HHS freezes all child care funding in Minnesota in response to fraud allegations.

 

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. Politico/AP.

HHS has frozen all federal child care funding in Minnesota in response to serious accusations of fraud in the system. Politico. The move comes as the FBI and Department of Homeland Security are investigating the Democratic leadership in the state and any connection they have to the fraud. 90 people have been arrested for federal fraud charges since 2021 and an independent state audit said that Governor Tim Walz did not "effectively exercise its authority” in response to the fraud. Walz said he was fighting the fraud and blamed President Trump for the issue. 

My Comment:

Things are escalating very quickly in the Minnesota fraud case and Governor Tim Walz will be lucky if he remains governor for much longer. Pulling funding from all of federal child care funding in Minnesota is a major move and one that will have massive repercussions for the state. In short, I don't think Minnesota is going to be able to actually pay for these daycares now and many of them will shut down. 

Supposedly, Minnesota gets about $200 million a year to fund child care from the federal government and now all of that money has been cut off. I doubt Minnesota has that much money just sitting around. $200 million is not something that can just be found in a mattress (unless you are running a Somali day care apparently). This is going to mean that those fake Somali daycares are going to be cut off from funds. 

But it also means that real Minnesota daycares are going to be cut off too. This isn't a great thing, child care costs in Minnesota are among the highest in the country and it means there is going to be a real effect in terms of costs. There are going to be staffing shortages, daycares being shut down and a lot of angry Minnesota parents.

That might be painful, but this kind of fraud absolutely has to be dealt with and heads absolutely have to roll. People are furious about the graft and stolen tax dollars and the one thing the federal government cannot do is just let this issue fester. Cutting off these funds will stop the outflow of tax dollars to these fraudulent daycares and  that is the most important thing that can happen right now. 

I know that I am angry about this too. The fraud in Minnesota increased the problem of high child care costs. These fake daycares sucked up tax dollars from both the Minnesota and Federal taxpayers. That money should have gone real daycares and if it had the cost of daycare should have gone down. The higher prices had an absolute effect. How many folks in Minnesota didn't have any kids because they couldn't afford it because of child care costs? How many had just one and no more? Given that the fertility crisis is real, this had a major effect on the future of the state. 

As for Tim Walz, I can't imagine he survives this disaster politically. His response has been pathetic, he wants to make this about President Trump, but at some point that isn't going to work. I honestly think the media is starting to turn on him. This was the top story on Google News today and it isn't just conservative outlets covering the story anymore. Even the Politico article was fairly balanced. That's a real bad sign for Walz, when the mainstream media is publishing critical stories about a Democratic Politician, you know the story has legs. 

The real question is if Walz avoids prison. In the past, with this scandal and the Minnesota State Senator assassination case, I said that Walz had a perfect defense in that nobody is going to believe that he's involved in crime due to his obvious stupidity. But given how blatant the fraud was and how ineffective the state was in fighting it, I am beginning to wonder. 

From what I understand, these fraudsters, either in the current daycare scandal or the older "Feeding our Families" covid era scam, many of the players were regularly donating to Democratic politicians in this state. It's still an open question if the Democrats themselves had knowledge that these donations were from stolen taxpayer dollars. Even if they didn't, this is a stain on the elections in the state, tax payer dollars going to only one party in a fraudulent fashion is obviously bad. 

But I am also worried that they did know. Indeed, it's an open secret that the Democrats support this kind of immigration so they can import voters. But it's very likely they do it so they can get funding they syphon off of the government. If that is what happened here and any Democratic politician was aware of it, including but not limited to Tim Walz, then these people need to go to prison.  

President Trump announced major strike on Venezuelan dock facility.

 

President Donald Trump. BBC/Reuters. 

President Donald Trump announced a major strike on a Venezuelan dock facility suspected to be involved in drug smuggling. BBC. Trump was cagey on the details, and did not reveal where the facility was, who had hit it, and when the attack occurred. Venezuela has not responded to the incident either. Trump had made threats to attack the Venezuelan mainland to deal with drug smugglers and the attack would be the first one targeting Venezuelan territory directly. Trump has launched major strikes against narco smugglers in a campaign to curtail fentanyl trafficking. The campaign, which has included taking Venezuelan oil tankers, is putting pressure on Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro to step down. 

My Comment:

Not a lot of details on this story, but it's worth covering as it's a major escalation in the battle against the drug smugglers. This is an obvious step up from the campaign against drug boats, which has been a low intensity conflict. Blowing up a smuggler dock in Venezuelan territory (assuming that is where it is, details are lacking) is a new step in this conflict. We don't know if it was an air strike or some kind of CIA op, but in either case it would be an escalation. 

I hate the hedging the news with these strikes. It's very clear that these are all drug boats and drug smugglers getting blown up. They want people to think that Trump is just blowing up a bunch of fishermen or something. Fishermen don't tend to run speed boats with no fishing equipment.

I am guessing the same thing will be said about this strike as well, and in this case the lack of transparency will help the media out. We don't know very much about these strikes, or even where they happened. This is going to give the media a lot of room to speculate as to what happened. In previous strikes they released video to show exactly what happened. Sure, the media tried to spin it anyways, but with the video it could be clearly seen by anyone who wasn't a rabid partisan that the vessels were indeed drug boats. They should absolutely do the same thing here, and I wonder if Trump jumped the gun a bit, announcing the strikes before video was ready. 

As for the Venezuela campaign, this probably won't actually change much. It's not like Venezuela can respond in any way. The most they could probably do is file a protest with the UN, which will be promptly ignored and won't change anything regardless. Venezuela's military is a joke and they cannot respond to attacks like this. 

I also don't think this will do a whole lot to increase the pressure on Nicholas Maduro. There were rumors that he was considering leaving the country, but I don't think one strike on a drug dock is going to be the thing that pushes him out of power. The blockade of sanctioned oil tankers is going to be a lot more effective as it will directly effect the bottom line of the Venezuelan government for every oil tanker that doesn't make it to delivery. 

But I do think it was a good warning for Maduro. The strike does show America's unquestioned military supremacy over Venezuela. We were able to strike a drug facility with impunity so that also means we could do the same thing to Maduro, assuming we had the intelligence to find out where he is. That has to be in the back of Maduro's mind and it may contribute to him leaving power voluntarily. 

The FBI is investigating more fraud in Minnesota after viral daycare fraud reports.

 

FBI Director Kash Patel. Reuters.

The FBI is investigating more fraud in Minnesota after claims of daycare fraud went viral over the weekend. Reuters. In the past months, widespread fraud from the Somali community has gone viral in multiple major cases. The FBI has "surged" resources to the state and FBI Director Kash Patel mentioned recent social media reports alleging corruption in the state's child care industry. The majority of people charged with fraud in the state has been of Somalian descent. 

The viral video alleging fraud can be seen below. 

