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This holiday season, writes John Pavlovitz, "it’s a Herculean task to let our hearts be light." Daily, we confront the afflictions of an impossibly dark time - the cruelties wrought by a vile assemblage of hacks, liars, racists, sadists who delight in Christmas-decked thugs menacing brown people with, "YOU'RE GOING HO HO HOME." Instead, we celebrate the judges, artists, pastors, organizers, brave pols and regular people, aka "Radical Left Scum," refusing to bow to fascism. Go towards the light, and fuck these people.

We started this on Boxing Day - a British holiday described as the day when either gifts were given to servants and the poor or when mythical, hung-over, Scottish haggis fight it out in boxing matches, either which we'll take - feeling grateful to be more or less still standing after almost a year of brute insanity enacted by "some of the worst human beings on Planet Earth." Alas, they're still here, led by "the small, bitter man" and hateful worst of the worst who spent his sour "Christmas" trashing we the scum, hailing the end of "transgender for everyone," and ripping "the many sleazebags who loved Jeffrey Epstein" like he did. In a 100-plus-post frenzy, he then attacked Somali immigrants, urged Ilhan Omar be deported and his opponents be jailed, called Stephen Colbert a “dead man walking” who CBS should "put to sleep," and warned, "Enjoy what may be your last Merry Christmas." One response: "Sorry Jesus, I know it's your birthday but Jesus fucking Christ."

Ditto to everything else he and his underlings - underthings? - are up to, which over at the "unbiased" News Nation were unfathomably praised by one gushing fan as best summarized with the blessed return of "dignity." Which in the real world means, having ensured millions of Americans' health insurance will soar after refusing to extend ACA benefits that cost a fraction of their tax breaks to the rich, Trump continues his rampage on rational governance. He's slashed funding for climate research, victims of human trafficking, wind energy projects - in that case, after the "Department of War" declared them a made-up national security threat. After plastering his obscene name on the Kennedy Center and Institute of Peace (JFC) he's now emulating a 1950s TV show by putting it on a new, faster, yuger "Trump-class" battleship - "Our adversaries will know...American victory at sea is inevitable" - one prominent admiral calls "exactly what we don’t need.”

His flunkies are equally, grotesquely feckless. Cringey, hollow, "cynical shapeshifter" JD, who not long ago called Trump "cultural heroin" - just this once, rightly - has been cosplaying as a paunchy Navy Seal, pretending to "train" with them and posting pictures that were swiftly, savagely mocked for their performative bullshit. "Cool," said one. "When you’re done cosplaying, can you and your boss do something about housing and grocery prices?" Also, "Holy propaganda," "GI Jello," and, "You should just keep running, and I don't mean for office." The FBI's Inept Keystone Kash, after a famous jacket fiasco, flubbing two high-profile shootings and using a $60 million government jet to visit his girlfriend, just bought a custom fleet of armored BMWs so he can stay safe from the AK-47s the DOJ now wants legal in D.C., because what could go wrong? But not to worry: FBI officials say the cool new rides will save taxpayers money, because "more efficient cost structures."

Meanwhile, the GOP is infested with fascists. Rabid Goebbels Miller raves Dems equal not just communism but "the worst kind, which is DEI communism...LITERALLY a recipe for national death: "We're going to import massive numbers of illiterate refugees, and give all your wealth to them." One comment: "Some people will commit human rights violations rather than go to therapy." Hitler/Stalin fan Nick Fuentes has evidently picked up Charlie Kirk's tiki torch and attacked both J.D. for his Indian wife and son Vivek - "I'm not a racist or something but do we really believe a guy like that is gonna support white identity?" - and Vivek Ramaswamy: "It is time for you to go home..This anchor baby cannot become governor of Ohio." And after ending reunification programs for thousands of relatives of brown migrants awaiting green cards, union-busting racist ghoul Kristi Noem brags it's "amazing" 2.5 million people have left our country"; she has apparently never heard of a brain drain, state terror or MAGA being translated into, "Making America God Awful."

Finally, continuing his famous good will toward (white) men, the Peace President (sic) chose Christmas Day to approve military strikes against alleged Islamic State targets - "ISIS terrorist scum" - in Nigeria, charging innocent Christians are being killed. As usual, experts say the situation is far more complex, and news reports say the strikes hit either empty fields, or a peaceful village that has “no known history" of terrorist groups there. That didn't stop Pete Drunktank from braying, "The (Pentagon) is always ready, so ISIS found out tonight. Merry Christmas!" MAGA fans were gleeful at "the killing of these barbarians," calling it "an amazing Christmas present!" "I can't think of a better way to celebrate Christmas," wrote Laura Loomer. "You’ve got to love it! Death to all Islamic terrorists!" At home, their bellicose spirit spread to Indiana state senator Chris Garten, who posted AI pics of himself beating the shit out of Santa Claus - because bureaucrats? - and then ripped critics who didn't see the hilarity of it: "Some of you clowns are just insufferable." Pot/kettle redux.

Indiana GOP thug Chris Garten beats up Santa Claus because ...bureaucratsImage from Chris Garten X account

The worst atrocities remain those committed at home by ICE and other federal agents: "The nightmare is happening here." The abuses are boundless. Due process and the rule of law routinely shredded. Innocent workers, parents, citizens, elderly, children, community leaders profiled, terrorized, dragged from cars, torn from families, tear-gassed, pepper-sprayed, beaten, slammed to the ground, cuffed, detained, held incommunicado, shipped to foreign concentration camps, and killed for fleeing in fear from mobs of masked, anonymous, bestial stormtroopers who see only their brown skin and feel free to do whatever the fuck they want to them. Of the tens of thousands abused, held, deported to date, the vast majority have no criminal convictions or even charges. They are roofers, landscapers, restaurant workers, teachers, kids with cancer, mothers and babies, decades-long, tax-paying residents and green-card-holders and relatives of U.S. military, the wrong color caught in a gruesome historic moment.

Orchestrating these horrors is loathsome, soulless, cosplaying ICE Barbie, whose cruelties and transgressions moved not-a-fan Dem Rep. Bennie Thompson to practically beg her in a recent House hearing, "Do a real service to the country and just resign." "You have systematically dismantled the Department of Homeland Security," he said. "and you are making America less safe." Among other ills, he charged her with putting her own interests first, violating multiple laws, and handing friends "$220 million to follow you around the country with a camera" - in, he could have added, costumes that would make Bollywood blush. She's also spent over $50 million - out of an insane ICE budget of $76 billion, but no money for food stamps, sorry not sorry - on repulsive, often juvenile agit-prop videos aimed at bullying and terrifying immigrants into self-deporting, or unearthing enough worst-of-the-worst racist basement dwellers to take on the repugnant gig of rounding them up.

The ad campaign has been vile from the start - fake or "misleading videos of other places and people, "I love the smell of deportations in the morning" movie rip-offs, unauthorized Pokémon-inspired "Gotta catch 'em all" montages, a baffling, histrionic debacle featuring Bigfoot, Mel Gibson's Patriot, George Washington in a Chevy as "The Last Best Hope of Man on Earth," ad nauseum. Still, they pale before the depravities conjured up to rip off and suck dry the once-kindly spirit of Christmas.There were hard-sell pitches for "a fantastic gift this holiday season" - just leave already. "(DHS) announces the holiday deal of a lifetime for all illegal aliens! You will receive a free flight home for the holidays and a "$1,000 gift," later upped to $3,000, which has usually, reportedly failed to materialize. Color us shocked. There was The Deportation Express - Polar Express, get it? - its dreamy kid looking up from a snow-covered scene with, "This holiday season, believe you can go home again."

There was foul video from Broadview, with Lana Del Rey music and protesters being attacked, with, "Womp womp, cry all you want." Thugs lined up in fatigues and Christmas gear, their tanks in lights, with, "YOU'RE GOING HO HO HOME." The Grinch, smirking and dangling handcuffs, with, "How The Illegals Stole Health Care." An obscene Trump "driving" Santa's sleigh while "dancing." An ICE Air jet taking off with, "Merry Christmas, America!" A "Message to criminal illegal aliens" offers Sinatra singing Jingle Bells with sounds of jangling handcuffs, videos of chained immigrants shuffling onto planes, and, "Oh what fun it is to ride on a free flight out of our country" - this, from the official United States government social media account. Mehdi Hasan: "It’s like real life Idiocracy." We have, indeed, come a long and sorrowful way from, "I was a stranger and you welcomed me."

