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Trump blasts Newsom's plan to shield California from the next White House

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Trump blasts Newsom's plan to shield California from the next White House

President-elect Trump is not thrilled with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s aggressive, highly visible campaign to shield California from the Trump White House.

“Governor Gavin Newscum is trying to KILL our Nation’s beautiful California,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account on Friday, with his oft-used nickname for the state’s Democratic governor.

Trump’s post came one day after the governor convened a special session of the state Legislature to prepare for potential Republican-led attacks on abortion rights, environmental protections and disaster funding in the liberal state.

Trump wrote that Newsom “is using the term ‘Trump-Proof’ as a way of stopping all of the GREAT things that can be done to ‘Make California Great Again,’ but I just overwhelmingly won the Election.”

Newsom’s preemptive strike signals the return of the hostile relationship between Democratic-controlled California and the Trump administration.

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In a video address to small donors and supporters Friday afternoon, Newsom said Trump’s criticism felt familiar.

“It’s a tired, old playbook of grievances. No prescriptions. No solutions. Just grievances,” he said.

The governor’s proclamation for the largely symbolic special session says his administration anticipates that Trump could seek to limit access to abortion medication, pursue a national abortion ban, dismantle environmental protections, repeal the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, and withhold federal disaster response funding, among other promises he made during the campaign.

Newsom is asking lawmakers to provide additional funding to the California Department of Justice and other agencies in his administration to immediately file lawsuits and defend against litigation from the Trump administration.

The governor’s aides said increases to the state’s legal defense would be paid for with income tax revenues that have exceeded projections in the current fiscal year, but the amount of funding will be determined in negotiations at the state Capitol. The special session is set to begin Dec. 2.

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The president-elect on Truth blasted the “INSANE POLICY DECISIONS” of California’s Democratic leaders, blaming them for people fleeing the expensive state. (State data show that, last year, California’s population increased by 0.17% after three years of losses.)

“They are making it impossible to build a reasonably priced car, the unchecked and unbalanced homeless catastrophe, & the cost of EVERYTHING, in particular ‘groceries,’ IS OUT OF CONTROL,” Trump wrote.

Trump’s social media post included a promise to demand voter identification and proof of citizenship in order to cast ballots. This fall, Newsom signed a law that bans local governments from imposing voter identification requirements.

The president-elect also criticized the “rerouting of MILLIONS OF GALLONS OF WATER A DAY FROM THE NORTH OUT INTO THE PACIFIC OCEAN, rather than using it, free of charge, for the towns, cities, & farms dotted all throughout California.”

Speaking at his Rancho Palos Verdes golf club in September, Trump indicated he would revive his first-term fight with California leaders over water allocations and environmental laws meant to protect endangered fish such as the tiny delta smelt.

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He said he would “revert water up into the hills where you have all the dead forests, where the forests are so brittle” in order to prevent wildfires. And he threatened to withhold federal firefighting aid for California unless “Newscum” agreed to “sign those papers” — an apparent reference to water policy, although he did not specify which papers.

In an interview days before the election, the governor cast Trump’s “Newscum” nickname for him as a win.

“We clearly are in his head and that’s a good thing, from my perspective,” Newsom said. “It means we’re doing the right thing.”

Though Trump and Newsom sparred on social media, in the press and the courts during the president-elect’s first term, their relationship wasn’t always fraught. The governor publicly praised Trump on several occasions for providing federal aid for California wildfires. And Trump also used a clip of Newsom commending him for sending COVID-19 testing swabs to California in an ad during his 2020 presidential campaign.

The pair maintained a cordial relationship behind the scenes, but it appears to have ended.

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In his video address Friday, Newsom thanked the people who tuned in — 35,000 in total, he said — for their work to help elect Democrats in 2024.

He said he respects the presidency and wants Trump to succeed. But he’s not naive about the president-elect’s agenda.

“We know the playbook,” Newsom said. “He is going to be more, I think, aggressive than he was in the past.”

The special session is about getting prepared, the governor said, as he hinted that he has other moves up his sleeve.

“We’re not done by any stretch,” Newsom said.

