Democrat News

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Neil Cavuto, the first anchor hired by Fox News in 1996, is leaving the network, another casualty of cost-cutting in the TV news business.

Cavuto, 66, will make his final appearance on the network Thursday on “Your World,” his long-running daily business-oriented program. His current deal is up at the end of the month.

Cavuto chose to leave the company after being offered a new contract – likely at a lower salary – according to people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to discuss it publicly.

“Neil Cavuto’s illustrious career has been a master class in journalism and we’re extremely proud of his 28-year run with Fox News Media,” the company said in a statement confirming the anchor’s departure. “His programs have defined business news and set the standard in the entire industry.”

Big-name anchors across the TV news business are being asked to take lower salaries as ratings and revenues are shrinking. Hoda Kotb of NBC’s “Today” and Chris Wallace of CNN both chose to leave their roles rather than take new deals at lower pay.

Cavuto anchored 12 hours of programming a week on Fox News and its sister channel the Fox Business Network, where he also served as managing editor. He was a popular figure among colleagues.

Cavuto is one of the few Fox News anchors who frequently criticized President-elect Donald Trump, which did not always please the conservative viewers who make up much of the network’s audience.

The anchor had a sense of humor about the audience’s love-hate relationship with him. When he returned after one of his long medical leaves, he read messages from viewers who were disappointed that he was back.

Throughout his career, Cavuto has battled a number of health issues over the years. He has multiple sclerosis, underwent open heart surgery in 2016 and is a cancer survivor.

He was an original anchor at CNBC when it launched in 1989. He developed a bond with Roger Ailes when he ran the NBCUniversal-owned business news network and followed the executive to Fox News when it launched in 1996.

Cavuto became the lead anchor of Fox Business Network when it was launched in 2007. He helmed a midday program, “Cavuto: Coast to Coast,” on the network in addition to his daily and weekend shows on Fox News.

No successor was named for Cavuto, whose programs will continue. A permanent replacement is likely to come from within the ranks of the network.

Cavuto served as a moderator for the second Republican presidential primary debate in 2015, which delivered the largest audience in the history of Fox Business Network.

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It is a Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa miracle, friends! We WILL get to see the House Ethics Committee report on Matt Gaetz and his perverted dealings with (possibly) underage girls.

CNN is reporting that the committee secretly voted earlier this month to release the report before the new Congress is sworn in. It is expected to be publicly released right before the holidays, maybe as early as this Friday.

Just last month, the committee voted along party lines to keep the report secret, probably related to Gaetz’s nomination to be Attorney General. Things changed as soon as he removed himself from contention after he realized that Senate Republicans hate him as much as many House Republicans do. Womp womp.

The investigation focuses on whether he “engaged in sexual misconduct, used illicit drugs, “shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gifts.”

Gaetz put out a statement shortly after the news broke of the impending release:

What an odd statement. He isn’t denying anything. Rather, he is trying to make excuses for everything that he knows is going to come out.

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Rep. Daniel Goldman railed against Donald Trump’s mental state on MSNBC Wednesday evening after Trump demanded the debt ceiling be raised at the 11th hour when the HOUSE was trying to pass a funding bill to keep the government open.

This is another crackpot idea being forced on the government from Demented Don when Biden is still President.

GOLDMAN: He understands, at least he should, how these things work, and how the debt ceiling works, which is a deadline in June.

We are now up against the budget, the government shutting down on Friday, having nothing to do with the debt ceiling.

And I am really concerned that Donald Trump is so senile or off that he is not able to compute what he’s saying, because it makes absolutely no sense to have an 11th hour demand to raise the debt ceiling on another president’s watch when it doesn’t need to be raised right now.

If you’re president for four years, you understand that’s a non-starter.

And I don’t know whether this is a competency issue or this is bluster or what it is, but I am a little concerned that he would make this demand at this stage.

I’m concerned about his mental capacity.

