File: 1766009161627146.png (2.37 MB, 1024x1536)

2.37 MB PNG

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-administration-news-12-17-25?t=1766025050300

President Donald Trump on Wednesday mounted a sustained argument for his administration’s economic success, arguing that he’d made significant progress in easing prices despite widespread voter frustration with the cost of living.

“In a few short months, we went from worst to best,” Trump said from the White House, ticking off a series of products he claimed were cheaper compared to last year. “I am bringing those high prices down and bringing them down very fast.”

The president heaped blame on former President Joe Biden for soaring inflation, contending that he was now making headway in fixing what he characterized as an economic “mess.” And he pledged fresh relief for Americans come 2026, pointing to new tax measures passed under Republicans’ “one big beautiful bill.”

The message represented a more focused effort to combat increasing voter backlash on the economy that has dragged down Trump’s approval rating and sparked fears within the GOP that its headed for major losses in next year’s midterms elections.

Still, Trump largely refused to acknowledge any weaknesses in the economy on his watch, declaring that inflation had been “stopped” even as prices have ticked up in recent months. And he credited much of his success to his administration’s widespread tariffs, despite indications that his disruptive trade policy has driven up some prices and proven largely unpopular with voters.

White House advisers and Republicans have urged the president to express more empathy with Americans who are struggling financially and skeptical that the administration is doing much to improve their situation.

But Trump largely offered only a triumphant message, insisting that the economy had already been rescued and would only improve from here.

Comment too long. Click here to view the full text.

File: 1766013766528083.jpg (71 KB, 495x619)

71 KB JPG

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-hangs-plaques-mocking-biden-obama-white-house/story?id=128492648
President Donald Trump has installed plaques underneath portraits of presidents at the White House, using them to insult and make unfounded claims about some of his predecessors including Joe Biden and Barack Obama -- the latest in a series of controversial White House changes under Trump.

The plaques, many of which the White House said Trump penned himself, add to what the president has dubbed the "Presidential Walk of Fame" -- a portrait gallery along the West Wing Colonnade -- and describe the tenures of former commanders in chief in an overtly political way.

Trump's most recent predecessors' plaques read the most editorialized. The permanent signs are stylistically similar to the president's social media posts, with sporadic capitalizations and punctuation -- including many exclamation points.

Under Biden, depicted only by his signature written by the presidential autopen, the plaque includes claims such as "Sleepy Joe Biden was, by far, the worst President in American History," adding that he took office "as a result of the most corrupt Election ever seen in the United States" and that "Biden oversaw a series of unprecedented disasters that brought our Nation to the brink of destruction."

Trump also attacked Biden for his economic record, his climate, immigration and foreign policies, including the Afghanistan withdrawal (calling it "among the most humiliating events in American History"). He also said that because of Biden's "weakness," Russia invaded Ukraine, and "Hamas terrorists launched the heinous October 7th attack on Israel."

The plaque also cites what Trump calls Biden's "severe mental decline, and his unprecedented use of the Autopen."

Under Obama, Trump wrote: "Barack Hussein Obama was the first Black President, a community organizer, one term Senator from Illinois, and one of the most divisive political figures in American History."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/judge-denies-request-to-temporarily-block-construction-of-white-house-ballroom/?intcid=CNR-02-0623

Washington — U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon denied a motion by the National Trust for Historic Preservation that would have temporarily blocked the Trump administration's construction of a new ballroom at the White House, but he set out some requirements for the Trump administration moving forward.

Leon said in a hearing Tuesday in Washington, D.C., that the nonprofit group had not established enough irreparable harm in order to pause the construction outright, but the judge declared construction crews cannot over the next two weeks build any below-ground structures that would determine how and where the final ballroom structure will exist. Leon said any breaking of that order would result in the White House being "forced to take it down."

The judge is requiring the government to submit construction plans to the National Capital Planning Commission by the end of the year, and the Justice Department said that the government has made "initial outreach" to set up meetings on that front.

