Putin Identifies The Main Issue Which Will Settle Ukraine War In Year-End Q&A Russian President Vladimir Putin made clear during his annual end of year question-and-answer session in Moscow that the matter of Ukraine ceding land which Russia now controls is the heart of the issue when it comes to peace talks. The issue of territory gained, lost, to be ceded or not, remains the prime topic that must be considered, but it’s the […]

Federal Regulators Issue Order Requiring Large-Load Users Pay To Grow Grid Authored by John Haughey via The Epoch Times, Federal regulators have directed the nation’s largest regional electricity transmission organization to link, or “co-locate,” data centers and other industrial users with existing or new power-generating plants in order to speed development, trim infrastructure costs, and require large-load users to pay for […]

How To Profit From Trump’s Space Race Executive Order The space industry is heating up amid news of a SpaceX IPO next year and growing interest in low-Earth-orbit data centers. Starcloud is emerging as an early winner, as these developments coincide with President Trump signing an executive order to secure America’s dominance in the space race. The order “Ensuring American Space Superiority” outlined several of the Trump […]

Russia Keeps Slamming The Door In Europe’s Face By Maartje Wijffelaars, Senior Economist at Rabobank Crash Averted It’s been a busy week in Europe, before the start of the holiday season. Heavy meetings in Brussels, monetary policy decisions, and intense peace talks in which Europe is trying hard to get its foot in the door, while Russia—at times aided by the U.S.—continues to slam it shut. Yesterday, EU leaders have […]

‘A Disgrace’: Dems Erupt As Kennedy Center Board Votes To Rename It ‘Trump-Kennedy Center’ Democrats and Kennedy family members raged on Thursday after President Trump’s handpicked board of trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center voted to rename it the “Trump-Kennedy Center.” The move is certain to draw legal challenges centering on the fact that the center’s current name is set by statute. For now, however, we can sit back and watch […]

First-Ever Ukrainian Attack On A Russian ‘Shadow Fleet’ Tanker In Mediterranean Sea Ukraine is hailing a “new, unprecedented special operation” after a Russia-linked oil tanker was attacked off the coast of Libya. Needless to say these waters are very distant from anywhere Ukraine operates in the war with Moscow forces. Officials within the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) are being quoted in international reports as saying the […]

Brown University Accused Of Removing Cameras To Evade ICE Authored by José Niño via Headline USA, A firestorm of controversy has engulfed Brown University following the mass shooting that took place last Saturday.  Critics are now questioning whether the prestigious institution deliberately disabled security cameras, inadvertently creating blind spots that allowed the shooter to escape detection. According to the latest […]

DOJ Misses Deadline For Full Epstein Files Release, Will Instead Stagger ‘To Protect Victims’ The Department of Justice will miss today’s deadline to release the ‘full’ Epstein files to Congress as required under new legislation Trump signed into law last month.  An undated photo from the estate of Jeffrey Epstein is part of a collection of images released Dec. 18, 2025, by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee. House […]

Regime Change In Venezuela? Conservative Factions Face Off; Gaetz With political insiders like Tucker Carlson claiming that Congress has been briefed on the prospect of an imminent war with Venezuela, tensions are high among Republicans in what may be the most contentious policy divide for the party since President Trump took office. To some, Nicolás Maduro’s regime represents an illegitimate dictatorship that must be […]

“No One Is Above The Law”: Milwaukee Judge Hannah Dugan Found Guilty Of Felony Obstruction Authored by Jonathan Turley, A jury in Milwaukee this week proved that it takes more than a robe to act like a judge. On Thursday, Judge Hannah Dugan was found guilty of the most serious count brought against her in a case that captivated many in the nation. Dugan famously told a fellow judge to wear her robe in the hallway to confront […]

UMich Survey Sees ‘Current Conditions’ In America As The Worst In 47 Years The final print for UMich’s sentiment survey for December was a doozy… While the headline sentiment gauge and Expectations ticked up, Current Conditions slipped further… …to an all-time record low… yes… worse than during Oct 1987’s crash, 9/11, the GFC, and COVID… This – as you might guess – is very unusual with stocks at record highs and […]

Loss Of Credibility: Yen Craters, Yields Surge After BOJ Hikes Rates To Highest Since 1999 In the last central bank decision of 2025, the BOJ lifted its key rate to 0.75% from 0.50% in a widely anticipated and telegraphed move, taking borrowing costs to their highest level in three decades. It wasn’t enough, however, and after an initial kneejerk move, the yen plunged while yields soared as the market concluded that what Ueda did […]

Year-Over-Year Existing Home Sales Disappoint In November, Decline Most In 6 Months With mortgage rates tumbling, housing market participants have been disappointed by the lack of enthusiasm by homebuyers to apply for mortgages (though there was a decent bounce in refi activity)… This morning’s existing home sales data (admittedly for November) will give us a further glimpse into the reality oh home-buying vs home-selling as […]

