What America Might Look Like With Zero Immigration

The School That Churns Out America’s Auctioneers

Trump regime

PBS -   The Trump administration says it plans to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research, the nation’s premier atmospheric science center. It was founded in 1960 and has facilitated generations of breakthroughs in climate and weather science. 

Money

RBReich  - America's richest 10% now hold 60% of the nation's wealth.  The bottom half of America? It holds just 6%.

Increase in productivity since 1979: 87% Increase in hourly pay since 1979: 32% 25% of workers were unionized in 1979. Today? 10%.

Amy_Siskind -  At least 717 companies filed for bankruptcy through November, the highest tally since 2010.

KobeissiLetter - Medical costs in the US now account for a record 11.6% of US GDP, with healthcare expenditures doubling since 2012. This comes as consumer spending on healthcare services rose to $3.6 trillion in Q3 2025, an all-time high.

Public figuring out how to un-redact top secret Epstein files

Brigitte Bardot, Movie Icon Who Renounced Stardom, Dies at 91

Word

Via John O'Connell

Money

Robert Reich  -  America has 925 billionaires as of this year. Collectively they have a record $6.9 trillion in wealth.  The bottom 50% of Americans control $4.2 trillion in wealth.

Via The Intellectualist

 

Polls

InteractivePolls - Chuck Schumer's job approval trend among Democrats by Gallup 

Jan. 2023  Approve: 76%   Disapprove: 20% 

Dec. 2025 Approve: 39% Disapprove: 56% 

14 year old running legally for governor

Daily Mail, UK - He can't vote, can't drive a car, and still needs a permission slip for field trips — but 14-year-old Dean Roy believes he's ready to run Vermont.

While most high school freshmen set their eyes on student council or homecoming king, the teenager is looking to make history with an eye-popping campaign for governor.

'I really hope that this mission of mine leads to more youth getting involved,' Roy told the Daily Mail.

If elected, he'd be the first-ever US governor under the age of 18. 

In 2018, 13-year-old Ethan Sonneborn ran unsuccessfully in the Democratic gubernatorial primary in Vermont. The youngest-ever US governor was Democrat Stevens Mason, who had just turned 24 when he began serving his term in Michigan in 1835.

Speaking from his bedroom with an American flag hanging vertically behind him, Roy told the Daily Mail his long-shot campaign all started with an offhand comment. At his 8th-grade graduation, his teacher joked that he wanted the campaign manager job if Roy ever ran for office.

What was likely intended as a throwaway comment struck a moment of curiosity for the youngster, who rushed home and looked up the requirements. 

He found that Vermont is the only state with no age restrictions to run for governor. A handful of states allow citizens to apply at 18, but the majority require a candidate to be 30 on the date of the election.

American alcohol drinking at historic low

The Sun - The alcohol industry has faced financial hardship in 2025, leading to several distilleries filing for bankruptcy as Americans are drinking at the lowest levels in history.  

Several alcohol makers have been struggling with shifts in consumer behavior, including Jim Beam. 

The alcohol industry has been hit with multiple bankruptcy filings, with A.M. Scott Distillery, a distillery in Troy, Ohio, following six other major distilleries seeking bankruptcy protection, according to USA TODAY.

Another filing came in August with Luca Mariano Distillery, located in Danville, Kentucky. Before that, two distilleries, JJ Pfister Distilling Co. of Sacramento, California and Devils River Distillery of San Antonio, Texas filed in May.

House Spirits Distillery of Portland, Oregon, filed for bankruptcy in April.

Two more companies declared bankruptcy in March: Boston Harbor Distillery of Boston, Massachusetts, and Lee Spirits Co. of Monument, Colorado.

Part of the reason behind these filings stems from a shift in consumer behavior as alcohol consumption in the U.S. is on a decline.

An August poll conducted by Gallup found that 54% of adults say they consume alcohol, which was down from 58% in 2024 and 62% in 2023.

Gallup said the 54% finding is “the lowest by one percentage point in Gallup’s nearly 90-year trend.”

Politics

Newsweek -  A new Congressional bill seeks to ban the renaming of any federal building, land, or other asset in honor of a sitting President.  It comes in the wake of the controversial decision to add President Donald Trump’s name to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. 

