On Tuesday night, Houston Police were called to the home of Senator Ted Cruz. The call was made in response to a teen with self-inflicted stab wounds, according to ABC station KTRK, citing the police.

It seems that just before 8 p.m. local time, a 14-year-old girl was discovered in the Senator’s home with self-inflicted stab wounds on her arms. It turns out the girl is the Senator’s elder of two daughters. Last report, as I write this, is that she was being held in hospital. No further details are yet available, nor should there be.

A spokesman for the Senator’s office said, “This is a family matter and thankfully their daughter is okay.” Before I comment on the privacy needs of Ted Cruz, there’s one or two matters I would like to remind readers of.

Not long ago, Senator Cruz responded to the brutal hammer-beating of Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul with mockery and the promotion of cruel and vicious conspiracy theories. Recently, since Cruz learned that Republicans barely retook the House, the Senator has been howling for the blood of Hunter Biden and relishing the idea of months of humiliating committee “investigations” of the “crimes” of Hunter Biden.

There isn’t a single piece of evidence that Hunter Biden has committed any crimes. Not one scintilla. His only sin, in the eyes of Republicans, is that he is accidentally related to the President of the United States, who happens to be a Democrat.

If Hunter Biden has committed any crimes, Democrats are virtually unanimous in their insistence that he be held legally accountable. But he’s being picked on because he’s the son of the President — and for no other reason.

Clearly, when it comes to other people’s families, nothing is sacred to Ted Cruz. In Ted’s opinion no one should be safe from his pathologically headlong desire to personally and professionally destroy all things Democrat. The more viciously personal that destruction is, the better.

So Mr. Cruz is asking for privacy in this very personal matter involving his daughter. Now, the question is, should we give it to him? The answer is of course that we should. Gladly, willingly, without a moment’s hesitation. In fact that is exactly what we are doing. Democrats have shown an outpouring of support for Cruz and his daughter. We wish him and his daughter and his entire family well and refuse to add to their obvious distress by promoting absurd and hurtful conspiracy theories about her.

We do this not to show Ted Cruz that we’re better than he but because it’s who we are. We don’t pick on family members of Republicans when they are innocent, no matter how despicable their relatives may be. Again, it’s who we are.

Remember this next time some random Republican cretin tries to remind us of how nasty Democrats are. That’s not the case. For example, we don’t memorialise or try to make a hero out of the bastard who attempted to murder Steve Scalise and several Republican soft ball players in 2017. We have no cult following for the likes of Kyle Rittenhouse. Don’t you dare try to “both sides” Republicans and Democrats with us.

I say it unreservedly and without embarrassment. We really are better than they are. And I am proud of that fact and so should you be. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.

The post Another difference between us and them appeared first on Palmer Report.

FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried is set to testify before the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services on Dec. 13, the cryptocurrency exchange’s founder and the congressional panel said on Friday, as regulators investigate his role in the wake of its collapse.

A day earlier, the committee’s chair, Maxine Waters, told Reuters that she is prepared to subpoena Bankman-Fried if he does not agree to appear before the panel.

In a statement put out late on Friday by the House of Representatives committee, the panel said it would hear from newly-appointed FTX CEO John Ray and from Bankman-Fried, FTX’s founder and former CEO, on Dec. 13.

“I still do not have access to much of my data — professional or personal. So there is a limit to what I will be able to say, and I won’t be as helpful as I’d like,” Bankman-Fried said on Friday on Twitter.

“But as the committee still thinks it would be useful, I am willing to testify on the 13th,” he added.

The hybrid hearing was scheduled for 10:00 a.m. ET (1500 GMT) on Tuesday, the committee said.

In recent weeks, U.S. authorities have sought information from investors and potential investors in FTX, two sources with knowledge of the requests told Reuters. Prosecutors and regulators have not charged Bankman-Fried with any crime.

FTX filed for bankruptcy last month and Bankman-Fried stepped down as chief executive, after traders pulled $6 billion from the platform in three days and rival exchange Binance abandoned a rescue deal.

Reuters detailed last month the bitter rivalry between Bankman-Fried and Binance Chief Executive Changpeng Zhao, who had in the months before FTX’s downfall competed for market share.

Public tension between the two erupted again on Friday after a string of tweets by Zhao.

Zhao said after Binance – an early investor in FTX – sought to exit its stake over one-and-a-half years ago, Bankman-Fried made “offensive tirades” against Binance team members.

Binance sold back to FTX its stake in the company last year.

In reply, Bankman-Fried wrote: “We initiated conversations around buying you out, and we decided to do it because it was important for our business.”

