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Heather Cox Richardson/”Letters from an American” on Substack:
Within the Washington Put up at the moment, Marianne LeVine, Isaac Arnsdorf, and Josh Dawsey reported that the Trump camp is keen to get individuals to cease specializing in Trump’s authoritarian speak, noting that Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) says the presidential candidate was simply joking when he mentioned he can be a dictator on the primary day of a return to the White Home. Whereas the Republican base seems to love Trump’s threats in opposition to the individuals they’ve come to hate, two Trump advisers instructed the reporters that “current tales about his plans for a second time period will not be seen as useful for the final election.”
Properly, too unhealthy, as a result of they preserve getting talked about.
I believed Nikki Haley was having a second. I believed the debates modified the whole lot.
[Narrator: debates never change anything.]
Will Bunch/Philadelphia Inquirer:
Critics celebrating the scalping of Penn’s president will not cease there. Free speech, and faculty itself, are in grave hazard.
Magill’s legalistic, cold, deer-in-the-headlights response to incessant probing by Stefanik and different lawmakers was not good — not simply because she blew an opportunity to sentence the unending horror of antisemitism but additionally as a result of it was a weak protection of free speech on campus. I’m not writing to specific any remorse over her departure. It appeared to me she ruled Penn like a candle within the wind, desirous to defend tutorial freedom however then betraying these values, as when the college tried to ban a movie presenting authentic criticisms of Israel’s insurance policies after which threatened to punish college students for displaying it anyway.
Maybe crucial factor to recollect is that the majority schools will not be Harvard, Penn or MIT. However larger ed writ massive must be clear about what it is and what it must be.
From predatory scholar loans to antisemitism on campus, all is just not proper within the Groves of Academe. However the reforms the best desires ain’t it.
Yahoo:
Gasoline costs sink to 2023 lows on weak demand, elevated manufacturing
Costs on the pump are anticipated to proceed declining, shaving off one other $0.05 to $0.07 per gallon within the coming week, Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates, mentioned.
“We have seen oil costs slide over the past week, and so they’re taking gasoline and diesel down with it. So throughout the board vitality is getting cheaper for the buyer,” Lipow instructed Yahoo Finance.
Drivers in no less than 17 states are seeing retail gasoline averages beneath $3 per gallon. Californians, who pay probably the most, are paying a mean of $4.74 per gallon, down from $5.14 one month in the past.
Joyce Vance/”Civil Discourse” on Substack:
Trump, Gagged Once more
An explainer (lengthy)
On Friday, the courtroom of appeals within the District of Columbia affirmed, partially, Decide Chutkan’s gag order. The elements they affirmed are the elements that matter. Trump is prohibited from speaking about witnesses within the case in opposition to him because it pertains to their testimony and from impugning courtroom personnel and prosecutors, excepting the Decide herself and Particular Counsel Jack Smith.
The courtroom provided good causes for narrowing Decide Chutkan’s order. Even with that, it’s an enormous win for the prosecution. For one factor, upholding the gag order implies that the gag order could be enforced if (when?) Trump violates it. And, by tightening up the order, the courtroom of appeals has made it simpler for the Supreme Courtroom to affirm it when it hits their desks.
And in additional authorized information:
NBC:
In a reversal, Donald Trump says he is not going to testify in his personal protection in New York fraud trial
Trump was scheduled to take the stand Monday because the months-long $250 million civil fraud trial in opposition to him and his firm enters its closing week.
Trump was beneath no obligation to testify because it’s his personal protection case. His son Eric equally backed out of testifying this previous Wednesday, which Trump mentioned in a social media publish on Tuesday evening he’d directed him to do. Like his father, Eric Trump had testified as a witness within the AG’s case. “Eric has already testified, PERFECTLY,” Trump wrote, “so there is no such thing as a motive to waste any extra of this Crooked Courtroom’s time on having him say the identical factor, over and over, as a witness for the protection.”…
The AG’s workplace was scheduled to proceed its cross-examination of [Accounting professor Eli Bartov] after Trump’s testimony.
The AG’s workplace is anticipated to have two rebuttal witnesses testify for his or her case after Bartov’s accomplished. After that, either side will be capable to submit filings to the choose explaining why they consider they’ve confirmed their case, and can then return to courtroom for closing arguments on Jan. 11.
Engoron has mentioned he expects it would take him a number of weeks to problem his ruling within the case.
Keep away from perjury. Don’t testify.
Guardian:
Republicans to satisfy allies of Hungary’s Viktor Orbán on ending Ukraine help
Hungarian look at two-day occasion a part of Orbán’s transatlantic try and bolster Russia’s battle
In keeping with a Republican supply, a few of the attendees, together with Republican members of Congress, have been invited to affix closed-door talks the subsequent day.
The assembly will happen in opposition to a backdrop of tense debate in Washington over Ukraine’s future. Final week the White Home warned that, with out congressional motion, cash to purchase extra weapons and gear for Kyiv will run out by the top of the yr. On Wednesday Senate Republicans blocked an emergency spending invoice to fund the battle in Ukraine.
A diplomatic supply near the Hungarian embassy mentioned: “Orbán is assured that the Ukraine help is not going to move in Congress. That’s the reason he’s making an attempt to dam help from the EU as effectively.”
Matt Robison and Paul Hodes interview Lambda Authorized CEO Kevin Jennings on the way forward for LGBTQ rights:
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