Key ballot measures to watch in 2026 

 

Health

NBC News -  A major health care divide is coming in 2026.  Some Americans may finally catch a break on rising costs, as the first negotiated Medicare drug prices go into effect. Others will end up paying more, as Affordable Care Act tax credits expire and Medicaid coverage becomes more uncertain amid drastic cuts in state funding.

The divide is the result of decisions made by the last two administrations. In 2022, President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, which for the first time gave Medicare the authority to negotiate prices on some of its most expensive prescription drugs. And in July, President Donald Trump signed the “big, beautiful bill,” which slashed funding for Medicaid and didn’t extend ACA subsidies.

“If you’re on Medicare, there’s some good news,” said Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at KFF, a nonpartisan research group. “If you’re on the ACA or Medicaid, it may be bad news ahead for you.”

Striking findings from 2025

Pew Research Center -  Here’s a look back at 2025 through 12 of Pew Research Center’s most striking research findings. 

Trump's whoppers of 2025

Roll Call -  Since he entered politics, President Donald Trump has been a regular on our end-of-year list of the most egregious and noteworthy falsehoods and distortions. With Trump back in the White House in 2025, it’s no surprise that he dominates this year’s whoppers.

Trump is known for rhetoric that uses inaccurate and exaggerated claims, which he repeats again and again. In his second term, several such claims were used to justify a whirlwind of policy changes and announcements. Using a method economists said wasn’t legitimate, he calculated “reciprocal tariffs” for goods imported from other countries. In firing the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, he claimed without evidence that low job growth figures were “phony” or “rigged.” In supporting a freeze on foreign aid, Trump said $50 million was being used to buy condoms for Hamas in Gaza, a claim refuted by the contractor identified by the State Department.

In a falsehood-filled press conference, Trump, along with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., touted an unproven link between autism and taking Tylenol during pregnancy. Kennedy, long known for spreading inaccurate information about vaccines, also features prominently in this year’s compilation. In his efforts to change the nation’s vaccine and public health recommendatTions, he pushed unproven therapeutics for treating measles and made false claims about the COVID-19 vaccines.  The full list

Benefits Seniors Are Entitled to But Often Forget to Claim

Dollar Perks

Money

NY Times

 

Andrew Lokenauth, TheFinanceNewsletter.com  -   If you're feeling behind, remember: 

 

• The average consumer debt is $23,000 
• Only 9% of Americans earn over $150,000 
• 67% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck 
• 46% of Americans aren't investing for retirement 
• 43% of Americans expect to be in debt over the next 1-5 years 
• 59% of Americans don't have $1,000 saved for an emergency

NPR - Holiday spending exceeded expectations, despite polling that shows Americans have low confidence in the economy. Black Friday and Cyber Monday set records, with Mastercard estimating that spending grew by nearly four percent in November and December. 

"More and more, it's the wealthy that are doing much of the spending," NPR's Alina Selyukh says. Many consumers are switching to more affordable options, such as T.J. Maxx or thrift stores, but luxury brands like Ralph Lauren continue to perform well. Growing wages have fueled much of the country's spending, Selyukh says, and the job market will be a key thing to watch in the year ahead.

Weather

Newsweek -  Winter weather-related alerts from the National Weather Service (NWS) span swathes of the U.S. as of early Friday, with the agency expecting up to 3 feet of snow to fall in parts of the country.

Winter storm warnings, issued by the NWS when “a significant combination of hazardous winter weather is occurring or imminent” have been issued for parts of California, Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Alaska, and Connecticut.

Mono County in California could see additional snow accumulations of 1 to 3 feet in areas above 8,000 feet, with 4 to 12 inches below 8,000 feet and along US-395, according to the agency.

Communities in the Greater Lake Tahoe Area could receive 8 to 16 inches—with 1 to 3 feet at locations above 7,000 feet, the NWS said in winter storm warnings that are in force until 4 p.m. Friday afternoon as of reporting.

Power and pleasure

Photo: Ken Cedeno/Reuters

 An annual Christmas Eve performance by the "Waterskiing Santa" along the Old Town Alexandria waterfront in Virginia. More pics: Royal Christmas.

Online notes

Axios - Major video streaming services have hiked their cheapest tier of ad-free subscription prices by an average of $6.69 since launch, according to an analysis by Axios' Sara Fischer. Streaming inflation has pushed users to pursue more free, ad-supported streaming options like Tubi and Roku.