🚨 Here is the full 42 minutes of my crew and I exposing Minnesota fraud, this might be my most important work yet. We uncovered over $110,000,000 in ONE day. Like it and share it around like wildfire! Its time to hold these corrupt politicians and fraudsters accountable

We ALL… pic.twitter.com/E3Penx2o7a

— Nick shirley (@nickshirleyy) December 26, 2025

My Comment:

The above video has 100 million views and has gone absurdly viral. It's pretty rare for a post to go quite that viral on X these days so that's an accomplishment. The video was by an independent journalists that simply went up to daycares in Minnesota and asked them if they had any kids, or tried to enroll. The response was not what you would expect if they were legitimate businesses, and no children were apparently found. These daycares were taking in millions of dollars of taxpayer dollars, all for these ghost students. Shirley estimates that he uncovered at least $100 million in fraud. 

Reuters hedged a lot on their reporting here, they absolutely didn't want to cite Shirley's video. The mainstream media has largely downplayed these scandals in Minnesota, the allegations over the weekend are certainly not the only ones. Indeed, the FBI resources sent to Minnesota have a lot more to do with the fraud from those earlier investigations than the more recent ones. 

Democrats too appear to be downplaying the scandal. Instead of cutting Tim Walz and Ilhan Omar loose, they are doubling down on defending them. I am thinking they are just hoping that this issue will simply go away or they can successfully reframe the whole thing as racism. But I just don't see that happening this time. 

Why? Because I think this is just the tip of the iceberg. I am guessing if investigations continue, they will find more programs that the Somali community has use to defraud taxpayers. So far it's been food programs and daycares, but I am sure there are a lot of more programs in the state that has Somali based grift. And keep in mind, remittances from these programs are being funneled to Somalia, where it is fueling both sides of that country's Civil War, including the terror group, al-Shabaab. 

I have no doubt that there are similar levels of fraud in other states with large Somali populations. Minnesota is obviously the biggest, but there are other states that have them as well, including my state of Wisconsin. I am guessing if investigations were started in my state they would find similar problems, though probably not on the scale they have in Minnesota. 

This whole scandal gives me vibes of the Afghanistan debacle, of all things. During that war, the Afghan Army had, on paper, a large and powerful army. But it was mostly a lie as many of the soldiers listed on the records were "ghost soldiers", soldiers that only really existed on paper, and were not actually fighting. They were just drawing benefits. This is another example of a similar concept where these students didn't actually exist but the daycares were getting benefits based on these "ghost students". A similar problem was found with Minnesota's autism program, where Somali children were being diagnosed for the benefits and then left without any help, because they weren't in fact autistic. 

This scandal just feels incredibly embarrassing to me as an American. I brought up the "ghost soldier" problems in Afghanistan and Iraq as I used to argue that it was a major reason why US support there was mostly pointless. Given that Afghanistan fell and Iraq almost did, I was right. To say that I am disappointed is an understatement. America has always had issues with fraud but it usually isn't this blatant or as "third world" as we are seeing in Minnesota.  

The worst part of this is how unnesecery all of this was. We never had any reason to bring these people into the country in the first place. Somali was never our responsibility. We did go there back in the 1990's to help starving people, but it just ended with the Battle of Mogadishu and 18 dead soldiers, most of them from the Army Rangers. At that point we had done enough and should have just thrown up our hands, but instead we allowed these people to come here and we didn't even keep an eye on what they are doing, and now we have third world fraud in our first world country. None of this needed to happen. 

And I think that this is just the tip of the iceberg. The Somali community has drawn most of the attention, but I am guessing this kind of thing is extremely common in blue states. And it's not just coming from immigrant communities, but American born ones as well. The problem is the lack of prosecution and the huge number of social programs that have little in the way of oversite. The Somalis have been the most blatant about it, but I am guessing that every state has a lot of fraud like this and much of it is centered on blue states with generous social welfare programs. People go to where the money is and when you can steal it without fear, why wouldn't you? 

Murder rate in the United States drops 20% over a year, possibly the biggest decline ever.

 

Chart from RTCI showing the decline in murders. New York Post.

The murder rate in the United States has dropped an unprecedented 20% in 2025. New York Post. Between January and October in 2024 the United States had 7,369 murders but during the same time period in 2025 only 5,912 occurred. The figures include homicides, but exclude manslaughter, justified homicide and accidental killings. The collapse was mirrored in large cities like Chicago, New York, Washington DC and Los Angeles, all of which had double digit lower rates of homicide. Mass murders too declined to a rate not seen since 2006. The rate had already begun to drop with 2024 seeing a 15% decrease compared to 2023, when the pandemic era highs started to drop. Other crimes, like aggravated assault and car theft has decreased as well. 

My Comment:

In order to figure out why the crime rate has finally started to decline, we have to understand why in boomed out of control in the first place. Much of the blame can be placed on the Biden administration and Black Lives Matter. Both pushed major police reforms that punished police for doing their jobs and did everything in their power to ensure that more criminals were let out with things like lower sentences and bail reform. 

This, combined with the economic and social effects of the pandemic, caused crime to explode. Some of that happened during Trump's first time, a consequence of not cracking down on the BLM insurrection, but Biden and his administration saw the reforms that big city Democrats had put into place and put them into place nationally. 

This was, predictably, a disaster. Police were too afraid arrest criminals due to fear of getting prosecuted like Dereck Chauvin was. Bail reform allowed so many criminals to continue to commit crimes while awaiting the justice system. And Biden threw open the gates to illegal immigration, which led to a huge amount of 100% preventable crimes. 

Some of these policies were reversed or at least toned down as Biden and the Democrats apparently realized how badly it was playing for them. They kept some, they never did a single thing to try and reduce illegal immigration, but this reversal was the reason the crime rate started to drop between 2023 and 2024. 

President Trump pretty much reversed everything that was left. He cracked down on crime in big cities to the point where he deployed the national guard. He also deported quite a few of the worst of the worst of illegal immigrants and convinced a lot more of them to go home themselves, around 2.5 million by most estimates combined. 

I think there was also a major psychological impact as well. Folks understood that there wasn't much reason not to be a criminal under Joe Biden. Everyone knew the police were emasculated and hindered while the Democratic Party seemed to be directly supporting Criminals. Trump ran as a law and order President and that obviously changed the idea that you could easily get away with crime. This probably didn't have a huge effect, but I do think it is real.   

Critics are saying that this is just a regression to the mean. Of course that is somewhat true, but it ignores why the crime rate exploded in the first place. Democrats deserve the credit for that for sure. But I do think that Trump's policies are at least somewhat responsible for the crime rate dropping. Like I always say, every crime committed by a illegal alien is a preventable, so it obviously follows that getting rid of illegal aliens is a great way to reduce crimes. 

Ukraine admits to losing city of Seversk, two weeks after Russia captured it.

 

An Ukrainian APC. BBC/Reuters.

Ukraine has admitted to losing the city of Seversk, two weeks after Russia captured it. BBC. Seversk is a small city that was the last line of defense for the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, the last remaining major cities in Donetsk under Ukrainian control. The small city of 11,000 people was almost totally destroyed in the fighting. Ukraine claimed heavy casualties were inflicted to the Russians and that they were withdrawing tactically to preserve lives. The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has continued despite US led efforts at a peace deal. 

My Comment:

It was a slow news day so I figured I would cover this story as I find it funny that Ukraine wouldn't admit that they lost the city until now. Russia announced they had captured the city two weeks ago. That might have been a bit optimistic on their part, there were probably survivors left over and some fighting going on in the outskirts of the city, but the idea that they were not in control of the city two weeks ago was dumb. 

