Italy Slaps Apple With $116 Million Fine Over Double-Consent Requirement On Apps

Italy's version of the Federal Trade Commission fined Apple, Inc. nearly $116 million over what it says were overly-restrictive privacy rules that required third-party app developers to obtain user consent for data collection and tracking when it comes to delivering targeted advertising. 

A general view of the first Italian flagship Apple store in Milan on July 26, 2018. Piero Cruciatti/AFP/Getty Images

Italy's watchdog authority - the AGCM, said on Monday that Apple and its subsidiaries abused its "super-dominant" market position by requiring said consumer protections. 

The fine stems from a May 2023 joint investigation by the AGCM, European Commission, Italian Data Protection Authority (GPDP in Italian), and other national competition authorities into the restrictions from Apple's App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework. 

AGCM claims that in April 2021, Apple began requiring app developers to obtain user consent in addition to previously existing consent requirements that had been granted through Apple's own consent prompt. This double-consent requirement violates article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

"Third-party app developers are required to obtain specific consent for the collection and linking of data for advertising purposes through Apple’s ATT prompt," said the AGCM. "However, such prompt does not meet privacy legislation requirements, forcing developers to double the consent request for the same purpose."

As the Epoch Times notes further, in an executive summary of the investigation’s findings, the Italian Competition Authority of Rome lauded Apple’s efforts to safeguard user privacy within its operating system.

However, the GPDP said, making developers obtain double user consent was “excessive” and “burdensome” and ultimately led to a reduction of opt-in rates by users for data tracking on third-party apps. That action, in turn, hampered app developers’ ability to compete with Apple and deliver targeted advertising, which resulted in higher commissions paid to Apple by developers, as well as additional revenue through a higher volume of targeted ads.

“Given that user data are a key input for personalized online advertising—since higher-quality and larger volumes of data improve the ability to identify users who may be genuinely interested in the advertised product, service or app—the restrictions imposed by the ATT policy on the collection, linking and use of such data are capable of harming developers whose business model relies on the sale of advertising space, as well as advertisers and advertising intermediation platforms,” the AGCM wrote.

The Epoch Times requested comment from Apple regarding the investigation’s finding and fine by the AGCM, but did not receive a response by publication time.

Earlier this year, Apple was fined 500 million euros ($588 million) by the European Union for breaching the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and not informing customers of potential alternatives outside of its App Store. Meta was also fined 200 million euros ($235 million) for breaching the DMA by failing to provide customers with options on how much of their data is used. Apple and Meta are appealing those fines, which were levied in April.

Tyler Durden Wed, 12/24/2025 - 02:45

Tulsi's Assessment That Putin Doesn't Want To Conquer All Of Ukraine Is Absolutely Correct

Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack,

There are logical military and strategic reasons why he’s not interested in this whatsoever at all...

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard responded to a report from Reuters alleging that “Putin has not abandoned his aims of capturing all of Ukraine and reclaiming parts of Europe that belonged to the former Soviet empire”.

Tulsi condemned that as a “lie” to undermine Trump’s peace efforts and thus risk a possible hot Russian-US war.

She also claimed that “Russia’s battlefield performance indicates it does not currently have the capability to conquer and occupy all of Ukraine, let alone Europe.”

Her assessment is absolutely correct for the reasons that’ll now be explained.

For starters, Putin authorized the special operation after diplomacy failed to neutralize Ukrainian-emanating threats from NATO, ergo why Russia was compelled to resort to force.

Unlike what many “Non-Russian Pro-Russians” nowadays claim on social media, “The ‘War Of Attrition’ Was Improvised & Not Russia’s Plan All Along”, occurring only because the UK and Poland unexpectedly sabotaged spring 2022’s peace deal.

Unprecedented support from NATO led to the aforesaid “war of attrition” and resultant stalemate along large parts of the front for protracted periods of time.

As was assessed as early as that summer in July 2022, “All Sides Of The Ukrainian Conflict Underestimated Each Other”, which is why this support caught Russian planners off guard but also why it failed to inflict a strategic defeat upon Russia too. These 20 constructive critiques of Russia’s special operation from November 2022 are also relevant to this day too.

Even if Russia achieves a long-awaited breakthrough across the front, whatever territory it steamrolls into beyond that of the four disputed regions would likely only be for leverage for coercing Ukraine into complying with more of Putin’s demands for peace in exchange for withdrawing from there. Expanding Russia’s territorial claims through the holding of referenda in new regions would require controlling a significant amount of their land with an equally significant amount of people still there to participate.

Neither can be taken for granted, especially that locals won’t flee as refugees either deeper into Ukraine or across the front lines into Russia, hence the unreliability of this scenario. The strategic consequences could also be disproportionately severe if this ever unfolds since Trump could be provoked into escalating US involvement in the conflict after feeling like Putin disrespected him by doing this amidst their peace talks or possibly even manipulated him by supposedly only participating in them to buy time.

Trump has slammed Biden for the US’ complete loss of Afghanistan so he’s unlikely to let Putin conquer all of Ukraine in the political fantasy that this one day becomes possible. An escalation of US involvement in response could see it approve NATO allies’ entrance into Ukraine for drawing a “red line” as far east as possible and threaten direct “retaliation” against Russia if those forces are attacked en route. Putin has done his utmost to avoid World War III up until this point so he’s unlikely to suddenly risk it in that event.

There’s also the threat of a terrorist insurgency all across Western Ukraine if Russian forces ever reach that far, which could be costly for the Kremlin in terms of lives, treasure, and opportunities, something that Putin would likely seek to avoid as well. Bearing all this in mind, from the military difficulties to the disproportionately severe strategic consequences of claiming territory beyond the disputed regions, Tulsi is therefore absolutely correct in assessing that Putin doesn’t want to conquer all of Ukraine.

Tyler Durden Wed, 12/24/2025 - 02:00

The Surveillance State Is Making A Naughty List - And You're On It

Authored by John & Nisha Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute,

“He sees you when you’re sleeping.
He knows when you’re awake.
He knows if you’ve been bad or good,
So be good for goodness’ sake.”
   — “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”

For generations, “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” has been treated as a playful reminder to children to be good because someone, somewhere, is watching.

Today, it reads less like a joke and more like a warning.

The Surveillance State is making a naughty list, and we’re all on it.

Long before Santa’s elves start loading his sleigh with toys for good girls and boys, the government’s surveillance apparatus is already at work—logging your movements, monitoring your messages, tracking your purchases, scanning your face, recording your license plate, and feeding it all into algorithmic systems designed to determine whether you belong on a government watchlist.

Unlike Santa’s naughty list, however, the consequences of landing on the government’s “naughty list” are far more severe than a stocking full of coal. They can include heightened surveillance, loss of privacy, travel restrictions, financial scrutiny, police encounters, or being flagged as a potential threat—often without notice, explanation, or recourse.

This is not fiction. This is not paranoia.

This is the modern surveillance state operating exactly as designed.

Santa Claus has long been the benign symbol of omniscient surveillance, a figure who watches, judges, and rewards. His oversight is fleeting, imaginary, and ultimately harmless.

The government’s surveillance is none of those things—and never was.

What was once dismissed as a joke—“Santa is watching”—has morphed into a chilling reality. Instead of elves, the watchers are data brokers, intelligence agencies, predictive algorithms, and fusion centers. Instead of a naughty-or-nice list, Americans are sorted into databases, risk profiles, and threat assessments—lists that never disappear.

The shift is subtle but profound.

Innocence is no longer presumed.

Everyone is watched. Everyone is scored. Everyone is a potential suspect.

This is the surveillance state in action.

Today’s surveillance state doesn’t require suspicion, a warrant, or probable cause. It is omnipresent, omniscient, and inescapable.

Your smartphone tracks your location. Your car records your movements. License plate readers log when and where you drive. Retail purchases create detailed consumer profiles. Smart speakers listen to everything you say. Home security cameras observe not just your property, but your neighbors, delivery drivers, and anyone who passes by.

The government’s appetite for data is insatiable.

