Democratic Underground: Forums for U.S. Liberals and Democrats

Two dead, dozens injured in car attack on German Christmas market

Two people have been killed, including a child, and dozens injured after a car drove into a crowd at a Christmas market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg, officials say. In a statement, authorities said 15 people had been seriously injured in the attack, a further 53 injured to a lesser degree. Reiner Haseloff, the premier of the state of Saxony-Anhalt, told reporters at the scene that the suspect - who has been arrested - was a 50-year-old Saudi citizen who arrived in Germany in 2006 an ...

BumRushDaShow

Major Trump donors who complained of immigrant 'invasion' used Mexican workers illegally, sources allege

Fri 20 Dec 2024 09.00 EST Last modified on Fri 20 Dec 2024 11.11 EST A company owned by two of Donald Trump’s top mega-donors has routinely brought dozens of its workers from Mexico to staff its warehouses in Wisconsin and other locations even though they do not appear to have permission to work in the US, according to a Guardian investigation. Uline – a giant Wisconsin-based office and shipping supply company controlled by billionaires Liz and Dick Uihlein – shuttles in its own workers from ...

Wicked Blue

House passes bill to avoid a shutdown, sending it to the Senate hours before the deadline

WASHINGTON — The Republican-controlled House on Friday evening passed a short-term bill to avert a government shutdown, just hours ahead of a deadline that would force U.S. troops, border patrol agents, air traffic controllers and millions of other federal workers to work without pay during the holidays. The vote was 366-34, capping a tumultuous week in the House that foreshadowed how the new Congress in January might deal with a mercurial Donald Trump back in the White House. A two-thirds vote ...

ificandream

Donald Trump Moves to Stop Border Wall Sell-off

By Billal Rahman Live News Reporter Published Dec 20, 2024 at 12:44 PM EST President-elect Donald Trump has taken legal action to stop the Biden administration from selling off unused border wall materials. On Wednesday, Trump filed an amicus brief in the Southern District of Texas, urging a federal judge to halt the sale of surplus materials initially designated for the U.S.-Mexico border wall. The case centers on allegations that federal officials are conducting "fire sales" of un ...

Omaha Steve

Tesla recalling almost 700,000 vehicles due to tire pressure monitoring system issue

By MICHELLE CHAPMAN Updated 10:27 AM CST, December 20, 2024 Tesla is recalling almost 700,000 vehicles because of an issue with the warning light on the tire pressure monitoring system. According to a letter Thursday from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the recall includes certain 2024 Cybertruck, 2017-2025 Model 3, and 2020-2025 Model Y vehicles. The issue is that the tire pressure monitoring system warning light on the vehicles may not remain illuminated between drive c ...

Dulcinea

Johnson on shaky ground with Trump after spending fiasco

(Politico) The collapse of Speaker Mike Johnson’s spending plan illustrates a painful lesson that other politicians have already learned: Absolute loyalty to Donald Trump is a one-way street. As the U.S. teeters on the edge of a government shutdown, bitterly divided Republicans are struggling to find a way forward and Johnson’s hold on his job is in Trump’s mercurial hands. Multiple House conservatives, as well as Trump advisers and other people close to the incoming president, indicate Johnson’s hold on the speakership is far from stable just as Republicans are about to take control of the House, Senate and White House.

BumRushDaShow

House Republicans regrouping after government funding bill fails

(ABC News) Speaker Mike Johnson said Thursday night that Republicans will "regroup" and "come up with another solution" after the government funding bill they negotiated with President-elect Donald Trump that would avert a government shutdown failed to pass. The bill failed by a 174-235-1 vote with 38 Republicans voting against it.

