DAGR Weekly Reader W3-DEC
“The woods are lovely, dark, and deep. But I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep.”
~ Carl Sandburg, ‘Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening’
The FIFA Appease Prize
Okay. The actual headline was “Jon and the News Team on Venezuela Tensions, Airport Pull-Ups & "Minor" Trump Slip”, but really? Really, the Appease Prize sets the tone. And draws parallels between Venezuela and Iraq in the US crosshairs. Rough, raucous as always. Also funny. And spot on. PS - Hang on for Ronny Chieng et al and the Headline News!
Daily Show, Dec 13, 2025
Rural America | 60 Minutes Marathon
As the country begins to remember it also has rural spaces of importance, the 60 Minutes crew put together this ‘marathon’ (3 hrs, 42 mins) of clips that deal with our open spaces, in all their glory and pain. West to east, north to south. Some surprises: like at 1 hr 30 mins, Mike Wallace’s segment on the Farm Bureau. Other bits are more heart-warming. Entertaining and instructive.
60 Minutes, PBS, 1999 to 2025, compilation aired Dec 15 2025Reports from 60 Minutes on America's countryside.
Aligator Alcatraz for the Holidays?
You probably won’t want to hear this, but then neither will the families of people likely held in the Trump-DeSantis torture swamp.
Politics Girl recommends this report by Jessica Craven, Dec 16, 2025
Why Latinos Voted for Trump, and Then Abandoned Him
An antidote to the very down Florida detention news, here’s some uplifting understanding of the immigrant experience. This series usually has some mind-triggering exchanges, despite its very innocent over-title.
Talking Politics with Mom, 1 hr video, Dec 16, 2025
Who’s Really Pulling the Trigger?
Thom Hartmann examines the close relationship, post Citizens United, between the predator industries, e.g. the gun making/selling lobby and the laws designed to absolve them of responsibility when their products promote injury and take lives.
Thom Hartmann Report, Substack, Dec 17, 2025
Trump Administration Plans to Break Up Premier Weather and Climate Research Center
Russell Vought, the White House budget director, called the laboratory a source of “climate alarmism.” And now, the Trump administration said it will be dismantling the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, one of the world’s leading Earth science research institutions. Gift Link.
Lisa Friedman, Brad Plumer, and Jack Healy, New York Times, Dec. 17, 2025
Tales of a Billionaire-Populist Wannabe Governor
Tom Steyer has hired Zohran Mamdani’s ad firm to help get him elected in California. Can they pull it off? Maybe. Maybe not. But the many links to campaign ads are worth the read. Remember, Dems Abroad does not endorse candidates before their primaries. But that doesn’t mean we can’t talk about what it takes to get a candidate close enough to run.
Lauren Egan, The Bulwark, Dec 18, 2025