Christian Left v. Christian Right

With the victories by Democratic Senators-Elect James Talarico (Texas) and Adam Hamilton (Kansas), there will be two new deeply Christian voices on the national political stage.

During recent election cycles, most of the candidates who spoke often about their Christian faith were Republicans.

So this is a new twist.

After spending more than 35 years as a United Methodist pastor and growing the Church of the Resurrection into one of the largest mainline congregations in the country, Hamilton says his public service is an extension of his pastoral calling rather than separate from it.

"I can't not talk about my faith” he says. “It's just, it's my life. It's what I eat, sleep, drink and breathe... [But] my job in the Senate is not to be a chaplain or America’s pastor. Instead, I intend to be a senator who strives for decency, brings people together, and practices the core principles of my life." [1, 2]

Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian and former Sunday school teacher, bases his progressive politics directly in his Christian faith. [1, 2, 3] He frequently challenges the Religious Right, arguing that dominant political movements warp and weaponize religion to accumulate power, control bodies, and ignore core biblical calls to feed the hungry, heal the sick, and welcome the stranger. [1, 2]

In his victory speech after flipping the Texas U.S. Senate seat, Talarico reflected on his grandfather's teachings about the barefoot rabbi's two primary commandments, emphasizing that every person is holy and that he is called to love all neighbors—regardless of appearance, prayer style, or vote—the way he loves himself. [1]

A recent survey found that a majority of Republicans (56 percent) are Christian Nationalism supporters. So will the emergence of these two articulate leaders on the Democratic side of the aisle lead to a battle with the right-wing Christian Nationalists.

If so, perhaps we will see a battle of Biblical proportions. Or. as we Boomers call it: “Twist and Shout.”

HEADLINES:

• Republican Massie Calls Up Impeachment Charges Against Hegseth (NYT)

• The trap in Trump’s Hegseth defense (CNN)

• Hegseth’s Office Kept Secret Files of Internet Printouts to Block Admiral Promotions: Report (Military.com)

• Hegseth denied promotions to military members who promoted DEI and the Covid vaccine: report (Independent)

• Congress returns for lame-duck sprint after bruising midterm losses for GOP (CBS)

• Senate weighs sweeping energy legislation in first major action since midterm elections (AP)

• Trump fails to learn midterm lesson with Stephen Miller chief of staff pick (The Hill)

• It’s Roy Cohn All Over Again (NYT)

• Will Jensen Huang resign? Trump and tech leaders sound off on whether Nvidia’s CEO will keep his job. (BI)

• Mississippi and Alaska Senate races remain uncalled. See results (USAToday)

• Even this blue wave probably won’t wash tariffs away (The Hill)

• Protests Erupt as ICE Agents Block Ambulances From Hospital — Los Angeles Mayor-elect Nithya Raman joined the protests. (TNR)

• Gina Hinojosa Takes on the Texas Government Republicans Built (NYT)

• U.S. Overture to Russia on European Security Sparks Alarm (WSJ)

• Russia, Ukraine and US meet for Abu Dhabi talks as Trump says war can ‘end soon’ (ABC)

• Britain says its bases are safe after US refuelling planes evacuated (Reuters)

• WarTalk: Lame Duck War, Pete on Notice, Team Yankee (China Talk)

• A covert Russian network sought to exploit last month’s riots in France by using social media to blame the unrest on uncontrolled immigration and portray the government as having lost control, according to an internal EU assessment seen by Reuters. Read our exclusive. (Reuters)

• Gunman with far-right views who killed 6 in Poland shooting rampage dies in hospital, police say (NBC)

• Prominent government critics across Africa are facing treason charges. It’s often to silence them, according to rights groups (AP)

• Banana producers in Latin America want better pay to cope with effects of climate crisis (Guardian)

• The Collapse of America’s Most Consequential Institution — Without a functional Department of Justice, no one can ensure that Americans will be treated equally under the law. (Rachel Maddow - Atlantic)

• Meet the legal startup generating $150 million in revenue without chasing Big Law (BI)

• As budgets tighten, people are breaking out their library cards (NPR)

• SpaceX now fundamentally an “infrastructure company,” senior official says (ArsTechnica)

