when he went missing. His years of torment were concealed by home schooling.

Nobody could find Roman Lopez.

His family had searched, taping hand-drawn “missing” posters to telephone poles and driving the streets calling out the 11-year-old’s name. So had many of his neighbors, their flashlights sweeping over the sidewalks as the winter darkness settled on the Sierra Nevada foothills.

The police were searching, too, and now they had returned to the place where Roman had gone missing earlier that day: his family’s rented home in Placerville, Calif. Roman’s stepmother, Lindsay Piper, hesitated when officers showed up at her door the night of Jan. 11, 2020, asking to comb the house again. But she had told them that Roman liked to hide in odd places — even the clothes dryer — and agreed to let them in.

Brock Garvin, Roman’s 15-year-old stepbrother, was sitting in the dimly lit basement when police came downstairs shortly after 10:30 p.m. He ignored them, he said later, watching “Supernatural” on television as three officers began inspecting the black-and-yellow Home Depot storage bins stacked along the back wall.

Brock had no idea what had happened to Roman. But he did know something the police did not: Much of what his mother had said to them that day was a lie.

When she reported Roman’s disappearance, Piper told the police she was home schooling the eight kids in her household. This was technically true. It was also a ruse.

Most schools have teachers, principals, guidance counselors — professionals trained to recognize the unexplained bruises or erratic behaviors that may point to an abusive parent. Home education was an easy way to avoid the scrutiny of such people. That was the case for Piper, whose children were learning less from her about math and history than they were about violence, cruelty and neglect.

Left to their own devices while she lay in bed watching TV crime procedurals, and her husband, Jordan, worked long hours as a utility lineman, their days and nights passed in a penumbral blur of video games, microwave dinners and fistfights. Almost nothing resembling education took place, her sons said. But there was a shared project in which she diligently led her children: the torture of their stepbrother, Roman.

Roman had been a loving, extroverted 7-year-old who obsessed over dinosaurs when Piper came into his life, a mama’s boy perpetually in search of a mother as Jordan, his father, cycled from one broken relationship to the next.

On the day he was reported missing, he was a sixth-grader who weighed only 42 pounds. He had been locked in closets, whipped with extension cords and bound with zip ties, according to police reports and interviews with family members who witnessed his treatment. Unwilling to give him even short breaks from his isolation, Piper kept him in diapers.

Destroying Democracies

New York Times, Why a Second Trump Presidency May Be More Radical Than His First, Charlie Savage, Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman, Dec. 4, 2023. Donald Trump has long exhibited authoritarian impulses, but his policy operation is now more sophisticated, and the buffers to check him are weaker.

In the spring of 1989, the Chinese Communist Party used tanks and troops to crush a pro-democracy protest in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. Most of the West, across traditional partisan lines, was aghast at the crackdown that killed at least hundreds of student activists. But one prominent American was impressed.

“When the students poured into Tiananmen Square, the Chinese government almost blew it,” Donald J. Trump said in an interview with Playboy magazine the year after the massacre. “Then they were vicious, they were horrible, but they put it down with strength. That shows you the power of strength. Our country is right now perceived as weak.”

It was a throwaway line in a wide-ranging interview, delivered to a journalist profiling a 43-year-old celebrity businessman who was not then a player in national politics or world affairs. But in light of what Mr. Trump has gone on to become, his exaltation of the ruthless crushing of democratic protesters is steeped in foreshadowing.

Mr. Trump’s violent and authoritarian rhetoric on the 2024 campaign trail has attracted growing alarm and comparisons to historical fascist dictators and contemporary populist strongmen. In recent weeks, he has dehumanized his adversaries as “vermin” who must be “rooted out,” declared that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country,” encouraged the shooting of shoplifters and suggested that the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, deserved to be executed for treason.

As he runs for president again facing four criminal prosecutions, Mr. Trump may seem more angry, desperate and dangerous to American-style democracy than in his first term. But the throughline that emerges is far more long-running: He has glorified political violence and spoken admiringly of autocrats for decades.

New York Times, Opinion: It’s Time to Fix America’s Most Dangerous Law, David French, right, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). There is a land mine embedded in the United States Code, one that Donald Trump, if re-elected president, could use to destroy our republic. But it’s not too late for Congress to defuse the mine now and protect America.

I’m talking about the Insurrection Act, a federal law that permits the president to deploy military troops in American communities to effectively act as a domestic police force under his direct command. In theory, there is a need for a well-drafted law that permits the use of federal troops in extreme circumstances to maintain order and protect the rule of law. The Insurrection Act, which dates back to 1792 but has since been amended, is not, however, well drafted. And its flaws would give Trump enormous latitude to wield the staggering power of the state against his domestic political enemies.

These flaws are especially relevant because Trump and his allies are keenly aware of the act’s provisions and have long expressed interest in its use. Trump has publicly regretted not using more military force to suppress riots in the wake of George Floyd’s killing in 2020, there were suggestions that he utilize the act as part of his plot to steal the 2020 election, and now there are reports that Trump might invoke the act on the first day of his next term, to suppress demonstrations, to control the border or both.

Moreover, these reports have to be read in the context of Trump’s latest public pronouncements. He has declared many of his domestic political opponents to be “vermin.” His campaign has promised that his critics’ “sad, miserable existence” will be “crushed.” And he has specifically told his followers, “I am your vengeance.”

Some version of the Insurrection Act is probably necessary. After all, from the Whiskey Rebellion to the Civil War to Trump’s own insurrection on Jan. 6, we have seen direct, violent challenges to federal authority. But any such authorization should be carefully circumscribed and subject to oversight. The authority granted by the act, however, is remarkably broad, and oversight is virtually nonexistent.

The Insurrection Act contains a number of provisions, and not all are equally bad. For example, the first provision, 10 U.S.C. Section 251, provides that the president may deploy troops “upon the request of [a state’s] legislature or of its governor if the legislature cannot be convened” in the event of an insurrection. There is no unilateral presidential authority under this provision; the president’s power is activated only by a state request.

But the act gets worse, much worse. The next section takes the gloves off, giving the president the ability to call out the National Guard or the regular army “whenever the president considers that unlawful obstructions, combinations, or assemblages, or rebellion against the authority of the United States, make it impracticable to enforce the laws of the United States in any state by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings.” Note the key language: “whenever the president considers.” That means deployment is up to him and to him alone.

The section after that does much same thing, again granting the president the power to “take such measures he considers necessary” to suppress “any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination or conspiracy.” This broad grant of power makes the Insurrection Act far more immediately dangerous than many other threatened Trump actions, such as prosecuting political opponents and transforming the federal work force. Judicial review can blunt many of Trump’s worst initiatives, but there’s no such obvious check on the use of his power under the act.

You might wonder why the Insurrection Act hasn’t presented much of a problem before now. It’s been used rarely, and when it has been used, it’s been used for legitimate purposes. For example, it was used repeatedly to suppress racist violence in the South during the Reconstruction era and the civil rights movement. Most recently, George H.W. Bush invoked it in 1992 — at the request of the governor of California — to assist in quelling the extreme violence of the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles.

That historical restraint has been dependent on a factor that is utterly absent from Trump: a basic commitment to the Constitution and democracy. Previous presidents, for all their many flaws, still largely upheld and respected the rule of law. Even in their most corrupt moments, there were lines they wouldn’t cross. Trump not only has no such lines but also has made his vengeful intentions abundantly clear.

There is still time, however, to take this terrible tool out of Trump’s potential hands. The Insurrection Act has not always been so broad. In its earliest versions, the president’s power was much more carefully constrained. But Congress expanded the president’s power after the Civil War, in part to deal with racist insurgencies in the defeated Confederacy.

It’s time to rein in the excesses of the act. In 2022, Elizabeth Goitein and Joseph Nunn from the Brennan Center for Justice submitted a comprehensive reform proposal to the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. The proposal would narrow and carefully define the circumstances in which the president can deploy troops, provide for a congressional review and approval process and enable judicial review of claims that the legal criteria for deployment were not met. It’s a proposal worth adopting.

I’m not naïve. I recognize that it will be difficult if not impossible for any reform bill to pass Congress. Mike Johnson, the speaker of the Republican-led House of Representatives, was a central player in Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election. Many of Trump’s congressional allies share his thirst for vengeance. But it’s past time to highlight this problem in the federal code. It’s past time to strip unilateral authority from the president.

Washington Post, The Trump Trials: See you in 2029? Perry Stein and Devlin Barrett, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). If Donald Trump wins the 2024 election, he can’t face a criminal trial in Georgia until at least 2029 — after he leaves the presidency — his Atlanta-based defense attorney argued in a state courtroom Friday. The prosecution team has asked for a trial to start in August 2024 — and strongly rejected the 2029 option.

Now we wait for Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, who said Friday that it was too early to set a date, citing, in part, the uncertain schedule in Trump’s three other criminal cases.

In the election-obstruction case in D.C., special counsel Jack Smith has until the end of the week to fire back against Trump’s wide-ranging and at times imaginative demands for information he claims exists at a host of government agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Capitol Police. The requests are legal long shots, but Trump’s lawyers said last week that the information will help them fight charges that the former president conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Former President Donald J. Trump and several of his fellow defendants, in mug shots released by the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office in Atlanta (Photos by Fulton County Sheriff’s Office).

New York Times, Donald Trump is responding to the charge that he’s anti-democratic by accusing President Biden of posing a bigger threat, Michael Gold, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). Indicted over a plot to overturn an election and campaigning on promises to shatter democratic norms in a second term, Donald Trump wants voters to see Joe Biden as the bigger threat.

Former President Donald J. Trump, who has been indicted by federal prosecutors for conspiracy to defraud the United States in connection with a plot to overturn the 2020 election, repeatedly claimed to supporters in Iowa on Saturday that it was President Biden who posed a severe threat to American democracy.

While Mr. Trump shattered democratic norms throughout his presidency and has faced voter concerns that he would do so again in a second term, the former president in his speech repeatedly accused Mr. Biden of corrupting politics and waging a repressive “all-out war” on America.

”Joe Biden is not the defender of American democracy,” he said. “Joe Biden is the destroyer of American democracy.”

Mr. Trump has made similar attacks on Mr. Biden a staple of his speeches in Iowa and elsewhere. He frequently accuses the president broadly of corruption and of weaponizing the Justice Department to influence the 2024 election.

Washington Post, Opinion: The billionaire myth takes a beating, Jennifer Rubin, right, Dec. 3, 2023. Long before Donald Trump rode down the golden escalator or Elon Musk purchased Twitter (now X) or Sam Bankman-Fried built a crypto empire, Americans lionized billionaires.

“The idea of a self-made American billionaire is the super-sized version of all other self-made myths, and outlandish to the point of being at least mildly insulting,” BSchools.org, a blog about business schools, explained. “Individual achievement still deserves recognition. But these things don’t operate in a vacuum — and massive wealth is never solely attributable to the actions of a single person.”

But, as we have learned again and again this year, sometimes the self-appointed “genius” billionaire is simply a crank, a con man or a beneficiary of familial wealth and luck.

Never has the billionaire myth looked shakier. Trump, the four-times-indicted former president, is facing civil liability for exaggerating his wealth (built on inheritance) and property values. Bankman-Fried is facing a lengthy prison sentence for fraud. And Musk, who lost more than half of Twitter’s value, self-incinerated in a now-viral interview in which he crassly told off advertisers.

Relevant Recent Headlines

• New York Times, Investigation: How a ‘Goon Squad’ of Deputies Got Away With Years of Brutality
• Washington Post, Opinion: A Trump dictatorship is increasingly inevitable. We should stop pretending, Robert Kagan
• Washington Post, U.S. stops helping Big Tech spot foreign meddling amid GOP legal threats
• New York Times, 4,789 Facebook Accounts in China Impersonated Americans, Meta Says
• WhoWhatWhy, Commentary: The Fake Populists Who Serve Elites While Claiming to Stand for the People, Ruth Ben-Ghia
• New York Times, 6 Takeaways From Liz Cheney’s Book Criticizing Trump and His ‘Enablers,’ Peter Baker
• Washington Post, Analysis: Why new Ariz. indictments are key in the fight against election subversion, Aaron Blake

Climate Summit in Dubai

Heads of state and government will be speaking at the COP28 summit in Dubai on Friday and Saturday (Photo by Sean Gallup via Getty Images).

New York Times, Fighting Crises With Cash, Except for the Climate Crisis, Lisa Friedman and Somini Sengupta, Dec. 4, 2023. Money is a very big sticking point at this year’s United Nations climate summit. Part of the problem is that American promises often go unmet.

When there’s a global crisis, wealthy countries tend to find money.

That was the case in the United States when big banks were bailed out to soften a global financial crisis. That was the case for the coronavirus pandemic. And for military aid to allies like Ukraine.

But the climate crisis? It’s complicated.

This weekend, Vice President Kamala Harris visited the United Nations climate summit in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, and promised $3 billion for the Green Climate Fund, which benefits poorer nations. But Biden administration officials already are acknowledging it will be a struggle to persuade Congress to approve the money.

A day after that, John Kerry, President Biden’s climate envoy, announced at the talks a new carbon credit initiative in which more than a dozen major companies including Walmart, Pepsi and McDonalds will help developing countries pivot away from fossil fuels toward renewable energy. The creation of the program is a tacit acknowledgment that governments simply aren’t putting up the trillions of dollars needed to fund the energy transition.

One of the big tests facing this summit, known as COP28, is whether it will fare any better than earlier climate talks at shoring up anything close to the money that’s needed.

New York Times, U.S. Announces Plan to Cut Millions of Tons of Methane Emissions, Jim Tankersley and Lisa Friedman, Dec. 3, 2023 (print ed.). The new rules would require oil and gas producers to detect and fix leaks of the potent greenhouse gas.

Vice President Kamala Harris pledged at a United Nations climate summit on Saturday that the United States would spend billions more to help developing nations fight and adapt to climate change, telling world leaders that “we must do more” to limit global temperature rise.

Her remarks followed an announcement by U.S. officials at the summit the same day that the federal government would, for the first time, require oil and gas producers to detect and fix leaks of methane.

It was the most ambitious move to reduce fossil fuel emissions that President Biden’s administration was expected to unveil at the summit, known as COP28. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that wafts into the atmosphere from pipelines, drill sites and storage facilities, and dangerously speeds the rate of global warming.

New York Times, A new estimate of climate change’s economic impact could legally justify aggressive regulations in the U.S., Coral Davenport, Dec. 3, 2023 (print ed.). The Biden administration’s crackdown on methane leaks from oil wells is based in part on a new powerful policy tool that could strengthen its legal authority to cut greenhouse gas emissions across the entire economy — including from cars, power plants, factories and oil refineries.

New limits on methane, announced Saturday by the Environmental Protection Agency during the COP28 climate talks in Dubai, take aim at just one source of climate warming pollution. Methane, which spews from oil and gas drilling sites, is 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide when it comes to heating the atmosphere in the short term.

But within the language of the methane rule, E.P.A. economists have tucked a controversial calculation that would give the government legal authority to aggressively limit climate-warming pollution from nearly every smokestack and tailpipe across the country.

The number, known as the “social cost of carbon,” has been used since the Obama administration to calculate the harm to the economy caused by one ton of carbon dioxide pollution. The metric is used to weigh the economic benefits and costs of regulations that apply to polluting industries, such as transportation and energy.

New York Times, Pope Francis couldn’t travel to COP28, but a Vatican envoy challenged world leaders on his behalf, Jason Horowitz and Elisabetta Povoledo, Dec. 3, 2023 (print ed.). A Vatican envoy delivered remarks in which Francis asked world leaders whether they would opt for “a culture of life or a culture of death.”

Pope Francis, who reluctantly canceled his trip to the annual United Nations climate summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, because of a lung infection, sought on Saturday to lend his voice to the world’s destitute facing the brunt of climate disruption.

In an address written by the pope and delivered at the summit by the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Francis assured the world, “I am with you, because time is short.” He wrote that the world, more than ever, faced environmental devastation that offended God and “greatly endangers all human beings, especially the most vulnerable in our midst, and threatens to unleash a conflict between generations.”

• New York Times, More than 20 countries pledged to triple nuclear capacity in a push to cut fossil fuels, Dec. 2, 2023.

New York Times, Global Warming Talks Begin Amid Deep Tensions, David Gelles, Dec. 2, 2023 (print ed.). World leaders are speaking in Dubai against a backdrop of rising temperatures and two major wars.

World leaders called on Friday for urgent action to slow global warming as the annual United Nations climate summit kicked into gear against a backdrop of two major wars and rising global temperatures.

King Charles III challenged the gathering in Dubai to take “genuine transformational action” to slow the spiral of greenhouse gas emissions, and the United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, called for the total phase-out of fossil fuels, on the second day of the meeting, known as COP28.

Other heads of state and government will speak on Saturday and the event will continue for 10 days as negotiators from nearly every nation try find common cause in the fight against climate change.

The meeting comes toward the end of what will almost certainly be the hottest year in recorded history. Greenhouse gas emissions, mainly driven by the burning of fossil fuels, have now warmed the planet by about 1.2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. Floods, fires, droughts and storms made worse by climate change are unleashing destruction around the world.

New York Times, A Climate Summit Begins With Fossil Fuels, and Frustration, Going Strong, David Gelles, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). After decades of meetings, nations still haven’t agreed to curb the main driver of global warming.

As leaders from nearly every nation on the planet gather on Thursday in the United Arab Emirates to confront global warming, many are carrying a sense of disillusionment into the annual climate summit convened by the United Nations.

Countries talk about the need to cut the pollution that is dangerously heating the planet, but emissions are reaching record highs this year. Rich countries have pledged to help poor countries transition away from coal, oil and gas, but have largely failed to fulfill their promises for financial aid. After 27 years of meetings, countries still can’t agree to stop burning fossil fuels, which scientists say is the main driver of climate change.

And this year, the hottest year in recorded history, the talks known as COP28 are being hosted by a country that is ramping up its production of oil and has been accused of using its position as facilitator of the summit to strike oil and gas deals on the sidelines.

New York Times, A new forecast shows where countries are — and aren’t — making progress on climate change, Brad Plumer and Nadja Popovich, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). Emissions from electricity and transportation are projected to fall over time, a new report finds, but industry remains a major climate challenge.

Relevant Recent Headlines

• New York Times, Pope Francis couldn’t travel to COP28, but a Vatican envoy challenged world leaders on his behalf
• New York Times, More than 20 countries pledged to triple nuclear capacity in a push to cut fossil fuels
• New York Times, Global Warming Talks Begin Amid Deep Tensions,
• New York Times, A Climate Summit Begins With Fossil Fuels, and Frustration, Going Strong

More On Israel's War With Hamas

New York Times, Israelis Are Angry at Netanyahu, but Chances of His Ouster Are Slim, Sheera Frenkel, Dec. 3, 2023 (print ed.). Many hold Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responsible for failing to prevent the Oct. 7 attacks. His legacy could be determined in the coming days.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, has weathered many controversies, including accusations of corruption and allegations this year that a contentious overhaul of the country’s judiciary was a poorly disguised power grab.

But he now faces the greatest crisis of his political career. The backlash to his government’s failures to prevent the Oct. 7 Hamas-led terrorist attack, in which 1,200 people were killed and more than 240 others taken hostage, and criticism of his handling of the war in Gaza, are steadily growing.

People both inside Mr. Netanyahu’s government and those who hope to see him replaced agree that his standing has never been so low with the Israeli public.

And yet — owing to the complexities of Israel’s parliamentary system and the vagaries of war — few paths exist for Mr. Netanyahu to be ousted soon from office. His long-term political prospects and his legacy, however, rest largely on how he handles the coming days, analysts said.

New York Times, Mothers in Israel know their sons could get called up to fight. But they weren’t expecting this war, Miriam Jordan, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). Many mothers are grappling with anxiety as their sons head off to fight in Gaza. “It felt like my children were being taken away, one by one, until no one was left,” one said.

The six mothers had gathered in a Jerusalem home on a recent Friday to prepare challah, the braided bread that Jews eat on the Sabbath. After they recited a blessing that is part of the ritual, each woman added a prayer of her own.

“I just want everybody to come back alive and in one piece, mentally and physically,” said one, her voice breaking. “May they return in peace,” said another, wiping away tears. “With this challah, I want to bless my three sons who are in the army and all the soldiers,” said Ruthie Tick, who had convened the mothers so they could comfort one another.

Collectively, they had 10 sons serving in the Israeli Army, either in Gaza fighting Hamas in response to the group’s incursion and deadly rampage on Oct. 7, or in the north, where the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia has been launching missiles at Israel from Lebanon.

No sooner had the women finished praying than a WhatsApp message appeared on Rebecca Haviv’s cellphone. “I’m gonna be without a phone soon,” wrote her son, Adam, a 29-year-old combat soldier on reserve duty. “Love you so much, ma, and will be in touch.”

New York Times, Ireland’s support for Palestinians has deep roots, in a country with its own history of a seemingly intractable conflict, Megan Specia, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.).  In Ireland, support for Palestinian civilians runs deep, rooted in what many see as a shared history of British colonialism and the experience of a seemingly intractable and traumatic conflict, which in Ireland’s case came to a close with the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

World Crisis Radio, Strategic Commentary: In unfriendly act towards sole ally USA, butcher Bibi re-starts Gaza bloodbath despite efforts of Biden, Blinken, & Burns to make ceasefire into a permanent armistice, Webster G. Tarpley (right, historian and commentator), Dec. 2, 2023 (133:52 mins.). Netanyahu brags to supporters of his ability to manipulate and dupe US public opinion;

Netanyahu, Gallant, Smotrich, Bengvir & Co. bitterly insisted on endless war until Biden shut down Bibi’s impossible conditions; Next task is to render ceasefire permanent, with abundant humanitarian aid, followed by release of all hostages on all sides;

When messianic Israeli warmongers demand resumption of bombing & killing, they must face the veto of US, EU, Arab League; State Department readies travel ban for armed fascist settlers of the Smotrich-Ben Gvir faction seeking US visas; Save the next rejection slip for Netanyahu!

US, UK, EU should fast track an Emergency International Peace Conference on the model of Madrid 1992 to enact a solution based on two sovereign states;

US media omit the late Henry Kissinger’s implication in the 1977 demise of Italian PM Aldo Moro; Moro’s widow said Henry had threatened her husband; Kissinger’s China card has boomeranged into today’s greatest threat to future of US; He presided with Nixon over the August 15 1971 wrecking of the Bretton Woods currency system, triggering decades of parasitical speculation; The 1971 Tilt crisis, which threatened to expand an Indo-Pakistani war into a US-USSR nuclear confrontation while 3 million died in Bengal; His role in Vietnam, Cambodia, Chile, the 1973 Kippur War; His brief interlude advising the JFK White House; How he set the stage for the Watergate Plumbers; The passing of a cynical nihilist and Spenglerian pessimist;
June 1990: Secretary of State James Baker reads the riot act to shifty, duplicitous Israeli PM and Netanyahu/Likud precursor Shamir over his refusal to start a peace process with Palestinians-a memorable example!

New York Times, Israel Launches Strikes and Orders Evacuations in Southern Gaza, Staff Reports, Dec. 3, 2023 (print ed.). Israel pounded targets in southern Gaza after a truce with Hamas collapsed. Gazan authorities said more than 15,000 people had been killed since Oct. 7.

The Israeli military heavily bombarded southern Gaza on Saturday and ordered residents of several Palestinian border towns in the area to leave their homes, appearing to set the stage for a ground invasion in the south as hostilities resumed after the collapse of a weeklong truce with Hamas.

The Israeli demand for evacuations evoked similar orders the military gave before invading northern Gaza in late October, and it added to the fear and uncertainty hanging over Gaza’s 2.2 million people as a new phase appeared to begin in the nearly two-month war.

New York Times, Israel Resumes Strikes on Gaza After Truce Expires, Patrick Kingsley, Victoria Kim, Michael Crowley and Ben Hubbard, Dec. 2, 2023 (print ed.). Israel and Hamas blamed each other for the collapse of a weeklong cease-fire that had allowed for the exchange of hostages and detainees.

A weeklong cease-fire in the Gaza Strip collapsed on Friday morning, with both Israel and Hamas blaming the other for the breakdown of the fragile truce that had allowed for the exchange of scores of hostages and prisoners, and had briefly raised hopes for a more lasting halt to the fighting.

Hostilities resumed almost immediately: Shortly before the truce expired at 7 a.m. local time (midnight Eastern), Israel said it had intercepted a projectile fired from Gaza. Moments after the deadline passed, Israel announced that it was restarting military operations, and Israeli airstrikes soon thundered again across the battered coastal strip.

International mediators said talks were continuing in the hopes of quickly reviving the truce, although Israeli officials expressed determination to carry on with their campaign to eradicate Hamas, the armed group that controls most of Gaza.

New York Times, Hostages Freed From Gaza Recount Violence, Hunger and Fear, Katherine Rosman, Emma Bubola, Rachel Abrams and Russell Goldman, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). Hostages who have returned to Israel in the past week have come home malnourished, ill, injured and bearing psychological wounds, their families said.

Some of the hostages were held in sweltering tunnels deep beneath Gaza, while others were squeezed into tight quarters with strangers or confined in isolation. There were children forced to appear in hostage videos, and others forced to watch gruesome footage of Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attack. They bore physical and psychological wounds.

As some hostages captured that day in the Hamas-led assault on southern Israel have been released, they have relayed these and other stories of their captivity to family members. While their individual experiences differ in some details, their accounts share features that corroborate one another and suggest that Hamas and its allies planned to take hostages.

The New York Times interviewed the family members of 10 freed hostages, who spoke on behalf of their relatives to relay sensitive information.

New York Times, Israel Knew Hamas’s Attack Plan More Than a Year Ago, Ronen Bergman and Adam Goldman, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). A blueprint reviewed by The Times laid out the attack in detail. Israeli officials dismissed it as aspirational and ignored specific warnings.

Israeli officials obtained Hamas’s battle plan for the Oct. 7 terrorist attack more than a year before it happened, documents, emails and interviews show. But Israeli military and intelligence officials dismissed the plan as aspirational, considering it too difficult for Hamas to carry out.

The approximately 40-page document, which the Israeli authorities code-named “Jericho Wall,” outlined, point by point, exactly the kind of devastating invasion that led to the deaths of about 1,200 people.

The translated document, which was reviewed by The New York Times, did not set a date for the attack, but described a methodical assault designed to overwhelm the fortifications around the Gaza Strip, take over Israeli cities and storm key military bases, including a division headquarters.

Hamas followed the blueprint with shocking precision.

New York Times, Opinion: Understanding the True Nature of the Hamas-Israel War, Thomas L. Friedman, right, Nov. 29, 2023 (print ed.). The reason the Hamas-Israel war can be hard for outsiders to understand is that three wars are going on at the same time: a war between Israeli Jews and the Palestinians exacerbated by a terrorist group, a war within Israeli and Palestinian societies over the future, and a war between Iran and its proxies and America and its allies.

But before we dig into those wars, here’s the most important thing to keep in mind about them: There’s a single formula that can maximize the chances that the forces of decency can prevail in all three. It is the formula that I think President Biden is pushing, even if he can’t spell it all out publicly now — and we should all push it with him: You should want Hamas defeated; as many Gazan civilians as possible spared; Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and his extremist allies booted; all the hostages returned; Iran deterred; and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank reinvigorated in partnership with moderate Arab states.

Pay particular attention to that last point: a revamped Palestinian Authority is the keystone for the forces of moderation, coexistence and decency triumphing in all three wars. It is the keystone for reviving a two-state solution. It is the keystone for creating a stable foundation for the normalization of relations between Israel, Saudi Arabia and the wider Arab-Muslim world. And it is the keystone for creating an alliance between Israel, moderate Arabs, the United States and NATO that can weaken Iran and its proxies Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis — all of whom are up to no good.

Relevant Recent Headlines

Gaza civilians, under Israel’s bombardment, are being killed at a historic pace

New York Times, Gaza civilians, under Israel’s bombardment, are being killed at a historic pace, Lauren Leatherby, Nov. 26, 2023 (print ed.). In less than two months, more than twice as many women and children have been reported killed in Gaza than in Ukraine after two years of war.

