December 18, 2025

Marie: Re: the Brown U. shooting, MS NOW is reporting on-air that a person of interest has been found dead in a rental vehicle in or near Salem, New Hampshire. ~~~

~~~ Kimberlee Kruesi, et al., of the AP: “Authorities said Thursday that they’re looking into a connection between last weekend’s mass shooting at Brown University and an attack two days later near Boston that killed a professor at another elite school, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.... Two of the people said investigators had identified a person of interest in the shootings and were actively seeking that individual. The attacker at Brown on Saturday killed two students and wounded nine others in a classroom in the school’s engineering building before getting away. About 50 miles (80 kilometers) north, MIT professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro was gunned down in his home Monday night in the Boston suburb of Brookline. The 47-year-old physicist and fusion scientist died at a hospital the next day. The FBI previously said it knew of no links between the cases.” ~~~

     ~~~ Update: “A man who is suspected of killing two and wounding several others at Brown University has been found dead in a New Hampshire storage facility, a law enforcement official and a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. The man was found dead Thursday evening. He is believed to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.... Investigators believe the man is responsible for both the shooting at Brown and the killing of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who was fatally shot in his Brookline home Monday, the official said. Authorities have not formally confirmed a connection between the two shootings.” ~~~

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~~~ Kimberlee Kruesi, et al., of the AP: “Authorities said Thursday that they’re looking into a connection between last weekend’s mass shooting at Brown University and an attack two days later near Boston that killed a professor at another elite school, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.... Two of the people said investigators had identified a person of interest in the shootings and were actively seeking that individual. The attacker at Brown on Saturday killed two students and wounded nine others in a classroom in the school’s engineering building before getting away. About 50 miles (80 kilometers) north, MIT professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro was gunned down in his home Monday night in the Boston suburb of Brookline. The 47-year-old physicist and fusion scientist died at a hospital the next day. The FBI previously said it knew of no links between the cases.” ~~~

     ~~~ Update: “A man who is suspected of killing two and wounding several others at Brown University has been found dead in a New Hampshire storage facility, a law enforcement official and a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. The man was found dead Thursday evening. He is believed to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.... Investigators believe the man is responsible for both the shooting at Brown and the killing of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who was fatally shot in his Brookline home Monday, the official said. Authorities have not formally confirmed a connection between the two shootings.” ~~~

~~~ From a New York Times liveblog: “Col. Oscar Perez, the chief of police in Providence, R.I., identified the suspect as Claudio Neves Valente, 48, a Brown student and Portuguese national, whose last known address was in Miami.”

⭐Kelsey Ables, et al., of the Washington Post: “The board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has voted to rename the storied presidential memorial and arts institution the 'Trump-Kennedy Center,' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on X on Thursday afternoon.... The law establishing the building states that it should be designated as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.... Donald Trump joined the board meeting virtually, which was held in Palm Beach, Florida, where he thanked members for their vote.... Trump in February purged members of the board not appointed by him and became its new chair. The board also includes nonvoting ex officio members, such as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., some of whom were at Thursday’s meeting. 'I was muted on the call and not allowed to speak or voice my opposition to this move,' Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), an ex officio member of the board, said in an X post.... Members of the Kennedy family have condemned the vote to change the name.” ~~~

     ~~~ There are a couple of appropriate comments near the end of today's thread.

Dareh Gregorian, et al., of NBC News: "... Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday to fast-track the reclassification of cannabis, which would pave the way for the Food and Drug Administration to study its medicinal uses."

Allen Breed & Gary Robertson of the AP: “A business jet carrying seven people, including retired NASCAR race driver Greg Biffle and his family, crashed Thursday at an airport in North Carolina, killing everyone aboard, authorities said. The Cessna C550 erupted into a large fire when it hit the ground while trying to land at Statesville Regional Airport, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) north of Charlotte. Flight records show the plane was registered to a company run by Biffle.”