• Biggest waves in years to slam California coast — including San Francisco (SFC)

• Michigan up to No. 2 in AP women’s poll after beating UConn; South Carolina No. 1 (ESPN)

AI NEWS:

• Anthropic to Seek $1.3 Trillion Valuation in IPO (WSJ)

• Trump Official Who Wants Data Centers on Public Lands Has Tens of Millions Invested in AI Industry (ProPublica)

• Caltech robot makes history by building a structure in space (ScienceDaily)

• Anthropic must face lawsuit over Claude subscription marketing (Reuters)

• 1 in 4 data centers run in area with stressed water supply, study finds (WP)

• Verified Compute Allocation Disclosures as a Foundational Governance Tool (AI Futures Project)

• GOP Criticizes Trump For Promoting Stephen Miller Over Other, More Qualified Necrophiles (Onion)

A Medicare Moment

Health care is both intensely personal and a contentious public issue at the same time. Yet’s a fair bet that many Americans don’t know that most of the cuts to health care in Trump’s so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” start kicking in on January 1, 2027, which is, like, tomorrow.

The cuts I’m referring to are $1.02 trillion to Medicare, the closest thing we have to a universal health care system in this country. (BTW, if cutting costs is the issue, we could achieve that $1.02 trillion by simply cutting Elon Musk!)

Fortunately, now that Democrats will be in control of both houses of Congress, Sen. Bernie Sanders “Medicare for All Act” can finally come back into focus. It would restore Trump’s cuts and expand coverage for the most vulnerable. 

Until now, this visionary solution to our country’s crisis in health care seemed out of reach, but along with the historic blue wave in this week’s elections comes perhaps its best chance in a generation.

And even if only a partial reform can be achieved at first, that will represent a much-needed move in the right direction. Below is a summary of Bernie’s idea:

Medicare for All Act

• Covers all U.S. residents and covers items and services that are medically necessary or appropriate to maintain health or to diagnose, treat, or rehabilitate a health condition.

• Prohibits cost-sharing (e.g., deductibles, coinsurance, and copayments) and other charges for covered services, with the exception of prescription drugs. 

• Health insurance exchanges and specified federal health programs terminate upon program implementation, except for coverage provided through the military, the Department of Veterans Affairs, or the Indian Health Service. 

• Establishes a requirement that HHS negotiate prices for prescription drugs and create a formulary.

• Individuals who are age 18 or younger may enroll in the program starting one year after enactment of this bill; other individuals may buy into a transitional plan or an expanded Medicare program at this time, depending on age. 

• The bill’s program must be fully implemented four years after enactment.

While all of this may not be achievable at first, it seems like a good starting point. You can contact your representative in the U.S. House here. You can contact your U.S. Senators here.

HEADLINES:

• The Truth About the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s Cuts to Medicaid and Medicare (CAP)

• Medicare for All Act (Congress.gov)

• Congress returns for crowded lame-duck session as Hegseth impeachment, government funding deadline loom (ABC)

• House poised to impeach Pete Hegseth after GOP midterm defeat (Axios)

• Election Drubbing Complicates Vance’s Calculation on Whether to Run in 2028 (WSJ)

• Potential Vance challengers smell blood in the water after brutal GOP losses (WP)

• Republicans blame Israel for their defeat (Economist)

• Trump set to lurch further right, claiming US took ‘giant step back’ in elections (Guardian)

• Trump calls for DOJ investigation into Democratic calls for oversight (Politico)

• Blanche says Oversight Democrats should be ‘very worried’ after Trump ordered DOJ probe (CNN)

• House Democrats will start their majority focused on boosting healthcare and ending the Iran war (AP)

• Scott Colom and Black Mississippians stand on the cusp of Senate history as vote count stretches on (PBS)

• In America’s measles epidemic, RFK Jr. is now on trial (Politico)

• The American Dream Is No Match for Climate Change (Mother Jones)

• Trump says White House press secretary offer to UFC’s White was a joke (ESPN)

• ‘On par with what the DoD pursued during the Cold War’: Pentagon’s war stockpile plan hits a minerals wall (Fortune)

• Elizabeth Holmes Look-Alike Contest Draws Mass of Black Turtlenecks to Lafayette Park (SFist)