FightFight

Republicans Cut Child Cancer Research From Funding Bill After Musk's Meddling

(Rolling Stone) The new stripped-down funding bill proposed on Thursday is literally throwing out the baby with the bathwater: It will exclude $190 million for the bipartisan “Give Kids a Chance” program for child cancer research. Sam Stein of The Bulwark points out that the new bill also excludes funding for research on premature labor, sickle cell disease treatment, early detection of breast and cervical cancer, the Rural Broadband Protection Act, an anti-deepfake porn bill, and more.

applegrove

Troops Won't Get Paid Over Holidays if There's a Shutdown

(Political Wire) “Republicans’ decision to abandon a congressional spending plan will cost troops their paychecks over the holidays unless some agreement is reached before Friday’s deadline to prevent a government shutdown,” the AP reports.

BumRushDaShow

Jeffries: GOP led by wealthy 'puppeteers'

(The Hill) House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) slammed GOP leaders Thursday evening after the Republicans’ Trump-backed plan to fund the federal government and raise the debt ceiling was trounced on the House floor. Jeffries accused Republicans of caving to the demands of Elon Musk, the billionaire Trump loyalist, whose opposition to a bipartisan spending agreement helped tank that deal and left Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) scrambling for an alternative on Thursday.

Expand Featured Stories

Issue Forums

Latest Breaking News

170 House Republicans Defied Donald Trump Despite Primaries Threat

22 min ago - Published Dec 21, 2024 at 5:43 AM EST What's New On Friday 170 House Republicans joined Democrats to approve an emergency funding bill just hours before a partial government shutdown was due to go into effect, despite President-elect Donald Trump's t ... (Newsweek)

Drones continue to buzz over US bases. The military isn't sure why or how to stop them

1 hr ago - Published 5:00 AM EST, Sat December 21, 2024 CNN — A series of drone sightings over military bases across the country has renewed concerns that the US doesn’t have clear government-wide policy for how to deal with unauthorized incursions ... (CNN Politics)

Biden approves $571 mln in defense support for Taiwan

2 hrs ago - December 21, 2024 12:39 AM EST Updated 7 hours ago WASHINGTON, Dec 20 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday agreed to provide $571.3 million in defense support for Taiwan, the White House said, while the State Department approved the potenti ... (Reuters)

Pentagon lifts pause on troubled Osprey aircrafts

2 hrs ago - Fri, December 20, 2024 at 8:13 PM EST The Pentagon is allowing its fleet of V-22 Ospreys to return to the air — with some new guidelines in place — after temporarily pausing flights on the troubled aircrafts last month following an incident ... (Yahoo! News/NBC News)

Biden Administration Weighs Putting Up Roadblocks to Trump's Deportation Campaign

3 hrs ago - Dec. 20, 2024 Updated 7:52 p.m. ET The Biden administration is considering extending protections for hundreds of thousands of immigrants whose status in the United States is set to expire in the first months of the Trump administration, according to ... (New York Times)

Missouri judge rules state's abortion ban is unenforceable after constitutional amendment

3 hrs ago - Dec 20, 2024 7:48 PM EST KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A judge ruled Friday that Missouri’s near-total abortion ban is unenforceable under a new constitutional amendment, ensuring abortion will be legal in the state. Jackson County Circuit Court ... (PBS)

FDA approves weight loss drug Zepbound for sleep apnea

4 hrs ago - Dec. 20, 2024, 4:44 PM EST / Updated Dec. 20, 2024, 5:53 PM EST The Food and Drug Administration expanded the approval of weight loss drug Zepbound to treat obstructive sleep apnea in adults with obesity, the drugmaker Eli Lilly said Friday. The deci ... (NBC News)

Senate approves bill to expand Social Security to millions of Americans

4 hrs ago - December 21, 2024 / 12:19 AM EST Legislation to expand Social Security benefits to millions of Americans passed the U.S. Senate early Saturday and is now headed to the desk of President Biden, who is expected to sign the measure into law. Senators vo ... (CBS News)