Azeen Ghorayshi, et al., of the New York Times: “The federal government on Thursday acted to put an end to gender-related care for minors across the nation, threatening to pull federal funding from any hospital that offered such treatment. The move reflects the laserlike focus on the issue by ... [Donald] Trump, who in his first days in office called gender treatments for minors 'a stain on our Nation’s history.' The administration’s action is not just a regulatory shift but the latest signal that the federal government does not recognize even the existence of people whose gender identity does not align with their sex at birth. If finalized, the proposed new rules, announced by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at a news conference Thursday morning, would effectively shut down hospitals that failed to comply. Medicare and Medicaid account for nearly 45 percent of spending on hospital care....” Related story linked below.

No Billionaires Need Apply. Heather Knight of the New York Times: “Known as the birthplace of Silicon Valley, [Palo Alto, California,] used to house just your average well-to-do people. Doctors, lawyers, executives and Stanford University professors lived in comfortable bungalows on tree-lined streets, and one house per family was considered enough. Then the tech boom created tremendous wealth, and the billionaires moved in. Some bought several homes on adjacent plots and left a few empty, or turned them into office spaces for their employees. Some hired security guards to shoo people away from public sidewalks. Construction work seemed endless. Greer Stone, a Palo Alto councilman, has had enough. He plans to introduce legislation on Thursday that would restrict the way the town’s wealthiest homeowners can operate. To Mr. Stone, a high school teacher, it is as much about protecting residents from neighborhood chaos as it is about addressing the wealth disparity that has forced middle-class residents out of his city.”

Watch to the end; it's kinda fun to see who the generous people are:

~~~ Tom Nichols of the Atlantic: "The president of the United States just barged into America’s living rooms like an angry, confused grandfather to tell us all that we are ungrateful whelps.... He was clearly working from a prepared text, but it sounded like one he’d written — or dictated angrily — himself, because it was full of bizarre howlers that even Trump’s second-rate speech-writing shop would probably have avoided.... He read the speech quickly, his voice rising in frustration as he hurled one lie after another into the camera.... Americans saw a president drenched in panic as he tried to bully an entire nation into admitting he’s doing a great job." Thanks to akaWendy for this gift link.

If this guy is right, we just might be in trouble: ~~~

~~~ Johnny Ryan in a Guardian op-ed: “The US is Europe’s adversary. The stark, profound betrayal contained in the Trump administration’s national security strategy should stop any further denial and dithering in Europe’s capitals.... But contained within this calamity is the gift of clarity.... The good news is that Europe holds strong cards.... AI investment now rivals consumer spending as the primary creator of American economic growth. It accounted for virtually all (92%) GDP growth in the first half of this year. Without it, US GDP grew only 0.1%. Despite Donald Trump’s posturing, he is on shaky economic ground.... Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, has two cards to play that might pop the AI bubble. First, Dutch company ASML commands a global monopoly on the microchip-etching machines that use light to carve patterns on silicon.... Withholding these silicon-etching machines would be ... painful for Trump.... econd, and much easier for Europe, is the enforcement of the EU’s long-neglected data rules against big US tech companies.” Thanks to RAS for the link.

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Josh Boak of the AP: “... Donald Trump delivered a politically charged speech Wednesday carried live in prime time on network television, seeking to pin the blame for economic challenges on Democrats while announcing he is sending a $1,776 bonus check to U.S. troops for Christmas. The remarks came as the nation is preparing to settle down to celebrate the holidays, yet Trump was focused more on divisions within the country than a sense of unity. His speech was a rehash of his recent messaging that has so far been unable to calm public anxiety about the cost of groceries, housing, utilities and other basic goods. Trump has promised an economic boom, yet inflation has stayed elevated and the job market has weakened sharply in the wake of his import taxes.” ~~~

     ~~~ David Sanger of the New York Times: Donald “Trump gave an 18-minute speech intended to defend his accomplishments in the first year, and argue that the 'Golden Age' he promised in his presidential campaign last year was building steam. The speech was, in typical form, largely strung together from familiar lines he uses at White House events, rallies and speeches. And, in Trumpian style, there were a long list of exaggerations and misleading statements. Here are six takeaways from his speech. [MB: Here are four of them].

“The president’s tone was combative.... At times he seemed to be yelling.... Not surprisingly, he blamed former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. from the first sentence: 'I inherited a mess.'...