This makes some sort of sense in Trump’s MAGA-infested brain if he wants to get the debt ceiling raised now so that it doesn’t become an issue for him during his first year in office. But the government is about to shutdown because president-elect Musk had a hissy fit and this is an impossible ask.

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Disgraced and disbarred former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani weighed into the drone conspiracy by claiming China already raped us with their spy balloon

I doubt Pete Hegseth appreciated that analogy.

Has Rudy given any of his belongings and prized possessions to the two ladies that sued the shit out of him in Georgia?

GIULIANI: We can’t be that insane, right?

So if China or Iran is flying drones over us in this kind of number, we certainly should be doing something.

One little caveat, though.

We allowed, basically we allowed China to rape us with the balloon, and we lied about that for five days.

And then they carried out about an eight-day mission in which they very carefully got to photograph, for as much time as they wanted, very sensitive military facilities.

And Kirby and all his people were telling us throughout that it wasn’t very meaningful. In fact, it was probably the worst security breach we’ve ever had.

They got all those pictures because it was unmanned, sent to China.

And then when they finished and got safely off our shore, Biden went ahead and took them down, I guess when Xi told them it was okay to do.

So that leaves me a little nervous.

MAGAts make everything into a conspiracy, so balloons and drones are no different. Poor Rudy can’t get a a pardon from Trump since his financial ruin came at the hands of the state of Georgia and a president can’t pardon a disbarment.

Real America’s Voice is the perfect outlet for these creeps.

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As David R. Lurie lays out in his excellent Public Notice column, Republicans have been dreaming of doing away with Social Security ever since FDR enacted it, even though it successfully reduced poverty among the elderly. Ditto for Medicare, enacted under LBJ.

The most infuriating part for me is they’ve managed to corral Democrats into going along with the messaging that these anti-poverty programs that people pay into are “entitlements” that “good government” types only want to “reform” and put on a “stronger” fiscal footing. It’s a nauseating way of framing deserving recipients as elite moochers and messaging the truly elite moochers as “sensible” minders of everybody else’s money.

Thank goodness Lurie called this out:

Reagan did succeed in enacting far more modest, but still substantial, cutbacks in Social Security with the support of Democrats — under the cover of a commission led by the then highly respected Alan Greenspan — based on the proposition they were “bolstering” it. This gave rise to an enduring view among many on the right that they could dupe Democrats to join them in cutting holes in the social safety net in the guise of trying to save it — a premise some “good government” types regrettably encouraged.

For those MSNBC fans who may not know, Alan Greenspan is the husband of MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell. It just shows you how deeply this bamboozling has been embedded into “mainstream” American and Democratic politics.

With Donald Trump pretending he has a mandate, with Trump and Republicans already chomping at the bit to gut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, the time is now for Democrats to get ready, Lurie warns. He lays out how Trump, Musk and his GOP enablers have different motives, but arrive at the same hideous desire to impoverish others while enriching the already wealthy.

Lurie predicts that when that happens, there will be a backlash and “the massive snowball Trump and his cronies sent down the hill will run them over.” But Democrats have to be ready for the game:

It is, however, up to Democrats to carefully prepare for what comes next, and — when the opportunity presents itself — to do everything they can to maximize the backlash and ensure Republicans once again pay the highest possible price for attacking a cornerstone of post-New Deal America. This will not be a time for compromise, or for sober-minded “good government” types to express agreement with the need for “reform.”

If Democrats play their cards right, the defeat of yet another GOP assault on key elements of the safety net for older Americans could be the beginning of a broader collapse of the Trump effort to “remake government” to serve his authoritarian ambitions.

I’m less optimistic that the party that twice couldn’t manage to keep a criminal grifter out of the White House will finesse this grift but hope springs eternal. If everyone who opposes the MAGA machinations starts letting their elected officials know now – and keeps letting them know – we’re not going to stand for this flimflam, I believe there’s a real chance Lurie’s scenario could play out very nicely.