Last week, the National Trust for Historic Preservation filed the first major lawsuit against President Trump and his administration in an effort to block construction of the ballroom, claiming no president is allowed to tear down parts of the White House "without any review whatsoever," or construct a ballroom on public property "without giving the public an opportunity to weigh in."

The National Park Service expects the project to be completed in summer 2028, not long before Mr. Trump leaves office.

File: 1765847586319180.jpg (111 KB, 624x1024)

111 KB JPG

Pope denounces ‘antisemitic violence’ of Sydney attack as he thanks Christmas donors
https://apnews.com/article/vatican-pope-sydney-massacre-hanukkah-abortion-5bd3c953c79d4e301c53ad6aa9b0782a

Pope Leo XIV on Monday denounced the “antisemitic violence” behind the Sydney Hanukkah massacre as he prayed for the victims and the “gift of peace and fraternity” this holiday season.

“We pray for those who suffer from war and violence, in particular today I want to entrust to the Lord the victims of the terrorist attack in Syndey against the Jewish community.

Conflicting with his stance on abortion, he expressed support for abortion doctors “Enough of these forms of antisemitic violence!” he said. “We must eliminate hatred from our hearts.”

At least 15 people died in the attack on Sydney’s Bondi Beach celebrating the start of the Jewish festival. Albanese called the massacre an act of antisemitic terrorism.

Leo echoed his prayers in an official telegram of condolence sent to the archbishop of Sydney, Most. Rev. Anthony Fisher.

He prayed “with renewed hope that those tempted to violence will undergo conversion and seek the path of peace and solidarity,” said the telegram signed by the Vatican secretary of state.


Comment too long. Click here to view the full text.

File: 1751620646420746.png (855 KB, 1240x826)

855 KB PNG

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/17/american-academy-pediatrics-funding-rfk
The US department of health and human services (HHS) has terminated several multi-million-dollar grants to the American Academy of Pediatrics following the association’s criticisms of health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr’s policies.

The funding cuts, which affect projects focused on issues including fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and early identification of autism, were first reported by the Washington Post and made without prior notice to the AAP.

In a statement to the Guardian, AAP CEO, Mark Del Monte, said: “AAP learned this week that seven grants to AAP under the US Department of Health and Human Services are being terminated.

“This vital work spanned multiple child health priorities, including reducing sudden infant death, rural access to health care, mental health, adolescent health, supporting children with birth defects, early identification of autism, and prevention of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, among other topics.”

Del Monte added: “The sudden withdrawal of these funds will directly impact and potentially harm infants, children, youth, and their families in communities across the United States. AAP is exploring all available options, including legal recourse, in response to these actions.”

HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon told the Washington Post that the grants were terminated because they no longer align with departmental priorities. The Guardian has contacted HHS for comment.

HHS terminated the funding after noting that the AAP’s materials used what the department characterized as “identity-based language”, including references to racial disparities and the term “pregnant people”, according to administration officials cited by the Washington Post.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/report-netanyahu-trump-planned-iran-strike-far-in-advance-ran-deception-campaign/

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump began planning for a potential strike on Iran’s nuclear program after their first meeting in February, and developed an elaborate public deception program, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

During their February meeting, Netanyahu presented Trump with four options on what an attack on Iran could look like, according to the report. The four scenarios were an exclusively Israeli attack, an attack led by Israel with minimal US help, full collaboration, and a US-led assault.

While Trump chose to give nuclear diplomacy an opportunity, the intelligence-sharing and preparations for an attack continued, per the report. “The thinking was, if talks fail, we are ready to go,” said one person familiar with the details.

As they moved closer to a strike, the two leaders sought to lull Iran into complacency.

Both countries also leaked signs that there were tensions between the two allies: “All the reports that were written about Bibi not being on the same page with Witkoff or Trump were not true,” said someone familiar with the details. “But it was good that this was the general perception; it helped to move on with the planning without many people noticing it.”