“He made highly selective — and often misleading — use of statistics. Mr. Trump argued he cut drug prices by 400, 500 or 600 percent, all mathematical impossibilities. He claimed that inflation had dropped significantly since he became president... in September, the last month for which the government has numbers, it had returned to 3 percent, exactly where it was on Mr. Biden’s last weeks in office. He argued that gasoline was now under $2.50 a gallon in much of the country; his own department of energy reports it was $2.90. And he claimed there were states where gas was $1.99; in fact, no state average gas price was that low....

“He risked repeating a Biden mistake of arguing with voters about how they feel.... Mr. Trump was essentially shouting that they should be grateful to him for bringing back manufacturing jobs and getting illegal immigrants out of the work force.... In fact, the country continues to lose manufacturing jobs. But most importantly Americans appear unconvinced about tariffs — 'my favorite word, tariffs.'... He described foreign investment pouring into the United States but cited a figure twice as high as his own White House has estimated....

“Trump declared he is a peacemaker, but made no mention of his pressure on Venezuela.” ~~~

~~~ Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post: Donald Trump “spoke more than 2,600 words in [18 minutes], markedly faster than his usual plodding pace at the teleprompter..... Afterward, even his own allies puzzled over whether the president did more harm than good with his rushed delivery and harsh tone. 'Trump is speaking so fast he seems panicked,' supporter Trisha Hope posted online.... His tone was continuously loud and sharp, without any of his usual playful riffs and digressions. 'Why is he yelling at us?' conservative talk radio host Erick Erickson said on X.... His clipped tempo and harsh tone had the effect of sounding less like he was ... scolding [Americans] for failing to appreciate him.... Said right-wing blogger Matt Walsh on X: 'That was perhaps the most pointless prime time presidential address ever delivered in American history.'”

It takes a special kind of lunatic to get his insults cast in bronze.... Can we please put the man in a home before he completely destroys the one he's in now? -- Jimmy Kimmel ~~~

~~~ Chris Cameron of the New York Times: “The White House unveiled a series of plaques near the Oval Office on Wednesday that mock ... [Donald] Trump’s recent Democratic predecessors in the style of his hyperbolic social media posts. The plaques portray an often inaccurate version of history that aligns with Mr. Trump’s worldview. There are two plaques for Mr. Trump, one for each of his terms, which effusively praise him, while those for former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and former President Barack Obama mock them and their achievements. The plaque for Mr. Obama falsely describes him as 'one of the most divisive political figures in American history.' (To this day, Mr. Obama has the highest favorability rating of any living president.) The plaque for Mr. Biden is placed under a picture of an autopen and promotes Mr. Trump’s lie that the 2020 election was stolen. Both plaques include a number of Trump-style insults and attacks on Mr. Biden and Mr. Obama.” The Independent's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This garbage is engraved on heavy brass plaques, not on paper. It infuriates me that taxpayers footed the bill for this particular desecration of the White House.