• New York Times, Mothers in Israel know their sons could get called up to fight. But they weren’t expecting this war
• New York Times, Ireland’s support for Palestinians has deep roots, in a country with its own history of a seemingly intractable conflict
• New York Times, Israel Launches Strikes and Orders Evacuations in Southern Gaza

More On Trump Battles, Crimes, Claims, Allies

New York state judge Arthur Engoron, left, who presides over Donald Trump's civil fraud trial and former President Trump (file photos).

New York Times, What to Know About Trump’s Civil Fraud Trial, Kate Christobek, Dec. 4, 2023.  Last week, bankers from Deutsche Bank testified on behalf of former President Trump, while a gag order was reinstated against him.

Donald J. Trump’s defense lawyers will call his son and fellow defendant Eric Trump back to the witness stand this week, along with more expert witnesses to testify on the former president’s behalf.

Mr. Trump, who already testified during his civil fraud trial last month, is scheduled to testify again on Dec. 11 before his lawyers rest their case.

The trial, which started in October, stems from a lawsuit brought by the New York attorney general, Letitia James. She has accused Mr. Trump and other defendants, including his companies and his sons Donald Jr. and Eric of inflating the value of assets to obtain favorable loans and insurance deals.

Today marks the 39th day of the civil fraud trial and kicks off the fourth week of the defendants’ case.

The judge, Arthur F. Engoron, ruled even before the trial began that Mr. Trump and the other defendants were liable for fraud. After the trial he will decide what punishments they should face. Ms. James has asked that the former president pay $250 million and that he and his sons be permanently barred from running a business in New York.

Mr. Trump has denied all wrongdoing. His lawyers have argued that the assets had no objective value and that differing valuations are common in real estate.

Politico, New York court reinstates Trump’s gag orders in civil fraud case, Erica Orden, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). The gag orders bar Trump and his lawyers from disparaging court staff. A New York state appeals court on Thursday reinstated the gag orders issued by the judge overseeing Donald Trump’s $250 million civil fraud trial, lifting a pause on the orders that was put into effect earlier this month by one of the court’s judges.

In its two-page order, the appeals court didn’t explain its decision for reinstating the gag orders, which bar Trump and his lawyers from commenting on staff working for the trial judge, Justice Arthur Engoron.

The gag orders have been a central focus of the two-month trial, often eclipsing even the testimony. The initial gag order came just days into the trial, after Trump posted a disparaging social media message about the judge’s law clerk, Allison Greenfield, who sits alongside the judge on the bench. Engoron found that Trump subsequently violated the gag order twice, issuing him two fines totaling $15,000.

Washington Post, U.S. judge rejects Trump immunity claim in Jan. 6 criminal prosecution, Spencer S. Hsu and Rachel Weiner, Dec. 2, 2023 (print ed.).  A federal judge on Friday rejected Donald Trump’s claim of “absolute immunity” from criminal prosecution for actions taken while he was president, setting a clock ticking on whether the Supreme Court will agree to allow him to face trial in Washington before the 2024 election.

U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, right, denied Trump’s request to toss out his four-count August indictment on charges of conspiring to defraud the federal government’s election process, to obstruct Congress’s certification of the vote on Jan. 6, 2021, and to disenfranchise American voters.

“Whatever immunities a sitting President may enjoy, the United States has only one Chief Executive at a time, and that position does not confer a lifelong ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ pass,” she wrote in the 48-page opinion. Trump “may be subject to federal investigation, indictment, prosecution, conviction, and punishment for any criminal acts undertaken while in office.”

Chutkan said no court or any other branch of government has ever accepted Trump’s contention that former presidents enjoy “absolute immunity from criminal prosecution.” Nor, she said, was there any basis for Trump’s argument that he could not be prosecuted for a crime unless he had been impeached and convicted for those actions while in office. It defied the Constitution’s “plain meaning, original understanding, and common sense,” she wrote.

Attorneys for Trump are expected to appeal immediately to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, potentially delaying Trump’s scheduled March 4 trial.

The decision by the judge, a 2014 appointee of President Barack Obama, was a defeat for Trump, whose defense has said it would raise similar immunity claims in four criminal prosecutions charged this year in which he has pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing.

Fani Willis, left, is the district attorney for Atlanta-based Fulton County in Georgia. Her office has been probing since 2021 then-President Trump's claiming beginning in 2020 of election fraud in Georgia and elsewhere. Trump and his allies have failed to win support for their claims from Georgia's statewide election officials, who are Republican, or from courts.

Washington Post, Trump lawyer: Georgia trial would have to wait if Trump wins in 2024, Holly Bailey and Amy Gardner, Dec. 2, 2023 (print ed.). An  attorney for former president Donald Trump told an Atlanta area judge Friday that if Trump wins the 2024 presidential election, his trial on charges that he illegally conspired to try to overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia could not proceed until after he leaves the White House.

Steven Sadow, Trump’s lead counsel in the sprawling Fulton County racketeering case, objected to prosecutors requesting an August 2024 trial date. Sadow claimed that if Trump wins the Republican nomination and is required to be on trial in the weeks leading up to Election Day 2024, it would be “election interference.”

“Can you imagine the notion of the Republican nominee for president not being able to campaign for the presidency because he is in some form or fashion in a courtroom defending himself?” Sadow asked. “That would be the most effective election interference in the history of the United States, and I don’t think anyone would want to be in that position.”

Nathan Wade, a special prosecutor leading the case, strongly rejected Sadow’s claim.

“This trial does not constitute election interference. This is moving forward with the business of Fulton County,” Wade said. “I don’t think it in any way impedes defendant Trump’s ability to campaign.”

When Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee asked Sadow whether the proceedings could continue into 2025 if Trump wins the presidency — as Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis (D) has publicly suggested — Sadow argued that the trial would interfere with his client’s duties as president under the Supremacy Clause, which prohibits interfering with constitutional duties, and would have to be postponed until he is out of office.

The back and forth came as McAfee, who is overseeing the case, said it was too soon to set a trial date, pointing in part to the uncertain schedule of Trump’s other pending legal cases.

Relevant Recent Headlines

• Washington Post, Trump appointee sentenced to nearly 6 years for attacking police on Jan. 6
• Washington Post, Olympic swimmer Klete Keller avoids prison time for role in Jan. 6 riot 
• Politico, New York court reinstates Trump’s gag orders in civil fraud case
• Washington Post, Trump co-defendant in Georgia who pleaded guilty could testify in other cases
• New York Times, Lawyer Told Trump Defying Documents Subpoena Would Be a Crime
• New York Times, Trump’s Bankers Say His Exaggerated Net Worth Did Not Affect Loans

More On U.S. National Politics

New York Times, Opinion: Farewell to George Santos, the Perfect MAGA Republican, Michelle Goldberg, Dec. 3, 2023 (print ed.). Should the blessed day ever arrive when Donald Trump is sent to federal prison, only one of his acolytes has earned the right to share his cell: George Santos, who on Friday became the sixth person in history to be expelled from the House of Representatives, more than seven months after he was first charged with crimes including fraud and money laundering. (He’s pleaded not guilty.)

A clout-chasing con man obsessed with celebrity, driven into politics not by ideology but by vanity and the promise of proximity to rich marks, Santos is a pure product of Trump’s Republican Party. “At nearly every opportunity, he placed his desire for private gain above his duty to uphold the Constitution, federal law and ethical principles,” said a House Ethics Committee report about Santos released last month. He’s a true child of the MAGA movement.

That movement is multifaceted, and different politicians represent different strains: There’s the dour, conspiracy-poisoned suburban grievance of Marjorie Taylor Greene, the gun-loving rural evangelicalism of Lauren Boebert, the overt white nationalism of Paul Gosar and the frat boy sleaze of Matt Gaetz. But no one embodies Trump’s fame-obsessed sociopathic emptiness like Santos. He’s heir to Trump’s sybaritic nihilism, high-kitsch absurdity and impregnable brazenness.

Washington Post, Rep. George Santos expelled from Congress on bipartisan vote, Amy B Wang and Mariana Alfaro, Dec. 2, 2023 (print ed.). The House voted to expel the New York Republican (shown above in a file photo via the Associated Press) in response to an array of alleged crimes and ethical lapses.

The House voted Friday to expel Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) from Congress — an action the chamber had previously taken only five times in U.S. history, and not for more than 20 years — in response to an array of alleged crimes and ethical lapses that came to light after the freshman lawmaker was found to have fabricated key parts of his biography.

The resolution to expel Santos passed in a 311-114 vote, easily exceeding the required two-thirds threshold for removal, with numerous Republican lawmakers turning against Santos in what was the third effort to expel the New York congressman this year. Two Democrats voted present, and eight lawmakers did not vote.

Nearly half of House Republicans voted to oust Santos even though some GOP leaders voiced concerns about setting a precedent by expelling a lawmaker who had not been convicted of a crime.

The vote followed the release two weeks ago of a 56-page House Ethics Committee report that accused Santos, shown above in an official photo at left and in a police mug shot, of an array of misconduct, including stealing money from his campaign, deceiving donors about how contributions would be used, creating fictitious loans and engaging in fraudulent business dealings. Santos, the report alleges, spent hefty sums on personal enrichment, including visits to spas and casinos, shopping trips to high-end stores, and payments to a subscription site that contains adult content.

Moments after the expulsion vote, Santos left the chamber and headed down the Capitol steps to his car, trailed by dozens of reporters.

“You know what? As unofficially already no longer a member of Congress, I no longer have to answer a single question from you guys,” Santos said before his car pulled away.

Santos has long denied wrongdoing and resisted calls to resign, claiming at a news conference Thursday that fellow House members were “bullying” him and that the Ethics Committee report was incomplete and “littered with hyperbole.”

New York Times, DeSantis Super PAC Suffers Another Big Staff Loss, This Time Its Chairman, Jonathan Swan, Shane Goldmacher and Maggie Haberman, Dec. 2, 2023 (print ed.). The departure of Adam Laxalt, a longtime friend of the Florida governor, is the latest shake-up inside Never Back Down as it faces questions over the group’s strategy and spending.

Mr. Laxalt, who unsuccessfully ran to become a Republican senator in Nevada in 2022, lived with Mr. DeSantis when he was training as a naval officer. He joined Never Back Down in April, soon after his own campaign ended and before Mr. DeSantis officially joined the presidential race, in a move that was widely seen as Mr. DeSantis and his wife seeking to have someone they trusted monitoring the activities of the well-funded group. He also suffered the unexpected death of his mother over the summer, a friend said.

“After nearly 26 straight months of being in a full-scale campaign, I need to return my time and attention to my family and law practice,” Mr. Laxalt wrote in a letter to the board on Nov. 26 that was reviewed by The New York Times. He said in the note that he was still committed to Mr. DeSantis’s becoming president.

The departure represents the second major departure from Never Back Down in the last two weeks. On the eve of Thanksgiving, the group’s chief executive, Chris Jankowski, resigned. In a statement put out by the group after the resignation, Mr. Jankowski said that his differences at the group went “well beyond” strategic arguments, without explaining more.

With the Iowa caucuses less than seven weeks away, people associated with the DeSantis campaign encouraged the creation of a new outside group called Fight Right to take over negative attacks on his closest competition in the nomination contest, former Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina.

Washington Post, Inmate who stabbed Derek Chauvin is charged with attempted murder, Amber Ferguson, Dec. 2, 2023 (print ed.). An inmate who stabbed former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin 22 times in federal prison last week was charged with attempted murder Friday. The prisoner told officers that he intended to kill Chauvin if they hadn’t intervened, according to the Justice Department.

John Turscak, 52, has been charged with attempted murder, assault with intent to commit murder, assault with a dangerous weapon and assault resulting in serious bodily injury in the Nov. 24 attack at Federal Correctional Institution Tucson in Arizona.

Chauvin, 47, was convicted of murder in the 2020 death of George Floyd.

Turscak and Chauvin were in the prison’s law library around 12:30 p.m., according to a criminal complaint, when Turscak allegedly stabbed Chauvin nearly two dozen times with an “improvised weapon.” Officers used pepper spray to subdue Turscak.

The complaint alleges that Turscak told FBI agents he had contemplated attacking Chauvin for about a month because of Chauvin being a “high-profile inmate.” The assault occurred on the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday, a day Turscak linked to the Black Lives Matter movement and the “Black Hand” symbol associated with the Mexican Mafia, the complaint stated.

Chauvin was seriously wounded and taken to a local hospital after the attack. No other inmates or prison staffers were injured, but the FBI was notified, the Bureau of Prisons said after the incident.

“I am sad to hear that Derek Chauvin was the target of violence,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D) said in an emailed statement after the attack. “He was duly convicted of his crimes and, like any incarcerated individual, he should be able to serve his sentence without fear of retaliation or violence.”

Attempted murder and assault with intent to commit murder each carry maximum penalties of 20 years in prison. Assault with a dangerous weapon and assault resulting in serious bodily injury each carry maximum penalties of 10 years of incarceration.

Turscak was eligible for release in June 2026, according to the Bureau of Prisons. He has been serving a 30-year prison sentence for crimes committed while he was acting as an FBI informant in the Mexican Mafia, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Chauvin was transferred to the Tucson federal prison in August 2022, the Associated Press reported. The facility is a medium-security prison. He is serving more than a 20-year federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights as well a 22½-year state sentence for second-degree murder.

Chauvin filed an appeal last month, claiming new evidence showed he was not responsible for Floyd’s death. The Supreme Court rejected his appeal for a new trial on Nov. 20, days before the stabbing.

Washington Post, DeSantis calls for resignation of embattled Florida GOP chairman, Maegan Vazquez and Lori Rozsa, Dec. 2, 2023 (print ed.). Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is calling for the resignation of Florida GOP Chairman Christian Ziegler, who is ensnared in a police inquiry involving alleged sexual battery.

“I don’t see how he can continue with that investigation ongoing given the gravity of those situations, and so I think that he should, I think he should step aside,” DeSantis, a Republican presidential candidate, told reporters Thursday night. “He’s innocent till proven guilty, but we just can’t have a party chair that is under that type of scrutiny.”
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DeSantis’s comments followed an appearance on Fox News with California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) that was billed as a debate between the two governors. DeSantis’s remarks were reported by multiple media outlets.

Police in Sarasota, Fla., are conducting an investigation involving Ziegler, according to a police incident report and a statement from his attorney.

Ziegler is the husband of Sarasota County School Board member and Moms for Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler. When asked about the investigation, Sarasota police did not confirm details.

However, they released a heavily redacted police report in response to The Washington Post’s inquiry that includes the words “rape,” “raped” and “sexually battered.” The incident, which the report indicates took place at a home in Sarasota, was reported to police in early October.

Ziegler’s attorney, Derek Byrd, said in a statement, “We acknowledge the reports that there is an investigation being conducted by the Sarasota Police Department regarding Mr. Ziegler.” He added that his client “has been fully cooperative” with police.

“We are confident that once the police investigation is concluded that no charges will be filed and Mr. Ziegler will be completely exonerated,” Byrd added.

Sarasota police confirmed Thursday that the investigation was active.

The Florida Center for Government Accountability first reported on the investigation.

When asked for comment, Christian Ziegler sent the same statement as his attorney. Bridget Ziegler did not respond to a request for comment.

The Zieglers are considered rising stars in Florida’s conservative movement, having become among the most prominent Republicans in the state. Christian Ziegler rose through the ranks of Florida’s Republican Party to become its chairman in February after serving as the party’s vice chairman and as a Sarasota County commissioner.

Both Zieglers have long-standing ties with DeSantis. They campaigned to reelect DeSantis to the governorship last year, and just last month Christian Ziegler hosted DeSantis, former president Donald Trump and several other Republican presidential candidates at Florida’s Freedom Summit.

New York Times, What’s Next for George Santos? Court Dates and, Maybe, Reality TV, Nicholas Fandos, Grace Ashford and Michael Gold, Dec. 3, 2023 (print ed.). The ousted New York Republican suggested that his future might include a memoir or a show, not to mention the looming criminal trial in federal court.

The expulsion of George Santos from the House on Friday, after a year shaped by audacious lies and outright frauds, ended his 11-month congressional tenure. But as he stormed off Capitol Hill, Mr. Santos made abundantly clear that he had no intention of returning to obscurity.

Federal authorities and a jury of his peers may yet have something to say about that. Mr. Santos, a New York Republican, is scheduled to stand trial next year on a lengthy rap sheet that includes charges he defrauded donors, lied to election officials and stole unemployment benefits.

But in American politics, even convicted criminals are often given second acts — if not in elected office, then on reality TV or the big screen.

New York Times, How a Suspected Indian Murder-for-Hire Plot on U.S. Soil Was Foiled, Nicole Hong, Dec. 3, 2023 (print ed.). After a murder in Canada, a sting operation, prompted by an explosive tip through an unexpected channel, rushed to prevent another killing.

It was a mild Sunday evening in Surrey, a city near Vancouver, British Columbia, and Hardeep Singh Nijjar was ready to drive home after spending the day at his Sikh temple. He had told a friend that he thought he was being followed, but that night, he was just eager to celebrate Father’s Day with his family.

Mr. Nijjar was heading out of the parking lot in his truck when he was ambushed. Two masked gunmen unleashed a burst of gunfire and then sped off in a getaway car. Mr. Nijjar was dead.

The murder that day in June became part of a chain of events that would ricochet around the world, with federal agents in the United States working furiously behind the scenes to untangle an international assassination plot that they believed was directed by someone inside India’s government. The geopolitical implications were huge, and the clock was ticking: The next murder being planned was for someone on U.S. soil.

That explosive tip had come into the Drug Enforcement Administration through an unexpected avenue, according to court records and interviews with people familiar with the investigation — accounts that, taken together, provide a detailed picture of how the episode unfolded.

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, left, a Republican, and Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, a Democrat, had feuded openly for months leading up to the debate (Photos via Fox News).

New York Times, 5 Takeaways From the DeSantis-Newsom Debate, Jonathan Weisman, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). Ron DeSantis showed a feistier side, using a friendly moderator to go on offense. Gavin Newsom defended California and President Biden, and jabbed right back.

For an hour and a half on Thursday night, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and Gov. Gavin Newsom of California shouted at and interrupted each other, trying to leave an impression on Fox News viewers beyond the din of their slugfest.

The debate in Alpharetta, Ga., was a chance for Mr. DeSantis to hold the spotlight without other candidates for the Republican presidential nomination on the stage. It was a chance for Mr. Newsom to bring his smooth persona and quick wit to a national — and conservative — audience.

Here are five takeaways.

It was DeSantis and Hannity vs. Newsom and Biden. The debate’s moderator, Sean Hannity, wanted the night to be a showdown between the liberal governor of the most populous state in the nation and the conservative governor of the third most populous state over starkly different views of governance.

From the beginning, Mr. Hannity pressed Mr. Newsom on his state’s high tax rates, its loss of residents over the past two years and its relatively higher crime rate. And Mr. DeSantis backed up the moderator in his challenges to how California is run.

It was an odd, mismatched conversation, since Mr. Newsom, who is not running for president, tried hard to focus on the 2024 campaign in which Mr. DeSantis is currently running. Mr. Newsom talked up President Biden’s record on the economy, health care and immigration and took swipes at Mr. DeSantis’s flagging campaign in the face of former President Donald J. Trump’s dominance

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U.S. Military, Security, Intelligence, Foreign Policy, JFK Death

New York Times, The U.S. blamed Yemeni rebels for ship attacks in the Red Sea, the latest by Iran-backed groups since the war began, Helene Cooper, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). A Pentagon official said the U.S.S. Carney shot down the drones as several commercial ships nearby came under fire on Sunday, in attacks that U.S. Central Command said came from Iran-backed Yemeni Houthis.

A U.S. Navy destroyer shot down three drones during a sustained attack in the Red Sea on Sunday, the Pentagon said, in what could signal another escalation in the tit-for-tat attacks between the American military and Iranian-backed militants.

A Pentagon official said the U.S.S. Carney shot down the drones as several commercial ships nearby came under fire as part of an attack that began at 9:15 a.m. and lasted for several hours on Sunday. The destroyer intercepted three drones during the attack, United States Central Command said in a statement, including one that was headed in the direction of the Carney. The Pentagon said there were no injuries onboard the destroyer and that the ship was not damaged.

In the statement, Central Command said the attacks originated from areas in Yemen that are controlled by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia. Since the Oct. 7 incursion into Israel led by Hamas, the Houthis based in Yemen have launched a series of attacks — including with drones and missiles — on Israeli and American targets in the Red Sea.

China's President Xi Jinping, right, listens to former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger,during a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 17, 2015. The death Wednesday of Mr. Kissinger — a centenarian, former secretary of state and figurehead of American power on the world stage — has sparked a wave of reaction across the globe to his polarizing legacy. (Jason Lee/Pool Photo via AP)

New York Times, Henry Kissinger (1923-2023): A Player on the World Stage Until the Very End, Peter Baker, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). He traveled the globe when contemporaries had died or retired. Capitals around the world were still open to him, and he remained the toast of Davos.

When China’s leaders wanted to send a message to the Biden administration last summer, they did what came naturally. They called Henry A. Kissinger.

Mr. Kissinger was 100 years old by then and had left the government 46 years earlier. But for as long as anyone could remember, the Chinese had venerated him as the secretary of state who forged the landmark diplomatic opening to Beijing. They had used him as a channel to Washington ever since.

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• Associated Press via Politico, US military Osprey aircraft with 6 aboard crashes off southern Japan, at least 1 dead
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U.S. 2024 Presidential Race

New York Times, Doug Burgum, Wealthy North Dakota Governor, Ends White House Run, Jonathan Weisman, Dec. 4, 2023. The little-known former software executive had hoped his business acumen and relentless focus on the economy, energy and foreign policy would lift his campaign. It didn’t.

Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota, the wealthy former software executive who entered the presidential campaign in June hoping a back-to-basics appeal on the economy would propel him forward, dropped out of the race for the Republican nomination on Monday.

Though his personal fortune could have kept his campaign afloat, Mr. Burgum’s mild demeanor and resolute focus on three issues, the economy, energy and foreign policy, never caught on with a G.O.P. electorate steeped in the pugilistic flash of Donald J. Trump and the more visceral appeal of social issues.

Mr. Burgum claimed on Monday that he had shifted the conversation on the campaign trail from divisive social issues to energy and foreign policy. He blamed media inattention and Republican Party rules for his poor showing.

New York Times, Analysis: Here’s why Nikki Haley is rising among the rivals to Donald Trump, Nate Cohn, Dec. 4, 2023. She has gained with educated and relatively moderate Republicans and independents, but that is also a big liability in today’s G.O.P.

Over the last few months, Nikki Haley has gained enough in the polls that she might be on the verge of surpassing Ron DeSantis as Donald J. Trump’s principal rival in the race.

With Ms. Haley still a full 50 percentage points behind Mr. Trump in national polls, her ascent doesn’t exactly endanger his path to the nomination. If anything, she is a classic factional candidate — someone who’s built a resilient base of support by catering to the wishes of a minority of the party. So if you were reading this only on the off chance that Mr. Trump might be in jeopardy, you can doze off again.

But even if it’s still hard to imagine a Haley win, her rise may nonetheless make this race more interesting, especially in the early states, which will begin to vote in six weeks. Ms. Haley is now neck-and-neck with Mr. DeSantis in Iowa, a state he is counting on to reverse a yearlong downward spiral in the polls. She’s well ahead of Mr. DeSantis in New Hampshire and South Carolina, two states where a moderate South Carolinian like her ought to fare relatively well.

New York Times, Why a Major Primary Challenge to Joe Biden Is So Unlikely, Maggie Astor, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). It’s really hard to run against a sitting president. And beginning at this point, just two months before primary voting starts, wouldn’t be feasible anyhow.

The Democratic anxiety that has swirled around President Biden for over a year has kicked into overdrive in recent weeks, as his approval ratings have stayed stubbornly low and polls have shown the possibility of his losing to former President Donald J. Trump.

That anxiety has crystallized into one question, repeated like a drumbeat: Can’t some big-name Democrat challenge him? Someone more prominent than Marianne Williamson or Dean Phillips?

The answer: In theory, sure. In practice, the prospects are remote.

There are several reasons for that, most of which boil down to it being really hard to run a successful primary campaign against a sitting president. And doing so at this point, just two months before voting starts, wouldn’t be feasible anyhow.

Making things still more difficult for a would-be challenger is that Mr. Biden remains relatively popular among Democratic voters. According to a recent New York Times/Siena College poll, 79 percent of party voters in six battleground states somewhat or strongly approve of his performance, which doesn’t leave a lot of room for another Democrat.

“Logistically, it’s impossible,” said Tim Hogan, a Democratic strategist who has worked for Hillary Clinton and Amy Klobuchar. “Politically, it’s a suicide mission.”

To appear on each state’s primary ballot, candidates must submit paperwork along with, in many cases, a hefty filing fee and hundreds or even thousands of voter signatures.

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Global Disputes, Disasters, Human Rights

New York Times, The Wild Card in Taiwan’s Election: Frustrated Young Voters, Amy Chang Chien and Chris Buckley, Dec. 4, 2023. An important bloc for the governing party, the island’s youth are focusing on bread-and-butter issues and have helped propel the rise of an insurgent party.

In the months leading up to a pivotal presidential election for Taiwan, candidates have focused on who can best handle the island democracy’s volatile relationship with China, with its worries about the risks of war. But at a recent forum in Taipei, younger voters instead peppered two of the candidates with questions about everyday issues like rent, telecom scams and the voting age.

It was a telling distillation of the race, the outcome of which will have far-reaching implications for Taiwan. The island is a potential flashpoint between the United States and China, which claims Taiwan as its territory and has signaled that it could escalate military threats if the Democratic Progressive Party wins.

But many Taiwanese voters, especially those in their 20s and 30s, say they are weary of geopolitics and yearn for a campaign more focused on their needs at home. In interviews, they spoke of rising housing costs, slow income growth and narrowing career prospects. A considerable number expressed disillusionment with Taiwan’s two dominant parties, the governing Democratic Progressive Party and the opposition Nationalist Party.

That sentiment has helped propel the rise of a third: the Taiwan People’s Party, an upstart that has gained traction in the polls partly by tapping into frustration over bread-and-butter issues, especially among younger people. The two main parties have also issued policy packages promising to address these anxieties.

New York Times, Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, has reignited a border dispute with an oil-rich neighbor, Guyana, Genevieve Glatsky, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, right, finds himself in a political bind. He is under pressure from the United States to hold free and fair elections after years of authoritarian rule or face a reinstatement of crippling economic sanctions. But analysts say he is unlikely to give up power and would most likely lose in a credible election.

Now, Mr. Maduro has reignited a border dispute with a much smaller neighboring country in a move that seems driven, at least in part, by a desire to divert attention from his political troubles at home by stoking nationalist fervor.

Mr. Maduro claims that the vast, oil-rich Essequibo region of Guyana, a country of about 800,000, is part of Venezuela, a nation of roughly 28 million people, and is holding a nonbinding referendum on Sunday asking voters whether they support the government’s position.

Mr. Maduro’s argument is based on what many Venezuelans consider an illegitimate agreement dating to the 19th century that gave the Essequibo region to Guyana.

Although most countries have accepted that Essequibo belongs to Guyana, the issue remains a point of contention for many Venezuelans, and the referendum is likely to be approved, experts said.

President Irfaan Ali of Guyana has said that “Essequibo is ours, every square inch of it,” and has pledged to defend it.

For Mr. Maduro, stoking a geopolitical crisis gives him a way to shift the domestic conversation at a moment when many Venezuelans are pressing for an election that could challenge his hold on power.

“Maduro needs to wrap himself in the flag for electoral reasons, and obviously a territorial dispute with a neighbor is the perfect excuse,” said Phil Gunson, an analyst with the International Crisis Group who lives in Venezuela’s capital, Caracas.

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U.S. Supreme Court

Future Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, right, during her years as a state legislator and campaigner in Arizona (Associated Press photo).

New York Times, Opinion: Sandra Day O’Connor Never Stopped Being a Politician, Jeffrey Toobin (former federal prosecutor andauthor of “The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court”), Dec. 3, 2023 (print ed.). Sandra Day O’Connor, who died on Friday, is forever linked to the word “first” — the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court. But especially when thinking about today’s court, the word that may describe her best is “last” — the last former politician to be a justice.