— (@)

Still, hope glimmers. Many judges, even GOP-appointed, are holding the line on Kilmar Abrego Garcia, troops in our cities, gulags. Rebuking use of the Alien Enemies Act, stalwart U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ruled Venezuelans shipped to El Salvador’s CECOT torture camp can challenge their detentions even if they've returned to their country, and he's ordered the regime to facilitate their return to the US or give them the due process they were denied. Other judges have at least temporarily blocked ICE from arresting migrants at San Francisco courthouses; blocked Homeland Security funds being cut from blue states that oppose ICE abuses: "To hold hostage funding based on defendants’ political whims (is) unconscionable and, at least here, unlawful"; and ruled masks on goons only sow terror: “ICE goes masked for a single reason - to terrorize Americans into quiescence...Our national troops do not ordinarily wear masks...It is a matter of honor - and honor still matters.”

Even some Dem lawmakers are finding their spines, with over a dozen - Crockett, Padilla, Garcia, Raskin, Warren, Murphy et al - steadfastly speaking out. Dems have moved to unmask the goons with Congressional legislation, restored the rights of a million federal workers, and, in a memorable House hearing on Homeland Security, showed just how to destroy MAGA lies. First, Benny Thompson confronted a top FBI lackey who labeled antifa "the most immediate violent threat we’re facing." Where are their headquarters, he asked. Claptrap response: "We’re building out the infrastructure." Bennie: “What does that mean?” “Well, that’s very fluid...It’s ongoing for us to understand that." Bennie, on fire: “Sir, you wouldn’t come to this committee and say something you can’t prove, I know. But you did." Then came Rep. Seth Magaziner (R.I.) who ripped ICE Barbie a new one so effectively we were treated to the glorious spectacle of seeing her meekly, repeatedly grovel to her victims.

"Madame Secretary, how many US military veterans have you deported?” Magaziner began. Noem: "We have not deported any US citizens or military veterans." Bingo. Cue aide with laptop. Magaziner: "We are joined on Zoom by a gentleman named Sae Joon Park," an Army combat veteran, Purple Heart recipient shot twice in Panama in 1989," and a green-card holder deported to South Korea, which he left when he was 7. And so it went. Calmly, Magaziner introduced others in the room. A Navy veteran in the Gulf War whose Irish wife came here legally 48 years ago and has been in detention for months. A corporal whose landscaper father raised three Marine sons before he was tackled by ICE goons and detained. With each, he cuts her off mid-babble, asks if she'll thank these good folks for their service, waits as she mumbles her thanks. "These people are not the worst of the worst," he notes. The biggest of the many problems with her leadership: "You don't seem to know the difference between the good guys and the bad guys." Soon after, Noem left the hearing early for another meeting, which had been cancelled.

- YouTube www.youtube.com

Many more continue to step up. Thousands marching in frigid Minneapolis. Artists from South Park to Jesse Welles - Join ice! The L.A. jury, ensuring the DOJ lose again in court, who found a tow-truck driver not guilty of "theft of government property" after he towed an ICE agent's rig. The Louisiana convenience store manager who locked out Greg Bovino and his Nazi goons, fresh from terrorizing New Orleans, when they tried to get in. "Whaddya want man, you want some chicken?" he asked through the door. "You ain't gettin' it here." He waved "bye, bye" with a middle finger. In Montreal, a gang of 40 Santas, joined by 40 elves, marched into a Metro supermarket, loaded their bags with about $3,000 of groceries, and fled into the night. The Robins des Ruelles, Robins of the Alleys, left some food under a Christmas tree at Place Valois, and gave the rest to area food banks. On social media, they decried big companies "holding our basic needs hostage" as they make record profits. "For us, that's theft, and they are the real criminals," they wrote. "The hunger justifies the means."

Churches have spoken with their Nativity scenes, quoting Jesus: “Whatever you do to the least among us, you do to me." Outside Boston, a Catholic church has an empty manger, no Mary or Joseph. "ICE was here," reads a sign. "The Holy Family is safe in the Sanctuary. If you see ICE, please call LUCE." Their tradition is to "hold the mirror up to what’s happening," said Father Stephen Josoma, never mind officials' claims it's "sacrilegious." Illinois churches display Mary in a gas mask, report "Joseph didn't make it," explain, "Due to ICE activity, the Holy Family is in hiding,” offer baby Jesus wrapped in a reflective blanket, his small hands zip-tied. "More than any time in recent memory, we sit in the profound tension between the cultural cues and the condition of our hearts," writes John Pavlovitz of the season, and the need to make it "fiercely, steadfastly, unrepentantly anti-fascist." "The elemental heart of the story,“ of any righteous story, is to "defend those imperiled by the powerful." Today more than ever, "Resistance to the darkness (is) the entire point."

In what was variously dubbed a "grievance Olympics," "conference of clowns" and "Wrestlemania with Podcasters," the noxious mucky-mucks of MAGA just assembled for the first time since Charlie Kirk's death at an ostensibly celebratory AmericaFest that swiftly cratered into a toxic mess, proving the orcs really do hate each other. Despite the blinding glitz, savage barbs flew: Anti-Semite! Islam whore! Epstein flack! A coward! A cancer! And nonsense-vomiting. One viewer: "Holy shit, America." Happily, the Nazi kids are not all right.

Last weekend's public, ugly, inevitable fracturing of a once-lockstep right for all to see came at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest conference at Phoenix Convention Center. Billed as "a powerful celebration of faith, freedom, and the legacy of our founder" - though others called it "brownshirts in the desert" - it had Kirk plastered everywhere. Outside, banners urged "MAKE AMERICA CHARLIE KIRK"; inside, a huge portrait proclaimed, "WE ARE ALL CHARLIE KIRK"; nearby, weirdly, a Charlie Kirk murder re-enactment tent was set up for fans to take selfies in a spot just like where he was shot and killed. Wonkette: "Normal youth conference things!" About a third of the reported 30,000 in attendance, a "wretched hive of scum and villainy," were high school and college students who evidently have yet to find a life of non-malignant purpose.

Amidst the desperate, shrieking, best-is-yet-to-come! decor - omnipresent flashing red, white and blue, flashy pyrotechnics, gushing fountains, choking smoke bombs, glittering grifting widow in long blond locks and billowing gold and silver - the event quickly descended into a vicious gripefest where some of the world's most awful people - Carlson, Bannon, Don Jr., Megyn Kelly - furiously torched each other. Oddly, many focused their ire on a missing foil, podcaster Candace Owens, who'd been deemed too out there to even be invited for her lurid conspiracy theories about Kirk's death; she's charged it was choreographed by Israel and Turning Point bad actors, Egyptian airplanes have been following Erika Kirk for years, the public is being "gaslit," and police evidence to the contrary is "fake and gay." (LOL, sorta).

Leading off the squalid crack-up was Daily Wire's Ben Shapiro, who ripped pretty much everyone else as anti-Semitic "frauds," "grifters" and "charlatans" who have put the conservative movement "in serious danger." He called Steve Bannon "a PR flack for Jeffrey Epstein,” blasted Tucker Carlson's recent interview with "Hitler apologist, Nazi-loving, anti-American piece of refuse" Nick Fuentes - which over 7 million people watched - as an act of cowardice and "moral imbecility," and said Candace Owens "has been vomiting all sorts of hideous and conspiratorial nonsense into the public square for years."

Then Owens, online because unwelcome, called Shapiro "a miserable imp," whose remarks made her "more certain" that Israel was involved with Kirk's death.

Then Bannon trashed Shapiro for being "a cancer, and that cancer spreads. It metastasizes." Mocking Shapiro for trying to take over first Breitbart, now Turning Point, he snarled, "Stop playing patty-cake. Let's get down to it."

Then Carlson ripped Shapiro for being "pompous." Listening backstage, he said he laughed at Shapiro the way you would "when your dog starts doing your taxes." He also blasted former accomplices for "fake race wars" and "attacking millions of people because they're Muslims...It's disgusting. What the hell are you doing? You should not attack people." He added that calls to "de-platform" anyone at a Charlie Kirk event were "hilarious" when debate was (allegedly) "the whole point of Charlie's life."

