I really wish I had something interesting to report, but the only eventful thing around here is the AC replacement guys (who I thought were coming in January) are here today so they replaced the HVAC unit which was one from the 70’s. I thought I had another roofing guy coming to give another estimate for the repairs from the storm this summer so we can get that taken care of, but apparently my wires were crossed. Now that I think about it, I think I do remember scheduling it because I wanted it done before the roofing so we could get the flashing around the ac done, and also because they guys doing it are working on the day after christmas and getting over time so I thought we would be a very relaxing place to do things because I am not one of those hover over the worker owners. I don’t think they even know Joelle is even here, although every animal has said hello.
It also had to be done before the power panel was replaced because the power to my house hasn’t been fucked with in so long that apparently the electrician has to have the power company turn off power from the street or something I do not know if this is standard or not I just know it is another reason we did the ac unit first. I don’t know anything about this and hvac is up there with gas, electric, plumbing, and engine repairs on things I do not do with a little help from youtube, I pay someone who knows what they are doing. They even started to ask me a question today and I just said “All I know about what you are doing is when I am cold I press the up arrow on the wall and when I am hot I press the down arrow so unless you are asking me for more money just do what ever you would do to your house.”
Other than that, we are just lounging and she is recovering. I am hopelessly sucked into KCD2 and of course pissed there will be no more expansions.
I am having the last two tamales and some over easy eggs for dinner with some pico and sour cream.
The data and election results are pretty clear: The GOP is in a rough place. But it’s not just the data—it’s the vibes. Here are 10 reasons why Republicans should probably start emotionally preparing for a rough 2026, because they’re in for a world of hurt.
1. They are losing elections
We don’t need to look at polls to see that Republicans are already struggling at the ballot box. GOP candidates were utterly routed in this November’s off-year elections, without a single speck of good news to point to. And it wasn’t just the win-loss record. The margins were brutal.
New Jersey Republican Jack Ciattarelli lost to Democrat Mikie Sherrill in the New Jersey governor’s race.
Republicans had a legitimately strong gubernatorial candidate in New Jersey—someone who narrowly lost the previous cycle and was supposedly running neck-and-neck with his Democratic opponent in the polls—and Jack Ciattarelli ended up losing to Mikie Sherrill by 14 points.
In an early December Tennessee special election, Democrats outperformed President Donald Trump’s numbers in the district by 13 points. In Miami, Republicans lost the mayor’s race for the first time in 30 years, by nearly 20 points. Four years ago, they won that same seat 79–12.
Democrats don’t need anything close to those margins to win back the House and Senate in 2026. Results half as good would still produce a GOP wipeout. As one Georgia Republican put it after his party got trounced in special elections, “Our donors aren’t motivated and our voters aren’t either.”
2. Trump is not all there
We all know Trump isn’t well. His incoherence keeps getting worse. He can’t walk in a straight line. He struggles with stairs. He shows up at events and press conferences with unexplained bruising on his hands. He’s had multiple MRI scans in a single year. He falls asleep on camera. He misses events without explanation, oscillating between somnambulance and mania.
Former President Donald Trump appears asleep at Manhattan criminal court before his trial in New York on April 26, 2024.
CNN’s medical expert has described Trump’s current state as “jarring.” He is obese, and deeply defensive about all of it, insisting he’s a paragon of physical and mental health.
The practical result is that Trump is incapable of campaigning effectively for his party. Worse, when he does try, he actively makes things worse.
He recently went on a short tour to claim he was the “affordability president,” only to spend his time rehashing grievances and mocking concerns about high prices as a “hoax.” He’s an albatross around the GOP’s neck, either unable or unwilling to do what’s necessary to shift the political conversation onto more favorable ground.
3. Trump is on the ballot
As 2025’s elections have shown, Trump motivates voters to vote against his party. The individual names on the ballot barely matter. For many voters, the only way to register disapproval of Trump is to vote against Republicans, and they’re doing exactly that. With Trump’s approval ratings now lower than they were during the worst moments of his first term, even during his catastrophic response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Republicans are staring down relentless headwinds.
4. Trump isn’t on the ballot
At the same time, Trump’s most devoted MAGA cultists simply don’t show up to vote when he isn’t personally on the ballot. We saw this in 2018 and again in 2022. Trump can turn out some of the most disengaged voters in the country, but he’s never turned them into reliable Republican voters. Instead, he’s tied them entirely to himself.
During the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump told supporters, “In four years, you don’t have to vote again. We’ll have it fixed so good, you’re not gonna have to vote.” Many people interpreted that as a promise to end elections. But it sounded more like pure narcissism—an admission that without Trump himself on the ballot, his supporters wouldn’t bother showing up at all. And he’s perfectly fine with that.
5. Economic sentiment is in the gutter
The Democratic Party’s 2024 presidential campaign largely boiled down to one argument: The economy is doing great. And by the numbers, it was—low unemployment, easing post-COVID inflation, and wage growth outpacing inflation. But that’s not how most people felt, especially those who are lower on the economic ladder.