“You threatened to walk at the last minute if we didn’t kick in an extra ~$75m,” he added. “You didn’t even have the rights to pull out as an investor unless we chose to buy you out–much of the tokens/equity were still locked.”

“Not that it matters now. You also can’t force us to sell if we don’t want to,” Zhao replied.

“It was never a competition or fight. No one won.”

The white man who admitted to shooting dead 10 Black people at a western New York grocery store in May would consider pleading guilty to federal charges if prosecutors do not pursue a death sentence, media outlets reported on Friday citing his attorneys.

Lawyers for Payton Gendron, 19, moved to seek a plea agreement at a court hearing on Friday, less than two weeks after he pleaded guilty to state charges of murder and domestic terrorism.

An avowed white supremacist, he faces 27 federal hate crimes and firearms offenses related to the racist massacre at a Tops Friendly Markets store. Authorities said he targeted the supermarket because it was in a predominantly Black neighborhood of Buffalo, New York.

Gendron pleaded not guilty to the federal accusations in July. A conviction would make him eligible for the death penalty.

Gendron, who is from Conklin, New York, faces life in prison without parole on those counts.

“Just as Payton Gendron entered a plea of guilty to the indictment in county court, he is prepared to enter a plea of guilty in federal court in exchange of the same sentence, which is the sentence of life in prison, without parole,” defense attorney Sonya Zoghlin said, according to CNN.

Federal prosecutors are expected to discuss the issue with defense team early next year, the outlet reported.

The Justice Department has not decided what punishment it would seek.

Gendron, who was 18 at the time of the shooting, is set to be sentenced for state charges in February. He was indicted on 10 counts of first-degree murder and 10 counts of second-degree murder, all of them as hate crimes, as well as three counts of attempted murder and a single count of illegal weapon possession.

Gendron additionally faced one count of domestic terrorism motivated by hate, becoming the first person charged under a newly enacted New York statute.

The gunman streamed live video of the May 14 assault to the social media platform Twitch after posting material online showing he had drawn inspiration from other racially motivated mass killings, authorities said.

Brandon D. Fox, Rachael A. Goldman, and Erica Sedler explored the various statutes that the Department of Justice could potentially use to charge former President Donald Trump and how those charges would provide the department discretion in deciding which venue to bring them. Fox, Goldman, and Sedler argued that even though the department can bring charges in D.C., it should consider the politically charged nature of a case against the former president when deciding where to file charges.  

Benjamin Wittes sat down with Natalie Orpett and Scott R. Anderson to discuss the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals Dec. 1 ruling in Trump v. United States of America, which vacated a U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon’s order appointing a special master to oversee the review of documents seized from former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence.. They discussed the substance of the decision, what impact the ruling could have on ongoing investigations, and what message the 11th Circuit is sending through its decision:

Chuck Rosenberg discussed two concerns regarding the Justice Department’s recent appointment of a special counsel to oversee two investigations related to former President Trump. Rosenberg argued that the special counsel regulations may not provide enough independence in allowing the special counsel to make final determinations in investigations and that the investigations could have been handled through normal channels.

Alan Z. Rozenshtein discussed Blassingame v. Trump, a case that went before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Dec. 7 to determine whether former President Trump should have civil immunity for his actions on Jan. 6, 2021. Rozenshtein analyzed the judges’ skepticism of the hard-and-fast rules presented by both parties and argued that the panel is likely to come down with a narrow ruling that avoids defining the precise contours of presidential civil immunity. 

Wittes sat down with Rozenshtein to discuss oral arguments in Blassingame v. Trump, an appeal of a civil lawsuit against the former president over his actions on Jan. 6, 2021. They discussed the origins of the appeal, how the case played out in the district court, and what the Supreme Court might have to say if it confronts this issue:

Kristina Lorch and John Sullivan Baker previewed the arguments in former President Donald Trump’s appeal of the D.C. District Court ruling which found that his conduct during the Jan. 6 2021 “Save America” rally did not qualify for immunity. Oral arguments were heard before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Dec. 7. 

Hadley Baker shared an episode of Lawfare No Bull which featured oral arguments from Dec. 7, 2022 in Blassingame v. Trump, a case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to determine if former President Donald Trump should receive absolute civil immunity for his conduct on Jan. 6, 2021:

Jen Patja Howell shared an episode of Rational Security in which Anderson, Rozenshtein, and Quinta Jurecic sat down to discuss the verdict in the first Oath Keepers trial, the continued protests in Iran, the recent 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling reversing U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon’s appointment of a special master to oversee the review of documents seized from former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence, and more:

Roger Parloff discussed an appeal of a district court ruling which dismissed charges of alleged corrupt obstruction of an official proceeding brought against three Jan. 6 defendants and the impact the case could have on other Jan. 6 prosecutions if the appellate court upholds the district court’s dismissal. 