Then Bosch Fawstin, creator of the anti-jihad cartoon superhero PIGMAN, assailed Tucker online: "Fresh from his most recent visit to his beloved Qatar, and after Muslims murdered Jews in Australia, Islam whore @TuckerCarlson yells at Americans to stop 'attacking Americans because they’re Muslim' to a silent crowd."

Then Rev. Jordan Wells castigated Shapiro, going full Nazi Kanye: “F**K YOU Ben Shapiro and the midget horse you rode in on. Ben IS the Synagogue of Satan...Jews aren’t chosen anymore."

Then Megyn Kelly slammed Shapiro (or maybe also Owens) with, "Only cowards take to the national stage to attack their 'friends' without so much as a phone call," like when the girl who was the head of our middle-school chorus told me she was going to take all my friends away...I helped make him a star."

In a rare, startling break from the rancorous fray, the equally startlingly brown Vivek Ramaswamy then decried all the raging racism, arguing the idea of a “heritage American” is ridiculous, and immigrants who just received citizenship are as American as anyone else: "We believe in ideals." The audience, silent and dubious, largely ignored him.

Then whew, Don Jr. clumsily lumbered back into the mud by arguing the "real enemy" wasn't any of these creeps but "the radical left that murdered Charlie," though of course they didn't. Ever cringey, he called up his dad, shouting out to “Mr. President,” so Trump could, ever abusive, praise Charlie and menace his idiot first-born: "I hope my son’s doing a good job representing me. Otherwise, I’ll have to say ‘You’re fired, Don.' So thank you very much."

Other odd ducks popped up to offer their malevolent insights. Laura Loomer stormed she would not support any candidate "who brings Tucker Qatarlson on the campaign trail. If you aren’t willing to publicly call Islam a death cult, I can’t vote for you." Russell Brand - what happened to him? - attacked vaccines and sorta commended Fuentes and Owens: "They’re Christians like you and me. They’re broken human beings like you and me." The few merciful in the crowd applauded.

Online, also (mostly) unwelcome, Nick Fuentes lambasted the sinking, "do-nothing" Trump, his latest bonkers speech, the Epstein files, the Reiner baseness, the relentless "SCAM": "He’s not delivering. All he’s doing is talking. Everyone hates this administration. The whole thing is a bait and switch. A never-ending advertisement...The magic is gone." Also largely gone, MTG echoed him, blasting Shapiro attacking Tucker and Bondi redacting Epstein: "People are raging and walking away."

Still, into the vitriolic mayhem, dreamily, spookily smiling, with God on her side and Charlie on her shoulder, wafted the gold-festooned widow Erika Kirk, aka "Princess Griftsalot." Between the group's assets, Charlie's estate, and sympathy donations, the former Liberty U "Christo mouthpiece" and Arizona beauty queen and glossy new head of Turning Point is now worth about $100 million dollars. After Charlie's death, media reports suggested she'd bring more young women into the MAGA fold - "Conservative women see the future" - but most still voted for Kamala, evidently unmoved by Kirk's call and perfect make-up to leave careers behind and "submit" to their husbands. But MAGA remains entranced. Onstage, Shapiro burbled that "to judge the goodness of a man is to see the goodness of his wife and children," and Erika is "unsurpassed."

But, like many of us, not great with tech issues. Gliding onstage in a glam gold lamé suit amidst erupting fireworks and wild applause, her hair looped in a blonde crown of thorns, she fumbled witeFesth her iPad, couldn't turn it on and wryly announced, "You know, the enemy has thrown a lot of curve balls at us, and now one of them is my entire speech has been wiped." (Antifa Hacks 'R Us!) After lamenting its lost "stats (and) things we have going on," she decided "we're just gonna wing it," awkwardly roamed the stage, and happily declared that, speech or no, "Charlie is sitting in one of those back seats." Later, she managed to laugh off both "the greatest Freudian slip of all time" - presenting a Charlie Kirk Courage Award to a student, she praised him for "persisting with the same grift" - and the flub of Nicki Minaj calling J.D. "an assassin. Trilled Erika, "God is good!"

Kirk notably ended her appearance by proclaiming, "We are going to get my husband’s friend JD Vance elected," though God knows why anyone would choose to lift up the racist, unprincipled "mutton-loaf," "professional embarrassment" and "greatest example in our nation’s history of ignorant, unqualified and incompetent people being rewarded for their pigmentation." Speaking of: Appearing late in HateFest, JD went from dog-whistle to bullhorn by proudly boasting of a new America where, "You don't have to apologize for being white (supremacist) anymore." The rabid crowd roared, grateful to be free - Thank God almighty we are free at last - of the longtime shackles of white oppression. Online, a gazillion people reported they'd never felt the need to apologize for being white, though some conceded JD may have been asked to apologize for being an awful human being.

Because he's evidently never heard of the First Amendment or George Washington's vow of a country that "gives to bigotry no sanction,” Vance also made the outrageous claim, "The only thing that has truly served as an anchor (of) America is that we have been, and by the grace of God always will be, a Christian nation." Adding to his Christofascism, he slammed progressive Senate candidates Graham Platner in Maine and Jasmine Crockett in Texas - "We're gonna kick their ass" - declined to condemn MAGA extremists as long as they "love America" - ie: Nazis welcome - touted the regime's deportation, vaccine and anti-trans atrocities, blamed "far left" Dems for Kirk's death (again, not) and, the next day, lashed out at both Nick Fuentes and Jen Psaki for "attacking" Usha, sneering, "They can eat shit. That's my official policy as vice-president of the United States." He sounds nice.

On Sunday, unholy Mike Johnson declared the vituperative event "a defining moment" and an "epic battle (to) determine the future of our great republic." He also said he's going to work to put up a Charlie Kirk statue in D.C., because that's really what America needs right now. This, then, is what came of the latest, meanest fascist food fight: A promised statue of a bigot, a consensus Nazis are OK by us, the lingering fumes of many feuds among execrable humans. And the mystifying drop of Erika Kirk's "worldwide exclusive" "Debut Music Video" - though she made one in 2012 where she maybe lied a bit - "and it is straight fire!" It is also deeply, incomprehensibly bizarre, an AI, badly dubbed, make-up-slathered, insensate non-look-alike dabbing her eyes with dollar bills and a fake handkerchief, pushing a wheelbarrow of money, coyly babbling, "Where's my spotlight? Buy my book. This mascara don't run. Give me privacy or I will cry. Boss babes always lie." Say what? This timeline is killin' us.

- YouTube www.youtube.com

In a formal protest filed today with the U.S. Department of Energy, Public Citizen challenged an application to export electricity by the Wall Street bank Morgan Stanley.

Federal law mandates that “no person shall transmit any electric energy from the United States to a foreign country . . . [if] it finds that the proposed transmission would impair the sufficiency of electric supply within the United States.”

In the filing, Public Citizen argues that the Department of Energy’s repeated emergency declarations under Section 202c of the Federal Power Act—including the December 16 command to keep TransAlta’s coal-fired Centralia Generating Station in Washington State operating beyond its planned retirement—explicitly claim electricity shortages exist across the country that constitute a national energy emergency.

Tyson Slocum, director of Public Citizen’s Energy Program, issued the following statement:

“President Trump’s Secretary of Energy has a choice to make—keep forcing working families to pay higher electricity bills through his emergency bailouts of fossil fuel power plants or prioritize power exports for Wall Street banks. Either way, Trump’s failed energy policies have exacerbated America’s energy affordability crisis and exposed his campaign promise to slash America’s utility bills in half as a lie.”

Read the full complaint here.

Trump’s Department of the Interior just halted construction on all five offshore wind projects underway in the United States. The pauses impact these projects: Vineyard Wind 1, Revolution Wind, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind 1.

In response, Legislative Director Melinda Pierce released the following statement:

“Blocking construction on all offshore wind projects underway in the U.S. is an attack on our economy and our public health. The Trump administration’s vengeance towards renewable energy knows no end. Instead of progressing us forward as a nation, they are obsessed with attacking a growing industry that provides good clean energy jobs and affordable, clean electricity. Americans need cheaper and more reliable energy that does not come at the expense of our health and futures.”

