A group of renegade House Republicans and Democrats deployed the same procedural trick used to force a vote to release the Jeffrey Epstein files to wrangle a vote on a measure to ban members of Congress from trading stocks.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) filed her discharge petition to force the vote on her legislation, a proposal that has been supported by an unexpected coterie of members ranging from progressives like liberal darling Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) to archconservatives like Rep. Burchett (R-Tenn.).

Under the rules of the House of Representatives, a member can file a discharge petition on legislation to force a vote on their legislation as a way to get around Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and hold a vote. Once the petition receives enough signatures, they are locked in.

Afterward, seven legislative days must pass. Then Johnson must designate a time and place for the vote.

House Republicans join with AOC and use Epstein files playbook to force a vote on stock trading ban: ‘Hell’s frozen over’

‘I think America wants us to pass this,’ Tennessee Republican Tim Burchett tells The Independent

^{Eric Garcia (The Independent)}

The bombshell report by The New York Post alleged that sources within the FBI had called Patel “in over his head” and his deputy, Dan Bongino, “something of a clown.”

FBI Director Kash Patel completely tore into a bombshell report cited in an op-ed published by the New York Post earlier this week, detailing various issues at the bureau under his leadership, calling him “in over his head” and his deputy, Dan Bongino, “something of a clown.”

The 115-page report compiled by multiple anonymous internal sources described the FBI under Patel as a “rudderless ship” and “all f–ked up,” slamming his professionalism, claiming he is “spending too much time on social media and public relations.”

Patel slammed the overall report on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” Tuesday, saying, “These anonymous sources were individuals from the Comey-Wray era that weaponized the Department of Justice and cratered the public trust in the FBI to something that was at levels that has never been seen.”

Kash Patel Hits Back At Humiliating Report That He Demanded An FBI Raid Jacket

^{Pocharapon Neammanee (HuffPost)}

The extrajudicial murders carried out by the Trump administration in the Caribbean build on a dangerous power grab forged by Dick Cheney and expanded under Barack Obama.

Cheney and Obama Enabled Trump’s Extrajudicial Killings

^jacobin.com

cross-posted from: lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/56559025

Japan's patent office has rejected a Nintendo application related to its Palworld lawsuit, citing a lack of originality. The decision raises questions about the validity of several Nintendo patents describing creature capture systems that are central to the company's complaint against Palworld.

...

In late October 2025, the Japan Patent Office rejected Nintendo's patent application no. 2024-031879, which is related to the family of creature-capture patents that Palworld is accused of infringing. A JPO patent examiner found that the application lacks originality to be deemed an invention, citing prior art such as Monster Hunter 4, ARK: Survival Evolved, gacha browser game Kantai Collection, Pocketpair's own Craftopia, and even Pokemon GO. All of those were released prior to the December 2021 priority date from the rejected application.

Nintendo has 60 days from the date of its rejection notice to amend its application or appeal the decision, giving it until late December 2025 to do so. Since the application isn't cited in the Palworld patent lawsuit directly, its rejection won't have a direct impact on the ongoing case. However, as explained by Games Fray's analyst Florian Mueller, the newly rejected application is a "key building block" in Nintendo's strategy to capture a wide range of creature-capture system implementations. It is the child of patent JP7493117 and the parent of JP7545191, both of which are cited in Nintendo's complaint.

tl:dr;

The Nintendo v PalWorld lawsuit is still on going, but Nintendo has been told it's attempt to patent the concept of a capturable and summonable creature is invalid, in Japan.

As part of their ongoing lawsuit, Nintendo is claiming PalWorld has violated those... now invalid patents, so Nintendo's overall case against PalWorld is now significantly more weak.

Nintendo's Creature Capture Patent Dealt Blow Amid Palworld Lawsuit

Amid the Palworld lawsuit, Japan's Patent Office strikes down a related creature-capture patent for Nintendo, dealing a potential blow to the case.