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Biden supports bringing adversarial nations into new UN cyber crime alliance

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Biden supports bringing adversarial nations into new UN cyber crime alliance

The Biden administration will support a U.N. treaty this week that will create a new cybercrime convention that includes China and Russia — which has not sat well with some lawmakers and critics. 

Since 2001, the global governance around cybercrime has largely been coordinated by the Budapest Convention, a product of the Council of Europe that includes 76 countries. It does not include Russia or China. However, under the U.N.’s new cybercrime convention, these two adversarial nations will be welcomed into the global cybercrime governance fold.  

The move, confirmed by top officials familiar with the issue, has been met with concern from those who fear that a new global alliance on cybersecurity involving two of the nation’s most adversarial nations could spell trouble.

CYBER-ATTACKS AGAINST AMERICANS AT ALL TIME HIGH OVER PAST TWO YEARS

Delegates attend the U.N. Security Council meeting on the current North Korean military escalation in Russia and Ukraine at the United Nations Headquarters on Oct. 30, 2024 in New York City.

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“We recognize that defending human rights and core principles of internet freedom is not easy,” a group of Democratic lawmakers on the Hill wrote last week to top officials in the Biden administration, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Attorney General Merrick Garland and Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, Jake Sullivan. “Russia, China and other regimes opposed to democratic freedoms are always working to create international legitimacy for their actions and worldview … Unfortunately, these efforts – while laudable – are insufficient to fix fundamental flaws in the convention.”

IRAN TRIED TO INFLUENCE ELECTION BY SENDING STOLEN MATERIAL FROM TRUMP CAMPAIGN TO BIDEN’S CAMP

The decision to support the new treaty came after months of deliberations between the Biden administration and others, including hundreds of nongovernmental entities involved in human rights and other relevant issues. According to a senior administration official, the U.S. “decided to remain with consensus,” arguing the U.S.’s sway on global “rights-respecting” cybersecurity policy will be greater under the new convention.

Putin Xi BRICS

Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia, Oct. 22, 2024. (Alexander Zemlianichenko/Pool via REUTERS)

To help address concerns that have been raised about the convention, the Biden administration plans to develop a risk management plan and will engage with nongovernmental stakeholders to help refine it. 

A “consensus proceeding” took place Monday, and the resolution was approved without a vote. According to Politico, it is expected to be adopted by the General Assembly later this year. 

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A person tries to log into a laptop.

A person tries to log into a laptop.

Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump announced on Monday that he would be nominating New York GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik to be the next U.N. ambassador in his administration.

The White House declined to comment on the record for this story.

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Chloe Fineman confirms that 'rude' Elon Musk was the 'SNL' host who made her cry

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Chloe Fineman confirms that 'rude' Elon Musk was the 'SNL' host who made her cry

Comedian Chloe Fineman says Space X owner Elon Musk made her cry when he hosted “Saturday Night Live” in 2021.

Fineman recalled working with the tech billionaire in a since-deleted TikTok, months after fellow cast member and writer Bowen Yang alluded to the behind-the-scenes drama during an appearance on Bravo’s “Watch What Happens Live!” Yang cryptically revealed in August that a host brought several staffers to tears because “he hated the ideas” they had. Speculation abounded and Fineman confirmed her part in it Monday.

The “SNL” star broke her silence after blowing up the Tesla chief executive’s “butt hurt” reaction to “SNL” alumnus Dana Carvey’s impression of him in Saturday’s post-election episode. (Carvey returned to Studio 8H as a bouncy, fist-pumping version of the “Dark MAGA”-boasting Musk in the cold open, claiming he would run the country after former President Trump’s re-election last week. Fineman said that world’s richest man and Trump loyalist is “clearly watching the show” despite his barrage of “rude” criticism on his X platform.

“I’m gonna come out and say at long last that I’m the cast member that he made cry, and he’s the host that made someone cry,” Fineman said in her video. “Maybe there’s others.”

“Guess what, you made I, Chloe Fineman, burst into tears,” she continued, “because I stayed up all night writing this sketch. I was so excited. I came in, I asked if you had any questions and you stared at me like you were firing me from Tesla and were like ‘It’s not funny.’”