File: R7GEBJ34XVK4LB4PADCFYE6GIE.jpg (95 KB, 720x480)

95 KB JPG

https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/unprecedented-errors-are-eroding-credibility-trumps-justice-department-2025-12-17/
WASHINGTON, Dec 17 - As President Donald Trump's crime crackdown got underway in Washington, D.C., in August, federal agents and police spotted a man named Torez Riley tugging at his backpack inside a Trader Joe's store, searched it and recovered two firearms.
But federal prosecutors were forced to dismiss the charges after video surveillance revealed the search lacked probable cause and was unlawful.

In a subsequent legal opinion, a federal magistrate judge said the errors were part of a broader pattern of unprecedented prosecutorial missteps, resulting in a 21% dismissal rate of the D.C. U.S. Attorney's office's criminal complaints over eight weeks, compared to a mere 0.5% dismissal rate over the prior 10 years.
"It appears prosecutors charged and detained Riley before properly investigating the circumstances of his arrest," wrote the magistrate judge, Zia Faruqui.
In years past, it was relatively rare for a federal court to question the Justice Department's competency or good faith. But such questions are becoming more common, thanks to a growing pattern of legal missteps that have dogged the department since January, according to a Reuters review and legal experts.
The Justice Department declined to comment on any pending cases but a department spokesperson said:
"This Department of Justice is winning in court on behalf of the Trump Administration and the American People with 24 successful rulings at the Supreme Court emergency docket so far and multiple prominent indictments of transnational terrorists, violent criminals, and even politicians who have allegedly engaged in corruption."
A spokesman for the D.C. U.S. Attorney's office, Tim Lauer, said: “This office enforces the law as written and brings cases where the facts warrant action. While judges and juries decide outcomes, this office’s role is to hold offenders accountable.”

File: IMG_20251217_025341.jpg (299 KB, 960x594)

299 KB JPG

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/trump-orders-blockade-sanctioned-oil-tankers-leaving-entering-venezuela-2025-12-16/
WASHINGTON, Dec 16 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday ordered a "blockade" of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, a move set to sharply escalate tensions between Washington and Caracas as he targets Venezuela's main source of income.
It is unclear how the Trump administration will impose the blockade against the sanctioned vessels, and whether he will turn to the Coast Guard to interdict vessels like he did last week. The administration has moved thousands of troops and nearly a dozen warships - including an aircraft carrier - to the region in recent months.

"For the theft of our Assets, and many other reasons, including Terrorism, Drug Smuggling, and Human Trafficking, the Venezuelan Regime has been designated a FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "Therefore, today, I am ordering A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela."
U.S. crude futures climbed over 1% to $55.96 a barrel in Asian trading after Trump's announcement. Oil prices settled at $55.27 a barrel on Tuesday, the lowest close since February 2021.

Oil market participants said prices were rising in anticipation of a potential reduction in Venezuelan exports, although they were still waiting to see how Trump’s blockade would be enforced and whether it would extend to include non-sanctioned vessels.
"We don’t know how much or how quickly Trump will enforce this," said Rory Johnston, founder of oil markets-focused newsletter Commodity Context.

There has been an effective embargo in place after the U.S. seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela last week, with loaded vessels carrying millions of barrels of oil staying in Venezuelan waters rather than risk seizure.

File: Unemployment Increases Tr(...).png (443 KB, 1179x843)

443 KB PNG

The US economy added 64,000 jobs in November as the unemployment rate crept up to 4.6%, according to Labor Department data published Tuesday.

The unemployment rate is now at its highest level since September 2021.

The November jobs report, originally scheduled to be published Dec. 5 before the 43-day government shutdown delayed multiple economic data releases, comes as Americans stress over rising layoffs and a frozen job market that can feel impossible to break into. Tuesday’s report suggested those conditions persisted toward the end of the year.

Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had expected a gain of 50,000 jobs. The healthcare sector, which has fueled job growth this year, added 46,000 positions for the month.

"The US economy is in a hiring recession," Heather Long, chief economist at the Navy Federal Credit Union, wrote in a post on X.

"Almost no jobs have been added since April," Long added. "Wage gains are slowing. 710,000 more people are unemployed now versus November 2024."