Justice O’Connor spent a little over five years as a state senator in Arizona, eventually serving as the leader of the Republican majority, and her tenure in the capitol in Phoenix is the key to understanding both her own jurisprudence and what’s missing from the Supreme Court today.

Justice O’Connor loved being a politician and, in a way, never stopped being one. Of course, she didn’t have to face the voters as a justice, but she was acutely aware of the need for the court to remain in the good graces of the public. Her judicial philosophy — which was less an overarching ideology than a case-by-case inclination toward moderation — never found much favor among law professors; she had no overarching theory of jurisprudence, like the contemporary fad for originalism. (Conducting séances with the likes of James Madison for guidance on cases was never for her.) She was a practical problem solver, and she was guided by a keen sense of the political center, where she thought the court always belonged.

New York Times, Opinion: I Clerked for Justice O’Connor. She Was My Hero, but I Worry About Her Legacy, Oona A. Hathaway (Ms. Hathaway, a professor of law and political science at Yale University, clerked for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor from 1998 to ’99), Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). When I learned that Justice Sandra Day O’Connor had died, I felt not just the loss of a world historical figure but also the loss of someone who formed a part of my identity.

As a young woman, I was in awe of Justice O’Connor. Her presence on the Supreme Court offered an answer to any doubts I had that I belonged in the law. As a young lawyer, I was lucky enough to work for a year as her law clerk.

While clerking for her, I came to understand and appreciate not only her place in history but also her vision of the law. She refused opportunities to issue sweeping opinions that would substitute her ideals for the democratic process. This made it all the more tragic that toward the end of her career, she joined in a decision — Bush v. Gore — that represented a rejection of her cautious approach in favor of a starkly political one.

For me, she stands as a shining example of how women — everyone, really — can approach life and work. I witnessed her warmth, humor and humanity while experiencing the gift of learning and seeing the law through her eyes. Those personal and legal impressions have left an enduring mark on me as a person and as a lawyer.

At the time Justice O’Connor became a lawyer, women in that role were rare. As has now become familiar lore, after she graduated near the top of her class from Stanford Law School in 1952, she was unable to find work as a lawyer. As a justice, she made sure that opportunities denied to her were available to others. Shortly after I graduated from law school, I joined two other women and one man in her chambers, making a rare majority-woman chamber when just over a third of the clerks for Supreme Court justices were women.

I always found it remarkable that I never heard Justice O’Connor talk with any bitterness of the barriers she faced pursuing her career. Instead, she worked hard and without drama to overcome them. Remarkably, that experience did not harden her.

She had a wicked sense of humor. The door to our clerks’ office held a photocopied image of her hand with the words “For a pat on the back, lean here.” Her face transformed in an almost girlish way when she laughed, which she did often.

When she met with the clerks on Saturday to discuss upcoming cases, she brought us a home-cooked lunch — often something inspired by her Western roots. (One memorable example was tortillas and a cheesy chicken filling, to make a kind of cross between a burrito and a chicken quesadilla. It was a bit of a mess to eat but delicious.) She insisted that we get out of the courthouse and walk with her to see the cherry blossoms, and she took us to one of her favorite museums; once we visited the National Arboretum and lingered at the bonsai exhibit. She believed firmly in the benefits of exercise, and she invited us to join daily aerobics sessions with a group of her friends early in the morning in the basketball court above the Supreme Court chamber, which she delighted in calling the “highest court in the land.”

New York Times, Supreme Court Will Hear Arguments in the Purdue Pharma Bankruptcy Case, Abbie VanSickle and Jan Hoffman, Dec. 4, 2023. The current deal would shield members of the wealthy Sackler family from lawsuits in exchange for billions for those harmed by the opioid epidemic.

The settlement involving Purdue, the maker of the prescription painkiller OxyContin, touches on one of the country’s largest public health crises. In taking up the case, the court temporarily paused the deal until it issues a ruling. Experts say any decision may also have important consequences for other cases that use the bankruptcy system to settle claims of mass injuries.

Washington Post, Sandra Day O’Connor, pathbreaking woman on Supreme Court, dies at 93, Fred Barbash, Dec. 2, 2023 (print ed.). As the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court, O’Connor wielded the key vote in dozens of cases. The Reagan appointee advanced no overarching agenda or broad legal philosophy, which freed her to consider each case on its own and made her the pivotal justice of her era.

Sandra Day O’Connor, right, the first female U.S. Supreme Court justice, whose independence on a court that was often ideologically divided made her the pivotal vote in numerous closely contested cases and one of the most powerful women of her era, died Dec. 1 in Phoenix. She was 93.

The cause was complications from advanced dementia — probably Alzheimer’s disease — and a respiratory illness, according to an announcement by the court. Justice O’Connor had said in 2018 that she had dementia and was exiting public life.

In her nearly quarter-century as a justice, from her swearing-in on Sept. 25, 1981, after being appointed by President Ronald Reagan, to her retirement on Jan. 31, 2006, to care for her husband, who had Alzheimer’s, Justice O’Connor tried to avoid what she called “giant steps you’ll live to regret.”

She rejected the idea of eliminating the right to abortion, for example, in part because “an entire generation has come of age” relying on it. She co-wrote the principal opinion in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey (1992), setting a new standard for judging abortion cases but reaffirming the core holding of Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion nationwide in 1973.

Justice O’Connor’s successor, Samuel A. Alito Jr., would in 2022 excoriate her decision for having “enflamed debate and deepened division,” in his majority opinion overturning abortion rights.

Reagan appointed Justice O’Connor as a conservative, but she became known in her era as a centrist.

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, left, and his billionaire friend and benefactor Harlan Crow (file photos).

Politico, Senate Judiciary issues subpoenas to Leo, Crow in SCOTUS ethics probe as Republicans boycott, Katherine Tully-McManus, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). No action was taken on nearly 200 amendments from Republicans.

Senate Judiciary Republicans walked out of the committee to boycott a vote authorizing subpoenas for information from conservative activists and donors about their ties to conservative Supreme Court justices.

The panel voted 11-0 to authorize subpoenas for conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo and Texas billionaire Harlan Crow on their close personal and financial relationships with some justices, with no Republicans left in the room besides ranking member Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). Graham exited once the vote was underway and did not vote.

“They think we're gonna roll over and come back sometime later and try all over again and face the same limitations. You know, there reaches a point where there has to be a vote. They walked out on it. That's their decision,” Durbin said.

The subpoenas are part of an ongoing investigation into ethics at the Supreme Court and how undisclosed gifts and personal ties between major activists, donors and justices may have granted access to individuals and groups with business before the court.

The five most radical right Republican justices on the Supreme Court are shown above, with the sixth Republican, Chief Justice John Roberts, omitted in this photo array.

New York Times, Justices Search for Middle Ground on Mandatory Sentences for Gun Crimes, Adam Liptak, Nov. 28, 2023 (print ed.). A federal law imposes a mandatory 15-year sentence for possessing a gun after committing three serious drug offenses. But which offenses count? The Supreme Court heard arguments on Monday over which drug offenses trigger mandatory 15-year sentences under the Armed Career Criminal Act, which is a kind of federal three-strikes law.

The justices had three choices. By the end of the arguments, most of them seemed to have settled on a middle ground.

The law imposes the mandatory sentences on people convicted of unlawfully possessing firearms if they had already committed three violent felonies or serious drug offenses. The question for the justices was how to determine which drug offenses count under the law, which refers to a schedule of controlled substances overseen by the attorney general.

That schedule is revised from time to time, giving rise to the puzzle in the case.

Depending on which version of the schedule applies, a state drug conviction may or may not count as a strike under the federal gun law. Lawyers in the two consolidated cases on Monday gave the justices three options for deciding which schedule applied: the one in force when the defendant committed the state drug offense, the one in place when the defendant committed the federal gun crime or the one that applied when the defendant was sentenced for the federal gun crime.

A federal appeals court ruled that the middle choice — the schedule in place when he committed the federal gun crime — was the one that counted, affirming the 15-year mandatory sentence.

New York Times, The Supreme Court ruled that Arizona lawmakers must testify about state voting laws requiring proof of citizenship, Adam Liptak, Nov. 28, 2023 (print ed.). Two Republican lawmakers had argued that they could not be questioned about their motives for supporting the laws, which require proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections.

The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that two Arizona lawmakers must testify about their reasons for supporting state laws requiring proof of citizenship for voting in federal elections.

The court’s brief order gave no reasons, which is typical when the justices act on emergency applications. No dissents were noted.

The Justice Department, the Democratic National Committee, civil rights groups and others had challenged the state laws, saying they violated federal laws and had been enacted with a discriminatory purpose.

New York Times, The Quiet Blockbuster at the Supreme Court That Could Impact All Americans, Kate Shaw, Nov. 22, 2023. Some Supreme Court terms are characterized by a single blockbuster case. This term largely revolves around a single blockbuster question: Will our government retain the capacity to address the most pressing issues of our time?

That’s what’s at stake in a group of cases involving the power, capacity and in some instances the very existence of federal agencies, the entities responsible for carrying out so much of the work of government.

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More On U.S. Courts, Crime, Guns, Civil Rights, Immigration 

New York Times, More Chinese Are Risking Danger in Southern Border Crossings to U.S., Li Yuan, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). Trekking the perilous Darién Gap and seeking asylum are risks worth taking for migrants from China who have lost hope in the country’s future.

Gao Zhibin and his daughter left Beijing on Feb. 24 for a better life, a safer one. Over the next 35 days, by airplane, train, boat, bus and foot, they traveled through nine countries. By the time they touched American soil in late March, Mr. Gao had lost 30 pounds.

The most harrowing part of their journey was trekking through the brutal jungle in Panama known as the Darién Gap. On the first day, said Mr. Gao, 39, he had sunstroke. The second day, his feet swelled. Dehydrated and weakened, he threw away his tent, a moisture-resistant sleeping pad and his change of clothes.

Then his 13-year-old daughter got sick. She lay on the ground, vomiting, with her face pale, her forehead feverish, her hands on her stomach. Mr. Gao said he thought she might have drunk dirty water. Dragging themselves through the muddy, treacherous rainforests of the Darién Gap, they took a break every 10 minutes. They didn’t get to their destination, a camp site in Panama, until 9 p.m.

Mr. Gao said he felt he had no choice but to leave China.

“I think we will only be safe by coming to the U.S.,” he said, adding that he believed that Xi Jinping, China’s leader, could lead the country to famine and possibly war. “It’s a rare opportunity to protect me and my family,” he said.

New York Times, Man Who Posed as Federal Agent Is Sentenced to Nearly 3 Years in Prison, Rebecca Carballo, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). Taherzadeh befriended Secret Service employees and gave them lavish gifts, including rent-free apartments, to bolster his fraudulent law enforcement business, prosecutors said.

A man from Washington, D.C., who pretended to be a federal law enforcement officer and leased luxury apartments for which he failed to pay rent was sentenced to 33 months in prison on Friday, federal authorities said.

The man, Arian Taherzadeh, 41, had falsely claimed to be a special agent with the Department of Homeland Security, a former U.S. air marshal, a former U.S. Army Ranger, and a member of a federal task force working across multiple jurisdictions, among other fake roles, the U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Columbia said in a news release.

Mr. Taherzadeh and a co-conspirator, Haider Ali, 36, of Springfield, Va., used those false claims to recruit others to his law enforcement firm, which they called the United States Special Police LLC and falsely described as a private law enforcement service linked to the federal government, according to court documents.

Mr. Taherzadeh used the false claims to recruit others to join his business and to defraud the owners of three apartment complexes in the D.C. area into providing him with multiple apartments and parking spaces for the supposed law enforcement operations, federal authorities said.

Among other places, he installed, maintained and utilized cameras in his bedroom. He used these cameras to record women engaged in sexual activity and he showed the explicit videos to third parties, according to federal prosecutors.

Mr. Taherzadeh had pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy, a federal offense, as well as unlawful possession of a large-capacity ammunition feeding device and voyeurism, which are criminal offenses in the District of Columbia, the authorities said.

Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, also ordered Mr. Taherzadeh to make restitution of $706,218 and to complete 36 months of supervised release following his prison sentence, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Mr. Ali was sentenced in August to 68 months of incarceration to be followed by 36 months of supervised release and was ordered to pay restitution of nearly $758,000.

The two men ingratiated themselves with employees of the U.S. Secret Service to make their scheme more believable, prosecutors said.

Washington Post, Charges of corruption, lying against Va. election official dropped, Justin Jouvenal, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). Prosecutors say a key witness changed his account of what happened, according to a court filing.

Virginia’s attorney general has dropped felony charges in a high-profile criminal case accusing an election official of corruption and lying during the 2020 election after a key witness surprised prosecutors by changing his account of what happened, according to a court filing.

Michele White, the former registrar of Prince William County, is now facing only a single misdemeanor accusing her of willfully neglecting her duty. The charges were dropped less than two months before White’s trial is set to begin at the end of January.

Virginia Assistant Attorney General James R. Herring moved to drop the charges Friday, writing in the court filing that Sean Mulligan, an assistant registrar in Prince William, had offered a different story about what transpired when he was re-interviewed in the past week.

“During the interview yesterday in preparation for trial Mr. Mulligan conveniently and quite surprisingly provided a different version of events from that which he had previously provided to investigators,” Herring wrote in the Friday filing. “As a consequence, the Commonwealth is confronted with significant inconsistent statements made by a key Commonwealth’s witness.”

The filing does not detail what Mulligan was going to testify to at trial or how his account had supposedly shifted. The office of state Attorney General Jason S. Miyares (R) did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday, so it was unclear if prosecutors still intend to pursue the misdemeanor charge against White or will drop it as well.

Mulligan did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Politico, Meta files suit to kneecap the FTC, Alfred Ng and Josh Sisco, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). The tech giant argues in its suit that the agency has “structurally unconstitutional authority.”

Meta is suing the Federal Trade Commission, challenging the constitutionality of its in-house enforcement powers in a bid to stop the agency from unilaterally changing the terms of a 2020 privacy settlement.

The tech giant argued in its suit filed late Wednesday that the agency has “structurally unconstitutional authority” in how it enforces cases against companies through its in-house administrative court.

On Monday, Meta lost a bid to bar the FTC from reopening a 2020 enforcement order against the company, in which the agency accused Meta of privacy violations against children. Meta filed an appeal to that decision on Tuesday. Meta is also seeking to pause the FTC’s case while its lawsuit and appeal play out.

As part of its 2020 settlement Meta paid a $5 billion fine and agreed to make major changes to its privacy practices.

New York Times, Jan. 6 Defendant Who Opened Fire on Deputies Sentenced to Two Years, Lola Fadulu, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). Nathan Donald Pelham, of Greenville, Texas, opened fire on deputies in April days before he was scheduled to surrender to the F.B.I. for his role in the U.S. Capitol attack.

Nathan Donald Pelham, a Texas man, was sentenced on Wednesday to two years in federal prison for shooting at local law enforcement officers days before he was scheduled to surrender to the F.B.I. for charges related to illegally entering the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

On April 12, an F.B.I. special agent called Mr. Pelham to tell him that there was a federal misdemeanor warrant for his arrest and that he needed to surrender on April 17, according to the criminal complaint. Mr. Pelham agreed to do so.

But later that day, Mr. Pelham’s father asked local police to check on his son because he had been threatening to kill himself and had a gun, according to the criminal complaint. When police arrived at Mr. Pelham’s home, it was dark and police soon heard a series of gunshots from inside the home.

Washington Post, Whistleblower alleges failures in medical care at U.S. border facilities, Nick Miroff, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). A Customs and Border Protection official filed a complaint with Congress alleging his supervisors failed to adequately monitor a medical services contractor.

A senior U.S. Customs and Border Protection official Thursday filed a whistleblower complaint with Congress alleging his supervisors failed to adequately monitor the agency’s medical service contractor for staffing shortages, unsafe care and other problems before the May death of an 8-year-old girl in U.S. custody.

Attorneys for Troy Hendrickson, a 15-year CBP veteran, told lawmakers in a letter that their client was reassigned by supervisors after raising concerns about the track record of medical contractor Loyal Source Government Services. The company is a finalist for a new five-year, $1.5 billion CBP contract.

Hendrickson’s concerns about Loyal Source included what he described as 40 percent staffing deficits, employees working without proper clearances and licenses, and billing errors resulting in overpayments of millions of dollars, among other issues, according to his attorneys.

Washington Post, Liz Whitmer Gereghty drops out of competitive New York congressional race, Maegan Vazquez, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). Gereghty’s exit from the race gives a boost to Mondaire Jones, who previously represented the district.

Liz Whitmer Gereghty, a small-business founder and sister of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), announced Wednesday that she is suspending her campaign for Congress in a competitive district in New York’s Hudson Valley.

Gereghty said in a statement that she remains “committed to doing everything possible to elect Democrats across the board in 2024” and endorsed former congressman Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.) for the seat, saying that “uniting our party and focusing our resources on taking back the House is critical to fighting back against the radical extremism plaguing our politics.”

Democrats narrowly lost the seat in New York’s 17th Congressional District last year and see it as one of their best pickup opportunities in 2024.

Gereghty, who has lived in the Hudson Valley for more than 20 years, was new to congressional politics and during her campaign launch highlighted her service on the local school board.

Jones won the seat in 2020 but opted to run in a different district last year after redistricting in the state prompted then-Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) to run in the 17th District. Maloney narrowly lost to Michael Lawler (R-N.Y.).

Democratic groups see New York congressional districts like Lawler’s, which flipped for Republicans in 2022, as the key to regaining control of the House next year. They’ve invested early in the New York races — and invested more than in years past.

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More On Disasters, Climate Change, Environment, Transportation

New York Times, It Could Be a Vast Source of Clean Energy, Buried Deep Underground, Liz Alderman, Dec. 4, 2023. In eastern France, and in other places around the world, deposits of natural hydrogen promise bountiful power. But questions remain.

In the rocky soil of Lorraine, a former coal mining region near the French-German border, scientists guided a small probe one recent day down a borehole half a mile into the earth’s crust.

Frothing in the water table below was an exciting find: champagne-size bubbles that signaled a potentially mammoth cache of so-called white hydrogen, one of the cleanest-burning fuels in nature.

“Hydrogen is magical — when you burn it you release water, so there are no carbon emissions to warm the planet,” said one of the scientists, Jacques Pironon, a senior researcher and professor at the University of Lorraine. “We think we’ve uncovered one of the largest deposits of natural hydrogen anywhere in the world.”

The discovery by Mr. Pironon and another scientist, Philippe de Donato, both members of France’s respected National Center for Scientific Research, caused a sensation in France, where the government has vowed to become a European leader in clean hydrogen.

New York Times, Biden Administration to Require Replacing of Lead Pipes Within 10 Years, Coral Davenport, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). The proposal to rip out nine million pipes across the country could cost as much as $30 billion but would nearly eliminate the neurotoxin from drinking water.

The Biden administration is proposing new restrictions that would require the removal of virtually all lead water pipes across the country in an effort to prevent another public health catastrophe like the one that came to define Flint, Mich.

The proposal on Thursday from the Environmental Protection Agency would impose the strictest limits on lead in drinking water since federal standards were first set 30 years ago. It would affect about nine million pipes that snake throughout communities across the country.

“This is the strongest lead rule that the nation has ever seen,” Radhika Fox, the E.P.A.’s assistant administrator for water, said in an interview. “This is historic progress.”

Digging up and replacing lead pipes from coast to coast is no small undertaking. The E.P.A. estimates the price at $20 billion to $30 billion over the course of a decade. The rule would require the nation’s utilities — and most likely their ratepayers — to absorb most of that cost, but $15 billion is available from the 2021 infrastructure law to help them pay for it.

New York Times, What Happens When an Oil Cartel Walks Into a Climate Summit? Jim Tankersley, Dec. 1, 2023. OPEC is a participant at COP28. Unlike the United States, it is moving to cut production.

In a far corner of the temporary village housing the United Nations climate summit, the world’s largest cartel of fossil fuel producers plied skeptical young activists with chocolate and free pens.

It was Thursday afternoon. A continent away, in Vienna, the cartel’s members were voting to give the summit what amounts to another very small climate treat: at least a temporary reduction in oil and gas drilling. That’s the opposite of what President Biden, who has made climate policy a top priority during his administration, is delivering from the United States.

It was an opening-day irony for a COP28 summit that is already full of them, from its host country down to the so-called OPEC Pavilion in a building that is marked “Urbanisation & Indigenous Peoples” on the outside.

Tens of thousands of delegates are descending this month on Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, which is a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and a major oil producer. Those delegates are celebrating an accelerating global transition toward low-emission sources of energy like wind and solar power. But expanding renewables is not enough to save the planet, scientists warn, so many delegates are demanding that the world rapidly phase out its use of fossil fuels.

New York Times, Disinformation is among the greatest obstacles facing leaders at the summit, Tiffany Hsu and Steven Lee Myers, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). Online influencers, fossil fuel companies and some of the countries attending COP28 have nourished a feedback loop of falsehoods.

As the world’s leaders gather this week at a major summit to discuss ways to address the effects of global warming, one of the greatest obstacles they face is disinformation.

Among the biggest sources of false or misleading information about the world’s weather, according to a report released this week: influential nations, including Russia and China, whose diplomats will be attending. Others include the companies that extract fossil fuels and the online provocateurs who make money by sharing claims that global warming is a hoax.

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More On Ukraine-Russian War, Russian Leadership

New York Times, A Prison at War: The Convicts Sustaining Vladimir Putin’s Invasion, Anatoly Kurmanaev, Ekaterina Bodyagina, Alina Lobzina and Oleg Matsnev, Produced by Gray Beltran, Dec. 4, 2023 (interactive). Nearly 200 inmates left a high-security Russian prison to join the war in Ukraine, seeking redemption, money or freedom. Many were killed or wounded.

New York Times, Ukrainians in Germany Weigh a Wrenching Choice: Stay or Go Home, Graham Bowley, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). As refugees, they were welcomed with safety, services and jobs. As the war grinds on, giving that up is not a simple decision.

It is a cruel dilemma faced by countless Ukrainian refugees scattered across Europe as the war nears the end of its second year, one that pits a longing for family and a sense of shared duty to rebuild their shattered country against the realization that the death and destruction are unlikely to end anytime soon.

And they are debating it in places like Freiburg, a city nestled on the edge of the Black Forest close to the French border that has offered open arms, an extensive social safety net and the attractive promise of a life without war.

Washington Post, Opinion: Ukraine aid’s best-kept secret: Most of the money stays in the U.S.A., Marc A. Thiessen, Dec. 2, 2023 (print ed.). Here is the best-kept secret about U.S. military aid to Ukraine: Most of the money is being spent here in the United States. That’s right: Funds that lawmakers approve to arm Ukraine are not going directly to Ukraine but are being used stateside to build new weapons or to replace weapons sent to Kyiv from U.S. stockpiles. Of the $68 billion in military and related assistance Congress has approved since Russia invaded Ukraine, almost 90 percent is going to Americans, one analysis found.

But you wouldn’t know that from the actions of some U.S. lawmakers. When Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance (R) joined a United Auto Workers picket line in October at the Jeep assembly plant in Toledo, he said he wanted to “show some support for the UAW workers” in his state. Yet he has not shown the same solidarity with the UAW workers in Lima, Ohio, who are churning out Abrams tanks and Stryker combat vehicles for Ukraine thanks to the military aid that Congress has approved. Vance opposes Ukraine aid, as does Rep. Jim Jordan (R), whose House district includes Lima.

Ohio voters might have expected their elected leaders to be pushing the (reluctant) Biden administration to give Ukraine more Lima-produced tanks and vehicles — or to require that more of them be included in the aid package for Ukraine that Congress will soon take up. Instead, Vance and Jordan are fighting to stop Ukraine from receiving any more union-made tanks and combat vehicles from America’s only tank factory.

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U.S. Economy, Jobs, Consumers, High Tech

New York Times, Why Doctors and Pharmacists Are in Revolt, Noam Scheiber, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). Once accustomed to a status outside the usual management-labor hierarchy, many health professionals now feel as put upon as any clock-punching worker.

Doctors are not the only health professionals who are unionizing or protesting in greater numbers. Health care workers, many of them nurses, held eight major work stoppages last year — the most in a decade — and are on pace to match or exceed that number this year. This fall, dozens of nonunion pharmacists at CVS and Walgreens stores called in sick or walked off the job to protest understaffing, many for a full day or more.

The reasons for the recent labor actions appear straightforward. Doctors, nurses and pharmacists said they were being asked to do more as staffing dwindles, leading to exhaustion and anxiety about putting patients at risk. Many said that they were stretched to the limit after the pandemic began, and that their work demands never fully subsided.

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U.S. Abortion, Family Planning, #MeToo

Politico, Police investigating Florida Republican Party chair over alleged sexual assault, Kimberly Leonard and Andrew Atterbury, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). The Sarasota Police Department is investigating Florida Republican Party Chair Christian Ziegler, whose wife, Bridget Ziegler, shown above togther,  co-founded the conservative parents group Moms for Liberty, following allegations of sexual assault.

According to a heavily redacted police report obtained by POLITICO through a public records request, the alleged incident took place on Oct. 2 at a home in Sarasota and the victim filed a complaint two days later. The documents omit details about the victim’s statement to authorities but include the words “rape” and “sexually battered.”

The Florida Trident, the news platform for the open government watchdog Florida Center for Government Accountability, was first to report on the news.

Ziegler, through his attorney, acknowledged the police were investigating him and said he’d been “fully cooperative with every request made by the Sarasota Police Department.”

“We are confident that once the police investigation is concluded that no charges will be filed and Mr. Ziegler will be completely exonerated,” his attorney, Derek Byrd, said in a statement. “Unfortunately, public figures are often accused of acts that they did not commit whether it be for political purposes or financial gain. I would caution anyone to rush to judgment until the investigation is concluded.”

Ziegler is married to Bridget Ziegler, a school board member in Sarasota County and Moms for Liberty co-founder. The group has risen to prominence in Florida under the DeSantis administration, which emphasizes rooting out any traces of liberal “indoctrination” — particularly on the issues of sexual orientation, gender identity and race.

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Former President Donald Trump is shown in a photo collage with columnist E. Jean Carroll, who won a jury verdict that he sexually attacked her three decades ago.

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Pandemics, Public Health, Privacy 

New York Times, At the Core of Purdue Pharma Case: Who Can Get Immunity in Settlements? Abbie VanSickle, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). A Supreme Court ruling could mean the end of a strategy for resolving mass injury claims that gives organizations expansive legal protections.

For years, Purdue Pharma, the maker of the prescription painkiller OxyContin, had been entangled in lawsuits seeking to hold it to account for its role in the spiraling opioid crisis.

A pathbreaking settlement reached last year appeared to signal the end to thousands of those cases, funneling billions of dollars toward fighting the epidemic in exchange for exempting members of the billionaire Sackler family, which once controlled the company, from civil lawsuits.

But on Monday, the Supreme Court will hear arguments over whether the agreement is a violation of federal law in a case that could have ramifications not just for Purdue but also for organizations that turn to bankruptcy court, as the company did, to resolve claims of mass injury.

“There’s huge implications for all of corporate bankruptcy,” said Anthony J. Casey, a law professor at the University of Chicago. “I think this is probably the most important bankruptcy case before the court in 30, maybe 40 years.”

New York Times, Families of opioid victims are awaiting a Supreme Court ruling that could bring them billions of dollars from the Sacklers, Jan Hoffman, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). The court will decide whether Purdue’s owners can gain permanent immunity from future opioid lawsuits in exchange for payments up to $6 billion.

In 2014, when the first opioid lawsuits were filed against Purdue Pharma, Tiffinee Scott’s daughter was still years away from her fatal overdose from addictive prescription painkillers, including Purdue’s OxyContin, which she was taking to manage sickle cell pain.

That year, Dede Yoder’s teenage son was struggling with an addiction that began with an OxyContin prescription for a sports injury. He would die from an overdose in 2017, after attempting rehab eight times.

It would be years before Gary Carter’s son, who had been filching his grandparents’ OxyContin, would die from an overdose of fentanyl, an illicit opioid that many people who became addicted to prescription painkillers eventually turned to over the past decade.