This victory isn't a major one from Russia. Seversk was a logistic hub and a major part of Ukraine's defensive line, but it was a small city. It's another reason why Ukraine probably should have withdrawn earlier than they did, if they were really worried about conserving their troops. Either way, this city was a target for Russia for three years now and it is a victory that they were able to take it. Just not one that is going to break the entire front open or anything. 

So why didn't Ukraine just admit that they lost the city? Probably because they are having major morale problems. They have suffered several major cities this year and they are running out of weapons, equipment and bodies. Ukraine has little going for it right now, Trump and the United States are tired of Zelensky and his refusal to end the war. Europe is having trouble funding Ukraine and sooner or later something is going to break. 

It's another reason why I think Ukraine should have taken that peace deal that was offered by Russia earlier in the year. The longer they wait, the better position Russia will be in and the more Ukraine will have to give up to gain peace. Giving up the remaining territory in Donbas, which is mostly pro-Russia anyways, would be a fair way to end the war, and would leave a lot less people dead on both sides as Russia inevitably takes the rest of the region. 

As for the war itself, it seems as though Russia's pace of capturing territory is increasing. They obviously haven't made a major breakthrough, but they are capturing villages and smaller cities like Seversk at a fairly steady pace. They also are losing larger cities like Pokrovsk. And they have fewer reserves to plug all the holes that are opening up. In short, it's starting to get grim for Ukraine and I wouldn't be surprised if there was a major breakthrough in the next six months or so. 

President Trump announced development of new Trump-Class battleships.

 

Trump stands next to concept art of a Trump class battleship. Politico/AP. 

President Trump has announced development of a new Trump-class battleship. Politico. The new ships would field powerful new weapons, including railguns, laser defenses, cannons and guided hypersonic missiles. The ships would also have the capability to launch nuclear weapons. Two ships would be ordered at first, with the first of the class being named USS Defiant, with 25 more ships being planned. Building the ships could prove problematic given a lack of capacity and constant overruns on budget for similar shipbuilding programs, like the Zumwalt cruisers, Littoral Combat Ships and Constellation class frigates. Though the Trump-class is called a battleship, it is more accurately considered a heavy cruiser or battlecruiser as opposed to the last generation of World War II battleships. The ships would be larger and longer than World War II ships but would also displace only 30,000 tons and would rely on defensive systems as opposed to armor. 

My Comment:

Very interesting proposal from President Trump here. The United States Navy hasn't had a battleship since the 1990's when we finally got rid of the last of our World War II battlewagons. Obviously carriers are now the most powerful ships in our fleet but there absolutely could be a niche for these ships to fill. 

To be fair, these aren't proper battleships under the old definition. They don't have anywhere near the armament, armor or displacement to be considered a real one. A much more accurate definition would be a battlecruiser. Battlecruisers have the armament that a battleship would have, but are more focused on speed and power than armor. I am guessing Trump named them battleships for the same reason he named them after himself, it sounds better that way to him. Though, to be fair, the ship would have a similar role in the fleet as an actual battleship, even if it doesn't really qualify as one. 

Indeed, there is a similar class of ship in the Russian fleet, the Kirov class battlecruiser. Indeed, the Kirov's would be a good inspiration for these ships as they would have a similar role, even though the Trump class would obviously be a lot more advanced. The primary weapons would be the missiles the ship carries, not the guns.  

The technology of a fully realized Trump-class would be amazing. Rail guns would be an incredible weapon and could destroy enemy ships beyond the horizon. And the hypersonic missiles would be useful as well, and if they were nuclear armed, doubly so. Indeed, instead of a nuclear triad, we would have another prong with these Trump-class battleships.

The laser defenses would be extremely useful and I will use the Red Sea Conflict as a great example. Our destroyers and cruisers did a good job in that conflict but the problem was that they simply ran out of ammo at many points and the cheap drones and missiles the Houthis in Yemen were using were a lot cheaper than the expensive interceptors we used to shoot them down. Lasers would be a much more efficient weapon to use against these kinds of weapons and would have been a boon in the Red Sea Conflict. 

Of course, none of this matters if the ships aren't built and that is a real concern here. Getting congress to approve these ships could be an uphill battle given how close control of each house is and the fact that Democrats would likely vote against it just out of spite. And fiscal conservatives like Rand Paul and Mike Lee could be hard sells. I am guessing a couple of ships might be funded, but the 25 ship plan? I doubt it. 

Procurement is going to be a nightmare too. Like I said, we have the examples of the Zumwalt class, the Littoral Combat Ship classes, and the Constellation class Frigates. All of these programs made similar promises and all of them are failures. Only three Zumwalt's were ever built, only two Constellation's will be built and while the LCS's have had a lot more hulls put down, many of them have been already mothballed. 

I have zero doubt that this kind of thing could happen again. The program might not fail, but I am sure it will go over budget and behind timelines. The idea that we could have these ships in 2.5 years is pretty laughable, even as soon as 2030 is pretty questionable. And that's assuming that the new technology like the laser weapons and railguns, are perfected in time. To be fair, they could launch the ships before the weapons are ready, but it is a real problem. 

Trump does seem to have a plan for this. He said he was going to demand the shipbuilders to invest heavily in new production. I doubt they are going to be happy about being forced to invest in new shipyards as opposed to executive bonuses, but even if the Trump-class never happens, this is probably the most significant outcome of this story. China has been eating our lunch when it comes to shipbuilding and it's absolutely something America needs to invest in. That alone is a strategic win for America, even if the Trump-class is just the next Zumwalt. 

Finally, I do wonder if that these plans could force a new "battleship" buildup. Russia only has their two Kirov's, both of which are ancient and obsolete. China does not have any ships that are anywhere close to these ships. Both countries could be forced to build up forces, and neither side can really afford to do so. Russia can't do much as they are mostly investing in their ground and air forces, their navy has always been the "redheaded stepchild" of their armed forces. But China may need to develop a larger cruiser to counter the Trump-class. And both will have to react to the nuclear armed ships... 

President Trump orders Marijuana reclassification, moving it from Schedule I to Schedule III.

 

File photo of Marijuana. BBC/Getty.

President Trump has ordered Marijuana and Cannabis to be reclassified as a Schedule III drug. BBC. Schedule III drugs will allow research to be done to determine the medical value of the drug. Cannabis will remain illegal at the federal level. The reclassification will be a boon for marijuana dispensaries in states where medical and recreational cannabis are legal as they will now be eligible for certain tax breaks. Trump has also directed the government to research and allow in certain circumstances CBD oil, another cannabis based product. A majority of states allow medical use for cannabis while 24 allow for recreational use. Rescheduling the drug was a priority under the former Biden administration but they were unable to accomplish the goal. 

My Comment:

Our marijuana policy is... strange to say the least. Trump reclassifying marijuana a month after congress banned various marijuana products in the bill to reopen the government is almost nonsensical and it shows how much disagreement there is about pot in the Republican party. 

It seems mostly to be a generational divide with few young people wanting pot to be illegal, but most older folks disagreeing. Republicans point to how pot users seem to have little drive and how annoying it can be to be around people that smoke pot. 

