TALES FROM THE CRYPT With Paul Curtman and Nick Schroer (Stories from the legislature)
NEWS PICKS
Powell Signals Fed Prepared to Slow Rate-Rise Pace in December
Fed officials lifted their benchmark rate by 0.75 percentage point on Nov. 2 to a range between 3.75% and 4%. Many officials have signaled they are leaning toward approving a 0.5-point increase at their Dec. 13-14 meeting. They had held the rate near zero until March.
A big question now for the Fed is how much farther to keep raising rates. Some officials are concerned about causing unnecessary damage to the economy and labor market because it takes time for the full effects of those increases to ripple through the economy.
Twitter Becomes Stage for China Protests Despite Ban by Beijing
Twitter has been blocked in China since 2009, but people in the country are able to access it using virtual private networks, or VPNs, which disguise their locations. They can then send material via the platform’s messaging system to a handful of widely followed Twitter users, who in turn broadcast it globally.
One Twitter user who lives outside China and goes by the name of Li Laoshi, or Teacher Li, said he has been receiving more than a dozen messages per second with protest material at some points since public unrest erupted—the same number he used to get a day—so that he could repost them publicly.
The former head of trust and safety at Twitter recently admitted that the social media company’s decision to censor the Hunter Biden laptop story in 2020 was a “mistake.”
During a sit down with journalist Kara Swisher, ex-Twitter safety chief Yoel Roth said that despite concerns about the authenticity of the laptop story, it still did not reach a point where he wanted to remove the content — which was later censored anyway. Initial reporting suggested that Roth blocked user access from the October 2020 story, but the former Twitter division lead said the decision was not up to him.
“We didn’t know what to believe, we didn’t know what was true, there was smoke — and ultimately for me, it didn’t reach a place where I was comfortable removing this content from Twitter,” Roth said. “But it set off every single one of my finely tuned APT28 hack and leak campaign alarm bells.”
Roth planned to meet with the Department of Homeland Security’s now-defunct Disinformation Governance Board, where the government was expected to ask Twitter to become more involved in efforts to monitor misinformation. Both Roth and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed they were approached by the FBI prior to the 2020 election, warning the platforms about foreign propaganda and misinformation.
Hakeem Jeffries Elected to Lead House Democrats
In a letter to colleagues unveiling his bid, Mr. Jeffries promised a leadership style that empowers rank-and-file Democrats, focuses on winning back the majority in 2024 and contrasts with the GOP.
Mrs. Pelosi, 82, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D., Md.), 83, and Whip James Clyburn (D., S.C.), 82, all said earlier this month that they would leave the top three leadership positions but remain in Congress.
On the Republican side, several GOP lawmakers have said they won’t support Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.), the current minority leader, for speaker. The next House speaker must be elected by a majority of the lawmakers present and voting in January, meaning almost all Republicans must support him if all Democrats are opposed.
House passes Biden-backed bill to avert rail strike
By an 290-137 vote, House lawmakers voted to pass legislation blocking nearly 100,000 railroad workers from striking in early December. Economists and the White House have warned that a railroad strike could paralyze the nation’s economy ahead of the holiday season.
“We must act to prevent a catastrophic strike that would touch the lives of nearly every family,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
The legislation gives unionized train engineers and conductors three unpaid sick days a year for medical appointments, provided employers are given at least 30 days’ notice about the time off. It’s based on an agreement that railroad companies and transportation unions agreed to in September. While eight unions have already adopted the agreement, four have not.
Congress passed ERISA (the Employee Retirement Income Security Act) in 1974. The law makes it crystal clear that those managing such assets must do so ‘solely’ in the interest of and for the ‘exclusive purpose’ of ‘providing benefits to participants and their beneficiaries.’
Well, enter the Biden Administration and ‘environmental, social and governance’ – or ESG – investing.
ESG is a set of ill-defined, non-financial investment criteria used to screen potential investments based on how well a company is pursuing certain social or political goals. ESG gained prominence in 2005 when a United Nations-sponsored group of international investors established six ‘Principles for Responsible Investment’ (PRI). The Principles include a pledge to ‘incorporate ESG issues into investment analysis and decision-making processes.’
A Biden era rule allowing – if not encouraging – asset managers to use retirees’ assets to advance the Democrats’ political and social agenda in contravention of ERISA’s specific statutory language.
This isn’t just bad policy (and it is bad policy), it is administrative malfeasance.
It’s anti-democratic. It’s socialism in sheep’s clothing.
Editorial: Congress needs some toddler-proofing before the GOP House majority takes power
Anyone who might be offended by the comparison between unruly toddlers and a GOP House majority should consider the words of Rep. Jason Smith, R-Missouri, who is in line for a major budget post under the incoming GOP House majority: “The American people expect Congress to use every tool at its disposal” to press the Biden administration on issues like taxes, energy policy and the border, Smith said recently, “and the debt ceiling absolutely is one of those tools.”
Translation: Holding America’s full faith and credit hostage to an array of partisan issues — as Republicans did a decade ago, kneecapping the government’s credit rating for the first time ever — is something Smith and his cohorts are vowing to do again.
THE BEE OR NOT THE BEE
Bob Iger Vows To Cut Back To Only 7 LGBT Characters In Every Kid’s Movie
10 Health Benefits Of Social Media
Reading a tweet you disagree with causes blood pressure to spike and that’s kinda like exercise
Tim Cook Says He’s Ready To Pull Twitter From App Store Once President Xi Gives The Order
Celebrities Cut Ties With Balenciaga After MyPillow Spotted In Photo Shoot
‘He’s Got a Gun!’ Bystander Arrested for Misgendering Non-Binary Shooter
Karine Jean-Pierre Insists It’s Not Her Job To Answer Questions
10 Ways To OWN Your Conservative Relatives At Thanksgiving This Year
Volunteer to say grace and thank Biden for the meal
Taliban Quits Twitter To Protest Return Of Trump
Nancy Pelosi Steals Speaker Of The House Podium As Souvenir
TSA agents discover cat stowed away in passenger’s luggage at JFK Airport.
UC San Diego professor “decolonizes” her classes by giving everyone an automatic A.
