Allen Analysis - President Trump’s long-running defamation lawsuit against members of the Pulitzer Prize Board has entered a consequential new phase. In court filings submitted in Florida, the defendants have issued sweeping discovery demands that would require Trump to produce years of tax returns, detailed financial disclosures, and potentially sensitive medical and psychological records.
The requests are striking not for their drama, but for their logic. They follow directly from the legal claims Trump himself chose to bring.
December 17, 2025
Polls
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| Reuters |
Newsweek - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez holds a slight lead over Vice President JD Vance in a hypothetical 2028 presidential matchup, according to a new poll. The New York Democratic congresswoman, known as AOC, edges the likely Republican nominee 51 percent to 49 percent, in The Argument/Verasight survey released on Tuesday. However, the result was within the poll's 2.7 percentage point margin of error, making the two candidates statistically tied. The poll asked voters who they would vote for if the election was between the two of them.
Newsweek - According to The Economist/YouGov polling, the proportion of people earning less than $50,000 a year who approve of Trump's job performance is 34 percent, while 62 percent of people disapprove.
NPR - As President Trump nears the end of his first year of his second term, only 36% of Americans approve of his handling of the economy, according to the latest NPR/PBS Marist poll. This marks his lowest score in the six years that Marist has been asking the question. Democrats now hold a slight 37% to 33% lead over Republicans on economic trust. This is a sharp turnaround from the 16-point advantage the GOP had on the question in 2022. The wide-ranging poll also showcases other stark economic pressures Americans face.
Trump says he was offered $250 million to run for illegal third term
Indpendent UK - President Donald Trump claimed that Israeli-American mega-donor Miriam Adelson offered him $250 million to run for an unconstitutional third term in 2028 — an idea he’s repeatedly teased.
At a White House Hanukkah reception on Tuesday night, Trump spoke glowingly of Adelson before bringing her up on stage.
“Miriam gave my campaign indirectly and directly $250 million, she was the number one,” the Republican president said to a crowd of people in the East Room.
At a White House Hanukkah reception on Tuesday night, Trump spoke glowingly of Adelson before bringing her up on stage.
“Miriam gave my campaign indirectly and directly $250 million, she was the number one,” the Republican president said to a crowd of people in the East Room.
Jack Smith Testifies DOJ Had Proof Donald Trump Tried to Overturn 2020 Election
Newsweek - Former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith told lawmakers in a closed-door interview Wednesday that his investigative team “developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt” that President Donald Trump criminally conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 election, according to portions of Smith’s opening statement obtained by The Associated Press.
Smith also said investigators amassed “powerful evidence” that Trump broke the law by retaining classified documents from his first term at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, and by obstructing government efforts to recover the records.
“I made my decisions in the investigation without regard to President Trump’s political association, activities, beliefs or candidacy in the 2024 election,” Smith said. “We took actions based on what the facts and the law required — the very lesson I learned early in my career as a prosecutor.”
Smith also said investigators amassed “powerful evidence” that Trump broke the law by retaining classified documents from his first term at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, and by obstructing government efforts to recover the records.
“I made my decisions in the investigation without regard to President Trump’s political association, activities, beliefs or candidacy in the 2024 election,” Smith said. “We took actions based on what the facts and the law required — the very lesson I learned early in my career as a prosecutor.”
The rise of anti-woman politics
The Guardian - More and more, influential voices in the Maga movement and the far-right Republican party are calling to strip women of the franchise. It’s not that this is strictly a new development. Opposition to women’s voting rights has long been a fringe, but persistent, feature of the American right. It’s been a favorite hobby horse of extremist preachers; it trended among Trump supporters on social media in the lead-up to the 2016 election, when polls showed that Trump would win if only men voted. (As it happened, he won anyway.) In the century that followed the passage of the 19th amendment – which barred the United States or any state from restricting the vote on the basis of sex, and enfranchised hundreds of thousands of women when it was ratified in 1920 – opposition to women’s right to vote has simmered at the extreme edges of political opinion.
