Andrew Pantazi

Floridians Restricted Gerrymandering. Their Justices Are Retreating on Enforcing That. Florida’s supreme court blessed the 2022 GOP gerrymander, weakening a key provision of the voter-approved Fair Districts Amendments. Governor DeSantis wants to take advantage.

NEW in Bolts: Florida’s supreme court blessed the state's 2022 GOP gerrymander, weakening a key provision of the voter-approved Fair Districts Amendments. Governor DeSantis wants to take advantage.

boltsmag.org/florida...

All right, to hell with it.

One like, one enraging, amusing, or obscure labor history nugget.

Ben Horowitz’s cozy relationship with the Las Vegas Police Department aided a16z portfolio company Skydio | TechCrunch When Skydio, a young maker of drones in San Mateo, California, sent a customer proposal in 2023 to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, its chief

New bad thing just dropped:

Tech bros buying/donating surveillance gear to police departments, skipping public, elected official input and scrutiny on how it will be used.

techcrunch.com/2024/11/08/b...

@nlvwarren.bsky.social has a thread on why this would be allowed on the other site x.com/NLVWarren/st...

Matt Gaetz once faced a sex trafficking investigation by the DOJ he could now lead Matt Gaetz, Trump’s Cabinet pick for attorney general, once faced a DOJ sex trafficking investigation and scrutiny over alleged misconduct. The Florida congressman’s new role raises questions, sparkin...

Matt Gaetz, once under DOJ investigation for sex trafficking, is now Trump’s pick for Attorney General. The Florida congressman’s nomination raises questions about loyalty, qualifications, and a DOJ in transition. jaxtrib.org/2024/11/14/m...

'No plans to begin looking for work': Orlando's chief assistant state attorney emails staff after Monique Worrell's election win A longtime rival of former State Attorney Monique Worrell and current Chief Assistant State Attorney told staff he had "no plans" to look for a different job after Worrell's re-election.

jaxtrib.org/2024/11/08/n...

Can you resign from a term that hasn’t even started yet?

According to Speaker Johnson, Gaetz resigned so DeSantis could schedule a special election by January.

Florida’s canvassing commission hasn’t even certified the official results yet, but they’re going to already set a special election?

DOJ stunned at Trump's 'insane,' 'unbelievable' choice of Matt Gaetz for attorney general The president-elect selected Gaetz, who has repeatedly spread falsehoods about the Jan. 6 Capitol attack and was previously investigated by the Justice Department, to run DOJ.

“He is uniquely qualified," a DOJ official told NBC News. "How many other prospective attorneys general had previous experience as the subject of a criminal investigation?" www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...

Opinion: Rubio, a notorious shape shifter, will not tame Trump's impulsive foreign policy Trump's unusually sharp animal instincts have always had Liddle Marco pegged: Rubio will abandon any prior conviction in service of personal ambition.

Column | Marco Rubio's thirst for American military interventions might offend gullible podcasters who thought a vote for Trump was a vote to dismantle the nation's military industrial complex. But don't worry: Rubio is a notorious shapeshifter.

www.jacksonville.com/story/news/c...

Look, I’m the first to say that it’s hard for fact-checking to defeat vibes, esp when it comes to crime.

But also? We need to keep beating the drum, over and over, that we are looking at STAGGERING DECLINES IN HOMICIDE this year.

Back to pre-pandemic levels, perhaps the biggest drop in US HISTORY.

It depends on whether the Senate confirms McFerran for another term.

If it doesn't act before Trump's inauguration, he will immediately get a majority on the board. If it does act, he would presumably not get a majority until 2026. bsky.app/profile/apan...

Nominations will also be a priority for Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY), and he will likely focus on confirming President Biden’s nominees to lifetime appointments on the federal bench. Also looming large is the nomination of Lauren McFerran to another term on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), though it is unclear where this issue fits among Schumer’s priorities. McFerran’s term expires on December 16, 2024, and keeping her off the Board will allow President-elect Trump to immediately appoint two new Board members to join Marvin Kaplan to form a Republican majority.

If no one else, management-side labor lawyers are paying close attention to this. ogletree.com/insights-res...

This is the biggest decision yet by the Biden NLRB.

The board chair's term expires next month, and whether the Senate confirms McFerran's nomination or not could determine how quickly Trump gets a majority on the board.