^{Dominik Bošnjak (Game Rant)}

Images and videos taken in 2020, a year after he died in jail, show the late sex offender’s home

House Democrats released photos and videos from Jeffrey Epstein’s private Caribbean island on Wednesday, offering a rare glimpse into a secretive place where Epstein is alleged to have trafficked young girls.

The new images and videos show Epstein’s home, including bedrooms, a telephone, what appears to be an office or library, and a chalkboard on which the words “fin”, “intellectual”, “deception” and “power” are written. Several photos show a room with a dentist chair and masks hanging on the wall. The New York Times reported that Epstein’s last girlfriend was a dentist who shared an office with one of his shell companies. The videos appear to be a walk-through of the property.

House Democrats release new images of Epstein’s private Caribbean island

^{Sam Levine (The Guardian)}

Beyond the Front Page of the Internet

Hi everyone,

The end of the year is as good a time as any for reflection, and lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about what makes Reddit special.

When we started this site 20 years ago (AKA Very, Very Old Reddit), the goal was pretty simple: create a space where people could talk about interesting things they found on the internet. What began as an alternative to traditional media came into its own as an alternative to social media, and now that AI is everywhere, our aim is to keep Reddit the most human place on the internet. No matter what platforms or technology are trending, we’ve always strived to be a more authentic antidote.

Over the years, Reddit’s been stereotyped in all sorts of ways: shaving-challenged basement dwellers, keyboard warriors with too much time on their hands, or—more accurately—the funniest, most interesting, and helpful people on the internet. Take your pick. I’ve never liked the idea of a Reddit hivemind or archetype because Reddit’s not one thing. It never has been. Though I admit it’s always had a certain vibe, today even that is entirely dependent on which subreddits you hang out in.

For a long while, we were known as the “front page of the internet,” but we’ve outgrown a singular front page for everyone. You have different interests than I do, and your Reddit should look different from mine. And from your neighbor’s, or your coworker’s, or your best friend’s. Whether you’re in a community of fellow first-time parents, aspiring solo travelers, fans of your favorite reality show, or people who run ultra-marathons, Reddit is home to all of it.

Which brings us to r/popular, the default feed for new users. In theory, it’s what’s most popular on Reddit, but it’s actually what is liked by the most active users on Reddit—which is not the same thing. Having it as a default feed gives the false impression of a singular Reddit culture, one that is neither representative of Reddit nor appealing to new users (or anyone at all, IMO). Which is why, in the near future, we'll stop showing it to new users, and unless you read it regularly, we’ll remove it from the core group of feeds in the app.

Said more directly: r/popular sucks, and we’re moving away from it, and towards better, more relevant and personalized feeds.

We’re one platform, yes, but with many minds (at least more than one). One of my favorite aspects of Reddit is that every community has its own culture, rules, and sense (or lack) of humor. We are a constantly evolving ecosystem where anyone, anywhere, can connect on almost any topic or belief. And if your perspective isn’t represented, you can create the community you want to see. The freedom to build your own corner of the internet is what makes Reddit, Reddit.

On Reddit, no strongly held worldview exists unchallenged. For every earnest subreddit, there is a vibrant and more funny circlejerk counterpart lurking in the shadows. That balance—and sometimes tension—reflects how the world actually is.

More people are visiting Reddit than ever before—116 million every day. And when I look at the top-visited communities, it’s not surprising to see that they are (mostly) coming here to laugh, ask questions, judge, and generally be entertained.

Top 20 SFW subreddits by weekly active visitors, as of November 20, 2025.

Reddit thrives when its communities are unique. That’s why we empower them to make their own rules (on top of ours) and grow the way they want to. But distinct communities require distinct leaders. A situation where someone moderates an unlimited number of massive communities is not that, which is why we’re making a few changes.

Namely, we’re limiting the number of high-traffic communities any single person can moderate. This is a major shift with a lot of nuance, so we're not rushing. We’re focused on helping all affected mods and communities through the transition, which you can read about in detail here.

Relatedly, you may have noticed that we updated how we display community size. We switched from Subscribers—which was really just a measure of age—to Weekly Visitors to reflect actual activity. (And if you really miss subscribers, you can add them back with this devvit app.)