This morning, Instacart announced it will end its use of AI-powered pricing experiments on consumers. The announcement follows the release of a bombshell report from Groundwork Collaborative, Consumer Reports, and More Perfect Union revealing Instacart charging shoppers different prices for identical items, a practice that could cost families as much as $1,200 a year in the midst of a national grocery affordability crisis.

The report generated widespread media coverage, sparked massive backlash on social media, and spurred a flurry of action on Capitol Hill, including a letter from Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to the Federal Trade Commission. Last week, the FTC launched an investigation into the company’s pricing practices, and Instacart’s stock price plummeted in response.

Groundwork Action’s Executive Director Lindsay Owens reacted with the following statement:

“Once we pulled back the curtain on Instacart’s hidden pricing experiments, the company had no choice but to close the lab. But it shouldn’t take investigative research, public outcry, and the threat of FTC action to convince companies not to treat consumers like lab rats. Instacart is far from the only corporation using AI technologies to determine exactly how much profit they can extract from their customers by overcharging them. It’s time for regulators to put a stop to corporate pricing schemes and take action to restore fair, predictable, and transparent pricing.”

Background:

• Last week, the FTC launched an investigation into Instacart’s Eversight pricing tool, which allows retailers on Instacart to experiment with different prices using AI and artificially drive prices higher.
• The investigation followed Groundwork Collaborative’s report with Consumer Reports and More Perfect Union, which found Instacart charged consumers wildly different prices for the exact same goods in the same store at the same time.
• The study involved 437 shoppers in live tests across four cities and found that:
  • Almost three quarters (74%) of grocery items in the experiment were offered to shoppers at multiple price points on Instacart.
  • Prices for the exact same item in the exact same store varied by up to 23% between shoppers.
• Researchers found that overall Instacart basket totals varied by an average of about 7%.
• Instacart’s price experimentation could cost the average household up to $1,200 every year in additional spending.

Last Thursday, five organizations from across the ideological spectrum sent a letter asking Congress to rein in the president’s domestic deployments of the National Guard. The letter follows yet another court ruling regarding the legality of the deployments. Noting that Trump’s National Guard deployments are “are foreign to our nation’s laws, history, and values,” the letter asks Congress to reassert its constitutional responsibility to prevent a president from establishing a “personal standing army on U.S. soil.” The groups signing the letter include Demand Progress, Mormon Women for Ethical Government, R Street Institute, Society for the Rule of Law Institute and The Rutherford Institute.

• Read the Letter

“Members of the Armed Forces, including the federalized National Guard, did not sign up to serve their countries only to be misused by politicians against their fellow Americans,” stated the letter. “They deserve better. And given the urgency and seriousness of this matter, lawmakers must act now, on behalf of both our military and our civilian communities. Congress must not idly wait for the federal courts to intervene.”

“Domestic deployment of the military carries profound risks to liberty, public safety and military readiness,” said Gregg Nunziata, Executive Director of the Society for the Rule of Law Institute. “The use of the military for domestic law enforcement should be considered only in extreme and unusual circumstances, for a brief duration and under rigorous oversight. The people’s representatives in Congress must assert their authority over these weighty matters and not simply defer to the whims of this or any future president.”

“MWEG’s members from across the country have felt a deep unease as they have watched domestic deployments of the military this year,” said Emma Addams, Co-Executive Director of Mormon Women for Ethical Government. “Their party affiliations and political ideologies may differ, but they are unified in urging Congress to represent them and use its power assertively and ethically on this matter.”

“Each time the president treats ordinary protest as rebellion and sends soldiers to enforce so-called ‘order’ in our cities, he’s not defending the nation—he’s dismantling the very freedoms that define it, all the while betraying the Constitution,” said John W. Whitehead, President of The Rutherford Institute.

“Using the military to address routine public safety issues fundamentally misunderstands the distinct roles that civilian law enforcement and the armed forces play in our society,” said Sarah Anderson, Associate Director of Criminal Justice and Civil Liberties at the R Street Institute. “Deploying troops to patrol American cities against the wishes of local officials risks undermining public trust, blurring essential legal boundaries and diverting attention from proven approaches that actually enhance safety and strengthen communities. Congress must act to preserve the bright line between military and law enforcement and ensure that our response to crime both protects liberty and relies on effective public safety strategies.”

“President Trump’s illegal deployments of the National Guard are a problem that transcends partisan politics,” said Demand Progress Policy Director Emily Peterson-Cassin. “No president, Republican or Democratic, should treat our armed forces as a personal posse to be used against their political enemies. Congress must intervene for the good of our Armed Forces and our Constitution.”

As 2025 comes to a close, Americans are taking stock of an economy that looks nothing like what Donald Trump promised. Instead of lower prices and stable jobs, working families are staring down the highest unemployment rate in four years, soaring costs, and the looming loss of health care for millions. Trump’s reckless tariffs have cost consumers and businesses $158 billion, leading to layoffs, less spending, and fewer presents under the tree. With prices for essentials still rising and consumer confidence freezing over, it is no surprise that a record number of Americans put Trump’s economic performance on the naughty list this holiday season.

Groundwork Collaborative’s Chief of Policy and Advocacy Alex Jacquez released the following statement:

“This was supposed to be the year Trump lowered prices. Instead, he stuffed America’s stockings with coal. Families are heading into the holidays facing snowballing costs on everything from toys and groceries to health care and utilities, yet Trump continues to call affordability a hoax. As working families yearn for the ghost of economies past, let’s hope the Scrooge in the White House makes a resolution to stop gaslighting Americans and get serious about bringing costs down in the new year.”

This week in the Trump Slump, new polling and economic indicators continue to show that President Trump’s actions are deeply unpopular, hurting the economy, and harming America’s workers.

Polling and Economic Indicators on Trump’s Handling of the Economy:

• Less than one-third (31%) of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of the economy. Net approval of Trump and his handling of the economy specifically have both plummeted throughout the year. It’s no fluke, the polling aggregate below shows that the economy went from being his greatest strength to his biggest liability.

• With job openings shrinking, the labor market is leaving workers stuck. The United States lost 105,000 jobs in October and gained just 64,000 in November, while the unemployment rate rose to 4.6 percent, with more Americans out of work than any month since October 2021.
  • The number of people working part time for economic reasons rose to 5.5 million in November, an increase of about 909,000 since September, as Americans are unable to find full-time employment.
• The manufacturing slump is showing no signs of easing. The S&P Flash US Manufacturing PMI dropped to 51.8 in December, a 5-month low as inventories continue to pile up, resulting in factories cutting back on input buying for the first time since April. And despite Trump’s promises to bring manufacturing jobs back, 5,000 manufacturing jobs were lost in November, sinking to its lowest level in nearly four years, while transportation and warehousing have lost 78,000 jobs since Trump took office.
  • Regionally, the data paints a similar picture. New York State manufacturing sank in December, with the general business conditions index tumbling 23 points to -3.9. Similarly, in the Philadelphia region, general activity fell 9 points to -10.2 in December, marking a third consecutive negative reading with about 62% of the firms reporting that uncertainty was at least a slight constraint to capacity utilization in the current quarter.
• Tariffs are taking billions from the pockets of consumers. Trump’s tariffs have cost American consumers nearly $160 billion since February. The average American family has already paid nearly $1,200 in tariff costs since Trump took office, and will pay another $2,100 on average next year if tariffs remain at the same level.

• Consumers are feeling the pinch, as high prices keep squeezing budgets. U.S. retail and food services sales stalled in October, according to the Commerce Department’s report released this week, as consumers tightened their budgets. Sales were unchanged in October, after a modest 0.1% increase in September.
  • Nearly half of U.S. consumers (48%) say they are cutting back on non-essential purchases, and among households earning under $50,000, 65% report that it has been harder to afford holiday gifts this season, according to an AP-NORC poll.
  • Inflation continues to pressure American households, with headline and core CPI running around 2.7% and 2.6% year over year, well above the Fed’s 2% target. Economists expect the shutdown to have biased these figures downward, masking a likely even higher true pace of inflation.
    • 74% of Americans, including 68% of Trump voters, say they would need to see a decline in prices to be convinced that inflation and the costs are no longer a problem.
• Consumers wrapped up the year feeling pessimistic. The University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment Index is 30% lower this December than a year ago, as affordability remains a major concern for Americans. The Current Economic Conditions Index reached the lowest level on record this December at 50.4, and 63% of consumers still expect unemployment to rise over the next year.

