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Defenders of Wildlife 1130 17th Street NW • Washington, DC 20036 |
Thursday, November 28, 2024
Biden Secures Freedom, Trump Secures Price Hikes
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It’s Thanksgiving Eve–the busiest travel day of the year in the United States–and Today’s American News is proud to once again bring you news and analysis on the corn maze that is American politics and entertainment.
Biden Admin secures return of 3 Americans imprisoned in China… In another diplomatic win for the Biden Administration, three American citizens are returning home after a combined twenty years in detention in the People’s Republic of China. They are: John Leung, who was sentenced to life in prison on espionage charges; Kai Li, arrested in 2016 on espionage charges; and Texas businessman Mark Swidan, arrested in 2012 on drug related offenses.
New report highlights Trump tariffs’ impact on electronics, shoes, home goods, gas… CBS is out with some details from business advocates worried about Trump’s irresponsible plan to raise prices on American families via massive tariffs on imported goods. According to the Consumer Technology Association, prices for laptops and tablets could increase by 45 percent, new smartphones would see an average $213 hike, and video game consoles would be subject to a double-digit hike. Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America, which notes that 56 percent of American shoes are manufactured in China, is also sounding the alarm. Filtered shower head maker Jolie estimates that its $148 shower head with filter subscription could cost $178 under Trump tariffs. Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, estimates that Trump’s tariffs on Canada could increase gas prices by 70 cents a gallon. Vice President Harris warned about these price hikes, which Trump denied, throughout the 2024 race.
Trump could strip Washington, DC home rule… Donald Trump clashed often with leaders of our nation’s capital city during his first term, deploying federal law enforcement against the wishes of city leaders, for instance. He has vowed to “take over” the city. According to NBC, “There will be little to stop Trump if he wants to make good on his threat to federalize the capital. Constitutionally, the District of Columbia is a ward of the federal government. Its limited self-government is derived from Congress and can be rescinded whenever the president and Congress wish… Trump could take over the D.C. National Guard and even the Metropolitan Police Department” and deploy more federal law enforcement officials… Trump and Congress could strip the district’s local autonomy or reimpose something like the Financial Control Board.”
Denver mayor responds to Trump border czar’s arrest threat… Trump border czar Tom Homan first threatened to withdraw funds from states with leaders do not work with the Trump administration on execution of mass deportations. Homan then went a step further, threatening to arrest Denver's Democratic mayor, Mike Johnston. Johnston responded to the threat in an interview last evening to CNN’s Erin Burnett. It’s unclear how Homan believes he can withhold an entire state’s funding over a dispute between the Trump administration and the leader of a single city (he can’t) or what authority he believes he will have to make arrests of mayors.
GOP set to begin 2025 with ONE VOTE House majority… ABC reports: “Overnight Wednesday” a key House race in “California tipped toward Democrats, giving Adam Gray a roughly 182-vote lead over GOP Rep. John Duarte” while in “California's 45th Congressional District, anchored in Orange and Los Angeles Counties, Democrat Derek Tran has a roughly 600-vote lead over Republican Rep. Michelle Steel… If these results hold, the House will start with a 220-215 GOP majority” dropping to 219-215 “with former Rep. Matt Gaetz's resignation” and 217-215” with “resignations of Reps. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and Mike Waltz, R-Fla., who are set to join the Trump administration… giving Republicans no room for error, since any tied votes at 216-216 would fail.”
Today’s Buzz
Entertainment Weekly releases list of 15 best Thanksgiving movies… Thanksgiving is a time for movies for many American families, and if you’re looking for a good movie to watch with loved ones, here’s a good list. Making the cut were: Addams Family Values (1993), The Daytrippers (1996), Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), The House of Yes (1997), The Ice Storm (1997), Krisha (2015), Miracle on 34th Street (1947), Pieces of April (2003), Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987), Rocky (1976), She's Gotta Have It (1986), Soul Food (1997), and Thanksgiving (2023).
Today’s Furry Friend
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We hope your thanksgiving is as bountiful as this feline’s.
That’s all for now. We here at Today’s American News hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.
five guys & McDonald’s fries
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Who Will Be the Heroes Now?
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Why subscribe? Note the kind words of one new paid subscriber, Lori: “We all need to hear the truth and the corporate media is not delivering.” And this from Susanna: "I need another Substack sub like a hole in the head, but yours is good.”
Who Will Be the Heroes Now?
It's not enough to worry about the coming danger. We need to pay attention to and support the opposition
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This is a strange, in-between moment, rippling with uncertainty stirred by a deeply vengeful man bent on destruction who will soon retake the ultimate levers of power. His hasty dumping of unqualified nominees—each one providing a different version of reckless endangerment to our nation’s safety and security—underscores the serious questions about how bad the coming months and years will be.
