House Republicans Forge Ahead With Vote On Health Care Reforms Authored by Lawrence Wilson via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), The House will vote on a Republican health care plan that does not include an extension of the expiring enhanced tax credits for Obamacare, a decision by GOP leaders that produced some dissension within the party. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) speaks at a press conference during the 34th day of the […]

ASPI Jumps After Clearing Hurdle To Acquire Renergen ASPI, which we have discussed extensively both here in our premium section, has finally received all required approvals for the acquisition of South African LNG and helium production company, Renergen. Temporary – and recurring – delays in obtaining regulatory approval for the acquisition in South Africa were starting to create doubts that the transaction would never close. But […]

Warner Bros. Board Urges Shareholders To Reject Paramount Hostile Takeover Bid Authored by Andrew Moran via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Warner Bros. Discovery’s board of directors said on Dec. 17 that it is advising shareholders to reject Paramount Skydance’s hostile takeover bid and support Netflix’s offer. Netflix and Warner Bros Discovery logos are seen in this illustration created on Dec. 5, 2025. Dado […]

The EU’s New Policy Towards Russia’s Seized Assets Isn’t About Helping Ukraine Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack, Russia condemned the EU’s recent decision to indefinitely immobilize its seized assets, the special procedure for which scandalously circumvented member states’ veto power in an effort to prevent Hungary and Slovakia from stopping them. This move might precede the bloc either confiscating some of these […]

WTI Holds ‘Venezuela Blockade’ Gains After Small Crude Draw, Record US Production Oil prices surged overnight, jumping off multi-year lows after President Trump ordered a “total and complete blockade” of oil tankers into and out of Venezuela. That was amid hopes of a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia, among other factors including record domestic production and weakening demand in China. But as one geopolitical risk looks set […]

White House Prepping New Sanctions If Russia Rejects Latest Ukraine Ceasefire Offer The White House is preparing a fresh round of sanctions on Russia’s energy sector which would be implemented if Moscow rejects the Trump-proposed peace deal with Ukraine. According to Bloomberg, this time around it is set to be even more muscular: “The US is considering options, such as targeting vessels in Russia’s so-called shadow fleet of […]

FBI Arrested A Fifth Trantifa Militant In NYE Bomb Plot Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news, The FBI arrested a fifth suspect in a New Year’s Eve mass bombing plot tied to the communist “decolonization” outfit known as the Turtle Island Liberation Front. This time, it’s an ex-Marine and former cop who ditched sanity for Trantifa extremism, underscoring how transgender ideology keeps fueling these deranged attacks on […]

Trump Weighs Limiting Defense Contractors’ Shareholder Payouts, CEO Compensation Major defense contractors like Boeing and Raytheon depend on government contracts for at least half the dollars they take in – and times have been ‘good’ particularly in the last several years of geopolitical hotspots and raging wars from Ukraine to Gaza. Contractor CEOs have as expected really been raking it in as well, though some government […]

General Mills Earnings Top Expectations But CEO Warns Of ‘K-Shaped’ Bifurcation General Mills reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings. Organic revenue fell 1% in the fiscal second quarter, much less than the Bloomberg Consensus estimate of -2.53%, while volumes remained flat after an 8% plunge in the first quarter. Still, the packaged food giant, with more than 100 brands worldwide, cautioned that a bifurcated consumer […]

Oracle Claims Michigan Data-Center ‘On Schedule’ Despite Blue Owl’s Absence Update (0900ET): Oracle has issued a statement claiming the deal on the Michigan data center remains on schedule (though not with Blue Owl): “Our development partner, Related Digital, selected the best equity partner from a competitive group of options, which in this instance was not Blue Owl . . . Final negotiations for their equity deal are moving […]

EU Will Be AIsimilated By Bas van Geffen, Senior Macro Strategist at Rabobank Resistance is futile. You will be AIsimmilated. The Trump administration really wants the rest of the (Western?) world to embrace American-made artificial intelligence and technology. Last week, the US suspended the US-UK Technology Prosperity deal, reportedly because the Trump administration was frustrated about the lack of progress on trade talks. […]

Futures Rise For First Time In 4 Days As Oil Rebounds From 4 Year Low Stock futures are higher but with less than 10 full trading days left in the year, the Santa rally seems increasingly elusive, with traders struggling to find catalysts. The S&P 500 tested a key technical level on Tuesday, coming close to breaking below its 50-DMA. As of 7:15am ET, S&P 500 futures rose 0.3%, pointing to the first increase in four days […]