AI NEWS:

• Nvidia investigating reports that CEO Jensen Huang was targeted by Chinese intelligence (AP)

• Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on Sunday admitted he had been unfaithful to his wife and took "full responsibility" for his actions, after a media report alleged he had a close relationship with a Chinese businesswoman who passed information to Beijing. The company said that while its board had no reason to believe that either U.S. national security or Nvidia secrets were compromised, its inquiry would examine all available information. [Reuters]

• Jensen is cooked (Marcus)

• Bosses loved AI at work — until they drowned in slop (BI)

• AI nearly had US troops attack a Chinese ship. Nobody could check its work. (The Hill)

• Why the Cyberpocalypse Might Hit China Harder (ChinaTalk)

• Interior Department Approves Plan For Trump Commemorative Eagle (Onion)

If Elon Musk Were a Country...

Here’s a fun fact for you: Elon Musk’s fruitless spending on the election of some $470 million was the equivalent of the annual GDP of Romania. It’s also larger than the GDPs of Pakistan, Egypt, Chile, Peru and the Czech Republic, etc. — three-quarters of the countries on the planet.

This isn’t his net worth; it’s just the money he spent on the elections. If he were his own country, Musk would have somewhere around the 21st largest national economy in the world. On a bad day at the stock market, he loses the equivalent of a Sri Lanka or two Cambodias, three Lebanons or four Nicaraguas.

On a good day, he might pick up the equivalent of a dozen Sierra Leones.

Now before somebody complains that I’m comparing apples to oranges, I admit that an individual’s net worth is not the same thing as a country’s gross domestic product. 

So which is more: A trillion apples for one guy or a trillion oranges for 100 million?

The point is that never in human history has there been such a shocking disparity in wealth between this right-wing weirdo and virtually everyone else here on earth.

And in case anyone thinks we should try and do something about it before Musk takes over the entire world, you can find him these days in Texas, where he went to escape the reach of the Democrats.

Uh oh.

HEADLINES:

• Unfazed by Midterm Rebuke, Miller Is Poised to Push the Limits of Trump’s Power — The president’s new chief of staff has already demonstrated his intention to forge ahead with an agenda that many voters rejected. (NYT)

• The tech billionaires who fled California are facing a new blue Texas (WP)

• How Elon Musk Frittered Away Nearly $500 Million on the Midterms (NYT)

• Risk of Iran war escalation remains high despite Democratic sweep in U.S. midterm elections (CNBC)

• UFC’s Dana White says he will meet with Trump Monday over offer to be White House press secretary (NPR)

• Who Is Gadi Eisenkot, the Israeli Tasked With Forming a Government? (NYT)

• US offers $20m reward for information about Iran’s nuclear programme (BBC)

• Vance builds a new identity (Reuters)

• Wiles is the latest high-profile woman to leave Trump administration (USAToday)

• A new group of senators from both parties will vote on how to save Social Security. Here’s what they’ve said about it (Fortune)

• DC official urges incoming Democratic governors to withdraw National Guard (The Hill)

• US Senator Abdul El-Sayed launches ‘Habibi’ political action committee (Al Jazeera)

• Four women and two men killed in Krakow shooting as police say suspect wore ‘military-style attire’ (BBC)

• How a Soldier’s Beating Helped Desegregate the Military (Reveal)

• Why Bolsonaro says U.S. took him in: Trump ‘convinced’ Brazil is no longer a democracy (WP)

AI NEWS:

• The Fridge-Hacking Spree Is an Internet-of-Things Wake-Up Call (Wired)

• Why a new report on Anthropic automating AI development is alarming researchers (Verge)

• ChatGPT can now build custom apps for you in seconds, without any coding — I tried making 6 of my own, and the results surprised me (TechRadar)

• Why investors are dumping AI company stocks after Democrats’ election sweep (WP)

• Uncarved Pumpkin Struggling With Survivor’s Guilt (Onion)

 

Local Power Shifts Left

In addition to taking over Congress, Democrats now are the party in control on the state level. When the final results are in, Democrats will hold the Governor’s office in 30 states covering about 75 percent of the country’s population. They were able to flip the governorships in Georgia, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio and Texas. (*)

Democrats also now have majorities in over half of the state legislatures, with a handful of races still to be decided. This new political reality extends the blue wave across the country in ways that ensure that change will not be confined to Washington, D.C. 