I will admit to having mixed feelings myself. I have never tried cannabis in any form and have no desire to do so. Some of that is because I live in a state where it is illegal, but even then, I have no real desire to use the drug. And I do think quite a few people have ruined their lives with the drug and it's not anywhere near as harmless as people like to portray it. 

On the other hand, marijuana use is pretty much universal at this point. A lot of folks don't do it, like myself, but it feels like I am absolutely in the minority. Supposedly the number of people who admit to using cannabis is around 50% and I am guessing the actual number is higher. 

Of course, those are arguments for not legalizing the drug, which Trump didn't do. Instead he just reclassified it so it's not forbidden to do research on it. I think I support this more than I do legalization.

It will allow research to be used to see if it actually can help with some diseases. I am generally skeptical that anything real will be found. I am guessing that pot does help people in a way, it makes you feel good and makes it easier to ignore symptoms, but does it have any actual real benefits? Well, I guess we will find out. 

I do have to say that it is hilarious that this happened under a Republican president. Rank and file Democrats have been lobbying for this my entire life and it didn't happen under Clinton, Obama or Biden. It happened under Trump. And I am sure he will get any credit for it either, he never does when he does something the left likes as well. 

President Trump announces a blockade on Venezuelan oil shipping.

 

President Donald Trump. ABC News/AFP/Getty.

President Donald Trump announced a blockade against Venezuelan oil shipments in the Gulf of America. ABC News. Trump said that Venezuela was surrounded by the biggest armada seen in the region and demanded that Venezuela give back assets it nationalized from 2007 that belonged to the United States. A full scale war is unlikely but it is very likely that airstrikes against drug boats and captures of sanctioned oil tankers will continue. Venezuela has about 30 sanctioned oil tankers while the United States has at least 11 vessels in the region, including a Carrier Strike Group. Venezuela's Navy has begun escorting ships though they stand no realistic chance against US forces. The effort appears to be related to an effort to remove Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro from power. 

My Comment:

This story broke yesterday but I didn't cover it, largely because I had heard that Trump was giving a speech tonight. I should have just done it as Trump's speech was almost entirely based on domestic politics and his accomplishments from the start of his 2nd term. I don't believe that Venezuela was really mentioned in a significant way. 

There are roughly 11 ships in the region, which is an extremely powerful military force. This force includes the Dwight D. Eisenhower carrier strike group, made up of the carrier, some cruisers and destroyers and various support vessels. This force is more than a match for Venezuela's pretty pathetic Navy. The biggest ship Venezuela has is a frigate. A 50 year old frigate. And the rest of their Navy is just as unimpressive. 

Still, it's important to note, that as large as the force America has deployed in the region, it's not anywhere near enough for a proper war. An actual invasion of Venezuela would require thousands of troops and probably a few more strike groups. So I should be very clear here, as of this writing a major ground war with Venezuela is absolutely not in the cards. 

Indeed, I think any real conflict here is pretty unlikely. At most we might see some of Venezuela's Navy sunk, but even that seems unlikely. Trump seems to want to capture the oil tankers, not destroy them, and I am guessing that they will only target ships they can do so without major resistance. After all, destroying a tanker full of oil is a huge waste and not something that anyone really wants. 

Instead, I think this is a way to further ratchet up the pressure on Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro. Supposedly there are talks about him leaving power, but I am guessing the idea that he would get immunity for any crimes is holding things up. 

Taking a bunch of Venezuelan oil tankers though? That is going to increase the pressure on Venezuela dramatically. They are looking at billions of dollars in losses, which is going to put extreme pressure on Maduro himself and the regime in general. It's very possible that he might face a coup if it goes on too long and it's also very possible that he makes a deal to leave power. 

It's not a sure thing though. Maduro's regime has survived extreme pressure before and it's very possible he will choose to try and outlast Trump. I think that would be a mistake, Trump appears to not be messing around this time and it's very possible that if Maduro won't leave, he will be removed. But I find that unlikely. I tend to see this whole thing as an effort to convince Maduro, or failing that, other members of his regime, that leaving would be a good idea... 

Four arrested for New Year's Eve bombing plot.

 

The FBI announcing the arrests in front of pictures of the suspects. Fox News/AP.

A plot involving a terrorist threat on New Year's Eve has been disrupted by the FBI. Fox News. Four suspects were arrested and they were members of the far left Turtle Island Liberation Front (TILF) group. The group is anti-capitalist, anti-colonialism and pro-Palestinian. The four members had begun building bombs and had a plot to target several locations in Los Angeles. A fifth member of TILF was arrested in New Orleans for a separate plot. The targets were Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents as well as US companies. The attacks were to occur on New Year's Eve to maximize the impact of the attacks and hamper response. 

My Comment:

Most media is calling these people pro-Palestinian. This is true but it wasn't a primary motivation. These people are far-left loons, they believe they are anti-capitalist and anti-colonialism. Along with "free Palestine" they also said "free Puerto Rico" and, even more puzzlingly, "free Hawaii". These are left wing accelerationists, they want the system to fall through violence so they can have their left wing utopia afterwards. 

That is, quite frankly, insane. Bombing campaigns are not going to  rally support to left wing causes. Indeed, it is likely to do the exact opposite. Had this plot succeeded it would have turned a lot of people against the far left, even considering how many people are against them in the first place. 

Their ideology is incomprehensible to me, largely because I have always thought he colonialism narrative was always nonsensical. People have been conquering territory for as long as there have been people. That hardly means that the conquering people are uniquely evil, or that the conquered are somehow morally correct no matter what. They are all just people and there were good and bad people on both sides. The extreme black on white thinking is not at all related to reality. And I think the whole thing is just rooted in racism. 

How serious was this threat? I'd say it was a serious threat. The suspects had started to make explosives and while there was a real chance that their home made bombs wouldn't even work, it's very possible that the backpack pipebombs they were trying to make would have worked. And they were going for actual casualties, they wanted ICE agents to die and I think there was at least a chance that they would have been able to pull it off. 

They made the classic terrorist scumbag mistake and that was letting the FBI infiltrate them. The FBI had an informant in their organization and they were able to detect and prevent this plot. It's unclear how advanced their bomb making and weapons collection would have gotten if they hadn't been infiltrated. It's always hard to tell if these folks were actually competent except when it came to detecting the FBI or if they just morons that never would have been a threat anyways. 

Either way, it's another example of the left wing going nuts and it comes at a fairly disturbing time. We did just have the shooting at Brown University which may have been a left wing attack as well. And, of course, the Bondi Beach shooting I covered yesterday. That one was radical Islam, but given that these guys were pro-Palestinian too, it's another example of how one minor war in the Middle East really stirred up the crazies. 

15 people killed in terror attack in Australia's Bondi Beach in Sydney.

 

One of the attackers, Naveed Akram. The Telegraph.

 15 people were killed in a major terror attack at Bondi Beach in Australia. The Telegraph. Two men armed with bolt action hunting rifles opened fire on a Jewish event called "Chanukah on the Beach". The suspects were a father and son team, originally from Pakistan. A brave civilian, a 43 year old Muslim named Ahmed Al-Ahmed was able to wrestle the rifle away from one of the shooters, but was shot for his trouble. Police were able to kill the older shooter and wound and capture the younger one. The attack raises questions about the effectiveness of gun control in Australia, which has some of the strictest gun laws in the world. 

