Justice Dept. reports broad civil rights abuses at Georgia jail system
(NYTimes) — The Justice Department has found significant civil rights violations at a jail complex in Fulton County, Georgia, that it says was plagued by inadequate staffing, overcrowding, poor and unsanitary living conditions, sexual assaults and excessive violence by inmates and staff. The department, in a blunt report released Thursday, pinned responsibility on officials in Fulton County and the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, which oversees the jail system. They have had a “deliberate indifference to the risks of harms,” it said. “These are fixable opportunities, and so that’s what our plan is,” Sheriff Patrick Labat of Fulton County said Thursday afternoon.
With potential pardons by Trump coming, judge delays Jan. 6 trial
(NYTimes) — A federal judge in Washington agreed Thursday to delay until after Inauguration Day the trial of a Kansas man accused of attacking the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, after the defendant argued that it could be pointless, considering President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to pardon the rioters who stormed the building that day. The decision by Judge Rudolph Contreras to delay the trial of William Pope, a 38-year-old doctoral student at Kansas State University, appeared to be the first time that a jurist had postponed a proceeding directly at the request of a defendant who expected Trump to pardon him.
Liberal legal group positions itself as a top Trump administration foe
(NYTimes) — Democracy Forward, a liberal-leaning legal organization that frequently battled the first Trump administration in court, on Thursday unveiled a large-scale new effort aimed at thwarting President-elect Donald Trump’s second-term agenda from his first day in office. More than 800 lawyers at 280 organizations have begun developing cases and workshopping specific challenges to what the group has identified as 600 “priority legal threats” — potential regulations, laws and other administrative actions that could require a legal response, its leaders said. The project, called Democracy 2025, aims to be a hub of opposition to the new Trump administration.
Three-quarters of US adults are now overweight or obese
(NYTimes) — Nearly three-quarters of U.S. adults are overweight or obese, according to a sweeping new study. The findings have wide-reaching implications for the nation’s health and medical costs as it faces a growing burden of weight-related diseases. The study, published Thursday in The Lancet, reveals the striking rise of obesity rates nationwide since 1990 — when just over half of adults were overweight or obese — and shows how more people are becoming overweight or obese at younger ages than in the past. Both conditions can raise the risk of diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease, and shorten life expectancy.
Suicide bomber in Brazil’s capital rattles nation before global summit
(NYTimes) — The explosions that shook Brazil’s capital Wednesday and prompted an evacuation were an act of terrorism by a lone attacker who sought to disrupt democracy, police officials said Thursday. The only person killed was the attacker, and no one was injured. But the two explosions took place near the Supreme Court in Brasilia, the capital, and put the nation on edge days before the country hosts a Group of 20 summit, which President Joe Biden and other world leaders are expected to attend. The attack echoed the violence that descended on Brasília after the election of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva nearly two years ago.
Elon Musk met with Iran’s UN ambassador, Iranian officials say
(NYTimes) — Elon Musk, a close adviser to President-elect Donald Trump, met with Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations on Monday in New York in a session that two Iranian officials described as a discussion of how to defuse tensions between Iran and the United States. The Iranians said the meeting between Musk and Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani lasted more than an hour and was held at a secret location. The Iranians, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss policy publicly, described the meeting as “positive” and “good news.”
The Onion wins bid to buy infowars, Alex Jones’ site, out of bankruptcy
(NYTimes) — The Onion, a satirical publication, said Thursday that it had won a bankruptcy auction to acquire Infowars, a website founded and operated by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. The Onion said its bid was sanctioned by the families of the victims of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, who in 2022 won a $1.4 billion defamation lawsuit against Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems. But hours after the announcement, Judge Christopher Lopez of U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston put a hold on the sale until a hearing next week, citing concerns about the bidding process and a need to clarify which assets the winners are buying.
Ben &Jerry’s accuses Unilever of seeking to muzzle Its Gaza stance
(NYTimes) — Ben &Jerry’s on Wednesday sued its parent company, Unilever, accusing the consumer goods giant of censorship and threats over the ice cream maker’s attempts to express support for Palestinian refugees. The move ratchets up a long-standing conflict between the two that has flared since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip. The lawsuit claims that Unilever recently tried to dismantle Ben &Jerry’s independent board and sought to muzzle it to prevent the company from calling for a cease-fire and safe passage for refugees, from supporting U.S. students protesting civilian deaths in Gaza, and from urging an end to U.S. military aid to Israel.
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