Democrats Refuse To Release Post-Mortem Of 2024 Election Loss, DNC Chair Says Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times, The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has completed a postmortem of the party’s 2024 election losses but will keep the report confidential, DNC Chair Ken Martin said on Dec. 18. Ken Martin, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, listens to speakers during a press conference in Aurora, Ill., on […]

EU Folds On Russian Asset ‘Reparations’, Commits $105BN Loan To Ukraine Europe has folded rather quickly on EU leaders’ controversial plan to confiscate Russian assets held in Belgium’s depository Euroclear to use as a reparations loan for Ukraine. On Friday it became clear in the two day Brussels summit the EU was unable to agree on the plan, but instead has opted to raise €90 billion ($105 billion) in joint borrowing, with […]

More Islamic Terror Attacks Against Christmas Markets Foiled In Europe Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news, Authorities across Europe have thwarted two more Islamist-inspired terror plots targeting Christmas markets in as many days, with arrests in Germany and Poland adding to a relentless wave of threats that has placed the West under daily assault from radical extremists intent on exploiting open borders and soft security […]

Polling Signals Serious Trouble For Democrats in Upcoming Midterms Voters are delivering Democrats in Congress a brutal verdict heading into the 2026 midterm cycle, with just 18 percent approving of their performance and a staggering 73 percent disapproving, the worst rating Quinnipiac has recorded for them since it began asking the question in 2009.  Even Democrats themselves are in open revolt: only 42 percent of Democratic […]

Futures Rise Ahead Of Record $7 Trillion Opex, Yen Tumbles After BOJ Rate Hike Stocks look set toclose out a choppy week on a steady note, building on Thursday’s gains, spurred by cooler inflation that backs the case for lower borrowing costs. As of 8:00am, S&P 500 futures were 0.1% higher while Nasdaq 100 contracts were up 0.2% after the WSJ reported that OpenAI is set to raise $100BN in fresh capital (from sov wealth funds) […]

Goldman Turns “Incrementally Cautious” On Nike As China Sales Plunge Nike shares tumbled the most in eight months in premarket trading in New York after a mixed third quarter, reigniting concerns that turnaround efforts are being slowed by soft demand trends in China and ongoing problems at Converse. North America was a bright spot in second-quarter earnings. Citi analyst Paul Lejuez noted that product liquidations contributed to […]

All The Dominant Models Are Collapsing Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog, Every nation is operating on models that are collapsing without those at the controls being aware that the implicit assumptions of their models no longer map reality. A recent article lays out the collapse of the dominant geopolitical model of “rising powers generate conflict”: The Stagnant Order And the End of Rising Powers (Foreign […]

Did Abu Dhabi Just Deliver A Santa Rally: OpenAI To Raise $100BN From Sovereign Wealth Funds While the broader stock market has meandered both higher and lower in the subsequent two months, the Mag 7 trade peaked on Oct 31 and has been drifting sideways – and lower – ever since. What happened on that date? That was the day of the infamous All Things podcast, in which Brad Gerstner (an OpenAi investor) pointed out that the emperor […]

Trump Halts Diversity Green Card Lottery After Brown, MIT Shootings Trace To Non-Citizen President Trump ordered the suspension of the U.S. green card diversity lottery after federal investigators said the suspect in the Brown University shooting and the killing of an MIT nuclear scientist was a non-citizen who entered the country through the program. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote in an X post late Thursday that, at […]

Suspect In Brown University Attack Found Dead, Was A Non-US Citizen Update (2150ET): Local station Boston 25 News reports that the suspect in the Brown University attack was found dead at the Extra Space Storage facility on Hampshire Road in Salem, New Hampshire. Boston 25 is reporting the Brown University shooting suspect is dead Waiting for news conference. — Ted Daniel (@TedDanielnews) December 19, 2025 “A law enforcement […]

Why Should Americans Die For European Tyranny? Authored by J/B/Shurk via American Thinker, After the European Commission levied a several-hundred-million-dollar fine on Elon Musk and his social media platform X earlier this month, journalist Michael Shellenberger wrote a damning post in which he excoriated Europe’s rank censorship and state-sponsored propaganda.  He accused the commission of engaging “in a deception […]

British Teachers To “Spot Misogyny” In Boys And Target Them For Reeducation For years UK officials turned a blind eye to rape gangs because it might look racist to crack down on foreigners. Now, suddenly, the real problem is young boys who are ‘radicalized’ into becoming misogynists. The only solution is of course Orwellian; and includes an agenda to reeducate British boys showing “signs of misogyny” (anti-wokeness). According […]