Three days after releasing a large tranche of Jeffrey Epstein documents that contained few mentions of President Donald Trump, the Justice Department on Monday disclosed thousands more files that included wide-ranging references to the president.

The documents show that a subpoena was sent to Mar-a-Lago in 2021 for records that pertained to the government’s case against Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s accomplice in sex trafficking. They include notes from an assistant U.S. attorney in New York about the number of times Trump flew on Epstein’s plane, including one flight that included just Trump, Epstein and a 20-year-old woman, according to the notes.

The newly released documents also include several tips that were collected by the FBI about Trump’s involvement with Epstein and parties at their properties in the early 2000s. The documents do not show whether any follow-up investigations took place or whether any of the tips were corroborated.

The documents were available for several hours Monday afternoon and evening on the Justice Department website but appear to have been taken down around 8 p.m. The Washington Post downloaded the full set of files while they were accessible.

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to questions about why the documents had been posted and then apparently removed. The White House also did not respond to requests for comment about the newly released documents.

>https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/12/22/epstein-trump-file-release/

The U.S. economy grew at a 4.3% annual rate in the third quarter, President Donald Trump and his team wasted no time celebrating.

Well, slow down, those dour economists replied. There’s something missing in this boom: the jobs. Hiring this year, at best, has stalled, and at worst has collapsed: unemployment has climbed to 4.6%, and even Fed Chair Jerome Powell has warned recent data may be overstating job gains.

In a typical recovery, strong GDP growth shows up first in hiring, then in paychecks, and finally in consumer spending. But in this quarter, it’s reversed: spending is here without jobs. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” KPMG’s chief economist Diane Swonk told Fortune. “To have this stagflation in the inflation and unemployment rate, and to not have it in growth is highly unusual, and something’s got to give.”

Real disposable income was essentially flat in the third quarter—literally 0% growth. Americans did not gain purchasing power. Yet, they made up the difference through savings drawdowns, credit, or by absorbing costs they cannot avoid. The GDP report itself points to where that pressure is concentrated: mostly in services, and within services, healthcare was a leading driver.

Americans spent the most on healthcare last quarter since the Omicron wave of 2022, Swonk said. This was not a classic discretionary splurge, It was spending families had little ability to defer. That distinction matters, spending driven by necessity behaves very differently from spending driven by rising paychecks.

The second part of the story is that this economy is no longer moving as a single system. It is splitting into a “K-shape,” and what looks like resilience at the top increasingly masks fragility underneath. “When you divorce growth from employment gains, you’ve got a problem,” Swonk said. “And this is before the real effects of AI have even set in.”

https://fortune.com/2025/12/24/k-shaped-economy-2026-stagflation-diane-swonk/

> Thread theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdqBmeg4XmY

> https://www.npr.org/2025/12/23/nx-s1-5653312/student-loans-default-education-department

The Trump administration will resume garnishing wages from student loan borrowers in default in early 2026, the U.S. Education Department confirmed to NPR.

The move comes after a years-long pause in wage garnishment due to the pandemic.

"We expect the first notices to be sent to approximately 1,000 defaulted borrowers the week of January 7," a department spokesperson told NPR. The spokesperson said wage garnishment notices are expected to increase on a monthly basis throughout the year.

A borrower is in default when they have not made loan payments in more than 270 days. Once that happens, the federal government can try to collect on the debt by seizing tax refunds and Social Security benefits, and also by ordering an employer to withhold up to 15% of a borrower's pay. Borrowers should receive a 30-day notice from the Education Department before this wage garnishment begins.

Betsy Mayotte, the president and founder of The Institute of Student Loan Advisors, says even though borrowers have expected this, the timing is unfortunate.

This unexpected news comes hours after the abrupt resignation of Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino

https://www.newsweek.com/house-republicans-call-early-christmas-break-before-epstein-files-release-11234307

Republicans in the House have brought their Christmas recess a day forward—before the Department of Justice (DOJ) is scheduled to release a tranche of documents related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

According to a floor update released by Democratic Whip Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, the House will hold its final votes on Thursday afternoon, a change from the GOP’s previously announced schedule which would have seen these taking place on Friday.