Trump and Republicans capitalized on that disconnect, winning poorer voters for the first time while Democrats carried voters making over $100,000. But instead of locking in those gains by actually delivering for working-class Americans, Trump and the GOP immediately pivoted back to tax cuts for billionaires, while pushing tariffs and mass deportations that are inherently inflationary.
Now prices are rising again, unemployment and underemployment are creeping up, and Trump is insisting everything is fine. He’s repeating former President Joe Biden’s biggest political mistake—telling people they’re wrong about their own lived experience.
That doesn’t just alienate voters: It enrages them. Nobody likes being gaslit, and that anger helped fuel Democratic victories in 2025. As Democrats make affordability central to their 2026 messaging, Trump is actively making their job easier by denying voters’ reality.
6. The polls are suspect
Even in the polls—where Republicans usually find comfort—the numbers include warning signs. On the generic congressional ballot, GOP support remains stuck in the low- to mid-40s, but only lagging Democrats by a few points. Under normal circumstances, that might look competitive.
But this year, polling has consistently overstated Republican performance. In election after election, Democrats have outperformed their polling averages, often by wide margins. That gap matters. It suggests Republican support is soft, conditional, or simply not translating into actual votes.
In other words, the problem isn’t just that Republicans are polling poorly—it’s that even their best-case numbers aren’t materializing on Election Day. When voters do cast ballots, they’re increasingly ignoring individual candidates and using elections as a blunt instrument to register disapproval of the GOP as a whole. And that’s a dangerous place for any party to occupy heading into a midterm year.
7. A historic level of retirements
A record number of members of Congress are heading for the exits. As of now, 29 Republicans and 24 Democrats have announced retirements. But while Democrats are defending open seats in a relatively friendly environment, Republicans are doing the opposite.
And it may get worse. Puck News reports that as many as 20 additional Republicans are expected to announce retirements in coming weeks, as defending a shrinking majority—and endlessly defending Trump—starts to look like a losing proposition.
8. Trump has lost young voters
Trump did alarmingly well with young voters in 2024, winning 43% of them. Many of those voters had no real memory of his first term, having been politically formed by social media posts and right-wing podcast culture rather than lived experience.
That’s changing fast. A recent Pew poll shows that among voters aged 18 to 34 who backed Trump in 2024, his approval rating was at 94% in February. But when that same group was surveyed again in early August, his approval had collapsed to 69%. Once young voters actually see Trump governing, the shine wears off quickly.
9. Trump has lost Latinos
Supporters hold a sign before Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump arrives to speak during a campaign event at the Linda Ronstadt Music Hall on Sept.12, 2024, in Tucson, Arizona.
Once touted as proof that Trump was making durable gains with Latino voters, Miami’s mayoral election results instead revealed how shallow and transactional that support really was. As Trump’s rhetoric hardened, his deportation policies intensified, and the economic fallout of his agenda became clearer, Latino voters recoiled.
The GOP’s attempt to reduce the most GOP-friendly Latino voters (Cubans, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans) to culture-war fodder and anti-socialism warnings collapsed once those voters saw Trump’s policies directly threatening their families, livelihoods, and communities. And if that shift is happening among those core GOP constituencies, what do you think it’ll look like among more traditionally Democratic Latino voters who pulled the lever for Trump out of economic desperation?
What looked like a political realignment has turned into a backlash—and Miami is likely the template for what’s coming nationally.
10. MAGA is turning on itself
Finally, the movement is starting to eat its own. The opening shots of a MAGA civil war have already been fired, and Trump is powerless to stop it. They can’t even wait until after the midterms to tear each other apart.
At the same time, Republicans are stuck managing open extremists like Nick Fuentes and outright Nazis who continue to inflame internal divisions and repel swing voters. The coalition that once looked frighteningly unified is now fracturing in public—and 2026 is approaching fast.
When Donald Trump gloats online about the galling rebranded “Trump Kennedy Center,” he might face some challenges directing people to its website.
That’s because it’s already taken.
Toby Morton, a former South Park and MadTV writer, told Daily Kos on Friday that he saw the “writing on the wall” back in August and decided to scoop up both TrumpKennedyCenter.com and TrumpKennedyCenter.org.
“Once you’ve spent enough time watching branding, ego, and history collide, the joke basically writes itself,” Morton said.
The comedy writer has a knack for using his creativity to predict—and buy— domains that might be of use to politicians down the road.
Morton has used his resources, most of which come from supporters’ donations, to purchase website domains to point out the absurdities of right-wing groups and personalities like Vice President JD Vance, Moms for Liberty, and Rep. Nancy Mace.
And with the Trump Kennedy Center, the comedian struck satirical gold last week when Donald Trump announced its illegal name change. However, Morton wasn’t exactly enthusiastic when he realized that his prediction came true.
Tarps are installed in front of the sign on the Kennedy Center on, Dec. 19.
“I sighed, stared into the middle distance, and thought, ‘Of course it did,’” he said.
What’s to come for the domains remains to be seen, as the sites still sit empty today. But from the purchase alone, Morton has already gotten plenty of reactions.
While he has received numerous anonymous offers to purchase other domains he owns, he hasn’t received any buyout requests for the two Kennedy Center gems—yet.
