Obama: Robert Gates Was “outstanding Secretary Of Defense”

This story was originally published by Grist and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. When Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took office in January 2023, he inherited environmental protection agencies in shambles and deforestation at a 15-year high. His predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, had dismantled regulations and gutted institutions tasked with enforcing environmental laws.

In a vicious lawsuit trying to shut down the Sunrise Community Church's homelessness ministry in Austin, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton showed zero interest in seeing the church, which reported serving more than 30,000 people in 2023, resolve neighborhood complaints. Instead, you could almost see him licking his lips at halting the largest provider of homeless services in Austin in his 40+ page complaint.

President-elect Elon Musk* couldn't handle a little criticism, demanding Alexander Vindman, the whistleblower on Trump's infamous blackmail of the Ukraine president, be put to death or serve a massive prison sentence for his patriotic actions. President-elect Elon Musk*, who is now heading a made-up Department of Government Efficiency by Trump to pay him off for his support has no power whatsoever, but being one of the richest men on the planet makes him feel entitled to be judge and jury of Alexander Vindman for his patriotic actions. Isn't Musk supposed to be the free-speech champion? Alexander Vindman has accused Elon Musk of divulging state secrets to Vladimir Putin, and that the real reason he supports Trump is because Putin ordered him to do so.

I don't know about you but I'd expect someone picked to run the Navy to have at, you know, served in the Navy or at least have some military experience. Apparently though, the chief qualifications needed were to raise a lot of money for Trump's election campaign and own a $38m home in Aspen with lots of Picassos and Chagalls. It appears that Trump is just trolling us with these picks.

Alex Hinton, Rutgers University - Newark “No profanity.” This is the one rule spelled out on a sign in Lance Walker’s barbershop in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, where political discussion between clients can get heated. Three weeks before the election, on Oct. 14, 2024, I watched as Walker interviewed Michele Jansen, a conservative local talk show host, and Don Marritz, a liberal legal aid attorney also living in Pennsylvania, in his podcast studio. Jansen and Marritz discussed the difficulties they had faced in the preceding months as they struggled to draft a document called Declaration Rejecting Political Violence.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has threatened a children’s hospital with “consequences” after a doctor posted a viral TikTok telling patients they’re not legally obligated to tell a hospital their citizenship status. Via the Independent: On November 1, a new executive order went into effect requiring Texas hospitals that accept Medicaid or Children’s Health Insurance Plan to ask patients if they’re US citizens.