Anderson sat down with Ned Foley, professor at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, and Derek Muller, professor at the University of Iowa College of Law, to discuss the recent oral arguments in Moore v. Harper. They discussed how they think the justices seem to be leaning, how they might approach different aspects of the party’s arguments, and what it might mean for 2024:

Jack Goldsmith shared the Winter 2022 Supplement for Bradley, Deeks, & Goldsmith, Foreign Relations Law: Cases and Materials (7th ed. 2020). The Supplement covers foreign relations law issues on a range of topics such as the Biden administration’s reversals of various Trump era foreign policies, lower court decisions relating to sovereign immunity, U.S. actions taken against Russia in response to the invasion of Ukraine, and more. 

Obaidullah Baheer discussed the Afghan political environment and the international community’s possibilities for engagement with the Taliban. He explained how historical approaches to engagement with the Polish communist regime can be used as models by the international community for initiating reform within the Taliban’s regime.

Raffaello Pantucci and Kabir Taneja discussed the waning significance of al-Qaeda following Ayman al-Zawahiri’s death in July 2022. Pantucci and Taneja contemplated the various explanations of al-Qaeda’s silence on the matter and the organization’s declining global capacity.  

Dominic Solari and Hannah Sweeney discussed the recent release of two policies by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the NATO 2022 Strategic Concept and the “Human Security: Approach and Guiding Principles” document. Solari and Sweeney highlighted key portions of the policies such as the acknowledgement of the era of strategic competition, the growing threat of hybrid tactics, and the integration of gender perspectives into NATO policies. 

Shane Harris sat down with Andrew Weiss, author of “Accidental Czar: The Life and Lies of Vladimir Putin,” to discuss why Weiss was drawn to studying Russia at an early age, the unconventional approach Weiss took in his new biography of Putin, and how viewing Putin as Putin wants to be portrayed makes it more difficult to confront the challenges posed by Russia: 

Mehari Taddele Maru discussed the upcoming U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit and criticized the invitation of African leaders accused of crimes against humanity and flouting constitutional restraints. Maru highlighted the need for accountability in order to meet U.S. objectives in the region, the failure of international institutions to effectively respond to the atrocities in the region, and the prioritization of stability over accountability. 

Jordan Schneider sat down with Doug O’Laughlin and Jon Y to discuss the basics of semiconductor chips, why starting with something’s history can help you understand how it works, making videos on Taiwanese 7-Elevens, and more:

Anderson sat down with Alex Engler to discuss the Biden administration’s “Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights.” They spoke about the challenges AI poses for policymakers, the strategy the United States might pursue, and how the strategy is different and similar to the approach taken by the European Union: 

Matt Perault and Berin Szóka discussed three proposed bills that would create special competition rules for big tech companies and alter how they approach content moderation. Perault and Szóka also highlighted the challenges of bipartisan regulation of tech companies and the resulting restrictions on platforms’ ability to moderate harmful content.

Charles Corbett and Michelle Melton furthered the argument for continued research into solar geoengineering, particularly stratospheric aerosol injections (SAI), as a method of climate mitigation. Corbett and Melton argued that the variety of potential benefits and drawbacks related to the use of SAI—such as its ability to reduce global average temperatures or its potential adverse effects on agricultural crops—and the lack of knowledge regarding the consequences of its deployment on the environment necessitate further research. 

Goldsmith sat down with Beverly Gage, professor of history at Yale University, to discuss J. Edgar Hoover’s role in American politics in the 20th century, how Hoover managed to maintain his popularity during his time as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations, and the role he played in the elimination of McCarthyism:

And Stewart Baker sat down with Jamil Jaffer, Mark MacCarthy, and Nick Weaver to talk over the use of technology in the lockdown protests across China, industry complaints about the Department of Homeland Security’s proposed cyber incident reporting regulation, Elon Musk’s lack of understanding of how hard content moderation is, and more:

And that was the week that was. 

Right now, as I write these words, one can hear rumblings on a distant shore. These rumblings are the result of a powerful earthquake — a tsunami — that is being caused by a displacement of waves blowing angrily across the sea’s bottom.

This tsunami is red in nature and is preparing to drop like a rock into the lives of Republican House members all over DC who, at this very moment, are prepping for the basins of crap about to be dropped on top of them.