But Morton has never been on this comedic mission for the cash. Instead of money, Morton’s end goal is to use the power of laughter to highlight ludicrous actions coming from all political persuasions.
“I don't care what side you're on, I'm gonna make fun of you,” Morton told Daily Kos in an April interview.
“Support for the Arts should be bipartisan so it’s shameful that the radical left keeps boycotting the Arts to make a political point,” he told Daily Kos on Friday.
Trump purged the previous board of trustees in February, installing himself as chair and other loyalists who ultimately signed off on the center’s rebrand.
When the center’s name change became official, and Trump’s tacky name was added to the building’s exterior, another longtime performer at the arts center also called it quits.
Chuck Redd, a musician who hosted the center’s annual Christmas Eve show for nearly two decades, walked away on December 19.
But the White House, driven by Trump’s narcissism, has already come up with replacement programming sure to excite fans of the arts.
Last week, sources told The Hollywood Reporter that Melania Trump’s upcoming self-titled documentary would hold its premiere at the center.
Unfortunately for the Trumps, it doesn’t seem like they’ll be able to market the movie on a splashy new Trump Kennedy Center website, thanks to Morton.
For now, Morton gets a chuckle out of the curious emails he receives as the owner of the domains for the repulsively rebranded Kennedy Center.
Abstract: Coleoid cephalopods have the most elaborate camouflage system in the animal kingdom. This enables them to hide from or deceive both predators and prey. Most studies have focused on benthic species of octopus and cuttlefish, while studies on squid focused mainly on the chromatophore system for communication. Camouflage adaptations to the substrate while moving has been recently described in the semi-pelagic oval squid (Sepioteuthis lessoniana). Our current study focuses on the same squid’s complex camouflage to substrate in a stationary, motionless position. We observed disruptive, uniform, and mottled chromatic body patterns, and we identified a threshold of contrast between dark and light chromatic components that simplifies the identification of disruptive chromatic body pattern. We found that arm postural components are related to the squid position in the environment, either sitting directly on the substrate or hovering just few centimeters above the substrate. Several of these context-dependent body patterns have not yet been observed in S. lessoniana species complex or other loliginid squids. The remarkable ability of this squid to display camouflage elements similar to those of benthic octopus and cuttlefish species might have convergently evolved in relation to their native coastal habitat.
As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven’t covered.
Well, here it is, the last week of 2025. One of my goals for the year was
to write an infodump post that I could point to, quote from, or email to
people who I've been out of touch with. I never got around to it, and
it's late, but maybe this will do.
If you're tuning in late, I need to mention that I moved with part of my
chosen family to Den Haag, in the Netherlands, in October of 2024.
Specifically myself, N, N's husband G, older kid m, and our four cats.
N's younger kid, j, was already here, starting university in Leiden.
We're here taking advantage of the Dutch-American Friendship Treaty, which
lets Americans emigrate to the Netherlands (or vice versa) and get
permanent residency or citizenship provided they start a business here (or
bring one with them). We're sort of doing both, with our little indie
publishing company HyperSpace
Express.
Our plan for the business had been for N to get into sewing and fabric
arts, and me to (at long last) record a new CD. The best-laid plans, etc.
What's actually happened is that I got very discouraged about my
musical ability, and N decided to turn to writing. She's already
published her first book, The World As it Ought To Be -- Stories from a Protopian
Future. Please buy a copy!
Back in the US, my son R turned FORTY last July. On his birthday I
started trying to write a "state of the Bear" post, got nowhere, and
abandoned it three days later, a few days before the fourth anniversary of
Colleen's death. I have written very little since then. But here I am.
The last week has been kind of bleak, and a week from tomorrow will be our
fiftieth wedding anniversary. It will be the fifth that I haven't had her
with me to celebrate.
Fortunately, Bronx never fails to get a laugh out of me when he jumps up
onto the dresser when I'm getting the food bowls ready. And this evening
I was mentioning to G how the IBM 1620 has to load its addition and
multiplication tables when it boots up, and he said "Snakes. Why'd it
have to be snakes?" I haven't laughed that hard in ... I don't know
how long.
Um... not really enough, but I want to post this today (see music), and
it's almost bedtime. And I have cats to feed.
Current Mood:distressed
Current Location:Schildhaven Centraal in Den Haag
Current Music:Uncle Ernie's Used Computer Babbage's Birthday Bargain Bash
In Donald Trump’s mass deportation effort, ICE and border patrol won big as immigrant families spent the holidays living in fear or separated from loved ones.
The president’s bloated Big Beautiful Bill earmarked $170 billion over the next four years for immigration enforcement, which includes the construction of disgraceful new detention facilities.
However, projects have been underway long before federal funds were guaranteed after Republicans in Congress passed their grotesque spending bill.
In July, Florida's “Alligator Alcatraz” opened its doors. The following month, Homeland Security chief Krisit Noem was slammed after teasing the “Speedway Slammer” in Indiana.
Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Kristi Noem, and others tour "Alligator Alcatraz" on July 1.
Reports of human rights abuses have also surged along with Trump’s brutality aimed at immigrants.