It was kept alive in large part in ultra-conservative Christian communities, which tend to cast women as something between children and property. Claiming women to be intellectually and morally unfit for citizenship, these sects declared that women should withdraw from the public sphere, including from political participation, and submit to the rule of their husbands.
It was kept alive in large part in ultra-conservative Christian communities, which tend to cast women as something between children and property. Claiming women to be intellectually and morally unfit for citizenship, these sects declared that women should withdraw from the public sphere, including from political participation, and submit to the rule of their husbands.
Workers
The Center for American Progress published a new report showing that the Trump administration’s first year back in office has harmed the working class, with fewer job opportunities, slowing wage growth, and increasing living costs. President Donald Trump promised to be a "champion for the American worker," but his signature tariffs and his administration's attacks on unions, the minimum wage, and agencies that protect workers are setting workers without college degrees up for failure.
Our analysis finds that 361,000 working-class jobs were lost from January to September 2025, and 58,000 net manufacturing jobs have been lost from April—when the administration announced "Liberation Day" tariffs—to September 2025. Wage growth has slowed for workers without college degrees even while prices for electricity and basic household goods are rising.
Our analysis finds that 361,000 working-class jobs were lost from January to September 2025, and 58,000 net manufacturing jobs have been lost from April—when the administration announced "Liberation Day" tariffs—to September 2025. Wage growth has slowed for workers without college degrees even while prices for electricity and basic household goods are rising.
Trump Moves To Classify Fentanyl As A Weapon Of Mass Destruction
Shortlysts - President Trump announced plans to classify fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction under federal law. This move would dramatically expand how the government treats the drug and those who traffic it. The proposal reflects the administration’s view that fentanyl’s impact now rivals that of traditional weapons in terms of lives lost and damage inflicted on communities.
Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid many times more potent than heroin, has been a central driver of overdose deaths across the United States for years. Administration officials argue that its scale, lethality, and method of distribution justify elevating it beyond a narcotics issue and into the national security framework. Trump summed up the sentiment bluntly, saying no bomb has done the kind of damage fentanyl has done to the country.
Classifying fentanyl as a WMD would not change its illegality. It would unlock a new slew of legal options. Prosecutors could pursue harsher penalties. Law enforcement agencies would gain expanded tools normally reserved for counterterrorism and national security threats. The reclassification is intended to reshape how aggressively the federal government can respond to trafficking networks.
Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid many times more potent than heroin, has been a central driver of overdose deaths across the United States for years. Administration officials argue that its scale, lethality, and method of distribution justify elevating it beyond a narcotics issue and into the national security framework. Trump summed up the sentiment bluntly, saying no bomb has done the kind of damage fentanyl has done to the country.
Classifying fentanyl as a WMD would not change its illegality. It would unlock a new slew of legal options. Prosecutors could pursue harsher penalties. Law enforcement agencies would gain expanded tools normally reserved for counterterrorism and national security threats. The reclassification is intended to reshape how aggressively the federal government can respond to trafficking networks.
The Susie Wiles controversy
The White House Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles, had a lot to say to Vanity Fair, labeling Vice President JD Vance a “conspiracy theorist,” and criticizing Attorney General Pam Bondi’s handling of the files pertaining to Jeffrey Epstein. Trump defended her in comments, and said the piece was the result of “a very misguided interviewer, purposely misguided.
Health
Axios - There's a good chance your health insurance premiums are going up next year, regardless of where you get coverage.The spike in what millions of Affordable Care Act plan enrollees pay will be acute, but workplace insurance is getting more expensive, too — and all at a time when affordability is prominently on Americans' minds.
ACA premiums have dominated the political discourse in Congress for weeks, but there's no real sign that any relief is coming from Washington.
- Even extending the Biden-era enhanced ACA subsidies — which most Republicans don't want to do — would do nothing to address what's driving the surging cost of care or employer insurance affordability issues.