These changes are all part of the same goal: making Reddit more conducive to how people actually use it today.

Reddit is for everyone because it’s built by everyone. We’re a vibrant city of coffee shops, nightclubs, arenas, and yes, a few weird basements (neckbeard not required). Sure, you can come here to argue, but like in real life, most people come here to connect. We want to help you do more of that.

Thank you to all of you who make Reddit what it is and what it can be next.

See you next year,

u/spez

edit: table editor needs some work.

Hillary Clinton is facing a deluge of criticism after stating that young Americans' growing support for Palestinians is influenced by "totally made-up" videos on TikTok and suggesting that American youth - including young Jews - "don't know history and don't understand" Israel's war on Gaza.

Speaking on Tuesday at a summit hosted by the right-wing Israeli paper Israel Hayom in New York City, the former Democratic presidential candidate expressed her concerns that “smart, well-educated young people” in America and around the world are getting a lot of their information, including about Israel and Palestine, from social media platforms like TikTok.

The former US secretary of state described it as "serious problem for democracy", remarking that when she attempted to have "reasonable discussions" with young people, it was challenging because “they did not know history, they had very little context, and what they were being told on social media was not just one-sided, it was pure propaganda".

Hillary Clinton says TikTok to blame for young Americans' pro-Palestine views. They disagree

Hillary Clinton is facing a deluge of criticism after stating that young Americans' growing support for Palestinians is influenced by "totally made-up" videos on TikTok and suggesting that American youth - including young Jews - "don't know history a…

^{Reem Aouir (Middle East Eye)}

Discord. Private Facebook groups. Telegram. I could go on and on, but I've noticed that these days, more and more content is not being seen by search engines.

The internet used to be built on public pages anyone could find. Now, so much of the conversation happens behind logins or in apps that Google can't crawl.

That means AI doesn't need to write better than humans to dominate search results. It just needs to be visible where human content isn't.

You see this with Beat Saber.

Most mods and setup guides, like how to mod it on Meta Quest, are shared in Discord servers. Tips come up in Twitch streams or YouTube comments. But none of that shows up on Google.

YouTube transcripts are still hit or miss in search. The subreddit is somewhat active but misses a lot of the real info.

Beat Saber has millions of players and tons of human created content. Yet almost all of it is hidden from search engines.

It is the same with smaller games. I played one where the whole community uses Discord. Patch notes, guides, developer updates, everything happens there. No website. No public forums. If you are not in the server, you are out of luck. Get banned and you lose access to everything.

AI does not need to write better than humans. It just needs to be where the data still is, on the open web. While we move our conversations elsewhere, AI stays visible.

cross-posted from: news.abolish.capital/post/1137…

Since Israel began bombarding Gaza and starving its population of more than 2 million Palestinians in October 2023, the consensus that the Israeli government is committing genocide has steadily grown to include international and Israeli human rights groups, a United Nations panel, Holocaust scholars, and nearly 40% of Jewish Americans, according to one striking recent survey.

But in 10 words, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday waved away the findings of respected groups like Amnesty International and renowned experts like Brown University professor Omer Bartov, when she commented on why young Americans are expressing support for Palestinians.

"They were getting their information from social media, particularly TikTok," said Clinton.

Without pointing to any evidence, the former secretary of state said young people in the US are "seeing short-form videos, some of them totally made up, some of them not at all representing what they claim to be showing, and that’s where they get their information" about Israel's attacks on Gaza.

She added that "it’s not just the usual suspects"—without naming who those pro-Palestinian "suspects" are.

"It’s a lot of young Jewish Americans who don’t know the history and don’t understand," she said. "A lot of the challenge is with younger people."

Hillary Clinton blames TikTok and “totally made up” videos for young people’s views on Israel and Palestine.

