It’s Tuesday, December 9. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: Will the Supreme Court let Trump fire whoever he wants? The woman who got a PhD—and was abused online for it. Should assisted suicide be legal? Why you shouldn’t feel guilty for not playing with your kids. And much more.
But first: What’s the matter with Minnesota?
How could this happen? That is a question we have been asking ever since the Minnesota fraud scheme landed in the headlines recently.
The basic facts are shocking. A Minneapolis nonprofit group called Feeding Our Future was supposed to feed children during the Covid pandemic but is now at the center of a sprawling fraud investigation that has uncovered more than $250 million of plunder. Dozens of people with ties to the Somali community in Minneapolis and neighboring St. Paul billed the state for services they never provided, sometimes spending the money they received on cars, houses, trips, and other luxuries. If that wasn’t bad enough, we learned last month that some of the cash siphoned off from the Land of 10,000 Lakes might have ended up in the hands of Islamist terrorists in Somalia.
One answer to our big question comes from Dave Kansas, who grew up in Minnesota, left for much of his newspaper career, and now lives in St. Paul. Many things in the state have changed—and not for the best, Dave writes.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali was born in Mogadishu, not Minneapolis, and she writes that it wasn’t hard to predict what happened. The Somali community has clustered with the same social logic that governs life where she grew up. Click below to read both of the stories.
—Rick Brooks
For almost a century, the Supreme Court has maintained that there are limits to who the president can fire in the federal government. But yesterday, the justices heard arguments in a case that could change all that. Our legal columnist Jed Rubenfeld was listening in and reports that Trump is poised for a big win—with serious consequences for how government works.
Conventional wisdom states that good mothers play with their children. But that has it backward, writes Elena Bridgers. For the vast majority of human history, children spent much of their time in playgroups with other children of varying ages. When adults get involved, they can stifle children’s creativity and prevent them from building confidence and independence. Oh, and parents often hate playtime, too. Read Elena’s advice on how to handle one of modern parenting culture’s biggest evolutionary mismatches.
It turns out that no one hates Democrats more than. . . other Democrats. Many on the party’s left are spoiling for a fight and in no mood to compromise with the moderate wing. It’s the Tea Party all over again, argues Gabe Fleisher. But will progressive candidates who shine during the midterm primaries help or hurt the Democrats come November?
When Juliet Turner defended her PhD about the social behavior of ants, her celebratory post went viral—for all the wrong reasons. “In the middle of our demographic crisis, this attractive and intelligent Aryan woman spent her peak fertility years working on a PhD in insect memetics,” someone wrote on X. “This psychotic system must be destroyed.” River Page argues that this backlash isn’t a fluke but part of a growing trend: a new strain of online misogyny dressed up as pronatalism, targeting young white women for having the gumption to do anything besides marrying a white man and having white babies.
Should We Legalize Medical Aid in Dying?
New York is considering legalizing assisted suicide, and it has ignited a fierce debate over morality, bodily autonomy, and what we owe patients with terminal illness. Two medical ethicists, Dr. Lydia Dugdale and David Hoffman, face off over what’s at stake in the future of medical aid in dying.
This Week on Tough Love with Abigail Shrier
The latest reader question for Tough Love just arrived! This week, Abigail is going to answer a question from a man who is trying to decide if his marriage is worth working on. Or should he cut his losses? Read his note here, and if you want to make sure that Abigail’s reply goes straight into your inbox every week, click here! Her answer will land on Thursday afternoon.
Meta is driving economic growth and supporting local jobs nationwide with a $600 billion investment in American infrastructure.
Thailand launched air strikes against Cambodia along their disputed border, killing at least four people. The strikes jeopardize a Trump-brokered peace plan from October, with both nations accusing each other of launching attacks and violating the ceasefire.
The Trump administration unveiled a $12 billion package to pay farmers suffering from low crop prices and the president’s tariffs, which have slowed foreign purchases. Soybeans have been hit especially hard by Trump’s trade war with China, though purchases have risen since an October deal.
President Trump will sign an executive order this week aimed at blocking state-level artificial intelligence regulations. The order also will establish “ONE RULE,” he announced. “You can’t expect a company to get 50 Approvals every time they want to do something. THAT WILL NEVER WORK!”
A member of Zohran Mamdani’s transition team is under congressional investigation for allegedly teaching illegal immigrants how to avoid cooperating with ICE, The Washington Free Beacon reported. Wayne Ho was appointed last month to the incoming New York City mayor’s social services committee. (Read more about Mamdani’s radical transition team.)
A public library book ban in a Texas county will be allowed to stand after the Supreme Court declined to hear the case. Officials in Llano County removed 17 books they deemed objectionable, including ones covering race and LGBT issues. The ban was upheld by an appeals court, which rejected the argument that it violated the First Amendment.
Trump’s approval rating has plummeted among young voters, according to a new Yale Youth Poll. For example, those between the ages of 30 and 34 disapprove of the president’s job performance by 36 percentage points. That was a big shift from a similar survey last spring.
Congress plans to withhold a quarter of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s travel budget until the Pentagon turns over unedited videos of air strikes on suspected drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea. The provision is included in the final draft of the annual defense spending bill, which the House and Senate are expected to pass during the next week.
Free Press Meetups: Coming to a City Near You
It’s happening! We’re kicking off Free Press Meetups in five cities: Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, St. Louis, and little Shelburne, Vermont! No panels, no guests, no scripts—just free-flowing conversation with fellow Free Press readers over drinks, snacks, and good energy. Come for the passionate conversations, stay to meet a new friend, intellectual sparring partner, or romantic interest.
"Yale Youth poll" 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
"...Trump is poised for a big win—with serious consequences for how government works."
Yep -- well, or not.