December 1—Meta has taken down 4,800 fake social media accounts created by a Chinese source with the goal of maximizing division in the U.S. electorate approaching the November 2024 elections.

December 1—Chemical companies Chemours, Dupont and Corteva will pay the State of Ohio $110 million in compensation for the release of chemicals known as PFAS into the environment, after a similar agreement reached with the State of Delaware. The chemicals, which are used in non-stick surfaces and firefighting foams, have been shown to cause cancers, hormonal dysfunctions and other illnesses.

November 28—Donald Trump has suggested he will make another attempt to dismantle the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) if elected president next November. The program, which ensures affordable health insurance for over 18 million Americans, is only one way in which a Trump presidency would be a disaster for social democracy in America.

November 28—As world leaders agree to phase out fossil fuels in Dubai, the United States is on the verge of recording the greatest ever annual quantity of oil and gas extracted from its subsoils. The Guardian takes a look at the contradictions involved.

November 20—Or, "the more it changes, the more it's the same thing." This AP News article looks at the unruly and unrulable House of Representatives inherited by new speaker, Mike Johnson. The same radical right back benchers who ousted Kevin McCarthy are now aiming to bring Johnson to heel.

November 23—Populist politician Geert Wilders, running on an anti-immigrant platform, has ousted a coalition headed by social democrat Mark Rutte, Dutch prime minister since 2010. The Dutch election follows recent social democrat losses to populist candidates in Italy and Sweden, and highlights the fact that in Europe, as in the United States, the immigration issue is one of great potency. The Left must develop coherent immigration policies that, while maintaining social democrat values, do not alienate such large segments of the nation's electorate that governing becomes impossible.

November 22—Pursuant to a provison of a signature Biden accomplishment, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, the Environmental Protection Agency has announced that it will award $2 billion in grants to help low-income communities mitigate the effects of disproportionate exposure to harmful pollutants, to establish clean energy infrastructures, and to cope with climate change.

November 21—A three-person panel of the United States 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, in a decision penned by Trump appointee Julius Richardson, has declared a Maryland law requiring firearm training and background checks to be in violation of the U.S. Constitution's 2nd Amendment right to bear firearms. Much social progress in the United States will be impossible until Democrats can forge majorities large enough to enable reconstituting the federal court system.

November 20—Three years ago this month Oregon took a large step toward decriminalizing pyschoactive substances, making possession of "personal use" amounts of all drugs, including opiods, a civil offense with penalties in the range of $100 per offense. The new measure, which was enacted after 58 percent of Oregon voters approved a referendum, takes a health approach to drug use and addiction, with new resources directed toward treatment. The state, now grappling with a burgeoning open-air drug use problem and surging opioid deaths, will be considering new legislation to address these issues. The Social Democrat considers it absurd to imprison people for being drug addicts and hopes Oregon can find a path toward providing substance addicts the help they need outside the prison system.

November 16—The Social Democrat considers solar power to be a no-brainer: energy from the sun is non-polluting, free, and for all practical purposes, limitless; and it is TSD's position that the roofs of all large buildings (and many small ones as well), especially in sun-intensive areas, should be covered with solar panels. The City of San Antonio will be taking a step in that direction this coming spring, when they will install solar arrays at 42 city-owned sites, on rooftops or as parking canopies or shade structures.

November 12—A federal appeals court has ruled that only the attorney general of the United States, not private citizens, can challenge gerrymandered voting districts under the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

November 12—Argentinian voters have elected right-wing populist and Trump admirer Javier Milei as the country's next president by a margin of 56 to 44 percent over traditional Peronist and current economy minister Sergio Massa. The nation of 46 million people has been beset in recent years by economic stagnation and roaring inflation.

November 20—3,900 UAW assembly line workers have reached an agreement with Mack Truck to include 36 percent in wage hikes over the next five years, adding to a string of union successes this fall. Meanwhile, white collar workers at two Wells Fargo branches (Albuquerque, Bethel, Alaska) have petitioned the National Labor Relations Board to hold an election to join the Communication Workers of America: more Wells Fargo branches are expected to follow.

November 20—The United States special envoy on climate change, former senator and secretary of state John Kerry, will be presenting, at the upcoming COP28 international climate conference in Dubai, a strategy to ramp up nuclear fusion energy to commercial viablity in the near future. Fusion nuclear energy, which does not result in radioactive waste, could become a virtually endless source of sustainable and non-polluting energy if it can be brought from the experimental stage to practical application.

November 17—In the first lawsuit of its kind, the State of New York has sued Pepsi Co, accusing the softdrink company of "contributing to a public nuisance" by generating plastic waste with its single-use plastic bottles. The suit, which also cites public health concerns, seeks to stop Pepsi Co from selling beverages in singe-use plastic bottles as well as damages for environmental cleanup.