Sun: The Idiot Judge Who Put a Stay on the Gag Order

The Real Battle Lies Ahead

The House and Senate remain billions of dollars apart on their respective appropriation bills that would fund all government departments until Sept. 30, 2024, with both chambers failing to mark up their proposals to the $1.59 trillion in spending enshrined into law by House Republicans and President Biden in exchange for raising the debt ceiling earlier this year. But while appropriators and governing-minded lawmakers in both parties believe they can strike compromise and avoid an automatic one percent cut across all federal departments early next year, far-right hard-liners have suggested rejecting any compromise that does not fulfill their spending requests and have flirted with the idea of supporting a government shutdown if the Senate does not accept their demands. [...]

When they return from the Thanksgiving break, House Republicans hope to continue passing full year-funding bills, of which five of 12 remain. But they acknowledge intraparty differences will make the process incredibly difficult. Republicans believe three of the five remaining bills may be able to pass once changes are made, but proposals funding the Department of Agriculture — usually the least controversial bill — and Labor and Health and Human Services are riddled with provisions that vulnerable Republicans representing swing-districts could never support.

Foreshadowing the expected fight ahead, 14 members of the Freedom Caucus and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) put Johnson on notice this week by reverting back to an old tactic that previously helped extract concessions from leadership. These Republicans sunk a procedural hurdle to consider a full-year funding bill that the group has been demanding a vote on all year — a scheme Freedom Caucus members agreed to deploy against Johnson’s decisions as “a shot across the bow … in good faith,” as Perry described the move.

Bibi Gets It From Both Sides.  I Have ZERO Sympathy.

Rebellious coalition partners demanded to have more say over the conduct of the war after Netanyahu’s decision was announced Friday. They argued there should be no delivery of fuel, however limited, to the Palestinian coastal enclave — or any other humanitarian concessions — until Hamas frees the 240 Israeli hostages the group seized on October 7, when gunmen launched an attack on southern Israel, killing at least 1,200 people, Israeli officials say.

The eruption within the coalition government over the fuel concession illustrates the dilemma Netanyahu faces in trying to balance far-right religious nationalists in his government and Israel’s Western allies, who are increasingly pressing him to ease the plight of Gaza civilians. The majority of Palestinians in Gaza, which has been under air, land and sea blockade by Israel since 2007 — when Hamas wrested power over the Strip from Fatah — relied heavily on humanitarian aid before the war, including fuel to clean water, operate sewage systems and power now-shut-off telecommunications. Egypt has upheld a blockade on its border crossing at Rafah with Gaza since 2007.

Israeli officials say the decision to let in small amounts of fuel daily, a fraction of the fuel allowed before the war, was allowed as a gesture to Western allies and to avoid a breakdown of Gaza’s sewage and water systems, which would risk spreading disease, impacting civilians and Israeli troops.

Who Won the Week?

Florida's drag queens, as the Supreme Court rules that Gov. Ron DeSantis's law limiting drag shows is unconstitutional, so the shows will go on

The thousands of Starbucks employees nationwide who walked off the job to demand better pay and working conditions---the largest work stoppage in the history of the company

President Biden: inflation down; OKs 5 more judicial nominees inc. 1st Muslim-American on a circuit court; progress with China during Xi meeting; condemns Trump's Veterans Day Nazi rhetoric

House Democrats, for saving America from default by outnumbering MAGA members on the funding vote (and unlike MAGA members, didn’t start any brawls)

District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, for ruling that Google, Meta, Snap and TikTok must face allegations that they get teen users addicted and cause other mental health issues

The Washington Post, for having the guts to publish graphic photos of the carnage caused by AR-15s during mass shootings

Union power, as the Hollywood studios reach a multi-year deal with SAG-AFTRA, ending the actors strike, and the UAW votes to approve a new contract with GM

Maryland, for posting an unemployment rate of 1.6% for September---the lowest seasonally adjusted rate of any state on record going back to 1976

Anyone who understands that the new Supreme Court "code of ethics" ain't worth a bucket of warm spit

Formula One Happened In Vegas.  Will It Stay in Vegas?

They had flown to Nevada from all corners of the globe — London, Paris and Abu Dhabi — and for the price of $60,000 each, about 70 members of an exclusive Formula One fan group finally gathered together on the roof of the Cosmopolitan Hotel just after 10 p.m. Saturday night, to watch the Las Vegas Grand Prix. They looked out over the Strip and, of course, held up their phones to film as the racecars roared through the canyon of towering casinos at more than 200 miles-per-hour, the engines below buzzing their champagne glasses and bottles of Belvedere.

The group, based in the United Arab Emirates and known as Aioka, took shots of limited edition Volcan tequila and sipped on Stella Artois beers, shifting their attention from the straightaway of the track to the beats of French DJ Cedric Gervais every few minutes before watching 26-year-old Dutchmen Max Verstappen rally to win his 18th race of the season. He did it in dramatic fashion, overcoming a penalty for clashing with Charles Leclerc on the first lap and being later forced to drive around damage from another wreck later in the race.

It was the kind of scene that Verstappen had been critical of during a turbulent week for the sport — he had called it “99 percent show and one percent sporting event” — but the party thrown by Aioka, once known as The Rich List, was exactly what organizers had envisioned when they sunk $500 million into bringing Formula One to Sin City.

F1’s sloppy Las Vegas weekend