Meanwhile, Trump’s choice of Stephen Miller as his new chief of staff is an indication he isn’t interested in a conciliatory approach with the new Congress. Miller, the architect of Trump’s mass deportation policy, is a bitter, angry man with extremist views, which is in sharp contrast to the chief of staff he replaces, Susie Wiles. 

Wiles seemed like one of the few calming voices around Trump. And that matters because while it is a hopeful sign that most Americans have elected Democrats to public offices on every level of government, it’s worth remembering the percentage of the population under a Republican President is still 100.

(*Votes are still being counted in the Kansas Governor’s race, but Kalshi is 99.5 percent certain the Democrat will win.)

HEADLINES:

• Stephen Miller replacing Susie Wiles as chief of staff as Trump grows furious with midterm results, sources say (CNN)

• With Stephen Miller pick, Trump readies for a battle (BBC)

• The Miller Doctrine: Trump’s “wartime consigliere” (Axios)

• Trump Tried to Undermine the Nation’s Elections. It Didn’t Work. (NYT)

• Comer says ‘there’s a lot of questions about Hegseth’ amid impeachment push (The Hill)

• Bomb Threats in Europe Probably a Coordinated Campaign, Ireland Says (NYT)

• Cornell faculty senate issues no confidence vote on administration’s handling of sexual assault (NBC)

• Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis planning another White House run (WP)

• How Accurate Were Prediction Markets at Picking Midterm Winners? (NYT)

• Democrat Scott Colom adds to lead in Mississippi Senate ballot counting (The Hill)

• U.S. Attorney Who Oversaw Centerpiece of Trump’s Revenge Campaign Resigns (NYT)

• Houston Mayor John Whitmire directs HPD to reduce cooperation with ICE after midterm results (HPM)

• Trump Wrestles With New Reality: A Lame Duck With Two Years Left to Fight (NYT)

• Jimmy Kimmel spots bizarre clue Donald Trump could leave White House earlier than expected (Independent)

• Tesla Is Ending Production of Its Cybertruck and Refocusing on the Cybercab (NYT)

• Paraguay’s president impeached and under house arrest after bank collapse (BBC)

• Judge places Thomas Markle, father of Meghan, on house arrest after feds find photos of him sexually abusing minors, DOJ says (CNN)

• The final day of voting begins in New Zealand's election as an unusual law bans any talk of politics (AP)

• Yaxel Lendeborg is the NBA’s most entertaining rookie – and he’s not holding back (Guardian)

• From Linux to Wikipedia: How Volunteers Build the Internet (MIT)

• 3 charged in $129 million AI scheme targeting thousands of companies (PBS)

• New Research Tests Whether AI Models Know Their Own Thoughts (Quanta)

• Data centers took a beating in the midterm elections. A reckoning may be ahead for tech giants (AP)

• New Generation Clarifies They’re Fine Not Having Own ‘Cat In The Hat’ (Onion)

 

Salon R.I.P.

It was a sad moment yesterday when word came that Salon has ceased publication. In a short unsigned statement, the site broke its own news: “The business realities of independent digital journalism have changed profoundly over the years. After careful consideration, we have reached the difficult decision that our publishing model is no longer sustainable.”

The truth is that Salon never had a sustainable business model and that was both its charm and its tragedy. Salon epitomized a very specific moment in publishing history — the pivot from print to online sites. 

It also captured a very specific moment in cultural history — the ascendence of “San Francisco values” (shorthand DEI) openly at war with the right-wing’s self-appointed “family values.”

Salon also represented a very specific moment in political history — we were the leading investigative journalists holding hypocritical conservative politicians accountable during the impeachment of Bill Clinton.

Finally, for me personally, Salon played a very important part in the key transition in my career. Just like Salon, my print career was reborn online in 1995. It makes me sad to realize that I have now outlived it.

As for those early years, I’m republishing links to the six-part series on Salon. At the time I wrote it, I had no idea this would be an elegy.

