Tootfinder

Congress leaves town until 2026
with no health care deal,
forcing premium hikes
Four Republicans teamed up with Democrats to require a vote to revive ACA funds in early 2026.
But Senate Republicans tell NBC News that bill is dead on arrival across the Capitol.

Congress leaves town until 2026 with no health care deal, forcing premium hikes
The Republican-led House and Senate adjourned Thursday until the new year with no solution on expiring health care subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, meaning insurance premiums for about 22 million Americans will rise next month.

Democrats' last-minute move to block GOP funding plan sends lawmakers home early (Alex Miller/Fox News)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/democrats-last-minute-move-block-gop-funding-plan-sends-lawmakers-home-early
http://www.memeorandum.com/251219/p59#a251219p59

David Brooks, who wrote a NYT column last month decrying popular fixation on the Epstein story, appears in newly released photos of a 2011 event with Epstein (Anna Betts/The Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/18/jeffrey-epstein-estate-f…

From https://talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo/trump-gives-himself-an-enormous-out-on-the-epstein-files
I hope we're not clutching at straws and we should bear in mind that a rat is most dangerous when cornered. But still…

https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/this-buzzy-cyber-startup-wants-to-take-on-dangerous-ai-threat-c0916a3a
Kevin Mandia, founder of the cybersecurity firm Mandiant—which was acquired by Alphabet’s Google for $5.4 billion—has formed a new …

Sources: Armadin, launched by Mandiant's founder Kevin Mandia to fight AI hacking, raised a $24M seed and is in talks to raise $100M at a $600M valuation (Wall Street Journal)
https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/this-buzzy-cyber-startup-wants-…

https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/this-buzzy-cyber-startup-wants-to-take-on-dangerous-ai-threat-c0916a3a
Kevin Mandia, founder of the cybersecurity firm Mandiant—which was acquired by Alphabet’s Google for $5.4 billion—has formed a new …

Apropos of a gas station exploding in my neighborhood: Fossil fuel infrastructure is an ecological disaster every day, especially when there isn't an accident, when everything is "working" "safely."
https://theonion.com/millions-of-barre

Millions Of Barrels Of Oil Safely Reach Port In Major Environmental Catastrophe
PORT FOURCHON, LA—In what may be the greatest environmental disaster in the nation’s history, the supertanker TI Oceania docked without incident at the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port Monday and successfully unloaded 3.1 million barrels of dangerous crude oil into the United States.


The day after Democrats swept this month’s voting, a group of jubilant Democratic congressional candidates gathered on Capitol Hill to listen to Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colorado) explain how they could triumph in next year’s midterm elections, too.

Crow, dressed in jeans, boots and an open-necked shirt, urged them to campaign next year as if they were running for mayor:
Be local, be authentic, don’t listen too much to campaign consultants, he argued,
and be ready to separate f…

This rising House Democrat is a voice for the angry middle
Why I’m keeping an eye on the political trajectory of Jason Crow, a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Former Alaska representative
❤️#Mary #Peltola announced on Monday she is running for Alaska’s US Senate seat,
handing Democrats a major recruitment victory as the party battles to reclaim the chamber’s majority in this year’s midterm elections.
Peltola, who served as Alaska’s sole House member from 2022 un…