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The “Megalopolis” and “Despicable Me 4” star said she waited for Musk to say he was just kidding, but he did not. Then she accused him of “pawing” through her script and — while mimicking his South African accent — claimed he didn’t laugh at the sketch a single time. She did not name the sketch; however, she and Musk appeared together in “The Ooli Show” sketch of the May 2021 episode on which she received a writing credit. Fineman played an Icelandic talk-show host and Musk played her smitten producer.

She conceded that the sketch that made it into the episode “was fine” and that she “actually had a really good time” doing it. She also admitted that Musk was “really funny in it.

“But, you know, have a little manners here, sir,” she concluded.

Although Fineman deleted the video, it was saved and re-posted on X where Musk replied to it Monday and explained his assessment of the work.

“Frankly, it was only on the Thursday before the Saturday that ANY of the sketches generated laughs,” Musk said. “I was worried. I was like damn my SNL appearance is going to be so f— unfunny that it will make a crackhead sober!! But then it worked out in the end”

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Musk did not apologize or mention making any cast members cry.

Representatives for Fineman and “Saturday Night Live” did not immediately respond Tuesday to The Times’ requests for comment.

Before Fineman posted her TikTok, Musk ranted about the most recent episode on X.

“Dana Carvey just sounds like Dana Carvey,” Musk tweeted in response to a clip from the cold open, adding in another tweet that, “They are so mad that @realDonaldTrump won.”

He also claimed that the long-running, Emmy-winning sketch series “has been dying slowly for years, as they become increasingly out of touch with reality.” Musk, who is expected to be an influential voice in Trump’s incoming administration, also accused the show of a “last-ditch effort to cheat the equal airtime requirements” when Vice President Kamala Harris appeared in the Nov. 2 episode, before the election, claiming that it “only helped sink her campaign further.”

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Trump tells world leader election gives him a 'very big mandate'

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Trump tells world leader election gives him a 'very big mandate'

President-elect Donald Trump said his election victory “gives me a very big mandate to do things properly” in a newly released video by Indonesia’s president. 

Prabowo Subianto could be heard congratulating Trump, adding, “Wherever you are, I am willing to fly to, to congratulate you personally sir.” 

“We had a great election in the U.S…. Amazing what happened, we had tremendous success. The most successful in over 100 years they say. It’s a great honor and so it gives me a very big mandate to do things properly,” Trump told him at one point in the conversation. 

Subianto also told Trump, “We were all shocked when they tried to assassinate you, but we are very happy that the almighty protected you sir.” 

TRUMP EXPECTED TO NAME SEN. MARCO RUBIO AS SECRETARY OF STATE 

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Indonesia President Prabowo Subianto released a video of his conversation with President-elect Donald Trump.

“Yes, I got very lucky. I just happened to be in the right place in the right direction otherwise I wouldn’t be talking to you right now,” Trump responded. “I got quite lucky actually, somebody was protecting me I guess.” 

Subianto, a former Indonesian military general and defense minister, was sworn in as the country’s eighth president on Oct. 20. 

TRUMP LIKELY TO MAKE SEVERAL BORDER SECURITY MOVES ON FIRST DAY, SAYS EXPERT 

Donald Trump in a bluue suit and red tie pumps his fist in the air and looks up

Former President Donald Trump pumps his fist as he arrives to speak at a campaign event at Nassau Coliseum on Sept.18 in Uniondale, N.Y.  (AP/Alex Brandon)

“Whenever you are around you let me know and I’d like to also get to your country sometime, it’s incredible, the job that you are doing is incredible,” Trump told Subianto during the call. “You’re a very respected person and I give you credit for that, it’s not easy.” 

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“Please send the people of Indonesia my regards,” he added. 

Prabowo Subianto and Xi Jinping

Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto shake hands during a signing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing, on Saturday, Nov. 9.  (Florence Lo/Pool Photo via AP)

 

In a statement on X alongside the video, Subianto said, “I am looking forward to enhance the collaboration between our two great nations and to more productive discussions in the future.”

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