The last official reading of the labor market, published in November, was pushed back by several weeks and had only offered data for September, showing an unexpected uptick in jobs after the economy actually lost jobs in August and June, marking the first negative employment months since 2020.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/unemployment-rate-hit-4-year-high-in-november-even-as-economy-added-jobs-133749371.html

File: Obamacare.jpg (12 KB, 301x167)

12 KB JPG

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/house-wont-vote-on-health-care-tax-credit-extension-angering-gop-moderates/

Washington — The House won't vote this week on an extension to the Affordable Care Act's enhanced premium subsidies, which lapse at the end of the year.

An 11th-hour effort by moderate Republicans to put an extension on the floor for a vote failed Tuesday night, when the House Rules Committee blocked several of the amendments they were seeking to the attach to a GOP health care plan released last week. The GOP plan does not include an extension.

The committee advanced the bill to the floor late Tuesday. A vote is expected Wednesday.

Moderate Republicans are perplexed at the decision not to hold a vote on an extension ahead of the Dec. 31 deadline, and have warned of the political ramifications of allowing insurance premiums to soar in the new year for more than 20 million Americans who buy their insurance on Affordable Care Act marketplaces.

House Speaker Mike Johnson appeared to shut the door on any amendment votes earlier Tuesday, only to open it slightly after a heated meeting with moderates.

"We looked for a way to try to allow for that pressure-release valve, and it just was not to be. We worked on it all the way through the weekend," Johnson told reporters Tuesday morning.

The Louisiana Republican later said "there's some ideas on the table that could work."

Comment too long. Click here to view the full text.

File: 1766014508483091.png (37 KB, 1115x499)

37 KB PNG

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/17/climate/national-center-for-atmospheric-research-trump.html

The Trump administration said it will be dismantling the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, one of the world’s leading Earth science research institutions.
The center, founded in 1960, is responsible for many of the biggest scientific advances in humanity’s understanding of weather and climate. Its research aircraft and sophisticated computer models of the Earth’s atmosphere and oceans are widely used in forecasting weather events and disasters around the country, and its scientists study a broad range of topics, including air pollution, ocean currents and global warming.
But in a social media post announcing the move late on Tuesday, Russell Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, called the center “one of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country” and said that the federal government would be “breaking up” the institution.
Mr. Vought wrote that a “comprehensive review is underway” and that “any vital activities such as weather research will be moved to another entity or location.”
USA Today first reported on the White House plans.
Scientists, meteorologists and lawmakers said the move was an attack on critical scientific research and would harm the United States.
The National Center for Atmospheric Research was originally founded to provide scientists studying Earth’s atmosphere with cutting-edge resources, such as supercomputers, that individual universities could not afford on their own. It is now widely considered a global leader in both weather and climate change research, with programs aimed at tracking severe weather events, modeling floods and understanding how solar activity affects the Earth’s atmosphere.

File: download.jpg (5 KB, 318x159)

5 KB JPG

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/childrens-pastor-joe-campbell-arrested-child-sex-abuse-charges-rcna210316

Joe Campbell, a Pentecostal preacher who for half a century ministered to thousands of children across four states, has been arrested on child sex abuse charges, the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office said Wednesday.

Campbell was charged with one count of first degree rape and one count of lewd or indecent acts to a child under 16, according to the charging document. U.S. Marshals arrested him Wednesday morning at Camp Bell, his children's camp in Elkland, Missouri, and brought him to the Greene County jail in Springfield, where he was awaiting transfer to Oklahoma. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.

It wasn’t clear if Campbell, 68, had an attorney. He couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. His arrest represents a long-delayed breakthrough in a 40-year effort by some of his alleged victims to seek justice.

The charges come seven months after an NBC News investigation revealed a pattern of child sex abuse allegations against Campbell and repeated failures by pastors, police and prosecutors to intervene. Five women said he sexually abused them as children in the 1970s and ’80s when he was an Assemblies of God minister; nine others, including four men, said he showed them pornography, made lewd comments or touched them inappropriately during the same period.