The three families and others who have ended up suing Purdue shared their stories in letters to the Supreme Court, which will hear oral argument Monday on the remaining sticking point in the yearslong effort to settle litigation that has ballooned into nearly 3,000 cases. A multi-billion-dollar agreement is at stake.

A ruling upholding the disputed provision would finally start the flow of payments from the company and its owners — members of the billionaire Sackler family — to cities, states, tribes and individuals to help them cope with the costs of the ongoing opioid crisis. It would also allow Purdue to emerge from bankruptcy restructuring as a public benefit company.

A ruling against the measure could blow up the painstakingly negotiated settlement, leaving the fate of the company and the urgently sought payments up in the air.

The court will consider the legality of a condition demanded by the Sacklers and approved by a bankruptcy judge: In exchange for paying up to $6 billion, the Sacklers insist on being shielded from civil lawsuits that anyone else might want to bring against them involving Purdue and opioids.

New York Times, ‘Medical Freedom’ Activists Take Aim at New Target: Childhood Vaccine Mandates, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). Mississippi  has long had high childhood immunization rates, but a federal judge has ordered the state to allow parents to opt out on religious grounds.

For more than 40 years, Mississippi had one of the strictest school vaccination requirements in the nation, and its high childhood immunization rates have been a source of pride. But in July, the state began excusing children from vaccination if their parents cited religious objections, after a federal judge sided with a “medical freedom” group.

Today, 2,100 Mississippi schoolchildren are officially exempt from vaccination on religious grounds. Five hundred more are exempt because their health precludes vaccination. Dr. Daniel P. Edney, the state health officer, warns that if the total number of exemptions climbs above 3,000, Mississippi will once again face the risk of deadly diseases that are now just a memory.

“For the last 40 years, our main goal has been to protect those children at highest risk of measles, mumps, rubella, polio,” Dr. Edney said in an interview, “and that’s those children that have chronic illnesses that make them more vulnerable.” He called the ruling “a very bitter pill for me to swallow.”

Mississippi is not an isolated case. Buoyed by their success at overturning coronavirus mandates, medical and religious freedom groups are taking aim at a new target: childhood school vaccine mandates, long considered the foundation of the nation’s defense against infectious disease.

Until the Mississippi ruling, the state was one of only six that refused to excuse students from vaccination for religious or philosophical reasons. Similar legal challenges have been filed in the five remaining states: California, Connecticut, Maine, New York and West Virginia. The ultimate goal, according to advocates behind the lawsuits, is to undo vaccine mandates entirely, by getting the issue before a Supreme Court that is increasingly sympathetic to religious freedom arguments.

New York Times, Why Doctors and Pharmacists Are in Revolt, Noam Scheiber, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). Once accustomed to a status outside the usual management-labor hierarchy, many health professionals now feel as put upon as any clock-punching worker.

Washington Post, What you can do to boost your covid and flu shots’ effectiveness, Marta Zaraska, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). While genes play a major role, your attitude, your gut health and other factors have been shown to boost immune response.

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Media, High Tech, Sports, Education, Free Speech, Culture 

New York Times, Ego, Fear and Money: How the A.I. Fuse Was Lit, Cade Metz, Karen Weise, Nico Grant and Mike Isaac, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). The people who were most afraid of artificial intelligence decided they should be the ones to build it. Then distrust fueled a spiraling competition.

Elon Musk celebrated his 44th birthday in July 2015 at a three-day party thrown by his wife at a California wine country resort dotted with cabins. It was family and friends only, with children racing around the upscale property in Napa Valley.

This was years before Twitter became X and Tesla had a profitable year. Mr. Musk and his wife, Talulah Riley — an actress who played a beautiful but dangerous robot on HBO’s science fiction series “Westworld” — were a year from throwing in the towel on their second marriage. Larry Page, a party guest, was still the chief executive of Google. And artificial intelligence had pierced the public consciousness only a few years before, when it was used to identify cats on YouTube — with 16 percent accuracy.

A.I. was the big topic of conversation when Mr. Musk and Mr. Page sat down near a firepit beside a swimming pool after dinner the first night. The two billionaires had been friends for more than a decade, and Mr. Musk sometimes joked that he occasionally crashed on Mr. Page’s sofa after a night playing video games.

But the tone that clear night soon turned contentious as the two debated whether artificial intelligence would ultimately elevate humanity or destroy it.

New York Times, The Who’s Who of the Modern Artificial Intelligence Movement, J. Edward Moreno, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). Before chatbots exploded in popularity, a group of researchers, tech executives and venture capitalists had worked for more than a decade to fuel A.I.

While artificial intelligence has taken the limelight over the past year, technology that can appear to operate like human brains has been top of mind for researchers, investors and tech executives in Silicon Valley and beyond for more than a decade.

Here are some of the people involved in the origins of the modern A.I. movement who have influenced the technology’s development.

New York Times, In Florida’s Hot Political Climate, Some Faculty Have Had Enough, Stephanie Saul, Dec. 4, 2023 (print ed.). Liberal-leaning professors are leaving coveted tenured jobs. And there are signs that recruiting scholars in the state is becoming harder.

Gov. Ron DeSantis had just taken office in 2019 when the University of Florida lured Neil H. Buchanan, a prominent economist and tax law scholar, from George Washington University.

Now, just four years after he started at the university, Dr. Buchanan has given up his tenured job and headed north to teach in Toronto. In a recent column on a legal commentary website, he accused Florida of “open hostility to professors and to higher education more generally.”

He is not the only liberal-leaning professor to leave one of Florida’s highly regarded public universities. Many are giving up coveted tenured positions and blaming their departures on Governor DeSantis and his effort to reshape the higher education system to fit his conservative principles.

The Times interviewed a dozen academics — in fields ranging from law to psychology to agronomy — who have left Florida public universities or given their notice, many headed to blue states. While emphasizing that hundreds of top academics remain in Florida, a state known for its solid and affordable public university system, they raised concerns that the governor’s policies have become increasingly untenable for scholars and students.

New York Times, Spotify to Cut 1,500 Jobs After Spending Spree, Adam Satariano, Dec. 4, 2023. The music streaming service expanded into podcasting and audiobooks but found it difficult to turn a consistent profit.

Spotify said on Monday that it would cut nearly a fifth of its work force, at least the third round of layoffs this year, as it has struggled to become consistently profitable after spending aggressively to expand beyond music streaming into areas such as podcasting.

Spotify’s chief executive officer, Daniel Ek, wrote in a note to employees posted on the company’s website that the platform now needed to “rightsize” to account for a “very different environment.” Spotify, which is based in Stockholm, will let go of about 1,500 people, or 17 percent of its staff.

“Economic growth has slowed dramatically and capital has become more expensive,” Mr. Ek said. “Despite our efforts to reduce costs this past year, our cost structure for where we need to be is still too big,” Mr. Ek added.

Despite being the largest music streaming platform, Spotify has long struggled to be profitable because of the terms of licensing deals it has with record labels and music publishers. The company has pushed into new areas like podcasting, including buying the podcast studios Gimlet for $230 million in 2019 and The Ringer for about $200 million in 2020. It struck expensive deals with well-known figures such as former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, as well as Prince Harry and wife, Meghan. More recently, the company has expanded into audiobooks.

The shifts have helped Spotify attract listeners and subscribers, but have not been a financial breakthrough. In the first nine months of 2023, Spotify lost $462 million, more than double the loss in the same period in 2022.

But the company turned a small profit last quarter, its first in more than a year, in what Paul Vogel, its chief financial officer, at the time called “an important inflection point for the business.”

Spotify had 226 million paying subscribers at the end of September and is on track to add 30 million for the full year, 50 percent more than it expected at the outset of 2023. The company recently raised prices for its subscriptions in more than 50 countries.

Spotify also has over 360 million monthly active users whose accounts are supported by advertising. This segment has been growing faster than paid subscriptions, but it generates less revenue at a lower profit margin for the company.

The jobs cuts are the largest Spotify has announced this year. In June, Spotify cut about 200 jobs, including many involved in podcasting. Another 600 employees had been let go in January.

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The Intercept, Netanyahu’s goal for Gaza: “Thin” population “to a minimum,” Ryan Grim, Dec. 3, 2023. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, above, has tasked his top adviser, Ron Dermer, the minister of strategic affairs, with designing plans to “thin” the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip “to a minimum,” according to a bombshell new report in an Israeli newspaper founded by the late Republican billionaire Sheldon Adelson.

The outlet, Israel Hayom, is considered to be something of an official organ for Netanyahu. It reported that the plan has two main elements: The first would use the pressure of the war and humanitarian crisis to persuade Egypt to allow refugees to flow to other Arab countries, and the second would open up sea routes so that Israel “allows a mass escape to European and African countries.” Dermer, left, who is originally from Miami, is a Netanyahu confidante and was previously Israeli ambassador to the United States, and enjoys close relations with many members of Congress.

The plan to ethnically cleanse Gaza of Palestinians faces some internal resistance from less hard-line members of Netanyahu’s cabinet, according to Israel Hayom.

Israel Today and other Israeli media are also reporting on a plan being pushed with Congress that would condition aid to Arab nations on their willingness to accept Palestinian refugees. The plan even proposes specific numbers of refugees for each country: Egypt would take one million Palestinians, half a million would go to Turkey, and a quarter million each would go to Yemen and Iraq.

The reporting relies heavily on the passive voice, declining to say who put the proposal together: “The proposal was shown to key figures in the House and Senate from both parties. Longtime lawmaker, Rep. Joe Wilson, has even expressed open support for it while others who were privy to the details of the text have so far kept a low profile, saying that publicly coming out in favor of the program could derail it.”

To underscore how absurd the refugee resettlement plan is, the de facto Houthi government in Yemen claimed an attack today on a U.S. ship as well as commercial vessels in the Red Sea.

Back on October 20, in a little-noticed message to Congress, the White House asked for $3.495 billion that would be used for refugees from both Ukraine and Gaza, referencing “potential needs of Gazans fleeing to neighboring countries.”

“This crisis could well result in displacement across border and higher regional humanitarian needs, and funding may be used to meet evolving programming requirements outside of Gaza,” the letter from the White House Office of Management and Budget reads. The letter came two days after Jordan and Egypt warned they would not open their borders to a mass exodus of Palestinians, arguing that past history shows they would never be able to return.

Washington Post, Israel’s assault forced a nurse to leave babies behind. They were found decomposing, Miriam Berger, Evan Hill and Hazem Balousha, Dec. 3, 2023. A nurse at al-Nasr hospital was caring for premature babies. Then he faced the most difficult decision of his life.

The nurse in the besieged hospital was caring for five fragile babies. Infants, born premature, their parents’ whereabouts after a month of war unknown. Now he faced the most difficult decision of his life.

It was the height of Israel’s assault on northern Gaza last month, and al-Nasr Children’s Hospital was a war zone. The day before, airstrikes had cut off the Gaza City facility’s oxygen supplies. Israeli tanks had surrounded the hospital complex, and the Israel Defense Forces were calling and texting the doctors, urging them to leave.

But ambulances couldn’t safely reach al-Nasr to transport the wounded, and doctors refused to leave the facility without their patients.

The five premature babies were particularly vulnerable. They needed oxygen, and medication administered at regular intervals. There were no portable respirators or incubators to transport them. Without life support, the nurse feared, they wouldn’t survive an evacuation.

Then the IDF delivered an ultimatum, al-Nasr director Bakr Qaoud told The Washington Post: Get out or be bombarded. An Israeli official, meanwhile, provided an assurance that ambulances would be arranged to retrieve the patients.

The nurse, a Palestinian man who works with Paris-based Doctors Without Borders, saw no choice. He assessed his charges and picked up the strongest one — the baby he thought likeliest to bear a temporary cut to his oxygen supply. He left the other four on their breathing machines, reluctantly, and with his wife, their children and the one baby, headed south.

“I felt like I was leaving my own children behind,” said the nurse, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect his privacy. “If we had the ability to take them, we would have, [but] if we took them off the oxygen they would have died.”

New York Times, Live Updates: Israel’s Military Expands Evacuation Orders in Southern Gaza, Vivian Yee, Iyad Abuheweila and Ameera Harouda, Dec. 3, 2023. The U.S. has increasingly stressed the need to limit civilian harm as Israel turns its focus to the enclave’s south.
Confusion and fear gripped much of southern Gaza on Sunday as Israel’s military ordered more residents to clear out and fighting there intensified.

The Israeli military’s latest evacuation orders appeared to be setting the stage for a ground invasion in the south since hostilities started again after the collapse of a weeklong truce with Hamas. They evoked similar orders given by the Israeli military before it invaded northern Gaza in late October. But the announcements were prone to change with almost no notice, leaving many Gazans confused and with little time to flee.

The list of areas had swelled from 19 the previous morning to 34 on Sunday, all clustered southeast of the city of Khan Younis. The Israeli military marked each on a map of Gaza that divided the territory into nearly 2,400 “blocks,” advising residents to pay attention to Israeli announcements about whether their block was being evacuated.

Some families whose homes and shelters were not included in the initial evacuation areas announced by Israel’s military, and who had thought they would be able to stay put, said they had later received recorded calls ordering them to leave.

Many people under evacuation orders had already been displaced at least once before, forced to leave northern Gaza when the fighting and the airstrikes began. Now they found themselves once again at a loss for where to go in an already overcrowded area under threat of bombardment.

“I cannot overstate the fear, panic & confusion that these Israeli maps are causing civilians in Gaza, including my own staff,” wrote Melanie Ward, head of the humanitarian organization Medical Aid for Palestinians, on social media, adding that “people cannot run from place to place to try to escape Israel’s bombs.”

Hospitals in the south were also under pressure. A team from the World Health Organization visited a hospital in Khan Younis on Saturday that was three times over its capacity, according to the agency’s head, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

“Countless people were seeking shelter, filling every corner of the facility,” he wrote on X. “Patients were receiving care on the floor, screaming in pain.”

The Israeli military’s evacuation map showed big orange arrows directing people toward already-overflowing shelters or what it called the “humanitarian zone” in Al-Mawasi, an agricultural area toward the Mediterranean Sea.

But it was not clear whether the zone provided sufficient supplies or shelter, with some Gazans who fled there describing little awaiting them and no visible presence of humanitarian aid.

The idea of “safe zones” in Gaza, as was envisioned for Al-Mawasi, is opposed by the United Nations. Last month, U.N. agencies and other groups said they would not participate in setting up any such zones in Gaza.

Here’s what we know:

• The Biden administration has increasingly stressed the need to limit civilian harm as Israel turns its focus to the enclave’s south.
• Many Gazans who were already displaced are under orders to move again.
• The U.S. defense secretary cites urban warfare risks as Harris warns against relocation.
• Released hostages give Tel Aviv protesters hope for those left behind.
• A university president was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza, Palestinian officials say.
• Gazans again find themselves in dire straits, searching for safe areas and food.

New York Times, Commentary: Over 60 Journalists Have Been Killed in the Israel-Gaza War. My Friend Was One, Lama Al-Arian (Lama Al-Arian is a multi-Emmy-award-winning journalist based in Beirut), Dec. 3, 2023. I was sitting in my apartment in Beirut on the evening of Oct. 13 when I read that journalists had been struck by a missile attack in southern Lebanon.

My close friend, Issam Abdallah, was working in the area as a cameraman for Reuters to cover the border clashes between Israel and Hezbollah after the war in Gaza began just days earlier. I called him immediately. It was a ritual we had developed over the years: Whether we were on the front lines in Ukraine or Syria, each of us knew to expect a call from the other anytime a disaster struck.

Issam didn’t answer. I couldn’t remember the last time he let one of my calls go to voice mail. Within minutes, cellphone footage of the attack appeared online. In one video, a journalist for Agence France-Presse lies in a pool of blood, screaming that she can’t feel her legs. I listened over and over, desperately trying to find Issam’s voice in the chaos.

Then my doorbell rang. Two of my friends broke the news that Issam had been killed. They shared more footage of the grisly aftermath of the attack. A wave of nausea washed over me as I watched rescue workers wrap Issam and his severed leg in a white sheet, his body charred, barely recognizable.

Washington Post, Florida GOP chairman under fire as more details emerge in rape inquiry, Lori Rozsa and Will Oremus, Dec. 3, 2023. Republican Party chair and his wife, shown above, a Moms for Liberty co-founder, part of three-way encounter with alleged victim, affidavit says.

Leaders of the Florida Republican Party criticized state GOP Chairman Christian Ziegler as details emerged in a rape allegation by a woman with whom he and his wife previously had a three-way sexual encounter.

Ziegler is under investigation by Sarasota police but has not been charged. A search warrant affidavit obtained by the Florida Center for Government Accountability, a nonprofit watchdog group, and provided to The Washington Post reveals additional details about the allegations of the assault. Police also obtained from the woman’s cellphone messages between her and Ziegler in the hours leading up to the encounter, the affidavit states.

On Oct. 2, the woman had agreed to have a sexual encounter with Ziegler that was to include his wife, Bridget, the affidavit says. But when the woman learned that Bridget couldn’t make it, she changed her mind and canceled. When Ziegler told her in one message that his wife was no longer available, she replied, “Sorry I was mostly in for her,” she said in a message, according to the affidavit.

According to the affidavit, the woman told Sarasota police that Ziegler then showed up at her apartment uninvited and raped her. The woman reported the alleged assault to police two days later, and a rape kit was done at a Sarasota hospital, the affidavit states.

Christian Ziegler later told detectives that he had consensual sex with the woman, and that he had video-recorded it and uploaded the video to Google Drive, according to the affidavit, but police were not able to locate the video. Sarasota police served a search warrant to Google last month, the affidavit says. Google did not respond to a request for comment Saturday.

In a 911 call two days after the alleged assault, a recording of which was also obtained by the Florida Center for Government Accountability and shared with The Post, a friend of the woman asked emergency responders to check on the woman at her apartment. According to the call’s recording, the friend said the woman hadn’t shown up for work for two days. When the friend called the woman, the woman sounded “drunk” and was “slurring her words,” the friend told dispatchers. “She told me she was raped and that she’s scared to leave her house,” the friend added, according to the recording of the call.

Bridget Ziegler, who is not named in the complaint against her husband, is a co-founder of Moms for Liberty and has worked closely with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on legislation that opponents have described as anti-LGBTQ+. Bridget Ziegler “confirmed having a sexual encounter with the victim and Christian over a year ago and that it only happened one time,” the affidavit says.

News reports emerged several days ago about the allegations of rape, but more records were obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request late Friday and reported by several Florida news outlets. They include details of recorded conversations via Instagram and phone calls between the woman and Christian Ziegler that detectives obtained. Police have filed search warrants for Ziegler’s phone, email and other devices. The Sarasota Police Department did not reply to several requests for comment.

Washington Post, HOME-SCHOOL NATION: What home schooling hides: An 11-year-old boy tortured and starved by his stepmom, Peter Jamison, Dec. 3, 2023. Roman Lopez was 11 when he went missing. His years of torment were concealed by home schooling.

Nobody could find Roman Lopez.

His family had searched, taping hand-drawn “missing” posters to telephone poles and driving the streets calling out the 11-year-old’s name. So had many of his neighbors, their flashlights sweeping over the sidewalks as the winter darkness settled on the Sierra Nevada foothills.

The police were searching, too, and now they had returned to the place where Roman had gone missing earlier that day: his family’s rented home in Placerville, Calif. Roman’s stepmother, Lindsay Piper, hesitated when officers showed up at her door the night of Jan. 11, 2020, asking to comb the house again. But she had told them that Roman liked to hide in odd places — even the clothes dryer — and agreed to let them in.

Brock Garvin, Roman’s 15-year-old stepbrother, was sitting in the dimly lit basement when police came downstairs shortly after 10:30 p.m. He ignored them, he said later, watching “Supernatural” on television as three officers began inspecting the black-and-yellow Home Depot storage bins stacked along the back wall.

Brock had no idea what had happened to Roman. But he did know something the police did not: Much of what his mother had said to them that day was a lie.

When she reported Roman’s disappearance, Piper told the police she was home schooling the eight kids in her household. This was technically true. It was also a ruse.

Most schools have teachers, principals, guidance counselors — professionals trained to recognize the unexplained bruises or erratic behaviors that may point to an abusive parent. Home education was an easy way to avoid the scrutiny of such people. That was the case for Piper, whose children were learning less from her about math and history than they were about violence, cruelty and neglect.

Left to their own devices while she lay in bed watching TV crime procedurals, and her husband, Jordan, worked long hours as a utility lineman, their days and nights passed in a penumbral blur of video games, microwave dinners and fistfights. Almost nothing resembling education took place, her sons said. But there was a shared project in which she diligently led her children: the torture of their stepbrother, Roman.

Roman had been a loving, extroverted 7-year-old who obsessed over dinosaurs when Piper came into his life, a mama’s boy perpetually in search of a mother as Jordan, his father, cycled from one broken relationship to the next.

On the day he was reported missing, he was a sixth-grader who weighed only 42 pounds. He had been locked in closets, whipped with extension cords and bound with zip ties, according to police reports and interviews with family members who witnessed his treatment. Unwilling to give him even short breaks from his isolation, Piper kept him in diapers.

New York Times, Ego, Fear and Money: How the A.I. Fuse Was Lit, Cade Metz, Karen Weise, Nico Grant and Mike Isaac, Dec. 3, 2023. The people who were most afraid of artificial intelligence decided they should be the ones to build it. Then distrust fueled a spiraling competition.

Elon Musk celebrated his 44th birthday in July 2015 at a three-day party thrown by his wife at a California wine country resort dotted with cabins. It was family and friends only, with children racing around the upscale property in Napa Valley.

This was years before Twitter became X and Tesla had a profitable year. Mr. Musk and his wife, Talulah Riley — an actress who played a beautiful but dangerous robot on HBO’s science fiction series “Westworld” — were a year from throwing in the towel on their second marriage. Larry Page, a party guest, was still the chief executive of Google. And artificial intelligence had pierced the public consciousness only a few years before, when it was used to identify cats on YouTube — with 16 percent accuracy.

A.I. was the big topic of conversation when Mr. Musk and Mr. Page sat down near a firepit beside a swimming pool after dinner the first night. The two billionaires had been friends for more than a decade, and Mr. Musk sometimes joked that he occasionally crashed on Mr. Page’s sofa after a night playing video games.

But the tone that clear night soon turned contentious as the two debated whether artificial intelligence would ultimately elevate humanity or destroy it.

New York Times, The Who’s Who of the Modern Artificial Intelligence Movement, J. Edward Moreno, Dec. 3, 2023. Before chatbots exploded in popularity, a group of researchers, tech executives and venture capitalists had worked for more than a decade to fuel A.I.

While artificial intelligence has taken the limelight over the past year, technology that can appear to operate like human brains has been top of mind for researchers, investors and tech executives in Silicon Valley and beyond for more than a decade.

Here are some of the people involved in the origins of the modern A.I. movement who have influenced the technology’s development.

Destroying Democracies

New York Times, Opinion: It’s Time to Fix America’s Most Dangerous Law, David French, right, Dec. 3, 2023. There is a land mine embedded in the United States Code, one that Donald Trump, if re-elected president, could use to destroy our republic. But it’s not too late for Congress to defuse the mine now and protect America.

I’m talking about the Insurrection Act, a federal law that permits the president to deploy military troops in American communities to effectively act as a domestic police force under his direct command. In theory, there is a need for a well-drafted law that permits the use of federal troops in extreme circumstances to maintain order and protect the rule of law. The Insurrection Act, which dates back to 1792 but has since been amended, is not, however, well drafted. And its flaws would give Trump enormous latitude to wield the staggering power of the state against his domestic political enemies.

These flaws are especially relevant because Trump and his allies are keenly aware of the act’s provisions and have long expressed interest in its use. Trump has publicly regretted not using more military force to suppress riots in the wake of George Floyd’s killing in 2020, there were suggestions that he utilize the act as part of his plot to steal the 2020 election, and now there are reports that Trump might invoke the act on the first day of his next term, to suppress demonstrations, to control the border or both.

Moreover, these reports have to be read in the context of Trump’s latest public pronouncements. He has declared many of his domestic political opponents to be “vermin.” His campaign has promised that his critics’ “sad, miserable existence” will be “crushed.” And he has specifically told his followers, “I am your vengeance.”

Some version of the Insurrection Act is probably necessary. After all, from the Whiskey Rebellion to the Civil War to Trump’s own insurrection on Jan. 6, we have seen direct, violent challenges to federal authority. But any such authorization should be carefully circumscribed and subject to oversight. The authority granted by the act, however, is remarkably broad, and oversight is virtually nonexistent.

The Insurrection Act contains a number of provisions, and not all are equally bad. For example, the first provision, 10 U.S.C. Section 251, provides that the president may deploy troops “upon the request of [a state’s] legislature or of its governor if the legislature cannot be convened” in the event of an insurrection. There is no unilateral presidential authority under this provision; the president’s power is activated only by a state request.

But the act gets worse, much worse. The next section takes the gloves off, giving the president the ability to call out the National Guard or the regular army “whenever the president considers that unlawful obstructions, combinations, or assemblages, or rebellion against the authority of the United States, make it impracticable to enforce the laws of the United States in any state by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings.” Note the key language: “whenever the president considers.” That means deployment is up to him and to him alone.

The section after that does much same thing, again granting the president the power to “take such measures he considers necessary” to suppress “any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination or conspiracy.” This broad grant of power makes the Insurrection Act far more immediately dangerous than many other threatened Trump actions, such as prosecuting political opponents and transforming the federal work force. Judicial review can blunt many of Trump’s worst initiatives, but there’s no such obvious check on the use of his power under the act.

You might wonder why the Insurrection Act hasn’t presented much of a problem before now. It’s been used rarely, and when it has been used, it’s been used for legitimate purposes. For example, it was used repeatedly to suppress racist violence in the South during the Reconstruction era and the civil rights movement. Most recently, George H.W. Bush invoked it in 1992 — at the request of the governor of California — to assist in quelling the extreme violence of the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles.

That historical restraint has been dependent on a factor that is utterly absent from Trump: a basic commitment to the Constitution and democracy. Previous presidents, for all their many flaws, still largely upheld and respected the rule of law. Even in their most corrupt moments, there were lines they wouldn’t cross. Trump not only has no such lines but also has made his vengeful intentions abundantly clear.

There is still time, however, to take this terrible tool out of Trump’s potential hands. The Insurrection Act has not always been so broad. In its earliest versions, the president’s power was much more carefully constrained. But Congress expanded the president’s power after the Civil War, in part to deal with racist insurgencies in the defeated Confederacy.

It’s time to rein in the excesses of the act. In 2022, Elizabeth Goitein and Joseph Nunn from the Brennan Center for Justice submitted a comprehensive reform proposal to the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. The proposal would narrow and carefully define the circumstances in which the president can deploy troops, provide for a congressional review and approval process and enable judicial review of claims that the legal criteria for deployment were not met. It’s a proposal worth adopting.

I’m not naïve. I recognize that it will be difficult if not impossible for any reform bill to pass Congress. Mike Johnson, the speaker of the Republican-led House of Representatives, was a central player in Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election. Many of Trump’s congressional allies share his thirst for vengeance. But it’s past time to highlight this problem in the federal code. It’s past time to strip unilateral authority from the president.

Washington Post, The Trump Trials: See you in 2029? Perry Stein and Devlin Barrett, Dec. 3, 2023. If Donald Trump wins the 2024 election, he can’t face a criminal trial in Georgia until at least 2029 — after he leaves the presidency — his Atlanta-based defense attorney argued in a state courtroom Friday. The prosecution team has asked for a trial to start in August 2024 — and strongly rejected the 2029 option.

Now we wait for Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, who said Friday that it was too early to set a date, citing, in part, the uncertain schedule in Trump’s three other criminal cases.

In the election-obstruction case in D.C., special counsel Jack Smith has until the end of the week to fire back against Trump’s wide-ranging and at times imaginative demands for information he claims exists at a host of government agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Capitol Police. The requests are legal long shots, but Trump’s lawyers said last week that the information will help them fight charges that the former president conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Former President Donald J. Trump and several of his fellow defendants, in mug shots released by the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office in Atlanta (Photos by Fulton County Sheriff’s Office).