This guy is a hero. Give him a medal. Unbelievably horrific scenes in Australia. It’s hard to fathom. pic.twitter.com/awKXKWPpAI

— Jase Kemp (@jasetaylorkemp) December 14, 2025

The BBC has live updates on this incident.  

My Comment:

This is a terrorist incident to be sure. The men attacked a Jewish gathering and they were Muslims from Pakistan. The attack was an effective one and one of the worst in Australian history. It's also another example of Jews being targeted directly for an attack like this. 

Obviously, the actions of Ahmed al-Ahmed are heroic and certainly should be praised. The man bravely tackled an armed man and was able to disarm him. He got shot for his trouble as the attacker was not alone. But the attacker was not able to recover his weapon and was no longer able to contribute to the attack. That's heroism of course. 

Many folks are wondering why he didn't finish off the attack when he had him dead to rights. Supposedly his family was quoted saying that he "didn't want to be a killer" but I am guessing it had more to do with the fact that he didn't know anything about guns. He might not have known how to charge the rifle and it's very possible that the weapon was empty when he recovered it. He also came under fire from the 2nd attacker.

Others are wondering if Australia's draconian gun and self defense laws may have played a factor in him not shooting, assuming he even knew how. This seems likely to me as from what I understand if he had killed the attacker he disarmed, he would have likely been charged with Murder. The fact that the 2nd shooter was actively shooting at him wouldn't have mattered, the 1st one was disarmed and retreating, and I wouldn't trust an Australian jury to do the right thing and let him go for heroic actions. It's a moot point though as he was unwilling or unable to fire,

I also think this is a strong argument that gun control doesn't work. Folks always say that semi-auto weapons are more "dangerous" and if folks were restricted to bolt action weapons they wouldn't be able to get double digit casualties. 

This incident shows how that is just nonsense. These attackers were able to kill 15 people with bolt action hunting rifles and were able to wound 40 more. Indeed, the heavier rounds (I am assuming these were .30 caliber rifles or their equivalent) and slower aimed shots may have lead to dramatically more deaths than if the attackers had semiautos with intermediate rifle rounds. 

Finally, I have to say that this goes to show that just because the Israel-Gaza war is over, it does not mean that the threat from terrorism has been reduced. Indeed, this wasn't even the only incident today, a major plot targeting a Christmas Market in Bavaria was disrupted and foiled today. Islamic terrorism is still around and I fully expect more attacks like this. 

Was this one part of a larger plot? I am not sure. This attack was more sophisticated than most, but that might just be because both shooters were pretty obviously competent with their weapons. I would say that this wasn't a spur of the moment "lone wolf" attack, but rather a planned attack. It does seem likely that no links to terror groups will be found, and no groups have claimed these guys as one of their own. Israel was quick to blame Iran, but that seems nonsensical to me. Given the current sad state of ISIS and al-Qaeda I am guessing no actual links will be found. 

Illinois passes assisted death law...

 

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker. Fox News/Getty.

Illinois has passed an assisted suicide law, which will allow terminal patients to end their lives with medical assistance. Fox News. The law is known as the Medical Aid in Dying law or "Deb's law" after Deb Robertson, a woman with a rare illness that lobbied for the law. Proponents say that the law will assist terminal patients that would otherwise suffer, though religious groups object to assisting suicide. Others fear the law will be used to coerce the poor or disabled into choosing death in order for the state to save money. Doctors and other health care providers are not required to assist those that wish to use the law if they object to it on moral grounds, but are required to refer patients to a doctor that will, which is another major objection to the law. 

My Comment:

This is an example of where I have completely changed my mind on an issue. For most of my life I thought that these kind of assisted suicide programs were a good thing. After all, anyone who has seen someone at the end of their life has had the thought, why even draw this out? At some point enough is enough and it's a good thing to end suffering. 

Part of me still believes that is true. I do think we tend to care more about the length of life instead of the quality of life and there is a point where we just need to let things go. And the religious objections to these laws fall on deaf ears in my case. Christianity generally feels death is always something that should be objected to and fought, even when it makes little practical sense to do so, like with a medically hopeless case, abortion of someone that would have zero quality of life or even executing a mass murderer. 

So how did change my mind on this issue? One word. Canada. Canada passed a law in 2016 called the Medical Assistance in Dying law (MAiD). That one law has totally changed how I thought about this issue and now I think it's an abomination, just because how it was implemented there and just how absurdly many people are dying under the program. An absurd 5.1% of all deaths in Canada occurred under the MAiD program, showing that the law there isn't just used sparingly and under extreme circumstances. Indeed, Canada had even passed a law saying you could use MAiD just if you were mentally ill and had no terminal illness. 

And there is a real chance that these laws will indeed be used to pressure people to end their lives. Why? Money. End of life care is incredibly expensive and in Canada's publicly funded system, MAiD has saved them millions of dollars. There are many documented cases of Canadians being pushed into ending their lives for monetary reasons, with coverage being denied but MAiD being covered. And it has also happened in the 11 other states (and Washington DC) that have these programs. 

I have little doubt that this will be the case in Illinois as well. It's not a well run state and it has a large population of vulnerable people that could be coerced into choosing Deb's Law to end their live so the state or an insurance company can save money. That is, quite frankly, horrific. Nobody should be pressured into something like this, it should be their own choice and their own choice alone. And that's why I changed my mind, because I saw what is happening in Canada and now it's going to be happening in Illinois as well... 

President Trump is growing frustrated with Ukraine and Europe.

 

Trump during an interview with Politico's Dasha Burns. Politico.

President Trump has expressed frustration with Ukraine and Europe due to a log-jam of diplomacy concerning the Russia-Ukraine war. Politico. Trump said that Zelensky hadn't even read the most recent peace plan and decried Europe's leadership as talkers that don't produce. Trump also said that he believes Russia has the upper hand in the war. European governments are angry that Trump wants an end to the war and a normalization of relations with Russia. They are also probably angry at criticism Trump leveled at their immigration programs, which put the NATO alliance at risk. 

My Comment:

It really blows my mind whenever I read a mainstream news source talking about the Russia Ukraine war. They don't seem to understand even the most basic facts of the war, that Russia is fighting and winning an attritional war where the conquest of territory is not the main objective. The anonymous diplomat quoted in the article saying that Ukraine was not losing was the most laughable thing I have read in a long time. It's just totally detached from reality and if that's really want Europe believes then they are dangerously delusional. 

I share Trump's frustration here. Right now Ukraine is not in a position to demand much of anything, let alone Europe. Indeed, they are in the process of losing three major battles and their manpower and equipment levels are critical. The initial offer that was put on the table is something they should have absolutely jumped on as their bargaining position is never going to be better than it is now. 

But, as I predicted, it appears that Zelensky and Europe are the stumbling blocks for an end to the Ukraine war. Zelensky is absolutely refusing to budge on giving up on territory captured by Russia. From what I understand it's not even the lands in Donbas that Russia hasn't captured, but the territory they have captured that is the sticking issue. It's bizarre, Ukraine is in no position to take back the territory in Donbas, let alone Crimea, but they also refuse to acknowledge that fact. 

