AT WAR: The US abstained yesterday as the United Nations Security Council approved a resolution in support of an indefinite pause in fighting to allow the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza. The US had negotiated language that it would not feel necessary to veto, but still did not vote to approve.

  The resolution is being criticized for not demanding an actual ceasefire, merely recommending only that steps be taken “to create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities.”

 A quarter of the Gazan population faces “catastrophic hunger and starvation,” according to a recent report. At least 20,057 people have been killed in Gaza and 53,320 wounded since the war began, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry.

  “We will never tire of pushing for a humanitarian cease-fire,” said Lana Zaki Nusseibeh, ambassador from the United Arab Emirates. 

ORANGE ALERT: The Supreme Court yesterday declined for now to decide whether former President Donald Trump is immune from prosecution on charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election. The court kicked it down to an appeals court, which has put the question on the fast track for arguments on January 9^th.

  More on that later. The Detroit News reveals that Trump and Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel were recorded on the phone in 2020 pressuring two Republican members of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers not to sign the certification of the presidential election. “We’ve got to fight for our country,” Trump was recorded saying. “We can’t let these people take our country away from us.”

 McDaniel said, “If you can go home tonight, do not sign it. … We will get you attorneys.” 

  Trump has argued that he is immune from prosecution because he was acting under his authority as President. Special Counsel Jack Smith had attempted to skirt the appeals level and get a quick ruling from the Supreme Court to avoid delay in putting Trump on trial. Any delay is a win for Trump.

  Smith had written in his motion to the court, “This case presents a fundamental question at the heart of our democracy: whether a former president is absolutely immune from federal prosecution for crimes committed while in office or is constitutionally protected from federal prosecution when he has been impeached but not convicted before the criminal proceedings begin.” 

  In Maine, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, says she will decide next week whether Trump can remain on the state’s Republican primary ballot or be disqualified under the terms of the 14^th Amendment, which blocks from holding office any official who had engaged in insurrection.

THE SHOOTING GALLERY: Police in Prague say the gunman who killed 15 people and wounded 25 brought a stunning amount of weapons with him to Charles University, the site of the massacre. The 24-year-old shooter killed himself.

  Among the dead were Lenka Hlávková, director of the Department of Musicology, an expert in the musical culture of medieval central Europe. 

  Prague police chief Petr Matějček said, “I went to the site of the attack and I was horrified and shaken. And I have been with the police for 40 years.” Matějček told journalists, “When I saw the amount of ammunition, the weapons that he brought, what he was prepared for, I can only thank my officers for their quick action — they prevented many more deaths.”

GETTING WARMER: Global average temperatures in November were 2.59 degrees above the 20th century average and 0.68 degrees above the previous record from November 2015, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 

  Earth also had its hottest autumn on record and its hottest ever January through November.

  Karin Gleason, monitoring section chief with the NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information told the LA Times, “It is virtually certain, with one month remaining in the year, that 2023 will be the warmest year on record.”

THE OBIT PAGE: Ruth Seymour, who built KCRW public radio in Los Angeles into an influential powerhouse, has died at age 88.

  Smart, tough, and intellectually rigorous, Seymour ran KCRW with a firm hand while also putting her voice on the airwaves. She was jokingly referred to as “Chairman Ruth.”

  Her former colleague Jennifer Ferro wrote, “KCRW was the beacon for all things smart, important, and rigorous. If you had ideas that pushed the discourse of Los Angeles or the country, you would end up on KCRW.”

  Ferro wrote, “Never one to prepare for a speech or for a live radio interview, yet able to ask the right question and turn the poignant phrase, it was clear that Ruth was at an intellectual level above so many.  No one could beat Ruth at an argument.” 

THE SPIN RACK: Two paramedics in Aurora, Colorado were found guilty of criminally negligent homicide in the death of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man who was subdued by police and injected with ketamine in August 2019. One of the three police officers involved was previously convicted of criminally negligent homicide. — A senior leader of the Somali terrorist group al-Shabab accused of being behind attacks that killed 148 Kenyans in a university town and three Americans on a military base, died in a US military drone strike last Sunday, according to Somali and American officials. — The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that the state’s legislative maps, which give Republicans control, are unconstitutional and must be re-drawn for the 2024 election. The maps as they are gave Republicans a supermajority in the state Senate and a strong majority in the lower house, despite the state being relatively evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats.

BELOW THE FOLD: A 50-year-old Tokyo taxi driver was arrested on December 3^rd for running over a pigeon in violation of the country’s wildlife protection law. According to the police report, the driver accelerated at a green light and deliberately plowed into a flock of pigeons, killing one. 

  In most cities pigeons have the respect of rats, but not in Japan. You need permission to eliminate them. The victim pigeon was subjected to an autopsy that determined it had died of traumatic shock. The cabbie faces possible indictment.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!: Have a good one. Barring any earth shattering news, we’re taking a few days off and we’ll be back in your inbox Wednesday the 27^th. 

-30-