New York Times, Donald Trump is responding to the charge that he’s anti-democratic by accusing President Biden of posing a bigger threat, Michael Gold, Dec. 3, 2023. Indicted over a plot to overturn an election and campaigning on promises to shatter democratic norms in a second term, Donald Trump wants voters to see Joe Biden as the bigger threat.

Former President Donald J. Trump, who has been indicted by federal prosecutors for conspiracy to defraud the United States in connection with a plot to overturn the 2020 election, repeatedly claimed to supporters in Iowa on Saturday that it was President Biden who posed a severe threat to American democracy.

While Mr. Trump shattered democratic norms throughout his presidency and has faced voter concerns that he would do so again in a second term, the former president in his speech repeatedly accused Mr. Biden of corrupting politics and waging a repressive “all-out war” on America.

”Joe Biden is not the defender of American democracy,” he said. “Joe Biden is the destroyer of American democracy.”

Mr. Trump has made similar attacks on Mr. Biden a staple of his speeches in Iowa and elsewhere. He frequently accuses the president broadly of corruption and of weaponizing the Justice Department to influence the 2024 election.

Washington Post, Opinion: The billionaire myth takes a beating, Jennifer Rubin, right, Dec. 3, 2023. Long before Donald Trump rode down the golden escalator or Elon Musk purchased Twitter (now X) or Sam Bankman-Fried built a crypto empire, Americans lionized billionaires.

“The idea of a self-made American billionaire is the super-sized version of all other self-made myths, and outlandish to the point of being at least mildly insulting,” BSchools.org, a blog about business schools, explained. “Individual achievement still deserves recognition. But these things don’t operate in a vacuum — and massive wealth is never solely attributable to the actions of a single person.”

But, as we have learned again and again this year, sometimes the self-appointed “genius” billionaire is simply a crank, a con man or a beneficiary of familial wealth and luck.

Never has the billionaire myth looked shakier. Trump, the four-times-indicted former president, is facing civil liability for exaggerating his wealth (built on inheritance) and property values. Bankman-Fried is facing a lengthy prison sentence for fraud. And Musk, who lost more than half of Twitter’s value, self-incinerated in a now-viral interview in which he crassly told off advertisers.

Relevant Recent Headlines

• New York Times, Investigation: How a ‘Goon Squad’ of Deputies Got Away With Years of Brutality
• Washington Post, Opinion: A Trump dictatorship is increasingly inevitable. We should stop pretending, Robert Kagan
• Washington Post, U.S. stops helping Big Tech spot foreign meddling amid GOP legal threats
• New York Times, 4,789 Facebook Accounts in China Impersonated Americans, Meta Says
• WhoWhatWhy, Commentary: The Fake Populists Who Serve Elites While Claiming to Stand for the People, Ruth Ben-Ghia
• New York Times, 6 Takeaways From Liz Cheney’s Book Criticizing Trump and His ‘Enablers,’ Peter Baker
• Washington Post, Analysis: Why new Ariz. indictments are key in the fight against election subversion, Aaron Blake
• Washington Post, Antagonism flares as red states try to dictate how blue cities are run
• Politico, Judge key to Jan. 6 cases warns US faces 'authoritarian' threat, Josh Gerstein
• Washington Post, Sandy Hook families offer Alex Jones a deal to settle $1.5 billion debt
• Washington Post, Analysis: A judge says Trump incited insurrection. Other judges have come close, Aaron Blake
• New York Times, Johnson’s Release of Jan. 6 Video Feeds Right-Wing Conspiracy Theories
• New York Times, For Election Workers, Fentanyl-Laced Letters Signal a Challenging Year
• New York Times, Politics: How Trump and His Allies Plan to Wield Power in 2025

Climate Summit in Dubai

Heads of state and government will be speaking at the COP28 summit in Dubai on Friday and Saturday (Photo by Sean Gallup via Getty Images).

New York Times, U.S. Announces Plan to Cut Millions of Tons of Methane Emissions, Jim Tankersley and Lisa Friedman, Dec. 3, 2023 (print ed.). The new rules would require oil and gas producers to detect and fix leaks of the potent greenhouse gas.

Vice President Kamala Harris pledged at a United Nations climate summit on Saturday that the United States would spend billions more to help developing nations fight and adapt to climate change, telling world leaders that “we must do more” to limit global temperature rise.

Her remarks followed an announcement by U.S. officials at the summit the same day that the federal government would, for the first time, require oil and gas producers to detect and fix leaks of methane.

It was the most ambitious move to reduce fossil fuel emissions that President Biden’s administration was expected to unveil at the summit, known as COP28. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that wafts into the atmosphere from pipelines, drill sites and storage facilities, and dangerously speeds the rate of global warming.

New York Times, A new estimate of climate change’s economic impact could legally justify aggressive regulations in the U.S., Coral Davenport, Dec. 3, 2023 (print ed.). The Biden administration’s crackdown on methane leaks from oil wells is based in part on a new powerful policy tool that could strengthen its legal authority to cut greenhouse gas emissions across the entire economy — including from cars, power plants, factories and oil refineries.

New limits on methane, announced Saturday by the Environmental Protection Agency during the COP28 climate talks in Dubai, take aim at just one source of climate warming pollution. Methane, which spews from oil and gas drilling sites, is 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide when it comes to heating the atmosphere in the short term.

But within the language of the methane rule, E.P.A. economists have tucked a controversial calculation that would give the government legal authority to aggressively limit climate-warming pollution from nearly every smokestack and tailpipe across the country.

The number, known as the “social cost of carbon,” has been used since the Obama administration to calculate the harm to the economy caused by one ton of carbon dioxide pollution. The metric is used to weigh the economic benefits and costs of regulations that apply to polluting industries, such as transportation and energy.

New York Times, Pope Francis couldn’t travel to COP28, but a Vatican envoy challenged world leaders on his behalf, Jason Horowitz and Elisabetta Povoledo, Dec. 3, 2023 (print ed.). A Vatican envoy delivered remarks in which Francis asked world leaders whether they would opt for “a culture of life or a culture of death.”

Pope Francis, who reluctantly canceled his trip to the annual United Nations climate summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, because of a lung infection, sought on Saturday to lend his voice to the world’s destitute facing the brunt of climate disruption.

In an address written by the pope and delivered at the summit by the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Francis assured the world, “I am with you, because time is short.” He wrote that the world, more than ever, faced environmental devastation that offended God and “greatly endangers all human beings, especially the most vulnerable in our midst, and threatens to unleash a conflict between generations.”

New York Times, More than 20 countries pledged to triple nuclear capacity in a push to cut fossil fuels, Dec. 2, 2023.

New York Times, Global Warming Talks Begin Amid Deep Tensions, David Gelles, Dec. 2, 2023 (print ed.). World leaders are speaking in Dubai against a backdrop of rising temperatures and two major wars.

World leaders called on Friday for urgent action to slow global warming as the annual United Nations climate summit kicked into gear against a backdrop of two major wars and rising global temperatures.

King Charles III challenged the gathering in Dubai to take “genuine transformational action” to slow the spiral of greenhouse gas emissions, and the United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, called for the total phase-out of fossil fuels, on the second day of the meeting, known as COP28.

Other heads of state and government will speak on Saturday and the event will continue for 10 days as negotiators from nearly every nation try find common cause in the fight against climate change.

The meeting comes toward the end of what will almost certainly be the hottest year in recorded history. Greenhouse gas emissions, mainly driven by the burning of fossil fuels, have now warmed the planet by about 1.2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. Floods, fires, droughts and storms made worse by climate change are unleashing destruction around the world.

New York Times, A Climate Summit Begins With Fossil Fuels, and Frustration, Going Strong, David Gelles, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). After decades of meetings, nations still haven’t agreed to curb the main driver of global warming.

As leaders from nearly every nation on the planet gather on Thursday in the United Arab Emirates to confront global warming, many are carrying a sense of disillusionment into the annual climate summit convened by the United Nations.

Countries talk about the need to cut the pollution that is dangerously heating the planet, but emissions are reaching record highs this year. Rich countries have pledged to help poor countries transition away from coal, oil and gas, but have largely failed to fulfill their promises for financial aid. After 27 years of meetings, countries still can’t agree to stop burning fossil fuels, which scientists say is the main driver of climate change.

And this year, the hottest year in recorded history, the talks known as COP28 are being hosted by a country that is ramping up its production of oil and has been accused of using its position as facilitator of the summit to strike oil and gas deals on the sidelines.

New York Times, A new forecast shows where countries are — and aren’t — making progress on climate change, Brad Plumer and Nadja Popovich, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). Emissions from electricity and transportation are projected to fall over time, a new report finds, but industry remains a major climate challenge.

Relevant Recent Headlines

• New York Times, Pope Francis couldn’t travel to COP28, but a Vatican envoy challenged world leaders on his behalf
• New York Times, More than 20 countries pledged to triple nuclear capacity in a push to cut fossil fuels
• New York Times, Global Warming Talks Begin Amid Deep Tensions,
• New York Times, A Climate Summit Begins With Fossil Fuels, and Frustration, Going Strong

More On Israel's War With Hamas

New York Times, Israelis Are Angry at Netanyahu, but Chances of His Ouster Are Slim, Sheera Frenkel, Dec. 3, 2023 (print ed.). Many hold Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responsible for failing to prevent the Oct. 7 attacks. His legacy could be determined in the coming days.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, has weathered many controversies, including accusations of corruption and allegations this year that a contentious overhaul of the country’s judiciary was a poorly disguised power grab.

But he now faces the greatest crisis of his political career. The backlash to his government’s failures to prevent the Oct. 7 Hamas-led terrorist attack, in which 1,200 people were killed and more than 240 others taken hostage, and criticism of his handling of the war in Gaza, are steadily growing.

People both inside Mr. Netanyahu’s government and those who hope to see him replaced agree that his standing has never been so low with the Israeli public.

And yet — owing to the complexities of Israel’s parliamentary system and the vagaries of war — few paths exist for Mr. Netanyahu to be ousted soon from office. His long-term political prospects and his legacy, however, rest largely on how he handles the coming days, analysts said.

New York Times, Mothers in Israel know their sons could get called up to fight. But they weren’t expecting this war, Miriam Jordan, Dec. 3, 2023. Many mothers are grappling with anxiety as their sons head off to fight in Gaza. “It felt like my children were being taken away, one by one, until no one was left,” one said.

The six mothers had gathered in a Jerusalem home on a recent Friday to prepare challah, the braided bread that Jews eat on the Sabbath. After they recited a blessing that is part of the ritual, each woman added a prayer of her own.

“I just want everybody to come back alive and in one piece, mentally and physically,” said one, her voice breaking. “May they return in peace,” said another, wiping away tears. “With this challah, I want to bless my three sons who are in the army and all the soldiers,” said Ruthie Tick, who had convened the mothers so they could comfort one another.

Collectively, they had 10 sons serving in the Israeli Army, either in Gaza fighting Hamas in response to the group’s incursion and deadly rampage on Oct. 7, or in the north, where the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia has been launching missiles at Israel from Lebanon.

No sooner had the women finished praying than a WhatsApp message appeared on Rebecca Haviv’s cellphone. “I’m gonna be without a phone soon,” wrote her son, Adam, a 29-year-old combat soldier on reserve duty. “Love you so much, ma, and will be in touch.”

New York Times, Ireland’s support for Palestinians has deep roots, in a country with its own history of a seemingly intractable conflict, Megan Specia, Dec. 3, 2023. In Ireland, support for Palestinian civilians runs deep, rooted in what many see as a shared history of British colonialism and the experience of a seemingly intractable and traumatic conflict, which in Ireland’s case came to a close with the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

World Crisis Radio, Strategic Commentary: In unfriendly act towards sole ally USA, butcher Bibi re-starts Gaza bloodbath despite efforts of Biden, Blinken, & Burns to make ceasefire into a permanent armistice, Webster G. Tarpley (right, historian and commentator), Dec. 2, 2023 (133:52 mins.). Netanyahu brags to supporters of his ability to manipulate and dupe US public opinion;

Netanyahu, Gallant, Smotrich, Bengvir & Co. bitterly insisted on endless war until Biden shut down Bibi’s impossible conditions; Next task is to render ceasefire permanent, with abundant humanitarian aid, followed by release of all hostages on all sides;

When messianic Israeli warmongers demand resumption of bombing & killing, they must face the veto of US, EU, Arab League; State Department readies travel ban for armed fascist settlers of the Smotrich-Ben Gvir faction seeking US visas; Save the next rejection slip for Netanyahu!

US, UK, EU should fast track an Emergency International Peace Conference on the model of Madrid 1992 to enact a solution based on two sovereign states;

US media omit the late Henry Kissinger’s implication in the 1977 demise of Italian PM Aldo Moro; Moro’s widow said Henry had threatened her husband; Kissinger’s China card has boomeranged into today’s greatest threat to future of US; He presided with Nixon over the August 15 1971 wrecking of the Bretton Woods currency system, triggering decades of parasitical speculation; The 1971 Tilt crisis, which threatened to expand an Indo-Pakistani war into a US-USSR nuclear confrontation while 3 million died in Bengal; His role in Vietnam, Cambodia, Chile, the 1973 Kippur War; His brief interlude advising the JFK White House; How he set the stage for the Watergate Plumbers; The passing of a cynical nihilist and Spenglerian pessimist;
June 1990: Secretary of State James Baker reads the riot act to shifty, duplicitous Israeli PM and Netanyahu/Likud precursor Shamir over his refusal to start a peace process with Palestinians-a memorable example!

New York Times, Israel Launches Strikes and Orders Evacuations in Southern Gaza, Staff Reports, Dec. 3, 2023 (print ed.). Israel pounded targets in southern Gaza after a truce with Hamas collapsed. Gazan authorities said more than 15,000 people had been killed since Oct. 7.

The Israeli military heavily bombarded southern Gaza on Saturday and ordered residents of several Palestinian border towns in the area to leave their homes, appearing to set the stage for a ground invasion in the south as hostilities resumed after the collapse of a weeklong truce with Hamas.

The Israeli demand for evacuations evoked similar orders the military gave before invading northern Gaza in late October, and it added to the fear and uncertainty hanging over Gaza’s 2.2 million people as a new phase appeared to begin in the nearly two-month war.

Here’s what we know:

• Israeli warplanes pounded targets in southern Gaza the day after a truce with Hamas collapsed. Gazan health authorities said that Israeli attacks had killed more than 15,000 people since Oct. 7.
• Israeli calls to evacuate parts of southern Gaza could be a precursor to an invasion there.
• Gazans under new bombardments say they have few options.
• Israel-Hamas talks broke down over the terms of exchanging more prisoners and hostages.
• Concern grows for the oldest people still held hostage.
• Here is a breakdown of the 240 Palestinians Israel released during the pause in fighting.

New York Times, Israel Resumes Strikes on Gaza After Truce Expires, Patrick Kingsley, Victoria Kim, Michael Crowley and Ben Hubbard, Dec. 2, 2023 (print ed.). Israel and Hamas blamed each other for the collapse of a weeklong cease-fire that had allowed for the exchange of hostages and detainees.

A weeklong cease-fire in the Gaza Strip collapsed on Friday morning, with both Israel and Hamas blaming the other for the breakdown of the fragile truce that had allowed for the exchange of scores of hostages and prisoners, and had briefly raised hopes for a more lasting halt to the fighting.

Hostilities resumed almost immediately: Shortly before the truce expired at 7 a.m. local time (midnight Eastern), Israel said it had intercepted a projectile fired from Gaza. Moments after the deadline passed, Israel announced that it was restarting military operations, and Israeli airstrikes soon thundered again across the battered coastal strip.

International mediators said talks were continuing in the hopes of quickly reviving the truce, although Israeli officials expressed determination to carry on with their campaign to eradicate Hamas, the armed group that controls most of Gaza.

New York Times, Hostages Freed From Gaza Recount Violence, Hunger and Fear, Katherine Rosman, Emma Bubola, Rachel Abrams and Russell Goldman, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). Hostages who have returned to Israel in the past week have come home malnourished, ill, injured and bearing psychological wounds, their families said.

Some of the hostages were held in sweltering tunnels deep beneath Gaza, while others were squeezed into tight quarters with strangers or confined in isolation. There were children forced to appear in hostage videos, and others forced to watch gruesome footage of Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attack. They bore physical and psychological wounds.

As some hostages captured that day in the Hamas-led assault on southern Israel have been released, they have relayed these and other stories of their captivity to family members. While their individual experiences differ in some details, their accounts share features that corroborate one another and suggest that Hamas and its allies planned to take hostages.

The New York Times interviewed the family members of 10 freed hostages, who spoke on behalf of their relatives to relay sensitive information.

New York Times, Israel Knew Hamas’s Attack Plan More Than a Year Ago, Ronen Bergman and Adam Goldman, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). A blueprint reviewed by The Times laid out the attack in detail. Israeli officials dismissed it as aspirational and ignored specific warnings.

Israeli officials obtained Hamas’s battle plan for the Oct. 7 terrorist attack more than a year before it happened, documents, emails and interviews show. But Israeli military and intelligence officials dismissed the plan as aspirational, considering it too difficult for Hamas to carry out.

The approximately 40-page document, which the Israeli authorities code-named “Jericho Wall,” outlined, point by point, exactly the kind of devastating invasion that led to the deaths of about 1,200 people.

The translated document, which was reviewed by The New York Times, did not set a date for the attack, but described a methodical assault designed to overwhelm the fortifications around the Gaza Strip, take over Israeli cities and storm key military bases, including a division headquarters.

Hamas followed the blueprint with shocking precision.

New York Times, Opinion: Understanding the True Nature of the Hamas-Israel War, Thomas L. Friedman, right, Nov. 29, 2023 (print ed.). The reason the Hamas-Israel war can be hard for outsiders to understand is that three wars are going on at the same time: a war between Israeli Jews and the Palestinians exacerbated by a terrorist group, a war within Israeli and Palestinian societies over the future, and a war between Iran and its proxies and America and its allies.

But before we dig into those wars, here’s the most important thing to keep in mind about them: There’s a single formula that can maximize the chances that the forces of decency can prevail in all three. It is the formula that I think President Biden is pushing, even if he can’t spell it all out publicly now — and we should all push it with him: You should want Hamas defeated; as many Gazan civilians as possible spared; Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and his extremist allies booted; all the hostages returned; Iran deterred; and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank reinvigorated in partnership with moderate Arab states.

Pay particular attention to that last point: a revamped Palestinian Authority is the keystone for the forces of moderation, coexistence and decency triumphing in all three wars. It is the keystone for reviving a two-state solution. It is the keystone for creating a stable foundation for the normalization of relations between Israel, Saudi Arabia and the wider Arab-Muslim world. And it is the keystone for creating an alliance between Israel, moderate Arabs, the United States and NATO that can weaken Iran and its proxies Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis — all of whom are up to no good.

Relevant Recent Headlines

Gaza civilians, under Israel’s bombardment, are being killed at a historic pace

New York Times, Gaza civilians, under Israel’s bombardment, are being killed at a historic pace, Lauren Leatherby, Nov. 26, 2023 (print ed.). In less than two months, more than twice as many women and children have been reported killed in Gaza than in Ukraine after two years of war.

• New York Times, Mothers in Israel know their sons could get called up to fight. But they weren’t expecting this war
• New York Times, Ireland’s support for Palestinians has deep roots, in a country with its own history of a seemingly intractable conflict
• New York Times, Israel Launches Strikes and Orders Evacuations in Southern Gaza

More On Trump Battles, Crimes, Claims, Allies

Politico, New York court reinstates Trump’s gag orders in civil fraud case, Erica Orden, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). The gag orders bar Trump and his lawyers from disparaging court staff. A New York state appeals court on Thursday reinstated the gag orders issued by the judge overseeing Donald Trump’s $250 million civil fraud trial, lifting a pause on the orders that was put into effect earlier this month by one of the court’s judges.

In its two-page order, the appeals court didn’t explain its decision for reinstating the gag orders, which bar Trump and his lawyers from commenting on staff working for the trial judge, Justice Arthur Engoron.

The gag orders have been a central focus of the two-month trial, often eclipsing even the testimony. The initial gag order came just days into the trial, after Trump posted a disparaging social media message about the judge’s law clerk, Allison Greenfield, who sits alongside the judge on the bench. Engoron found that Trump subsequently violated the gag order twice, issuing him two fines totaling $15,000.

Washington Post, U.S. judge rejects Trump immunity claim in Jan. 6 criminal prosecution, Spencer S. Hsu and Rachel Weiner, Dec. 2, 2023 (print ed.).  A federal judge on Friday rejected Donald Trump’s claim of “absolute immunity” from criminal prosecution for actions taken while he was president, setting a clock ticking on whether the Supreme Court will agree to allow him to face trial in Washington before the 2024 election.

U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, right, denied Trump’s request to toss out his four-count August indictment on charges of conspiring to defraud the federal government’s election process, to obstruct Congress’s certification of the vote on Jan. 6, 2021, and to disenfranchise American voters.

“Whatever immunities a sitting President may enjoy, the United States has only one Chief Executive at a time, and that position does not confer a lifelong ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ pass,” she wrote in the 48-page opinion. Trump “may be subject to federal investigation, indictment, prosecution, conviction, and punishment for any criminal acts undertaken while in office.”

Chutkan said no court or any other branch of government has ever accepted Trump’s contention that former presidents enjoy “absolute immunity from criminal prosecution.” Nor, she said, was there any basis for Trump’s argument that he could not be prosecuted for a crime unless he had been impeached and convicted for those actions while in office. It defied the Constitution’s “plain meaning, original understanding, and common sense,” she wrote.

Attorneys for Trump are expected to appeal immediately to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, potentially delaying Trump’s scheduled March 4 trial.

The decision by the judge, a 2014 appointee of President Barack Obama, was a defeat for Trump, whose defense has said it would raise similar immunity claims in four criminal prosecutions charged this year in which he has pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing.

Fani Willis, left, is the district attorney for Atlanta-based Fulton County in Georgia. Her office has been probing since 2021 then-President Trump's claiming beginning in 2020 of election fraud in Georgia and elsewhere. Trump and his allies have failed to win support for their claims from Georgia's statewide election officials, who are Republican, or from courts.

Washington Post, Trump lawyer: Georgia trial would have to wait if Trump wins in 2024, Holly Bailey and Amy Gardner, Dec. 2, 2023 (print ed.). An  attorney for former president Donald Trump told an Atlanta area judge Friday that if Trump wins the 2024 presidential election, his trial on charges that he illegally conspired to try to overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia could not proceed until after he leaves the White House.

Steven Sadow, Trump’s lead counsel in the sprawling Fulton County racketeering case, objected to prosecutors requesting an August 2024 trial date. Sadow claimed that if Trump wins the Republican nomination and is required to be on trial in the weeks leading up to Election Day 2024, it would be “election interference.”

“Can you imagine the notion of the Republican nominee for president not being able to campaign for the presidency because he is in some form or fashion in a courtroom defending himself?” Sadow asked. “That would be the most effective election interference in the history of the United States, and I don’t think anyone would want to be in that position.”

Nathan Wade, a special prosecutor leading the case, strongly rejected Sadow’s claim.

“This trial does not constitute election interference. This is moving forward with the business of Fulton County,” Wade said. “I don’t think it in any way impedes defendant Trump’s ability to campaign.”

When Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee asked Sadow whether the proceedings could continue into 2025 if Trump wins the presidency — as Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis (D) has publicly suggested — Sadow argued that the trial would interfere with his client’s duties as president under the Supremacy Clause, which prohibits interfering with constitutional duties, and would have to be postponed until he is out of office.

The back and forth came as McAfee, who is overseeing the case, said it was too soon to set a trial date, pointing in part to the uncertain schedule of Trump’s other pending legal cases.

Relevant Recent Headlines

• Washington Post, Trump appointee sentenced to nearly 6 years for attacking police on Jan. 6
• Washington Post, Olympic swimmer Klete Keller avoids prison time for role in Jan. 6 riot 
• Politico, New York court reinstates Trump’s gag orders in civil fraud case
• Washington Post, Trump co-defendant in Georgia who pleaded guilty could testify in other cases
• New York Times, Lawyer Told Trump Defying Documents Subpoena Would Be a Crime
• New York Times, Trump’s Bankers Say His Exaggerated Net Worth Did Not Affect Loans

More On U.S. National Politics

New York Times, Opinion: Farewell to George Santos, the Perfect MAGA Republican, Michelle Goldberg, Dec. 3, 2023 (print ed.). Should the blessed day ever arrive when Donald Trump is sent to federal prison, only one of his acolytes has earned the right to share his cell: George Santos, who on Friday became the sixth person in history to be expelled from the House of Representatives, more than seven months after he was first charged with crimes including fraud and money laundering. (He’s pleaded not guilty.)

A clout-chasing con man obsessed with celebrity, driven into politics not by ideology but by vanity and the promise of proximity to rich marks, Santos is a pure product of Trump’s Republican Party. “At nearly every opportunity, he placed his desire for private gain above his duty to uphold the Constitution, federal law and ethical principles,” said a House Ethics Committee report about Santos released last month. He’s a true child of the MAGA movement.

That movement is multifaceted, and different politicians represent different strains: There’s the dour, conspiracy-poisoned suburban grievance of Marjorie Taylor Greene, the gun-loving rural evangelicalism of Lauren Boebert, the overt white nationalism of Paul Gosar and the frat boy sleaze of Matt Gaetz. But no one embodies Trump’s fame-obsessed sociopathic emptiness like Santos. He’s heir to Trump’s sybaritic nihilism, high-kitsch absurdity and impregnable brazenness.

Washington Post, Rep. George Santos expelled from Congress on bipartisan vote, Amy B Wang and Mariana Alfaro, Dec. 2, 2023 (print ed.). The House voted to expel the New York Republican (shown above in a file photo via the Associated Press) in response to an array of alleged crimes and ethical lapses.

The House voted Friday to expel Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) from Congress — an action the chamber had previously taken only five times in U.S. history, and not for more than 20 years — in response to an array of alleged crimes and ethical lapses that came to light after the freshman lawmaker was found to have fabricated key parts of his biography.

The resolution to expel Santos passed in a 311-114 vote, easily exceeding the required two-thirds threshold for removal, with numerous Republican lawmakers turning against Santos in what was the third effort to expel the New York congressman this year. Two Democrats voted present, and eight lawmakers did not vote.

Nearly half of House Republicans voted to oust Santos even though some GOP leaders voiced concerns about setting a precedent by expelling a lawmaker who had not been convicted of a crime.

The vote followed the release two weeks ago of a 56-page House Ethics Committee report that accused Santos, shown above in an official photo at left and in a police mug shot, of an array of misconduct, including stealing money from his campaign, deceiving donors about how contributions would be used, creating fictitious loans and engaging in fraudulent business dealings. Santos, the report alleges, spent hefty sums on personal enrichment, including visits to spas and casinos, shopping trips to high-end stores, and payments to a subscription site that contains adult content.

Moments after the expulsion vote, Santos left the chamber and headed down the Capitol steps to his car, trailed by dozens of reporters.

“You know what? As unofficially already no longer a member of Congress, I no longer have to answer a single question from you guys,” Santos said before his car pulled away.

Santos has long denied wrongdoing and resisted calls to resign, claiming at a news conference Thursday that fellow House members were “bullying” him and that the Ethics Committee report was incomplete and “littered with hyperbole.”

New York Times, DeSantis Super PAC Suffers Another Big Staff Loss, This Time Its Chairman, Jonathan Swan, Shane Goldmacher and Maggie Haberman, Dec. 2, 2023 (print ed.). The departure of Adam Laxalt, a longtime friend of the Florida governor, is the latest shake-up inside Never Back Down as it faces questions over the group’s strategy and spending.

Mr. Laxalt, who unsuccessfully ran to become a Republican senator in Nevada in 2022, lived with Mr. DeSantis when he was training as a naval officer. He joined Never Back Down in April, soon after his own campaign ended and before Mr. DeSantis officially joined the presidential race, in a move that was widely seen as Mr. DeSantis and his wife seeking to have someone they trusted monitoring the activities of the well-funded group. He also suffered the unexpected death of his mother over the summer, a friend said.