I do think that Trump's attempt to pivot to the Western Hemisphere and have better relations with Russia is a wise move and he is generally correct about Europe. I have said for a very long time that Europe has destroyed itself with immigration. America has done a lot of harm to themselves as well, but until very recently, we had mostly stuck to Mexican and Central/South American immigrants, who usually integrate after a generation or two and do end up contributing. Europe has brought in millions of Muslims from Africa and the Middle East, along with a large number of people from the Indian subcontinent. Very few of those folks will ever integrate with Europe, let alone contribute and I really believe that the whole thing is going to end with a massive war/holocaust. It just seems inevitable at this point. Europe just doesn't have a future. 

These out of touch leaders are a major reason why. Like I said with the diplomat quoted above, they are high on their own supply. If they really believe that they are winning the war with Russia, and that immigration is the solution to the European problem, then they truly are lost. 

Of course there are going to be people reading this saying "but wait, Russia is the bad guy" and to that I would say, they aren't any worse than the average European government now. That's not even a defense of Russia, they are bad on things like free speech, elections and gun rights. But what European country can you not say that about now? The UK where they let rapists and murders run amok but throw you in prison for a meme? Germany, which is censoring the entire internet? Don't even get me started on France. The main difference in my eye isn't ethics or morality, all of them are bad. It's the fact that at least Russia has a future. They haven't imported millions of people and in 100 years Russia will still be Russia. I honestly don't see Europe being Europe 10 years down the line, either it will change and survive or it won't, but the status quo is not going to last... 

As for the war in Ukraine, I do think there is still a chance for peace. Supposedly Zelensky is thinking about holding an election, which might be an "out" for Ukraine. Zelensky will of course lose the election, but it's a way of him saving face. I just don't think it will happen in the next month or so. Zelensky is too stubborn and Europe is just insane and that's a bad combination. If/when Zelensky is out of the picture then we might see some moves towards peace. But until then, I think the diplomatic stalemate will continue. 

RAM prices skyrocket as producers switch to supplying AI datacenters.

 

A computer shop in China. Reuters.

AI is causing a crisis in consumer RAM prices as AI demand is sucking up a huge amount of production. Reuters. The price spike is affecting all kinds of memory, but DRAM is the most effected. The shortage could cause major problems, not only for consumer electronics, but for AI data centers themselves. Inventory of chips has been greatly reduced and there are fears that the higher prices could cause the AI bubble to pop. The prices of many consumer electronics will jump as well, with lower end smartphones, PC's and video game consoles bearing the brunt of the costs. 

The crisis has caused one of the big three memory producers, Micron, to abandon their consumer division to focus on AI sales. 

My Comment:

Outside of the tech world this story has been largely ignored. But folks who are going to try and buy a new PC or video game console are likely to see a major sticker shock in a month or two. This is a major crisis and it has echoes of the GPU crisis when crypto mining became a huge thing. That bubble eventually burst but it was a very bad time to be a PC gamer. It looks like we are going to see something similar here, but the fallout could be far beyond just gaming this time around. In short, if you are on the fence about buying/building a new PC, video game console, or lower spec smartphone, you should absolutely have done it a month ago, and failing that, you should do it now. 

AI is, of course, causing the bulk of this issue. Chip companies know that they can make more profit off of the data centers that are going up than they can from PC gamers and other consumers so they are logically making the choice to do so. These data centers are used for the various LLM's like ChatGPT and Grok and they require advanced chips. So it's no surprise that these companies are focusing on that. 

It's very bad news especially for video games and the people that buy and produce them. It sounds like Xbox is going to increase prices for their consoles and if you were thinking about building a PC, expect to pay $200 or $300 for RAM alone. GPU prices are stable but the costs of SSD hard drives are getting more expensive as well. In short, it's a terrible time to try and build a PC or buy a console. 

It's also a bad time for companies to release new consoles as well. I know the Steam Machine is supposedly coming out next year and there is a good chance that might not be in the cards anymore depending on how Valve planned things. If they got a large stockpile of DRAM sitting around awaiting the launch they could be able to put it out at a fair price. But if they didn't they are going to have to price the thing as much as a full PC costs pre-spike, which means it's almost certain to fail. And that's just one example, a lot of tech companies are going to face difficult decisions as this crisis continues. 

For me personally, I should not be affected too greatly. My gaming PC is future proof for at least a couple of years, I already have 32 gigs of RAM, which should last through the crisis as production is supposed to increase in 2027. I also just bought a new laptop to replace my dying gaming laptop. It's not high end or anything but it's crazy to think that the 16 gigs of ram it has is now worth more than half of what I paid for it. My phone is new this year as well, so at the very least, I should be able to weather this storm, assuming none of my components burn out or some other disaster befalls me. 

I do wonder how long this AI craze is going to last. I use LLM's myself, as Grok came free with my blue check subscription. It's certainly a useful tool. It's great at collecting information and bouncing ideas off of it, but I still don't really understand how anyone is supposed to make money off of it. I do think that sooner or later the AI bubble is going to burst, all bubbles do, when the hype doesn't quite match the results. But until that happens anything involving tech is probably going to be very expensive. 

Treasury Department, Congressional Oversite Committee, open up investigation of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz due to Somali welfare fraud scandal.

 

Governor Tim Walz. New York Post/Reuters. 

The Treasury Department and the Congressional Oversite Committee have opened up investigations of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz due to the Somali welfare fraud scandal that cost taxpayers of the state up to $1 billion. New York Post. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said that Tim Walz was informed about the fraud but went after whistleblowers instead. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that his investigators would be looking at how money was sent to the al-Shabaab terror group in Somali via the Minnesota welfare fraud. The scandal had been bubbling under the surface for months, but new accusations have propelled the story nationally. A whistleblower account on X said that Walz was directly responsible for the fraud and did nothing to prevent the scandal despite being informed of it by his employees. 

Tim Walz is 100% responsible for massive fraud in Minnesota. We let Tim Walz know of fraud early on, hoping for a partnership in stopping fraud but no, we got the opposite response. Tim Walz systematically retaliated against whistleblowers using monitoring, threats, repression,… https://t.co/cEtbnuKmgn

— Minnesota Staff Fraud Reporting Commentary (@Minnesota_DHS) November 30, 2025

My Comment:

I wrote an in depth post about this scandal last week.  Read that if you are unfamiliar with the details of the case. The summary is that Somali immigrants in Minnesota were syphoning off hundreds of millions of dollars in welfare and social program frauds. Much of that money ended up in Somalia, feeding both sides of the civil war there, but more importantly, it was fed to the Somali terror group al-Shabaab. It's an absolutely massive scandal. 

Tim Walz is also deeply involved in the case. There are allegations against Walz that he knew about the fraud but did nothing to prevent it. Indeed, it's possible that he retaliated against people that warned about the massive red flags they were seeing in the welfare business. He could even face criminal charges if evidence is found that he covered up the fraud. That seems very unlikely but 

To be fair, I don't think Tim Walz was involved in the fraud itself. And it's for the same reason I never even considered the words of Vance Bolter, the assassin that shot two Minnesota State Senators. Tim Walz just simply not smart enough to run a fraud scheme or hire an assassin. He is not a smart guy and seems like a very good example of someone unqualified making it far in politics. 

