Ex-Obama fundraiser likened the tax hike proposals to a restaurant about to go out of business.

WSJ: The Signal chat where Silicon Valley is plotting against California’s billionaire tax
In an industry town that has grown increasingly divided over politics, the proposal to tax 5% of California billionaires’ wealth has united Silicon Valley titans.

Jack Smith team approved $20k payment to informant to snitch on Trump team during Arctic Frost probe
Revelation included in tranche of new FBI memos that Director Kash Patel turned over to Congress this week that provide more clarity on the tactics and scope of the inquiry that the FBI used to try to build a case against Trump and his allies.

Arctic Frost probe driven early on by anti-Trump FBI agent, claims by leftist outlets, memos show
Internal bureau emails show a key FBI agent -- who had already demonstrated a bias against the POTUS -- consistently circulating and citing anti-Trump articles as support for pushing an inquiry into Trump over J6. It turns out the agent likely had a hand in having those articles published in the first place.

Biden-appointed judge blocks Trump admin's freeze of funds to Dem-led states amid widespread fraud allegations
US District Judge Arun Subramanian ordered that the money from three programs in the freeze—Child Care Development Fund, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, and Social Services Block Grants—have to keep going to the states.

Mississippi’s largest synagogue set ablaze in arson attack
One Torah that survived the Holocaust was in a glass case and was undamaged in the fire.

Fed chair says DOJ threatened him with indictment over renovation testimony
Jerome Powell revealed subpoenas tied to his Senate remarks on a $2.5 billion Fed building project, calling the probe a “pretext” to pressure monetary policy, a clash that jolted markets and revived fears the administration is undermining the central bank’s independence.

Bronx building touted by Mamdani as peak affordable housing has 194 code violations
The 102-unit building in the Morris Heights neighborhood has 194 open violations dating back to 2016.


Minnesota...

Video of Minneapolis lethal shooting from ICE agent's perspective released
"What the press has done in lying about this innocent law enforcement officer is disgusting. You should all be ashamed of yourselves," JD Vance wrote responding to the video, which appears to show the driver look directly at the agent before accelerating at him.

Flashback: Democrats told to 'get shot' for the anti-Trump resistance
"Some of them have suggested ... what we really need to do is be willing to get shot" when visiting ICE facilities or federal agencies, a House Democrat told Axios.

Noem to deploy hundreds more federal agents to city
“We’re sending more officers today and tomorrow; they’ll arrive, there’ll be hundreds more, in order to allow our ICE and our Border Patrol individuals that are working in Minneapolis to do so safely,” Noem said on Sunday.

Leftist group 'Monarca' trains activists at Minnesota church for anti-ICE actions
The group athered more than one thousand people inside a Minnesota church on Saturday for “training” on how to interact with ICE agents in public.

Ilhan Omar advocated for funds for Somali-run addiction group later discovered to be restaurant: report
"The scale and frequency of fraud in Minnesota is staggering, but I fear just the tip of the iceberg."

Ilhan Omar claims ICE agents 'have never experienced the kind of love' that exists in Minnesota and that's why they are 'angry'
"That kind of resistance is why ICE agents seem so angry and agitated, because they have never experienced the kind of love that we experience here in Minnesota."

Loeffler says SBA will relocate Minneapolis district office amid ‘local hostility’ toward ICE
Small Business Administration head Kelly Loeffler said Saturday that the agency’s Minneapolis office is being relocated, citing “overwhelming local hostility” toward Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in recent days.


Politics...

The Obamacare subsidy fight exposes who Washington really serves
As lawmakers continue to argue over ACA subsidies, the entitlement trap tightens, forcing taxpayers to fund a system designed to grow, not reform.

Bipartisan bill to cap annual deficits at 3% could curb debt growth
The Rules Committee must suggest rule changes to help meet the target, including making budget rules more difficult to waive and requiring the Congressional Budget Office to analyze the impact of major bills.

Five battleground governors' races for 2026
Out of 36 governors races in 2026, the Cook Political Report ranks five as “toss ups” where “either party has a good chance of winning.”

Axios: Bannon quietly making moves toward 2028 run
Bannon adamantly denied a run to Axios, calling the idea "b***s***" and saying he's been focused on something else for 2028: supporting a third term for President Trump, despite the Constitution's two-term limit on presidents.


Free Speech...