- And all signs point to Democrats hammering Republicans for high costs in all forms of health insurance leading up to next year's midterm elections.
Health insurance gets more expensive almost every year, keeping up with increases in the costs of procedures, tests, drugs and more. But some years see bigger jumps than others, and 2026 is looking like one of those years.
- That means tough choices for families, employers and workers all faced with shouldering higher premiums or out-of-pocket spending. Some will conclude it's prohibitively expensive and go uninsured.
- Another thing that's different about this year is that the white-hot political rancor around ACA premiums is putting health insurance back centerstage politically.
By the numbers: ACA insurers themselves are raising premiums by an estimated 26%, in part due to rising hospital costs, higher demand for pricey GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic, and the threat of tariffs.
- But add in the loss of federal subsidies, and the increase is 114% — or more than double what they currently pay, according to KFF. 22 million out of 24 million marketplace enrollees now receive subsidies.
- Premiums in the small group employer market will go up by a median of 11%, also per KFF, due to some of the same reasons insurers cite in ACA markets. Read more
NPR - Lawmakers will likely leave Washington without extending Affordable Care Act health insurance subsidies. The enhanced subsidies for ACA marketplace plans will expire at the end of the year. Millions of Americans can expect a spike in their premiums, and some may see the price of their plans double or triple in the new year.
The Guardian - Last Tuesday afternoon, Dean Andrea Baccarelli at the Harvard School of Public Health sent out a brief message announcing that one of the country’s most experienced and accomplished public health leaders, Dr Mary T Bassett, would “step down” as director of the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights. The email struck a polite, bureaucratic tone, thanking her for her service and offering an upbeat rationale for a new “focus on children’s health”.
It omitted the fact that, according to a Harvard Crimson source, Bassett had been asked to resign just two hours earlier and instructed to vacate her office by the end of the year. The decision was not a routine administrative transition. It was the culmination of a year of escalating pressure on the Center for Health and Human Rights for its work on the health and human rights of Palestinians. Powerful figures inside and outside Harvard, including the former Harvard president and now thoroughly disgraced economist Larry Summers, condemned this work and claimed it “foments antisemitism”. A leading public health scholar whose career has been defined by work on racial justice, poverty, HIV, and global inequality appears to have been removed not because her commitments shifted, but because the political costs of applying those commitments to Palestinians became too great for Harvard to tolerate.
NBC News - House Speaker Mike Johnson said he won't call a vote to extend enhanced subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, effectively guaranteeing they will expire at the end of this month.
That means higher insurance premiums will go into effect for millions of Americans who get coverage through Obamacare next year. The speaker made the announcement after a closed-door Republican caucus meeting, saying that leadership failed to reach a deal with centrist members to bring up an ACA amendment on a health care bill set for a vote today. Read the full story.
NBC News - Instead of recommending the hepatitis B vaccine for all newborns, the CDC now officially advises women who test negative for the virus to consult health care providers about whether their babies should get their first doses within 24 hours of birth.
Arctic rivers turn orange
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Josh Koch/U.S. Geological Survey NPR - Hundreds of Arctic rivers and streams are turning bright red-orange, not from chemical pollution, but from naturally occurring iron spilling from long-frozen ground as temperatures warm. The "rusting rivers" phenomenon, which has been documented across the Brooks Range in northern Alaska, offers a vivid example of the effects of climate change in a region that is warming faster than the global average. |
Supreme Court allows book bans
Suzette Baker, Amanda Jones - Time - Imagine that you decided to go to your local library to check out a book but you couldn’t find it on the shelf. You ask the librarian for help locating it, but they inform you it’s not available—not because someone else has checked it out, but because the government has physically removed it after deciding they don’t want you to read it.
This isn’t the plot of a dystopian novel, it’s the reality that the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed in its recent decision to not hear arguments in the book ban case: Leila Green Little et al. v. Llano County. In leaving the Fifth Circuit ruling in place, SCOTUS effectively granted state and local governments in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas the authority to determine what materials you can and cannot read. This means people in these states do not have the same First Amendment rights as the rest of the country. And that should raise alarm for everyone.