The real question is if there was a coverup. There are allegations that Tim Walz did indeed know about the fraud and could have prevented it. This isn't proven yet, but it does seem likely. The fraud was not that well hidden and there are people online that work in Minnesota that have made the accusation that Walz was informed and even took retaliation against whistleblowers. If those accusations are proven, then I don't see how Walz has a political career. 

His greatest defense here is, again, his incompetence. I really don't have a high opinion of Walz and his management, his addition to the Kamala Harris campaign was an absolute joke, and only Walz would say in a debate "I'm friends with School Shooters!". Of course, incompetence at this scale might save him from criminal charges (if he isn't guilty of the whistleblower retaliation) but I don't think it will save his career at this point. 

Indeed, this represents a rare opportunity for Republicans in the state. Walz is somehow still running for Governor and if he does run, he faces a very good chance of losing if this scandal has legs. Absolutely nobody is happy with Walz and his performance right now, though many of his Democrat voters will still "vote blue no matter who". Minnesota is a blue state, but it is moving in the purple direction and a huge motivating scandal like this could move independents into the Republican column and keep some Democratic voters home. 

Given this, I am guessing that the National Democratic Party and the State Democratic Farmer Labor party will drop Tim Walz like a hot potato. The Democrats in general are many things, most of them bad, but I can't imagine them making such a mistake as keeping Walz in the race. He's absolutely toxic now and was an embarrassment during the 2024 Presidential race. I don't know if they will be willing to force him to resign in disgrace, but I also can't imagine that they won't force him out of the race. If they do I am fully predicting that the GOP picks up the Minnesota Governor. I doubt they would keep it for more than a term, just like Virginia, without a motivating issue like the Somali scandal, they will probably lose it after one term. 

Regardless of what happens in Minnesota, I can't imagine that Walz will ever have a career after this on the national stage. There was some chatter that he was going to run as a Minnesota Senator, and position that seemed likely that he would win. He could have even run as a long shot Presidential candidate. But there is zero chance of any of that happening. Indeed, I can't even see him on the new talking head path at this point, Democrats are going to want to wash their hands of Walz completely... 

The saber rattling against Venezuela continues as Trump closes air space and demands President Maduro resigns.

 

President Nicholas Maduro of Venezuela. New York Post/AFP/Getty.

The saber rattling against Venezuela continues as Trump closes air space and demands President Maduro resigns. New York Post. President Trump and Nicholas Maduro held a high stakes call. At issue is Maduro's alleged support of drug smuggling and narco-terror groups that are smuggling drugs into the United States. Maduro had demanded that he would be allowed to remain in control of the military before free elections and that he be pardoned for any potential crimes. Trump refused and said that Maduro would be given safe passage out of Venezuela. Talks broke down at that point with Trump closing Venezuelan air space in response. Trump has also threatened strikes against the drug gangs in Venezuela. 

My Comment:

Venezuela kind of popped up out of nowhere. I know Venezuela got a lot of blame for the drug smuggling issue and the Tren De Aragua issues we have had in the United States, but given the multiple other foreign policy issues that have cropped up, they were low priority. 

First of all, I have to say that a full scale Iraq War style invasion is pretty much impossible at this point. We don't have anywhere near the troops in the region to even attempt it, and there is zero desire for anyone in the United States, outside of the crustiest of neocons, for that to happen. There has been a troop buildup but it's mostly naval assets. 

There is a small chance of some kind of military conflict, but it would come in the form of airstrikes, not an invasion. I am guessing that drug smuggler bases or ports could be attacked, given that would be the casus belli of the conflict. A direct attack against Maduro itself could be in the cards too, but that would be more difficult. 

However, I don't think military action, beyond the naval stuff we have seen already, is really in the cards. President Maduro seemed rather open to leaving power and the fact that he was asking for amnesty and agreeing to elections, probably indicates he is fairly desperate for a deal. And, from what I understand, members of his regime are attempting to save their own necks as well as their Presidents. I would not be surprised if this does have a diplomatic resolution. Neither side seems so steadfast in their positions here that a deal can't be made, and given that Trump was downplaying the air space closure today, I am guessing more talks are going to be held. 

Indeed, this seems like a classic Trump maneuver. Though Trump has been called many things, the one thing you can't deny is that he's a diplomat at heart. He wants to be the guy to end conflicts, not start them, so even if things do degrade into military action, expect them to always leave an out for Maduro. It reminds me of the conflict with Iran, where Trump was working for a peace deal even as he bombed Iranian nuclear strikes. The last thing he wants is a real conflict. 

The timing for this is not great though. Trump was widely praised by his base for, finally, refocusing on domestic issues after the Washington DC attack on National Guardsmen. In response Trump finally took some real action on immigration, something that his base was demanding for a long time. 

What I can tell you is that nobody in his base is very excited by the fact that the focus seemed to last less than a holiday weekend, and he's right back onto foreign policy. Indeed, I'm rather annoyed myself. The Washington attack was something Trump should have hammered down on given how preventable the attack was and how much of a winner the issue is for Republicans. Venezuela though? Nobody really cares about that. It's not even an urgent situation, compared to something like the Russia Ukraine war. Sure drugs are a problem, but domestically, things need to be handled. 

Regardless, like I said, I fully expect a diplomatic solution. Maduro seems to get that the gig is up and is looking for an exit and the only question is the how and when. I am guessing that airstrikes will be avoided and that Maduro will step down and leave the country for a place like Russia. 

Two National Guard soldiers ambushed in Washington DC by Afghan illegal alien.

 

Soldiers stand guard near the scene of the shooting. Reuters. 

Two members of the West Virginia National Guard were ambushed in Washington DC by an Afghanistan national in the country illegally. Reuters. The suspect was identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29 year old who was admitted into the United States under Joe Biden's visa program put into place after the fall of the Afghan government to the Taliban. The National Guard were patrolling as part of President Trump's crime crackdown. The motivations of the attacker have not been revealed publicly, but terrorism is suspected and the FBI is investigating if he had any links to outside groups, though none are suspected at this time. In response, President Trump has deployed 500 more troops to the city. 

My Comment:

The status of the wounded soldiers is unclear at this point. There were reports that both of them were dead, but that wasn't confirmed, so I am assuming that as of this writing they are indeed alive. Hopefully they stay that way. 

This attack was entirely predictable. Indeed, I believe I said that bringing in thousands of Afghan immigrants without vetting in the chaos that was the Afghanistan withdrawal would absolutely lead to something like this. We had no vetting to see if these people coming into the United States were friendly and it's very likely that this man fell through the cracks. I guess it's possible that he got radicalized after he got here, but that seems very unlikely. 

I also have very little doubt that this was Islamic terrorism. Supposedly the attacker said "Allah Akbar", "god is great" before he got into the gunfight, which is an obvious tell. The real question is if he was a "lone wolf" attacker, if he had links to terrorists or if he was an out and out member of a terror group like ISIS. I am guessing he will be the first one, there aren't that many active terror groups that can fund and promote attacks anymore. 

I am going to say that this was a policy failure on the part of the Trump administration. Obviously, Biden never should have let him in to begin with, but Trump should have deported this guy. His visa had expired and you would have thought folks let in under Biden's program would have been the first to go. Supposedly, this guy was an interpreter, so maybe he wouldn't have been deported anyways, but I don't really understand why these guys weren't the first on the list to be deported. Hopefully they will be now. 