She says social media influenced “not just the usual suspects” but also “young Jewish Americans who don’t know the history and don’t understand.” t.co/rUVXRqK2rK pic.twitter.com/hAwG7Gbhwf
— Prem Thakker (@prem_thakker) December 2, 2025

Her remarks echoed those of former Obama White House speechwriter Sarah Hurwitz, who spoke recently about the challenges Zionists are presented with when they try to defend Israel to young Jewish people who have seen widely available, credible images and news out of Gaza, where Israel has killed more than 70,000 Palestinians and is continuing to restrict humanitarian aid despite a ceasefire deal reached in October.

"Anything that we try to say to them, they’re hearing it through this wall of carnage," Hurwitz lamented last month, drawing condemnation.

Clinton was speaking at an event in New York City for Israel Hayom, the most widely read newspaper in Israel, which is run by billionaire Miriam Adelson, a megadonor to President Donald Trump. Adelson published an editorial in the Jewish Journal in November 2023 saying pro-Palestinian protesters "are dead to us," and her late husband, Republican donor Sheldon Adelson, said in 2014 that the Palestinians are "an invented people."

Jeremy Slevin, a senior adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), pointed to the irony of Clinton attending an event associated with the Adelsons and then claiming that "the kids are being radicalized by anti-Israel propaganda."

— (@)

Clinton has frequently claimed that pro-Palestinian Americans, particularly students who took part in nationwide campus protests last year as they urged the Biden administration to comply with US law and stop funding Israel's attacks on Gaza, are simply misinformed about Palestine and ignorant of history, particularly pointing to the 2000 Camp David Summit hosted by former President Bill Clinton.

The former secretary of state has repeated the claim that the Palestinians were offered a "generous deal" at the meeting and "walked away"—a "myth" that Camp David negotiator Robert Malley has debunked, warning it's been used by Clinton and others to "justify Israel's genocide."

Robert Malley on the myth of “Palestinians walked away” at Camp David (July 2000):

➤ Malley says the popular story pushed since 2000 – that Arafat rejected a “generous offer” – is contradicted by the actual record. Israeli PM Barak sidelined the Palestinians for a year,… pic.twitter.com/3vlf1Rl4qj
— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) November 28, 2025

"She’s the one getting the history wrong," including at the Israel Hayom event, said Drop Site News on Tuesday.

A number of observers took issue with Clinton's suggestion that anti-Israel sentiment in the US is being driven solely by young people, with Just Security executive editor Adil Haque issuing a "periodic reminder that the biggest shift in attitudes toward Israel and Palestine has been among older Democrats."

In 2022, 43% Democratic voters ages 50 and up had an unfavorable view of Israel. That percentage has risen sharply since Israel began its onslaught in Gaza, with 66% of those voters reporting an unfavorable view in a Pew Research Center poll this year.

Meanwhile, 71% of Democrats ages 49 and under opposed Israel in the same poll, and 62% of them had expressed opposition in 2022, denoting a less extreme shift in opinion.

"Democrats get their news from CNN more than other mainstream sources," said Haque, pointing to the network's recent investigation about Palestinian aid-seekers who were killed by Israeli forces. "If you're a 60-year-old with grandkids and you read or watch CNN's Gaza reporting, you don't need TikTok to know that what's happening is very, very wrong."

Dylan Williams, vice president of government affairs at the Center for International Policy, also suggested Clinton has an inaccurate view of who opposes Israel's ongoing attacks on Palestinians.

"I’m nearly 50. I don’t use TikTok. I listen to NPR 'Morning Edition' and read the Financial Times daily," said Williams. "I’m a lawyer who has worked on Israel-Palestine issues for the last 20 years. The evidence I’ve seen that Israel committed atrocities including genocide in Gaza is overwhelming."

Author Jason Overstreet wondered how Clinton would explain the findings of human rights groups like Amnesty International and Israel-based B'Tselem, which pointed to testimonies by Israeli soldiers and the documented destruction of Gaza's food system when it concluded in a report in July that Israel is committing genocide in the exclave.

"I guess Hillary Clinton also thinks that Amnesty International called what’s happening in Gaza a genocide because they saw some videos on TikTok and just 'did not know history,'" said Overstreet. "Young people’s views on Israel are based on young people knowing that Israel has committed genocide."

From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.