this happened as described in the Post report, it was, at best, a war crime under federal law. I say "at best" because, as regular readers know, I believe the attacks on these suspected drug boats " without congressional authorization, under circumstances in which the boat operators pose no military threat to the United States, and given that narcotics trafficking is defined in federal law as a crime rather than as terrorist activity, much less an act or war " are lawless and therefore that the killings are not legitimate under the law or armed conflict. (See my Saturday column, with links to prior posts on this subject.) Read more
When a presidential administration abruptly stops releasing the most important economic indicators " GDP, inflation, jobs, consumer spending " Americans must ask a blunt question: What are they trying to hide? Over the last two months, the Trump administration has done something no modern administration has dared: it cancelled or delayed a series of essential federal economic reports. These include the GDP estimate, the monthly CPI inflation report, major consumer spending data, and the October jobs report. Some cancellations appear unprecedented. What makes the pattern even more suspicious is the timing. The same White House that rushed to celebrate the flattering September jobs report is suddenly silent now that signs of economic cooling are emerging.
David W. Chen talked to voters and Republican and Democratic activists in Hogansville, LaGrange and Valdosta, Ga., to unpack the recent elections for the Georgia Public Service Commission. Read more
The picture of weed shared by many older Americans, drawn from their own college years, helped ease the path of legalization. Weed, the mellow drug. The Cheech-and-Chong drug. The Grateful-Dead-road-trip drug. The munchies drug. The drug that, if anything, makes you overly cautious behind the wheel. Dowd thought of marijuana along similar lines " that is, until she tried the legalized stuff for herself and nearly lost her ever-loving mind. Since then, weed potency has only intensified, with some concentrates reaching near-pure levels of THC, the plant's primary psychoactive compound. Only now are policy makers and opinion elites reckoning with what Big Weed has wrought: "turning a drug that used to be 5% THC, and made people pass out for a few hours and eat Cheetos, into one that triggers psycho killers," as Kevin Sabet, a former drug adviser in successive Democratic and GOP administrations, tells me. Read more
Companies that have collaborated with immigration enforcement agencies in various ways to aid Trump's mass deportation initiative"whether through allowing ICE to raid their parking lots, taking on contracts with DHS, or a variety of other actions"are starting to feel the rumblings of a consumer revolt. Home Depot is possibly the most visible case after the company's parking lots became a familiar setting for shocking viral clips and local news segments depicting federal agents' aggressive attempts to apprehend unsuspecting day laborers. The home-improvement chain now faces the prospect of a national boycott. But that's not the end of their troubles: A particularly headline-grabbing protest was staged last weekend at the Home Depot in Monrovia, California, a location picked because it's where Roberto Carlos Montoya Valds, 52, from Guatemala died on the freeway after being hit by an SUV while running from an ICE raid.
"President Trump has set free a private equity executive who had served less than two weeks of a seven-year sentence for his role in what prosecutors described as a $1.6 billion scheme that defrauded thousands of victims," the New York Times reports. "David Gentile, 59, a onetime resident of Nassau County, N.Y., had reported to prison on Nov. 14, and was released on Wednesday." Mr. Gentile and a co-defendant, Jeffry Schneider, were convicted in August 2024 of securities and wire fraud charges, and sentenced in May. Unlike a pardon, the commutation granted to Mr. Gentile will not erase his conviction. Mr. Schneider, who was sentenced to six years, does not appear to have received clemency from Mr. Trump Read more
Donald Trump's administration promised that the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) would save America trillions by slashing federal contracts, eliminating "waste," and shrinking the federal workforce. In reality, we got hack squads of political enforcers who rummaged through government systems, torched veteran-owned business contracts, fired thousands of veterans from federal service, and dismantled Department of Veteran Affairs programs designed to protect both veterans and taxpayers. So it's fitting, if tragic, that DOGE has itself been dissolved eight months before its chartered end. Named after Elon Musk's favorite cryptocurrency, DOGE was never about efficiency. It was the shotgun marriage of Project 2025 and "We need something for Elon to do." America's veterans paid the heaviest price for this Frankenstein's monster, which spent months clumsily strip-mining the federal government in order to make the rich richer. Read more
The fraud scandal that rattled Minnesota was staggering in its scale and brazenness. Federal prosecutors charged dozens of people with felonies, accusing them of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from a government program meant to keep children fed during the Covid-19 pandemic. At first, many in the state saw the case as a one-off abuse during a health emergency. But as new schemes targeting the state's generous safety net programs came to light, state and federal officials began to grapple with a jarring reality. Over the last five years, law enforcement officials say, fraud took root in pockets of Minnesota's Somali diaspora as scores of individuals made small fortunes by setting up companies that billed state agencies for millions of dollars' worth of social services that were never provided... Read more
Existing rules and laws applying to military secrecy are sufficient"and asking officers to sign NDAs is deeply inappropriate.
Stocks and cryptocurrencies linked to the Trumpf Crime Family (TCF) are in a deep slump, leaving some of the president's biggest fans with steep losses. Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group DJT, which operates the president's Truth Social platform, have tumbled 75% since Dummkopf Trumpf seized power on 20 Jan 2025.
Former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) blasted Donald Trump on Friday over the death of Sarah Beckstrom, the West Virginia National Guard member who was fatally shot near the White House earlier this week. Walsh " once a Tea Party congressman and now an outspoken Trump critic " said the 20-year-old soldier should never have been stationed in the nation's capital to begin with.
At the center of President Trump's contentious plan to end the Russia-Ukraine war isn't peace: it's profit. Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are negotiating with Russian officials to ensure U.S. businesses"and Trump's friends"are in position to make a killing once the war ends, according to an exhaustive Wall Street Journal report published Friday. "Russia has so many vast resources, vast expanses of land," Witkoff, who last week was busted coaching Russians on how to best suck up to the president, told The Wall Street Journal. Europe balked at President Trump's 28-point peace plan"which Witkoff drafted based on a Russian plan" arguing it was overly generous to Russia. The deal had Ukraine concede territory and cut its military capacity, effectively neutering the nation's sovereignty. The plan wasn't popular in America either, as it received significant pushback from the GOP.
Using maritime drones, Ukrainian special services attacked two oil tankers in Russia's shadow fleet in the Black Sea, rendering them both inoperable.
Five local rabbis are among the more than 400 New Yorkers tapped for NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani's transition committees, the teams tasked with preparing his much-anticipated administration which begins on 1 Jan 2026.
