The Note: Congressional Intrigue

Americans of a certain age tend to throw around the term “Orwellian” willy-nilly. But the expression really suits in describing the behavior of our felonious, twice-impeached president-elect. In George Orwell’s classic novel 1984, a dictatorship represented by the all-powerful “Big Brother” dictates the reality its citizens must adhere to, however topsy-turvy.

Last month, Louisiana became the first state to begin classifying misoprostol and mifepristone—the two pills used in medication abortion—as schedule IV controlled substances. The move, driven by anti-abortion Republicans and unsupported by evidence, left the state’s doctors bracing for the worst—the pills also are used to manage miscarriages and treat postpartum hemorrhages, and the new law requires they be locked away with other narcotics, potentially wasting precious minutes in an emergency.

By AAMER MADHANI, COLLEEN LONG, ZEKE MILLER, MATTHEW LEE and ELLEN KNICKMEYER MANAUS, Brazil — President Joe Biden has authorized Ukraine to use U. S.-supplied long-range missiles to strike deeper inside Russia, easing limitations on the weapons as Russia deploys thousands of North Korean troops to reinforce its war, according to a U.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has debuted a new—and implausible—reason that the House Ethics Committee’s report into allegations of sexual misconduct and drug use by former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) should not be released: Gaetz is now a private citizen. In an interview on CNN’s State of the Union with Jake Tapper on Sunday morning, Johnson claimed that since Gaetz resigned from Congress on Wednesday, he does not deserve to be subject to the scrutiny of lawmakers.

No matter how good Donald Trump’s cabinet selections are, they do not address a fundamental problem with the current American government.

It's not just in the welfare agencies that it can be found -- now it's in the armed forces and intelligence agencies.