Trump Contemplates Defying 22nd Amendment. Brianna Tucker & Niha Masih of the Washington Post: “Former Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz met with ... Donald Trump this week and said the constitutionality of his serving a third term was 'not clear,' the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. According to the Journal, Dershowitz met with Trump in the Oval Office and offered a draft of his upcoming book, 'Could President Trump Constitutionally Serve a Third Term?,' which is expected to be published in 2026.... 'I said, “It’s not clear if a president can become a third term president, and it’s not clear if it’s permissible,’” the Journal quotes Dershowitz as saying. His publisher describes the book as an 'astute constitutional analysis' that 'lays out exactly how Trump could become the forty-eighth president of the United States.'” The Independent's story is here. ~~~

~~~ Scott Lemieux, in LG&$, Is Concerned: "The Dersh has been an enabler of fascism for a long time, but writing a book insinuating that Trump could declare himself president for life contrary to the explicit and unambiguous text of the Constitution is new levels of sycophancy even by his standards[.]... I’m afraid the Dersh’s inalienable First Amendment right to be invited to any dinner party on Martha’s Vineyard he would like to be invited to will be violated with even more regularity this summer." 

Nicholas Confessore & Julie Tate of the New York Times: “For nearly a quarter-century, Mr. Trump and his representatives have offered shifting, often contradictory accounts of his relationship with [Jeffrey] Epstein.... Closely scrutinized since Mr. Epstein died in a Manhattan jail cell during Mr. Trump’s first term, their friendship — and questions about what the president knew of Mr. Epstein’s abuses — now threatens to consume his second one.... The two men’s relationship was both far closer and far more complex than the president now admits. Beginning in the late 1980s, the two men forged a bond intense enough to leave others who knew them with the impression that they were each other’s closest friend, The Times found.... They pursued women in a game of ego and dominance. Female bodies were currency. Over nearly two decades, as Mr. Trump cut a swath through the party circuits of New York and Florida, Mr. Epstein was perhaps his most reliable wingman.” The link is a gift link. Interesting reading; the story renders implausible Trump's claims that he was unaware of Epstein's sexual abuse of young women. 

Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: “Trump is a ubiquitous cultural presence, but there is no outward sign that he is an active participant in running the national government. He was mostly absent during discussions of his signature legislation — the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act — and practically AWOL during the monthlong government shutdown.... Instead, the work of the White House has been delegated to a handful of high-level advisers. Russell Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, is the de facto shadow president for domestic affairs.... Stephen Miller is its shadow president for internal security.... The purpose of the presidency is to carry out the aims of Congress and help govern the nation on behalf of its people — not, as this Supreme Court would have it, to carry out the political will of the president.... There is something ironic at work in this effort to concentrate executive power in ... [a unitary executive]. It is being done on behalf of a president who is mostly missing from the business of government.” 

Paul Krugman: "Trump is one data point in the midst of an epidemic of performative hatemongering in America.... It’s true that significant numbers of Americans were never fully on board with liberal humanism.... However, we were slowly becoming a country in which open bigotry was frowned upon.... There was a growing sense of norms that contained any underlying hatred. Now the impulse to hate is back.... The rise of social media is one significant factor in making it far easier for the like-minded to find one another and magnify their hate.... Trump is purposely breaking norms and engaging in open expressions of hate and bigotry. And among a set of people, this serves as a signal that it’s now socially acceptable to do the same.... Trump’s remarks about the murder of the Reiners weren’t just his personal venting. They were a symptom and a symbol of his systematic destruction of our norms, our humanism, just as he tried to destroy the norms of American democracy on January 6, 2021. It’s a profoundly nihilistic vision for America."

Bondi Defies First Amendment. Eva Dou, et al., of the Washington Post: “The Trump administration is embarking on an expansive effort to root out what it sees as rampant left-wing domestic terrorism, raising concerns among some security experts and lawmakers that broad categories of Americans’ political speech could come under surveillance. Thursday marks a first deadline, set earlier this month in a memo from Attorney General Pam Bondi, for all federal law-enforcement agencies to 'coordinate delivery' of their intelligence files on 'Antifa' and 'Antifa-related' activities to the FBI. Bondi has tasked the agency with using those files to draw up lists of Americans and foreigners to investigate as part of a campaign directed by ... Donald Trump against what his administration views as a growing threat of political violence by the American left.... Critics warn that the plan signals an impending crackdown on political dissent under the banner of counterterrorism — one that could land large numbers of liberal activists on government watch lists and chill Americans’ First Amendment right to protest the administration’s policies.” 

Meryl Kornfield & Hannah Natanson of the Washington Post: “The Trump administration acknowledged in a court filing this week that a decision to cut energy grants during the government shutdown was influenced by whether the money would go to a state that tended to vote for Democrats statewide or nationally. Government lawyers also wrote in the filing that 'consideration of partisan politics is constitutionally permissible, including because it can serve as a proxy for legitimate policy considerations.' The remarkably candid admission echoes ... Donald Trump’s frequent vows to punish cities and states that he sees as his enemies, from withholding disaster relief for Southern California to targeting blue cities with National Guard troops.”

Josh Gerstein & Hassan Kanu of Politico: “Federal prosecutors attempted to get a grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia, to add a third felony charge to a failed indictment of New York Attorney General Letitia James last week, while omitting earlier claims that she fraudulently converted a second home into a rental property. The third proposed charge, which hasn’t been previously reported, was an additional count of making a false statement to a financial institution. The earlier indictment against James consisted of one such false statement count and one count of bank fraud.... Prosecutors also asked a magistrate judge to keep records of the proposed indictment sealed after grand jurors rejected all three alleged charges, but the judge declined the request, according to court records.”

Bye-Bye, Bongo. Glenn Thrush, et al., of the New York Times: “Dan Bongino, the No. 2 official at the F.B.I., said on Wednesday that he would step down next month, bringing an end to his brief but tumultuous stint at the bureau, where he was known for his volcanic temper, missteps and hyperactive presence on social media. 'I will be leaving my position with the FBI in January,' Mr. Bongino wrote on social media, shortly after ... [Donald] Trump appeared to confirm earlier news reports that Mr. Bongino planned to step down by mid-January.” The AP report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Earlier That Same Day ~~~ 

     ~~~ Bada Bingo, Bada Bongo. Carol Leonnig & Ken Dilanian of MS NOW: “... FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino ... has quietly told confidants he plans to formally leave his job early in the new year and will not be returning to headquarters to work this month, according to eight people briefed on his account. Bongino told his team and some senior FBI officials that he tentatively planned to announce his departure on Dec. 19, according to four people. Several people said some of Bongino’s personal effects have been cleared out of his office as of last week.... When reached by MS NOW, Bongino declined to confirm or deny the reports of his plans, adding, 'Print whatever you’d like. No one believes you anyway. Thanks.'” (Also linked yesterday.) 

Adam Sella of the New York Times: “The U.S. military announced on Wednesday that it had struck a boat earlier in the day that it suspected of ferrying drugs in the eastern Pacific, killing four people. In a post on social media, U.S. Southern Command said that the strike, conducted at the direction of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, had targeted a boat sailing along a 'known narco-trafficking route' and that four male “narco-terrorists” had been killed in the attack.... The strike, the 26th announced by the U.S. military, brings the total number killed to at least 99 since the Trump administration began bombing boats in September. The attacks have drawn the ire of legal experts and many members of Congress, who contend that the strikes amount to extrajudicial killings and, potentially, war crimes.” 