“After nearly 26 straight months of being in a full-scale campaign, I need to return my time and attention to my family and law practice,” Mr. Laxalt wrote in a letter to the board on Nov. 26 that was reviewed by The New York Times. He said in the note that he was still committed to Mr. DeSantis’s becoming president.

The departure represents the second major departure from Never Back Down in the last two weeks. On the eve of Thanksgiving, the group’s chief executive, Chris Jankowski, resigned. In a statement put out by the group after the resignation, Mr. Jankowski said that his differences at the group went “well beyond” strategic arguments, without explaining more.

With the Iowa caucuses less than seven weeks away, people associated with the DeSantis campaign encouraged the creation of a new outside group called Fight Right to take over negative attacks on his closest competition in the nomination contest, former Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina.

Washington Post, Inmate who stabbed Derek Chauvin is charged with attempted murder, Amber Ferguson, Dec. 2, 2023 (print ed.). An inmate who stabbed former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin 22 times in federal prison last week was charged with attempted murder Friday. The prisoner told officers that he intended to kill Chauvin if they hadn’t intervened, according to the Justice Department.

John Turscak, 52, has been charged with attempted murder, assault with intent to commit murder, assault with a dangerous weapon and assault resulting in serious bodily injury in the Nov. 24 attack at Federal Correctional Institution Tucson in Arizona.

Chauvin, 47, was convicted of murder in the 2020 death of George Floyd.

Turscak and Chauvin were in the prison’s law library around 12:30 p.m., according to a criminal complaint, when Turscak allegedly stabbed Chauvin nearly two dozen times with an “improvised weapon.” Officers used pepper spray to subdue Turscak.

The complaint alleges that Turscak told FBI agents he had contemplated attacking Chauvin for about a month because of Chauvin being a “high-profile inmate.” The assault occurred on the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday, a day Turscak linked to the Black Lives Matter movement and the “Black Hand” symbol associated with the Mexican Mafia, the complaint stated.

Chauvin was seriously wounded and taken to a local hospital after the attack. No other inmates or prison staffers were injured, but the FBI was notified, the Bureau of Prisons said after the incident.

“I am sad to hear that Derek Chauvin was the target of violence,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D) said in an emailed statement after the attack. “He was duly convicted of his crimes and, like any incarcerated individual, he should be able to serve his sentence without fear of retaliation or violence.”

Attempted murder and assault with intent to commit murder each carry maximum penalties of 20 years in prison. Assault with a dangerous weapon and assault resulting in serious bodily injury each carry maximum penalties of 10 years of incarceration.

Turscak was eligible for release in June 2026, according to the Bureau of Prisons. He has been serving a 30-year prison sentence for crimes committed while he was acting as an FBI informant in the Mexican Mafia, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Chauvin was transferred to the Tucson federal prison in August 2022, the Associated Press reported. The facility is a medium-security prison. He is serving more than a 20-year federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights as well a 22½-year state sentence for second-degree murder.

Chauvin filed an appeal last month, claiming new evidence showed he was not responsible for Floyd’s death. The Supreme Court rejected his appeal for a new trial on Nov. 20, days before the stabbing.

Washington Post, DeSantis calls for resignation of embattled Florida GOP chairman, Maegan Vazquez and Lori Rozsa, Dec. 2, 2023 (print ed.). Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is calling for the resignation of Florida GOP Chairman Christian Ziegler, who is ensnared in a police inquiry involving alleged sexual battery.

“I don’t see how he can continue with that investigation ongoing given the gravity of those situations, and so I think that he should, I think he should step aside,” DeSantis, a Republican presidential candidate, told reporters Thursday night. “He’s innocent till proven guilty, but we just can’t have a party chair that is under that type of scrutiny.”
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DeSantis’s comments followed an appearance on Fox News with California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) that was billed as a debate between the two governors. DeSantis’s remarks were reported by multiple media outlets.

Police in Sarasota, Fla., are conducting an investigation involving Ziegler, according to a police incident report and a statement from his attorney.

Ziegler is the husband of Sarasota County School Board member and Moms for Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler. When asked about the investigation, Sarasota police did not confirm details.

However, they released a heavily redacted police report in response to The Washington Post’s inquiry that includes the words “rape,” “raped” and “sexually battered.” The incident, which the report indicates took place at a home in Sarasota, was reported to police in early October.

Ziegler’s attorney, Derek Byrd, said in a statement, “We acknowledge the reports that there is an investigation being conducted by the Sarasota Police Department regarding Mr. Ziegler.” He added that his client “has been fully cooperative” with police.

“We are confident that once the police investigation is concluded that no charges will be filed and Mr. Ziegler will be completely exonerated,” Byrd added.

Sarasota police confirmed Thursday that the investigation was active.

The Florida Center for Government Accountability first reported on the investigation.

When asked for comment, Christian Ziegler sent the same statement as his attorney. Bridget Ziegler did not respond to a request for comment.

The Zieglers are considered rising stars in Florida’s conservative movement, having become among the most prominent Republicans in the state. Christian Ziegler rose through the ranks of Florida’s Republican Party to become its chairman in February after serving as the party’s vice chairman and as a Sarasota County commissioner.

Both Zieglers have long-standing ties with DeSantis. They campaigned to reelect DeSantis to the governorship last year, and just last month Christian Ziegler hosted DeSantis, former president Donald Trump and several other Republican presidential candidates at Florida’s Freedom Summit.

New York Times, What’s Next for George Santos? Court Dates and, Maybe, Reality TV, Nicholas Fandos, Grace Ashford and Michael Gold, Dec. 3, 2023 (print ed.). The ousted New York Republican suggested that his future might include a memoir or a show, not to mention the looming criminal trial in federal court.

The expulsion of George Santos from the House on Friday, after a year shaped by audacious lies and outright frauds, ended his 11-month congressional tenure. But as he stormed off Capitol Hill, Mr. Santos made abundantly clear that he had no intention of returning to obscurity.

Federal authorities and a jury of his peers may yet have something to say about that. Mr. Santos, a New York Republican, is scheduled to stand trial next year on a lengthy rap sheet that includes charges he defrauded donors, lied to election officials and stole unemployment benefits.

But in American politics, even convicted criminals are often given second acts — if not in elected office, then on reality TV or the big screen.

New York Times, How a Suspected Indian Murder-for-Hire Plot on U.S. Soil Was Foiled, Nicole Hong, Dec. 3, 2023 (print ed.). After a murder in Canada, a sting operation, prompted by an explosive tip through an unexpected channel, rushed to prevent another killing.

It was a mild Sunday evening in Surrey, a city near Vancouver, British Columbia, and Hardeep Singh Nijjar was ready to drive home after spending the day at his Sikh temple. He had told a friend that he thought he was being followed, but that night, he was just eager to celebrate Father’s Day with his family.

Mr. Nijjar was heading out of the parking lot in his truck when he was ambushed. Two masked gunmen unleashed a burst of gunfire and then sped off in a getaway car. Mr. Nijjar was dead.

The murder that day in June became part of a chain of events that would ricochet around the world, with federal agents in the United States working furiously behind the scenes to untangle an international assassination plot that they believed was directed by someone inside India’s government. The geopolitical implications were huge, and the clock was ticking: The next murder being planned was for someone on U.S. soil.

That explosive tip had come into the Drug Enforcement Administration through an unexpected avenue, according to court records and interviews with people familiar with the investigation — accounts that, taken together, provide a detailed picture of how the episode unfolded.

New York Times, Investigation: Drunk and Asleep on the Job: Air Traffic Controllers Pushed to the Brink, Emily Steel and Sydney Ember, Dec. 3, 2023 (print ed.). An exhausted and demoralized work force, beset by shortages, is increasingly prone to making dangerous mistakes, a Times investigation found.

One air traffic controller went into work drunk this summer and joked about “making big money buzzed.” Another routinely smoked marijuana during breaks. A third employee threatened violence and then “aggressively pushed” a colleague who was directing airplanes.

The incidents were extreme examples, but they fit into a pattern that reveals glaring vulnerabilities in one of the most important protective layers of the nation’s vaunted aviation safety system.

In the past two years, air traffic controllers and others have submitted hundreds of complaints to a Federal Aviation Administration hotline describing issues like dangerous staffing shortages, mental health problems and deteriorating buildings, some infested by bugs and black mold.

There were at least seven reports of controllers sleeping when they were on duty and five about employees working while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The New York Times obtained summaries of the complaints through an open-records request.

New York Times, Desperate Families Search for Affordable Home Care, Reed Abelson, Photographs by Desiree Rios, Dec. 3, 2023 (print ed.). Facing a severe shortage of aides and high costs, people trying to keep aging loved ones at home often cobble together a patchwork of helpers.

This article is part of the Dying Broke series examining how the immense financial costs of long-term care drain older Americans and their families.

Frank Lee’s search for trustworthy home health aides — an experience that millions of American families face — has often been exhausting and infuriating, but he has persisted. He didn’t entirely trust the care his wife would get in an assisted-living facility. Last August, when a respite program paid for her brief stay in one so Mr. Lee, 69, could take a trip to the mountains, she fell and fractured her sacrum, the bone that connects the spine to the pelvis.

New York Times, Unusual Names Can Complicate Life in Japan. Now Parents Are Being Reined In, Hikari Hida, Dec. 3, 2023 (print ed.). As such names have increased, so has attention to cases of people unhappy with them. But critics say new rules may infringe on the right to be creative. A growing number of Japanese parents are choosing these unconventional names, often in hopes of making their children stand out in a country where pressure to conform is strong.

Mr. Matsumoto’s parents were driven by that same desire for uniqueness, but to him, his name was a shackle. This spring, he went to family court and had it changed to a common one, Yuuki, written in a way anyone could read. “I felt like I had finally been freed,” he said.

Japan is far from the only country where unusual names are on the rise. But Japanese children with unconventional names face societal and practical challenges unique to their country and its written language. Citing those difficulties, the government is now moving to rein in the practice, while insisting it is not closing off space for parents to be creative.

New York Times, World Food Program Staff Confronts Cindy McCain Over Gaza Crisis, Farnaz Fassihi, Dec. 2, 2023 (print ed.). Staff members accused Ms. McCain, the W.F.P.’s leader, of not leveraging her position to speak out against the suffering of Palestinian civilians, and some have called for her removal.

As the truce in the Israel-Hamas war was ending on Thursday, Cindy McCain, the executive director of the United Nations’ World Food Program, met virtually with her staff to address an internal uproar over accusations that she was not leveraging her position to speak out against the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

Many of the global staff members who gathered were angered by her refusal to publicly call for a cease-fire, and there was a growing demand for her removal. In a video of the meeting shared with The New York Times, several employees read statements sharply criticizing Ms. McCain for being tone-deaf to staff concerns.

“You were not here for us — with all due respect, you have failed us,” a woman speaking from Gaza on behalf of Palestinian staff members not present at the meeting says in the video. “The W.F.P.’s response has been and continues to be insufficient in the face of the magnitude of need, and as the esteemed leader of the United Nations food agency, what will you do to rebuild the trust that you broke among your staff?”

Staff members also accused Ms. McCain of compromising the neutrality of the organization by attending an international security forum on Nov. 18 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. There, she was introduced in her official U.N. capacity and sat next to Ehud Barak, the former prime minister of Israel. An annual prize in public service named after her late husband, Senator John McCain, was awarded to the “People of Israel.”

New York Times, Opinion: Donald Trump Still Wants to Kill Obamacare. Why? Paul Krugman, right, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). Donald Trump hasn’t talked much about policy in this election cycle, except for vague assertions that he’ll somehow bring back low unemployment and low inflation — which, by the way, has already happened. (Unemployment has been at or below 4 percent for almost two years. Thursday’s report on consumer spending showed the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of underlying inflation getting close to its 2 percent target.)

Most of his energy seems to be devoted to the prospect of wreaking revenge on his political opponents, whom he promises to “root out” like “vermin.”

Nonetheless, over the past few days, Trump has declared that if he returns to the White House, he’ll once again seek to do away with the Affordable Care Act, the reform that has produced a significant decline in the number of Americans without health insurance.

Why this renewed assault? “Obamacare Sucks!!!” declared the former and possibly future president. For those offended by the language, these are Trump’s own words, and I think I owe it to my readers to report what he actually said, not sanitize it. Trump also promised to provide “MUCH BETTER HEALTHCARE” without offering any specifics.

So let’s discuss substance here. Does Obamacare, in fact, suck? And can we believe Trump’s promise to offer something much better?

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, left, a Republican, and Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, a Democrat, had feuded openly for months leading up to the debate (Photos via Fox News).

New York Times, 5 Takeaways From the DeSantis-Newsom Debate, Jonathan Weisman, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). Ron DeSantis showed a feistier side, using a friendly moderator to go on offense. Gavin Newsom defended California and President Biden, and jabbed right back.

For an hour and a half on Thursday night, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and Gov. Gavin Newsom of California shouted at and interrupted each other, trying to leave an impression on Fox News viewers beyond the din of their slugfest.

The debate in Alpharetta, Ga., was a chance for Mr. DeSantis to hold the spotlight without other candidates for the Republican presidential nomination on the stage. It was a chance for Mr. Newsom to bring his smooth persona and quick wit to a national — and conservative — audience.

Here are five takeaways.

It was DeSantis and Hannity vs. Newsom and Biden. The debate’s moderator, Sean Hannity, wanted the night to be a showdown between the liberal governor of the most populous state in the nation and the conservative governor of the third most populous state over starkly different views of governance.

From the beginning, Mr. Hannity pressed Mr. Newsom on his state’s high tax rates, its loss of residents over the past two years and its relatively higher crime rate. And Mr. DeSantis backed up the moderator in his challenges to how California is run.

It was an odd, mismatched conversation, since Mr. Newsom, who is not running for president, tried hard to focus on the 2024 campaign in which Mr. DeSantis is currently running. Mr. Newsom talked up President Biden’s record on the economy, health care and immigration and took swipes at Mr. DeSantis’s flagging campaign in the face of former President Donald J. Trump’s dominance

Politico, The 543-word editorial that may have just upended the presidential campaign, Meridith McGraw and Adam Cancryn, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). The post by Trump calling for Obamacare’s replacement has lit a fire under Biden’s slow burn campaign.

Republicans thought they were done with their Obamacare nightmare. Then Donald Trump read a Wall Street Journal op-ed.

It was an item by the paper’s editorial board that piqued the former president’s frustration — one focused on health care industry consolidation but touching enough on the Affordable Care Act to reignite grievances about failing to repeal the law. And so, he fired off a post on Truth Social saying he was “seriously looking at alternatives” and that 2017’s failed repeal and replace effort was “a low point for the Republican Party.”

In a click of a button, a long-dormant campaign fault line was reopened.

The post lit a fire under President Joe Biden’s slow burn campaign. Significant campaign resources were quickly mobilized in response. Groups began preparing new ads calling for Obamacare’s protection. GOP lawmakers on the Hill had to take cover from inquisitive reporters asking if they backed Trump’s call. Advocacy organizations dusted off old playbooks.

Yahoo News via AOL.com, Rosalynn Carter funeral: Jimmy Carter and all 5 living first ladies attend service, Dylan Stableford, Nov. 28, 2023. Former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and all five living current and former first ladies — Jill Biden, Melania Trump, Michelle Obama, Laura Bush and Hillary Clinton — gathered at a memorial on Tuesday for former first lady Rosalynn Carter in Atlanta.

New York Times, They Fled Climate Chaos. Asylum Law Made Decades Ago Might Not Help, Miriam Jordan, Nov. 28, 2023. The legal system for refugees at the U.S. border never envisioned the millions displaced by global warming. But some are testing a climate-based argument.

First came the hurricanes — two storms, two weeks apart in 2020 — that devastated Honduras and left the country’s most vulnerable in dire need. In distant villages inhabited by Indigenous people known as the Miskito, homes were leveled and growing fields were ravaged.

Then came the drug cartels, who stepped into the vacuum left by the Honduran government, ill-equipped to respond to the catastrophe. Violence soon followed.

“Everything changed after the hurricanes, and we need protection,” Cosmi, a 36-year-old father of two, said, adding that his uncle was killed after being ordered to abandon the family plot.

Politico, Why Senate Dems are prepared to swallow a border policy compromise, Jennifer Haberkorn and Burgess Everett, Nov. 30, 2023 (print ed.). In addition to helping embattled US allies, Senate Dems believe changes could help cool border politics in battleground states ahead of 2024.

A growing number of Senate Democrats appear open to making it harder for migrants to seek asylum in order to secure Republican support for aiding Ukraine and Israel.

They are motivated not just by concern for America’s embattled allies. They also believe changes are needed to help a migration crisis that is growing more dire and to potentially dull the political sting of border politics in battleground states before the 2024 elections.

Politico, House GOP appears to have the votes to expel Santos, Olivia Beavers and Jordain Carney, Nov. 29, 2023. An internal POLITICO whip count found nearly 90 House Republicans say they plan or are likely to support voting to boot the New York Republican. That means it’s a near-certainty the indicted lawmaker will be out this week.

If all Democrats vote to boot him, as expected, then lawmakers will reach the two-thirds vote threshold required to remove the New York Republican from the House.

Washington Post, Hunter Biden willing to testify publicly, lawyer says amid House GOP efforts to discredit him, Matt Viser, Nov. 28, 2023. Escalation of battle with House GOP comes in response to a subpoena for a closed-door session.

Hunter Biden, shown above right with his father in a file photo, is willing to testify in a public hearing before the House Oversight Committee, a lawyer for the president’s son said Tuesday.Abbe Lowell, a lawyer representing Hunter Biden, disclosed the offer in a letter in response to a subpoena this month that is seeking a deposition, which would take place behind closed doors. It is a striking escalation in the battle between the president’s son and congressional Republicans, who have focused on his past business dealings and have launched impeachment hearings aimed at President Biden.
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Lowell’s three-page letter cited past comments from Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the chairman of the committee, that essentially dared Hunter Biden to come and testify in public.

“Mr. Chairman, we take you up on your offer,” Lowell wrote, in a copy of the letter reviewed by The Washington Post. “Accordingly, our client will get right to it by agreeing to answer any pertinent and relevant question you or your colleagues might have, but — rather than subscribing to your cloaked, one-sided process — he will appear at a public Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing.”

“A public proceeding would prevent selective leaks, manipulated transcripts, doctored exhibits, or one-sided press statements,” Lowell added.

In a statement later Tuesday morning, Comer indicated that he would not comply with Biden’s request that the deposition be done in public.

“Hunter Biden is trying to play by his own rules instead of following the rules required of everyone else,” he said. “That won’t stand with House Republicans.”

The committee expects Hunter Biden to appear for a closed-door deposition on Dec. 13, Comer said, adding that “Hunter Biden should have opportunity to testify in a public setting at a future date.”

Relevant Recent Headlines

• New York Times, Opinion: Donald Trump Still Wants to Kill Obamacare. Why? Paul Krugman
• New York Times, Why a Major Primary Challenge to Joe Biden Is So Unlikely
• Politico, Florida Democrats plan to cancel presidential primary, enraging Dean Phillips’ campaign
• New York Times, Analysis: Has No Labels Become a Stalking Horse for Trump? Thomas B. Edsall
• New York Times, For Haley, Rise in Polls Feeds Voter Enthusiasm on Trail

U.S. Military, Security, Intelligence, Foreign Policy, JFK Death

China's President Xi Jinping, right, listens to former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger,during a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 17, 2015. The death Wednesday of Mr. Kissinger — a centenarian, former secretary of state and figurehead of American power on the world stage — has sparked a wave of reaction across the globe to his polarizing legacy. (Jason Lee/Pool Photo via AP)

New York Times, Henry Kissinger (1923-2023): A Player on the World Stage Until the Very End, Peter Baker, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). He traveled the globe when contemporaries had died or retired. Capitals around the world were still open to him, and he remained the toast of Davos.

When China’s leaders wanted to send a message to the Biden administration last summer, they did what came naturally. They called Henry A. Kissinger.

Mr. Kissinger was 100 years old by then and had left the government 46 years earlier. But for as long as anyone could remember, the Chinese had venerated him as the secretary of state who forged the landmark diplomatic opening to Beijing. They had used him as a channel to Washington ever since.

Knowing him as they did, the Chinese played to his sense of self regard during his visit in July. They feted and flattered him. They put him up in the same guest quarters he had occupied during his historic visits in the 1970s. They hosted meetings in the same building where he had met their predecessors. And President Xi Jinping told Mr. Kissinger that his initial visits had led to 50 years of mostly stable relations and that he hoped this trip would usher in another 50 years.

That last part was the point. After months of friction over a spy balloon and other provocative actions, Mr. Xi was trying to make clear to President Biden’s administration that he wanted to put the tension behind them and repair ties with the United States. Mr. Kissinger returned home and dutifully filled in Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken by phone; met with William J. Burns, the C.I.A. director; and passed along his impressions to Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser.

New York Times, Henry Kissinger, Who Shaped U.S. Cold War History, Is Dead at 100, David E. Sanger, Nov. 30, 2023 (print ed.). The most powerful secretary of state of the postwar era, he was both celebrated and reviled. His legacy still resonates in U.S. international relations.

Henry A. Kissinger, right, the scholar-turned-diplomat who engineered the United States’ opening to China, negotiated its exit from Vietnam, and used cunning, ambition and intellect to remake American power relationships with the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War, sometimes trampling on democratic values to do so, died on Wednesday at his home in Kent, Conn. He was 100.

His death was announced in a statement by his consulting firm.

Few diplomats have been both celebrated and reviled with such passion as Mr. Kissinger. Considered the most powerful secretary of state in the post-World War II era, he was by turns hailed as an ultrarealist who reshaped diplomacy to reflect American interests and denounced as having abandoned American values, particularly in the arena of human rights, if he thought it served the nation’s purposes.

He advised 12 presidents — more than a quarter of those who have held the office — from John F. Kennedy to Joseph R. Biden Jr. With a scholar’s understanding of diplomatic history, a German-Jewish refugee’s drive to succeed in his adopted land, a deep well of insecurity and a lifelong Bavarian accent that sometimes added an indecipherable element to his pronouncements, he transformed almost every global relationship he touched.

New York Times, In a reflection of Henry Kissinger’s complicated legacy, his death elicited sharply divergent opinions, Michael D. Shear, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). The death of former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger on Wednesday, at the age of 100, prompted a surge of reaction, with historians and friends hailing his diplomatic achievements, and critics assailing his foreign policy actions in Vietnam and elsewhere around the globe as murderous.

The daughters of former President Richard M. Nixon called Mr. Kissinger “one of America’s most skilled diplomats” in a statement, adding that he had worked with their father in “a partnership that produced a generation of peace for our nation.”

Mr. Kissinger was Mr. Nixon’s chief diplomat at a time of deep division and strife in the United States over the war in Vietnam. His long career inspired decades of debate about the morality of his actions.

But critics of the former secretary of state also flooded X. Many accused Mr. Kissinger, who was also the national security adviser to Mr. Nixon and his successor, Gerald R. Ford, of advocating a foreign policy that led to death and war across the globe. More than a few posts expressed pleasure at his passing.

New York Times, Guest Essay: Henry Kissinger, the Hypocrite, Nov. 30, 2023. Ben Rhodes (right, a former deputy national security adviser and author of “After the Fall: The Rise of Authoritarianism in the World We’ve Made”), Henry Kissinger, who died on Wednesday, exemplified the gap between the story that America, the superpower, tells and the way that we can act in the world.

At turns opportunistic and reactive, his was a foreign policy enamored with the exercise of power and drained of concern for the human beings left in its wake. Precisely because his America was not the airbrushed version of a city on a hill, he never felt irrelevant: Ideas go in and out of style, but power does not.

From 1969 to 1977, Mr. Kissinger established himself as one of the most powerful functionaries in history. For a portion of that time, he was the only person ever to serve concurrently as national security adviser and secretary of state, two very different jobs that simultaneously made him responsible for shaping and carrying out American foreign policy. If his German Jewish origins and accented English set him apart, the ease with which he wielded power made him a natural avatar for an American national security state that grew and gained momentum through the 20th century, like an organism that survives by enlarging itself.

Thirty years after Mr. Kissinger retired into the comforts of the private sector, I served in a bigger post-Cold War, post-Sept. 11 national security apparatus. As a deputy national security adviser with responsibilities that included speech writing and communications, I often focused more on the story America told than the actions we took.

Axios Sneak Peek, White House treads careful line on Kissinger, Hans Nichols, Nov. 30-Dec. 1, 2023. White House treads careful line on Kissinger. The death of former Secretary State Henry Kissinger — arguably America's most famous and divisive diplomat — has triggered an outpouring of remembrance, respect and revulsion from current and former U.S. officials.

State of play: Nearly 24 hours after news of Kissinger's death broke, President Biden put out a statement this evening praising Kissinger's "fierce intellect" but noting that "we often disagreed. And often strongly."

• Biden said he'd never forget receiving his first briefing from Kissinger as a young senator. Some members of Biden's administration, including Secretary of State Tony Blinken, continued to seek out Kissinger's counsel.

• But Kissinger told the New York Post last year that Biden was the only president — dating back to his time as Richard Nixon's national security adviser — who had not invited him to the White House.

Associated Press, U.S. authorities charge a man from India with a plot to kill a Sikh separatist leader in New York City, Ashok Sharma and Larry Neumeister, Nov. 29-30, 2023. U.S. authorities announced murder-for-hire charges Wednesday against a man from India who they say plotted to pay an assassin $100,000 to kill a prominent Sikh separatist leader living in New York City after the man advocated for the establishment of a sovereign state for Sikhs.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams announced the charges against Nikhil Gupta, 52, an Indian national who had lived in India, as an indictment was unsealed in Manhattan federal court.

“As alleged, the defendant conspired from India to assassinate, right here in New York City, a U.S. citizen of Indian origin who has publicly advocated for the establishment of a sovereign state for Sikhs, an ethnoreligious minority group in India,” he said in a release.

According to the release, Czech authorities arrested and detained Gupta on June 30 in Czechoslovakia through a bilateral extradition treaty between the U.S. and the Czech Republic. It was not immediately clear when he might be brought to the United States.

New York Times, A Foiled Plot’s Burning Question: Why Would India Take the Risk? Mujib Mashal and Hari Kumar, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.).  After an indictment accused an Indian official of ordering an assassination on U.S. soil, diplomats and experts debate how far up the chain the scheme went.

In page after page of fly-on-the-wall detail, the indictment unsealed in New York this week describes a chilling plot: A criminal operative, on orders from a government official in India, tried to arrange the killing of a Sikh American on U.S. soil.

As the scheme unfolded, court documents said, it grew only more brazen. When a prominent Sikh was gunned down in Canada in June in what prosecutors call a related assassination, the operative was told to speed up in New York, not slow down, the indictment says. And he was ordered to proceed even as India’s prime minister was on a red-carpet visit to Washington.

The plot was eventually foiled, the indictment says. But its damning narration leaves open a burning question: Why would the Indian government take such a gamble?

The Sikh secessionist movement targeted in the plot is a shadow of what it once was and poses no more than a minor threat to India’s national security, even if Indian officials see a new generation of Sikhs in the diaspora as more radicalized proponents of the cause. Pursuing a vocal American activist in the movement would seem a risk to the momentum in U.S.-India relations as New Delhi expands its trade and defense ties with Washington in unprecedented ways.

The United States’ intense courtship of India as a counter to China may give the Indian government the sense that there is little it could do to rupture ties. But many diplomats, former officials and analysts in New Delhi are looking at two other possible explanations for the plot: that it was either sanctioned from the top with an eye on India’s domestic political calendar, or was the work of a rogue government element seeking to fulfill the desire of political bosses. 

New York Times, U.S. Navy Rescues Ship From Pirate Attack in Gulf of Aden, Julian E. Barnes, Nov. 28, 2023 (print ed.). The United States is investigating whether Iran was involved in the incident. Hours after the attack, two missiles were fired at the Navy ship involved in the rescue.

The U.S. Navy intervened to stop the hijacking of a commercial cargo ship by pirates in the Gulf of Aden near Somalia on Sunday, after which two ballistic missiles were fired from Yemen toward the Navy destroyer that responded to the incident, the U.S. military said.