However, no amount of outrage from Americans has been able to slow Trump’s heavily funded deportation machine.
According to a glowing year-end report from Homeland Security, more than 2.5 million immigrants have either left the country voluntarily or have been deported by the government’s hastily hired ICE agents.
And the president has tripled his bribe to get people to willingly leave the U.S., upping the offer to $3,000.
As of early December, DHS claims 1.9 million immigrants have opted to self-deport.
The government shows no signs of slowing down its cruelty, either.
The Washington Post reported last week that the Trump administration has employed contractors to overhaul the deportation processing system, planning to build massive warehouses near detention centers that would house up to 5,000 immigrants instead of shipping them hundreds of miles away from their homes.
It’s unclear whether the private detention companies bidding on the drafted plans will be the same ones that have questionable ties to border czar Tom Homan.
Meanwhile, the ghouls at DHS continue to hype up their inhumanity with heinous memes and promotional videos.
“We didn’t have this meme-ification of various serious operations, these things that are life or death. … It’s not a joking matter,” David Lapan, a DHS press secretary during Trump’s first term, told the Washington Post.
As the year comes to an end, it’s terrifying to think what kind of inhumane actions DHS and ICE will take with their influx of federal funds.
Eric had surgery last Friday and needed to have someone accompany him and stay with him for twenty-four hours afterward. The aftercare turned out to be a bit more intense than expected afterward, and so I ended up staying at his place all weekend to assist him.
We were very quiet together. It occurred to me on Sunday, as we sat together in his living room, drinking coffee and looking out the living room window at the winter landscape, that it was the winter Solstice. A year ago on the winter Solstice, I was hosting a solstice party. If I had been at home, I would have lit all my candles to mark the day. Being with him on that day as he was recovering seemed fitting.
The winter solstice is a time for deep rest and healing, for reflection and resilience.
He is feeling much better now and counts the surgery as a success.
Image description: A window with a winter view outside. A pair of feet clad in red and white striped socks are propped up on the windowsill beside a red mug with a steaming hot beverage. A hand holding a couple of pills hovers above the feet.
Rest
Click on the links to see the 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021 52 Card Project galleries.
Comedian and late-night host Jimmy Kimmel gave a stark warning to the world about the rise of fascism and tyranny in the United States in a Christmas message broadcast to the United Kingdom.
Kimmel was asked by broadcaster Channel 4 to provide an “alternative” address to accompany the official message aired by King Charles each year.
“From a fascism perspective, this has been a really great year. Tyranny is booming over here,” Kimmelsaid. He noted that Trump “would like to shut me up because I don’t adore him in the way he likes to be adored.”
“Here in the United States right now, we are both figuratively and literally tearing down the structures of our democracy -- from the free press to science to medicine to judicial independence to the actual White House itself,” he added. “I want you to know we’re not all like him, we’re not all like that.”
Kimmel ended his speech by asking viewers not to give up on America, noting, “we’re going through a bit of a wobble right now, but we’ll come around.”
Kimmel was chosen for the broadcast because in September the Trump administration, via the Federal Communications Commission (FCC),directly targeted him for removal from the air after the comedian commented on the killing of Charlie Kirk.
Kimmel has been a longtime critic of Trump and has used his show, “Jimmy Kimmel Live” to mock Trump for years.
After the program was taken offline, with the assistance of conservative ABC affiliate owners Sinclair and Nexstar, public outcry against the decision led to Kimmel’s triumphant return.
Unlike his predecessors in both parties, Trump has been unable to maintain calmness and maturity when mocked by comedians—a standard part of being a major public figure like the president.
Just before the Christmas holiday,Trump fumed that he was being made fun of by one of Kimmel’s competitors, “Late Night” host Stephen Colbert—and called for the broadcast licenses of networks airing comedians who don’t like him to be pulled.
Trump highlighted his vindictiveness in a Christmas eveningpost where he warned that Democrats and other detractors should “enjoy what may be your last Merry Christmas.”
Over the last year, allies of Trump have exerted their control over major media outlets to bend coverage in Trump’s favor. For instance, Trump inaugural donor and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos hasoverseen an exodus of voices critical of the right in the paper’s editorial pages and has been praised by Trump for pushing the paper in a pro-MAGA direction. Simultaneously,Trump allies like billionaire Larry Ellison have taken over Paramount, which owns CBS, and paid off millions to Trump for a frivolous lawsuit.
There has been considerable blowback as well, most recentlyat CBS News, where conservative editor-in-chief Bari Weiss spiked a “60 Minutes” report exposing the Trump administration’s affiliation with abusive policies at El Salvador’s CECOT prison. Instead of squashing an unfavorable story, CBS has come under withering criticism for days on end.
Kimmel was the perfect spokesperson to continue arguing for First Amendment speech under Trump—targeted for regime censorship, he received public support and was restored, and now continues to mock Trump with the contempt the American president has earned.
Today, after almost a year of Trump’s second regime, I want to talk about the challenge Trump and his regime pose to America’s moral purpose. The best way into the subject is, I think, to ask a few questions about what’s been happening, and then offer an answer to all of them.