In a dramatic expansion of surveillance reach, the Transportation Security Administration now shares airline passenger lists with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, enabling ICE to identify and arrest travelers at airports based on immigration status.

In one incident, ICE arrested and immediately deported a college student with no criminal record who was flying home to spend Thanksgiving with her family.

What was once routine aviation security data has been transformed into an enforcement tool—merging civilian travel records with the machinery of deportation and demonstrating how ordinary movements can be weaponized by the state.

Even the most personal acts—like Christmas shopping—are now tracked in real time. Every item you buy, where you buy it, how you pay, and who you buy it for becomes part of a permanent digital record. That data does not stay confined to retailers. It is shared, sold, aggregated, and folded into sprawling surveillance ecosystems that blur the line between corporate data collection and government intelligence.

Companies like Palantir specialize in fusing these data streams into comprehensive behavioral profiles, linking financial activity, social media behavior, geolocation data, and government records into a single, searchable identity map.

The result is not merely a government that watches what you’ve done but one that claims the power to predict what you will do next.

It is a short step from surveillance to pre-crime.

While predictive policing and AI-driven risk assessments are marketed as tools of efficiency and public safety, in reality, they represent a dangerous shift from punishing criminal acts to policing potential behavior.

Algorithms—trained on historical data already shaped by over-policing, bias, and inequality—are now used to predict who might commit a crime, who might protest, or who might pose a “risk.” Even the way you drive—where you came from, where you were going and which route you took—is being analyzed by predictive intelligence programs for suspicious patterns that could get you flagged and pulled over.

Once flagged by an algorithm, individuals often have no meaningful way to challenge the designation. The criteria are secret. The data sources opaque. The decisions automated.

Accountability disappears.

This isn’t law enforcement as envisioned by the Founders. This is pre-crime enforcement—punishing people not for what they’ve done, but for what an AI machine predicts they might do.

At the same time, President Trump has openly threatened states that attempt to regulate artificial intelligence in order to protect citizens from its discriminatory and intrusive uses—seeking to clear the way for unchecked, nationwide deployment of these systems.

No government initiative has done more to normalize, expand, and entrench mass surveillance than the Trump administration’s war on immigration.

The Trump administration’s war on immigration has become the laboratory for the modern surveillance state.

Under the guise of border security, vast stretches of the country have been transformed into Constitution-free zones—places where the Fourth Amendment is treated as optional and entire communities are subjected to constant monitoring.

The federal government has transformed immigration policy into a proving ground for authoritarian surveillance tactics—testing tools, technologies, and legal shortcuts could be deployed with minimal public resistance and quietly repurposed for use against the broader population. As journalist Todd Miller warned, these areas have been transformed into “a ripe place to experiment with tearing apart the Constitution, a place where not just undocumented border-crossers, but millions of borderland residents have become the targets of continual surveillance.”

Through ICE and DHS, the government fused immigration enforcement with corporate surveillance technologies—facial recognition, license-plate readers, cellphone tracking, and massive data-sharing agreements—creating a sprawling digital dragnet that now extends far beyond immigrants.

What began as a policy aimed at undocumented immigrants has now become a model for nationwide surveillance policing.

“What’s new,” reports the Brennan Center for Justice, “is that the federal government now openly says it will use its supercharged spy capabilities to target people who oppose ICE’s actions. Labeled as ‘domestic terrorists’ by the administration, these targets include anti-ICE protesters and anyone who allegedly funds them—all of them part of a supposed left-wing conspiracy to violently oppose the president’s agenda.”

The critical point is this: the surveillance infrastructure developed to track immigrants is now used to monitor everyone. Immigration enforcement served as the justification, the infrastructure, and the legal gray zone needed to create a permanent surveillance apparatus that treats all Americans as potential suspects.

All of this adds up to an algorithmic naughty list.

Government watchlists have exploded in size and scope.

Terrorist watchlists, no-fly lists, gang databases, protester tracking systems, and “suspicious activity” registries operate with little oversight and even less transparency.

People can be added to these lists without notification and can remain there indefinitely. Errors are common. Corrections are rare.

Social media posts are mined. Associations are mapped. Speech is scrutinized. Peaceful dissent is increasingly treated as a precursor to extremism.

The government’s watchlists aren’t just opaque databases hidden from public view. They are becoming public-facing instruments of political classification. Internal Justice Department memoranda now direct the FBI to compile lists of groups and networks it categorizes as possible domestic extremists, broadening counter-terror tools to sweep in ideological opponents and organizations without clear statutory definitions.

At the same time, the White House has launched an official “Offender Hall of Shame”—a public naughty list of journalists and media outlets it accuses of bias—even briefly circulating a video styled like Santa putting together a naughty list of offenders before deleting it amid backlash.

In this system, being “good” no longer means obeying the law. It means staying under the radar, avoiding attention, and never questioning authority.

The chilling effect is the point.

Once upon a time, privacy was recognized as a fundamental liberty—an essential buffer between the individual and the state. Today, it’s a conditional privilege, granted temporarily and revoked when it suits the police state’s purposes.

Under the banner of national security, public health, and law and order, surveillance powers continue to expand. Biometric identification—facial recognition, gait analysis, voice prints—are normalized.

What was once unthinkable has become routine.

Americans are being conditioned to accept constant monitoring as the price of safety. That resistance is suspicious. That anonymity is dangerous.

Yet history teaches us the opposite: societies that normalize surveillance do not become safer—they become more authoritarian.

A government that sees everything, everywhere, all the time, will eventually control everything.

The Founders understood this. That is why they enshrined protections against unreasonable searches and unchecked power. They knew liberty couldn’t survive under constant surveillance.

When the government knows where you go, what you buy, what you say, who you associate with, and what you believe, freedom becomes conditional.

This Christmas, we might joke about Santa watching from the North Pole, but we should be far more concerned about the watchers much closer to home.

The surveillance state doesn’t take a holiday. It doesn’t sleep. It doesn’t forget. And it doesn’t forgive easily.

So you see, the question is not whether we are being watched. We are.

The question, as I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, is whether we will continue to accept a system that treats every citizen as a suspect—and whether we will reclaim the constitutional limits that once stood between liberty and the all-seeing state.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ZeroHedge.

Tyler Durden Tue, 12/23/2025 - 23:25

Colorado Faces Federal Funding Cut Over Issuance Of Commercial Driver's Licenses To Illegals

The state of Colorado could lose up to $24 million in federal highway funding due to the state’s slow response to violations involving the issuance of commercial driver’s licenses (CDL) to noncitizens, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced on Monday.

The warning stems from an October federal audit demonstrating that approximately 22 percent of Colorado’s CDLs given to non-citizens, including Mexican nationals, violated federal prohibitions.

“Every day that goes by is another day unqualified, unvetted foreign truckers are jeopardizing the safety of you and your family,” Duffy said in a statement.

Duffy accused the state of delaying an in-depth internal review, full driver accounting and revocations, despite federal compliance alerts.

However, as Kimberley Hayek reports below for The Epoch Times, beyond the funding freeze, Duffy also warned the department could decertify Colorado’s full CDL program if the state does not meet requirements.

Colorado’s Division of Motor Vehicles paused new issuances and renewals of limited-term non-domiciled CDLs and learner permits last week, saying it will continue to do so until an audit confirms that U.S. standards are being met.

Duffy has moved nationwide to enforce CDL qualifications for hauling heavy loads or passengers. A summer audit expanded after an unauthorized foreign driver in Florida made an illegal U-turn and crashed, killing three.

Federal rules mandate an immigration status check before licensing. Audits uncovered lapses in such verifications across states.

New York received a 30-day ultimatum Dec. 12 to align with nondomiciled CDL rules or lose funding, with Duffy saying that 53 percent of its such licenses were improperly issued. The state’s DMV disputed the figures as fabricated.

In California, Duffy froze $160 million in October for widespread noncitizen licensing, and threatened to rescind issuance authority if Gov. Gavin Newsom defies emergency directives to halt and audit them. Since then, California has revoked approximately 21,000 CDLs.

Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Texas, and South Dakota have faced similar scrutiny. A June FMCSA investigation found noncompliance in California, Colorado, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, and Washington, prompting tightened non-domiciled CDL eligibility.

Almost 3,000 CDL providers were delisted from the federal registry Dec. 2 for illegal practices, with 4,500 more receiving warnings. Per reviews, approximately half of U.S. truck schools fail federal standards.

Recent incidents highlight the issue, including a deadly crash in Tennessee that was allegedly caused by an illegal immigrant from China who was allowed to illegally obtain a CDL.

The administration revoked the privileges of 9,500 drivers Dec. 11 for failing in their English proficiency, including cases from Washington and California.

American truckers have applauded the crackdown on noncitizen CDL licensing.

“My response is absolutely we can handle it because [unqualified foreign drivers] shouldn’t be on the road to begin with,” John Esparza, president and CEO of the Texas Trucking Association, told The Epoch Times last week.

Tyler Durden Tue, 12/23/2025 - 23:00

After Decades Of Dismissal, Chronic Lyme Disease Is Now Getting Recognized

Authored by Cara Michelle Miller via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

“Like a human hockey puck”—that’s how Nikki Schultek describes a year spent ricocheting between specialists in Connecticut, each focused on one piece of her deteriorating health—bladder pain, neurological symptoms, joint pain—while missing the whole picture.

24K-Production/Shutterstock

“I really don’t fault the clinicians,” she told The Epoch Times. “The training hones them to be experts in a domain.”

After her odyssey of misdiagnoses, Schultek finally received a correct diagnosis of Lyme disease. However, her experience navigating a fragmented health care system brought her to Washington on Dec. 15, where Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. convened a rare federal roundtable addressing what he called long-standing failures in how the disease is diagnosed, studied, and treated.

“Lyme disease is an example of a chronic disease that has long been dismissed, with patients receiving inadequate care,” Kennedy said at the event. “I want to announce that the gaslighting of Lyme patients is over.”

The Medical Divide

Schultek’s story echoes those of many patients whose months—or years—of fatigue, pain, neurological symptoms, and cognitive problems, after undergoing a battery of tests, are eventually traced back to that one tick bite that infected them with Lyme disease.

Persistent symptoms from Lyme disease are both difficult to diagnose and treat, in part because health agencies, mainstream medicine, researchers, and patients disagree about what is causing the debilitating constellation of symptoms.

The roundtable brought together patients, clinicians, researchers, and advocates to discuss what many describe as long-standing failures in how Lyme disease is diagnosed, studied, and treated. At stake is not just terminology, but access to care.

Lyme disease is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi and is spread through deer tick bites, most commonly in the Northeast, mid-Atlantic, and upper Midwest. Early symptoms can include fever, headache, and a characteristic rash, and around 90 percent of cases are successfully treated with a few weeks of antibiotics.

However, for about 10 percent of patients, like Schultek, symptoms such as fatigue, joint and muscle pain, and cognitive difficulties persist after antibiotic therapy.

“The cause of this is poorly understood,” Durland Fish, a professor emeritus of epidemiology at Yale School of Public Health who attended the roundtable, told The Epoch Times in an email. “But similar phenomena occur with other conditions, such as long COVID and chronic fatigue syndrome.”

The medical divide occurs here: Mainstream medicine, including federal health agencies, refers to persistent symptoms after treatment as post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome, or PTLDS, believing the symptoms are caused by lasting damage or an immune reaction to the initial infection.

For this reason, these institutions discourage the use of the term “chronic Lyme disease,” which implies that Borrelia bugdorferi bacteria remain in the body. They also discourage long-term antibiotic treatment for these patients, citing the risk of serious side effects.

“Chronic Lyme disease usually presumes that infection persists after therapy,” Fish said.

However, patients with persistent symptoms often prefer the term “chronic Lyme,” as they believe it better captures the ongoing nature of their illness. Many also developed symptoms without ever being treated for acute Lyme infection, making the PTLDS label less applicable to their experience.

Some are also open to the possibility of a persistent Lyme infection, noting that their symptoms improve temporarily with antibiotics.

“The central misunderstanding is the false assumption that persistent symptoms reflect a single, uniform condition with a single explanation,” said Dr. Amy Offutt, a physician who treats patients with complex Lyme disease and serves on the board of the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society, in an email to The Epoch Times.

Complexity on the Front Lines

Disagreement over whether persistent symptoms are caused by chronic Lyme disease or PTLDS makes it difficult for patients to get the treatment they need.

While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and the American Academy of Neurology discourage antibiotic treatment beyond 28 days after initial infection, the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society, which specializes in treating Lyme disease, encourages a more flexible approach depending on patient needs.

“Chronic Lyme disease and related conditions require highly individualized, patient-centered care due to their variable, multisystem nature,” Offutt said.

Complicating matters further, Lyme disease is notoriously difficult to diagnose. Many patients spend years seeking answers and are sometimes referred for psychiatric evaluation when laboratory tests appear normal.

Standard tests do not directly detect Lyme bacteria. Instead, they measure whether the patient has developed antibodies to the infection. This approach can miss early cases, and some patients initially test negative only to receive a positive result years later.

Better Diagnosis

As scientific debate continues over the causes and treatment of persistent Lyme symptoms, roundtable participants found common ground on one point.

“The most meaningful outcome of the roundtable was a strong consensus on the importance of diagnosis,” Fish said.

Schultek, now a Board Member with the ILADEF (ILADS Education Foundation), was at one point evaluated for multiple sclerosis—an experience that underscored how difficult Lyme-related illness can be to diagnose when symptoms span multiple body systems.

Better diagnostic tools, researchers said, could prevent patients from falling into prolonged medical gray zones and may help clarify why symptoms persist in some cases but not others.

For Schultek and other patients who attended the roundtable, the meeting carried emotional weight beyond policy debates.

Hearing persistent Lyme symptoms discussed seriously by researchers and clinicians—and knowing that rigorous studies are underway to measure cognitive, neurological, and other multisystem effects—offered a rare sense of recognition.

“Hearing those words, I had goosebumps,” said Schultek, who founded the Intracell Research Group to explore how infections contribute to complex chronic conditions such as Lyme disease. “It felt unbelievably validating. I feel more hope than I have in a decade.”

Offutt said that hope matters—even without immediate changes to treatment guidelines.

“Federal engagement signals a willingness to acknowledge uncertainty and complexity,” she said. “That’s an essential first step toward improving outcomes.”

The roundtable did not resolve the science. However, for patients long caught between disputed definitions and unanswered questions, it marked something that has often been missing: recognition that uncertainty itself can be harmful—and that listening may be the beginning of better care.

Tyler Durden Tue, 12/23/2025 - 22:35

DOJ Sues DC Over 'Unconstitutional' Ban On AR-15, Other Firearms

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) is suing the District of Columbia over its ban on the popular AR-15 and "many other firearms protected under the Second Amendment." 

Photo: Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images

In announcing the lawsuit, the DOJ called DC's move an "unconstitutional incursion into the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens seeking to own protected firearms for lawful purposes." 

The lawsuit cites District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) and New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen (2022), which protects the right of law-abiding citizens to possess firearms “in common use today” for lawful purposes, especially self-defense in the home, and claims that DC has established a “pattern and practice” of ignoring Heller.

DC law criminalizes possession of any unregistered firearm and categorically prohibits registration of many semi-automatic rifles (including the AR-15 platform), pistols, and shotguns defined as “assault weapons” based primarily on cosmetic features (e.g., threaded barrels, pistol grips) rather than function or firing mechanism.

"D.C. Defendants have engaged, and continue to engage, in a pattern or practice of conduct by law enforcement officers that deprives people of rights secured and protected by the Constitution,"

Attorney Generl Pam Bondi said in a statement that geography doesn't determine which constitutional rights are protected. 

"Washington, D.C.’s ban on some of America’s most popular firearms is an unconstitutional infringement on the Second Amendment—living in our nation’s capital should not preclude law-abiding citizens from exercising their fundamental constitutional right to keep and bear arms," she stated. 