The ballistic missiles were fired from the part of Yemen controlled by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, according to a statement released by U.S. Central Command, which oversees American military operations in the region. If the missiles were meant to hit the U.S.S. Mason, a Navy destroyer, they fell well short of the mark: They landed in the Gulf of Aden 10 nautical miles from the American ship.

The U.S.S. Mason, and other ships from the U.S.-led counter-piracy task force that operates off the coast of Somalia, responded after the crew of the commercial ship, the Central Park, called for help. The Central Park crew reported they were under attack from an unknown entity, U.S. Central Command said.

When the coalition vessels arrived at the Central Park, they demanded the release of the ship. Five armed people fled from the ship and attempted to flee in the small boat they had used to attack the cargo ship. The U.S.S. Mason pursued the attackers and forced them to surrender, the news release said. Fox News reported the rescue earlier.

Later, at about 1:41 a.m. local time on Monday, more than 16 hours after the initial attack, two ballistic missiles were fired toward the U.S.S. Mason, which was “concluding its response” to the attack at the time.

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U.S. 2024 Presidential Race

New York Times, Why a Major Primary Challenge to Joe Biden Is So Unlikely, Maggie Astor, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). It’s really hard to run against a sitting president. And beginning at this point, just two months before primary voting starts, wouldn’t be feasible anyhow.

The Democratic anxiety that has swirled around President Biden for over a year has kicked into overdrive in recent weeks, as his approval ratings have stayed stubbornly low and polls have shown the possibility of his losing to former President Donald J. Trump.

That anxiety has crystallized into one question, repeated like a drumbeat: Can’t some big-name Democrat challenge him? Someone more prominent than Marianne Williamson or Dean Phillips?

The answer: In theory, sure. In practice, the prospects are remote.

There are several reasons for that, most of which boil down to it being really hard to run a successful primary campaign against a sitting president. And doing so at this point, just two months before voting starts, wouldn’t be feasible anyhow.

Making things still more difficult for a would-be challenger is that Mr. Biden remains relatively popular among Democratic voters. According to a recent New York Times/Siena College poll, 79 percent of party voters in six battleground states somewhat or strongly approve of his performance, which doesn’t leave a lot of room for another Democrat.

“Logistically, it’s impossible,” said Tim Hogan, a Democratic strategist who has worked for Hillary Clinton and Amy Klobuchar. “Politically, it’s a suicide mission.”

To appear on each state’s primary ballot, candidates must submit paperwork along with, in many cases, a hefty filing fee and hundreds or even thousands of voter signatures.

Politico, Florida Democrats plan to cancel presidential primary, enraging Dean Phillips’ campaign, Holly Otterbein and Gary Fineout, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). The representative, shown above, says the state party has deliberately moved to keep him off the ballot. Florida Dems say he is acting “unbecoming.”

Florida appears poised to hold no presidential primary election for Democrats this cycle after the state party submitted only President Joe Biden’s name as a candidate up for the nomination.

The move to leave Rep. Dean Phillips off the primary ballot left the Minnesota Democrat enraged on Thursday. In a statement first provided to Politico, Phillips, who has launched a longshot primary bid against Biden, accused Florida Democratic Party officials of rigging the primary. He threatened a lawsuit and a convention fight if he didn’t win ballot access in the state.

“Americans would expect the absence of democracy in Tehran, not Tallahassee,” said Phillips. “The intentional disenfranchisement of voters runs counter to everything for which our Democratic Party and country stand. Our mission as Democrats is to defeat authoritarians, not become them.”

The Phillips campaign’s complaint is rooted in the process by which candidates can get on the ballot in Florida. Under state law, it is left up to the parties to decide who makes the primary ballot. The deadline for parties to submit a list of approved candidates to state election officials is Thursday.

But Florida Democrats acted before then, sending a notice on Nov. 1 to the state that had Biden as the only primary candidate. Phillips had entered the race a few days earlier, and self-help guru Marianne Williamson had been campaigning for months by then. Under state law, if a party only signs off on one candidate for the primary ballot, the contest is not held.

In addition to considering a lawsuit against the Florida Democratic Party, Phillips’ campaign said that it is planning to take its fight to the Democratic National Committee.

A DNC spokesperson said the committee offered to provide guidance to the Phillips campaign on state party processes weeks ago, but that the campaign did not take up the offer, and continues to be available to him and other Democratic candidates.

Phillips’ approach of attacking the primary process is reminiscent of the tactic adopted by insurgent presidential candidates in the past, most notably Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

New York Times, Ron DeSantis and Gavin Newsom are debating on Thursday night. Here’s what to watch for, Jonathan Weisman and Nicholas Nehamas, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). The stakes are high for the governor of Florida as his polling sags fewer than seven weeks out from the Iowa caucuses.

Call it the “Debate Me Please” showdown.

Ron DeSantis of Florida, 45, and Gavin Newsom of California, 56, two relatively youthful governors adept at seeking — and finding — the spotlight, will square off at 9 p.m. Eastern on Thursday in a nationally televised debate in Alpharetta, Ga., in suburban Atlanta. Both pleaded for this matchup, and now they have it.

Each has an agenda, both near-term and further out, as well as political challenges that they hope to address during their 90-minute encounter. Mr. DeSantis, the Republican, needs to lift his campaign for president a week ahead of the fourth Republican primary debate and under seven weeks before the Iowa caucuses. Mr. Newsom, the Democrat, needs to lift the fortunes of his president, Joseph R. Biden Jr., and prove in the short run that he is a team player, and in the medium term that his appeal can reach beyond the liberal enclaves of the West Coast.

New York Times, Has No Labels Become a Stalking Horse for Trump? Thomas B. Edsall, right, Nov. 30, 2023 (print ed.). No Labels, a Washington-based organization run by political and corporate insiders, finds itself in an awkward situation.

After its founding in 2010, the group was praised by moderates in both parties as a force for cooperation and consensus. Now however, No Labels is the target of criticism because of its plan to place a presidential and vice-presidential nominee of its own choosing on the 2024 ballot — a step that could tip the outcome in favor of Donald Trump, if he once again wins the Republican nomination.

No Labels officials contend that their polling suggests that their ticket could win.Numerous factors exacerbate the suspicion that whatever its intentions are (or were), the organization has functionally become an asset to the Trump campaign and a threat to the re-election of Joe Biden.

Leaks to the media that prominent Republican donors, including Harlan Crow, Justice Clarence Thomas’s benefactor, are contributing to No Labels — which is well on its way to raising $70 million — suggest that some major donors to No Labels see the organization as a means to promote Republican goals.

No Labels, in turn, has declined to disclose its donors and the secrecy has served to intensify the concern that some of its contributors are using the organization’s plan to run a third-party ticket to weaken the Biden campaign.

The founder and chief executive of No Labels, Nancy Jacobson, was previously a prominent Democratic fund-raiser. She is married to Mark Penn, a consultant and pollster for Bill and Hillary Clinton, from both of whom Penn eventually became alienated.

New York Times, For Haley, Rise in Polls Feeds Voter Enthusiasm on Trail, Jazmine Ulloa, Nov. 30, 2023 (print ed.). The crowds are bigger and voters are warming up to her candidacy, but Nikki Haley still faces a daunting task in taking down the front-runner, Donald Trump.

New York Times, Koch Network Endorses Nikki Haley in Bid to Push G.O.P. Past Trump, Maggie Haberman, Shane Goldmacher and Jonathan Swan, Nov. 29, 2023 (print ed.). The support will fortify Ms. Haley as she battles Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida for the No. 2 spot in the Republican presidential field.

The political network founded by the Koch brothers is endorsing Nikki Haley, right, in the Republican presidential primary race, giving her organizational muscle and financial heft as she battles Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida for second place in Iowa.

The group announced its plans in a memo on Tuesday.

The commitment by the network, Americans for Prosperity Action, bolsters Ms. Haley as the campaign enters the final seven weeks before the first nominating contest. Since the first Republican primary debate, Ms. Haley has steadily climbed in polls, and is closely competing with Mr. DeSantis for the second-place slot in Iowa. Former President Donald J. Trump remains the dominant front-runner in the race.

Ms. Haley, who has described Mr. Trump’s time as past, has gained support from donors and her candidacy has received approval from elite opinion-makers, many of whom describe her as the best alternative to Mr. Trump.

Washington Post, Analysis: DeSantis PAC snips and clips its way to falsehood in attacking Haley, Glenn Kessler, Nov. 28, 2023. “We know her as ‘crooked Hillary.’ But to Nikki Haley, she’s her role model — the reason she ran for office.”

— voice-over from an attack ad aired by Fight Right, Inc., a new super PAC supporting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), aired Nov. 21
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With former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley rising in the polls to emerge as a (distant) second-place finisher in the Republican primaries behind former president Donald Trump, allies of DeSantis have begun to attack her as a Hillary Clinton-loving liberal.

This ad — with the tagline “Nikki’s not who she says” — is the first of what the group promises will be an effort “to shed light on the failed records and leadership of Governor DeSantis’s opponents.” The ad ends by urging viewers to visit TheRealNikki.com, a website paid for by the DeSantis campaign and claiming that Haley is “supportive of every liberal cause under the sun.”

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Global Disputes, Disasters, Human Rights

New York Times, Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, has reignited a border dispute with an oil-rich neighbor, Guyana, Genevieve Glatsky, Dec. 3, 2023. Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, right, finds himself in a political bind. He is under pressure from the United States to hold free and fair elections after years of authoritarian rule or face a reinstatement of crippling economic sanctions. But analysts say he is unlikely to give up power and would most likely lose in a credible election.

Now, Mr. Maduro has reignited a border dispute with a much smaller neighboring country in a move that seems driven, at least in part, by a desire to divert attention from his political troubles at home by stoking nationalist fervor.

Mr. Maduro claims that the vast, oil-rich Essequibo region of Guyana, a country of about 800,000, is part of Venezuela, a nation of roughly 28 million people, and is holding a nonbinding referendum on Sunday asking voters whether they support the government’s position.

Mr. Maduro’s argument is based on what many Venezuelans consider an illegitimate agreement dating to the 19th century that gave the Essequibo region to Guyana.

Although most countries have accepted that Essequibo belongs to Guyana, the issue remains a point of contention for many Venezuelans, and the referendum is likely to be approved, experts said.

President Irfaan Ali of Guyana has said that “Essequibo is ours, every square inch of it,” and has pledged to defend it.

For Mr. Maduro, stoking a geopolitical crisis gives him a way to shift the domestic conversation at a moment when many Venezuelans are pressing for an election that could challenge his hold on power.

“Maduro needs to wrap himself in the flag for electoral reasons, and obviously a territorial dispute with a neighbor is the perfect excuse,” said Phil Gunson, an analyst with the International Crisis Group who lives in Venezuela’s capital, Caracas.

New York Times, Unusual Names Can Complicate Life in Japan. Now Parents Are Being Reined In, Hikari Hida, Dec. 3, 2023 (print ed.). As such names have increased, so has attention to cases of people unhappy with them. But critics say new rules may infringe on the right to be creative. A growing number of Japanese parents are choosing these unconventional names, often in hopes of making their children stand out in a country where pressure to conform is strong.

Mr. Matsumoto’s parents were driven by that same desire for uniqueness, but to him, his name was a shackle. This spring, he went to family court and had it changed to a common one, Yuuki, written in a way anyone could read. “I felt like I had finally been freed,” he said.

Japan is far from the only country where unusual names are on the rise. But Japanese children with unconventional names face societal and practical challenges unique to their country and its written language. Citing those difficulties, the government is now moving to rein in the practice, while insisting it is not closing off space for parents to be creative.

New York Times, World Food Program Staff Confronts Cindy McCain Over Gaza Crisis, Farnaz Fassihi, Dec. 2, 2023 (print ed.). Staff members accused Ms. McCain, the W.F.P.’s leader, of not leveraging her position to speak out against the suffering of Palestinian civilians, and some have called for her removal.

As the truce in the Israel-Hamas war was ending on Thursday, Cindy McCain, the executive director of the United Nations’ World Food Program, met virtually with her staff to address an internal uproar over accusations that she was not leveraging her position to speak out against the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

Many of the global staff members who gathered were angered by her refusal to publicly call for a cease-fire, and there was a growing demand for her removal. In a video of the meeting shared with The New York Times, several employees read statements sharply criticizing Ms. McCain for being tone-deaf to staff concerns.

“You were not here for us — with all due respect, you have failed us,” a woman speaking from Gaza on behalf of Palestinian staff members not present at the meeting says in the video. “The W.F.P.’s response has been and continues to be insufficient in the face of the magnitude of need, and as the esteemed leader of the United Nations food agency, what will you do to rebuild the trust that you broke among your staff?”

Staff members also accused Ms. McCain of compromising the neutrality of the organization by attending an international security forum on Nov. 18 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. There, she was introduced in her official U.N. capacity and sat next to Ehud Barak, the former prime minister of Israel. An annual prize in public service named after her late husband, Senator John McCain, was awarded to the “People of Israel.”

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U.S. Supreme Court

Future Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, right, during her years as a state legislator and campaigner in Arizona (Associated Press photo).

New York Times, Opinion: Sandra Day O’Connor Never Stopped Being a Politician, Jeffrey Toobin (former federal prosecutor andauthor of “The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court”), Dec. 3, 2023 (print ed.). Sandra Day O’Connor, who died on Friday, is forever linked to the word “first” — the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court. But especially when thinking about today’s court, the word that may describe her best is “last” — the last former politician to be a justice.

Justice O’Connor spent a little over five years as a state senator in Arizona, eventually serving as the leader of the Republican majority, and her tenure in the capitol in Phoenix is the key to understanding both her own jurisprudence and what’s missing from the Supreme Court today.

Justice O’Connor loved being a politician and, in a way, never stopped being one. Of course, she didn’t have to face the voters as a justice, but she was acutely aware of the need for the court to remain in the good graces of the public. Her judicial philosophy — which was less an overarching ideology than a case-by-case inclination toward moderation — never found much favor among law professors; she had no overarching theory of jurisprudence, like the contemporary fad for originalism. (Conducting séances with the likes of James Madison for guidance on cases was never for her.) She was a practical problem solver, and she was guided by a keen sense of the political center, where she thought the court always belonged.

New York Times, Opinion: I Clerked for Justice O’Connor. She Was My Hero, but I Worry About Her Legacy, Oona A. Hathaway (Ms. Hathaway, a professor of law and political science at Yale University, clerked for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor from 1998 to ’99), Dec. 3, 2023. When I learned that Justice Sandra Day O’Connor had died, I felt not just the loss of a world historical figure but also the loss of someone who formed a part of my identity.

As a young woman, I was in awe of Justice O’Connor. Her presence on the Supreme Court offered an answer to any doubts I had that I belonged in the law. As a young lawyer, I was lucky enough to work for a year as her law clerk.

While clerking for her, I came to understand and appreciate not only her place in history but also her vision of the law. She refused opportunities to issue sweeping opinions that would substitute her ideals for the democratic process. This made it all the more tragic that toward the end of her career, she joined in a decision — Bush v. Gore — that represented a rejection of her cautious approach in favor of a starkly political one.

For me, she stands as a shining example of how women — everyone, really — can approach life and work. I witnessed her warmth, humor and humanity while experiencing the gift of learning and seeing the law through her eyes. Those personal and legal impressions have left an enduring mark on me as a person and as a lawyer.

At the time Justice O’Connor became a lawyer, women in that role were rare. As has now become familiar lore, after she graduated near the top of her class from Stanford Law School in 1952, she was unable to find work as a lawyer. As a justice, she made sure that opportunities denied to her were available to others. Shortly after I graduated from law school, I joined two other women and one man in her chambers, making a rare majority-woman chamber when just over a third of the clerks for Supreme Court justices were women.

I always found it remarkable that I never heard Justice O’Connor talk with any bitterness of the barriers she faced pursuing her career. Instead, she worked hard and without drama to overcome them. Remarkably, that experience did not harden her.

She had a wicked sense of humor. The door to our clerks’ office held a photocopied image of her hand with the words “For a pat on the back, lean here.” Her face transformed in an almost girlish way when she laughed, which she did often.

When she met with the clerks on Saturday to discuss upcoming cases, she brought us a home-cooked lunch — often something inspired by her Western roots. (One memorable example was tortillas and a cheesy chicken filling, to make a kind of cross between a burrito and a chicken quesadilla. It was a bit of a mess to eat but delicious.) She insisted that we get out of the courthouse and walk with her to see the cherry blossoms, and she took us to one of her favorite museums; once we visited the National Arboretum and lingered at the bonsai exhibit. She believed firmly in the benefits of exercise, and she invited us to join daily aerobics sessions with a group of her friends early in the morning in the basketball court above the Supreme Court chamber, which she delighted in calling the “highest court in the land.”

Washington Post, Sandra Day O’Connor, pathbreaking woman on Supreme Court, dies at 93, Fred Barbash, Dec. 2, 2023 (print ed.). As the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court, O’Connor wielded the key vote in dozens of cases. The Reagan appointee advanced no overarching agenda or broad legal philosophy, which freed her to consider each case on its own and made her the pivotal justice of her era.

Sandra Day O’Connor, right, the first female U.S. Supreme Court justice, whose independence on a court that was often ideologically divided made her the pivotal vote in numerous closely contested cases and one of the most powerful women of her era, died Dec. 1 in Phoenix. She was 93.

The cause was complications from advanced dementia — probably Alzheimer’s disease — and a respiratory illness, according to an announcement by the court. Justice O’Connor had said in 2018 that she had dementia and was exiting public life.

In her nearly quarter-century as a justice, from her swearing-in on Sept. 25, 1981, after being appointed by President Ronald Reagan, to her retirement on Jan. 31, 2006, to care for her husband, who had Alzheimer’s, Justice O’Connor tried to avoid what she called “giant steps you’ll live to regret.”

She rejected the idea of eliminating the right to abortion, for example, in part because “an entire generation has come of age” relying on it. She co-wrote the principal opinion in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey (1992), setting a new standard for judging abortion cases but reaffirming the core holding of Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion nationwide in 1973.

Justice O’Connor’s successor, Samuel A. Alito Jr., would in 2022 excoriate her decision for having “enflamed debate and deepened division,” in his majority opinion overturning abortion rights.

Reagan appointed Justice O’Connor as a conservative, but she became known in her era as a centrist.

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, left, and his billionaire friend and benefactor Harlan Crow (file photos).

Politico, Senate Judiciary issues subpoenas to Leo, Crow in SCOTUS ethics probe as Republicans boycott, Katherine Tully-McManus, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). No action was taken on nearly 200 amendments from Republicans.

Senate Judiciary Republicans walked out of the committee to boycott a vote authorizing subpoenas for information from conservative activists and donors about their ties to conservative Supreme Court justices.

The panel voted 11-0 to authorize subpoenas for conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo and Texas billionaire Harlan Crow on their close personal and financial relationships with some justices, with no Republicans left in the room besides ranking member Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). Graham exited once the vote was underway and did not vote.

“They think we're gonna roll over and come back sometime later and try all over again and face the same limitations. You know, there reaches a point where there has to be a vote. They walked out on it. That's their decision,” Durbin said.

The subpoenas are part of an ongoing investigation into ethics at the Supreme Court and how undisclosed gifts and personal ties between major activists, donors and justices may have granted access to individuals and groups with business before the court.

The five most radical right Republican justices on the Supreme Court are shown above, with the sixth Republican, Chief Justice John Roberts, omitted in this photo array.

New York Times, Justices Search for Middle Ground on Mandatory Sentences for Gun Crimes, Adam Liptak, Nov. 28, 2023 (print ed.). A federal law imposes a mandatory 15-year sentence for possessing a gun after committing three serious drug offenses. But which offenses count? The Supreme Court heard arguments on Monday over which drug offenses trigger mandatory 15-year sentences under the Armed Career Criminal Act, which is a kind of federal three-strikes law.

The justices had three choices. By the end of the arguments, most of them seemed to have settled on a middle ground.

The law imposes the mandatory sentences on people convicted of unlawfully possessing firearms if they had already committed three violent felonies or serious drug offenses. The question for the justices was how to determine which drug offenses count under the law, which refers to a schedule of controlled substances overseen by the attorney general.

That schedule is revised from time to time, giving rise to the puzzle in the case.

Depending on which version of the schedule applies, a state drug conviction may or may not count as a strike under the federal gun law. Lawyers in the two consolidated cases on Monday gave the justices three options for deciding which schedule applied: the one in force when the defendant committed the state drug offense, the one in place when the defendant committed the federal gun crime or the one that applied when the defendant was sentenced for the federal gun crime.

A federal appeals court ruled that the middle choice — the schedule in place when he committed the federal gun crime — was the one that counted, affirming the 15-year mandatory sentence.

New York Times, The Supreme Court ruled that Arizona lawmakers must testify about state voting laws requiring proof of citizenship, Adam Liptak, Nov. 28, 2023 (print ed.). Two Republican lawmakers had argued that they could not be questioned about their motives for supporting the laws, which require proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections.

The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that two Arizona lawmakers must testify about their reasons for supporting state laws requiring proof of citizenship for voting in federal elections.

The court’s brief order gave no reasons, which is typical when the justices act on emergency applications. No dissents were noted.

The Justice Department, the Democratic National Committee, civil rights groups and others had challenged the state laws, saying they violated federal laws and had been enacted with a discriminatory purpose.

New York Times, The Quiet Blockbuster at the Supreme Court That Could Impact All Americans, Kate Shaw, Nov. 22, 2023. Some Supreme Court terms are characterized by a single blockbuster case. This term largely revolves around a single blockbuster question: Will our government retain the capacity to address the most pressing issues of our time?

That’s what’s at stake in a group of cases involving the power, capacity and in some instances the very existence of federal agencies, the entities responsible for carrying out so much of the work of government.

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More On U.S. Courts, Crime, Guns, Civil Rights, Immigration 

Washington Post, Charges of corruption, lying against Va. election official dropped, Justin Jouvenal, Dec. 3, 2023. Prosecutors say a key witness changed his account of what happened, according to a court filing.

Virginia’s attorney general has dropped felony charges in a high-profile criminal case accusing an election official of corruption and lying during the 2020 election after a key witness surprised prosecutors by changing his account of what happened, according to a court filing.

Michele White, the former registrar of Prince William County, is now facing only a single misdemeanor accusing her of willfully neglecting her duty. The charges were dropped less than two months before White’s trial is set to begin at the end of January.

Virginia Assistant Attorney General James R. Herring moved to drop the charges Friday, writing in the court filing that Sean Mulligan, an assistant registrar in Prince William, had offered a different story about what transpired when he was re-interviewed in the past week.

“During the interview yesterday in preparation for trial Mr. Mulligan conveniently and quite surprisingly provided a different version of events from that which he had previously provided to investigators,” Herring wrote in the Friday filing. “As a consequence, the Commonwealth is confronted with significant inconsistent statements made by a key Commonwealth’s witness.”

The filing does not detail what Mulligan was going to testify to at trial or how his account had supposedly shifted. The office of state Attorney General Jason S. Miyares (R) did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday, so it was unclear if prosecutors still intend to pursue the misdemeanor charge against White or will drop it as well.

Mulligan did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Politico, Meta files suit to kneecap the FTC, Alfred Ng and Josh Sisco, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). The tech giant argues in its suit that the agency has “structurally unconstitutional authority.”

Meta is suing the Federal Trade Commission, challenging the constitutionality of its in-house enforcement powers in a bid to stop the agency from unilaterally changing the terms of a 2020 privacy settlement.

The tech giant argued in its suit filed late Wednesday that the agency has “structurally unconstitutional authority” in how it enforces cases against companies through its in-house administrative court.

On Monday, Meta lost a bid to bar the FTC from reopening a 2020 enforcement order against the company, in which the agency accused Meta of privacy violations against children. Meta filed an appeal to that decision on Tuesday. Meta is also seeking to pause the FTC’s case while its lawsuit and appeal play out.

As part of its 2020 settlement Meta paid a $5 billion fine and agreed to make major changes to its privacy practices.

New York Times, Jan. 6 Defendant Who Opened Fire on Deputies Sentenced to Two Years, Lola Fadulu, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). Nathan Donald Pelham, of Greenville, Texas, opened fire on deputies in April days before he was scheduled to surrender to the F.B.I. for his role in the U.S. Capitol attack.

Nathan Donald Pelham, a Texas man, was sentenced on Wednesday to two years in federal prison for shooting at local law enforcement officers days before he was scheduled to surrender to the F.B.I. for charges related to illegally entering the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

On April 12, an F.B.I. special agent called Mr. Pelham to tell him that there was a federal misdemeanor warrant for his arrest and that he needed to surrender on April 17, according to the criminal complaint. Mr. Pelham agreed to do so.

But later that day, Mr. Pelham’s father asked local police to check on his son because he had been threatening to kill himself and had a gun, according to the criminal complaint. When police arrived at Mr. Pelham’s home, it was dark and police soon heard a series of gunshots from inside the home.

Washington Post, Whistleblower alleges failures in medical care at U.S. border facilities, Nick Miroff, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). A Customs and Border Protection official filed a complaint with Congress alleging his supervisors failed to adequately monitor a medical services contractor.

A senior U.S. Customs and Border Protection official Thursday filed a whistleblower complaint with Congress alleging his supervisors failed to adequately monitor the agency’s medical service contractor for staffing shortages, unsafe care and other problems before the May death of an 8-year-old girl in U.S. custody.

Attorneys for Troy Hendrickson, a 15-year CBP veteran, told lawmakers in a letter that their client was reassigned by supervisors after raising concerns about the track record of medical contractor Loyal Source Government Services. The company is a finalist for a new five-year, $1.5 billion CBP contract.

Hendrickson’s concerns about Loyal Source included what he described as 40 percent staffing deficits, employees working without proper clearances and licenses, and billing errors resulting in overpayments of millions of dollars, among other issues, according to his attorneys.

Washington Post, Liz Whitmer Gereghty drops out of competitive New York congressional race, Maegan Vazquez, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). Gereghty’s exit from the race gives a boost to Mondaire Jones, who previously represented the district.

Liz Whitmer Gereghty, a small-business founder and sister of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), announced Wednesday that she is suspending her campaign for Congress in a competitive district in New York’s Hudson Valley.

Gereghty said in a statement that she remains “committed to doing everything possible to elect Democrats across the board in 2024” and endorsed former congressman Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.) for the seat, saying that “uniting our party and focusing our resources on taking back the House is critical to fighting back against the radical extremism plaguing our politics.”

Democrats narrowly lost the seat in New York’s 17th Congressional District last year and see it as one of their best pickup opportunities in 2024.

Gereghty, who has lived in the Hudson Valley for more than 20 years, was new to congressional politics and during her campaign launch highlighted her service on the local school board.

Jones won the seat in 2020 but opted to run in a different district last year after redistricting in the state prompted then-Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) to run in the 17th District. Maloney narrowly lost to Michael Lawler (R-N.Y.).

Democratic groups see New York congressional districts like Lawler’s, which flipped for Republicans in 2022, as the key to regaining control of the House next year. They’ve invested early in the New York races — and invested more than in years past.

New York Times, Federal Law Requires a Choice: Marijuana or a Gun? Serge F. Kovaleski, Nov. 30, 2023 (print ed.). Legal challenges are pending across the country against a federal law that prevents medical marijuana users from buying or owning firearms.

There are relatively few limitations at the federal level on who is eligible to purchase or possess firearms and ammunition. The national background check system looks for issues like a criminal conviction, mental health problems, a dishonorable military discharge, unlawful immigration status or a domestic violence restraining order.

But even as a growing number of states have legalized marijuana, either for recreational or medical use, participating in a state’s medical marijuana system remains a barrier to gun ownership.

New York Times, The Chicken Tycoons vs. the Antitrust Hawks, H. Claire Brown, Nov. 30, 2023 (print ed.). As part of a campaign against anticompetitive practices, the Biden administration has taken on the chicken industry. Why have the results been so paltry?

New York Times, Wife of Gilgo Beach Suspect Gets a Documentary Deal, Corey Kilgannon, Nov. 29, 2023 (print ed.). Rex Heuermann is accused of killing three women. The commercialization of such a depraved case has rankled victims’ families.