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed the first case of severe bird flu in the United States. Which is a bigger deal than ever, because of the incompetent and inexperienced boobs El Cheato has nominated to run the nation’s Department of Health and Human Services. If this mutates another step and makes the leap to human-to-human transmission, can they handle it? Via ABC News:

The federal health agency said Wednesday that the patient has been hospitalized in Louisiana. State health officials said the patient is over the age of 65 with underlying medical conditions.

The patient is experiencing severe respiratory illness related to bird flu infection and is currently in critical condition, a spokesperson from the Louisiana Department of Health told ABC News.

Genomic data showed the Louisiana patient was infected with a version of the virus recently found to be spreading in wild birds and poultry in the U.S., as well as found in some human cases in Canada and Washington state, according to the CDC.

The Louisiana patient was exposed to sick and dead birds in backyard flocks, although an investigation into the source of the illness is ongoing, the CDC said. This is the first case of human bird flu in the U.S. linked to exposure to backyard flock.

CALL YOUR SENATORS at (202) 224-3121 and tell them you don’t want to live through another pandemic, and if they vote to confirm these incompetents, you will hold them personally responsible for what comes after.

Stop with the bullshit “my senator is a Republican and my call won’t count” excuse. They count the calls and report them to leadership, which determines what happens as a caucus. Talk about complying in advance! Just call. It does matter.

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El Cheato rather abruptly rejected the bipartisan plan yesterday to prevent a government shutdown for Christmas. Instead, he ordered Mike Johnson and Republicans to renegotiate — days before a deadline when federal funding runs out. Via the Associated Press:

Trump’s sudden entrance into the debate and new demands sent Congress spiraling as lawmakers are trying to wrap up work and head home for the holidays. It leaves Johnson scrambling to engineer a new plan before Friday’s deadline to keep government open. “Republicans must GET SMART and TOUGH,” Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance said in a statement.

The president-elect made an almost unrealistic proposal that combined the some continuation of government funds along with a much more controversial provision to raise the nation’s debt limit — something his own party routinely rejects. “Anything else is a betrayal of our country,” they wrote.

Democrats decried the GOP revolt over the stopgap measure, which would have also provided some $100 billion in disaster aid to states hammered by Hurricanes Helene and Milton and other natural disasters.

But it gets interesting. Hakim Jeffries is pissed off and says he won’t bail out the Republicans:

Johnson can’t pass through rules without Jeffries and Senate Republicans are already saying no. Jeffries doesn’t want a clean continuing resolution, while Musk wants it. Unless Dems cave (I don’t think Jeffries will), we are heading toward the most glorious shit show ever.

Elon jumped in:

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Something like social studies was never controversial until America elected a raging narcissist who isn’t capable of handling even the slightest bit of criticism into power. Narcissists always have flying monkeys to do their work; in this case, it’s the Derby school district near Wichita, Kansas. There must never be a negative word about their precious leader, whose ego is fragile but massive. The school board rejected a proposed social studies curriculum for high school students because they claimed that some materials were biased against Donald.

KMUW reports:

The curriculum was recommended by Derby High School teachers, who reviewed six social studies programs over the past year.

Some board members voiced concerns about anti-racism statements on the publisher’s website, as well as the company’s statements about diversity, equity and inclusion. They also said parts of a textbook and online materials do not fairly reflect Trump’s first presidency.

“My biggest concern … involved what I would define as bias of omission,” board member Cathy Boote said.

The Derby Board of Education (clockwise from top: Jennifer Neel, Mark Boline, Tanya Jacobucci, Michael Blankenship, Melanie Turner, Robyn Pearman and Cathy Boote) rejected a proposed high school social studies curriculum because some members said it is biased against Donald Trump.

Boote listed several examples of material she said did not accurately reflect Trump’s actions during his presidency, including his stance on Cuba, trade deals with China, relationships with allies and the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

“Then there was the ‘Muslim ban,'” Boote said, making air quotes with her fingers. “With no mention of the fact it wasn’t aimed at all Muslim countries, just those that have no ability to vet.

“Safety was the top priority, but they leave it sit there, with no explanation, to make you think he was xenophobic,” she said.