The GOP is in tatters. They cannot agree on a speaker. And now, this futile struggle with troubled waters has caused the delay of key House committee assignments. These decisions are indefinitely “on hold.”

McCarthy’s opponents are growing more emboldened. They are clear — they do not want him. Matt Gaetz said they’re prepared to hold up things in the house. Andy Biggs is once again challenging McCarthy. McCarthy’s allies are literally begging holdouts to support him. It’s a tsunami, alright. And water levels have reached the highest levels.

Anger and frustration are swirling about in the House, made worse by the fact that the Democratic Senate is moving smoothly and seamlessly. The contrast between parties could not be more stark and embarrassing for the GOP.

And now the different factions of the GOP have taken to trading insults. Rep. Don Bacon, a moderate, said, “We’re not going to be held, hostage.” All over the house, members are turning on each other as nobody seems to be able to find a solution that pleases everybody.

So how will this end? I have no idea. But it’s been very amusing to watch it happen. If anything shows the internal chaos of the GOP, it’s this internal fight for House Speaker. On and on they go, chugging away, fuming, pleading, and begging with no end in sight.

The post This just keeps getting uglier for Kevin McCarthy appeared first on Palmer Report.

twIn an emotional social-media video posted Dec. 8, singer Celine Dion informed fans that she has been diagnosed with a rare neurological disease called stiff person syndrome. A diagnosis wasn’t easy or straightforward. “I’ve been dealing with problems with my health for a long time…we now know this is what’s been causing all of the spasms that I’ve been having,” said Dion, who is 54.

Here’s what to know about the condition and what it feels like.

What is stiff person syndrome?

According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, stiff person syndrome has similarities to autoimmune disease, in which the body’s immune system attacks its own cells. The condition is linked to higher levels of antibodies that bind to an enzyme called glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD), which works on a brain chemical, GABA, responsible for inhibiting activity in the central nervous system. GABA is normally in balance with another chemical that stimulates nerves, which, in the case of muscles, makes them contract.

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“Something in the software goes wrong, and the inhibitory system starts to malfunction,” says Dr. Avi Almozlino, chief of neurology at Newton Wellesley Hospital, part of the Massachusetts General Hospital-Brigham system. “The inhibitory signals become weaker and weaker, and the excitatory signals start to take over, contracting the muscles uncontrollably.” People with the condition often experience muscle spasms in the trunk, arms, or legs and become more sensitive to noise and touch. Emotional triggers, including stress, can worsen the muscle spasms. Those episodes can make it difficult to walk or move to perform basic daily tasks. In her video, Dion said she isn’t able to control her vocal cords and sing in the way she once did, and therefore postponed upcoming tour dates in Europe.

How rare is stiff person syndrome?

Only about one in a million people gets stiff person syndrome, and the disease affects twice as many women as men. Many people, like Dion, spend months or years trying to find the reason for their spasms, since the symptoms can mimic some other autoimmune disorders.

One of the those patients is Maureen Materna, a 74-year old from Cleveland, Ohio who has been living with the condition since 2011. Like Dion’s diagnosis, it took doctors a while to reach hers. “I was always very active—I walked, biked and exercised, and was one of those people that does 20 millions things at one time,” Materna says. Then, she started getting intense cramps in her feet and legs that wouldn’t go away. The episodes would last about 45 minutes and leave her screaming in pain. But otherwise, she was healthy.

After a visit to the emergency room, doctors gave her a Valium drip to address the pain, which helped, but she still didn’t know why she was experiencing spasms. Two years and about 20 doctors later, a neuromuscular specialist finally diagnosed her with stiff person syndrome, based on her symptoms and the fact that Valium was the only intervention that seemed to alleviate some of the pain. “To this day when I see doctors for something else and they see that I have stiff person syndrome, I cannot tell you how many [of them] have said, ‘What is that? I’ve never heard of it.’”

What does it feel like to have stiff person syndrome?

Materna can’t sit for long periods of time, so even if she’s watching television, she has to get up every 20 minutes or so. Her muscle-locking means she can’t accompany her husband and their grandchildren to shows, where she would have to sit for lengthy periods of time. Until last year, bedroom slippers were the only footwear that made her feet comfortable. She walks every day, to keep herself active, but it’s a challenge. “It feels like I’m walking on broken glass,” she says. “But I’m not the type to lay in bed. I like to see my neighbors and distract myself and kind of forget that the pain is there.”

What causes stiff person syndrome?

