(gift article) Russian economy has lurched from spectacular growth to near stagnation. Russia's digital repression & isolation are deepening as more apps & platforms are banned. According to Western intelligence, more than a million Russian fighters have been killed or wounded... wapo.st/4awNR0u

Boebert suggests that Trump vetoed a water project in her district because she voted to release the Epstein files.

"...Ukrainian forces had pushed the enemy back from Kupiansk and taken control of nearly 90% of the city. At the same time, Russian propaganda continues to spread [false] claims of control over Kupiansk." tinyurl.com/2v5x566a newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/kupians...

Clooney: who has lived in Italy for years, but showed up in time to tank the Biden Campaign, while crippling Kamala w/a deadline no one could meet. Good riddance Fortune Magazine via MSN: "George Clooney moves to France and sends a strong message about the American dream" www.msn.com/en-us/news/w...

Musk is back with marching orders from P. Thiel, who wants to tear apart federal govt. Here's a "new" way: destroy or alter monuments of a culture to obliterate that culture. And Noem, the spokesmodel, continues to do exactly as she is told. Some women will do anything for male attn. wapo.st/3N3bS5t

(gift article) “Our side has been trained by Donald Trump to never apologize & to never admit when you’re wrong,” she told me...one afternoon in early December. “You just keep pummeling your enemies...as a Christian, I don’t believe in doing that. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/29/m...

Wildlife advocates fear President Convicted Felon's proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act will imperil both #Florida panthers & manatees. www.wusf.org/environment/... via @wusf.org

35 million Americans live in poverty, and yet, this is what our president is focused on.

So, here's my question: Can wolves help check the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) a fatal neurological illness, which is incurable, cannot be prevented, and can decimate the US deer population? (gift article) wapo.st/4peEOoI

This gift article should also give you access to reader comments, some of which are thought-provoking. "Trump’s First Year Back, in 10 Charts" www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

"..safety benefits of pasteurization far outweigh those potential drawbacks. Raw milk can carry dangerous pathogens like salmonella, E. coli, campylobacter & listeria, which can cause serious & sometimes fatal, food-borne illness" 5 Dairy Myths Experts Want to Correct www.nytimes.com/2025/09/26/w...

Disney World & 5 other places in #Florida that I wouldn't take my worst enemy. www.onlyinyourstate.com/state-pride/... via @onlyinyourstate.bsky.social

(gift article) wapo.st/4qq8PCU

Watch out for the Christmas Troll. 🙄 wapo.st/4jgQWUT

‘It’s a war’ (gift article) Inside ICE’s media machine Messages reveal how the agency has raced to satisfy the White House by pumping out videos of confrontations and arrests. wapo.st/4s6YnC5

The "60 Minutes" story that was shelved by Bari Weiss to kowtow to the convicted felon actually streamed in full in Canada — and instantly spread across the web. Thanks, Canada! www.cnn.com/2025/12/22/m... via @cnn.com

Russia unlikely to seize all of Donetsk any sooner than 2027-2028: ISW analysts interview newsukraine.rbc.ua/interview/ru...

Had Bari Weiss just ran the story, it would have been seen by a couple million people tops. The bootleg has now gone viral, and may end up being the most-watched 60 Minutes segment ever. It might be time to rename the Streisand Effect.

I guess you really can't fix stupid. 🙄 "Kash Patel’s new armored BMW sparks new controversy..." ...MS Now reported Monday, commissioning the German-made cars as the FBI director already faces a House investigation for his alleged misuse of taxpayer funds. tinyurl.com/ysj2hp9a

"Controversial Florida bear hunt is taking place mostly out of sight"-gift- Reasons the 2015 hunt approached its quota in 3 dys included large nos. of hunters, rule/law-breaking & decreased habitat, giving fewer bears a chance to hide. FL conts to degrade habitat by overbldg into it. wapo.st/3MWXifP

It's Not A Presidency. It's A Crime Spree - And It Needs To End open.substack.com/pub/simonwdc...