Questions:
— Why is Trump abandoning Europe and siding with Putin over Ukraine?
— Why is Trump also solicitous of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince MBS, Hungary’s Viktor Orban, and Benjamin Netanyahu?
— Why is the Trump regime so intent on detaining or deporting undocumented people in the United States who have not committed any crimes and have been productive members of their communities for years?
He poses more questions, but they all have the same answer.
Trump and the people around him are not interested in protecting America’s democratic ideals from the global enemies of those ideals. They reject the progress America and the rest of what used to be called the “free world” have achieved in advancing democracy, the rule of law, social justice, and human rights.
The world they seek is one of white supremacy, male dominance, the superiority of the Judeo-Christian tradition over all other creeds, and America-first nationalism.
White male Christian nationalism is about power. It seeks to give white Christian men power over Black and brown people, over women, over people who are not Judeo-Christians, over people born outside the United States, and over anyone who does not fit neatly into the structure and roles of a traditional family.
White male Christian nationalism has more in common with Vladimir Putin, who condemns LGBTQ+ people and scoffs at human rights; with Saudi Arabia, which confines women to second-class status and murders critics of the regime; and with Viktor Orban, who views Muslim immigrants as direct threats to Europe’s Christian values, than it does with America’s traditional allies.
So, when Trump and his regime refer to America’s “national security,” they are not talking about security against authoritarian regimes that eschew democracy, the rule of law, and human rights. Their view of “national security” is security against forces — both inside America as well as abroad — that advocate democracy, the rule of law, and human rights (which they describe derisively as “woke” or “diversity, equity, and inclusion”) rather than white male Christian nationalism.
White male Christian nationalism is a throwback to the world before the enlightenment of the 18th century took root in the West; before the core ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights provided a beacon to America and the world; before Thomas Paine wrote The Rights of Man.
America has not always lived up to these core enlightenment ideals, but it has at least striven to face its shortcomings and overcome its moral hypocrisies. It fought a horrendous civil war that ended the scourge slavery. It extended voting rights to women. It enacted the Civil Rights and the Voting Rights Acts to guarantee equal political rights to Black and brown people. It committed itself to equal marriage rights.
Our system of rights has rested on a civic culture that demands mutual respect, adherence to the egalitarian principles enshrined in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, rejection of bigotry and hatred, dedication to freedom and justice, and deep suspicion of centralized power whether in government or in the economy.
Robert Reich’s conclusion:
After almost a year of Trump’s second term — even more violent and extreme than his first — the moral challenge he and his regime pose to the soul of this nation has become clear: the loss of our core ideals, the deterioration of our founding principles, and the abdication of America’s moral authority in the world.
There is true evil at work here. They aren’t just destroying the architecture of our democracy – what we see above ground – they are also blasting away at the foundation. We simply cannot let them win that battle.
Because if we hang on to those things, our core ideals and love for and belief in our founding principles, I believe we can claw everything back over time. I fear, though, that it will be decades before America regains any moral authority in the world. What we have to hang on to in the meantime is our own morality; we cannot become them, only on the side of good.
As millions of Americans were celebrating Christmas, Donald Trump was launching new military strikes, excitedly announcing that he bombed alleged ISIS terrorists in Nigeria to avenge a non-existent Christian genocide.
“Under my leadership, our Country will not allow Radical Islamic Terrorism to prosper," Trump wrote in an unhinged Truth Social post. “May God Bless our Military, and MERRY CHRISTMAS to all, including the dead Terrorists, of which there will be many more if their slaughter of Christians continues.”
Of course, while there is undoubtedly terroristic violence in Nigeria, there is no evidence that it is a Christian genocide, as Trump claimed.
“Portraying Nigeria’s security challenges as a targeted campaign against a single religious group is a gross misrepresentation of reality," the Nigerian government wrote in a post on X back in September. "Terrorists attack all who reject their murderous ideology—Muslims, Christians, and those of no faith alike."
What's more, even if there was a Christian genocide to avenge, Trump would need to go to Congress to get authorization for the strikes—which he did not do.
"There’s no authority for strikes on terrorists in Nigeria or anywhere on earth. The 2001 [Authorization for Use of Military Force] is only for the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks," former Rep. Justin Amash, a Republican who left the party in protest of Trump, wrote in a post on X. "The War Powers Resolution doesn’t grant any authority beyond the Constitution. Offensive military actions need congressional approval. The Framers of the Constitution divided war powers to protect the American people from war-eager executives. Whether the United States should engage in conflicts across the globe is a decision for the people’s representatives in Congress, not the president."
But Trump has ignored the Constitution to launch multiple military strikes without Congress’ input, one of the many ways he’s shredded the founding documents of this country to simply do what he wants.
Just last week, Trump launched airstrikes against alleged ISIS targets in Syria. And let’s not forget his attack on Iran earlier in the year.
Trump claimed, without providing any evidence, that the boats the military is blowing up are trafficking drugs. Yet even if they are, that does not give him carte blanche to launch strikes without Congress' go-ahead.
Ultimately, Trump's bloodlust is completely counter to his campaign promise that he would not launch new wars if elected president.