Origin Story: Salon

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Part Six

“All things must pass.” — George Harrison

HEADLINES:

• ‘I Have Seen the Enemy, and It Is Us’: Inside Team Trump’s Historic Collapse (NYT)

• Tech slump wipes millions off markets (Reuters)

• ‘Knives out’ for Hegseth, other military leaders after Iran war dooms GOP (WP)

• A judge blocks construction of Trump’s arch moments after it won federal approval (NPR)

• Democrats will win more than 250 House seats, CNN projects (CNN)

• How the Democrats will wield their power (Economist)

• The Republican missteps that laid the groundwork for a historic midterm rebuke (WP)

• The Machine, and the Messaging, That Won Texas for Democrats (NYT)

• Democrats face a choice on Trump come January: Confrontation or compromise (WP)

• Newsom moves to commute all California death sentences to life in prison without parole (LAT)

• Judge Scolds ICE ‘Cruelty’ for Arresting Man He Just Ordered Be Released (Newsweek)

• DOJ civil rights division chief resigns (Politico)

• Justice Department Pursuing Criminal Investigation into Dobbs Decision Leak (NR)

• Nithya Raman, Democratic Socialist, Wins Los Angeles Mayoral Race (NYT)

• Hundreds of thousands march in largely peaceful protests across France (CNN)

• Melania Trump calls for lasting Ukraine truce as she hosts Russian and Ukrainian officials (BBC)

• Paraguay President Peña resigns under mounting pressure from bank collapse (Reuters)

• Watch: Is a Nuclear Strike Imminent? Iranian Video on Surviving a Nuclear Explosion Sparks Fear (Sabq)

• Goodbye from Salon (Salon)

• Online magazine Salon, early staple of internet discourse, shuts down (ABC)

• Salon, Digital News Trailblazer, Folds After 31 Years (Hollywood Reporter)

• Salon, a Pioneer of Digital Journalism, Shuts Down (NYT)

• LIV Golf is done after 5 years and $5 billion spent dividing the sport (NYT)

• Bosses loved AI at work — until they drowned in slop (BI)

• Anthropic is rapidly accelerating AI development amid slowdown calls, outside research group says (AP)

• AI agents can trade stocks for you—here are the risks and benefits, according to experts (CNBC)

• Claude can now analyze your spending with its new Personal Finance tool (TechCrunch)

• Voters Rejected A.I. in the Midterms. Now Comes an Era of Scrutiny. (NYT)

• Bain Capital Acquires Tibetan Buddhism For $35 Million (Onion)

 

The Aftermath

For nearly two years, I worried that Trump might try to disrupt the midterm elections by calling a national emergency. That fear was based partly on his threats, partly on the hints in his executive orders and partly on what happened on Jan. 6, 2021.

I also worried that his frequent claim that the elections could be rigged would be plausible, at least to his followers.

But in the end the Democrats won by such a huge margin that nothing like my worst fears happened. Kalshi now says there is a 96.5 percent chance the Dems will win the Senate seat in Mississippi, and a 93.9 percent chance they’ll prevail in the Alaska Senate race, which will bring them to a 56-44 advantage.

The magnitude of the Democratic victory in the House won’t be known for a bit but Kalshi says it will be 260-175.

So rather than declare an emergency over some trumped-up excuse or another, all Trump could do in the end was to wander off to the site of his East Wing destruction project, muttering about pipes and marble and cranes. Now the blame game has started among Republicans the word is they might impeach Pete Hegseth next week while they still hold the Congressional majority.

For the first time, I now feel that I can appreciate the country’s 250th anniversary.

P.S. Of course Trump did initially try to disrupt the elections with numerous lawsuits but he lost in the courts, including in the Supreme Court.

