OUR PICKSU.S. Weighs Asylum Limits | Fatal Police Shootings Increase | Hackers Linked to Chinese Government Stole Millions in Covid Benefits, and more
··DHS Delays REAL ID Deadline Another Two Years
Deadline extended, for the third time – this time, to May 2025
··Hackers Linked to Chinese Government Stole Millions in Covid Benefits, Secret Service Says
First instance of pandemic fraud tied to foreign, state-sponsored cybercriminals
··Classified Documents Found in Trump Search of Storage Site
More classified documents found on Trump’s property in West Palm Beach, Florida
··Justice Department Accuses Trump of Playing “Shell Game” in Records Dispute
“At the very least, this type of gamesmanship should detract substantially from the weight of plaintiff’s executive privilege claims,” DOJ said
··As Fatal Police Shootings Increase, More Go Unreported
Fatal police shooting on the rise, but about two-thirds fail to make to FBI database
··As Western U.S. Population Grows, So Does Acrimony Over Access to Public Land
Battles over access to public land grow more intense – and, sometimes, more threatening
··U.S. Weighs Asylum Limits as It Braces for End of Title 42 Border Restrictions
Bracing for the court-mandated termination of pandemic-related border restrictions
··The Table for Trump’s Antisemitic Banquet Was Set Long Ago
Trump may be a spent political force, but the bigotries Trump has unleashed are not spent and cannot be ignored
··9 in 10 US Counties Have Experienced a Climate Disaster in the Last Decade, Report Finds
Climate change is here and “all taxpayers are paying for it”
DHS Delays REAL ID Deadline Another Two Years (Zach Schonfeld, The Hill)
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced it was extending the deadline by roughly two years for air passengers to use a REAL ID when traveling.
Hackers Linked to Chinese Government Stole Millions in Covid Benefits, Secret Service Says (Sarah Fitzpatrick and Kit Ramgopal, NBC News)
The theft of state unemployment funds is the first pandemic fraud tied to foreign, state-sponsored cybercriminals that the U.S. government has acknowledged publicly.
Classified Documents Found in Trump Search of Storage Site (aggie Haberman and Alan Feuer, New York Times)
The discovery came as series of searches were conducted by a team hired by the former president, after a federal judge directed his lawyers to look for any materials still in his possession.
Justice Department Accuses Trump of Playing “Shell Game” in Records Dispute (Robert Legare and Melissa Quinn, CBS News)
The Justice Department and Trump’s legal team are at odds over whether most of the material seized from Mar-a-Lago are subject to any type of protection and should be kept from investigators.
As Fatal Police Shootings Increase, More Go Unreported (Andrew Ba Tran, Marisa Iati and Claire Healy, Washington Post)
Fatal police shootings by officers in at least 2,250 departments are missing from federal records since 2015, according to The Washington Post database.
As Western U.S. Population Grows, So Does Acrimony Over Access to Public Land (Nathan Vanderklippe, Globe and Mail)
In states like Montana and Wyoming, federal land holdings are vast, but enjoying those wild spaces can involve a complicated legal mess on country roads and paths.
U.S. Weighs Asylum Limits as It Braces for End of Title 42 Border Restrictions (Camilo Montoya-Galvez)
Title 42, a policy that allows U.S. border officials to expel some migrants on public health grounds, is set to end on Dec. 21 because of a court order.
The Table for Trump’s Antisemitic Banquet Was Set Long Ago (Bret Stephens, New York Times)
The former president, who is running for his former office, invites to his home one of the most notorious antisemites in the United States, who brings along a well-known Holocaust denier.
If he were to win again, all this would be swept under the rug, just as it was the last time. This is the new normal. We shouldn’t be surprised. The ground for it was laid long ago.
9 in 10 US Counties Have Experienced a Climate Disaster in the Last Decade, Report Finds (Jake Bittle, Grist)
Ninety percent of all counties in the United States have experienced a weather disaster over the past decade, and these climate-fueled events have caused more than $740 billion in damages, according to a new report from the climate adaptation group Rebuild by Design.