But GOP lawmakers, who have neutered themselves of their constitutionally granted powers to let their Dear Leader do whatever he wants, don’t care.
In fact, many of them were cheering Trump’s latest military strikes.
“Thank you @POTUS for standing up against Christian persecution. The PEACE President!!” Rep. Ralph Norman, the South Carolina Republican who is groveling for Trump’s endorsement in his bid for governor of the Palmetto State, wrote in a post onX.
Rep. Mike Collins, a Georgia Republican running for Senate in the Peach State, even posted an image of a military plane with a Santa hat along with the text “Merry Christmas, Nigerian terrorists.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that he will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida over the weekend.
Zelenskyy told journalists that the two leaders will discuss security guarantees for Ukraine during Sunday's talks, and that the 20-point plan under discussion “is about 90% ready.”
An “economic agreement” also will be discussed, Zelenskyy said, but that he was unable to confirm “whether anything will be finalized by the end.”
The Ukrainian side will also raise "territorial issues", he said.
Zelenskyy said that Ukraine “would like the Europeans to be involved," but doubted whether it would be possible at short notice.
“We must, without doubt, find some format in the near future in which not only Ukraine and the U.S. are present, but Europe is represented as well,” he said.
The announced meeting is the latest development in an extensive U.S.-led diplomatic push to end the nearly four-year Russia-Ukraine war, but efforts have run into sharply conflicting demands by Moscow and Kyiv.
Zelenskyy's comments came after he said Thursday that he had a “good conversation” with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday that the Kremlin had already been in contact with U.S. representatives since Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev recentlymet with U.S. envoysin Florida.
“It was agreed upon to continue the dialogue," he said.
Trump is engaged in adiplomatic pushto end Russia's all-out war, which began on Feb. 24, 2022, but his efforts have run into sharplyconflicting demandsby Moscow and Kyiv.
Zelenskyy said Tuesday that he would be willing to withdraw troops from Ukraine's eastern industrial heartland as part of a plan to end the war, if Russia also pulls back and the area becomes a demilitarized zone monitored by international forces.
Though Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday that there had been “slow but steady progress” in the peace talks, Russia has given no indication that it will agree to any kind of withdrawal from land it has seized.
In fact, Moscow has insisted that Ukraine relinquish the remaining territory it still holds in the Donbas — an ultimatum that Ukraine has rejected. Russia has captured most of Luhansk and about 70% of Donetsk — the two areas that make up the Donbas.
On the ground, one person was killed and three others were wounded when a guided aerial bomb hit a house in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region, while six people were wounded in a missile strike on the city of Uman, local officials said Friday.
Russian drone attacks on the city of Mykolaiv and its suburbs overnight into Friday left part of the city without power. Energy and port infrastructure were damaged by drones in the city of Odesa on the Black Sea.
Meanwhile, Ukraine said that it struck a major Russian oil refinery on Thursday using U.K.-supplied Storm Shadow missiles.
Ukraine’s General Staff said that its forces hit the Novoshakhtinsk refinery in Russia’s Rostov region.
“Multiple explosions were recorded. The target was hit,” it wrote on Telegram.
Rostov regional Gov. Yuri Slyusar said that a firefighter was wounded when extinguishing the fire.
The Trump administration is engaged in a full-scale assault on the independence and sovereignty of European countries that dare to try to regulate big tech in a way he doesn’t like. Apparently this is what we are exporting these days.
European countries are trying to regulate and impose fines on technology companies that aren’t following their laws. This should be a noncontroversial thing, a no-brainer, really. Sure, it’s no fun for big tech overlords to have to follow different rules in different countries, but that’s kind of how being an international presence works?
But not these days—not if President Donald Trump has his way.
The latest leverage the administration is deploying in order to stop other countries from enforcing their own laws is to threaten to launch investigations into “unfair digital trade practices.” The United Kingdom, the European Union, and South Korea are all in the administration’s crosshairs here.
The administration isn’t threatening a full-fledged trade war quite yet, but just give it time. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is dangling lower tariff rates on steel and aluminum in front of the EU if they will only agree to regulate big tech companies the same way the United States does—which is to say, basically, not at all.
All of this is being done at the behest of big tech, of course. Here’s some anonymous spokesperson talking to Politico about it:
“I would just say that’s the next level of escalation. I think that’s what people are waiting for and looking for. What folks are looking for is like action over the tweets, which, we love the tweets. Everyone loves the tweets.”
Many people do not actually love the tweets, because X is basically a Nazi cesspool these days, chock-full of targeted harassment. But Trump still loves Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk, apparently, so the American government is stepping in to make sure Musk gets what he wants.
Earlier this month, the EU fined X $140 million for not following the EU’s Digital Services Act. Despite this getting spun as some sort of censorship, with Vice President JD Vance going on X to whine that the EU was “attacking American companies over garbage,” it’s really just a relatively boring result of a years-long investigation by the EU into X’s persistent violations of its rules.
President Donald Trump has gone to bat for Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk before, like that time he turned the White House into a Tesla sales showroom.