In the U.S., efforts to remove books from school and public libraries have existed for many decades, but in the past few years the intensity has escalated. PEN America counted 6,870 instances of book bans last school year, up from 156 challenges to library, school, and university materials just five years ago.
This isn’t the plot of a dystopian novel, it’s the reality that the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed in its recent decision to not hear arguments in the book ban case: Leila Green Little et al. v. Llano County. In leaving the Fifth Circuit ruling in place, SCOTUS effectively granted state and local governments in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas the authority to determine what materials you can and cannot read. This means people in these states do not have the same First Amendment rights as the rest of the country. And that should raise alarm for everyone.
In the U.S., efforts to remove books from school and public libraries have existed for many decades, but in the past few years the intensity has escalated. PEN America counted 6,870 instances of book bans last school year, up from 156 challenges to library, school, and university materials just five years ago.
U.S. Unemployment Rises to Four-Year High.
Time - The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its much-anticipated employment report on Tuesday, sending a rude awakening to the job market after the 43-day government shutdown delayed data collection and publication of the report.
The Bureau reported that the U.S. economy lost 105,000 jobs in October and recouped about 64,000 jobs in November. The unemployment rate also rose to a four-year high of 4.6% last month—up from 4.4% in September and 4% at the beginning of the year—the highest since September 2021, when the nation was still bouncing back from the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.
Economists also note that the report showed that wages are growing at the lowest rate in years. Although Americans’ earnings are still outpacing inflation, average hourly earnings grew at an annual rate of 3.5% in November, whereas inflation grew at a 3% rate in September, marking the slowest pace since 2021.
The Bureau reported that the U.S. economy lost 105,000 jobs in October and recouped about 64,000 jobs in November. The unemployment rate also rose to a four-year high of 4.6% last month—up from 4.4% in September and 4% at the beginning of the year—the highest since September 2021, when the nation was still bouncing back from the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.
Economists also note that the report showed that wages are growing at the lowest rate in years. Although Americans’ earnings are still outpacing inflation, average hourly earnings grew at an annual rate of 3.5% in November, whereas inflation grew at a 3% rate in September, marking the slowest pace since 2021.
Death threats on Capitol Hill
The Guardian - Security is now a paramount concern for every politician. In 2024, the US Capitol police investigated 9,474 concerning statements and direct threats against members of Congress, including their families and staff, more than double the 2017 total of 3,939. Reminders of the US’s surging culture of political violence are everywhere. One example
The chaotic life of an immigration lawyer
Judge allows White House ballroom construction to continue
NBC News - A federal judge allowed construction of the White House ballroom to continue, rejecting a request to temporarily halt Trump's $300 million project.
War On Venezuela
NBC News - Trump ramped up pressure on Venezuela by announcing that he is ordering a blockade of all "sanctioned oil tankers" entering and leaving the South American country.
Trump expands countries with US travel restrictions
Roll Call - President Donald Trump added 20 countries to those facing either full or partial travel restrictions Tuesday, in a proclamation that says the U.S. must exercise “extreme vigilance” during the visa and immigration processes for national security.
The proclamation issued Tuesday added five countries and the Palestinian authority to the original 12 countries with full restrictions and entry limitations Trump put in place in June. Those newly added countries are Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan and Syria.
It also imposes full restrictions on Laos and Sierra Leone, which previously had partial restrictions.
The proclamation adds 15 countries to five of the original countries with partial restrictions. The added countries are Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Dominica, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
In all, the order expands the number countries from 19 to 39. The new bans are set to take effect Jan. 1 and apply only to foreign nationals outside who do not have a valid visa on the effective date of the proclamation. More
Rural America’s history is rooted in cooperation – and it’s future depends on it
Liz Lechleitner, National Cooperative Business Assn - Rural America has always relied on cooperation to survive and thrive. From rural electric co-op infrastructure to finance and agriculture, cooperatives have built the systems that power rural communities. Yet as economic pressures intensify and federal policy decisions loom, this essential business model is increasingly misunderstood, undervalued and at risk.