Campbell’s rape charge appears to be tied to the alleged abuse of one of those women, Kerri Jackson. Jackson, now 53, says he molested her for years in Tulsa in the early 1980s, beginning when she was around 9. The attorney general’s office presented the case to a multicounty grand jury in Oklahoma City last week and the panel returned the indictment — a milestone Jackson and some of the other women had pursued for most of their lives.

File: IMG_20251216_044149.jpg (86 KB, 469x269)

86 KB JPG

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpvd81470v1o
US President Donald Trump has filed a multi-billion-dollar defamation lawsuit against the BBC over an edit of his 6 January 2021 speech in a Panorama documentary.

Trump accused the broadcaster of defamation and of violating a trade practices law, according to court documents filed in Florida. He asked for $5bn (£3.7bn) in damages on each of the claims.

The BBC has apologised to Trump, but rejected his demands for compensation and disagreed there was any "basis for a defamation claim".

Trump's legal team accused the BBC of defaming him by "intentionally, maliciously, and deceptively doctoring his speech". The BBC has not yet responded.

Trump said last month that he planned to sue the BBC for the documentary, which aired in the UK ahead of the 2024 US election.

"I think I have to do it," Trump told reporters of his plans. "They cheated. They changed the words coming out of my mouth."

In his speech on 6 January 2021, before a riot at the US Capitol, Trump told a crowd: "We're going to walk down to the Capitol, and we're going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women."


Comment too long. Click here to view the full text.

File: WS_US_Pornhub_Ban_blog-he(...).png (627 KB, 1920x1080)

627 KB PNG

https://indianacapitalchronicle.com/briefs/attorney-general-sues-pornographic-websites/

Attorney General Todd Rokita is suing about 50 sexually explicit websites, alleging they have violated Indiana’s age-verification law.

The lawsuits allege that the content made available to children by the defendants — all of whom are associated with a multinational pornographic conglomerate known as Aylo — includes sexual violence, choking, rape fantasies, sex slavery and sex with teen girls.

“We know for a fact, from years of research, that adolescent exposure to pornography carries severe physical and psychological harms,” Rokita said. “It makes boys more likely to perpetrate sexual violence and girls more likely to be sexually victimized. Yet, despite such realities, these defendants seem intent on peddling their pornographic perversions to Hoosier kids.”

Lawmakers in 2024 passed the law requiring websites that host pornography to verify that users are at least 18 years old. As a result, Pornhub, which is owned by Aylo, blocked access to the site in Indiana.

Challenges to the law were ultimately unsuccessful.

“Rather than implement any form of reasonable age verification for its websites, Defendants represented to Indiana consumers, including Hoosier parents, that they had ‘completely disable[d] access to our website[s] in Indiana.’ However, Defendants have publicly admitted they know that Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), proxies, and location spoofing software may be used to continue to access Defendants’ websites in Indiana,” the lawsuit said.

File: 1737952799289005.png (306 KB, 681x383)

306 KB PNG

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/rob-reiner-murdertrump-derangement-syndrome-b1262675.html
Donald Trump appeared to suggest that the fatal stabbing of Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele, was due to “Trump Derangement Syndrome”.

In a post on Truth Social, the US President said that the “once very talented movie director and comedy star,” had died “reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease” called TDS - or Trump Derangement Syndrome.

TDS is said to refer to a feeling of disdain for the president, which Trump supporters in the US have used to describe negative reactions to the president that are characterized as irrational and disconnected from Trump's actual policy positions

In his post the president went on: “He was known to have driven people CRAZY by his raging obsession with President Donald J. Trump, with his obvious paranoia reaching new heights as the Trump Administration surpassed all goals and expectations of greatness”

This is not the first time that the president has taken aim at a public figure after their death – with Trump also mocking the late John McCain and General Colin Powell after their deaths.

Reiner, a 78-year-old celebrated director and actor, was outspoken in his support of liberal causes and the Democratic Party.

He even went as far as minimising concerns about Joe Biden’s age, saying “Look, he's old!” in an interview in February 2024 before Biden dropped out.


Comment too long. Click here to view the full text.