National
In a reversal of years of statements, President Joe Biden (D-DE) has officially pardoned his son, Hunter, namely referring to his tax affairs and a firearm charge, claiming the charges were “selective” and “political.”
The junior Biden’s pardons don’t just include his more recent legal problems, but extend back to 2014, a sweeping pardon that The Washington Post has called “unparalleled” in history. The near-decade of pardoned potential offenses are believed to have not only shielded Hunter Biden, but President Biden as well from scrutiny over dealings with Ukraine, specifically Hunter’s time on the board of Ukrainian gas company Burisma. His involvement on the board is alleged to have led to quid-pro-quo deals between the U.S. and Ukraine while Joe Biden was vice president.
Outgoing Congressman Dean Phillips (D, MN-03), who ran a long-shot bid for the presidency in the Democratic Primary this year, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, “Let’s just say the quiet part out loud, certain Americans are indeed above the law and influence is always for sale. It’s time for the exhausted majority to condemn and confront legalized corruption.”
Phillips adds that the pardoning powers afforded to U.S. presidents have been abused by both President-elect Donald Trump (R-FL) and Biden and is in need of reform.
The pardon comes after years of President Biden insisting that he would not pardon his son.
Results for the U.S. House of Representatives are now complete, and Democrats have picked up two additional seats in California.
In the Orange County-based CA-45, Congresswoman Michelle Steel (R) has lost to Derek Tran (D). Tran has unseated Steel by 600 votes out of over 300,000 cast.
In the Central Valley-based CA-13, Adam Gray (D) has defeated freshman Congressman John Duarte (R) in a rematch from 2022. This was one of the closest races of the midterms two years ago, a distinction it will achieve yet again this year. Gray’s lead is just 187 votes out of over 200,000 ballots cast. Duarte defeated Gray two years ago by just 500 votes, although turnout was about half of what it was this year.
The 220-215 GOP House-majority will be the thinnest elected House majority – that is, not barring vacancies – since the GOP had 219 seats in the Sixty-First Congress from 1909 to 1911. Republicans had recently secured a 221-seat majority in 1953 and again in 2001. The GOP entered 2023 with 222 members, but lost one seat after the expulsion of George Santos (R-Queens).
The final results give Democrats a net gain of seats; Democrats flipped nine seats to the GOP’s eight. Three of those blue flips came from California, with another three from New York. The GOP flipped three seats in North Carolina due to an aggressive gerrymander, while they also netted two seats from Pennsylvania and Alaska’s sole House seat. Democrats took seats in Oregon, Louisiana, and Alabama, while the GOP flipped one seat in Michigan and took another in Colorado.
Thirty states now had Republican-majority House delegations, compared to eighteen for Democrats, and two split delegations in Minnesota and Colorado. The gains allowed the GOP to take House delegation majorities in Pennsylvania and Michigan. This election marked the first time since 2008 that Democrats won multiple seats in Alabama, and the first time since 2006 that the party accomplished the same feat in Louisiana. The cycle is also historic in that the first transgender person was elected to Congress. Sarah McBride, born Tim, was elected to the open seat in Delaware.
Meanwhile, results from the territorial elections are also in, and just as the GOP has ended several long Democratic voting streaks in mainland elections, the islands have also seen similar shifts.
In the South Pacific territory of American Samoa, Nikolao Pula, a Nonpartisan who ran on a Republican alliance, has defeated Governor Lemanu Peleti Mauga, who is a registered Nonpartisan but ran on the Democratic alliance. Pula has become the first Republican governor of American Samoa since 1988 and only the second Republican elected to the position since the election of territorial governors began in 1978.
In the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), Kimberlyn King-Hinds (R) has become the first Republican to win the territorial delegate seat to Congress. Independent-turned-Democrat Gregorio Sablan retired after eight terms. King-Hinds was elected by six points in a four-way race.
Each of the five territories, plus the District of Columbia, receive delegates to the U.S. House. Delegates can sit on committees, and even chair them, and introduce legislation, but they cannot cast floor votes. The de facto form of representation is representative of the autonomy the territories have.
Kings-Hinds becomes the first woman to be elected to Congress representing CNMI, which now means that, in 2024, every U.S. state and territory have elected women to represent them in Congress.
In the territory of Guam, a presidential straw poll is offered every four years. The result has no electoral impact, nor does it factor into the nationwide popular vote, but it does offer a barometer of the Pacific island’s politics, as well as raise awareness for its lack of federal representation.