In a new op-ed for the Billings Gazette, Tracy McIntyre makes the case that cooperatives are not relics of the past, but a modern, democratic response to consolidation, disinvestment and shrinking rural representation. “What we’re seeing is not a nostalgic return to the past, but a modern resurgence grounded in democratic ownership and resilience,” McIntyre writes. More
In a new op-ed for the Billings Gazette, Tracy McIntyre makes the case that cooperatives are not relics of the past, but a modern, democratic response to consolidation, disinvestment and shrinking rural representation. “What we’re seeing is not a nostalgic return to the past, but a modern resurgence grounded in democratic ownership and resilience,” McIntyre writes. More
Warner Bros. Discovery recommends investors reject Paramount's hostile takeover bid
NBC News - The board of Warner Bros. Discovery said it was recommending that shareholders reject the hostile takeover bid from Paramount Skydance, and its controlling shareholders, the Ellison family. Warner Bros. Discovery said it was instead sticking with its initially announced deal to sell its studio, HBO, and HBO Max to Netflix. "The terms of the Netflix merger are superior," WBD said in a letter to shareholders.
December 16, 2025
Jobs
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NBC News - The United States shed 105,000 jobs in October and added 64,000 jobs in November, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Tuesday, lifting a monthslong fog that had shrouded the labor market. The unemployment rate rose to 4.6% in November.
The national employment picture already looked fragile before Tuesday’s report. Jobs reports in June and August showed net job losses, the first time since 2020 that there have been two months of contractions before November.
Donald Trump
Washington Post - President Trump has signed more executive orders in less than a year of his presidency than he did in his entire first term — repeatedly bypassing Congress and forcing the courts to grapple with the constitutional bounds of his power. |
![Calling [MS NOW] ‘Dishonest,’ Trump Says Network Will Be ‘Turned Off’](https://lgbtequality.cdn.actionkit.com/images/EQ_maddow_trump_ms_now.png)
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Peter Baker, NY Times - President Trump’s chief of staff said she tried to get him to end his “score settling” against political enemies after 90 days in office, but acknowledged that the administration’s still ongoing push for prosecutions has been fueled in part by the president’s desire for retribution.
Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, told an interviewer that she forged a “loose agreement” with Mr. Trump to stop focusing after three months on punishing antagonists, an effort that evidently did not succeed. While she insisted that Mr. Trump is not constantly thinking about retribution, she said that “when there’s an opportunity, he will go for it.”
Ms. Wiles made the comments in a series of extraordinarily unguarded interviews over the first year of Mr. Trump’s second term with the author Chris Whipple that are being published Tuesday by Vanity Fair. Not only did she confirm that Mr. Trump is using criminal prosecution to retaliate against adversaries, she also acknowledged that he was not telling the truth when he accused former President Bill Clinton of visiting the private island of the sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein. More
Polls
Newsweek - Americans remain concerned about the state of the health care system, according to a Gallup poll released on Monday. Twenty-three percent of Americans view the system as being in a “state of crisis.”
That’s the highest percent to say that since the pollster began asking the question in 1995. Forty-seven percent also said the health care system has “major problems,” while only 26 percent said it has “minor problems.”
Meanwhile, a record low of 16 percent said they are satisfied with the general cost of health care in the United States. However, when asked about their satisfaction with their personal health care costs, 57 percent said they are satisfied.
6 polls show Donald Trump in deep economic trouble
NBC News - President Donald Trump’s approval rating remains steadily underwater among adults as he nears the end of his first year back in the White House, and he has lost some ground among his “Make America Great Again” base, according to a new NBC News Decision Desk Poll powered by SurveyMonkey.