As the Epoch Times notes further, according to the Metropolitan Police Department website, banned firearms include sawed-off shotguns, machine guns, short-barreled rifles, .50 caliber BMG rifles, “assault weapons” as defined by D.C. Code, and guns deemed unsafe by the Firearms Regulation Act of 2008.

The District also draws on lists of guns allowed in California, Massachusetts, and Maryland to determine which guns are considered safe in the nation’s capital.

DOJ officials say the lawsuit is part of the department refocusing on the Second Amendment as a civil right.

“The newly established Second Amendment Section filed this lawsuit to ensure that the very rights D.C. resident Mr. Heller secured 17 years ago are enforced today—and that all law-abiding citizens seeking to own protected firearms for lawful purposes may do so,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon stated in the online announcement.

Second Amendment activists hailed the lawsuit as another turning point in the public gun debate.

Different Administrations

“This lawsuit shows the night and day difference between this administration and the previous one that attacked the right to keep and Bear arms at every turn,” Alan Gottlieb, executive vice president of the Second Amendment Foundation, wrote in an email to The Epoch Times.

An official with the National Rifle Association (NRA) agreed.

“For far too long, progressive politicians have been allowed to flout settled case-law and directives from the Supreme Court. It is high time these unconstitutional laws are challenged, and the rights of lawful citizens are returned,” John Commerford, NRA Institute for Legislative Action executive director, wrote in an email to The Epoch Times.

Dick Heller, plaintiff in the Supreme Court case Heller v. District of Columbia, gestures while holding his newly approved gun permit at the District of Columbia Police Department on Aug. 18, 2008. Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Gun control organizations did not respond to requests for comment for this story by publication time. However, they have been highly critical of the Trump administration’s reversal of several of the Biden administration’s policies.

The DOJ sued the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department last September for allegedly denying residents’ Second Amendment rights through an inordinately long concealed weapons permit application process.

Bondi said the establishment of the Second Amendment Section and the subsequent legal actions are all part of the Trump Administration’s “ironclad commitment to protecting the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans.”

On Feb. 7, 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing Bondi to “examine all orders, regulations, guidance, plans, international agreements, and other actions of executive departments and agencies ... to assess any ongoing infringements of the Second Amendment rights of our citizens.”

Trump also ordered Bondi to address any issues she found.

Tyler Durden Tue, 12/23/2025 - 22:10

Amb Huckabee: Iran "Didn't Get The Full Message"

Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said on Monday that Iran "didn’t get the full message" following the US airstrikes that targeted Iranian nuclear facilities in June, comments that came as Israel is pushing for the US to support another attack on the country.

"Iran, I don’t know if they ever took [President Trump] seriously until the night that the B-2 bombers went to Fordow," Huckabee said in an interview with Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, referring to one of the underground Iranian nuclear facilities bombed by the US.

"I hope they got the message, but apparently they didn’t get the full message because … they appear to be trying to reconstitute and find a new way to dig the hole deeper, secure it more," Huckabee added, referring to reports that say there’s been activity at the bombed nuclear sites.

Source: Israel National News

Huckabee made the comments when asked if the US would support another attack on Iran if Israel determined "further military action was necessary" based on Iran’s work on its civilian nuclear program and ballistic missile program.

According to a report from NBC News, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will ask President Trump to back another attack on Iran over Israeli concerns about Iran's ballistic missiles, which were effective at striking Israeli territory during the 12-Day War.

"It’s hard for me to tell you what the US would do because that’s a policy decision that’ll be made at the White House," Huckabee said. "All I can do is point to you what the president has said repeatedly, and he consistently has said Iran is never going to enrich uranium."

Since the ceasefire that ended the US-Israeli war on Iran, President Trump has repeatedly threatened to bomb Iran again if it resumes enriching uranium. Earlier this month, he also suggested that he could "obliterate" Iran’s ballistic missiles. "We can knock out their missiles very quickly. We have great power," Trump said.

For its part, Iran has said its uranium enrichment has been halted by the US bombing campaign, but it has vowed to restart the program, framing it as a matter of national pride, while maintaining its policy that it will never pursue a nuclear weapon.

Iran has also rejected the idea of entering a deal with the US that requires limits on its ballistic missile program since its missiles are its only way to deter Israel and the US.

Tyler Durden Tue, 12/23/2025 - 21:45

Sexting Banned In China? Beijing Stiffens Penalties For Sharing "Obscene" Material

China is tightening its grip on digital content with a new rule banning the sharing of “obscene” material in private online messages, a move that could capture consensual adult exchanges like sexting and further blur the lines between public morality and personal privacy.

(Pretend that's in Mandarin)

Effective January 1, the revised regulations also stiffen penalties for disseminating pornographic content, allowing authorities to impose 10- to 15-day detentions and fines of up to roughly $700 - up from a prior ceiling of about $420.

Washington Post reports:

While the revision will target the dissemination of pornography and exploitative images — which are also strictly regulated in countries including the United States — it may also mean that consensual sexting could also be dragged into China’s legal system. It will cover messages sent on WeChat, the ubiquitous Chinese social media app, and will particularly target cases involving minors, state media reported Tuesday.

The announcement comes after a controversy this summer about explicit content circulating online. Chinese state media reported in July that a chat group on Telegram called “MaskPark” was distributing sexually explicit photos of women taken without their consent — with hidden cameras or in intimate settings. The exposé of the group, which reportedly had more than 100,000 members comprised mostly of Chinese men, prompted uproar online — with discussions focusing on deeply entrenched issues of sexism in Chinese society.

Rose Luqiu, a Chinese internet expert at Hong Kong Baptist University, described the changes to the Post as a “positive development” for shielding minors, though she noted the rules’ scope may prove “very broad” and open to “excessive interpretations” by enforcers. “This raises concerns about whether it could lead to public power intruding into individuals’ private lives,” Luqiu said.

The measures fit into a wider push to sanitize China's internet landscape.

In September, the Cyberspace Administration of China kicked off a two-month sweep targeting posts that stir "violent or hostile sentiment,""hostility and conflict," or "world-weariness"—explicitly encompassing gloomy economic commentary, the BBC reported at the time. That effort carried into December, with Shanghai regulators deleting over 40,000 posts and sanctioning more than 70,000 real estate-linked accounts and livestreams for alleged doom-mongering in the struggling housing market, according to Reuters. Authorities cast these actions as vital for social stability and countering misinformation, even as analysts see them as part of an accelerating drive to mute frank debate on China's economic slowdown and property woes.

Some experts argue that China's ever-tightening restrictions on free speech represent a flawed strategy—one that amounts to wishful thinking by attempting to suppress discussion of the country's deep-seated economic and social challenges rather than addressing them directly.

"If anything, contemporary Chinese history has repeatedly demonstrated that top-down ideological campaigns can hardly eradicate the social roots of problems," Simon Sihang Luo, an assistant professor of social sciences at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, told the BBC. "Even with a powerful government like the Chinese one, it is hard to arrest pessimist sentiments when the economy looks bleak, the job market is cruelly competitive, and birth rate hits rock bottom."

Tyler Durden Tue, 12/23/2025 - 21:20

Pentagon Partners With xAI Service For Military's Growing Artificial Intelligence Toolset

Authored by Ryan Morgan via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The U.S. military is set to expand its artificial intelligence (AI) toolset in a new partnership with Elon Musk’s xAI service.

The xAI and Grok logos are seen in an illustration photo on Feb. 16, 2025. Dado Ruvic/Reuters

Musk’s xAI service owns the Grok family of generative AI chatbots, which are available on the X social media platform. Those Grok-based models are now set to join the military’s GenAI.mil platform of artificial intelligence tools, which the Pentagon launched earlier this month.

The xAI models will integrate with GenAI.mil in early 2026, according to a Dec. 22 Pentagon press statement.

The Pentagon said xAI’s models will allow both uniformed and civilian personnel within the Department of War to securely handle so-called controlled unclassified information in their daily workflows. The term “controlled unclassified information” describes materials that are not considered classified, but which are not marked for public release.