The $140 million penalty relates to three violations of the DSA, none of which are about restricting X’s precious free speech for fascists.
First, X ran afoul of the DSA because it still says that blue checks represent verified users, but that hasn’t been the case for quite some time. Since Musk made blue checks freely available to anyone who will pay him $8 a month, scams and bots have run amok. Continuing to say these are verified users deceives consumers and violates the DSA.
Next, X has refused to comply with EU rules on ad transparency. The EU requires companies to keep a publicly available archive of all ads a platform runs and who pays for them. Apparently X just can’t handle that and instead has an archive that doesn’t show who paid for ads, doesn’t show what the ads are about, and doesn’t even show which broad categories ads fell under.
Finally, X got dinged because it won’t give researchers adequate access to public data. Since Musk took the helm, X has made it much harder for researchers to scrape information from the site, a thing that the American government doesn’t care about, but the EU does. But the notion that other countries get to have their own laws seems utterly foreign to this administration and the big tech folks it is coddling.
In a nice little show of “regulations for thee, but not for me,” the administration began threatening action against European companies like Spotify and Siemens unless the EU stops trying to enforce its own rules. It is no coincidence whatsoever that this little bit of mob boss mentality came one week after the EU penalized X.
Pretending that requiring a company to follow basic transparency rules is the height of censorship is especially ridiculous given that Federal Communications Commission Director Brendan Carr, back when he was a Project 2025 guy, called for platforms to be required to explain and justify all editorial decisions. That is quite a bit more heavy-handed than the EU requirement that X keep some ad records.
The Trump administration is also making clear that any efforts to rein in disinformation on tech platforms are not only unwelcome, but basically a criminal act that warrants not letting you in the country.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio says that people who research and regulate disinformation are “radical activists” who undermine free speech, and on Wednesday officially barred five Europeans from entering the U.S. Also not welcome here? Anyone who has been a fact checker or content moderator, because that is also censorship.
The administration desperately wants to export the Trump/Musk view of free speech, which is that they get to spew the most hateful and bigoted lies imaginable, and you have to keep your mouth shut and listen, even if that means facing an unending torrent of abuse.
But this isn’t just about fake free speech. It’s also about keeping big tech CEOs happy. They’ve bowed and scraped and showered money on Trump to ensure that he continues to let them do whatever they want.
Those millions of dollars in “donations” directed toward the president’s dumb ballroom and boring inauguration are all about continuing to show Trump fealty. They don’t want much in return, really—just an unfettered, regulation-free atmosphere not only here, but worldwide. What an unholy alliance.
As pennies vanish from the American landscape, many businesses are clamoring for federal guidance on how to handle cash transactions in a penniless world.
Should retailers round up or down? Should they round in favor of the customer? Or in favor of the business?
So far, calls for federal direction have gone unanswered. Some businesses are setting their own policies, but states are now beginning to act amid growing uncertainty.
While the question revolves around only a few cents per transaction, it does raise important consumer protection and legal questions for states to consider. Retailers must weigh threats of potential lawsuits, while policymakers worry about protecting the most vulnerable consumers who rely on cash for everyday purchases.
President Donald Trump in February moved toeliminatethe penny from U.S. pocketbooks, citing the high cost of minting them — about 3.7 cents per penny. But even before the coin’s final production run last month, U.S. retailers and banks were reporting widespread penny shortages.
To provide clarity, lawmakers in New York have proposed legislation mirroring Canada’s rounding standard — up or down to the nearest five cents. And officials inGeorgiaandUtahhave issued nonbinding guidance to businesses.
“States do not have the luxury of waiting for the federal government,” said Katherine Tschopp, senior associate at government relations firm MultiState.
Complicating the issue are the growing number of jurisdictions requiring businesses to accept cash — a move aimed at protecting vulnerable consumers who may not have access to credit cards or electronic payment systems.
U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach holds one of the last pennies pressed at the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia on Nov. 12.
In November,New Yorkbecame the ninth state to add such a rule, according totracking from MultiState. At least eight major cities also require businesses to accept cash.
A bipartisan group of federal lawmakers have proposed legislation in theU.S. HouseandSenateto require all cash transactions be rounded to the nearest five cents, but neither proposal has made it to a floor vote.
The record-breaking federal government shutdown and heated debate on health insurance subsidies have sidelined the penny discussion, Tschopp said. She thinks the federal government will likely determine a national rounding policy — eventually. But in the meantime, she expects more states to weigh in.
New York Democratic Assemblymember John T. McDonald III said he agreed with Trump’s move to phase out the costly production of the penny. But businesses are asking for some kind of guidance now, he said.
“In the absence of federal action, I think it’s important that the states act to provide clarity — clarity for everybody: clarity for the consumer, as well as the merchant and the state,” McDonald told Stateline.
Approaches to rounding
McDonald’s proposed legislation mirrors Canada’srounding policyfollowing the 2012 elimination of its one-cent coin.His billcalls for so-called symmetrical rounding of after-tax cash purchases to the nearest five-cent mark. Purchases ending with one, two, six or seven cents would be rounded down. And purchases ending in three, four, eight or nine cents would be rounded up.
