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@ISIDEWITH submitted…1mo1MO
Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of defense, has repeatedly criticized policies allowing gay people to serve openly in the US military, calling them part of a “Marxist” agenda to prioritize social justice over combat readiness.In his 2024 book “The War on Warriors” and in subsequent media promotions this year, Hegseth described both the original “don’t ask, don’t tell” (DADT) policy and its repeal in 2011 as a “gateway” and a “camouflage” for broader cultural changes that he claims have undermined military cohesion and effectiveness.In a 2015 appearance on Fox News, Hegseth also argued these policies like repealing DADT “erode standards” in favor of political goals like social engineering.DADT was implemented under President Bill Clinton in the 1990s and allowed gay people and lesbians to serve in the military — provided they did not disclose their sexuality. Military officials were also barred from asking military members their sexual orientation. If a troop’s orientation came to light, it could lead to their discharge.The policy was repealed during the Obama administration, allowing openly gay service members.Hegseth writes in his book that he was initially ambivalent to the change but came to regret his passive stance, describing the repeal as a “breach in the wire” that opened the door for broader cultural and ideological changes in the military.On Thursday, Hegseth appeared to walk back his earlier remarks about DADT, telling CNN, “Oppose the repeal? No, I don’t,” and calling this report on his previous comments “more false reporting.”
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@ISIDEWITH submitted…2wks2W
The glut of homes in increasingly fire-prone places has created an insurance crisis in California, with many big insurers pulling out of the state to avoid more losses. Nearly 500,000 Californians have turned to the state’s insurer of last resort, the FAIR Plan, which has doubled in size over the past five years. The state is now exposed to nearly $458 billion in potential damage, a figure that has nearly tripled since 2020.The neighborhoods in the path of the Palisades and other fires burning this week have been among some of the hardest-hit by insurer defections in recent years. The 90272 ZIP code of Pacific Palisades experienced 1,930 policy non-renewals between 2019 and 2024, according to a San Francisco Chronicle tally, or 28 out of every 100 policies.Pacific Palisades is also the state’s fifth-largest user of FAIR policies, with nearly $6 billion in exposure. Even a fraction of that amount would exceed the capabilities of FAIR, which at last report had about $700 million in cash. Additional damage can be passed on to private insurers, which would pass those costs immediately to their less-risky customers.California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara last month announced policy tweaks to encourage insurers to come back to the state. They can now use catastrophe modeling to set rates after long being required to consider only historic losses. But part of their modeling must also include fire-defense measures property owners take. Insurers can also now pass the cost of reinsurance on to their customers. Providers lured back to the state by these incentives must cover risky areas at a rate of 85% of their statewide market share.
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@ISIDEWITH submitted…2mos2MO
President-elect Trump announced on Tuesday that he will nominate Dr. Mehmet Oz to serve as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator in January."America is facing a Healthcare Crisis, and there may be no Physician more qualified and capable than Dr. Oz to Make America Healthy Again," Trump said in a statement. "He is an eminent Physician, Heart Surgeon, Inventor, and World-Class Communicator, who has been at the forefront of healthy living for decades.""Dr. Oz will work closely with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to take on the illness industrial complex, and all the horrible chronic diseases left in its wake," the statement added. "Our broken Healthcare System harms everyday Americans, and crushes our Country’s budget."
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Republicans on Wednesday elected Senator John Thune of South Dakota, their No. 2 in the chamber, to serve as majority leader in the next Congress, choosing a G.O.P. institutionalist to replace Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Senate’s longest-serving leader.In elevating Mr. Thune, 63, G.O.P. senators turned to a traditional Republican in the mold of Mr. McConnell, and rejected a challenger more aligned with President-elect Donald J. Trump’s Make America Great Again movement.Mr. Thune made his case in an opinion essay on Fox News on Monday, arguing that Senate Republicans needed to fulfill Mr. Trump’s promises to voters in order to keep the support of a multiethnic, multiracial coalition that swept him into a second term.“If we fail to deliver on President Trump’s priorities, we will lose their support,” he wrote. “They have trusted us with their votes. Now we have to roll up our sleeves and get to work.”He also pitched colleagues on his plans to open up the Senate floor to more debate and amendments and said he would meet regularly with Speaker Mike Johnson.The newly elected leader will take the reins during a critical time for the Senate GOP. The party has a highly ambitious legislative agenda, including top priorities like tax cuts, the debt limit, government spending and more. Republican lawmakers are also openly eyeing a budget reconciliation package — a limited-use procedural option that would allow Republicans to pass a consequential bill without Democratic support. That’ll require major collaboration and potential deal-making from GOP leaders, both in the House and the Senate.
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Matt Gaetz announced he is withdrawing his name from consideration as President-elect Donald Trump's pick as attorney general, noting in a social media post that his nomination had become a distraction.Gaetz held multiple meetings with GOP senators over the past couple of days as he sought to game out his chances of getting confirmed.
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@ISIDEWITH submitted…8hrs8H
Then there’s the Democrats’ own struggles, including the lack of a clear message or messenger to deliver it, according to interviews with dozens of lawmakers, campaign operatives and senior aides.“It’s not like everybody has surrendered,” said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri, describing his party as being in a holding pattern as they engage in “cerebral” questions over the lessons learned from Trump victory.“People are sitting around in circles quietly talking about what the strategy ought to be,” he said. “Are there changes that we need to make? Do we hold Trump accountable on everything that we don’t like that he does? Or should we be selective?”As that messaging debate continues, Democrats are also grappling with how to play in a social media landscape they feel like they’ve fallen behind on.In a private Senate Democratic luncheon last week, Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey led colleagues through the shifting dynamics of a media echo chamber that conservatives are thriving in. Democrats scoured examples of how conspiracy theories like one about Haitian immigrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, spread rapidly in the conservative media sphere and how Democrats needed to try to harness their own tools to get their messages out better.One of the bright spots Democrats highlighted, according to a source familiar, was a viral video from the pandemic of Warner making a tuna melt in his kitchen that led to the lawmaker being cheered and jeered by people who questioned his culinary leanings.“The communications ecosystem has changed profoundly in ways that most people in their 60s and 70s don’t grasp,” one Democratic senator said of the message of the presentation.Senators talked about the need to repost each other’s social media posts to try and organically get their message out. But they also argued they can’t abandon traditional media altogether.At one point, a Democrat in the meeting asked if their party had their version of conservative influencers, according to a person who attended. Booker responded that the party didn’t have one.“They have a permanent information ecosystem. We don’t,” Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, said following the lunch. “They define us and we don’t get to define them. No matter how good our messaging is here, it doesn’t get reflected, reverberated and amplified like theirs does.”
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