“Users will also gain access to real‑time global insights from the X platform, providing War Department personnel with a decisive information advantage,” the Pentagon said in a statement.

On Dec. 9, the Pentagon announced the launch of GenAI.mil as the central platform for onboarding different artificial intelligence models and capabilities into the military’s various workflows. This artificial intelligence platform launched with Google’s Gemini for Government AI service, but the Pentagon said from the start that it planned for “several frontier AI capabilities to be housed on GenAI.mil.”

At launch, GenAI.mil was made available for desktops used at the Pentagon and across military installations around the world.

“The War Department will continue scaling an AI ecosystem built for speed, security, and decision superiority,” the Pentagon said Monday.

Artificial intelligence was one of six critical technologies identified by the Pentagon last month, alongside quantum computing, biomanufacturing, directed energy weapons, hypersonic weapons, and innovations for conducting logistical operations in contested spaces.

“We are pushing all of our chips in on artificial intelligence as a fighting force. The Department is tapping into America’s commercial genius, and we’re embedding generative AI into our daily battle rhythm,” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said earlier this month.

In a company statement on Monday, xAI described its venture with the Pentagon as a long-term partnership.

“In addition to Enterprise use cases, xAI is bringing the power of Frontier AI and real-time insights directly to the warfighter,” the company said. “Through an ongoing, long-term partnership with the DoW and other mission partners, xAI will make available a family of government-optimized foundation models to support classified operational workloads.”

This summer, the Pentagon awarded contracts to xAI, Google, Anthropic, and OpenAI to develop artificial intelligence capabilities for the military. Those contracts each came with a $200 million ceiling.

Tyler Durden Tue, 12/23/2025 - 20:55

Which Countries Export The Most Christmas Decorations?

Christmas decorations are a global business, with supply chains that stretch across continents well before the holiday season begins. From ornaments and lights to artificial trees and festive displays, most of these products are manufactured and shipped months in advance.

This graphic, via Visual Capitalist's Niccolo Conte, highlights the world’s largest exporters of Christmas decorations in 2024.

The data for this visualization comes from UN Comtrade via Statista.

China’s Overwhelming Lead

China is by far the world’s largest exporter of Christmas decorations. In 2024, it shipped $5.97 billion worth of festive goods globally. This figure is more than 20 times larger than that of the second-ranked exporter.

China’s dominance reflects its massive manufacturing base, cost efficiencies, and deep integration into global retail supply chains. For many countries, Christmas decorations are almost synonymous with Chinese production.

Europe’s Specialized Exporters

The Netherlands ranks second, exporting roughly $249 million in Christmas decorations. While small compared to China, the country acts as a key logistics and re-export hub within Europe.

Germany, Poland, France, and Denmark also appear among the top exporters. These countries often focus on higher-quality or niche products, including premium ornaments, lighting, and traditional designs that cater to European and North American markets.

Rising Asian and Regional Suppliers

Beyond China, several Asian countries play growing roles in this market. India exported $117 million worth of Christmas decorations in 2024, while Cambodia shipped about $103 million. These countries are increasingly attractive to manufacturers looking to diversify supply chains.

Mexico and the U.S. also appear in the top 10, reflecting regional production aimed at serving nearby markets more efficiently and reducing shipping times.

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out The World’s Biggest Importers in 2024 on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.

Tyler Durden Tue, 12/23/2025 - 20:30

Note: Mortgage rates are from MortgageNewsDaily.com and are for top tier scenarios.

Wednesday:
• At 7:00 AM ET, The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) will release the results for the mortgage purchase applications index.

• At 8:30 AM, The initial weekly unemployment claims report will be released.  The consensus is for 225,000 initial claims, up from 224,000 last week.

NOTE: The NYSE and the NASDAQ will close early at 1:00 PM ET.

Counting Our Energy Blessings During This Season Of Hope

Authored by Gary Abernathy of the Empowerment Alliance via RealClearEnergy,

The Christmas season is upon us, a time of year when many of us reflect on the year that is drawing to a close and on the good times, the sad times, and the challenges ahead. It’s also a time of year when we count our blessings and express gratitude for any good things that have come our way.

While some may realize it more than others, all Americans should be grateful for one thing most of us tend to take for granted – light that appears in the rooms of our homes at the flick of a switch, heat that emanates through our floorboard vents or radiators by merely increasing the number on a dial or a digital pad, cars, SUVs and trucks that start with the turn of a key or the push of a button.

All these modern conveniences are made possible for even low-income Americans thanks to energy that is affordable and widely accessible.

In this increasingly diverse and often divided society in which we live, all Americans are united by access to low-cost, effective energy. We have been blessed for so long by affordable energy that we are sometimes in danger of taking it for granted.

But without the change in presidential administrations that happened last January – and with it the blessings of lowered inflation, a return to free-market principles and, especially, regulatory rollbacks (more on that shortly) – Americans could have been facing a much bleaker winter this Christmas season.

Under the Biden administration, inflation averaged nearly 5%, “hitting 9.1% during the worst inflation crisis in decades,” the White House recently pointed out. In the new Trump administration, inflation has dropped to an average of 2.7%, and “Americans have seen the first overall price decline since 2020.”

Even more impressively, the skyrocketing gas prices experienced under the Biden regime have thankfully been dramatically reversed. Americans “now see the lowest average gas price in more than four years and are on track to spend the lowest amount of their disposable income on gas in the last two decades.”

While energy costs remain relatively low compared to other rising costs, the Trump administration is working to tame electricity prices which began climbing in 2022 under the Biden administration.

One analysis showed that “from March 2022 to June 2025, average monthly energy bills rose from $196 to $265 – a 35 percent jump, or nearly three times overall inflation during that period.” Trump’s reversal of Biden subsidies and incentives that artificially propped up “alternatives” like wind and solar will begin to reap dividends in the coming months and years. The new administration’s fast-track permitting process for new exploration will supercharge our most abundant and reliable legacy resources, driving energy costs down.

But while politicians and pundits seem focused on “prices” as a measure of “affordability,” the long list of regulatory rollbacks in which the Trump administration has engaged will be the real catalyst leading to a more affordable life in the U.S.

Trump’s deregulatory efforts “are saving Americans a collective $180 billion — or $2,100 per family of four,” the White House notes. “For example, President Trump halted burdensome Biden-era efficiency standards that jacked up the price of everyday appliances.”

Earlier this month, in an announcement that did not get the attention it deserved, President Trump unveiled relaxed fuel economy standards “for the more than 15 million new cars and trucks sold in the country every year,” as the Detroit News reported.

“The plan, if finalized, would slash fuel economy requirements through the 2031 model year, to about a fleetwide average for light-duty vehicles of roughly 34.5 miles per gallon, down from roughly 50 miles per gallon under the current rules,” the story noted.

Administration officials rightfully said that “the new standards would increase consumers’ access to a wider range of affordable gas-powered vehicles and help hold down new car prices.”

“Today’s a victory of common sense and affordability,” said Jim Farley, CEO of Ford Motor Company, who joined Trump at that Oval Office announcement. It was great news for everyone who loves their dependable gas-powered cars, SUVs and trucks.

It’s impossible to overstate the scope of the catastrophe that has been averted by dismantling the disastrous energy policies of the previous administration. If the Biden-era subsidies, mandates and penalties had continued, Americans would likely be facing a much bleaker holiday season, not to mention the cold-weather months that follow for much of the country.

The gift of energy policies that promote affordability, accessibility and commonsense emission standards should be high on the wish list of every American family.

While this Christmas may be too soon upon us to expect delivery of such a present, passage of the Affordable, Reliable, Clean Energy Security act (ARC-ES) introduced in October by Rep. Troy Balderson (R-OH) would make the perfect gift from Congress and President Trump to all 340 million Americans in conjunction with America’s 250th birthday on July 4, 2026.

ARC-ES would codify low-cost, accessible energy into law, protecting energy security from the radical political whims of future far-left administrations. In this season of hope, wishing for such a gift in the next six months should not require a Christmas miracle – merely the will of our elected representatives in Washington to do the right thing.