So, no on relinquishing Donetsk Oblast. english.nv.ua/nation/ukrai...

It's time to hit the Kerch Bridge again. "The report said the cargo was headed to a Russian military unit stationed somewhere on the occupied peninsula." english.nv.ua/russian-war/...

"Adopting Denmark’s schedule would skip shots against seven of these: respiratory syncytial virus — the leading cause of infant hospitalizations in the United States — influenza, rotavirus, chickenpox, meningitis, hepatitis A and hepatitis B." (gift article from NYT) www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/h...

One thing that has surprised me abt this administration's is its indifference to our food supply. "Kill it faster" is the approach to climate upheaval. "Ana Vaz monitored crucial fish stocks in the Southeast and the Gulf of Mexico until she lost her job at NOAA." www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/c...

There were no drones. No mothership. No invasion. Just airplanes, blurry cameras, and a political ecosystem that profits from panic and never apologizes when it’s wrong. open.substack.com/pub/adamkinz...

The problem with this, Marco, is that you are pressuring the victim of aggression to compromise its statehood instead of pressuring the aggressor to end its conquest.

Failed construction projects are a sloppy but notorious way to "clean" illegally gotten funds - whether domestically or abroad (in Belgrade, for example 😮). Just saying... www.salon.com/2025/12/19/t...

"...official told ABC News that the money is coming from a housing allowance provision tucked into the president's megabill...Congress appropriated $2.9 billion to the Dept of Defense to supplement the Basic Allowance for Housing entitlement w/in the bill." abcnews.go.com/Politics/tru...

Ain't that the truth!!

The Intellectuals Fueling the MAGA Movement “Furious Minds,” by Laura K. Field, traces the ascendancy of hard-right thinkers whose contempt for liberal democracy is shaping American politics. (gift article) www.nytimes.com/2025/12/17/b...

“.. Smith had wanted to testify in a public setting, but House Republicans refused to accommodate Smith’s request.” @nbcnews.com www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...

I hate this, but Apalach did it to itself. *All* the Commissioners should have done their jobs, not just showed up to get a paycheck. Now they'll have to watch the Water Board to make sure they're not stealing anything. This place will never change. www.wctv.tv/2025/12/16/n...

"Life of a Showgirl" made #1 on Billboard this week. The FSB just doesn't understand the power of The Swifties. 😉 "...inauthentic accounts across multiple platforms attempted to push false claims that the singer was promoting Nazism and MAGA (Make America Great Again) ideology." tinyurl.com/zr8r832x

That's right. Just pound your fist on the table harder. That'll show 'em. We are never going to reduce opioid & other addictions w/o effective treatment to go with all that enforcement. We've been here before. Why are we doing this again? www.npr.org/2025/12/15/n...

Just a reminder there are well trained, experienced investigators all over the world. With every move, Patel shows he isn't one of them. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Ukrainians are suing US tech firms over chips found in Russian weapons.

Organized religion is a catastrophe for girls and women. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...

📽️ WATCH: After a bird flu outbreak tore through Midwestern barns, which led to 18 million hens being killed and a spike in egg prices, the Department of Agriculture didn’t investigate whether the virus was airborne. But ProPublica did. @natlash.bsky.social breaks it down: propub.li/4iVcYfD

Full update video here: youtu.be/gXoLGATz7JU

Imagine a House w/o Mike Johnson. It could happen...😉 The Republican Party has a misogyny problem. Congressional members like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert & Nancy Mace have been pushing past their party’s patriarchal views and fighting back. 😕 (gift article) www.nytimes.com/2025/12/13/o...

The country that can manufacture the most — steel, planes, missiles, computer chips — will win a long war. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

A month ago the Russians claimed they completely captured the Ukrainian city of Kupyansk. President Zelensky then went to Kupyansk and filmed a selfie video to prove the Russians are full of sh*t.

Damn right!

Yup......