Extra, Extra
AG Me With a Spoon: “The House Ethics Committee on Monday accused Matt Gaetz of ‘regularly’ paying for sex, including with a 17-year-old girl, and purchasing and using illicit drugs as a member of Congress, as lawmakers released the conclusions of a nearly four-year investigation that helped sink his nomination for attorney general. The 37-page report by the bipartisan panel includes explicit details of sex-filled parties and vacations that Gaetz, now 42, took part in from 2017 to 2020 while the Republican represented Florida’s western Panhandle.” You can read the report for yourself. A reminder that this was Trump’s pick to be America’s Attorney General.
+ Commute Time: “Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss … [but] I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level.” Ahead of Trump’s swearing in, Biden commutes sentences of 37 federal death row prisoners.
+ Human Kind? “The assumption that our nature is predatory colors our everyday life. We might generally believe that other people mean well, but as soon as someone causes us harm — like cutting us off in traffic — we assume that they intended it (it’s why we get so angry). The predatory assumption also shapes our perceptions of politics: The ‘other side’ often seems ruthless, callous and happy to inflict harm.” But what if humans aren’t really all that bad? What if the way we think about each other is based on faulty science? NYT (Gift Article): We’ve Misunderstood Human Nature for 100 Years. (Look, we’re probably bad as hell, but it’s the holiday season.)
+ Here We Go Again: Trump again calls to buy Greenland after eyeing Canada and the Panama Canal. (Sorry, world.) Of course, this time, Trump can only buy Greenland if Elon doesn’t buy it first.
+ Stolen Valor: “Henderson was, without question, the greatest leadoff hitter of all time and the greatest base-stealer of all time. He, arguably, possessed the greatest combination of power and speed of any player in the history of the game as well. Perhaps the best characterization of Henderson’s career came from Bill James who once wrote that, ‘If you could split Rickey Henderson in two, you’d have two Hall of Famers.'” Rickey Henderson: 1958-2024.
+ Cadburied: “Earlier this year, the King was urged by campaign group B4Ukraine to withdraw warrants from companies ‘still operating in Russia’ after the invasion of Ukraine.” Cadbury loses royal endorsement after 170 years.