Capital-Hungry OpenAI Discussing $10 Billion Investment From Amazon Amazon is in talks with ChatGPT-maker OpenAI to invest more than $10 billion, The Information reported, citing multiple people familiar with the discussions. The proposed round would value OpenAI at half a trillion dollars, underlining just how capital-hungry Sam Altman’s chatbot company has become, as it expects to burn through more than $100 billion over the […]

Euroclear: The Line Europe Can’t Cross Without Breaking Global Trust Submitted by Thomas Kolbe Euroclear and the Looming Breach of Trust The alliance financing the war in Ukraine is facing a new problem. Seven members of the European Union want to block the expropriation of the Russian central bank assets held at Euroclear. This puts the continuation of war financing at risk. At the same time, the specter of a financial crisis […]

“Buy Nicotine, Energy Drink, Candy Stocks”: Goldman Tells Clients Get Ready For Party In USA  Bonnie Herzog, managing director and senior consumer analyst at Goldman Sachs, told clients Tuesday that, after consumer staples’ underperformance in 2025, it is time to buy nicotine, energy drink, candy, and beauty stocks heading into 2026 as a stronger consumer backdrop emerges. Herzog wrote: Our View — 2025 has been another year […]

US, Mexico Reach Agreement To Fix Tijuana River Sewage Crisis: EPA Authored by Melanie Sun via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), The Trump administration has signed a new binational agreement with Mexico, advancing efforts to solve a decades-long sewage crisis plaguing residents both north and south of the transnational Tijuana River. Trash lines the beaches near the Tijuana River mouth outside of San Diego, Calif., on Sept. 19, […]

Trump Orders Full Blockade Of Sanctioned Oil Tankers Off ‘Terrorist’ Venezuela Update (2035ET): On Tuesday evening Trump revealed he has ordered a “total and complete blockade” of all sanctioned oil tankers going into and out of Venezuela. This, he said on Truth Social, is based on Venezuela’s leadership having been declared a “foreign terrorist organization”.  He further boasted of the country having been “completely surrounded” […]

Iran’s Economy Struggles Amid High Inflation Since early December 2025, a wave of protests has swept across Iran, ranging from human rights campaigns in major urban areas to labor strikes in industrial hubs. As Statista’s Tristan Gaudiat reports, part of the growing popular unrest concerns the accelerating use of the death penalty by the Iranian regime (more than 1,000 executions documented so far in 2025), while the country’s […]

The Folly Of Establishing A US Military Base In Damascus Authored by José Niño via The Libertarian Institute Recent reports indicate the United States is preparing to establish a military presence at an airbase in Damascus, allegedly to facilitate a security agreement between Syria and Israel. This development represents yet another misguided expansion of American military overreach in a region where Washington has already […]

Europe Establishes Hague-Based Reparations Commission For Ukraine Top European officials met on Tuesday in The Hague in order to establish an international commission to oversee eventual reparations to compensate Ukraine for Russia’s military invasion. President Volodymyr Zelensky and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas were present for the high level talks in The Netherlands. The International Claims Commission for Ukraine will […]

Austria’s Demographic Divide: For First Time, Over Half Of First-Graders In Vienna Don’t Speak German Via Remix News, In a sign of just how fast the demographic situation is developing in Austria, Vienna has hit a major new milestone, marking the first time that more than half the first-grade population do not understand German. The news highlights just how dramatic the demographic crisis facing Europe is, which has seen falling […]

The Military Story Ken Burns Missed In The Revolution Authored by David Stewart via RealClearDefense, Ken Burns’ documentary on the American Revolution has generated much commentary, some supportive and some critical. Across social media, complaints abound that he paid too much, or too little, attention to the traditional Founding Fathers—Washington, Hamilton, Monroe, Jefferson. Critics pillory him for overemphasizing one […]

Hegseth Planning Massive Overhaul Of US Commands, Fewer Generals, Smaller Presence In Europe More major Pentagon reshuffling is coming down the line, driven by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, but this time it’s being reported this will involve far more than just staffing and personnel changes – it will impact the entire US global command and headquarters structure. Washington Post reports this week that the Pentagon is drafting a […]

Catholics, Trump, And Affordability Authored by Steve Cortes via RealClearPolitics, Catholics have been some of Trump’s most important voters. But right now, 55% of Catholics give Trump a D or F grade on handling inflation. Affordability is the central issue for most Americans, especially swing voters. Patriotic middle-class Catholic families feel the squeeze, so this new populist coalition is being tested. Back in 2016 Trump […]

Susie Wiles Let’s Slip She Stands With Massie On War Powers & Venezuela Trump chief of staff Susie Wiles said the following as part of the controversial Vanity Fair interview in reference to Venezuela policy: “If he were to authorize some activity on land, then it’s war, then (we’d need) Congress.” But only last month when President Trump was asked about this issue, he said, “We don’t have to get their approval. But I […]