Reading archive 2024-11-18

Trump allies eye overhauling Medicaid, food stamps in tax legislation: Republican leaders, looking for ways to offset the cost of lower taxes, are considering changes to safety net programs for the poor.

Inside the Republican false-flag effort to turn off Kamala Harris voters: A multipronged dark money effort by advisers to Elon Musk targeted liberals, Jews, Muslims and Black voters with ads that were not quite what they seemed. - "Muslims in Michigan began seeing pro-Israel ads this fall praising Vice President Kamala Harris for marrying a Jewish man and backing the Jewish state. Jews in Pennsylvania, meanwhile, saw ads from the same group with the opposite message: Harris wanted to stop U.S. arms shipments to Israel.

"Another group promoted “Kamala’s bold progressive agenda” to conservative-leaning Donald Trump voters, while a third filled the phones of young liberals with videos about how Harris had abandoned the progressive dream. Black voters in North Carolina were told Democrats wanted to take away their menthol cigarettes, while working-class White men in the Midwest were warned that Harris would support quotas for minorities and deny them Zyn nicotine pouches. 

"What voters had no way of knowing at the time was that all of the ads were part of a single, $45 million effort created by political advisers to Tesla founder Elon Musk who had previously worked on the presidential campaign of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), according to a presentation about the group’s efforts obtained by The Washington Post."

Why wildfires in the eastern U.S. can be more destructive than you may think: The East may not face the same threats of massive wildfires that have become an ominous hallmark of life in the West. But the risks are underestimated.

Trump Says He’ll Move Thousands of Federal Workers Out of Washington. Here’s What Happened the First Time He Tried.: The Bureau of Land Management’s headquarters moved from the capital to Colorado in 2020, causing an exodus of leadership. If elected, Trump plans to use the same tactic across more of the federal government.

A Pregnant Teenager Died After Trying to Get Care in Three Visits to Texas Emergency Rooms: It took three ER visits and 20 hours before a hospital admitted Nevaeh Crain, 18, as her condition worsened. Doctors insisted on two ultrasounds to confirm “fetal demise.” She’s one of at least two Texas women who died under the state’s abortion ban. - "Fails and Crain believed abortion was morally wrong. The teen could only support it in the context of rape or life-threatening illness, she used to tell her mother. They didn’t care whether the government banned it, just how their Christian faith guided their own actions.

...

"But when her daughter got sick, Fails expected that doctors had an obligation to do everything in their power to stave off a potentially deadly emergency, even if that meant losing Lillian. In her view, they were more concerned with checking the fetal heartbeat than attending to Crain." [ed. note: lol go septic and die, bitch]

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/02/26/us/undocumented-border-officer-cec [ed. note: from 2023]

Hours after Trump win, Biden moves to limit oil drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: An oil-and-gas auction is slated for the refuge’s coastal plain, which provides critical habitat for caribou, polar bears and other wildlife.

Canada sees opportunity in these mines. Alaskans see a threat.: Indigenous people, environmentalists and lawmakers of both parties fear more mining in British Columbia’s Golden Triangle could pollute Alaska’s waterways. - "In the 1950s, British Columbia’s Tulsequah Chief Mine began polluting a tributary to the salmon-rich Taku River in Alaska’s southeast with sulfuric acid and heavy metals. Decades later, the mine is still leaking; the pace of the cleanup, glacial."

Biden races to Trump-proof his climate legacy: Several agencies are working to finalize environmental rules and policies before Donald Trump’s inauguration.

With Trump win, Israeli minister calls to annex parts of West Bank: Comments Monday by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich were the strongest display yet of how Trump’s election has emboldened Israeli hard-liners. - "Giving military control to a handpicked civilian has been viewed as another step toward Smotrich’s long-running aspiration, outlined in a 2017 treatise, to achieve 'victory by settlement' and extend Israeli law over the territory — an effort analysts say would effectively convert occupation into annexation."

Musk appears to pressure Trump on Cabinet and tariffs, irking advisers: Elon Musk, the billionaire who has become Donald Trump’s “first buddy,” appeared to publicly pressure the president-elect on economic policy and a key Cabinet pick.

Trump promised mass deportations. Mexico isn’t ready.: Half of undocumented immigrants in the United States are Mexican. Here’s how Trump’s plan would harm both countries. - "Mexican officials argue they have a strong hand in dealing with Trump on immigration. Under pressure from the Biden administration, Mexico launched its own crackdown on migrants this past year. That played a key role in driving down U.S. border detentions by 78 percent since December. Now they’re even lower than they were when Trump finished his first term."

Go bags, passports, foreign assets: Preparing to be a target of Trump’s revenge: Some prominent critics of Donald Trump, and those he has vilified as “deep state” saboteurs, are taking seriously his vow of retribution.