After Rex Heuermann was arrested in July and accused of slaughtering women found bound in burlap and buried along a desolate stretch of Gilgo Beach, his family was left reeling and destitute.

With their dilapidated Massapequa Park ranch house turned inside out by investigators, Mr. Heuermann’s wife, Asa Ellerup, and their two grown children were left to sleep on mats and cook on a grill in the front yard in full view of news crews and true-crime gawkers. Things got so bad that the daughter of a West Coast serial killer created an online fund-raiser.

But where some saw evil, depravity and tragedy, media companies saw pay dirt, swooping in with lucrative bids to turn the whole thing into content.

Peacock, the streaming service owned by NBCUniversal, is paying the family to participate in a documentary series covering the family through Mr. Heuermann’s trial, which is likely to begin next year.

 New York Times, Stabbing of Derek Chauvin Raises Questions About Inmate Safety, Glenn Thrush and Serge F. Kovaleski, Nov. 27, 2023 (print ed.). The ex-officer, who was convicted of murdering George Floyd, was being held in a federal prison for high-profile inmates. He is said to be likely to survive.

The stabbing on Friday of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd in 2020, at a special unit inside a Tucson, Ariz., prison is the latest in a series of attacks against high-profile inmates in the troubled, short-staffed federal Bureau of Prisons.

The assault comes less than five months after Larry Nassar, the doctor convicted of sexually abusing young female gymnasts, was stabbed multiple times at the federal prison in Florida. It also follows the release of Justice Department reports detailing incompetence and mismanagement at federal detention centers that led to the deaths in recent years of James Bulger, the Boston gangster known as Whitey, and Jeffrey Epstein, who had been charged with sex trafficking.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed that an inmate at the Tucson prison was stabbed around 12:30 p.m. on Friday, though the bureau did not identify Mr. Chauvin, 47, by name. The agency said in a statement that the inmate required “life-saving measures” before being rushed to a hospital emergency room nearby. The office of Keith Ellison, the Minnesota attorney general who prosecuted the former police officer, identified the inmate as Mr. Chauvin.

New York Times, What Today’s Migrant Crisis Looks Like to a Holocaust Refugee, Joseph Berger, Nov. 27, 2023 (print ed.). Read a firsthand account of one of the 140,000 Jewish refugees who fled postwar Europe and arrived in New York City.

Even with New York’s complicated history as a port for new arrivals, the photographs this summer of more than a hundred migrants sleeping shoulder to shoulder on the sidewalk outside the once-elegant Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown Manhattan were shocking. So were scenes of young migrants idling on sidewalks, stoops and park benches, desperate to work but legally prohibited from doing so.

For those of us who were once part of such a moment, the scenes stirred up memories and reflections on how different some things were now for new arrivals and how much they were the same. I, too, was once part of a migrant influx.

In the years after the end of World War II, New York City absorbed a similar wave of immigrants — a large majority of the 140,000 Jewish Holocaust survivors who came to America between 1946 and 1953 — and it did so comparatively smoothly and uneventfully. These immigrants were eager to get on with their lives but were still in shock or heartbroken from the brutalities they had suffered, the parents and siblings they had lost, and the hometowns they could no longer return to.

Those who had no relatives to stay with were put up in 14 hotels that had seen better days as well as in a shelter hacked out of the former Astor Library on Lafayette Street, which is now the Public Theater.

My family was among those immigrants, having spent the previous four years waiting for visas to the United States while idling in two camps for so-called displaced persons in the American zone in occupied Germany. After a rocky voyage on a merchant marine vessel called the U.S.S. General A.W. Greely, my parents, my brother and I arrived on March 3, 1950, at a pier on West 21st Street. My brother Josh was not yet 3. I was 5.

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More On Disasters, Climate Change, Environment, Transportation

New York Times, Biden Administration to Require Replacing of Lead Pipes Within 10 Years, Coral Davenport, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). The proposal to rip out nine million pipes across the country could cost as much as $30 billion but would nearly eliminate the neurotoxin from drinking water.

The Biden administration is proposing new restrictions that would require the removal of virtually all lead water pipes across the country in an effort to prevent another public health catastrophe like the one that came to define Flint, Mich.

The proposal on Thursday from the Environmental Protection Agency would impose the strictest limits on lead in drinking water since federal standards were first set 30 years ago. It would affect about nine million pipes that snake throughout communities across the country.

“This is the strongest lead rule that the nation has ever seen,” Radhika Fox, the E.P.A.’s assistant administrator for water, said in an interview. “This is historic progress.”

Digging up and replacing lead pipes from coast to coast is no small undertaking. The E.P.A. estimates the price at $20 billion to $30 billion over the course of a decade. The rule would require the nation’s utilities — and most likely their ratepayers — to absorb most of that cost, but $15 billion is available from the 2021 infrastructure law to help them pay for it.

New York Times, What Happens When an Oil Cartel Walks Into a Climate Summit? Jim Tankersley, Dec. 1, 2023. OPEC is a participant at COP28. Unlike the United States, it is moving to cut production.

In a far corner of the temporary village housing the United Nations climate summit, the world’s largest cartel of fossil fuel producers plied skeptical young activists with chocolate and free pens.

It was Thursday afternoon. A continent away, in Vienna, the cartel’s members were voting to give the summit what amounts to another very small climate treat: at least a temporary reduction in oil and gas drilling. That’s the opposite of what President Biden, who has made climate policy a top priority during his administration, is delivering from the United States.

It was an opening-day irony for a COP28 summit that is already full of them, from its host country down to the so-called OPEC Pavilion in a building that is marked “Urbanisation & Indigenous Peoples” on the outside.

Tens of thousands of delegates are descending this month on Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, which is a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and a major oil producer. Those delegates are celebrating an accelerating global transition toward low-emission sources of energy like wind and solar power. But expanding renewables is not enough to save the planet, scientists warn, so many delegates are demanding that the world rapidly phase out its use of fossil fuels.

New York Times, Disinformation is among the greatest obstacles facing leaders at the summit, Tiffany Hsu and Steven Lee Myers, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). Online influencers, fossil fuel companies and some of the countries attending COP28 have nourished a feedback loop of falsehoods.

As the world’s leaders gather this week at a major summit to discuss ways to address the effects of global warming, one of the greatest obstacles they face is disinformation.

Among the biggest sources of false or misleading information about the world’s weather, according to a report released this week: influential nations, including Russia and China, whose diplomats will be attending. Others include the companies that extract fossil fuels and the online provocateurs who make money by sharing claims that global warming is a hoax.

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More On Ukraine-Russian War, Russian Leadership

New York Times, Ukrainians in Germany Weigh a Wrenching Choice: Stay or Go Home, Graham Bowley, Dec. 3, 2023. As refugees, they were welcomed with safety, services and jobs. As the war grinds on, giving that up is not a simple decision.

It is a cruel dilemma faced by countless Ukrainian refugees scattered across Europe as the war nears the end of its second year, one that pits a longing for family and a sense of shared duty to rebuild their shattered country against the realization that the death and destruction are unlikely to end anytime soon.

And they are debating it in places like Freiburg, a city nestled on the edge of the Black Forest close to the French border that has offered open arms, an extensive social safety net and the attractive promise of a life without war.

Washington Post, Opinion: Ukraine aid’s best-kept secret: Most of the money stays in the U.S.A., Marc A. Thiessen,  Here is the best-kept secret about U.S. military aid to Ukraine: Most of the money is being spent here in the United States. That’s right: Funds that lawmakers approve to arm Ukraine are not going directly to Ukraine but are being used stateside to build new weapons or to replace weapons sent to Kyiv from U.S. stockpiles. Of the $68 billion in military and related assistance Congress has approved since Russia invaded Ukraine, almost 90 percent is going to Americans, one analysis found.

But you wouldn’t know that from the actions of some U.S. lawmakers. When Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance (R) joined a United Auto Workers picket line in October at the Jeep assembly plant in Toledo, he said he wanted to “show some support for the UAW workers” in his state. Yet he has not shown the same solidarity with the UAW workers in Lima, Ohio, who are churning out Abrams tanks and Stryker combat vehicles for Ukraine thanks to the military aid that Congress has approved. Vance opposes Ukraine aid, as does Rep. Jim Jordan (R), whose House district includes Lima.

Ohio voters might have expected their elected leaders to be pushing the (reluctant) Biden administration to give Ukraine more Lima-produced tanks and vehicles — or to require that more of them be included in the aid package for Ukraine that Congress will soon take up. Instead, Vance and Jordan are fighting to stop Ukraine from receiving any more union-made tanks and combat vehicles from America’s only tank factory.

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U.S. Economy, Jobs, Consumers, High Tech

New York Times, The Fed’s Preferred Inflation Measure Eased in October, Jeanna Smialek, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). The Personal Consumption Expenditures price index continued to cool and consumer spending was moderate, good news for the Federal Reserve.

A closely watched measure of inflation showed continued signs of fading in October, encouraging news for the Federal Reserve as officials try to gauge whether they need to take further action in order to fully stamp out rapid price increases.

The Personal Consumption Expenditures inflation measure, which the Fed cites when it says it aims for 2 percent inflation on average over time, climbed by 3 percent in the year through October. That was down from 3.4 percent the previous month, and was in line with economist forecasts. Compared to the previous month, prices were flat.

After stripping out volatile food and fuel prices for a clearer look at underlying price pressures, inflation climbed by 3.5 percent over the year. That was down from 3.7 percent previously.

The latest evidence that price increases are slowing came alongside other positive news for Fed officials: Consumers are spending less robustly. A measure of personal consumption climbing by 0.2 percent from September, marking a slight slowdown from the previous month.

New York Times, They Charge $6 to Clean Your Shirt, and Make 13 Cents, Eliza Shapiro, Photographs by Lanna Apisukh, Dec. 1, 2023. The humble button-down helps power New York City, appearing in practically every office. But few people understand how it gets from dirty to clean.

The humble cotton button-down helps power New York City, through its presence in practically every office in town. But few people understand the shirt’s transformation from dirty to clean, which at Kingbridge Cleaners & Tailors will run you $6.

Kingbridge, with stores in Brooklyn and Manhattan, makes a profit of about 13 cents from a single laundered shirt, after the cost of labor, utilities, rent, insurance, supplies and administration, said Richard Aviles, its president. Mr. Aviles didn’t take a salary for about two years when the whole industry essentially shut down. Kingbridge’s sales are still about 15 percent lower than they were in 2019, he said, as many office workers spend at least part of the week in sweatshirts instead of suits.

Running a cleaning business in 2023, he said, means that “even though we’re not making money, if we can break even, then we’re staying ahead of the game.”

Politico, ‘Go f--k yourself!’ Elon Musk tells fleeing advertisers, Claudia Chiappa, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). ‘Is that clear? I hope it is,’ says X owner as companies pull ads from his platform.

Elon Musk has a message for advertisers who have left X en masse amid accusations of unchecked antisemitism on the social media platform: "Go fuck yourself."

“If somebody has been trying to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money, go fuck yourself,” Musk said during an animated interview at the New York Times DealBook Summit on Wednesday.

Musk has faced criticism over the spread of disinformation and hate content on X since he bought the company formerly known as Twitter. That culminated in an advertiser exodus in recent weeks, as posts about the Israel-Hamas war spread.

New York Times, Elon Musk’s Warning to Advertisers, and Other DealBook Summit Highlights, Andrew Ross Sorkin, Ravi Mattu, Bernhard Warner, Sarah Kessler, Michael J. de la Merced, Lauren Hirsch and Ephrat Livni, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). Artificial intelligence, antisemitism, the 2024 presidential election, war in the Middle East and other big topics made headlines at this year’s event.

Coming into Wednesday’s DealBook Summit, few could predict what Elon Musk — whose SpaceX, Tesla and X are among the most consequential and talked-about companies in the world — would say. And the famously voluble billionaire delivered.

Yes, there was the moment when, using profane language, Musk denounced companies that had suspended advertising on X following his endorsement of an antisemitic conspiracy theory. (He did try to clear the air, saying he hadn’t meant to support bigots. “I’m quite sorry” if he had encouraged them, he said.)

But over a 90-minute conversation, Musk touched on much more, including what drives him, his fears about artificial intelligence and more.

“Don’t advertise.” Musk accused advertisers of trying to “blackmail” him over his remarks. (Bob Iger, Disney’s C.E.O., had said earlier that being associated with X and Musk was “not a positive” for his company.) After directing expletives at those businesses, Musk then cheekily added, “Hi, Bob, if you’re in the audience.” Linda Yaccarino, X’s C.E.O. whom Musk hired to win back advertisers (and who was at the summit), later posted a more conciliatory message.

“Do you want the best car, or do you not want the best car?” Whether people love Musk or hate him, the mogul boasted about the capabilities of Tesla vehicles and SpaceX rockets.

• New York Times, Opinion: How the Biden Administration Took the Pen Away From Meta, Google and Amazon, Nov. 30, 2023.

New York Times, Back at OpenAI, Sam Altman Outlines the Company’s Priorities, Cade Metz and Tripp Mickle, Nov. 30, 2023 (print ed.). OpenAI said on Wednesday that it had completed the first phase of a new governance structure that added Microsoft as a nonvoting board member, as it works to end the divisions that fueled the ouster of Sam Altman as chief executive and sets itself up for a future as a bigger company.

In a blog post, Mr. Altman, who was rapidly reinstated last week, also outlined his priorities for OpenAI as he retakes the reins of the high-profile artificial intelligence start-up. He said the company would resume its work building safe A.I. systems and products that benefited its customers. He added that its board would focus on improving governance and overseeing an independent review of the events that led to and followed his removal as chief executive.

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U.S. Abortion, Family Planning, #MeToo

Politico, Police investigating Florida Republican Party chair over alleged sexual assault, Kimberly Leonard and Andrew Atterbury, Dec. 1, 2023 (print ed.). The Sarasota Police Department is investigating Florida Republican Party Chair Christian Ziegler, whose wife, Bridget Ziegler, shown above togther,  co-founded the conservative parents group Moms for Liberty, following allegations of sexual assault.

According to a heavily redacted police report obtained by POLITICO through a public records request, the alleged incident took place on Oct. 2 at a home in Sarasota and the victim filed a complaint two days later. The documents omit details about the victim’s statement to authorities but include the words “rape” and “sexually battered.”

The Florida Trident, the news platform for the open government watchdog Florida Center for Government Accountability, was first to report on the news.

Ziegler, through his attorney, acknowledged the police were investigating him and said he’d been “fully cooperative with every request made by the Sarasota Police Department.”

“We are confident that once the police investigation is concluded that no charges will be filed and Mr. Ziegler will be completely exonerated,” his attorney, Derek Byrd, said in a statement. “Unfortunately, public figures are often accused of acts that they did not commit whether it be for political purposes or financial gain. I would caution anyone to rush to judgment until the investigation is concluded.”

Ziegler is married to Bridget Ziegler, a school board member in Sarasota County and Moms for Liberty co-founder. The group has risen to prominence in Florida under the DeSantis administration, which emphasizes rooting out any traces of liberal “indoctrination” — particularly on the issues of sexual orientation, gender identity and race.

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Former President Donald Trump is shown in a photo collage with columnist E. Jean Carroll, who won a jury verdict that he sexually attacked her three decades ago.

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Pandemics, Public Health, Privacy 

New York Times, Desperate Families Search for Affordable Home Care, Reed Abelson, Photographs by Desiree Rios, Dec. 3, 2023 (print ed.). Facing a severe shortage of aides and high costs, people trying to keep aging loved ones at home often cobble together a patchwork of helpers.

This article is part of the Dying Broke series examining how the immense financial costs of long-term care drain older Americans and their families.

Frank Lee’s search for trustworthy home health aides — an experience that millions of American families face — has often been exhausting and infuriating, but he has persisted. He didn’t entirely trust the care his wife would get in an assisted-living facility. Last August, when a respite program paid for her brief stay in one so Mr. Lee, 69, could take a trip to the mountains, she fell and fractured her sacrum, the bone that connects the spine to the pelvis.

New York Times, At the Core of Purdue Pharma Case: Who Can Get Immunity in Settlements? Abbie VanSickle, Dec. 3, 2023. A Supreme Court ruling could mean the end of a strategy for resolving mass injury claims that gives organizations expansive legal protections.

For years, Purdue Pharma, the maker of the prescription painkiller OxyContin, had been entangled in lawsuits seeking to hold it to account for its role in the spiraling opioid crisis.

A pathbreaking settlement reached last year appeared to signal the end to thousands of those cases, funneling billions of dollars toward fighting the epidemic in exchange for exempting members of the billionaire Sackler family, which once controlled the company, from civil lawsuits.

But on Monday, the Supreme Court will hear arguments over whether the agreement is a violation of federal law in a case that could have ramifications not just for Purdue but also for organizations that turn to bankruptcy court, as the company did, to resolve claims of mass injury.

“There’s huge implications for all of corporate bankruptcy,” said Anthony J. Casey, a law professor at the University of Chicago. “I think this is probably the most important bankruptcy case before the court in 30, maybe 40 years.”

New York Times, Families of opioid victims are awaiting a Supreme Court ruling that could bring them billions of dollars from the Sacklers, Jan Hoffman, Dec. 3, 2023. The court will decide whether Purdue’s owners can gain permanent immunity from future opioid lawsuits in exchange for payments up to $6 billion.

In 2014, when the first opioid lawsuits were filed against Purdue Pharma, Tiffinee Scott’s daughter was still years away from her fatal overdose from addictive prescription painkillers, including Purdue’s OxyContin, which she was taking to manage sickle cell pain.

That year, Dede Yoder’s teenage son was struggling with an addiction that began with an OxyContin prescription for a sports injury. He would die from an overdose in 2017, after attempting rehab eight times.

It would be years before Gary Carter’s son, who had been filching his grandparents’ OxyContin, would die from an overdose of fentanyl, an illicit opioid that many people who became addicted to prescription painkillers eventually turned to over the past decade.

The three families and others who have ended up suing Purdue shared their stories in letters to the Supreme Court, which will hear oral argument Monday on the remaining sticking point in the yearslong effort to settle litigation that has ballooned into nearly 3,000 cases. A multi-billion-dollar agreement is at stake.

A ruling upholding the disputed provision would finally start the flow of payments from the company and its owners — members of the billionaire Sackler family — to cities, states, tribes and individuals to help them cope with the costs of the ongoing opioid crisis. It would also allow Purdue to emerge from bankruptcy restructuring as a public benefit company.

A ruling against the measure could blow up the painstakingly negotiated settlement, leaving the fate of the company and the urgently sought payments up in the air.

The court will consider the legality of a condition demanded by the Sacklers and approved by a bankruptcy judge: In exchange for paying up to $6 billion, the Sacklers insist on being shielded from civil lawsuits that anyone else might want to bring against them involving Purdue and opioids.

New York Times, ‘Medical Freedom’ Activists Take Aim at New Target: Childhood Vaccine Mandates, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Dec. 3, 2023. Mississippi  has long had high childhood immunization rates, but a federal judge has ordered the state to allow parents to opt out on religious grounds.

For more than 40 years, Mississippi had one of the strictest school vaccination requirements in the nation, and its high childhood immunization rates have been a source of pride. But in July, the state began excusing children from vaccination if their parents cited religious objections, after a federal judge sided with a “medical freedom” group.

Today, 2,100 Mississippi schoolchildren are officially exempt from vaccination on religious grounds. Five hundred more are exempt because their health precludes vaccination. Dr. Daniel P. Edney, the state health officer, warns that if the total number of exemptions climbs above 3,000, Mississippi will once again face the risk of deadly diseases that are now just a memory.

“For the last 40 years, our main goal has been to protect those children at highest risk of measles, mumps, rubella, polio,” Dr. Edney said in an interview, “and that’s those children that have chronic illnesses that make them more vulnerable.” He called the ruling “a very bitter pill for me to swallow.”

Mississippi is not an isolated case. Buoyed by their success at overturning coronavirus mandates, medical and religious freedom groups are taking aim at a new target: childhood school vaccine mandates, long considered the foundation of the nation’s defense against infectious disease.

Until the Mississippi ruling, the state was one of only six that refused to excuse students from vaccination for religious or philosophical reasons. Similar legal challenges have been filed in the five remaining states: California, Connecticut, Maine, New York and West Virginia. The ultimate goal, according to advocates behind the lawsuits, is to undo vaccine mandates entirely, by getting the issue before a Supreme Court that is increasingly sympathetic to religious freedom arguments.

Washington Post, What you can do to boost your covid and flu shots’ effectiveness, Marta Zaraska, Dec. 3, 2023. While genes play a major role, your attitude, your gut health and other factors have been shown to boost immune response.

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Media, High Tech, Sports, Education, Free Speech, Culture 

New York Times, In Florida’s Hot Political Climate, Some Faculty Have Had Enough, Stephanie Saul, Dec. 3, 2023. Liberal-leaning professors are leaving coveted tenured jobs. And there are signs that recruiting scholars in the state is becoming harder.

Gov. Ron DeSantis had just taken office in 2019 when the University of Florida lured Neil H. Buchanan, a prominent economist and tax law scholar, from George Washington University.

Now, just four years after he started at the university, Dr. Buchanan has given up his tenured job and headed north to teach in Toronto. In a recent column on a legal commentary website, he accused Florida of “open hostility to professors and to higher education more generally.”

He is not the only liberal-leaning professor to leave one of Florida’s highly regarded public universities. Many are giving up coveted tenured positions and blaming their departures on Governor DeSantis and his effort to reshape the higher education system to fit his conservative principles.

The Times interviewed a dozen academics — in fields ranging from law to psychology to agronomy — who have left Florida public universities or given their notice, many headed to blue states. While emphasizing that hundreds of top academics remain in Florida, a state known for its solid and affordable public university system, they raised concerns that the governor’s policies have become increasingly untenable for scholars and students.

Washington Post, Smartmatic’s lawsuit against Fox News heats up with Murdoch depositions, Jeremy Barr, Dec. 2, 2023 (print ed.). Rupert was deposed this week and his son Lachlan will sit for a grilling as well, as the 2020-related case moves along.

Rupert Murdoch formally handed over the reins of Fox News’ parent company in mid-November, but that did not end his legal obligations in the long-running fallout over how the network covered the 2020 presidential election.

This week, the 92-year-old media mogul sat for a sworn deposition in the second major defamation lawsuit from an election-technology company that accused Fox of smearing it with false claims of vote rigging.

It’s been seven months since Fox News settled a headline-making defamation suit from Dominion Voting Systems for a record $787.5 million. But in recent weeks the Smartmatic case has stirred to life, putting Murdoch’s company once again in legal peril. Murdoch’s son Lachlan, who now runs the family’s media business, will also be deposed in the case, as will Fox’s former top lawyer, Viet D. Dinh, according to a person with knowledge of the situation who was not authorized to comment.

Fox believes that the case is winnable. The company says Smartmatic’s massive claim of $2.7 billion in financial losses is way off base, since it operates sparingly in the United States, with only one contract in one county for the 2020 election, while Dominion’s machines were used in several key states.

But the network’s First Amendment defense — that Fox hosts were just doing their jobs and reporting the news — is very similar to what it used in the Dominion case, an argument that was rejected by that judge. Despite Fox’s efforts to distinguish the cases, a Dominion lawyer said at a hearing in September that “Smartmatic’s defamation action is based on many of the same statements.”

“We will be ready to defend this case surrounding extremely newsworthy events when it goes to trial, likely in 2025,” a Fox News spokesperson said in a statement. “As a report prepared by our financial expert shows, Smartmatic’s damages claims are implausible, disconnected from reality, and on its face intended to chill First Amendment freedoms.”

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Dec. 2

Top Headlines

• New York Times, Live: Israel Launches Strikes and Orders Evacuations in Southern Gaza
• New York Times, Israelis Are Angry at Netanyahu, but Chances of His Ouster Are Slim
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• New York Times, Hostages Freed From Gaza Recount Violence, Hunger and Fear
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• Washington Post, Rep. George Santos expelled from Congress on bipartisan vote
• New York Times, Opinion: Farewell to George Santos, the Perfect MAGA Republican, Michelle Goldberg
• New York Times, What’s Next for George Santos? Court Dates and, Maybe, Reality TV
• Washington Post, Sandra Day O’Connor, pathbreaking woman on Supreme Court, dies at 93
• New York Times, Opinion: Sandra Day O’Connor Never Stopped Being a Politician, Jeffrey Toobin

Climate Summit in Dubai

• New York Times, U.S. Announces Plan to Cut Millions of Tons of Methane Emissions
• New York Times, A new estimate of climate change’s economic impact could legally justify aggressive regulations in the U.S
• New York Times, Pope Francis couldn’t travel to COP28, but a Vatican envoy challenged world leaders on his behalf
• New York Times, More than 20 countries pledged to triple nuclear capacity in a push to cut fossil fuels
• New York Times, Global Warming Talks Begin Amid Deep Tensions,
• New York Times, A Climate Summit Begins With Fossil Fuels, and Frustration, Going Strong

Destroying Democracies

• New York Times, Investigation: How a ‘Goon Squad’ of Deputies Got Away With Years of Brutality
• Washington Post, Opinion: A Trump dictatorship is increasingly inevitable. We should stop pretending, Robert Kagan
• Washington Post, U.S. stops helping Big Tech spot foreign meddling amid GOP legal threats
• New York Times, 4,789 Facebook Accounts in China Impersonated Americans, Meta Says
• WhoWhatWhy, Commentary: The Fake Populists Who Serve Elites While Claiming to Stand for the People, Ruth Ben-Ghia
• New York Times, 6 Takeaways From Liz Cheney’s Book Criticizing Trump and His ‘Enablers,’ Peter Baker
• Washington Post, Analysis: Why new Ariz. indictments are key in the fight against election subversion, Aaron Blake
• Washington Post, Antagonism flares as red states try to dictate how blue cities are run
• Politico, Judge key to Jan. 6 cases warns US faces 'authoritarian' threat, Josh Gerstein
• Washington Post, Sandy Hook families offer Alex Jones a deal to settle $1.5 billion debt

More On Israel's War With Hamas

• World Crisis Radio, Strategic Commentary: In unfriendly act towards sole ally USA, butcher Bibi re-starts Gaza bloodbath despite efforts of Biden, Blinken, & Burns to make ceasefire into a permanent armistice, Webster G. Tarpley
• Washington Post, Gazans mourn loss of their libraries: Cultural beacons and communal spaces
• Washington Post, In undisclosed call, Pope Francis warned Israel against committing ‘terror’
• New York Times, A Michigan city with one of the highest percentages of Arab Americans in the U.S. is suffering
• Politico, Benny Gantz eyes his moment to topple Israel's Netanyahu
• New York Times, Opinion: Understanding the True Nature of the Hamas-Israel War, Thomas L. Friedman
• New York Times, Israel-Hamas War: Blinken Returns to Middle East as U.S. Tries to Shape Next Phase of War

More On Trump Battles, Crimes, Claims, Allies

• Washington Post, U.S. judge rejects Trump immunity claim in Jan. 6 criminal prosecution
• Washington Post, Trump lawyer: Georgia trial would have to wait if Trump wins in 2024
• Washington Post, Olympic swimmer Klete Keller avoids prison time for role in Jan. 6 riot 
• Politico, New York court reinstates Trump’s gag orders in civil fraud case
• Washington Post, Trump co-defendant in Georgia who pleaded guilty could testify in other cases
• New York Times, Lawyer Told Trump Defying Documents Subpoena Would Be a Crime
• New York Times, Trump’s Bankers Say His Exaggerated Net Worth Did Not Affect Loans
• New York Times, Jan. 6 Defendant Who Opened Fire on Deputies Sentenced to Two Years
• Politico, Trump backs Adams, Cuomo in sexual misconduct lawsuits
• New York Times, Investigation: A Troubling Trump Pardon and a Link to the Kushners, Michael S. Schmidt, Maggie Haberman, Jonathan Swan and Alan Feuer
• New York Times, Here are some takeaways from the investigation into Jonathan Braun’s pardon
• Washington Post, The Trump Trials: New Trump defense motions in D.C. case expected on Monday

 U.S. Military, Security, Intelligence, Foreign Policy, JFK Death

China's President Xi