“May your days be merry and bright,” Bing Crosby sings in “White Christmas” – merry because of the holiday, bright thanks to low-cost energy that is there when we need it. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Gary Abernathy is a longtime newspaper editor, reporter and columnist. He was a contributing columnist for the Washington Post from 2017-2023 and a frequent guest analyst across numerous media platforms. He is a contributing columnist for The Empowerment Alliance, which advocates for realistic approaches to energy consumption and environmental conservation.

Tyler Durden Tue, 12/23/2025 - 18:25

Judge Allows Abrego Garcia To Remain Free While She Considers Immigration Issues

A U.S. District Judge overseeing a lawsuit by Salvadoran national Kilmar Abrego Garcia against the Trump administration allowed him to remain free from custody while she assesses whether the government can validly remove him from the country.

Judge Paula Xinis of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, based in Greenbelt outside of Washington, D.C., said that she was “growing ... impatient” with the government’s attorneys, who are arguing that Abrego Garcia’s summary removal from the country to El Salvador on March 15—pursuant to President Donald Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798—was justified.

As Arjun Singh reports for The Epoch Times, Abrego Garcia, 30, entered the United States illegally as a teenager.

He had been granted, in 2019, a “Withholding of Removal” order by an Immigration Court, which prevents an alien who is otherwise deportable from being removed from the country, due to the finding of a credible fear for his life.

Thereafter, he lived in Maryland for six years, during which time he married a U.S. citizen and fathered a U.S. citizen child.

The Trump administration removed Abrego Garcia in March, stating that he is an “MS-13 gang member with a history of violence,” which he and his lawyers denied.

Democrats and progressive groups criticized the removal of Abrego Garcia in spite of the 2019 court order.

The administration said the removal was an “administrative error.”

“Why should I give the respondents the benefit of the doubt?” Xinis said during a hearing in the case on Dec. 22.

Xinis had issued a writ of habeas corpus—a constitutional remedy to release someone from government custody—to Abrego Garcia on Dec. 11, which freed him from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody, and then issued a restraining order to the agency to bar it from re-taking him into custody on other grounds.

On Dec. 22, Xinis denied the government’s request to rescind that order.

“This is an extremely irregular and extraordinary situation,” Xinis said during the hearing.

Abrego Garcia also faces criminal charges in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee for conspiracy to unlawfully transport illegal aliens and related smuggling offenses stemming from a 2022 traffic stop.

A federal grand jury indicted him on May 21, 2025, after which the Trump administration repatriated him from El Salvador, his native country, on June 6 to face those charges.

Any proceeding to remove him from the country would occur in a civil Immigration Court, created for the purpose of adjudicating removal cases, and would be subordinate to the ongoing criminal case in Tennessee. Xinis has prioritized resolving the civil habeas corpus case in Maryland before allowing Abrego Garcia’s re-detention for removal.

The Trump administration has been ramping up deportations of illegal immigrants, prioritizing those with a criminal record.

Critics of federal immigration enforcement have been protesting in support of Abrego Garcia. Outside the hearing on Dec. 22, which he attended, supporters cheered for him while a choir sang, accompanied by bullhorn and drum.

Abrego Garcia’s case, on interlocutory appeal, also reached the Supreme Court, which on April 10 ruled to grant in part and deny in part an application to vacate Xinis’s order, vacating the return deadline but requiring the government to facilitate his release from custody in El Salvador and process his case as if not improperly removed.

Tyler Durden Tue, 12/23/2025 - 18:00

California: Taxing People Who Aren't There

Authored by Mike McDaniel via AmericanThinker.com,

As the old aphorism goes: “Don’t tax you; don’t tax me. Tax that fellow behind the tree.” Nobody likes paying taxes, but most Americans accept them as a necessary evil and are willing to pay their fair share, unless politicians waste those tax dollars in extraordinarily—well—wasteful ways, or steal them outright.

I refer, of course, to California, where, as the classic Eagle’s song Hotel California goes: “You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave.”

California, it’s no secret, is in deep financial trouble. In 2022, Gavin Newsom bragged about a $97.5 billion dollar surplus. By the 2024-25 budget, that surplus turned into an estimated $73 billion deficit. By the end of 2025, it’s likely far worse and virtually no one trusts state government’s estimates.

Graphic: X Post

A substantial part of the problem has been grotesque government overspending and fraud that reportedly makes Minnesota’s fraud totals look like couch cushion change. Newsom’s high-speed-rail-to-nowhere debacle hasn’t helped. And worse, Americans get to vote with their feet and U-Hauls. California is losing a taxpayer every one minute and 44 seconds of every day. This includes billionaires, of which California used to have a reasonably large supply.

What to do; what to do? Newsom and the one-party Democrat legislature know: retroactively tax fleeing billionaires!

California Democrats are pushing the retroactive billionaire tax targeting the roughly 220 billionaires residing in California in 2025. It signals not just desperation in the face of crippling debt and overspending but a recognition that California is chasing its highest earners out of the state.

The “2026 Billionaires Tax Act” would impose a one-time 5% tax on individual wealth exceeding $1 billion. While technically using 2026 wealth figures, it would apply to billionaires who resided in California in 2025. So you cannot hope to flee… at least with your wealth intact. It is a penalty for those who stayed too long hoping that rational minds would prevail in California.

Democrats have long whined that the rich weren’t “paying their fair share.” Make the rich pay what they owe and our budget problems, state and federal, will disappear, they claim. It’s a topic Bill Whittle addressed in a classic video titled: “Eat the Rich!”    Whittle, step by step, explored taking all the assets of the wealthy to fund one year of the federal government, and by that mechanism barely manages to do it, but points out that money covered—barely—a single year. All the assets of the wealthy are gone, every penny. From where—who—will the money to cover next year’s bills come? A one-time billionaire tax suddenly becomes eternal.

Californians can be certain if California gets away with a retroactive tax on billionaires, they’ll surely extend it to millionaires and then everyone else, and so will other blue states. But how does that work? How can a state tax people who don’t live there any more?

George Washington Law Professor Jonathan Turley explains:

The constitutionality of a retroactive tax has long been controversial. In Landgraf v. USI Film Products (1994), the Supreme Court declared “the presumption against retroactive legislation is deeply rooted in our jurisprudence… [e]lementary considerations of fairness dictate that individuals should have an opportunity to know what the law is and conform their conduct accordingly; settled expectations should not be lightly disrupted.”

Turley goes on to note several other Supreme Court decisions coming down on both sides of a bright line. And at Legal Insurrection, Mary Chastain notes that presidential candidate Gavin Newsom may have had a change of heart: 

Dan Newman, a political adviser opposing the campaign to tax billionaires, said Newsom is against a plan to slap a one-time, 5% tax on roughly 200 Californians worth more than $1 billion to “replace lost federal dollars and protect essential services,” as described by the campaign’s website.

That’s a tough one for Newsom. On one hand the financial disaster he’s made of California is likely to figuratively kill him in a presidential race. On the other, if he does decide to run, and he wouldn’t lie about a thing like whether or not he’s already made that decision, he’s going to need every billionaire buck he can find. Fleecing them after they’ve fled the state isn’t going to fill his campaign coffers.

Maybe Newsom won’t get the chance to do to America what he’s done to California after all—but he just might.

Tyler Durden Tue, 12/23/2025 - 17:40

US Moves Special Operations Aircraft Near Venezuela: 'Prepositioning For Action'

"They are prepositioning forces to take action," David Deptula, a retired Air Force lieutenant general and dean of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, told The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday of the ongoing US forces build-up in the southern Caribbean. 

The WSJ commentary further assessed that "The movement of such assets indicates that the administration already has decided on a course of action" - though with President Trump it's currently anyone's guess as to precisely what that course of action will be.

Illustrative Air Force file image.

The report unveils that a fresh and large number of special-operations aircraft, troops and equipment have surged into the Caribbean this week, over and above the significant amount of assets - including warships and a nuclear powered aircraft carrier - which have already been in place for months.