Keir Starmer 'in talks with Canada and Australia to launch international BAN on Elon Musk's X'
Such a move would risk infuriating the Trump administration, which has pushed back against the censorship of American tech companies abroad. On Saturday, Musk labelled Labour "fascist" and warned ministers simply "want any excuse for censorship" of his platform.


Economy...

Trump urges credit card companies to slash interest rates to 10% for one year
"Please be informed that we will no longer let the American Public be 'ripped off' by Credit Card Companies that are charging Interest Rates of 20 to 30%, and even more, which festered unimpeded during the Sleepy Joe Biden Administration," the president wrote on Truth Social late Friday.

A powerful force has been holding back the housing market. It’s finally easing.
There are now more Americans with mortgage rates higher than 6 percent than below 3 percent. It matters because those ultralow, pandemic-era rates — while great for the homeowners who nabbed them — have been something of a problem for the housing market ever since.

U.S. payrolls rose 50,000 in December, less than expected; unemployment rate falls to 4.4%
The unemployment rate fell to 4.4%, compared with the forecast for 4.5%. A more encompassing measure that includes discouraged workers and the underemployed dropped to 8.4%.

U.S. Treasury secretary says Argentina has repaid its US credit line in a win for Milei
Argentina has repaid the funds it drew from a $20 billion credit line with the Trump administration, a crucial step for Milei to restore confidence in his chronically distressed economy.


Immigration...

Assaults against ICE up 1300%, vehicular attacks up 3200%, death threats up 8000%
One day after the Minneapolis shooting, two Venezuelan nationals were shot by a Border Patrol agent after they attempted to run him over with their vehicle in Portland, Ore., the Department of Homeland Security said.

Portland police chief cries after admitting suspects in Border Patrol truck attack are Tren de Aragua associates
Chief Bob Day acknowledged his department knew the Venezuelan duo had ties to the violent gang but withheld it as Democratic officials falsely framed them as “victims,” a move that helped ignite a far-left riot at the city’s ICE facility hours after the attack.

Who is the suspected Tren de Aragua sex ring operative in alleged Border Patrol Portland truck attack?
DHS says the woman tied to a Venezuelan gang and a Portland prostitution ring was previously arrested in a trafficking probe and linked to the red truck used in the alleged ramming attempt, even as city Democrats and activists defended her and attacked federal agents.

Somali state senator tells ICE to ‘get the hell out' of Oregon
“This is Oregon. We do not need you. You’re not welcome. And you need to get the hell out of our community.”

Philadelphia Sheriff goes viral for threatening ICE
Democratic Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal called ICE agents “fake law enforcement” and threatened them with arrest, during a Thursday news conference.


WAR News...

US used powerful sonic weapon in Venezuela during raid to capture Maduro: incredible witness account
The US used a powerful mystery weapon that brought Venezuelan soldiers to their knees, “bleeding through the nose” and vomiting blood during the daring raid to capture dictator Nicolas Maduro, according to a witness account posted Saturday on X by the White House press secretary.

‘I’ve never seen anything like it’: Maduro’s security guard lays out what it’s like facing U.S. military
“Those 20 men killed hundreds of [Maduro's] men, and none of those [American] soldiers were injured. It was a massacre. We were hundreds, but we had no chance. They were shooting with such precision and speed … it seemed like each soldier was firing 300 rounds per minute. We couldn’t do anything.”

'Doomsday Plane' appearance at LAX sparks online worry
The federal government’s Boeing E-4B Nightwatch touched down at Los Angeles International Airport last week, in what may be the famed aircraft’s first-ever LAX landing.


Middle East...

CBS News: Trump briefed on new options for military strikes in Iran, source says
Trump appeared to lay out his red line for action on Friday when he warned that if the Iranian government began "killing people like they have in the past, we would get involved."

A dispatch from inside the Iran protests
An Iranian insider says protesters' hopes lie in intervention from the United States and Israel: “Without them we cannot succeed.”

Iran warns US troops and Israel will be targets if America strikes over protests
Protests challenging Iran’s theocracy have reached the two-week mark, with demonstrators flooding the streets in Tehran and Mashhad.

U-Haul plows into anti-Iran regime protest in Los Angeles, injuring two
The box truck was covered in banners that said, "No Shah. No regime USA don't repeat 1953. No Mullah." The two Iranian government posters contradict each other and don’t make a lot of sense, while the “USA don’t repeat 1953” is an anti-CIA coup message.