While it’s not clear what triggers the syndrome in people who don’t show signs of immune system disorders beforehand, one theory is that stiff person syndrome could be the immune system’s very early response to cancer. “I’ve had some patients who initially presented with stiff person syndrome, and one to two years later, developed cancer,” says Dr. Robert Wilson, a neurologist at Cleveland Clinic and Materna’s physician. “The body may be sensing early cancer and generates an immune response to those early cancer cells with antibodies that cross react with the nervous system. These patients get their cancer treated and do improve.” But there are no definitive studies yet confirming this potential cause of the syndrome.

Others develop stiff person syndrome after different health issues, including bouts of viral infections or stressful experiences that may trigger the immune system in a dysfunctional way. “It needs to be studied more why some people develop stiff person syndrome and not others,” says Wilson.

Can people recover from stiff person syndrome?

Currently, the treatments for the condition include muscle relaxants and anti-convulsant medications, which can alleviate some of the symptoms of the condition, as well as IV antibody treatments that try to reset the immune system to dial down its attack on the body’s own cells. The monoclonal antibody medication rituximab (Rituxan), which is prescribed to treat certain autoimmune diseases and cancers, can also help. But people can have varying responses to these therapies, says Wilson. “Some patients are rapid responders after a few treatments—they get their immune systems rebooted and recalibrated. And there are others who don’t respond as well, so we focus on symptomatic relief, which can also help them from getting worse.”

Materna tried getting infusions of an immunoglobulin, IgG, which helps to bolster the immune system, but the treatment didn’t help her significantly, and she stopped after about six years. She also tried plasmaphoresis, which involves regular removal and cleansing of plasma to remove the abnormal antibodies attacking the body’s immune cells. She developed a blood clot from the port required for the procedure and couldn’t continue. Next, Materna tried ketamine infusions to help with headaches, but those didn’t improve her symptoms either. She now takes Valium four times a day for pain, as well as a muscle relaxer, and does deep breathing exercises and meditation.

Each time she visits her doctor, Materna and her husband ask if there are any new treatments she can try, and the answer so far has been no. But she’s hopeful that with Dion’s diagnosis,more attention will be paid to the rare disease. “Maybe with her having it, scientists will start researching it more,” she says. “It’s a hard disease.”

If fashion is an expression of the times we live in, this year’s biggest moments told the story of a tumultuous world. The war in Ukraine, rising anti-Semitism, and the exploitation of children all found their way into fashion news, editorials, and business in 2022. Of course, there were moments of empowerment and levity, too: Rihanna redefined maternity wear with bold, celebratory looks; Julia Fox became an avant garde fashion star; and ’90s supermodel Linda Evangelista made a triumphant return to the runway.

Here are the 10 biggest moments in fashion this year.

Rihanna changes the game for maternity wear

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When cultural force—and future Super Bowl performer—Rihanna announced her pregnancy at the beginning of the year, she broke the news with a photo that featured her walking in New York City beside her partner A$AP Rocky in a hot pink vintage Chanel puffer jacket, her baby bump artfully exposed. That moment set the tone for a trimester’s worth of show-stopping maternity looks, with Rihanna favoring revealing, high-fashion ensembles that centered her growing bump. From a sheer black dress worn over lingerie to the Dior show during Paris Fashion Week in March to an endless array of crop tops, bandeaus, and low-slung bottoms that not only bared but also celebrated her belly, Rihanna rewrote the rules of maternity wear, one look at a time.

Read more: Rihanna on Building a Beauty Empire: ‘I’m Going To Push the Boundaries in This Industry’

Julia Fox becomes an avant-garde muse

As a longtime New York City artist and the breakout star of Uncut Gems, Julia Fox wasn’t lacking in recognition before this year—but after she embarked on a brief but highly publicized relationship with Kanye West (who now goes by Ye) at the start of 2022, she reached a level of viral fame. When Fox appeared on Ye’s arm at Paris Fashion Week in February sporting dramatic black eyeliner and denim and leather looks that matched with the rapper, she went from a local celebrity to an edgy, international fashion muse. The romance was short-lived, but Fox has since rebranded herself as a fashion agent of chaos with outfits that are daring, unconventional, and often gravity-defying (she recently worked with a friend to make an ensemble out of little more than dead leaves, resin, and chains). Though her sartorial leanings may be shocking at times, she’s also proven herself to be relatable and entertaining online, becoming a TikTok voice of the moment with DIY videos, confessionals, and endearing talking-head commentary.

