United States | News & Politics

"It’s worth stopping and thinking about this for a second. Bannon, who used his podcast to promote QAnon and claimed to be battling the world’s criminal elite, was trying to help the world’s most notorious sex offender, a billionaire, with his tarnished image and celebrating that neither he nor anyone he conspired with would face justice."

According to our recent survey of officials in Michigan communities, local democracy is humming along and city hall is taking care of business.

The federal government was shut down in October and November 2025, but cities and towns around the United States continued to fill potholes, purify drinking water, respond to emergency calls and issue construction permits, mostly with little fanfare.

But Michiganders should not take this local resilience for granted. Officials – especially in rural communities – are also raising some red flags about declining public engagement, deteriorating public discourse and harassment.

- Israeli attack in Gaza City injures four Palestinians
- Rubio offering more pragmatic approach on Hamas arms
- Israel, Lebanon officials meet amid looming deadline to disarm Hezbollah
- Rubio addresses conditions of disarming Hamas, Hezbollah
- Gaza ceasefire must be ‘fully implemented’: Guterres

Stephen Prager
Dec 18, 2025

The Trump administration is about to embark on a massive crackdown on what it describes as a scourge of rampant left-wing “terrorism.”

But the US Department of Justice (DOJ) memo ordering the crackdown has critics fearing it will go far beyond punishing those who plan criminal acts and will instead be used to criminalize anyone who expresses opposition to President Donald Trump and his agenda.

Earlier this month, independent journalist Ken Klippenstein reported that Attorney General Pam Bondi had sent out a memo ordering the FBI to “compile a list of groups or entities engaging in acts that may constitute domestic terrorism.”

Jake Johnson
Dec 18, 2025

The progressive running to unseat Republican US Sen. Susan Collins of Maine is speaking out forcefully against President Donald Trump’s march to war with Venezuela, warning of alarming parallels with the invasion of Iraq over two decades ago.

In a video posted to social media on Wednesday night, Graham Platner—a Marine Corps and US Army veteran who served multiple combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan—said it is “terrifying” to witness the US government “yet again trying to lead us into an illegal war that is going to do absolutely nothing for the average American.”

Helena Addison
Dec 18, 2025

Between the (likely) expiration of the Affordable Care Act enhanced subsidies, cuts to Medicaid and Medicare, and the decade-long efforts to undermine and dismantle the ACA, the casualties and costs of our current healthcare system continue to grow as Americans continue to wait for a better option. Nearly 45,000 Americans aged 17-65 die each year due to lack of insurance, a number that could rise to over 51,000 preventable deaths in the coming years.

Yet, the Senate has failed to pass either healthcare plan proposed to keep health insurance premiums from skyrocketing in the New Year and the Medicare for All bill introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and US Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) in April 2025 has not advanced in Congress. Ideas like Medicare for All or universal healthcare often make eyes roll. “That’s unrealistic,” we’re told.

Joe Kennedy III, JFK’s grandnephew, said he doubted the Trump-Kennedy Center name change was legal

‘Mr. Brooks had no contact with him before or after this single attendance at a widely-attended dinner,’ the New York Times said in a statement on Thursday.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/7062942

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/13980

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee is not publicly backing any candidate in the race to replace Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky in Illinois’s 9th Congressional District. But in private, the group is fundraising for Democratic state Sen. Laura Fine, who has distanced herself from AIPAC and said she isn’t seeking its endorsement.

AIPAC board president Michael Tuchin hosted a private fundraiser for Fine on Monday at his Los Angeles law office, where an Intercept reporter was turned away in the building’s front lobby. “The Intercept should not be here at all,” said a building security guard, relaying a message from fundraiser organizers.

Three people entering the Century City high-rise office, however, confirmed that they were there to attend the Fine fundraiser. An attendee wearing a pin with adjoining U.S. and Israeli flags said she was there for the event and was whisked away by building security when asked why she supported Fine.

[

Related

Meet the U.S. Donors Funding ELNET, the AIPAC of Europe](https://theintercept.com/2025/12/15/elnet-aipac-israel-lobby-europe/)

After spending years exerting largely unchecked influence over elected U.S. officials, AIPAC appears to be putting more distance between itself and several of its preferred candidates this midterm cycle amid public outrage over Israel’s genocide in Gaza — and as a growing slate of progressive candidates position themselves explicitly against the group. But AIPAC and the broader pro-Israel lobby are still working to shape the next Congress to preserve the U.S.’s diplomatic alliance with Israel and maintain the steady flow of weapons shipments.