Since Guam began its presidential straw polls in 1980, it has backed the GOP only four times, most recently 2004 for George W. Bush (R-TX). It backed Hillary Clinton (D-NY) with 71% of the vote, followed by just a twelve-point win for Biden in 2020; the Democrats carried all nineteen villages in both scenarios.
In 2024, Kamala Harris (D-CA) carried Guam by just over three points – 49.5%-46% – losing four villages to Trump. This marks the first time since 2000 that Guam has backed the loser of the national popular vote.
In the District of Columbia, Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) has won re-election with 80.6% of the vote, compared to 86.5% two years ago. Norton was first elected in 1991. Kymone Freeman ran on the D.C. Statehood Green line and took second place with 6.9% of the vote.
State
The city was the site of a horrific murder Wednesday morning.
UnitedHealthcare (UNH) CEO Brian Thompson, 50, was murdered while walking in Midtown Manhattan. According to reports, Thompson was in the area outside of a hotel where his company was holding a conference.
Surveillance video shows the hooded assailant wearing a beige-white backpack. He pulled out a suppressed pistol and shot Thompson in the back. As Thompson collapsed, the shooter fled the scene into an alleyway and was reportedly last seen heading into Central Park on an e-bike.
The murder is seen as unequivocally premeditated, but the exact motive remains unclear as of press time.
Thompson was found with gunshot wounds to the back and right calf. He was pronounced dead at 7:12a.m.
“We are shattered to hear about the senseless killing of our beloved Brian,” said Paulette Thompson, Brian’s wife. “Brian was an incredibly loving, generous, talented man who truly lived life to the fullest and touched so many lives. More importantly, Brian was an incredibly loving father to our two sons and will be greatly missed.”
Thompson had worked for UNH for twenty years and had run the company’s insurance branch since 2021. His tenure as CEO consisted of providing health coverage to almost fifty million Americans. UNH is the largest provider of Medicare Advantage plans, the privately run alternative to the federal program.
A Facebook group called The Other 98% shared a photo on Facebook that shows UNH leading ten other healthcare providers in terms of denied claims. UNH topped the list at 32%, while the industry average is 16%, based on available in-network claim data. The chart is positioned next to a photo of Thompson above the caption, “Today we remember the legacy of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.”
Comments on the post appear to rationalize Thompson’s murder, with one commenter saying, “This kind of thing will keep happening if the wealth disparity doesn’t change.”
Another commenter said, “Universal Health Care [sic] would solve this.”
Many comments are of this perspective, including some that appear somewhat celebratory.
Local
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney (R), in conjunction with County Executive Ed Romaine (R-Center Moriches) held a press conference on Thanksgiving Eve, known among younger social circles as “Blackout Wednesday.”
The purpose: hit the towns and get as inebriated as possible.
Tierney, Romaine, and SCPD Deputy Commissioners Kevin Catalina and Belinda Alvarez-Groneman held a press conference with victims and families of victims of drunk drivers to caution holiday partiers to be responsible and not get behind the wheel of a car.
Officials were joined by Andrea and Tim Carpenter (pictured below with Executive Romaine), whose son, Timothy, was tragically killed last year in Centereach after a repeat-offender high on fentanyl collided with the vehicle driven by Timothy’s uncle, Stacey, who is permanently disabled from the incident.
The family of Andrew McMorris was also in attendance. McMorris was killed in 2018, when Thomas Murphy drunkenly drove his car into a hiking troop of Boy Scouts.
Murphy’s appeal of his eight-to-twenty-five-year-sentence was denied in July.
Finally, Daijonee Vanderveer (pictured below) made an appearance herself. The single mother had stopped her car on the Sagtikos State Parkway at 12:30 a.m. two years ago. When she exited the vehicle to retrieve the spare tire from the trunk, Kevin Rosasdaqui, of Brooklyn, struck Vanderveer and her vehicle, severing both of her legs.
Vanderveer spoke of her experiences in the assistance she requires, but that it has not dampened her spirits.
All families and officials urged drivers to be responsible, and that, in the age of ridesharing apps like Uber and Lyft, there is virtually no excuse to get behind the wheel intoxicated.
The press conference applies to not just the holiday season but all year-long, and officials and victims hope that these words are heeded to prevent further tragedy.