Expert Commentary:

• “At a time when families are being squeezed by the highest grocery costs in a generation, Instacart chose to run AI experiments that are quietly driving prices higher. While the FTC’s investigation is welcome news, it must be followed with meaningful action that ends these exploitative pricing schemes and protects consumers. Instacart must face consequences for their algorithmic price gouging, not just a slap on the wrist.” – Lindsay Owens, Executive Director of Groundwork Collaborative.
• “Everybody’s afraid for their jobs. I’m dead serious […] I talked to homebuilders; they were saying the biggest reason people are not buying homes is that they’re worried about losing their jobs…It’s not about interest rates; price matters, but it’s really like, ‘Am I guaranteed I’m going to be able to make the payment in six months,’ and that’s what people are scared of.” – Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller at a Yale University CEO Summit.
• “Firms have also lost some confidence in the outlook and have restricted their hiring in December in accordance with the more challenging business environment. A key concern is rising costs, with inflation jumping sharply to its highest since November 2022, which fed through to one of the steepest increases in selling charges for the past three years. Higher prices are again being widely blamed on tariffs, with an initial impact on manufacturing now increasingly spilling over to services to broaden the affordability problem.” –Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence:
• “ […] The data show that the labor market has continued to cool, with labor demand softening more than supply. Job growth has been anemic, and the unemployment rate has moved up steadily in recent months […] In the Conference Board’s consumer confidence survey, a measure of the difference between the share of respondents who think jobs are plentiful and the share of those who think jobs are hard to get has declined throughout 2025.“ –John C. Williams, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York at the New Jersey Bankers Association.

Veterans For Peace unequivocally rejects the Trump administration’s escalating attacks and threats of war against Venezuela. The U.S. seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker and President Trump’s unilateral declaration of a naval blockade of Venezuela and closure of its air space constitute a brazen escalation of military aggression and a violation of both the U.S. Constitution and international law.

The U.S. has continually attacked Venezuela since the inception of the Bolivarian Revolution a quarter-century ago. In 2002, a U.S.-backed military coup temporarily ousted then President Hugo Chávez before the Venezuelan people rose up and reinstated him. His successor, President Nicolas Maduro, has also survived several CIA-backed attempts to kidnap and assassinate him.

In 2015, U.S. President Obama falsely declared Venezuela an “extraordinary threat” to U.S. national security, a baseless position that justified imposing U.S. sanctions. Each subsequent U.S. president has expanded economic warfare to steal Venezuelan assets and to isolate Venezuela from global trade and international finance. The Venezuelan economy initially went into freefall, but with help from international partners, Venezuelans have recently begun to reverse the economic decline.

Despite the U.S. government’s failure to overthrow Venezuelan sovereignty, these interventions have inflicted untold suffering on the Venezuelan population. It is estimated that over 100,000 Venezuelans have died in recent years as a result of U.S. economic warfare. Far from being an alternative to war, U.S. sanctions are a form of warfare, and are often a prelude to military intervention.

Washington has increasingly resorted to violence to achieve what it could not accomplish through economic and political intervention. The U.S. has now amassed a huge armada of war ships off Venezuela’s coast in a blatant attempt at regime change and the seizure of Venezuela’s oil reserves, the largest known oil reserves in the world.

As veterans of U.S. wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan—wars based on lies that killed millions—we see through the familiar justifications for this latest escalation. Just as the “weapons of mass destruction” narrative led to the invasion of Iraq, today’s “war on drugs” rationale ring hollow, especially after Trump’s recent pardon of a major drug trafficker.

A war on Venezuela would be patently illegal. The UN Charter declares no country has the right “to intervene, overtly or covertly, in the internal affairs of other nations.” In order for a war to be legal under international law, it must clearly be in self-defense, and it must be approved by the UN Security Council. Furthermore, the U.S. Constitution gives the power to declare war to the Congress, not to the President. Even a Congressional declaration of war would violate international law and the democratic will of the U.S. people, 70% of whom oppose going to war against Venezuela, according to recent opinion polls.

Veterans For Peace demands that the U.S. government withdraws its military forces from the Caribbean and abandons its campaign of regime change in Venezuela and throughout Latin America. We call on all U.S. military personnel to fulfill their legal and moral obligation to refuse unlawful orders to participate in illegal wars or war crimes. When you take such a moral and courageous stance, Veterans For Peace and many others will stand with you.

United States federal immigration enforcement agents now commonly operate masked and without visible identification, compounding the abusive and unaccountable nature of the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign, Human Rights Watch said today. The indefinite and widespread nature of these practices is fundamentally inconsistent with the United States’ obligations to ensure that law enforcement abuses are investigated and met with accountability.

“Law enforcement officers must be identifiable to be accountable,” said Belkis Wille, associate crisis and conflict director at Human Rights Watch. “This kind of secrecy should be an exception, never the norm, and it’s even more alarming given the widespread abuses associated with immigration arrests in recent months.”

Since President Donald Trump’s return to office in January 2025, his administration has carried out an abusive campaign of immigration raids and arrests, primarily of people of color, across the country. Many of the raids target places where Latino people work, shop, eat, and live. The agents have seized people in courthouses and at regularly-scheduled appointments with immigration officials, as well as in places of worship, schools, and other sensitive locations. Many raids have been marked by the sudden and unprovoked use of force without any justification, creating a climate of fear in many immigrant communities.

These immigration enforcement operations have often involved Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents wearing masks and, in some cases, civilian clothes. Agents are regularly concealing agency insignias and using unmarked vehicles to detain people who are in their cars and at courthouses, schools, workplaces, homes, on the street, and in public transport.

On its website, ICE justifies the widespread practice of masking “to prevent doxing.” This kind of generalized, blanket justification for concealing officers’ identity is not compatible with US human rights obligations, except when necessary and proportionate to address particular safety concerns, Human Rights Watch said. When applied as a broad, default approach, such measures serve as a barrier to accountability inconsistent with US human rights obligations. Anonymity also weakens deterrence, fosters conditions for impunity, and chills the exercise of rights.

Human Rights Watch interviewed 18 people who witnessed arrests by or who were arrested by unidentifiable people in five US cities since January 20. They all described the incidents as frightening, with a sense that they couldn’t do anything if they were abused, especially with the agents unidentifiable. Human Rights Watch also reviewed dozens of videos of stops and arrests involving masked agents posted on social media.

In one example, on March 25 at about 5:15 p.m., at least six officers, all in civilian dress and unmarked vehicles, without identifying themselves, confronted and stopped Tufts University graduate student Rümeysa Öztürk, 30, who was apparently targeted for writing an opinion piece in a student newspaper calling on Tufts to “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide” and divest from investments connected to Israel. Öztürk, who had been living in the United States for six years, told Human Rights Watch about the incident, which was also captured on CCTV footage.

Öztürk was walking on the street when several masked people approached her, forcibly took her phone and backpack, and placed her in handcuffs. Öztürk said when she asked who they were and to see their badges, one said they were “police” and one flashed a gold necklace, but she did not see a badge attached, and it did not help her identify them. In the footage, a bystander is heard asking the agents: “Why are you hiding your faces?” Öztürk said she was not shown any paperwork justifying her arrest. She was then forcibly removed from the state and wrongfully detained.

“It was a horrible feeling,” Öztürk said. “I didn’t think that they were the police because I had never seen police approach and take someone away like this. I thought they were people who were doxing me, and I was genuinely very afraid for my safety… As a woman who’s traveled and lived alone in various countries for my studies, I’ve never experienced intense fear for my safety—until that moment.”

One woman who has witnessed numerous raids and stops in Chicago since August said: “I’ve had experiences with agents who refused to identify themselves. That adds another level of fear. These are not identifiable police officers who could be held publicly accountable.” A man from Washington, DC, who has also witnessed numerous arrests by masked ICE agents since August, said these tactics have “completely destroyed any trust we’ve had for local and federal law enforcement.”

