Checked Out
Plus: Gender on passports, New York's gang database, SNAP fight continues, and more...
Congress has the power to check the president's war making: but they don't seem interested in using it.
Last night, the Senate voted against legislation that would have required congressional approval of President Donald Trump's further strikes against Venezuela.
The vote was 49–51, with two Republicans—Sen. Rand Paul (R–Ky.) and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R–Alaska)—breaking ranks to vote with Democrats to block the president from exercising this power. It was the "second failed bid in a month to rein in the U.S. military campaign against suspected drug-trafficking vessels in Latin America that has led to the deaths of nearly 70 people," reports Politico. Sen. John Fetterman (D–Pa.), who was the sole Democrat to oppose last month's measure (voting with the Republicans choosing not to check Trump's power), confusingly flipped and voted with his party this time.
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It looks very much like Trump is going for more than just sinking a few more suspected cocaine boats in the Caribbean. So far, the death toll amounts to 69 people from 17 strikes, but with military repositioning near Venezuela—both buildups in the sea and flying missions out of El Salvador—it really does look like Trump wants to unseat Nicolás Maduro and destabilize his regime.
"It's really an open secret that this is much more about potential regime change," Sen. Adam Schiff (D–Calif.) told the Associated Press. "If that's where the administration is headed, if that's what we're risking—involvement in a war—then Congress needs to be heard on this."
No more bespoke gender on passports: "Displaying passport holders' sex at birth no more offends equal protection principles than displaying their country of birth," wrote the justices of the Supreme Court in a brief, unsigned order that allows the Trump administration to continue its passport gender policy. "In both cases, the Government is merely attesting to a historical fact without subjecting anyone to differential treatment."
"The decision is Trump's latest win on the court's emergency docket, and allows the administration to enforce the policy while a lawsuit over it plays out," reports the Associated Press. "It halts a lower-court order requiring the government to keep letting people choose male, female or X on their passport to correspond with their gender identity on new or renewed passports. The court's three liberal justices dissented."
Scenes from New York: Zohran Mamdani "has committed to abolishing the city's gang database, the subject of pending legislation the city council will likely pass next year," writes Rafael Mangual for the New York Post. "He has promised to strip the [New York Police Department's] commissioner of her authority over police officer discipline and hand it to the anti-cop Civilian Complaint Review Board. And he has vowed not to add to the already understaffed NYPD's quickly dwindling ranks."
QUICK HITS
- "At least three U.S. military aircraft, including a heavily armed attack plane, have begun flying missions out of El Salvador's main international airport in an expansion of the extraordinary U.S. troop buildup in the Caribbean, according to an analysis of satellite images, air traffic control communications and flight tracking data," reports The New York Times. "The attack plane, an AC-130J Ghostrider, is designed to destroy targets on the ground or at sea using missiles or barrages from its cannons and machine guns. It is operated by the Air Force Special Operations Command, a unit that carries out sensitive missions for the military. The New York Times also identified a Navy reconnaissance plane and a rarely seen, unmarked Air Force jet at the airport." The missions started in August and appear to be related to the increasing pressure the U.S. is exerting on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's regime.
- "Business people, smart business people, going into [New York's new era] are thinking, 'Watch your ass, you're in combat,'" John Catsimatidis, a billionaire oil executive, told Politico. "I talked to [Zohran Mamdani] once. He's a young kid….He never ran anything. If he came in with a job application I wouldn't hire him to run a supermarket.…What I'm going to do is reduce my exposure to New York. I have a lot of businesses in New York, I have a lot of assets in New York."
- "A federal judge in Rhode Island ordered the Trump administration to release full funding for November's food assistance benefits by Friday," reports The Washington Post. "It comes after the partial funding disbursed by the Agriculture Department earlier this week had yet to reach those who qualify for the benefits."
- Yesterday, President Donald Trump announced deals with Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk that will cut the prices of certain obesity drugs. "The agreements will cut prices of so-called GLP-1 drugs for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries in 2026 and offer the treatments directly to consumers at a discount on a website the Trump administration is launching in January called TrumpRx.gov," reports CNBC.
- "One out of every three deliveries happens in an operating room, a figure that far exceeds public health recommendations," writes Sarah Kliff for The New York Times. "The surgery can prolong a woman's recovery, complicate future births and sometimes risk her life. The top justification for C-sections in healthy pregnancies is fetal distress, a diagnosis made by the [continuous fetal heartrate] monitor." Should hospitals shift away from using this tool? Is risk aversion/fear of liability causing an inappropriately high C-section rate, and doctors using surgery to deliver babies that are actually totally fine? Kliff investigates.
- Solid free speech victory:
VICTORY! Federal district court dismisses class-action suit against pollster J. Ann Selzer
A federal district court today dismissed with prejudice a lawsuit against renowned Iowa pollster J. Ann Selzer, holding that the First Amendment bars the claims against her related to her… pic.twitter.com/80shwIhlQV
— FIRE (@TheFIREorg) November 6, 2025