Trump’s approval has inched down in 2025 amid concern about the economy, while Americans remain worried about inflation and costs after Trump’s campaign promises to ease those anxieties. Respondents’ concerns were apparent in everyday spending decisions like grocery shopping, holiday spending and more, the poll shows.
Other high-profile Trump decisions, including his handling of the controversy over the so-called Jeffrey Epstein files, have scored negatively with Americans. Trump initially opposed a congressional move to force the release of the files before relenting to pressure from both parties last month....
American adults largely disapprove of Trump’s job performance, with his approval rating at 42% and disapproval at 58% in the new poll. That’s a slight approval rating drop of 3 points (from 45%) over the course of four polls since April, the first time the survey was conducted. The new poll surveyed 20,252 adults online, including people registered to vote and not registered to vote, from Nov. 20 to Dec. 8, with a margin of error of plus or minus 1.9 percentage points.
Books
State of the Free Press 2026: Fiftieth Anniversary Edition marks fifty years of Project Censored's work in identifying the most important stories that US corporate media missed or refused to cover. This edition features reporting on ICE surveillance, Meta censorship, and police violence, plus a special zine-style guide for evaluating digital content, creating infographics, and understanding the importance of critical media literacy online.
Craig Aaron, President of Free Press, says it's "a glimpse at the media system we should have." Lee Rowland of the National Coalition Against Censorship calls it "essential reading for anyone who values an independent press, an educated public, and a free society."
Craig Aaron, President of Free Press, says it's "a glimpse at the media system we should have." Lee Rowland of the National Coalition Against Censorship calls it "essential reading for anyone who values an independent press, an educated public, and a free society."
Trump’s chief of staff allegedly tells Vanity Fair alot but denies she said it
Independent UK - White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles confirmed that President Donald Trump’s name is in the Epstein files, claiming the late sex offender and Trump were “young, single playboys together.”
In wide-ranging interviews with Vanity Fair, Wiles also torched Attorney General Pam Bondi for her handling of the Department of Justice’s investigation into Epstein.
During the sit-downs, the Florida-born chief of staff, whom Trump calls the “ice maiden,” said she misjudged the importance of the scandal surrounding Epstein.
“Whether he was an American CIA asset, a Mossad asset, whether all these rich, important men went to that nasty island and did unforgivable things to young girls,” she said, “I mean, I kind of knew it, but it’s never anything I paid a bit of attention to.”
Wiles, who also managed Trump’s 2024 campaign, told Vanity Fair she has read what she described as “the Epstein file.”
The president “is in the file,” she said. “And we know he’s in the file. And he’s not in the file doing anything awful.”
Axios - President Trump is defending chief of staff Susie Wiles after her blunt, private views on the past year were revealed in a series of stunning on-the-record Vanity Fair interviews.
"I didn't read it, but I don't read Vanity Fair — but she's done a fantastic job," Trump told the New York Post.
"I think from what I hear, the facts were wrong, and it was a very misguided interviewer, purposely misguided."
Trump minimized Wiles' saying that he has an "alcoholic's personality."
"I've said that many times about myself," Trump said. "I'm fortunate I'm not a drinker. If I did, I could very well, because I've said that — what's the word? Not possessive — possessive and addictive type personality. Oh, I've said it many times, many times before."
Wiles is the most powerful White House aide, credited with running a more disciplined, loyal and effective operation than Trump's first term, Axios' Zachary Basu writes.
That makes her candid interview — in which she questioned the execution and outcome of some of Trump's most aggressive policies — all the more striking.
Mediaite - Wiles herself denied that her comments had been characterized correctly, issuing a statement that read:
The article published early this morning is a disingenuously framed hit piece on me and the finest President, White House staff, and Cabinet in history.
Significant context was disregarded and much of what I, and others, said about the team and the President was left out of the story. I assume, after reading it, that this was done to paint an overwhelmingly chaotic and negative narrative about the President and our team.