The additional groups deployed included special forces, described in the following:

At least 10 CV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, which are used by special-operations forces, flew into the region Monday night from Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico, according to an official. C-17 cargo aircraft from Fort Stewart and Fort Campbell Army bases arrived Monday in Puerto Rico, according to flight-tracking data. A different U.S. official confirmed that military personnel and equipment were transported on planes.

It isn’t clear what types of troops and equipment the aircraft were transporting. Cannon is home to the 27th Special Operations Wing, while the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, an elite U.S. special operations unit, and the 101st Airborne Division are based at Fort Campbell. The first battalion of the 75th Ranger Regiment is based at Hunter Army Airfield, at Fort Stewart.

An official statement from the US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) negated to give specifics on the new units reportedly moving closer to Venezuela, but downplayed the movements as routine and standard.

"It is standard practice to routinely rotate equipment and personnel to any military installation," said a SOUTHCOM spokesperson to WSJ. "And as a standard practice, due to operational security concerns, we do not disclose details or comment on U.S. assets or personnel operational movements and activities, nor disclose details of specific operations or routes."

Currently there's a lot of signaling from Washington, and the purpose of such stories as WSJ's may be to continue instilling fear in Venezuela's President Maduro. Of course, the White House is not going to push back at this moment on anything which touts the real threat facing Caracas. The US wants the government to feel the heat and pressure.

Meanwhile...

Venezuela's military distributing rifles to the people in working-class districts. These militias will form an armed resistance to defend their nation if the US tries to occupy the country. pic.twitter.com/GCn0M3E8Fi

— Ollie Vargas (@Ollie_Vargas_) December 21, 2025

But the endgame remains unknown, and there's been a good degree of confusion over this - given how long the Pentagon build-up has dragged on. Also given the Ford Carrier Group is positioned near Venezuela, the clock is ticking, and such a deployment is very costly which each passing day.

Tyler Durden Tue, 12/23/2025 - 17:20

A Christmas Gift To The War Machine

Authored by Ron Paul

Late last week, Congress passed and President Trump signed the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The bill marks the first time the US military budget officially passed the one trillion dollar mark. Of course, when you add in other military-related spending such as interest on the debt, veterans’ affairs, and military components of other government agencies, the true number is at least one and a half times that amount.

To paraphrase the famous 1953 President Eisenhower speech, "The Chance for Peace," each of these dollars spent on military offense and the maintenance of the US global empire rather than on defense of our own nation is taken from the mouths of the hungry and off the backs of hardworking American families.

Congress is so addicted to military spending that they appropriated even more money than President Trump requested, including an unconscionable $800 million for thoroughly corrupt Ukraine. Will Washington ever be called to answer for why Americans, who are seeing their standard of living eaten away by inflation and a declining economy, should continue to subsidize a criminal regime overseas whose ruling class enjoys the comfort of golden toilets?

The Ukraine money also undermines President Trump’s claim to be a neutral mediator in the conflict. How can you be a peacemaker when you are sending nearly a billion dollars in weapons to one side to help kill the other side? It makes no sense.

Congress even included measures in the bill that would prevent President Trump from bringing any US troops home from real “forever wars” in Korea and Europe. For how many more decades must the American worker continue to subsidize a US military presence in countries completely unrelated to our own security? World War II ended 80 years ago and the Korean war some ten years later. Yet the American military empire remains, at an incalculable cost to Americans.

Some fellow critics will say this is all about welfare for rich countries overseas, and that’s partly right. But more than that, it is welfare for the politically-connected US military-industrial complex at home. Imagine how many retired US military officers and former US officials-turned-lobbyists might be financially inconvenienced if we finally "just marched home"?

This week Western Christians will celebrate the coming of the Prince of Peace, with the Orthodox celebrating a few days later. It is disheartening that so many Americans who call themselves Christians also hold fast to a view that we must bankrupt our country and impoverish our people by playing policeman to the world and arbiter of whose regime must be changed by Washington.

Christians are among the biggest victims in these overseas operations, including in Syria, Lebanon, and Gaza. Yet many American Christians turn a blind eye to the suffering and misery produced by neocon-led militarism overseas. They don't care that unquestioning support for Israel, for example, has nearly erased Christianity from where it was born.

Imagine if Jesus were born in the Holy Land today.

"Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God." That is the message of the Savior whose birth we Christians celebrate this week. Continuing to bankrupt our country and export misery overseas in the futile pursuit of a global military empire places us in opposition to this worthwhile advice. Let us all join together and work for a real peace in the New Year!

Tyler Durden Tue, 12/23/2025 - 17:00

Supreme Court Rejects Trump Bid To Deploy National Guard In Chicago

The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected Trump's emergency request to allow National Guard troops to be deployed in Chicago, dealing a setback to the admin's attempts to curtail high crime rates in major cities.

The 6-3 decision left in force a judge’s ruling that has blocked the deployment since Oct. 9.

“At this preliminary stage, the government has failed to identify a source of authority that would allow the military to execute the laws in Illinois,” the majority said.

The government hadn’t shown the president could legally “federalize the Guard in the exercise of inherent authority to protect federal personnel and property in Illinois.”

It is an unusual loss on the Supreme Court's emergency docket for the Trump administration.

In more than 20 other emergency appeals this year, the administration has won short-term rulings that allowed Trump to swiftly enact an array of policies that lower courts had blocked.

Justice Samuel Alito dissented from the high court’s ruling Tuesday, saying he had “serious doubts” about the majority’s reasoning.

“The Court fails to explain why the President’s inherent constitutional authority to protect federal officers and property is not sufficient to justify the use of National Guard members in the relevant area for precisely that purpose,” Alito wrote, joined by Justice Clarence Thomas.

Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote a separate dissent, contending that the challengers to the National Guard deployment - the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago - had forfeited the argument about the meaning of "regular forces" by failing to present that issue in the lower courts.

Trump contends military force is needed to protect federal immigration agents from what he claims are violent protests.

The court deliberated over the case for more than two months, an unusually lengthy review for a request that claimed government officials were facing an imminent threat.

Trump told the justices in his Oct. 17 application that troops were needed “to prevent ongoing and intolerable risks to the lives and safety of federal personnel.”

Bloomberg reports that the case marked the high court’s first look at Trump’s fight to dispatch troops to cities where his immigration crackdown has drawn widespread protests.

The ruling means Trump, at least for now, can’t deploy hundreds of troops in the Chicago area.

The case is Trump v. State of Illinois, 25a443.

Tyler Durden Tue, 12/23/2025 - 16:40

How Trump Can Turn The Midterms Around

Authored by John Tillman via RealClearPolitics,

Midterm elections go one of two ways. They’re either a validation of the sitting president, or they’re a repudiation. Historically, they’ve almost always been a repudiation.

The 2026 midterms are shaping up to be no different – a firm rebuke to Donald Trump. That’s obviously bad for him. Congress will spend two straight years investigating and likely impeaching him.

But the bigger danger is to America. Democratic control of Congress will jeopardize Republicans’ efforts to restore an economy of opportunity for all. Worse, the left will lay the groundwork for recapturing the White House in 2028, at which point they’ll implement the most anti-opportunity agenda in American history. We’re talking welfare for all, funded by crippling tax hikes and a federal takeover of a once free economy.

Can Donald Trump turn the midterms around? Only if he, his fellow Republicans, and their allies on the right make immediate changes. If they do, they could stem the losses in November – and maybe even defy the odds to expand their majorities in the House and Senate.

First and foremost: They need to realize that midterms hinge on turnout.

The reason midterms are usually a presidential repudiation is because voters from the other party are more motivated. They feel greater anger and intensity, and they show up. The president’s supporters, meanwhile, usually think they did their job when they elected their man. Why bother showing up again?

If President Trump’s supporters don’t show up, Republican defeat is guaranteed. The most urgent need, therefore, is to invest in a massive get-out-the-vote operation. The GOP needs one the likes of which it’s ever seen.