The ubiquitous Miu Miu miniskirt helps mark “the end of the BBL”

If there was one look that dominated both red carpets and editorials this year, it was Miu Miu’s Y2K-esque miniskirt, a deconstructed—and very tiny—take on the pleated schoolgirl staple. The skirt was ubiquitous in 2022, appearing in high-fashion spreads like Nicole Kidman’s Vanity Fair cover shoot and on the streets during fashion month. And like most major moments in fashion, the skirt was more than a skirt. The low-slung, micro-mini style seemed to herald a larger return to early-aughts aesthetics, a time when “heroin chic” or “ultra-skinny” were seen as viable trends. That message was emphasized when Miu Miu played a short film at the end of the Spring/Summer ’22 fashion show in October 2021, where the skirt debuted, that made fun of the Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL).

Gigi Hadid and other models donate their fashion week earnings to Ukraine

In March, just weeks after the war in the Ukraine began, supermodel Gigi Hadid took to Instagram to share that, following the lead of her fellow model Mica Arganaraz, she would be donating her earnings from walking in runway shows during fashion month to support “those suffering” in Ukraine and those affected by war in Palestine. While other models, such as Vittoria Cerretti, Kaia Gerber, and Gigi’s sister, Bella Hadid, also followed Arganaraz’s example, it was Gigi Hadid’s social media post that garnered the most headlines: Vogue covered her announcement in an Instagram post, but later removed mention of her sentiments about Palestine from the caption—and then added it back, facing criticism at each step. When the magazine returned Hadid’s language about Palestine to the post, it included an editor’s note: “We have updated this caption to accurately reflect Gigi Hadid’s statement on her donation.”

Kim Kardashian wears Marilyn Monroe’s dress to the Met Gala

For this year’s Met Gala, where the theme was “American Fashion,” Kim Kardashian paid homage to an American icon, Marilyn Monroe, by wearing the bejeweled, nude dress that the actor wore to sing “Happy Birthday” to President John F. Kennedy in 1962. The dress, a body-hugging column gown inspired by a Bob Mackie sketch for the costume designer Jean Louis, was custom-made for Monroe and loaned to Kardashian by the Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum in Orlando, which won the dress at auction in 2016 with a $4.8 million bid—making it the most expensive dress ever sold at auction. Kardashian’s decision to wear the dress was controversial. Some blasted her for daring to wear a piece of such historical significance and risking potential damage to the dress, while others took issue with the reality star’s proud admission that she crash-dieted and lost 16 lbs in three weeks in order to fit into it, arguing that her behavior encouraged unhealthy beauty ideals.

Read more: Kim Kardashian Revisits American History by Wearing Marilyn Monroe’s Iconic Dress to the Met Gala

Linda Evangelista returns to the runway for the first time in 15 years

Supermodel Linda Evangelista made her triumphant return to the runway for Fendi’s New York show in September 2022, her first appearance in a fashion show in 15 years. Evangelista, one of the original “Supers” whose editorial and runway presence defined the golden age of the supermodel in the 1990s, had made news in recent years after she revealed that a cosmetic procedure had left her, in her own words, “brutally disfigured.” Evangelista’s runway appearance was met with a standing ovation by the likes of Kim Kardashian and Kate Moss. It wasn’t her only foray back into fashion this year; she also appeared on the cover of British Vogue’s September issue.

Bella Hadid steals the show at Paris Fashion Week with a spray-on dress

Bella Hadid was the talk of Paris Fashion Week this fall when, in a stunning finale for the Coperni show, she had a dress sprayed onto her body—a moment that many interpreted as an homage to the Spring 1999 Alexander McQueen show where supermodel Shalom Harlow’s white dress was spray-painted by robots. The Coperni stunt started with Hadid, clad only in a thong, standing still as designers hand sprayed her body with Fabrican, a patented spray-on fabric. After a few layers were applied, the material formed a dress, which the designers styled by cutting a slit and shaping the bodice into an off-the-shoulder form. According to Coperni, the Fabrican dress is washable and rewearable (if you have Hadid’s exact measurements), but can also be returned to its original solution bottle to regenerate.

Ye wields hate speech at his Yeezy S9 show

Ye is no stranger to controversy, but this year the polarizing musician and designer crossed lines that had serious consequences. At Paris Fashion Week this fall, Ye staged a surprise show for his Yeezy S9 collection where he showed shirts that bore a white supremacist phrase that the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center have categorized as hate speech. While the collection was slammed, it was Ye’s attack on Vogue editor and stylist Gabriella Karefa-Johnson on social media, after she shared a critique of his decision to make the shirts, that incited furor. Days later, on social media and in interviews, Ye made a series of anti-semitic comments that led to the end of not only his relationship with Vogue, but also collaborations and partnerships with companies like Balenciaga, Gap, and Adidas.