Under the guidelines of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, signed into law by President Donald Trump on November 19, Attorney General Pam Bondi had a 30-day deadline to make publicly available all unclassified materials related to Epstein.

Newsweek has contacted the DOJ through its website and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise's D.C. office by phone outside of regular hours for comment.

There is no evidence that the early recess stems from a desire to interfere with the release of the files, or an indication that the DOJ’s deadline could be affected by the altered schedule. However, many online commentators, as well as some Democratic lawmakers, have connected the decision with GOP leadership’s past reluctance to pursue full disclosure around the Epstein case.

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5659963-bari-weiss-cbs-60-minutes-segment/
Bari Weiss, CBS’s new editor in chief, is facing widespread blowback across the media for a decision to pull a “60 Minutes” segment she argues was not ready for publication, while a top journalist at the network contends the decision was based on political pressure and capitulation to the Trump administration.

The controversy comes as Paramount, CBS’s parent company, is under a microscope over its relationship with the administration while it seeks to expand its media empire and retool the network’s editorial direction.

Here’s what to know about the latest “60 Minutes” conflict:
Sharyn Alfonsi blasts her new boss

CBS abruptly announced it would not run the segment, which was set to highlight conditions inside the notorious Salvadoran prison where the Trump administration has deported Venezuelan migrants, after promoting it in the days prior.

Correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi, who reported the piece for CBS, hours later wrote to colleagues at the network saying her bosses had pulled the segment for what she argued were insufficient reasons.

“Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices,” Alfonsi wrote in her note, which was shared with multiple media outlets. “It is factually correct. In my view, pulling it now—after every rigorous internal check has been met, is not an editorial decision, it is a political one.”

Alfonsi’s pushback on her bosses is an extraordinary step for a top journalist working at one of the nation’s leading news programs. Her condemnation of top brass comes as the network has invited scrutiny since President Trump won reelection.

Trump has in recent days criticized “60 Minutes” and CBS’s new ownership directly, arguing the outlet is treating him unfairly, despite speculation that new Paramount boss David Ellison is seeking favor with the president.

https://www.reuters.com/world/iranian-state-media-report-missile-drills-different-iranian-cities-2025-12-22/
DUBAI, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Iran held missile drills in various cities on Monday, state media reported, citing unnamed sources and witnesses, in what was the second such reported exercise in a month.
NBC News reported on Saturday that U.S. President Donald Trump was to be briefed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that any expansion of Iran's ballistic missile programme poses a threat that could necessitate swift action.

Western powers regard Iran's ballistic missile arsenal both as a conventional military threat to Middle East stability and a possible delivery mechanism for nuclear weapons should Tehran develop them. It denies any intent to build atomic bombs.
The Telegram channel of Iran's public broadcaster and semi-official Nournews published videos of what appeared to be missile launches, without specifying the whereabouts.
However, the outlets said launches took place from the capital Tehran and the cities of Isfahan and Mashhad. Reuters could not independently verify the authenticity of the videos.
State media later on Monday cited "informed sources" as denying that missiles were tested and saying the circulated images were of "high-altitude aircraft". No clarification regarding the conflicting reports was provided.
NBC reported that Israeli officials are concerned that Iran is reconstituting nuclear enrichment sites the U.S. bombed in June, and were preparing to brief Trump for options on attacking the missile programme again.
Earlier this month, the navy of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards held a two-day exercise aimed at countering foreign threats, firing ballistic and cruise missiles at simulated targets in the Gulf.

https://www.texastribune.org/2025/12/19/texas-judge-same-sex-marriage-supreme-court-obergefell/

A Waco justice of the peace who refused to marry same-sex couples filed a federal lawsuit Friday that asks the courts to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 Supreme Court decision that recognized same-sex marriage nationwide.

The case, filed by Judge Dianne Hensley against the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, asserts that the Obergefell ruling was unconstitutional because it “subordinat[ed] state law to the policy preferences of unelected judges.” Hensley is represented by Jonathan Mitchell, a conservative attorney best known as the architect of Texas’ 2021 abortion ban that skirted around the legal protections of Roe v. Wade.

“The federal judiciary has no authority to recognize or invent ‘fundamental’ constitutional rights,” Mitchell wrote.

In November, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up a similar case from Kim Davis, a former Kentucky county clerk.