In January 2017, Trump signed an executive order suspending all travel and immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries. During the campaign for his first term, Trump had called for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.”

Derby board member Michael Blankenship said he was concerned about some of the points Boote mentioned. He also opposed the new curriculum because of a statement Houghton Mifflin Harcourt made in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd, who was Black, by a white police officer in 2020.

“We believe Black Lives Matter. We believe in social justice. We believe learning is a fundamental right,” the company said in a June 2020 message posted on its website. “We believe the education system needs to change, and we will continue to use our platform to make that change.”

Black lives do matter, and Trump did enact a Muslim ban. Those are facts that the fucking schoolboard in Kansas doesn’t want children to learn about. This sounds so Moms for Liberty-ish.

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WASHINGTON —  The Air Force lieutenant colonel left the Pentagon one day and returned the next — with a new name and a new gender identity.

Bree Fram remembers the atmosphere in 2020 as welcoming and supportive. Her colleagues brought cookies. When the Pentagon officially changed her gender in employment records, she felt her journey was complete.

Fram is one of thousands of transgender people working openly in government positions, including the Defense and State departments, intelligence agencies and various other federal branches. An estimated 15,000 transgender people work in the military alone. They say acceptance and support has surged in recent years.

But many are now worried that the broad advances they achieved over the last decade will be reversed under President-elect Donald Trump, who has likened gender transition to “mutilation,” vowed to roll back job protections and healthcare for trans workers and threatened to reimpose a ban against transgender people serving in the military.

“The mood among the community is apprehensive,” Fram said, noting she was speaking in her personal capacity and not on behalf of the Air Force.

Two transgender women in the State Department, who spoke openly with The Times earlier this year about their experiences, said after the election they no longer wanted to be identified out of fear for their safety and positions. One, a former Iraq combat veteran who transitioned later and landed at State, said she and friends now feared “becoming targets.”

Fram, a 21-year veteran of the Air Force and an aeronautical engineer whose job includes choosing the satellites that the U.S. launches into space, is a prominent activist in the transgender movement. Now ranked a colonel, she said transgender colleagues are stopping her in the hallways and bombarding her with questions and requests for advice.

“We have seen the campaign promises, the rhetoric being used about transgender people and what’s occurring on Capitol Hill as well,” she said. “So while none of us know exactly what will come to pass, there is still certainly that concern that it’s not going to be good for transgender people serving in the military.”

A group of Republican lawmakers is already attempting to bar incoming Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.), the first out transgender person elected to Congress, from using women’s restrooms. A leader in that group, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), wants to extend bathroom bans in all federal facilities nationwide.

Rep.-elect Sarah McBride (D-Del.), center, leaves a meeting of House Democrats on Capitol Hill on Nov. 19, 2024.

(Mark Schiefelbein / Associated Press)

Fears grew with Trump’s nomination of a Fox TV host, Pete Hegseth, as secretary of Defense. Hegseth has been vocal in his belief in restrictions on women in the military and the removal of transgender service members.

In 2016, President Obama lifted a ban on transgender people serving in the military. Trump reinstated it when he reached office the following year, but it was largely held up in the courts until President Biden repealed the ban. Many expect Trump to attempt to reimpose it.

Fram said she was nevertheless confident her community would persevere.

“What always amazes me about this community is despite … the many, many times we have faced adversity, it’s the resilience of this group of amazing people,” she said. “These public servants, who continue to put on their uniform every day and accomplish the mission that they’ve been given.… They are there doing the job and plan to continue doing the job for as long as they’re allowed to do so.”

Sailors kiss as they march in the Gay Pride Parade in San Diego in 2011.

(Gregory Bull / Associated Press)

No one knows exactly how far the Trump administration will go, and its efforts will again undoubtedly meet legal challenges and other resistance.

“We have seen this movie before,” said Jennifer Pizer, the L.A.-based chief legal officer at Lambda Legal, a civil rights organization that focuses on LGBTQ+ issues. “This is a group of people who are flouting the standard rules … and looking forward to spending an indefinite time in court.”