China...

China’s ‘artificial sun’ breaks nuclear fusion limit thought to be impossible
China’s experimental EAST reactor reportedly held plasma stable well beyond the Greenwald Limit — the density barrier that usually causes fusion fuel to collapse — using a new self-organizing process that could allow far higher energy output than current reactors can reach.


Europe...

Trump administration officials to meet with Danish officials about Greenland on Wednesday, sources say
While Rubio had downplayed the threat of military force in his remarks to reporters, Trump doubled down on the possibility again on Sunday night, saying, "If we don't take Greenland, Russia or China will take Greenland, and I am not going to let that happen."

Daily Mail UK: Trump orders top army officials to ‘draw up plan’ to invade Greenland
Sources say that the policy 'hawks' around the US President, led by political adviser Stephen Miller, have been so emboldened by the success of the operation to capture Venezuela's leader Nicolas Maduro that they want to move quickly to seize the island before Russia or China makes a move.

Denmark’s race to defend Greenland – and why it may be too late
Analysts said the island can be taken without a shot being fired as US soldiers, already based at the Pituffik Space Base, just need to cross the road and enter the Greenlandic government buildings.

What is Greenland worth?
Recent valuations swing wildly: resource estimates top $4 trillion, strategic real-estate models put the island near $3 trillion, a 2019 study put it at $1.1-trillion, while another put the number at $131-billion.


Latin America...

Cuban president responds to Trump: "No one tells us what to do"
"Cuba is a free, independent and sovereign nation. No one tells us what to do," Diaz-Canel wrote on X, adding that the Caribbean island was "ready to defend the homeland to the last drop of blood."

Trump seeks to stop courts, creditors from seizing Venezuelan oil revenue in the U.S.
The order said the funds are the sovereign property of Venezuela held in U.S. custody, and are not assets subject to private claims.

Machado can't give Nobel Peace Prize to Trump, organization says
Once the Nobel Peace Prize is announced, it can't be revoked, transferred or shared with others, the Norwegian Nobel Institute said in a short statement on Friday. "The decision is final and stands for all time," it said.


Entertainment...

Trump urges regulators to block Netflix–Warner mega-merger
Trump says combining Netflix with Warner Bros. Discovery would create an unmatched cultural monopoly, as critics warn the deal sidelines a higher all-cash bid, undermines competition, and hands a single company sweeping control over America’s entertainment pipeline.

Trump says he won’t pardon Diddy
Trump reportedly said that Combs "asked me for a pardon," which was "through a letter," but revealed he is not considering granting the request.

‘West Wing’ star Timothy Busfield charged with sexual abuse of child actors
Busfield is accused by prosecutors of sexually abusing underage boys on a television production set.

Former Disney actor jailed in Texas on child porn charge
Matt Prokop was arrested on Christmas Eve in Victoria County, where deputies say he’s facing a felony child-porn count along with multiple misdemeanor charges tied to bond violations and resisting arrest, years after Sarah Hyland accused him of abuse and secured a restraining order.


Environment...

Democrats in House Energy hearing claim to support nuclear power, just not Trump’s nuclear policies
Democrats now claim that Republicans are not supporting nuclear energy enough - and that's why they're not on board with Trump.

As gas supplies in California dwindle, Newsom works to secure imports with ‘Big Oil’ he once fought
After years of aggressive anti-refinery policies that pushed fuel producers out of the state, California now faces a shrinking gasoline supply and must rely on imported fuel to avoid price spikes.


AI...

A shorter workweek can prevent AI-driven mass unemployment
Governments should have a plan to gradually reduce the standard workweek — from 40 hours to 36, then 32 and so on. Just as society once adjusted norms in response to industrialization — the move from six-day weeks to five — AI requires a new framework for work.


Travel...

Human heads displayed at Ecuador tourist beach in warning to gangs
Five human heads were found hung on display at a tourist beach in Ecuador on Sunday, police said, as the country reels from a wave of gang violence.


Animals...

Some dogs can expand their vocabulary by eavesdropping on their owners
A rare group of dogs capable of remembering hundreds of toy names showed they can pick up new ones simply by overhearing conversations, retrieving the correct item even when it’s hidden — revealing an unusually advanced, almost child-like learning ability seen in only a few animals.