I do think that Trump's focus on foreign policy is worth criticizing at this point. Trump has been focused on ending foreign wars, which is obviously commendable, and he has had a lot of success. But this attack is going to cause some serious demands for him to refocus back on the issue that got him elected.  Twice. I know that the Russia Ukraine war might be getting close to some kind of resolution and that is drawing a lot of attention from his administration, but at some point enough is enough and the focus has to be at home. 

The Democrats reactions to this has been predictable. Before anyone knew who was responsible, they were very loud saying that this had nothing to do with the video they released that encouraged soldiers to disobey "unlawful" orders, without specifying what those orders were. And some of them were either downplaying the attack, saying that they soldiers shouldn't have been there in the first place if they didn't want to get shot, or even celebrating it! They got a lot more quiet when it was revealed the suspect was a Afghan national, but it still happened. 

Was this attack a failure? I am not sure. So far at least, nobody has died, and the suspect was wounded and captured himself. But the image of soldiers being shot only a block or two from the White House? That's going to stick with people. The attack was mostly a failure, but I can't deny the fact that this was impactful... 

Chaos and hilarity on X/Twitter as the location feature shows many users were falsely posing as Americans.

 

Screenshot of a fake Ivanka Trump page.

X, formerly known as Twitter, released a new location feature that exposed many accounts as falsely posing as Americans. BBC. Thousands of accounts were exposed as not being American in the update, which caused a large amount of criticism. The accounts were both pro-and anti-Trump. Many of these accounts were based in India and Nigeria and were verified and monetized by the platform. Motivation for these accounts is varied, some are attempting to exploit America's culture war for money while others may be trying to influence policy. America was not the only country to have fake users, with the BBC finding many pro-independence accounts in Scotland were actually based in Iran. 

My Comment:

A lighter news story for once, this entire situation was endlessly entertaining for me this weekend. So many accounts got exposed for not being what they claimed to be and everyone else was laughing at them while proving that they actually are Americans. 

Most news outlets are trying to make this political but it really isn't. There were impersonators on both sides, fake Republicans and Democrats. And many of these accounts weren't political in any way, they were just scamming people or trying to scam money from the monetization system. And it's not like it was just America that was affected by this, the report mentioned Scotland, but there are other examples too. 

Indeed, it's been a meme for awhile that a lot of these accounts were pretty obviously fake. From what it sounds like the fake pro-Trump accounts were mostly Nigerian, anti-Trump accounts were European or Canadian, "groyper" accounts were European and Indian accounts were faking anything and everything. None of this is new. Indeed, the constant stream of fake Elon Musk accounts was beyond annoying for a long time on X. 

This does raise some questions about the monetization system on X. For the sake of disclosure, I am verified on X but not monetized and it is a goal of mine. But it's a lot harder to do legitimately than simply doing what these accounts are doing, impersonating an American and then using bot farms to boost their accounts. That means folks are getting money for fake content that should be going to actual real accounts, and that sucks. 

What is a concern is the idea these accounts could have been influencing elections or other major issues. The Israel-Gaza conflict is a good example of this. Many pro-Israel accounts were actually Indians, either because they wanted to exploit the issue for monetization, or because they genuinely like Israel. And the anti-Israel people were often Europeans or from Muslim countries. Both of these kinds of accounts may have falsely increased the relevance of the issue. And the same thing could have happened in the 2025 midterm elections as well, on both sides of the ball. 

I should note that I don't have a problem with foreigners commenting on American politics. After all, American politics are fairly global and sometimes those folks bring up good points. Indeed, I follow folks from all of the world. It's the impersonation and exploitation of monetization that is a problem, not to mention the out and out scammers. 

I do think that this was an extremely good idea by Elon Musk and X and it's something that I really wish was universal over all social media. I'm generally opposed to digital ID's and such, but transparency for social media is a little different. I should have a good idea of where posters are posting from, but right now I can only do that on X. It should be universal. 

Secretary of Stare Marco Rubio says "tremendous progress" in Russia Ukraine peace deal...

 

BBC/EPA.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio says there has been "tremendous progress" in a proposed Russia-Ukraine peace deal. BBC. The statements came after Trump put pressure on Ukraine to end the war via his Truth Social account. There had been concern from Pro-Ukraine factions that the deal proposed last week was too generous to Russia and it is unclear what, if any, concessions were given to Ukraine. However, Ukraine does seem to be positively reacting to talks. The US plan was a 28 point plan and progress has been made to narrowing Ukrainian objections to the plan. Russia has vowed support to the leaked plan and it is unclear how much work needs to be done to bring the parties together. Trump gave Ukraine until this Thursday to agree to a deal, though he latter said that there may be further offers. 

My Comment:

I do hope that Rubio didn't give away the goat with this revised deal. The previous version, lambasted in the media as pro-Russia, seemed quite the opposite to me, given that Zelensky would remain in power and Ukraine would be allowed to have a military and "security guarantees". Indeed, the only thing that I thought was pro-Russia is that there wasn't an equivalent exchange of land in the North that Russia captured for the disputed Donbas territories. 

As a review, the original plan called for Ukraine to give up all of Donbas, claims to Crimea and the line in other areas would determine by where the front lines are. It would incentivize Russia by ending sanctions and giving one of their war goals, no path to NATO for Ukraine. Ukraine would get to keep a smaller military and would have to accept Russia as an official language (racism against Russian speakers was a major reason why the war started in the first place). 

I am guessing that Ukraine got some kind of face saving concessions if they are positive about this. I think the exchange of land could be a thing that they would agree too in the most current draft. Russia controls some minor territories in the north near Kharkov and Sumy, and these could be exchanged for the parts of Donbas they have yet to conquer. Russia would still be gaining more than they would be losing but it would allow Ukraine to say that they didn't give away the farm either. 

What concerns me is that the deal might be for stronger security guarantees for Ukraine. Anything that could potentially draw America into a conflict with Russia is not something I would support, so any kind of mutual defense pact would be a deal breaker for me. How much of a concession Ukraine got here could be the thing that breaks the whole deal apart. Such a deal would be unlikely for obvious reasons, Ukraine would then have a motivation to restart the war with the United States as an ally, but you never know how much they gave away. 

Will Russia play ball? I think it really depends just how far these concessions go. Russia does have some motivation to end the war, but keep in mind they are winning right now. Much of the Ukrainian military is getting caught up in cauldrons and it's clear that Russia's attritional strategy is working. They have little reason to give major concessions to Ukraine under any circumstances given how strong their position is on the battlefield. 

However, the original deal did seem like it was finally listening to what Russia was saying. They don't want NATO to expand, they don't want a militarized Ukraine and they don't want Russian speaking citizens of Ukraine to be discriminated against. If some concessions are made to Ukraine (and the land swap one seems very obvious) than it's very possible that they will accept. 

I do hope that if Zelensky refuses to accept even this watered down proposal that President Trump finally throws up his hands and cuts him off. I have never liked Zelensky and I give him the lion's share of the blame for this war continuing as long as it has. The original deal was better than he deserved so I am hoping that Zelensky sees the writing on the wall and ends the war, despite the threats against him and his presidency.