The truth is the Trump White House has already accomplished more in eleven months than any other President has accomplished in eight years and that is due to the unmatched leadership and vision of President Trump, for whom I have been honored to work for the better part of a decade.
None of this will stop our relentless pursuit of Making America Great Again!
Money
Study Finds - On average, Americans will spend close to $2 million dollars on major debt payments before their life ends. That staggering figure, according to an eye-opening study, represents every car loan, mortgage payment, student loan bill, and credit card balance between age 18 and death at 78.
A new analysis by JG Wentworth concludes that the average American will pay off $1,786,810 in debt across their lifetime. That’s money tied up in monthly obligations rather than available for savings, investing, or simply having more breathing room in the budget.
The study breaks down exactly where that $1.8 million goes over 60 years of adult life. The calculation includes four major debt categories affecting most Americans: mortgages, auto loans, student debt, and credit cards. Each follows a predictable pattern, spiking at key life stages and gradually declining through years of payments. The total includes both principal and interest, though credit card interest was excluded due to variable rates.
Newsweek - Debt is rising nationwide and across nearly every lending category, as Americans grapple with recent policy changes as well as broader financial strains toward the end of 2025.
In the third quarter of 2025, 49 states saw a year-over-year increase in average total debt levels, according to a recent study by the online lending marketplace LendingTree.
Whre Americans moved in 2025
Newsweek - In 2025, Americans moved at historically low rates, but noticeable patterns emerged in the states where people chose to relocate.
As fewer Americans move compared with decades past, the motivations and destinations for interstate relocation are shifting—driven by affordability, job opportunities, lifestyle changes, and family considerations.
Tracking these moves helps explain demographic changes, regional growth, and economic pressures across the nation.
According to Atlas [Van Lines] , the top inbound states for 2025 were:
Arkansas
Idaho
North Carolina
Hawaii
Washington, D.C.
Tennessee
Washington (state)
Alabama
North Dakota
New Hampshire
Conversely, the states with the highest proportion of outbound moves were:
Louisiana
West Virginia
Wyoming
Delaware
Nebraska
Arizona
Iowa
Oklahoma
South Dakota
South Carolina
Notably, over two-fifths of interstate movers to Arkansas settled in Bentonville, home to Walmart’s corporate headquarters.
250,000 packages stolen daily in US
Independent, UK- A recent study has revealed that roughly 250,000 packages get stolen from U.S. households every day, costing Americans an estimated $15 billion over the past year.
Over 104 million packages were stolen nationwide over the past year, an apparent decline for the first time in recent years, according to a November study by safety research company SafeWise.
While porch pirates cost Americans roughly $15 billion over the past 12 months, retailers paid an even steeper price of $22 billion, according to data collected by ZFLO Technologies.
The number of estimated package thefts dropped by about 16 million this year, from 120 million in 2023 to about 104 million in 2024-2025, according to the study.
Cities that saw the biggest financial toll from package thefts included Chicago, New York City, Miami, Houston and Baltimore, according to the study.
Over 104 million packages were stolen nationwide over the past year, an apparent decline for the first time in recent years, according to a November study by safety research company SafeWise.
While porch pirates cost Americans roughly $15 billion over the past 12 months, retailers paid an even steeper price of $22 billion, according to data collected by ZFLO Technologies.
The number of estimated package thefts dropped by about 16 million this year, from 120 million in 2023 to about 104 million in 2024-2025, according to the study.
Cities that saw the biggest financial toll from package thefts included Chicago, New York City, Miami, Houston and Baltimore, according to the study.
Meanwhile. . .
Axios - A Hong Kong court today convicted pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai of sedition and colluding with foreign forces in a landmark national security trial. Lai, 78, founded Apple Daily, Hong Kong's now-defunct pro-democracy newspaper before authorities forced it to close in 2021. He became a symbol of the city's pro-democracy movement. His conviction effectively concludes an era of open political challenge in Hong Kong and marks the city's transformation under Chinese rule.
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