~~~ David Sanger of the New York Times: “One of the many oddities of the huge buildup of American forces off Venezuela is the speed at which the Pentagon has released short clips of what it has identified as drug boats being struck and destroyed by American missiles — part deterrence, part bravado, and, to the many legal scholars questioning the legality of the operation, part evidence of extrajudicial killings. So it was striking that on Tuesday, just as the Pentagon released three more videos..., Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced there was one the public would never see. It is the video of the now-famous 'second strike' on a boat in September that killed two survivors clinging to the remains of an overturned vessel.... 'Pete Hegseth happily releases a video after each strike,' said Representative Jim Himes of Connecticut, the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. 'He recognizes when the American people see this video, they will be repulsed. It is basically the summary execution of two people clinging to wreckage.'”

John Ismay of the New York Times: “The Defense Department said on Wednesday that it would open an administrative investigation into Senator Mark Kelly, Democrat of Arizona, over his participation in a video with other lawmakers informing military service members of their obligation under law to refuse illegal orders. In a statement, the department said it is 'escalating the preliminary review of' Mr. Kelly, whom they referred to by his retired military rank of Navy captain, 'to an official command investigation' for what they called 'serious allegations of misconduct.'... The command investigation marked another extraordinary step in the inquiry into Mr. Kelly, which comes amid a series of moves by the Trump administration to seek retribution against ... [Donald] Trump’s perceived political enemies.... What happens now will largely depend on John Phelan, a financier and major Trump donor with no known military background whom the president appointed as the Navy secretary this year”

Chris Cameron & Kate Kelly of the New York Times: “The U.S. government admitted liability in an air collision in the skies above the nation’s capital that killed 67 people early this year, opening the door for the families of victims to seek damages for the crash, according to court documents. In a 209-page document filed in a federal lawsuit brought by the family of one of the victims , the Justice Department said that the Army pilots flying a Black Hawk helicopter the night of Jan. 29 had failed to maintain 'vigilance' and 'proper and safe visual separation' with a commercial airliner before it crashed into the jet over the Potomac River.”