So, a consumer would get no cash back from a $1.99 purchase. But a retailer would hand over a nickel to someone spending $1.97.
McDonald sits on the National Conference of State Legislature’s State and Local Taxation Task Force that has been examiningthe penny issue.That task force has recommended symmetrical rounding as the fairest method for merchants and consumers.
McDonald noted that the NCSL group reached a bipartisan consensus on the issue. And he said he’s found no opposition from New York businesses or consumer groups on his bill.
“In this day and age where we seem to have a lot of fractious conversations on other issues, it’d be nice to find something that actually we can all agree on,” he said. “And to have it start with the good old little penny would be a good spot.”
On Wednesday, South Dakota Republican state Sen. Tim Reed urged state lawmakers to start communicating with agencies, retailers and the public over the issue.
A sign in a Kwik Trip store in Yorkville, Wis., on Oct. 23 shows the store will no longer be using pennies to give change.
A co-chair of the NCSL task force, he said businesses need guidance and consumers may need reassurance. While he acknowledged concerns about “strategic pricing” — in which retailers set prices to push rounding to their advantage — the group’s report characterized that as a “limited risk.”
“Everybody’s thinking, ‘Oh, I’ll get overcharged, or I’ll get undercharged,’” Reed said at anNCSL virtual event about the penny.He said it would be good for people to know that “really this is all going to kind of wash out in the end.”
New York Democratic state Sen. James Sanders Jr. said thecash acceptance lawhe sponsored earlier this year ensures people without access to smartphones or banking are not excluded from commerce. That law also says customers paying with cash cannot be charged more than other buyers.
“Otherwise, you absolutely have a two-tiered system,” he said, noting that cash is “a lifeline” for working families, older adults, immigrants and small businesses.
Sanders said he would prefer for retailers to round down to the nearest nickel on cash transactions to protect consumers.
“For the large corporations, this could be a difference of hundreds of thousands of dollars if they are steadily rounding up,” he said. While each rounding transaction represents a loss or gain of only a few cents, Sanders said, “multiply that by tens of thousands of people, and you’ve effectively raised the price of your product without any type of sanction.”
Sanders said he plans to introduce legislation on the matter soon, but added that he remains open to McDonald’s current proposal of symmetrical rounding. More than anything, he said, businesses desire some kind of guidance.
“We’re not trying to cheat business. We’re just trying not to be cheated by business,” he said. “The people I’ve been speaking to are honest souls, and they just want to know the right thing to do in a penniless society.”
A rapid change
The U.S. Mint in Philadelphia struckthe last pennyon Nov. 12, but pennies were already scarce at that time.
By mid-November, more than 100 of the government’s 165 coin distribution sites across the country were without pennies, according to theRetail Industry Leaders Association, which represents major chains including CVS, Target and 7-Eleven.
In a Novembersurveyof its members, that organization found six national chains had more than 1,000 stores that had no pennies.
The association said most of its survey respondents were rounding cash transactions to the benefit of customers — always down to the nearest five cents. While it’s fair for shoppers, it’s “costing businesses millions of dollars as small amounts add up across thousands of daily cash transactions.”
While states weigh the issue, the association is pushing for a federal answer.
“We are urging the federal government to quickly address the problem, to allow for uniform adjustments by retailers that operate in a multitude of states,” Austen Jensen, the organization’s senior executive vice president of public affairs, said in a statement to Stateline.
Other groups, including the American Bankers Association, have alsopushedfor federal action.
“They’re obviously concerned about it and wanting a federal fix,” said Christopher Phillips, a partner at law firm Holland & Knight. “The government fairly abruptly decided they weren’t going to mint any more pennies and these shortages of pennies spread fairly quickly across the country.”
For retailers, the problem is both practical and legal, said Phillips, who represents payment system companies and financial technology firms.
In many of the jurisdictions that require merchants to accept cash, the laws explicitly forbid charging cash customers more — and have a per-transaction fine for violations, raising the possibility of big fees. And Phillips said merchants could face class-action lawsuits for rounding policies in which plaintiffs argue they are charged more than advertised or face unfair or deceptive business practices.
Federal regulations also ban retailers from charging more for purchases made with food stamps, through the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, or SNAP. Cash rounding policies complicate that rule, as some customers would be charged less for certain cash purchases than those using SNAP cards.
“The unintended consequences of these administrative actions, and these laws and how they flow together to create real problems that were certainly never envisioned,” Phillips said.
So far, merchants have come up with their own policies.
Because of the penny shortage, the East Coast convenience store chain Sheetz asked customers to move to cashless payments or round up to support charitable causes. It even offeredfree beveragesfor those willing to cash in 100 pennies.
Kwik Trip, which operates convenience stores across the Midwest, in October announced its registers would automaticallyround downcash transactions to the nearest nickel in favor of customers.
But without a federal standard, the landscape is patchy, Phillips said. Rounding creates a winner and a loser in each cash transaction. Some companies have pushed to standardize their practice across the country, but others will only choose to round down if required.
“Others are like, ‘You know what? This is actual money for us,’” he said. “‘We’re not just going to give it up for the sake of convenience.’”
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