HEADLINES:

• How Trump Lost the Midterms — The Iran war, gas prices and Trump’s miscalculations led to one of the most decisive repudiations of an American president (WSJ)

• Democrats Project Power as G.O.P. Reels in a Reordered Washington (NYT)

• Young voters led a sharp shift toward Democrats in the 2026 midterms, The AP Voter Poll finds (AP)

• ‘Seismic shift’: World reacts to US midterm election results (Al Jazeera)

• After an extraordinary wave, what comes next? (Silver Bulletin)

• Amid the Trump wreckage, the free press survives (The Hill)

• As GOP points fingers over stunning midterm losses, Trump admires his ballroom (Politico)

• Democratic sweep of Congress ushers in a new era as Trump acknowledges impact of the Iran war (AP)

• Vance blames Republican losses on Iran war (Yahoo)

• El-Sayed Calls Out JD Vance in Victory Speech (WSJ)

• Oil prices plunge after Vance post on Iran war (Axios)

• Stocks Rise as Democrats Flip Control of Congress (NYT)

• Republican strongholds flip for the first time in a generation (Reuters)

• Why Pete Hegseth could fall through “thin ice” (Axios)

• Trump asking advisers if Hegseth should stay after midterm losses, sources say (CBS)

• A Blue Wave Just Crashed on Trump (New Yorker)

• DeSantis calls midterm bloodbath an ‘extinction-level event for Republicans’ (Politico)

• How a blue wave crushed the tech right (BI)

• These Democrats are set to take foreign policy reins in Congress (The Hill)

• Among winners: The polls. Among losers: Billionaires. (WP)

• Goodbye, Vivek Ramaswamy (Slate)

• ‘Congratulations to Donald Trump on a successful regime change’: Late night hosts react to Democrat sweep (Independent)

• Pope Leo receives Bob Dylan at the Vatican (Vatican News)

• OpenAI is already trying to shape the 2028 election (TechCrunch)

• Google Will Turn Off Search for Schools That Reject A.I. (NYT)

• Nation Watches Helplessly As 2028 Election Cycle Begins (Onion)

America to Trump: "Enough!"

Before any vote totals were released Tuesday night, I was looking through the exit poll data at several media sites. It was crystal clear from the demographics, the issues, the attitudes and the energy that a Democratic victory was coming.

What wasn’t clear was the scope.

The Democrats have won control of the House, the Senate and a majority of the Governorships. They bring a rainbow of new leaders — the first Muslim Senator, the first openly gay Senator, the first black Speaker of the House, the first black woman Governor, the first Latina woman Governor, the first Native American woman Governor and a broad array of progressives and moderates united in opposition to one man — Donald J. Trump.

This is a complete and utter repudiation of Trump’s authoritarianism. When they take office in January, these leaders have the opportunity and the responsibility to craft a new path to a much better future for everybody.

Everybody, that is, but Trump, Elon Musk and the other gangsters who have been looting and lying as if this country belonged to them.

It doesn’t. It belongs to the rest of us. And last night we took it back.

HEADLINES:

• Finally, the Beginning of Trump’s End (New Yorker)

• Republican strongholds flip for the first time in a generation (Reuters)

• Democrats Seize Control of Congress, Ending a G.O.P. Trifecta (NYT)

• Voters dealt President Donald Trump a historic rebuke in yesterday’s midterms. (WP)

• The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a push for California to set aside thousands of mail ballots from people the Trump administration claims are noncitizens. The swift rejection was the latest in a flurry of election-related litigation the day before the elections. No justices publicly dissented. [AP]

• As Americans voted, Trump says US will stop $4 billion in aid to Israel (Reuters)

• Why are Americans paying more for health insurance? Experts give 3 reasons (PBS)

• ‘Quiet quitting’ could be hitting the economy - here’s why (BBC)

• US has conducted defensive strikes on Iranian targets, US official says (AP)

• Unabating attacks show how the escalating maritime war between Russia and Ukraine is expanding into a major ‌challenge for NATO in the Black Sea that has left coastal member states such as Romania and Bulgaria exposed. (Reuters)

• Judge Dismisses Trump Lawsuit Demanding Harvard Admissions Data (NYT)

• Parts of Florida see half a year’s worth of rain in 36 hours (WP)

• CrowdStrike to Buy Two AI Security Startups for $495 Million (WSJ)

• How “reverse game theory” could keep AI agents in check (TR)

• OpenAI hires former US Army secretary as military seeks to expand AI use (FT)

• Google researchers are fighting the company to tell the world what they know about AI (WP)

• Anthropic Is Racing to Obtain the A.I. Boom’s Most Vital Resource (NYT)

• Nation Lines Up In Droves To Humiliate Nate Silver (Onion)