Cecilia Kang of the New York Times: “The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission said in a hearing on Wednesday that the agency was not independent, stunning Democratic lawmakers concerned that ... [Donald] Trump could use the government office as a tool for censorship. The Republican chair, Brendan Carr, said in an agency oversight hearing by the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee that 'formally speaking, the F.C.C. isn’t independent.' Democrats grilled Mr. Carr in the hearing over a series of threats he had made to broadcasters about revoking local broadcast licenses for content that is not in the public’s interest. In September, he threatened to take away local licenses of ABC stations that aired Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show because of Mr. Kimmel’s remarks about the killer of the right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.... Mr. Trump has pushed for the F.C.C. to use its powers over the broadcast industry to retaliate against coverage that he has deemed unfavorable to him.... Several Democrats noted that the F.C.C. website’s mission statement describes it as an independent agency. As of Wednesday afternoon, the word 'independent' did not appear on the agency’s mission page.” ~~~

     ~~~ Scott Nover & Ian Duncan of the Washington Post: “A person familiar with the matter ... confirmed that the language [on the FCC's Website main page] was altered during the hearing following Luján’s questions. The change was first noticed by an Axios reporter.” MB: This account of the hearing covers a good deal the NYT report does not. ~~~

     ~~~ Carr Defies First Amendment. Marie: Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) also brought out a remarkable incident in which Carr's FCC opened an investigation into a San Francisco radio station because a reporter had cited statements by the mayor, a city councilman & the leader of a local activist group re: immigration enforcement ops. Markey's remarks on this subject begin at 1:22:30 in this video of the hearing.Well-worth listening through Markey's recounting of this obvious -- and successful -- attempt to prevent the station and others from exercising the First Amendment right to cover the news.

Hamed Aleaziz of the New York Times: “The Trump administration plans to ramp up efforts to strip some naturalized Americans of their citizenship, according to internal guidance obtained by The New York Times, marking an aggressive new phase in ... [Donald] Trump’s immigration crackdown. The guidance, issued on Tuesday to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services field offices, asks that they 'supply Office of Immigration Litigation with 100-200 denaturalization cases per month' in the 2026 fiscal year. If the cases are successful, it would represent a massive escalation of denaturalization in the modern era, experts said. By comparison, between 2017 and this year to date, there had been just over 120 cases filed, according to the Justice Department. Under federal law, people may be denaturalized only if they committed fraud while applying for citizenship, or in a few other narrow circumstances. But the Trump administration has shown a zeal for using every tool at its disposal to target legal and illegal immigrants....” The link appears to be a gift link.

Victoria Craw of the Washington Post: “A judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to prevent members of Congress from making unannounced visits to Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities, in a ruling lawmakers say will restore their ability to conduct real-time oversight into detention conditions. U.S. District Judge Jia M. Cobb wrote in a 73-page ruling Wednesday that recent policy changes which include requiring members of Congress to provide seven days’ notice before entering ICE facilities likely exceeded the Department of Homeland Security’s 'statutory authority.' She ordered the policies be lifted while the remainder of the case plays out.” Politico's report is here.

RFKJ Gets His Revenge at the Expense of American Health. Lena Sun & Paige Cunningham of the Washington Post: “The Department of Health and Human Services has terminated seven grants totaling millions of dollars to the American Academy of Pediatrics, including for initiatives on reducing sudden infant deaths, improving adolescent health, preventing fetal alcohol syndrome and identifying autism early.... The abrupt loss of funds this week surprised the professional pediatrician association, which has been one of the harshest critics of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s changes to federal vaccine policy. 'The sudden withdrawal of these funds will directly impact and potentially harm infants, children, youth, and their families in communities across the United States,' Mark Del Monte [of the] AAP ... said in a statement to The Post. The organization is exploring options to push back, he said, including a legal challenge.” The Guardian's story is here.