Many observers have suggested that the terror these tactics instill is by design. One US District Court judge asserted in a ruling that “ICE goes masked for a single reason—to terrorize Americans into quiescence… We have never tolerated an armed masked secret police.” The court dismissed ICE’s stated rationale for masking as “disingenuous, squalid and dishonorable.”

In recent months, media outlets have reported on people posing as federal agents kidnapping, sexually assaulting, and extorting victims, exploiting fears of immigration enforcement. This demonstrates how the lines can be blurred between criminals and law enforcement officers when federal agents themselves are unidentifiable, Human Rights Watch said.

Several states are taking steps to pass legislation to restrict law enforcement officers from concealing their identities during public interactions. It is unlikely these initiatives would be enforceable. At the federal level, the proposed VISIBLE Act, backed by Senators Cory Booker and Alex Padilla, would mandate legible identification and prohibit nonmedical face coverings for immigration enforcement officers.

Congress should investigate the brutality of the ongoing immigration enforcement activities, including the specific impacts of unidentifiable agents carrying out stops and arrests on impeding investigations and accountability efforts, Human Rights Watch said.

“Allowing masked, unidentified agents to roam communities and apprehend people without identifying themselves erodes trusts in the rule of law and creates a dangerous vacuum where abuses can flourish, exacerbating the unnecessary violence and brutality of the arrests,” Wille said.

Investigators tested popular AI chatbots – ChatGPT, MetaAI and Grok – to see whether they provided climate disinformation, and whether they were more inclined to provide climate disinfo to users with conspiratorial beliefs than those without.

Language around the recent COP30 climate talks put forward by Grok – the chatbot of social media platform X – included calling conference attendees “globalist parasites”, COP’s agreements “genocide by policy” and suggested users could “Scream ‘Treason’ in the comments if you’re awake’”.

The Global Witness investigation revealed variance among the chatbots tested, with some of the AI chatbots:

• Sharing climate disinformation tropes
• Amplifying climate denial influencers
• Raising conspiracist doubts about initiatives to tackle disinformation
• Greenwashing AI’s contributions to climate change

In tests, investigators presented the chatbots with two personas – one "mainstream" with conventional scientific beliefs, and a "sceptic" with more conspiratorial beliefs. Importantly, neither persona revealed any beliefs about climate to the AI.

Grok endorsed widespread conspiracism to the sceptic persona and offered ways to be more inflammatory and outrageous on social media. To the sceptic user, Grok said:

• Brazil’s climate talks were “another big, expensive show for the global elite” and the “climate ‘crisis’ = long-term, uncertain & politicised”;
• Statements questioning whether climate data was being manipulated; and,
• “you’ll feel policy pain long before any weather pain” despite heat-related deaths rising by thousands due to climate change.

Global Witness Senior Campaigner Henry Peck said:

“It is deeply concerning that some of the world’s most popular chatbots are poisoning public understanding of settled climate science and pushing people down rabbit warrens of disinformation.

“For decades the fight against climate change has often been fought and lost in the court of public opinion. That fight is increasingly online.

“As AI becomes increasingly prevalent as a way of accessing information, we must remember that this technology can never be truly agnostic. Far from being arbiters of scientific truth, chatbots are revealing more about their makers than the user.

“Regulators must scrutinise how AI is personalising content and how the user interfaces prompt or encourage potentially harmful behaviour.”

Global Witness believes users who may be more receptive to climate disinformation because of their other beliefs deserve to be given access to reliable, high-quality information about climate.

Campaigners said it should be possible for chatbots to share personalised and relevant information without endorsing misleading claims or unreliable sources. While still sharing misleading claims, ChatGPT gave a warning where it recommended climate sceptics or climate denialists.

Meanwhile MetaAI made similar recommendations to both personas, that also included climate activists and official climate bodies.

Global Witness contacted the companies behind Grok and ChatGPT to give them an opportunity to comment on the report findings but neither responded.

Last year, Global Witness revealed that some mainstream chatbots were failing to adequately reflect fossil fuel companies’ complicity in the climate crisis. Since then, the promotion of generative AI has exploded, leading some to warn of overblown company valuations and fears of a global bubble.

Climate disinformation was on the agenda at the recent COP30, with the Brazilian president having dubbed the summit "the COP of truth" and a Declaration on Information Integrity on Climate Change having been endorsed by at least 12 countries.

Reacting to the agreements between the European Parliament and Council on new EU asylum rules, which undermine the very foundation of refugee protection, Olivia Sundberg Diez, the EU Advocate on Migration and Asylum at Amnesty International said:

“This is an unprecedented attack on asylum in the EU, which must be understood in the context of a vast array of punitive deportation measures, still under negotiation. This shameless attempt to sidestep international legal obligations further shifts EU responsibility for refugee protection to countries outside Europe and is far from a humane migration policy that upholds people’s dignity.

“Changes to the ‘safe third country’ concept will mean that people seeking asylum in the EU may see their applications rejected without review, they could be sent to countries to which they have no connection and may have never set foot in before. Today’s agreement marks an abdication from the EU’s commitment to refugee protection and paves the way for EU member states brokering agreements with third countries for the offshore processing of asylum claims.

“Today’s deal also introduces an EU-wide list of countries of origin that are considered ‘safe’, placing a burden on people seeking asylum to prove otherwise. This undermines the individual assessment of protection claims, and raises yet another hurdle in the legal maze that will undoubtedly see people at risk denied the protection they need.”

Background

On December 18, the European Parliament and Council agreed on proposed rules amending the ‘safe third country’ concept in the EU Asylum Procedures Regulation, as well as introducing an EU-wide ‘safe countries of origin’ list.

The rules will make it easier for member states to apply the ‘safe third country’ concept to reject asylum applications as inadmissible, without an examination of their merits, and to forcibly transfer people seeking safety to countries to which they have no connection, or that they may have only transited through. These rules will apply from June 2026, alongside the rest of the Pact on Migration and Asylum.

The new EU-wide list of safe countries of origin includes Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, Kosovo, India, Morocco and Tunisia, as well as EU accession candidate countries (with exceptions). Nationals from these countries will be presumed not to be in need of protection and will be channeled through an accelerated asylum procedure, detracting from an individualized assessment of their claims. Provisions expanding the designations of ‘safe countries of origin’ may apply immediately.

Today, the American Civil Liberties Union condemned the Trump administration’s latest proposals to implement two nationwide rules that would significantly shut down access to gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth. The proposed measures follow the recent House passage of legislation aimed at criminalizing such care and represent an unprecedented federal intrusion into the private medical decisions of families and their doctors.

The administration’s proposal seeks to prohibit the provision of evidence-based, medically necessary care for transgender people under 18—care that is supported by every major medical association in the United States, including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

“These gratuitous proposals are cruel and unconstitutional attacks on the rights of transgender youth and their families,” said Chase Strangio, Co-Director of the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Rights Project. “By attempting to strip away essential healthcare, the administration is not 'protecting' anyone; it is weaponizing the federal government to target a vulnerable population for political gain. Healthcare decisions belong to families and their doctors, not politicians. The latest proposals from the administration would force doctors to choose between their ethical obligations to their patients and the threat of losing federal funding. It would uproot families who have already fled state-level bans, leaving them with nowhere to turn for the care they need to survive and thrive.

“We have seen the devastating consequences of similar policies at the state level, and we have fought them every step of the way. Let us be clear: If this administration moves forward with this attempt to enact a national ban on our medical care through coercion, the ACLU will see them in court. We will not rest until the rights of transgender youth to live authentically and access the care they need are fully protected.”

Following a bombshell report from Groundwork Collaborative, Consumer Reports, and More Perfect Union revealing that Instacart uses AI to run pricing experiments on consumers, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) yesterday launched an investigation into the company’s pricing schemes.

The report found that Instacart showed different shoppers different prices for the exact same groceries, a scheme that could cost families more than $1,200 a year at checkout. It sparked immediate scrutiny of Instacart’s opaque pricing tools and raised fresh questions about how corporations are using AI to quietly drive up costs for consumers amid a nationwide affordability crisis.

