The news was conspicuously quiet this week, all things considered, which makes me suspicious that it is planning something. In the short term, I’ll take the quiet news week, but let’s all brace for the worst over the holidays just to be on the safe side.
Standard standing reminders still apply: I guess after six years I’m conceding that I’m a journalist, but I summarize news within my areas of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not an election!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!
Cleanup in Aisle 45:
The flow of Election Rejection stories is starting to lessen a bit as I type this, but there’s still a lot to cover. Here’s what has happened:
- Election Rejection: Investigation Roundup. For yet another week, there is news on almost all of the Trump investigations we’re tracking at the NNR. Among the actual actionable news: 1) The House January 6 investigation is planning to issue several criminal referrals to the DOJ in its last few days of existence, though we’ll have to wait until December 21 for full information about who it is considering indicting and on what charges; 2) the special counsel for the Department of Justice investigation into January 6 has begun subpoenaing state officials that fielded Trump correspondence; and 3) another search of Mar-a-lago as part of the stolen documents investigation this week managed to uncover yet more classified documents, which caused the DOJ to move to hold Trump in contempt of court (though sadly, that motion was not granted).Also, though strictly speaking, this is really more Trump-election-adjacent, 4) the Trump Organization was found guilty this week of seventeen counts of tax fraud.
The Biden Rebuilding updates this week are really more about the legislative side, but they do involve Biden’s agenda pretty directly. Here’s what I have for you:
- Legislative Updates. As foretold by prophecy, the House did pass the Respect for Marriage Act this week, which means that incremental legislative protections for same-sex and interracial marriages will be enacted at the federal level as soon as Biden signs it into law. As I mentioned last week, however, the final version of the bill does not provide protections for states granting same-sex marriage if Obergefell is overturned, which means it may become effectively unenforceable in many places in the U.S. at some point in the future. And on the ignoring Biden side of the spectrum, the House also passed a version of the National Defense Authorization Act this week that rescinds Biden’s COVID vaccine mandate for troops. That last bit is particularly frustrating when cases are rising again–but more on that below.
Your New Normal:
- Contagion Corner. It’s a bad week for Contagion Corner on basically all axes. COVID cases are rising again nationally as I type this, with transmission levels high all over the country; current strains remain particularly dangerous for people over 65 and immunocompromised individuals. Flu infections are very high nationally as well, and experts are still concerned about RSV, though rates appear to have peaked by the time that I’m writing this. The combination “tripledemic” is causing experts to stress the value of masking again, and many jurisdictions are either highly recommending or mandating masks again under CDC Community Level rules. Against this backdrop, it is relieving to note that as of this week, bivalent booster shots have been approved for children under five.
The Bad:
- New York Times Walkout. The New York Times was in the news this week when over 1,100 workers staged a one-day walkout, saying that its executives have been failing to bargain in good faith since March 2021 when their employee contract first expired. Though I consider it encouraging that the Times covered its own walkout on Friday, no agreement has been struck as far as I know at the time that I’m typing this. Newspaper strikes are historically rare, and it’s a noteworthy statement about both our current labor movement and conditions at the New York Times that they chose to strike now.
The Good:
- Recent Election Resilience. I’m sure most folks reading this have heard by now that the Georgia senate runoff was called for Raphael Warnock earlier this week, leaving the Senate Democrats with a true 51-49 majority. Needless to say, it’s very rare for the President’s party to pick up seats in the midterms, especially with approval ratings about said President hanging out around 40%. The results can likely be attributed to both high early voting turnout and low Republican engagement. These results do come with a small asterisk, as Arizona Senator and world’s worst bisexual Kyrsten Sinema responded by officially leaving the Democratic party a day or two later. That said, she’s expected to still caucus with the Democrats on most issues for the remainder of the term.
So that’s all I have for this week, and for that, we can all be grateful. For making it through, you deserve this baby pangolin spa day and a more functional government. I’ll be back next week with more restructured and improved news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me blueprints for my house in Valheim!
National News Roundup 