Hailey Fuchs of Politico: “Former special counsel Jack Smith, who led the federal criminal cases against ... Donald Trump..., is testifying in an hourslong, closed-door deposition with members of the House Judiciary Committee. In his opening statement to lawmakers, portions of which were obtained by Politico, Smith defended his findings of allegations that Trump mishandled classified documents and sought to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. 'The decision to bring charges against President Trump was mine, but the basis for those charges rests entirely with President Trump and his actions, as alleged in the indictments returned by grand juries in two different districts,' said Smith, according to a copy of portions of that statement. He maintained that this team found evidence to prove 'beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and to prevent the lawful transfer of power.' Smith also said his team found 'powerful evidence' in the classified documents case and alleged that the president 'repeatedly tried to obstruct justice.'” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Glenn Thrush & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: “Republicans, acting on Mr. Trump’s demand to pursue those who pursued him, pelted Mr. Smith with detailed questions in hopes of catching him in a misstep that would justify a prosecution by the Justice Department, according to lawmakers in both parties. The civil and exhaustive eight-hour session did not seem to yield any obvious avenues for legal action against Mr. Smith, or even many moments of drama, according to people who were in the room.... Wednesday’s session opened with a barrage of questions about Mr. Smith’s decision to subpoena the metadata phone records of Republican senators as part of his investigation of a White House effort to marshal support for reversing Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s lawful election.... Mr. Smith held his own, according to Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the committee, who said Mr. Smith 'schooled' his questioners.... During one pointed exchange with the committee’s Republican chairman, Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, Mr. Smith accused the president of committing 'affinity' fraud — a scheme to hoodwink his own supporters into violating the law because they felt a special kinship with him....” ~~~

~~~ Ryan Reilly of NBC News: “After the hearing Wednesday, House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin, D-Md., joked that [Committee Chair Jim] Jordan 'made an excellent decision in not allowing Jack Smith to testify publicly, because had he done so, it would have been absolutely devastating to the president and all the president’s men involved in the insurrectionary activities of Jan. 6.' Lanny Breuer, Smith’s attorney, told reporters Wednesday that his client 'is showing tremendous courage in light of the remarkable and unprecedented retribution campaign against him by this administration and this White House.'”

Benjamin Guggenheim of Politico: “The House passed a conservative health care bill Wednesday evening that would not address expiring Affordable Care Act tax credits, all but guaranteeing the enhanced subsidies will lapse at the end of the year. The 216-211 vote on the legislation also capped a dramatic day for Speaker Mike Johnson, who can hardly call the measure’s passage a victory after spending the balance of the day managing an open revolt by his moderate flank. Ultimately, the bill is dead on arrival in the Senate and will do little to quell a major intraparty split over the future of the subsidies, with many House Republicans vowing to continue to negotiate a compromise in 2026.” ~~~

~~~ Meredith Hill of Politico: “Four House Republicans joined Democrats Wednesday [morning] to force a House vote on a straight three-year extension of the enhanced Obamacare tax credits that will expire Dec. 31, delivering a sharp rebuke to Speaker Mike Johnson and other GOP leaders. Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Mike Lawler of New York, Rob Bresnahan of Pennsylvania and Ryan Mackenzie of Pennsylvania signed the discharge petition filed by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries — hours after House GOP leaders rejected attempts by Fitzpatrick and other Republican moderates to seek a floor vote on extending the subsidies used by more than 20 million Americans.” The AP's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Beyond Disarray. Hans Nichols & Kate Sanaliz of Axios: "The House GOP's long-simmering internal tensions burst open Wednesday as Speaker Mike Johnson faced the prospect of temporarily ceding control of the floor at the start of next year.... GOP frustration with Johnson (R-La.) isn't new. But infuriated House Republicans are also taking out their anger on each other. 'Those members need not ask me for any help in their campaigns whatsoever,' Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) told Axios of his centrist GOP colleagues who signed the discharge petition that will force a House vote on extending the Affordable Care Act's premium tax credits.... Centrist Republicans were furious that Johnson refused to allow a vote on their proposals to extend the subsidies, pushing some to conclude their only option was to side with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.). 'Our team should've put in the compromise. Now we're voting for the worse one. It's just sort of dumb,' said Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.)."