Groundwork Action’s Executive Director Lindsay Owens reacted with the following statement:

“At a time when families are being squeezed by the highest grocery costs in a generation, Instacart chose to run AI experiments that are quietly driving prices higher. While the FTC’s investigation is welcome news, it must be followed with meaningful action that ends these exploitative pricing schemes and protects consumers. Instacart must face consequences for their algorithmic price gouging, not just a slap on the wrist.”

The awful keeps spewing. The latest proof there is truly, repulsively no bottom: The most broken, powerful human being on the planet has added to his crappy, reality-show "Presidential Walk of Fame" bronze plaques below the photos denoting a boorish, revisionist "history" of each president. Inevitably, he saves the crudest insults for his predecessors - "divisive" Obama, "crooked" Biden - while praising his own supreme reign. America on the fucking, endless, childish ugly of it: "This is so exhausting."

As always, there are of course more substantive horrors underway. Pam Bondi has told the FBI to create a list of domestic terrorist groups - the non-existent Antifa and anyone else who espouses “radical gender ideology, anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism or anti-Christianity” - and establish a "cash reward system" to encourage them to snitch on each other.

Anti-vax crackpot RFK Jr's Health and Human Services (sic) has terminated seven multi-million-dollar grants to the American Academy of Pediatrics, one of the crackpot's harshest critics, for initiatives aimed at reducing sudden infant death, improving adolescent health, preventing fetal alcohol syndrome, identifying autism early and other worthy goals. Officials said it was because the group used "identity-based language," including "racial disparities" and "pregnant people."

Pee Wee German Stephen Miller has issued a fascist mission statement in support of our upcoming war against Venezulela, arguing the U.S. has long "operated as a 'reverse empire'" that enriched foreign nations and sacrificed our wealth and security while "all we got in return were migrants." "No more," he raves. "America's might will secure America's rights...For Americans, first and always." By which, many clarified, he means, "rich white people. Everyone else to the camps." Other comments: "Sounds like Chap. 15 in Mein Kampf," "Sounds better in the original German," and, "Miller is a grotesque, shrill, squirrel of a thing."

All of these efforts, lest we forget, have been undertaken to please what Avatar director James Cameron calls "the most narcissistic asshole in history since fucking Nero," the small, sick, empty shell of a man who's now added plaques to the photos along his cheesy "Presidential Walk of Fame" outside the West Wing "as a tribute to past Presidents, good, bad and somewhere in the middle." As you can tell, as Press Barbie brags, and "as a student of history" (sic), the president himself authored "many of its eloquently written descriptions." So that's what he's been doing when not playing golf. One patriot: "Well done, dumbass."

They are, of course, crude, juvenile, self-serving garbage. Reagan's plaque boasts he was "a fan" of Trump. Bill Clinton's notes "his wife Hillary" lost to Trump. The plaque for "Barack Hussein Obama" acknowledges him as our first Black President before calling him "one of the most divisive political figures in American history." He allegedly "passed the highly ineffective Unaffordable Care Act," caused the spread of ISIS (no mention of W's contributions), weaponized federal bureaucracies against opponents, spied on Trump's 2016 campaign and created "the Russia Russia Russia hoax, the worst political scandal in American history." Sigh.

Biden, already trolled with the image of an autopen - the eloquent author is 12 - gets worse. "Sleepy Joe Biden was, by far, the worst President in American History." He "took office (in) the most corrupt Election ever seen" and "oversaw a series of unprecedented disasters that brought our nation to the brink of destruction" - pot/kettle - with high inflation, weaponized law enforcement, Green New Scam, "abolishing" the Southern Border, insane asylums, "Afghanistan Disaster." His "devastating weakness" made Russia invade Ukraine and Hamas attack Israel. He issued "blanket pardons to Radical Democrat thugs" and "the Biden crime family." Sigh redux.

But "despite it all" - trumpets please - the manchild king triumphed in a landslide to "SAVE AMERICA!" Now he's "delivered" on his promise to "usher in the Golden Age of America," and "THE BEST IS YET TO COME!" Some beg to differ. They suggest his plaque should read, "Pedophile, Narcissist, Rapist, and Convicted Felon." They marvel, "Damn, his dick really is that tiny." They exclaim, "This is insane," "What the actual fuck," "God I hate this man," "This is embarrassing," and, "I am at my wit's end." In all, notes Canadian pundit Dean Blundell, "The United States of America is going through some things right now."

Wednesday night, in a "prime time unraveling," there was more. Trump's demented "nothingburger" of a speech was briefly, brutally summarized by a weary America as his "Pettysburg Address," "This is what presidential panic looks like," "Stop talking about Epstein," "the Worst Wing," proof "there is no bottom to Trump's shittiness," "screaming at Americans to like him," "a shitshow performance," "Tune in next week for another 'Nazis On Drugs,'" "authoritarian fantasy at its finest" - egg prices down 82%, the first peace in the Middle East in 3,000 years - and from Newsom, 100 "Me Me Me Me Me's." Fom us, "Fucking quiet Piggy."

Fairplay, the leading nonprofit committed to helping children thrive in a screen-obsessed culture, released the following statement today in response to Mattel's announcement that it's delaying the release of the first toy made through its partnership with OpenAI.

Rachel Franz, Director of Fairplay's Young Children Thrive Offline program, said: "We appreciate that Mattel has heard the concerns of our coalition of experts and advocates and is delaying the release of the first toy from its partnership with OpenAI. Given the threat that AI poses to children's development, not to mention their safety and privacy, such caution is more than warranted.

"We urge Mattel to make this delay permanent. As Fairplay's recent, first-of-its kind advisory shows, AI toys are not safe for kids. They disrupt children's relationships, invade family privacy, displace key learning activities, and more.

"Mattel has an opportunity to be a real leader here — not in the race to the bottom to hook kids on AI — but in putting children's needs first and scrapping its plans for AI toys altogether."

Read Fairplay's AI toys advisory.

Human Rights Watch today published a detailed question-and-answer document analyzing the Trump administration’s boat strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific. To date, 26 reported strikes have unlawfully killed at least 95 people, none of whom the US government has identified.

The Question-and-Answer document is intended as a resource for understanding the legal and human rights implications of the United States military campaign. The document explains why the strikes constitute extrajudicial killings under international human rights law and addresses the administration’s claims that the US is embroiled in an armed conflict with “narco-terrorists.”

It further lays out the United States’ obligations to investigate unlawful killings, hold accountable those responsible, and provide effective remedies. It identifies concrete steps Congress should take, including holding public hearings, mandating independent investigations, and creating a select committee investigate legal and operational decisions behind the strikes.

Responding to the U.S. military’s Southern Command’s announcement of three air strikes in the Eastern Pacific Ocean killing eight people, Amnesty International USA’s Director of Security and Human Rights, Daphne Eviatar, said:

“With three air strikes killing eight people, Monday was the deadliest day since October in the U.S. military’s horrific, illegal campaign in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean.

“This ramping up of the bombing campaign despite increased pressure from Congress signals the administration’s total disregard for the law. Congress must do everything in its power to rein in this administration’s lawless behavior. Congress must exercise its oversight power to ask how these decisions are made, what intelligence is being used, and what the legal justification the administration is claiming and push back forcefully on these illegal actions.

“The latest killings, which bring the total to at least 95 since early September, amount to extrajudicial executions, a form of murder, in clear violation of both domestic and international law.

“Intercepting purported drug boats is a law enforcement operation, subject to policing standards derived from international human rights law, which holds that all people have the rights to life and to a fair trial and only allows states to use lethal force when an imminent threat to life exists and less extreme means, like capture, are insufficient.

“A state intentionally killing someone outside those circumstances is committing an extrajudicial execution, no matter what crime the person is alleged to have committed.”

Background

Since September 2, the U.S. military has undertaken a series of air strikes in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific which have killed at least 95 people, allegedly targeting drug cartels, who White House officials refer to as “narco-terrorists.” Thus far, the administration has not shown any evidence for its claims against the people it has killed.