But such an effort also needs a message – something that resonates with voters and sparks them to action. That’s the second area where change is needed. Because right now, Republicans don’t have any meaningful message at all.

The left certainly does. Democratic politicians, their allies in the media, and their associated army of activists and nonprofits have rallied around a single word: Affordability. They’re tricking voters into thinking that all the inflation and financial pain that Joe Biden caused is really the fault of Donald Trump. The call to action writes itself: If voters want to make ends meet, their only hope is to vote the GOP out.

This message works, but only because Republicans are letting it work. They’re largely silent in the face of Democratic attacks. Worse, in the president’s case, he’s calling affordability a “hoax.” For voters who supported him because of Joe Biden’s inflation, nothing could be worse. It’s tantamount to saying their problems don’t matter.

Republicans must reclaim the economic high ground. They need to relentlessly hammer the point that Joe Biden’s enormous failures will take time to fix. They need to point to the relief they’ve given, especially the tax cuts the president signed in July. Most importantly, they need to lay out a unified agenda that speaks to Americans’ deep concerns, convincing voters that the GOP will in fact make life more affordable.

Crafting that agenda is as much the work of policy wonks as it is public relations. Republicans and their allies should be relentlessly message-testing and focus-grouping to discover not only what policies Americans want, but how to sell the policies that Americans need – in health care, housing, and beyond. This can be done without compromising conservative principles. In fact, it’s essential if those principles have a path to becoming policies.

There’s one more message the GOP needs. It’s not enough to make the positive case for their own priorities. They need to relentlessly remind Americans of the danger posed by Democrats.

This isn’t hard. The return of crippling inflation. The collapse of our borders once again. Higher taxes on the middle class. Republicans have a simple case to make: If voters want all of America to look more like crime-ridden, welfare-defrauding, utterly unaffordable big blue cities, they should vote for Democrats.

Republicans needed these messages yesterday. They needed a turnout operation that was already delivering these messages to the base and undecided voters alike. If they and their allies don’t get their act together before the start of the year, the midterm elections will indeed be a repudiation of Donald Trump. Worse, they’ll put America’s future at risk. The clock is ticking.

Tyler Durden Tue, 12/23/2025 - 16:20

"Winter Isn't Over": NatGas Soars As Another Cold Blast Targets US East

U.S. natural gas futures surged the most since late October as one energy trader warned that "winter isn't over," with another wave of cold air set to spill into the eastern half of the Lower 48 early next week. The upcoming cold blast arrives even as much of the U.S. enjoys a brief warm-up following an early-month polar vortex that plunged large parts of the U.S. East into Arctic-like conditions.

"Winter isn't over yet. Here are forecast anomalies for this time next week showing a large area of unseasonably chilly temperatures across the major population centers of the Eastern US," energy trader Celsius Energy wrote on X.

Winter isn’t over yet. Here are forecast anomalies for this time next week showing a large area of unseasonably chilly temperatures across the major population centers of the Eastern US. #Natgas pic.twitter.com/U1N63JU7tE

— Celsius Energy (@CelsiusEnergyFM) December 23, 2025

Celsius Energy noted, "Near-term #natgas demand will be quite volatile with very bearish daily storage withdrawals under +5 BCF/d through this weekend surging to nearly -30 BCF/d by this time next week, more than double the 5-yr avg. In general, these projections have improved considerably."

Near-term #natgas demand will be quite volatile with very bearish daily storage withdrawals under +5 BCF/d through this weekend surging to nearly -30 BCF/d by this time next week, more than double the 5-yr avg. In general, these projections have improved considerably. pic.twitter.com/lHZQOr5Wxb

— Celsius Energy (@CelsiusEnergyFM) December 23, 2025

By late afternoon Tuesday, NatGas futures are up nearly 10%, the largest intraday jump since October 30's 17% price spike. Prices are trading around $4.365 per MMBtu.

Looking at Heating Degree Days for the Lower 48 - the weather-based measure of US heating demand -the index is projected to surge well above the 30-year average early next week and remain elevated through year-end.

Cold is returning to the eastern half of the Lower 48. Time to stack the firewood and get the gas-powered snowblower ready.

Tyler Durden Tue, 12/23/2025 - 15:45

Top Libyan General Confirmed Killed In Mysterious Private Jet Crash Departing Turkey

Update(1529ET): Tripoli has confirmed that the private jet which went down earlier as it departed Ankara was carrying top military commanders of the Government of National Accord (GNA), which is the Libyan government ruling the western part of the country and supported by Turkey.

Tripoli's Army Chief of Staff Mohammed Ali Ahmed al-Haddad has been confirmed killed in the crash. While Turkey has been slow to confirm details as the wreckage has only within the last hour been located, the GNA has announced the death. Haddad and his officials were coming off a meeting with Turkey's National Defense Minister Yaşar Güler.

Naturally - given the high profile nature of the delegation - there will be questions over whether this was an accident, sabotage, or possible bomb blast. Some initial unconfirmed reports have mentioned an electrical failure. Haddad and the government he represented are bitter enemies of Gen. Khalifa Haftar in eastern Libya, which is supported by Russia. Turkey has been supporting the rulers in Tripoli from the start, soon after longtime ruler Gaddafi was overthrown in the NATO-backed war of 2011.

Footage shows the moment of the private jet crash in Ankara which was carrying Libyan military top brass pic.twitter.com/LmPVlb4Yfd

— Ragıp Soylu (@ragipsoylu) December 23, 2025

Still, Haftar in the wake of the aircraft downing is taking a polite and conciliatory tone, extending his condolences to his rivals...

#BREAKING
Libyan Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar: I express my condolences over the deaths of Lieutenant General Mohammed Ali Al-Haddad, Lieutenant General Al-Faitouri Ghribil, Brigadier General Mohammed Al-Fadhyawi, and their accompanying… pic.twitter.com/yz8JuMO1hp

— Libya Review (@LibyaReview) December 23, 2025

* * *

In what could be the start of a major geopolitical crisis, moments ago Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said in a post on X that contact was lost with the private jet which was carrying Libya’s Army Chief of ⁠Staff, Mohammed Ali Ahmed al-Haddad, and four other passengers. 

The Falcon-50 private jet had just taken off from the Turkish capital of Ankara in direction of Tripoli, Libya.

An emergency landing notification was received from the aircraft, at which point contact with the jet was lost, the Turkish minister added. 

Contact was lost as of 8:52pm local time over the Turkish capital Ankara, broadcaster NTV reported as flight ‍tracking data showed flights being diverted ‍away from ‍Ankara’s ⁠Esenboga airport.

As the following flight map from Flightradar24 shows, the plane was in the air for just a few minutes after take off, having reached an altitude of 32,400 feet when it disappeared from radar. The airplane of Yevgeny Prigozhin, once "Putin's chef" before his fall out with the Russian president, suffered a similar fate when allegedly the plane exploded near cruising altitude after a bomb went off inside of it. 

Turkey's Hurriyet newspaper reports that the country shut down airspace over Ankara after the private jet incident. 

Turkey’s ‌defense ministry had ⁠announced ‍the Libyan chief of staff’s ⁠visit to Ankara earlier this ‌week, saying he had met his Turkish counterpart and other ‍military commanders.

Bloomberg reports that the Dassault Falcon 50 was 37 years old and was operated by Harmony Jets, according to data from FlightRadar24. The aircraft had recently flown into Ankara from Tripoli on Dec. 22.

Haddad as Libya's army "chief of staff" is a reference only to the Tripoli-based GNA (Government of National Accord, or sometimes GNU) - one among several rival governments controlling Libya, but which is backed by the UN and especially Turkey.

However, what can be seen as the most powerful military is the Eastern government, based in Benghazi, led by warlord and general Khalifa Haftar, backed by Russia. Haftar soon after the war to overthrow Gaddafi returned from decades in exile in Virginia, where he lived with his family within a mere miles from CIA headquarters in Langley. Turkey has long been supporting a proxy war in Libya, against Haftar's forces, and against Russian interests.

Tyler Durden Tue, 12/23/2025 - 15:29