Will they mete out punishments to serve their boss’ whims, ending justice as we know it? Will we be able to rely on the safety of our food and water and drugs? Will diseases long abated by vaccines re-emerge as new and unnecessary dangers to our children and ourselves? Can we trust that our military will serve the American people rather than be transformed into a weapon against us? Will we face new attacks by foreign adversaries because our allies can no longer safely share intelligence with us? Will we suffer serious economic decline fueled by billionaires and reckless ideologues focused on expanding their own fortunes while demanding sacrifices from everyone else? Can we be sure that in 2026 there will be another election?
In turn, who will be the heroes of this time? Who will stand up and speak out, refusing to be cowed or ruled by fear? Who will take action to stop the demolition of our democracy? Who with power will demand that the practices and principles that have successfully driven the American system of government be recognized and followed?
There are some early signs: Matt Gaetz was a road too far for Attorney General. The Senate chose South Dakota’s John Thune as its new majority leader, not Trump-backed lickspittle Rick Scott from Florida. Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve, said categorically that he would not leave his post if Trump asked or tried to fire him. Alaska’s Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski announced she would oppose Trump’s nominees if they are not properly vetted by the FBI. “This isn’t about partisanship," she reportedly told close allies, "it’s about ensuring we don’t compromise the standards of public office." South Dakota’s other GOP senator, Mike Rounds, said this when asked about anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: “Look, I believe in vaccines. I think they’ve saved millions of lives.”
Will there be other GOP senators who find their spine in the coming months to confront Trump’s reckless decisions? Will we see Democrats oppose the coming onslaught with all the vigor and virulence they can muster? These would be leaders to notice and encourage.
Let’s also pay attention to the critical role of state and local officials to protect their citizens and push back against the Trump-inspired federal efforts to deport millions of undocumented migrants and pursue myriad other actions that will cause damage to real people. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker best summarized this commitment: “You come for my people, you come through me.”
In this period, we will need fearless truth-tellers to remind us of the differences between right and wrong, true and false. They will be critical in asserting factual reality as the anti-government propaganda intensifies to justify extreme attacks on the agencies, procedures and resources established to create safety and security, particularly for at-risk people. Trump lackey and election denier Pam Bondi, nominated for Attorney General, has already pledged to prosecute the prosecutors.
Trump chose Russell Vought, a chief architect of Project 2025, to lead the Office of Management and Budget, even though Trump said he knew nothing about the project’s policy agenda. Vought has already pledged to help impound any funds approved by Congress if the next president disapproves of their intended purpose—demonstrating utter disregard for the legislative body’s power of the purse enshrined in the first article of the Constitution.
Let’s rewind for a moment: Since FDR’s New Deal and LBJ’s Great Society, liberal government has sought to minimize suffering—indeed to provide a bulwark against decline, destitution and death—with programs like Social Security and Medicare for the elderly, Medicaid and food stamps for the poor, Head Start for low-income children. As much as these efforts represented a belief that government can make lives better, they also recognized that the capitalist system’s turbulence and inequality can and must be tempered.
Now, as Trump is inserting an increasingly power-mad billionaire like Elon Musk along with Vivek Ramaswamy to manage a made-up Department of Government Efficiency—with their promise to slash $2 trillion from the federal budget of just over $6 trillion—do we have any reason to believe their cuts (whatever the eventual scale) will serve the same people that FDR and LBJ recognized needed support? Or will Musk, one of the largest private government contractors and the world’s richest man, make decisions that serve his own interests? Tragically, we will soon get an answer to this not-rhetorical question.
We should not doubt that there are plenty of fellow billionaires—aided by a corrupt Supreme Court—who are cheering on additional tax cuts to increase their wealth, consolidate power among private interests and move the country toward oligarchy. The Republican nominee who conned voters into believing he cares about working people is now seeking to surround himself with billionaires, including Doug Burgum (Interior), Linda McMahon (Education) and Howard Lutnick (Commerce), along with Musk and Ramaswamy.
Who will be the heroes? Let’s pay attention to the government professionals who push back against the reckless savaging of their departments, the elected officials who speak out on behalf of working people, the judges and prosecutors and lawyers who resist the ravaging of our election systems and constitutional processes, the scientists and medical professionals who resist the measures that will endanger the nation’s health, the everyday people who refuse to be lied to or let their neighbors and friends be endangered. This is where we’ll find not just hope, but the makings of a positive future once this hostile takeover reaches its eventual dead end.
The market has spoken: electric vehicles are here to stay
Donald Trump may be able to slow the shift to electric vehicles, but he won’t be able to stop it. That’s because automakers have already invested billions of dollars to build new battery plants and retool their factories for electric vehicles. In fact, there are now 117 electric vehicle models in the United States! What’s more? It’s not just Democrats who are interested in EVs, but 28% of Republicans and 24% of Independents are also considering buying an electric vehicle in the future. That means no matter what Trump does or says, the transition to cleaner vehicles will continue - just maybe not at the pace we want to see. Thank you, |
The Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition Political Action Committee (SEEC PAC) is an organization that supports members in the U.S. House of Representatives and candidates who fight for clean energy, climate change solutions, environmental justice, and protection of our nation’s clean air, water, wildlife, and public lands. Will you make a donation to our fight today?
Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition Political Action Committee |
we can stop the MAGA nightmare from becoming a permanent reality
Since the election, thousands of people have donated to Public Citizen in response to our emails highlighting some of the ways we intend to confront a second Trump presidency and some of the ways we are already working together in fighting back.
First, our thanks to everyone who has contributed over these past few weeks.
Second, we want to address some questions and comments folks have shared.
What about the Supreme Court?
Our plans are heavy on challenging the Trump administration in court. And the current Supreme Court is tricky.
But only a tiny fraction of court cases go to the Supreme Court. The vast majority of cases never get that far. Public Citizen’s elite team of lawyers will be strategic about which cases we take and how we demonstrate where the law is on the side of everyday Americans.
We may not prevail in every case. But we won’t lose every case, either. Far from it. We have experience and expertise using the legal system to defend ordinary people and progressive values even when the playing field is not perfectly level.
How much can we really do when Republicans will control the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives?
We have no delusions that we can stop every terrible thing Trump and his MAGA acolytes try to do legislatively.
But there have been many times throughout our nation’s history when the same party controlled the presidency and both chambers of Congress — a so-called “unified government” — and still wasn’t able to do everything it wanted to do.
Republicans controlled both the House and Senate for Donald Trump’s first two years in office. And yes, they passed a disastrous tax cut that benefitted billionaires and Big Business at the expense of the American people. But, quite famously, they failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare) — even though it was practically the only thing some of them talked about (nearly to the point of foaming at the mouth) for years.
Even more recently, Democrats had a majority in both the House and Senate for President Biden’s first two years in office. Did every bill they introduced get passed? (The answer, of course, is no.)
Furthermore, it’s not like Republicans never disagree with other Republicans. They can’t even put aside their intra-party differences long enough to choose a Speaker of the House without devolving into farcical chaos and literal shoving matches.
On top of all that, the Republican majorities in both the House and Senate will be thin. With any particular bill in Congress, just a few Republicans in either chamber breaking from the MAGA party line — because what’s best for their constituents will sometimes (more like most times) not align with what’s best for Donald Trump, and they know it — can stop bad legislation in its tracks.
Can we rely on ineptitude and in-fighting alone to prevent Republicans in Congress from doing all kinds of damage? Unfortunately not. But those tendencies will slow them down and make at least some of them susceptible to public pressure.
And that’s where Public Citizen comes in. Putting pressure on members of Congress is our thing — it has been since our founding over half a century ago. We will sniff out fractures and we will do everything we can to crack them open.
We’re up against powerful people with so much money.
True.
For example, Elon Musk alone spent at least $133 million bankrolling Trump’s campaign. (And that’s just the money Musk spent that has been disclosed.)
Throughout human history, those fighting for justice and progress always have less money and power than the forces they are up against — pretty much by definition.
But by standing up, by working together, by insisting that the status quo is simply not good enough, we advance justice and make progress nonetheless.
It may happen slowly, perhaps achingly so. We may go through periods where it feels like “one step forward, two steps back.”
Yet somehow, things are better — far from perfect, but better — than they were a thousand years ago, five hundred years ago, a hundred years ago.
Why should this be the moment to abandon all of that history? Why should those of us here now be the ones to throw up our hands and say “we can’t do it”?
Like millions before us the world over — with a debt to them, in fact — we must choose to continue the fight against the rich and powerful, even if it feels like we’re losing ground.
All hope is lost. I’m giving up on politics. I’m leaving the country.
No!
Well, we can’t say whether or not leaving the country is best for any particular person. But a resounding “No!” to losing hope or giving up.
Look, it’s grim. There’s no denying it.
Donald Trump and the racist, misogynistic, sociopathic forces that he has exploited and emboldened (they were here all along — let’s be clear about that) are a very real threat to millions upon millions of Americans, to our democracy, to our planet, and to everyone on it.
That is scary.
Infuriating.
Sickening.
Sad.
It can also be tedious, draining, and debilitating.
We can and should feel those things.
But ...
Also ...
At the same time ...
The math is actually very simple:
If we lose hope, if we give up, if we allow ourselves to become resigned to it, the MAGA vision for America definitely wins out.
If we fight — with everything, every damn thing, we’ve got — we *will* prevent at least some damage, and there is every reason to think we can stop the MAGA nightmare from becoming a permanent reality.
This is the fight of our lives.
We are in it together.
And we need your help to build up more financial strength than we’ve ever had before.
If you can, please donate to Public Citizen right now.
Anything you can chip in — $5 or $25, $50 or $100, $500 or even more — will help us confront what’s coming from a second Trump term.
Or join our popular Monthly Giving program (if you haven’t already) to help make sure we have the ongoing financial resources to fight Trump day after day after day.
Thank you for reading this, and thank you for everything you do as part of Public Citizen.
For progress,
- Lisa Gilbert & Robert Weissman, Co-Presidents of Public Citizen
Offering our gratitude – and this moment of calm. [Video]
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