While Mitchell acknowledged that a lower court does not have the authority to overturn a Supreme Court precedent, he indicated in the filing that he was introducing this argument now with the hopes of the case eventually reaching the high court.

Hensley’s case goes back to 2015, soon after the Supreme Court’s decision, when she opted to stop performing marriages due to her religious opposition to same-sex marriage. The next year, she resumed performing marriages for opposite-sex couples and began referring same-sex couples to other officiants.

> 12/7/2025 (Pearl Harbor Day)
Okay let’s do this!
Kristi Noem might be getting out of the Administration.
> https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/trump-considering-move-to-oust-homeland-security-secretary-kristi-noem-report/
Gulp!: Pam Bondi & Trump FBI making list of American ‘Extremists’…
> https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/leak-fbi-list-of-extremists-is-coming
JD Vance: Trump’s Penis Joke…
> https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/jd-vance-reveals-what-its-36365937
Trump Administration promises illegals are going ‘ho-ho-home’ this Christmas.
> https://www.themirror.com/news/us-news/ice-launches-horrifying-youre-going-1547586
Holiday parade in California town cancelled over deportation fears.
> https://www.breitbart.com/immigration/2025/12/07/31600077christmas-parade-canceled-in-california-coastal-town-over-fears-ice-will-show-up/
“Plead the fif!”: 3 year old forced to testify on her immigration status… (Red Text)
> https://coppercourier.com/2025/12/05/childrens-immigration-court/
Does the United States miss Rosie O’ Donnell?
> https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ar-AA1RPE5s
It’s hard to enter this fast-growing Atlanta church…
> https://apnews.com/4c7505c9bf6178bb3ea57b977480576e
Guy with 400 Obie’s to his name says now is the most difficult time to make one.
> https://archive.is/jSgqX

Love them movies, such as Pixar.

The Supreme Court has rebuffed President Donald Trump’s attempt to deploy National Guard troops in Illinois to protect federal officials carrying out his mass-deportation policy.

In their ruling Tuesday, the justices noted that federal law generally bars use of the military for law enforcement, and they declared that the law Trump used to activate the Guard is likely to only apply when regular armed forces — the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines — are insufficient to maintain order.

“At this preliminary stage, the Government has failed to identify a source of authority that would allow the military to execute the laws in Illinois,” the high court said in an unsigned order released more than two months after the administration asked the justices to weigh in.

Three conservative justices — Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch — dissented, while another conservative, Brett Kavanaugh, declined to join the majority’s explanation of the ruling.

The Supreme Court’s decision turned down the administration’s bid to lift lower court orders that halted the president’s plan to use 500 National Guard soldiers from Illinois and Texas to respond to protests and unrest at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in suburban Chicago.

The ruling is a rare loss for the president following a string of wins he has racked up on the high court’s emergency docket in the first year of his second term. The justices cleared the way for him to fire leaders of federal agencies, dismiss tens of thousands of government employees and halt thousands of federal grants and contracts.

>https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/23/supreme-court-national-guard-ruling-00704962

https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/trump-hegseth-new-warship-the-battleship-63367854
President Trump will announce Monday that the Navy is to build a new “Trump-class” battleship, which will become the centerpiece of the president’s vision for a new “Golden Fleet,” according to a U.S. official.

The news follows the Navy’s announcement last week that it will commission a new class of frigates. Trump has for years advocated for revamping America’s fleet of warships, which he has said are “terrible-looking” and covered in rust. In his first term, he called for a return to steam-powered catapults to launch jets from aircraft carriers, in a move that wasn’t successful, and complained about the aesthetics of the Navy’s destroyers. He has been personally involved in crafting plans for the Golden Fleet, The Wall Street Journal previously reported. The first ship in the class will be the USS Defiant, the official said.
The new battleship will be an upgrade to the Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, which are the workhorse of the current fleet and which Trump has compared unfavorably to rival navies, according to the U.S. official and another person familiar with the discussions. The “battleship” name harks back to the ships with large main guns used until the end of the Cold War, but the new ships will feature a next-generation design.

Another U.S. official said the president would make an announcement on Monday afternoon alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Navy Secretary John Phelan, but wouldn’t comment on the specifics of the announcement.