There are several options Trump might pursue, she said.

In addition to reimposing a military ban, Trump loyalists might attempt to deny “gender affirming” healthcare, forbidding federal funds or insurance plans to be used in procedures that facilitate transition, including hormone therapy and plastic surgery.

U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), center without hat, marches in 2015 with members of OutVets, a group of gay military veterans, during the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Boston.

(Steven Senne / Associated Press)

Republicans have added a rider to the must-pass defense authorization bill, forbidding such care for minors. That would have an impact on the children of service members.

And already, numerous states ban such care for minors in the civilian realm, an issue currently being reviewed by the Supreme Court.

When he first enacted the military ban, Trump said having transgender people in the armed forces was expensive. A 2016 study by Rand concluded that transgender healthcare added less than 0.1% to the health budget.

At the State Department, numerous policies, as well as union rules, are in place to protect transgender and gay diplomats and employees. But such policies could be subject to new executive orders or reversals.

In the 1950s and ’60s, the State Department pursued a hunt for gay and lesbian employees, civil servants and diplomats known as the Lavender Scare. They were routinely dismissed; many who hung on had to work in the closet. Some of the black-balling continued into the 1990s.

People attend a rally on a Transgender Day of Visibility in March 2023 in Washington.

(Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press)

At the same time, the military and other federal agencies have often become national testing grounds in matters of inclusion and diversity.

President Truman desegregated the Army after World War II. Later, women were given broader roles, including, now, in combat.

In 1993, President Clinton took a first step toward lifting the ban on gays and lesbians in the military — a ban that was ended entirely in 2011.

Today, the State Department has teams dedicated to advocating for LGBTQ+ rights abroad, through embassies and sometimes in countries where homosexuality is criminalized.

In 2011, Robyn McCutcheon, a diplomat, trained astronomer and Russia expert, became the first person to transition while posted at a U.S. Embassy, during her tenure overseas in Romania.

“It is our collective responsibility to ensure transgender persons can live full lives, without fear of harm,” Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said just last month. “The United States is committed to fighting for a world that accepts and respects transgender, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming persons.”

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, pictured in September, said last month that “it is our collective responsibility to ensure transgender persons can live full lives, without fear of harm.”

(Heather Khalifa / Associated Press)

“Until then,” he said, “we proudly advocate to end transphobic discrimination, violence and homicide.”

It is not clear these programs would continue under Trump and his nominee for secretary of State, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).

Logan Ireland, a Texas-born transgender man who is an officer with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, counsels others in the transgender community who want to join the military, with an added urgency after the election.

“You’re on this mission for a reason,” he said he tells them. “Continue pressing forward with your journey to serve in uniform…. A ban is not in effect yet, and we will not know if, or how, it might take shape.”

Ireland, speaking from Hawaii where he is stationed, said the struggle thus far “has taught us how to fight, resilience, integrity. I have to remain positive.”

Rachel Levine is often described as the most senior transgender person in the U.S. government, the first Senate-confirmed official who is transgender. She is the assistant secretary of Health in the Department of Health and Human Services. She is a long-time public activist for trans rights, and served as a grand marshal in last year’s gay pride parade in Washington.

Department of Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary of Health Rachel Levine, center, speaks after having attended a roundtable on transgender health with Tatiana Williams, left, executive director of Transinclusive Group, and Arianna Inurritegui-Lint, founder of Arianna’s Center, in June 2022 in Miami.

(Wilfredo Lee / Associated Press)

Levine, 67, a former state secretary of health in Pennsylvania, had already transitioned when Biden nominated her to the HHS job. She overcame resistance from GOP senators, including Republican Rand Paul of Kentucky, who attacked her for her support for gender-affirming medical care and grilled her on whether transgender women should be allowed in women’s sports.

“There has been a lot of pushback against the broader LGBTQI+ community that has nothing to do with science and nothing to do with medicine,” she said. “And faced with that pushback, I find joy in my work. It makes me want to work more for health equity.”