It's part of what's driving consolidation in the industry, as entertainment giants look to rebundle and repackage their services to make them more palatable to cost-conscious consumers.

Disney+ now costs $18.99 for its cheapest, ad-free tier, up from $6.99 at launch in 2019.  Netflix and Hulu have each increased their cheapest ad-free tiers by $9 since launch.

Five of the eight major video subscription streamers introduced new price hikes in the U.S. this year. So 2026 may not see as many hikes. More

America losing religion

Axios -  The U.S. is undergoing its fastest religious shift in modern history, marked by a rapid increase in the religiously unaffiliated and numerous church closures nationwide, Axios' Russell Contreras writes.

The great unchurching of America comes as identity and reality are increasingly shaped by non-institutional spiritual sources — YouTube mystics, TikTok tarot, digital skeptics, folk saints and AI-generated prayer bots.

It's a tectonic transformation that has profound implications for race, civic identity, political persuasion and the ability to govern a fracturing moral landscape.

By the numbers: 

• Nearly three in 10 American adults identify as religiously unaffiliated — a 33% jump since 2013, according to the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI). That's quicker than almost any major religious shift in modern U.S. history, and it's happening across racial groups.
•     About four in ten Americans ages 18 to 29 identify as religiously unaffiliated (38%), an increase from 32% in 2013, PRRI said.
•     Gallup polling finds 57% of Americans seldom or never attend religious services, a jump from 40% in 2000.

... An unprecedented 15,000 churches are expected to shut their doors this year, far more than the few thousand expected to open, according to denominational reports and church consultants.    These churches once served as community gathering places for Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, voting precincts, or town halls, leaving a void.

    Megachurches show signs of stability, but not enough to reverse overall declines. Share this story.

Crime drops

NPR -  Crime fell across much of the U.S. in 2025 — both violent and property crimes —  in big cities and small towns across red and blue. NPR spoke to researchers who study crime about what drove this trend, and whether it could last.  Here’s what they said:  

Homicide surged in 2020 and 2021 amid the economic, financial and psychological stress of the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers say the country is now moving past that surge. 

The nationwide decline contrasts with the Trump administration's depiction of crime, particularly in Democrat-led cities.

Tahir Duckett, who directs the Center for Innovations in Community Safety at Georgetown Law, warns that using crime to justify crackdowns can erode civil rights and expand government power. 

Politics

NPR - Nearly 30 House Republicans are not seeking reelection next year, NPR's Claudia Grisales says. Speaker Mike Johnson saw pushback from his own party when he virtually closed the House during the 43-day shutdown. With a potential government shutdown in January and spiking health care premiums, affordability is expected to dominate the campaign trail — and Republicans aren’t guaranteed to hold on to their majority, Grisales notes.

How health costs will change in 2026

Meanwhile. . .

NBC - Record rainfall is dousing California, forcing evacuations and rescues from floods. Meanwhile, the Northeastern U.S. is bracing for a snowstorm. 

What to cook in the calm after Christmas

Trump carries out strikes on Nigeria

The Guardian -   Donald Trump has said the US carried out airstrikes against Islamic State militants in north-west Nigeria on Thursday, after spending weeks decrying the group for targeting Christians.

The president said in a post on his Truth Social platform: “Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!

“I have previously warned these Terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was. The Department of War executed numerous perfect strikes, as only the United States is capable of doing.”

The whopper falsehoods of 2025

Potential 23% cut in Social Security

Newsworty News -   A potential 23% cut in Social Security benefits looms, threatening millions of Americans with financial instability.

The Social Security Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund is projected to deplete by 2033, triggering benefit cuts.

Recent legislation has accelerated the depletion timeline, now projected for 2032.

Over 70 million Americans could face significant financial challenges without Congressional intervention.
   

Weather

Newsweek -  A winter storm is predicted to hammer the Northeast's mid-Atlantic states on Friday with up to 10 inches of snow in some areas as it mainly hits parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).

Most areas will expect between 4 and 8 inches of snow, but 10 inches will fall in some areas, meteorologists warn. The rest of the area will likely see less, from 2 to 5 inches as well as 8 inches in isolated areas...

The storm watch will go into effect at 4 p.m. Friday ET and last through 1 p.m. Saturday, according to the NWS. Snow is predicted to fall dry and powdery during the day before turning wet overnight, with a wintery mix of snow and sleet blanketing the region across Saturday morning.