Senate passes stop-gap spending bill, preventing a government shutdown

5 hrs ago - Updated December 21, 2024 12:40 AM ET The Senate voted 85-11 to approve a short-term spending bill to fund the government until March 14. The measure had overwhelming bipartisan support in both chambers after days of chaos caused by the last-minute ... (NPR)

First Native interior secretary leaves legacy after 4 years of impact: 'My authentic self'

5 hrs ago - Published 4:05 p.m. ET Dec. 20, 2024 Deb Haaland had just begun her second term in the U.S. House of Representatives in January 2021, elected from her native New Mexico. She was one of the first Indigenous women to be elected to Congress, but Preside ... (USA Today)

CFPB sues America's largest banks for 'allowing fraud to fester' on Zelle

5 hrs ago - Dec. 20, 2024, 12:04 PM EST / Updated Dec. 20, 2024, 3:59 PM EST The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is suing America's three largest banks, accusing the institutions of failing to protect customers from fraud on Zelle, the payment platform they ... (NBC News)

Hospital Staff See UHC CEO Shooting as Wake-Up Call for Violence Reform

6 hrs ago - Published Dec 20, 2024 at 3:56 PM EST Health care workers suffer five times more violence than any other industry, yet the issue often goes unnoticed—until a high-profile tragedy, like the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, b ... (Newsweek)

U.S. drops $10M bounty for HTS leader after 'very productive' diplomat meeting in Damascus

10 hrs ago - Senior U.S. diplomats visiting Damascus on Friday met with Syria's de-facto new ruler Ahmed al-Sharaa and held a "good" and "very productive" meeting with him about Syria's political transition and decided to remove a bounty on his head. In their fir ... (CBC Canada)

Biden administration withdraws proposed rule limiting transgender bans in sports

11 hrs ago - (Reuters) - The Biden administration on Friday withdrew a proposed rule change that would have prohibited schools from banning transgender athletes from teams matching their gender identities. The administration notified the public that it had withdr ... (MSN)

Search to resume for missing MH370 flight

12 hrs ago - Friday 20 December 2024 15:51 GMT The Malaysian government has confirmed that the search for the missing MH370 passenger jet which vanished more than 10 years ago will resume. The Beijing-bound Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 disappeared in March 201 ... (The Independent)

Biden Administration Cancels More Student Debt

13 hrs ago - Today, the Biden-Harris Administration announced that it has conducted another cancellation of student loans for more than 54,000 Americans. The new debt relief brings the total number of Americans who have seen debt relief to more than four million. ... (Meidas Touch)

MSNBC Reportedly Tells Two More Anchors To Take Pay Cuts Amid Ratings Tank

13 hrs ago - Dec 20, 2024, 11:33 AM EST | Updated 4 hours ago MSNBC is negotiating pay cuts with night anchors Joy Reid and Stephanie Ruhle as the cable channel nosedives in the ratings after the election, according to a report. Rachel Maddow, arguably the star o ... (Huff Post)

Senate confirms Biden's 235th judge, beating Trump's record

14 hrs ago - Dec. 20, 2024, 7:11 PM EST / Updated Dec. 20, 2024, 7:14 PM EST WASHINGTON — The Democratic-led Senate confirmed the 235th federal judge nominated by President Joe Biden, marking a milestone for the outgoing occupant of the White House by giving ... (NBC News)

Judge sentences Oath Keeper who cooperated in January 6 prosecution to probation and warns democracy is 'fragile'

14 hrs ago - Published 6:39 PM EST, Fri December 20, 2024 CNN — Nearly four years after the US Capitol was overtaken by Donald Trump’s supporters, the first defendant in the January 6, 2021, attack to plead guilty to seditious conspiracy was sentenced ... (CNN Politics)

EPA head Regan, who championed environmental justice, to leave office Dec. 31

14 hrs ago - Updated 3:20 PM EST, December 20, 2024 WASHINGTON (AP) — Michael Regan, who championed environmental justice as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, will leave the agency Dec. 31, three weeks before the end of President Joe Bide ... (AP)