Alessandro Michele exits Gucci amid a flurry of industry shakeups

In one of the more shocking industry announcements of the year, Gucci shared that creative director Alessandro Michele would no longer be leading the brand after nearly 20 years at the company and seven at its helm. Michele’s fantastical, logo-heavy style redefined and refreshed the legacy luxury house, making it a go-to choice for stars like Harry Styles, Lana del Rey, and Jared Leto. He was responsible for the hugely profitable revival of the brand for parent company Kering, whose revenue nearly quadrupled between 2015 and 2019, Michele’s early years as creative director; Gucci’s global revenue has outperformed other brands in the Kering Group—including Balenciaga, Saint Laurent, and Alexander McQueen—during every year of Michele’s leadership. His exit wasn’t the only shakeup in fashion leadership; this year saw major players Riccardo Tisci of Burberry leaving his role and Raf Simons shuttering his namesake label, pointing to an industry-wide feeling of volatility.

Read more: The Gucci Effect

Balenciaga incites outrage with ad campaigns

Balenciaga, a brand that has thrived on controversy under provocative creative director Demna, took it too far. The fashion house, which has sent models down the runway dressed as refugees with luxury leather garbage bags and made high-fashion riffs on items like Ikea’s $0.99 shopping bag and Bernie Sanders’ campaign merch, is embroiled in scandal. The controversy began in November after Balenciaga debuted one ad campaign featuring children holding handbags shaped like teddy bears dressed in BDSM gear and another with images of paperwork related to child pornography laws. Both campaigns sparked calls for accountability as well as conspiracy theories suggesting that Balenciaga was promoting child exploitation. Chief executive Cedric Charbit and Demna have each released statements apologizing for the images. “I want to personally apologize for the wrong artistic choice of concept for the gifting campaign with the kids and I take my responsibility,” Demna wrote on Instagram. “It was inappropriate to have kids promote objects that had nothing to do with them.”

New York could soon become the sixth state to legalize the composting of dead people, a practice prohibited by Jewish law, but one which a small but growing number of American Jews have come to embrace.

Axios has called it “the hot new thing in death care.” For proponents, human composting aligns with an ecological mindset that sees human beings as part of nature, obligated to care for the Earth even after they die.

A shrouded mannequin lies near a composting vessel at Recompose, a Seatte funeral home specializing in human composting in October 2022. Photo by Mat Hayward/Getty Images for Recompose

Gov. Kathy Hochul has until Dec. 31 to sign a legalization bill into law. She has not yet tipped her hand on the measure, which passed both houses of the legislature easily. Several Jewish lawmakers voted for it.

Traditional Jewish burial, which calls for plain wood coffins, is considered relatively green. But  human composting is touted as one of the greenest options available — there are no coffins to bury or bodies to burn.

Orthodox Jewish rabbis, however, hold that halacha, or Jewish law, clearly forbids human composting, for many of the same reasons it forbids cremation, which has overtaken traditional burial in the U.S. as the most popular option for American families after the death of a relative.

Still, Jews are beginning to consider and choose human composting, and say it can be done in keeping with their Jewish values. Some rabbis, from more liberal Jewish traditions, are willing to support them.

Rabbi Seth Goldstein of Temple Beth Hatfiloh in Olympia, Washington — the first state, in 2020,  to approve human composting — has not yet presided at the funeral of someone who chose to be composted. But some of his congregants have asked about it. 

“It is not something I was on the front lines for,” or for cremation either, said Goldstein, who was ordained in the Reconstructionist tradition.

But Goldsmith is willing to work with those who favor composting, and said he would figure out ways to incorporate Jewish ritual into the funeral rather than to turn a family away.

“Human composting seems more in line with Jewish practice than cremation in terms of the practices and values that surround it,” he added. “It is something that has a lot of environmental value.”

From dust to dust

Human composting generally involves placing the deceased in a vessel, which can be cylindrical or boxlike, atop a bed of organic material — wood chips, alfalfa and sawdust are commonly used. The body is often wrapped in a cotton shroud, and air and moisture are pumped in.

Microbes found naturally in the body and the organic material take about two months to decompose it. What remains is about one cubic yard of soil and bones, which are then ground into a powder. Any medical devices or hardware is removed from the soil by hand.

Survivors can scatter the soil in a cemetery, their backyards or in a natural spot special to the deceased.

That’s what Anne Lang wanted.