This morning at 10:00am EST, Economic Liberties Senior Legal Fellow Katherine Van Dyck will testify in front of the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education at a hearing titled, “Benched: The Crisis in American Youth Sports and Its Cost to Our Future.” The hearing will examine the growing role of private equity and financial consolidation in youth sports; the resulting rise in costs for families; declining access and participation; and the broader consequences for children’s health, safety, and community life.

“Youth sports in our country are beloved traditions and great equalizers, a place where children from all backgrounds can come together, learn teamwork and fair play, and build shared community bonds,” said Katherine Van Dyck, Senior Legal Fellow at the American Economic Liberties Project. “But it is quickly becoming the next victim of a financialized economy that has taken over virtually every aspect of American life. Private equity companies have been quietly and systematically capturing the youth sports industry across the United States, turning what was once an affordable public good into a profit-extraction machine. It is the same playbook that private equity used to consolidate industries as varied as veterinary clinics, nursing homes, hospitals, and firetrucks—stripping assets, raising prices, and degrading quality, and the consequences are devastating.”

Ms. Van Dyck’s testimony details how years of state and local budget cuts, combined with unfunded federal mandates and weak oversight, created a void that private equity firms have filled through serial acquisitions and vertical integration. She explains how dominant firms now control leagues, tournaments, facilities, apparel, technology platforms, travel and streaming services, and even governing bodies, allowing them to eliminate competition and force families into costly, non-negotiable arrangements. As a result, families now spend thousands of dollars per year on youth sports, participation gaps based on income are widening, and children face higher risks of burnout, overuse injuries, and exploitation.

“Private equity has become a predatory force in our society. It harms our children and threatens the stability of American society for profit, and it has turned its sights on youth sports,” Ms. Van Dyck added. “It is exploiting parents’ love for their children and their desire to give them opportunities to learn, grow, and succeed.”

In her testimony, Ms. Van Dyck calls on Congress to take bold action, including increased antitrust scrutiny of consolidation in youth sports, stronger consumer protection rules for families, and clear limits on private equity practices that prioritize financial engineering over children’s wellbeing. She argues that youth sports should not be a luxury good, but a broadly accessible public good essential to healthy childhood development and civic life.

Read Katherine Van Dyck’s full written testimony here.

Watch the full hearing here.

Learn more about Economic Liberties here.

In response to today’s jobs report, Center for Economic and Policy Research Senior Economist Dean Baker released the following statement:

“The labor market continued to weaken in November. The unemployment rate rose to 4.6 percent, the highest level since September 2021.The economy generated just 64,000 jobs in the last two months, all of them in healthcare. And wage growth fell to 3.5 percent over the last year, only slightly higher than the rate of inflation. The unemployment rate for Black workers rose to 8.6 percent, the highest since August of 2021. This a story of the continued weakening of the labor market that we have seen since early this year.”

So much darkness. Along with all the rest, in quick succession, the shootings at Brown and Bondi Beach, the murder of director and activist Rob Reiner and his wife Michele, and then the responses. To the beloved Reiner's awful end, a sick man-child spewed vile, loathsome filth that "says it all" about who he is. To the hateful attack on Jews, a Muslim man stood up for humanity with selfless grace and courage, a beacon of hope. Cometh the hour, cometh the man.

Rob Reiner, 78, and his producer wife Michele Singer Reiner, 68, were found dead in their L.A. home on Sunday; their troubled son Nick, 32, was arrested and booked for murder for their gruesome deaths. Reiner was not just Hollywood aristocracy, All In the Family's pacifist "Meathead" who went on to become the buoyant director of classics like This Is Spinal Tap, Stand By Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally; he was a fierce, thoughtful defender of democracy and decades-long advocate for causes he believed in - marriage equality, child development services, and taxing the rich for worthwhile goals like funding universal preschool with, brilliantly, a tobacco tax. Willing to speak out "when silence was simply easier," said one friend, "Rob chose clarity. He stood for truth and accountability, unapologetically." His work featured "a deep belief in the goodness of people - and a lifelong commitment to putting that belief into action," said Barack Obama. "Together, he and his wife lived lives defined by purpose."

In grotesque contrast is the malignant narcissist and "one of the worst humans to have ever poisoned the planet" who responded to a personal tragedy by raving it was due to Reiner's "massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction (of) TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME (with) his obvious paranoia reaching new heights as (we) surpassed all goals and expectations of greatness." Some reactions: "Insane," "Fucking grotesque,” “a monstrosity,”, “DESPICABLE,” "This is a sick man." Evangelical Russell Moore: "How this vile, disgusting, and immoral behavior has become normalized (is) something our descendants will study in school." "Goodness is determined by the way you move through this world," pastor John Pavloviitz writes. "Objectively speaking, (Trump) is the very worst humanity has produced," a "moral bottom-feeder" without scruples as are those who persist in supporting him. "He is simply a bad human being." In other words, said one sage on the grievous loss of Reiner, "In a world full of Archie Bunkers, be a Meathead."

Or, on the other side of the world, an Ahmed el-Ahmed, the heroic, 43-year-old Muslim Syrian, small tobacco shop and fruit stand owner, father of two young daughters and Australian citizen who, in now-viral video, crept up between cars to wrestle with and disarm one of two father-son shooters who killed 15 people Sunday night at a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney's popular Bondi Beach. In the riveting video we see Ahmed, who has no experience with guns, seize the rifle and tentatively point it at the shooter, who stumbles to the ground, stands dazed and small with no weapon, and scrambles away. Ahmed gently leans the gun against a tree, and raises one hand in the air to show police he's innocent of any crime. Later, his cousin Jozay Alkanj.Alkanj said the two had gone out to get coffee, walked by the event, and had just been offered some food when gunfire suddenly erupted. Ahmed turned to his cousin and said, "I’m going to die - please see my family and tell them I went down to try to save people's lives."

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Later footage shows the gunman, the 50-year-old father of the pair, join his son at a small bridge, grab another weapon, and continue firing. Either he or the son, 24, eventually hit Ahmed four or five times, in the arm and shoulder. Police later killed the father, who reportedly arrived in Australia in 1998 on a student visa and had amassed six guns, all legally, over the past decade. The Australian-born son was shot and wounded by police, and is in the hospital. Ahmed is at St. George Hospital in Kogarah; he lost a lot of blood and is now recovering from his first surgery, with at least two more to follow. Sam Issa, his immigration attorney, said Ahmed arrived in the country in 2006, had to overcome multiple obstacles and appeals before getting citizenship in 2022, and feels "indebted" to the Australian community. "He makes a great citizen, and he has worked very hard," he said. "Ahmed is a humble man. He just did what he was compelled to do as a human being on that day."

Another cousin, Mustafa al-Asaad, said Ahmed told him in the hospital he didn't know what came over him in that moment, but "God gave me strength." "When he saw people dying and their families being shot, he couldn't bear it," he said. "It was a humanitarian act more than anything else. It was a matter of conscience." Ahmed's parents, Mohamed Fateh al-Ahmed and Malakeh Hasan al-Ahmed only arrived in Sydney two months ago, and hadn't seen their son since 2006. "I feel pride and honor because my son is a hero of Australia," said his father Mohamed, who added Ahmed had "served with the police. He has the passion to defend people." He stressed Ahmed "wasn’t thinking about the background of the people he’s saving, he doesn’t discriminate between one nationality and another." Echoing him, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese noted they'd just seen both the worst and best of humanity: “We have seen Australians today run towards danger in order to help others, and strangers."

For many, the grim - and in Australia, rare - horror of another mass shooting was partly eased by a the bravery of a Syrian-Australian migrant they saw as "the best of us in the darkest of times." "In a moment of chaos and danger, he stepped forward without hesitation," wrote organizers of a GoFundMe that's raised over $2 million for Ahmed and his family. "No one expects to be a hero, but when the moment came, he was." Moved donors called Ahmed "a beacon of hope for what mankind can be when we stand as one," "a shining light in an otherwise bleak time," "a Righteous among the Nations," "a light of hope for the world." A Muslim man saving Jewish families, one wrote, "shows the world what truly matters - humanity above all else." Outside the hospital, strangers brought flowers. Said one woman: "My husband is Russian, my father is Jewish, my grandpa is Muslim. This is not only about Bondi, this is about every person." Said Ahmed inside, groggy as he was wheeled into surgery: "Pray for us."

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