December 23—In a victory for democracy, the Wisconsin Supreme Court has ordered the State's Republican-majority legislature to try again at drawing Wisconsin voting districts, finding that the current maps, explicitly designed to increase Republican seats, are unconstitutional.

December 21—With three weeks to go in the open enrollment period, over 19 million Americans have signed up for affordable health insurance unrestricted by pre-existing conditions. This will be the third straight year that enrollments in the program, the key legislative victory of the Obama administration and the most significant advance of social democracy in America in decades, have broken previous records. The success of the program, providing healthcare for millions who otherwise might find the cost prohibitive, shows that social democracy can work for Americans when it is given a chance.

December 28—A U.S. District Court judge has enjoined the State of California from enforcing a recently enacted law which would ban guns in most public places, citing the Second Amendment and recent rulings from the Trump-era Supreme Court. Much social progress in the United States will depend upon Democratic congressional majorities large enough to remake the federal judiciary, especially the Supreme Court.

December 28—The Democratic mayor of Jacksonville, Florida, Donna Deegan, has used her executive authority in the face of a Republican-controlled city council to order the removal of a Confederate memorial from a city park. The move comes just after a federal court ruled the Army can continue its removal of another Confederate memorial, this one at Arlington National Cemetery. Mayor Deegan's remarks bear quoting: "Symbols matter," she said. "They tell the world what we stand for and what we aspire to be . . . . By removing the Confederate monument from Springfield Park, we signal a belief in our shared humanity. That we are all created equal. The same flesh and bones. The same blood running through our veins. The same heart and soul." Meanwhile Republican presidential candidate and former South Carolina governor Nicky Hally, when asked what caused the Civil War, pointedly declined to mention slavery—explicitly cited as the cause of secession in South Carolina's Ordinance of Secession and those of other Southern states—conforming to the current Republican tradition of falsifying history regarding the Confederacy.

December 20—The Democratic governor of New Mexico, Katie Hobbs, has ordered the New Mexico National Guard to the Mexican border in the face of unprecedented numbers of illegal crossings. The Biden administration's failure to control the country's southern border is a major weakness for the Democratic Party heading into the 2024 elections.

December 20—Numerous polls—including a recent Reuters sounding showing nearly equal support for President Biden and Donald Trump among voters ethnicized as "Latino"—challenges a key thesis of so-called "progressives": that "people of color" (all Americans not racialized as "white") share common interests and constitute a single political constituency. If the Democratic Party, and the American Left in general, is to gain prominence in the United States, it must promote a platform not based on racial-ethnic tribalism but on a broad championing of social democratic values and programs.

December 20—The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, the union representing 10,000 Southwest Airlines pilots, appear to have ended three years of negotiations with the Dallas-based carrier with a new contract providing for higher pay and amended work rules. TSD take: Unions work for American workers!

December 20—Tech giant Google has agreed to pay $630 million to consumers and $70 million to state funds to settle charges that it overcharged consumers through restrictions on Android apps and excessive fees. The suit was brought in federal court by lead plaintiff Utah and joined by other states.

December 20—A bill just passed in the U.S. House of Representatives with bipartisan support will require healthcare providers to publicly post the costs of medical procedures.

December 20—The U.S. Forest has adopted  a new forest management plan that will favor the preservation of old-growth forests, national treasures which are key to maintaining healthy bio-diversity.

December 18—Employing a phrase disturbingly reminiscent of Hitler's scapegoating of Jews, Donald Trump claimed on Saturday that illegal immigrants were "poisoning the blood" of the United States. It should be clear to all people touched by any modicum of human decency where the real poison is coming from.

December 18—In a judgement that we can hope will deter future election-deniers from making unsubstantiated claims of fraud, a federal court has ordered Rudolph Giuliani to pay $148 million in damages to Wandrea Moss and Ruby Freeman for incorrectly claiming that the Georgia election workers altered presidential vote tallies in Fulton County during the 2020 election.

December 15—President Biden has signed into law $886 billion in spending for the country's military needs over the coming year after Republicans agreed to drop provisions on abortion and transgender troops. The bill includes a 5.2 percent pay raise for America's service members.

December 13—Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has signalled that the end of high interest rates, adopted by nation's central bank to combat post-pandemic inflation, is in sight.

December 8—While Trump talked a good game on infrastructure but accomplished little, the Biden administration is putting Americans to work on major projects around the nation, including upgrades to country's rail network.