Annie Karni & Aishvarya Kavi of the New York Times: “A divided House on Wednesday approved legislation that would criminalize gender transition treatments for minors, including surgery and supplying hormones, and would subject providers to up to 10 years in federal prison. The bill, which civil rights groups said counted as one of the most extreme anti-trans pieces of legislation ever considered by Congress, was approved almost entirely along party lines on a vote of 216 to 211. It has little chance of being considered by the Senate, where it would need the support of a bipartisan coalition to advance. But its debate and passage in the House reflected the priorities of the ultraconservative Republican majority and President Trump, who has demonized and targeted L.G.B.T.Q. people during his tenure.”

Megan Mineiro of the New York Times: “The Senate on Wednesday gave final approval to a $900 billion defense policy bill, clearing legislation that advances the bulk of ... [Donald] Trump’s national security agenda and modernizes the way the U.S. military buys weapons and supplies, while also seeking to reassert congressional oversight of military operations. The 77-to-20 vote reflected bipartisan support in Congress to continue to spend robustly on defense, including on new submarines, fighter jets and drone technology. The bill also includes a pay raise of 3.8 percent for military personnel. While the Trump administration has made steep cuts to the federal government over the past year, the price tag on the bill was $8 billion above what the White House had requested for the Pentagon for the next year. Still, Mr. Trump is expected to sign the bill into law in the coming days.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Connor O'Brien of Politico: “The Senate on Wednesday delivered a clear rebuke of ... Donald Trump’s authority, signing off on legislation that could force the Pentagon to turn over footage of strikes against suspected drug smugglers and rein in the administration’s ability to limit troops abroad.” (Also linked yesterday.) 

Tara Copp, et al., of the Washington Post: “At least two U.S. senators have put holds on the nomination of Adm. Kevin Lunday to lead the U.S. Coast Guard, citing concerns with a new workplace harassment policy that downgrades the definition of swastikas and nooses from hate symbols to 'potentially divisive.' The move upends Lunday’s confirmation, which the Senate was due to vote on this week, and raises new questions about the decision to implement the policy revisions after Lunday in November had forcefully denounced such symbols and declared a wholesale prohibition on them. The holds on Lunday’s promotion were exercised by Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois) and Jacky Rosen (D-Nevada). They follow a series of Washington Post reports detailing plans to include the incendiary language within the Coast Guard’s new workplace harassment manual — and the policy’s quiet implementation this week despite the admiral’s explicit directive last month.”

Robert McFadden of the New York Times: “Peter Arnett, an intrepid Associated Press combat correspondent who won a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the Vietnam War and became one of the world’s best-known television reporters on the scene of wars and insurrections for 18 years with CNN, died on Wednesday in Newport Beach, Calif. He was 91.” 

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New York. Grace Ashford of the New York Times: “Gov. Kathy Hochul announced on Wednesday that she would sign a bill that will allow terminally ill New Yorkers to end their lives, using unusually personal language as she settled an emotional, decade-long battle between religious leaders and right-to-die advocates. The law will apply to adults who have incurable, irreversible illnesses and six months or less to live, and each patient will need the sign-off of three doctors. Eleven states, the District of Columbia and several countries in Europe have passed similar laws over the objections of some disability-rights advocates and religious organizations, most notably the Catholic Church.... But Ms. Hochul, who is Catholic, said she had made what she described as the “difficult decision” to support the measure in part because of her faith. She wrote in an essay published Wednesday morning in the Albany Times Union that she had listened to people suffering through the agony of a slow death, and that their painful experiences mirrored her own observations of a beloved family member.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Oklahoma. Hayden Alexander of OKC Fox: "The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that former Superintendent Ryan Walters and the Oklahoma State Board of Education (OSBE) violated the Open Meeting Act by approving new K-12 social studies standards promoting Christianity to public school students. The court found that Walters made last-minute changes to standards without notifying the public or providing notice to the other OSBE members, and the standards submitted were substantially different from the version released publicly." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ If you find this story too boring, Robyn Pennacchia of Wonkette writes a more fun and interesting version that provides plenty of background on Ryan, an ever-so-opportunistic Christian nationalist. The bad news: the plaintiffs squeaked through with a 5-4 win. (Also linked yesterday.)