Before she died in May 2022, Anne Lang told her daughter Zoe Lang, right, that she wanted her remains composted. Image by

“When it is my time, I would like to be composted,” she told her daughter Zoe. The Jewish woman from Boulder, who died of lymphoma in May, loved the outdoors and lived in Colorado, which legalized human composting last year.

At her mother’s deathbed, said Zoe Lang, the family said the Mourner’s Kaddish though they are not particularly observant. “It felt like something my mom would do and I wanted to honor her,” she said.

The funeral took place outside, with a view of the Flatiron rock formations. The Natural Funeral, a company not far from Boulder, took care of the composting. Two and a half months later, Anne Lang’s body was soil. 

“The company asked if we wanted to pick it up and we chose to have it return to the Earth because that is what my mom would have wanted. So it was brought to a farm that grows flowers and trees,” Zoe Lang said. 

The service cost the family between $7,000 and $8,000, and would have cost about $12,000 had they bought a coffin and a burial plot, Zoe Lang said.

It doesn’t bother Zoe Lang that she has no particular place to visit to mourn her mother. 

“She is still with us,” Zoe Lang said. “I think she would be thrilled to know she is coming back as a flower or a tree with a beautiful view.”

More human composting businesses are opening as more states — which in addition to Washington and Colorado include Oregon, Vermont and California — allow it.

Washington has at least three — Recompose, Return Home and Earth, which promises a “carbon neutral alternative to cremation” and allows families to take a portion of the soil created from a body. It sends the rest to a land restoration project on the Olympic Peninsula.

Objections 

Traditional Jewish burial forbids many common funeral practices that are also rejected by proponents of human composting.

Jewish law, for example, prohibits embalming, a process that many who favor composting consider unnatural and polluting. And it shuns crypts, cement liners and other containers for the body, said Rabbi Avi Shafran, director of public affairs at Agudath Israel of America, the nation’s leading ultra-Orthodox umbrella group.

Cremation, which some environmentalists object to for the pollutants it produces, is also forbidden under Jewish law, which requires specific steps after a person dies that include the washing and quick burial of the body. In Orthodox tradition, cremation is a defilement.

But composting is similarly problematic, according to Shafran. “The idea of ‘utilizing’ a body as a growth medium is anathema to the honor due to a vessel that once held a human spirit,” he said.

Or as Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, executive vice president of the New York Board of Rabbis, put it: “Reverence for the dead through proper burial traditions has taken place throughout the generations.” He added: “The idea of grinding the bones is at odds with Jewish law.”

The conservative movement, which lies between more conservative Orthodox Judaism and the more liberal Reform movement, has not taken a position on human composting, said Rabbi Jeremy Kalmanofsky, who leads Ansche Chesed, a Conservative synagogue in Manhattan. But he has studied the issue on its behalf and concluded that making a profit from human composting does not align with Jewish tradition.

“There is a difference between returning [a body] to the Earth — which is the point — and using the soil for a business,” he said.

In general, he continued, dead bodies shouldn’t be used for tangible benefit, even if it’s not strictly commercial. That’s why, he said, “it’s dishonorable to eat fruits or pick flowers growing directly above graves, nourished partly by decomposing human flesh.”

The Union for Reform Judaism, the largest Jewish denomination in the U.S., had no comment on human composting.

Goldstein, the Washington state rabbi who has fielded inquiries about human composting, is a past president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, which he said not taken a position on the issue.

But even though he’s not an advocate, Goldstein said for some Jews, human composting dovetails nicely with their Jewish environmental values, which call them to be good stewards of the Earth. He advises other rabbis to be prepared for the conversation.

“I have to serve my people,” Goldstein said. “This is not an issue we can shy away from. It is reality and we have to deal with it.

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Trigger warning: The following video contains graphic footage of President Joe Biden that some viewers may find repulsive. Please proceed with caution. 

Editor’s note: An apology to our readers. 

Joe Biden made history last month by becoming our country’s first ever octogenarian president. Though his body doesn’t look a day over 79, Biden’s brain continues to function at the level of a 100-year-old stroke victim. Meanwhile, the president’s fellow Democrats are doing their best to make peace with the fact that this doddering geezer is the best candidate they have for the 2024 presidential election.

This week Biden relayed some of his father’s wisdom. “My dad used [to] say, ‘Pet checks a lot more than, you know, it’s about your dignity.'” He attempted to crack a joke about sitting in chairs. It didn’t make a whole lot of sense, and the audience responded accordingly with awkward silence. Biden also tried (without success) to talk about technology. “Chips. Three nano chips,” he said. “The three nano chip. Chips that are three nano. … Nano, nono, I don’t know.”

Neither do we. Have a great weekend!

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