National Labor Relations Board ruled today that captive audience meetings by employers to deter workers from unionizing are unlawful

www.nlrb.gov/news-outreac...

Our Mission in Trump’s Second Term Dear Readers, In his first administration, Donald Trump posed challenges to the press unlike any since the Nixon White House. When he returns, on January 20, 2025, those challenges are going to intens...

What the US press can expect:
• DOJ leak investigations + pressure on reporters to disclose sources
• use of FCC licensing + antitrust laws to threaten media outlets
• denial of access to WH + public records
• restrictions on covering mass protests + law enforcement www.cjr.org/the_media_to...

This is such a wildly selfish pov and an awful thing to say about your union siblings in public during their contract struggle. The Tech Guild needs our support and when they win, all union members—including the NYT Guild—will benefit. That’s how this works. Too bad this guy doesn’t understand that

Elon Musk’s plan to cut $2 trillion a year would mean a 33% cut to every program in the budget including Medicare and Social Security.

If you protect Medicare, Social Security, and veterans from the cut, it becomes a 62% cut to every other program in the budget.

Thanks, Keri!

❤️

Florida court upholds DeSantis' congressional redistricting map In a contentious 8-2 decision, Florida's 1st District Court of Appeal upheld Gov. Ron DeSantis' redistricting map, overruling a lower court.

Florida Court of Appeals: Sure, the governor admitted this redistrict map is unconstitutional, but there's no reason to continue state legal protections of a district ordered by the state Supreme Court, which found the lack of the district to be unconstitutional.

via @apantazi.bsky.social

Expect color commentary, colleagues and acquaintances who will reminisce that he had a wry sense of humor and a fondness for intrigue, good food, and high-cheeked women. We’ll be reminded that he dated Jill St. John and Marlo Thomas, was friends with Shirley MacLaine, and was affectionately known as Super K, Henry of Arabia, and the Playboy of the West Wing. Kissinger was brilliant and had a temper. He was vulnerable, which made him vicious, and his relationship with Richard Nixon was, as the journalist Evan Thomas put it, “deeply weird.” They were the original frenemies, with Kissinger flattering Nixon to his face and bitching about him behind his back. “The meatball mind,” he called his boss as soon as the phone was back on the hook, a “drunk.” Nixonger, Isaiah Berlin called the duo.

Man About Town At the height of his power, Mr. Kissinger cut a figure that no Washington diplomat has matched since. This pudgy, short Harvard professor with nerdy, black glasses was seen in Georgetown and Paris with starlets on his arm, joking that “power is the greatest aphrodisiac.” In New York restaurants with the actress Jill St. John, he would hold hands or run his fingers through her hair, giving gossip columnists a field day. In fact, though, as Ms. St. John told biographers, the relationship had been close but platonic.

Yet, as Nixon sank deeper into Watergate, Mr. Kissinger attained a global prominence few of his successors have matched. Aides described his insights as brilliant and his temper ferocious. They told stories of Mr. Kissinger throwing books across his office in towering rages, and of a manipulative streak that led even his most devoted associates to distrust him.

incredible flex from Greg Grandin here, predicting virtually beat for beat how the Kissinger obits would read. (Grandin on the left, NYT on the right) www.thenation.com/article/worl...

"Kissinger’s existentialism laid the foundation for how he would defend his later policies—policies that brought death, destruction, and misery to millions of people. If history is already tragedy, … then absolution comes with a world-weary shrug."
www.thenation.com/article/worl...

So am I understanding correctly that Jacobin & Verso Books edited, published, & actually printed an entire book dedicated to Henry Kissinger's war crimes, waiting for this day to release and publicize the book with copies ready to go? jacobin.com/store/produc...

Life on the line: What it’s like for workers on strike in Detroit We spent a day with Ford worker Mark Brewer to learn more about what it’s like on the picket line for workers in the UAW and other strikes.

“We obviously didn’t think it would last as long as it has started to last, but we were ready, ” Brewer said. “We like to work. We like to provide for our family. But we were ready to do what we had to do for each other.” outliermedia.org/what-its-lik...

I know things get wonky with small numbers, but 22 murders is a local homicide rate of 55 per 100,000.

In just an hour or so.

That’s higher than the highest ANNUAL rate anywhere in the world (Jamaica at 52 in 2021).