The day Fine entered the race in May, Jewish Insider reported that she had met with pro-Israel lobbying groups including AIPAC and Democratic Majority for Israel. The groups did not support Schakowsky, who was instead backed by the more centrist pro-Israel group J Street during her career — meaning the 14-term congresswoman’s retirement represented an opportunity for the lobby to install a more hard-line supporter of Israel.

Fine’s campaign, AIPAC, and Tuchin did not respond to a request for comment.

Fine is running in a crowded Democratic primary field that includes Kat Abughazaleh, a Palestinian American activist who has made her opposition to AIPAC spending and Israel’s genocide a central plank of her campaign; Daniel Biss, the current mayor of Evanston, Illinois; and Bushra Amiwala, a local school board member and activist. Abughazaleh and Biss led the pack in fundraising as of September, according to Federal Election Commission filings, pulling in $1.5 million and $1.3 million respectively. Amiwala has raised $642,000.

Fine had raised just over $660,000 by the same deadline — about half of it from close to 300 donors who AIPAC appears to have directed to her campaign, as the local outlet Evanston Now reported in October. The group sent at least two fundraising emails urging donors in its network to support Fine, after which AIPAC donors poured more than $300,000 into her campaign.

It’s not the first time the group has taken such an approach this cycle, including in Illinois. In the state’s 7th Congressional District, where Democratic Rep. Danny Davis is retiring, AIPAC hasn’t endorsed a replacement — but its donors are funding real estate mogul Jason Friedman, The Intercept reported.

[

Related

Kat Abughazaleh on the Right to Protest](https://theintercept.com/2025/11/01/briefing-podcast-kat-abughazaleh-indictment-protest/)

When asked about meeting with AIPAC prior to entering the race, Fine played down her support from the group, telling the university newspaper Loyola Phoenix in October that she was not pursuing its endorsement.

“Senator Fine has not received and is not seeking endorsement from J Street, AIPAC, or any Jewish organization,” her campaign said at the time. “She’s deeply aware of the diversity of political views in the Jewish community and in this district at large. The Senator’s priority is to represent all constituents, bridge divisions, continue standing up against antisemitism wherever it may appear, and continue to represent all members of her district.”

The post AIPAC Head Hosts Fundraiser for House Candidate Who Swears AIPAC Isn’t Backing Her appeared first on The Intercept.

From The Intercept via This RSS Feed.

The former tech executive says she was bombarded with abusive and threatening messages after being filmed with her boss on the 'kiss-cam'.

The health department’s proposed regulations on gender affirming care for minors are not legally binding and are set to be challenged in court.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/7073049

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/14221

Zohran Mamdani's victory in New York City owed no small debt to Palestine activists, many of whom mobilized behind his campaign. But how will this relationship fare once he enters City Hall? There are some early tests that will let us know.

From Mondoweiss via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/7073279

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/14169

The Republican bill that's set for a vote in the US House on Wednesday would leave around 100,000 more Americans uninsured per year over the next decade, according to a new analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

The analysis published late Tuesday examines each major section of the legislation, which experts have characterized as an assortment of GOP healthcare ideas that—in combination—would do little to achieve its stated goal of "lower healthcare premiums for all."

The CBO estimates that the Republican bill, which stands no chance of passing the Senate even if it clears the House on Wednesday, would lower gross benchmark premiums by 11% on average between 2027 and 2035.

But the legislation does not extend enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies that expire at the end of the year, meaning premiums overall are poised to more than double on average in the coming year. Many Americans are expected to forgo insurance coverage entirely in the face of unaffordable premium increases.

Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, said Tuesday that the CBO analysis "makes clear that the bill Republican leadership wants to pass tomorrow would make a bad situation even worse," compounding the widespread damage caused by the Medicaid cuts the party approved over the summer.

"It’s a raw deal for working people: higher costs and less coverage, or no coverage at all," said Boyle. "If Republicans were serious about fixing the healthcare crisis they created, they’d work with Democrats to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits and prevent costs from rising for tens of millions of Americans.”

"While Congress heads home for the holidays, it’s leaving millions of families behind to wonder how they will make ends meet in the new year."

The CBO analysis came hours after House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) shot down a bipartisan push for a vote to extend the expiring ACA tax credits, which more than 20 million Americans relied on to afford health coverage.

But on Wednesday, four swing-district House Republicans—Brian Fitzpatrick, Rob Bresnahan, and Ryan Mackenzie of Pennsylvania and Mike Lawler of New York—revolted against the GOP leadership and signed onto a Democratic discharge petition aimed at forcing a floor vote on a proposed three-year extension of the enhanced ACA subsidies.

"The only policy that is worse than a clean three-year extension without any reforms, is a policy of complete expiration without any bridge," Fitzpatrick said in a statement. "Unfortunately, it is House leadership themselves that have forced this outcome."

It's unclear when the House will vote on the extension, as lawmakers are leaving town for a two-week holiday recess on Friday. The House is set to return to session on January 6, 2026—after the official expiration of the ACA subsidies.

“While Congress heads home for the holidays, it’s leaving millions of families behind to wonder how they will make ends meet in the new year,” Ailen Arreaza, executive director of the advocacy group ParentsTogether, said in a statement Wednesday. “By refusing to fix this healthcare crisis, Republicans are choosing political games over families’ health and financial security."

"These subsidies have been a lifeline for millions, and letting them expire will force millions to make impossible choices or even go without coverage altogether," said Arreaza. "Make no mistake: Families around the country will pay the price for Congress’ inaction."

From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.

In the statement, Martin called the completed report a “comprehensive review of what happened in 2024” and said the party is “already putting our learnings into motion.” The decision that releasing the report would work against the party, Martin suggested, emerged from “conversations with stakeholders from across the Democratic ecosystem.”

But if the report is “comprehensive” in its look at 2024, keeping it secret raises more questions about who specifically inside that “Democratic ecosystem” will benefit from its remaining under wraps.

[...]

There are grounds for thinking the DNC report digs into these problems. According to a DNC official, the analysis found, among other things, that the party didn’t invest sufficiently in innovative digital tools; that its digital ads didn’t reach young voters who no longer engage with broadcast and cable TV; and that Trump—with the help of an ecosystem of right-wing podcasters and influencers—outworked the Democrats in the information wars. Democrats must play catchup in this department, the report found.

It’s good to hear the report concludes this. But it would be nice to know what specifically the party found on this front and precisely how it’s resolving to do better. Any such analysis of advertising and communications failures would seemingly have to look at Future Forward’s role; in fact, over the summer word leaked that Future Forward would come under heavy criticism in the analysis. If so, that will now remain undisclosed.

[...]

Or take the big question about Joe Biden’s age and fitness for a reelection campaign. It’s unclear what the DNC analysis concludes about key decisions made by the Biden campaign’s high command—people like reelection chair Jen O’Malley Dillon and senior adviser Anita Dunn, who is now an adviser to Future Forward—including the decision to stay in the race too long. That hamstrung Kamala Harris’s ability to get her campaign up and running in time. The lack of a public report may mean accountability falls by the wayside.

Asked directly whether the DNC had decided not to release the report out of concern for how it might impact the reputations of key party players—or whether the DNC faced pressure from key actors to keep its conclusions secret—the DNC official denied this and said the only consideration was what benefits the party. And the official declined to comment on whether Future Forward’s performance and the fate of all the money channeled into it was scrutinized in the report.

NYT reporting:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/us/politics/dnc-2024-autopsy-democrats-ken-martin.html

Still, even if it is good politics to stuff the report in a filing cabinet, Democrats may well be avoiding self-examination and a chance for introspection.

The party’s brand still appears deeply damaged in the eyes of many voters. A national poll from Quinnipiac University this week found that only 18 percent of voters approved of how Democrats in Congress were doing their jobs, a record low.

[...]

Some Democratic donors have demanded a more thorough accounting of how exactly the party and Ms. Harris spent $1.5 billion in 15 weeks en route to losing every battleground state in 2024. Since the election, it has come out that a former top aide to Mr. Biden, Mike Donilon, received $4 million from the campaign — even though he did not work meaningfully with the Harris campaign after Mr. Biden left the ticket.

“I read about that,” Ms. Harris said of Mr. Donilon’s compensation in an interview last month with The New York Times. “That was before I got there.”

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/40387506

House Speaker Mike Johnson is conveniently sending Congress home the day before the Justice Department is supposed to release the Epstein files in full. The announcement came Wednesday night.

This looks like yet another instance of Johnson doing every little thing he can either to delay the release of the files or to make it so that his fellow GOPers don’t have to be in town to answer to their complicity in this monthslong campaign to avoid their release—as he did by egregiously delaying the swearing-in of Democratic Representative Adelita Grijalva for weeks.