https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/nyregion/ghislaine-maxwell-epstein-grand-jury-unsealed.html

A Manhattan federal judge on Tuesday granted the Justice Department’s motion to unseal the records of the grand jury investigation of Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime companion of Jeffrey Epstein who is serving a 20-year prison sentence after being convicted in 2021 of sex trafficking a minor and other counts.

The ruling by Judge Paul A. Engelmayer cited a new law passed by Congress requiring the Justice Department to release all its files on Mr. Epstein by Dec. 19.

But the opinion makes it clear that grand jury transcripts will be only a small part of a huge trove of materials that the Justice Department has said it intends to release under the new law.

The department also asked Judge Engelmayer to modify a protective order issued at the beginning of Ms. Maxwell’s case that maintained strict confidentiality over materials turned over to defense lawyers, known as discovery. “A paramount goal of the protective order,” the judge wrote, was “to protect the privacy interests of Maxwell’s and Epstein’s victims.”

In his 24-page opinion on Tuesday, Judge Engelmayer wrote that the new law, known as the Epstein Files Transparency Act, “unambiguously” applied to the discovery materials in the case. Modifying the protective order, he added, was necessary to enable the Justice Department “to carry out its legal obligations under the act.”

Such discovery includes materials gathered from searches of physical spaces, like Mr. Epstein’s house and island, and the contents of computers and other electronic devices seized from those spaces.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-threatens-new-icc-sanctions-unless-court-pledges-not-prosecute-trump-2025-12-10/
President Donald Trump's administration wants the International Criminal Court to amend its founding document to ensure it does not investigate the Republican president and his top officials, a Trump administration official said, threatening new U.S. sanctions on the court if it did not.

If the court does not act on this U.S. demand and two others - dropping investigations of Israeli leaders over the Gaza war and formally ending an earlier probe of U.S. troops over their actions in Afghanistan - Washington may penalize more ICC officials and could sanction the court itself, the official said.

Sanctioning the court would significantly escalate the U.S. campaign against the ICC, which has long been criticized by U.S. officials including both Republicans and Democrats, who say the court infringes on U.S. sovereignty.

The Trump administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Washington has communicated its demands to ICC members, some of whom are U.S. allies, and has also made them known to the court. The United States is not a party to the Rome Statute that established the ICC in 2002 as a court of last resort, with the power to prosecute heads of state.

The demand and the threat to resume the U.S. sanctions campaign towards the court have not been previously reported.

https://thehill.com/policy/technology/5641032-rahm-emanuel-social-media/
ormer Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D) is calling on the U.S. to follow Australia’s lead and ban children younger than 16 from using social media.

“When it comes to our adolescents, it’s either going to be adults or the algorithms. One of them is going to raise the kids,” Emanuel said in a video on the social platform X. “And I think we need to help the parents. It’s too much for a parent to push against Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, all the other social media apps.”

Down under, a law requiring social media companies to disable the accounts of Australian users under the age of 16 took effect on Wednesday. Failure to do so would in a fine of more than 49.5 million Australian dollars, equivalent to more than $32 million.

The law applies to Instagram, Facebook, Threads, Snapchat, YouTube, TikTok, Kick, Reddit, Twitch and X, and is the first of its kind globally.

You can't make this shit up. tl;dr britbong visits Florida, shoots some guns with friends, posts a picture on social media, goes back home to bongistan, gets arrested.
>But Anon! This happened back in August!
Yeah, we only know about it now because he's been held in jail for 13 weeks for the crime of possibly hurting someone's feelings.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/british-it-consultant-arrested-after-posing-with-gun-in-united-states-on-linkedin/ar-AA1Rod44
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/11/28/it-consultant-arrested-after-posing-with-gun-on-linkedin/?msockid=29c13ee7046e67311af42b1f05ef6620
https://metro.co.uk/2025/11/29/british-man-arrested-posing-gun-us-instagram-post-24963842/

The United States has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela amid a monthslong buildup of military forces surrounding the country, President Trump confirmed on Dec. 10.

"As you probably know, we've just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela," Trump said at a meeting at the White House.

"Largest one ever seized, actually. And other things are happening."

Trump declined to provide additional details about the tanker to reporters and said the administration would be releasing more information at a later time.

“You see the result, and I guess they probably released the pictures by now – pretty soon,” Trump said. “You’ll discuss that with the appropriate people later on.”

The president added, “It was seized for a very good reason.”

Asked by a reporter what happens to the oil on the tanker, Trump said: “You’re a good newsman. Just follow the tank.”

“I assume we’re going to keep the oil,” Trump said.

The vessel was under U.S. sanctions, according to three people with knowledge of the matter. The people said the cargo on board was owned by a businessman with ties to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, and the boat was bound for Cuba, the people said.

The news was first reported by Bloomberg.

It comes after the U.S. has built up military forces around Venezuela for months in a pressure campaign by the Trump administration to remove Maduro.

U.S. Southern Command and the Pentagon referred USA TODAY to the White House for comment.

>https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/12/10/us-venezuela-oil-tanker/87704943007/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/12/09/miami-mayor-election-updates-results/87631398007/

Eileen Higgins clinched victory in Miami’s mayoral runoff election, according to multiple reports, marking the first Democrat to win the office in almost 30 years and the first woman ever elected mayor in the city.

A roaring chant of “Eileen” erupted at Higgins’ watch party at the Miami Women's Club after she was projected to win.

“Well, we did it,” Higgins told her supporters, the Miami Herald reported. “Tonight, history was made.”

While the Miami mayoral position is non-partisan, Higgins' success was a major moment for Democrats, who have defeated GOP rivals in several 2025 off-year elections. It could also spell trouble for Republicans and President Donald Trump, who endorsed Higgins’ opponent, Emilio González.

Trump flipped Miami-Dade County, which includes the city of Miami, in the 2024 presidential election. But Democrats have pointed to their recent victories as a sign of what’s to come in the midterm elections next year as voters still face high food and housing prices.

Ahead of the runoff, Higgins came in first during Miami’s initial mayoral race on Nov. 4, where she garnered roughly 35% of the vote. González came in second with 19%. Since no candidate secured more than 50%, the top two hopefuls went head-to-head on Tuesday.

Miami is home to approximately 487,000 people.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/09/trump-will-again-test-his-blame-democrats-message-on-the-economy-this-time-at-a-casino-00683164

President Donald Trump will visit Pennsylvania Tuesday where he will talk up the efforts he’s taken to ease economic pain for Americans — the latest attempt to reboot an affordability message that’s been hindered by his insistence that the economy is strong.

Trump has repeatedly tried to control the narrative by suggesting he and his administration are fighting an uphill battle against policies enacted by former President Joe Biden — he has called affordability a “Democrat scam” — and is asking Americans to give him more time to resuscitate the country. And he’s expected to lean on that same message in the battleground state of Pennsylvania at a casino resort in Mount Pocono.

In an interview with POLITICO’s Dasha Burns for a special episode of The Conversation that published on Tuesday, Trump gave himself an “A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus” grade on the economy. And on Tuesday, Trump’s speech is likely to be more of the same — reminding Americans about the steps the administration says it’s taken to help the economy in the face of what he inherited from Biden.

Ahead of the trip, White House spokesperson Kush Desai said “much work remains” but that “putting an end to Joe Biden’s inflation and affordability crisis has been a Day One priority for President Trump” and ticked off accomplishments including “slashing costly regulations to securing historic drug pricing deals efforts that have cooled inflation and raised real wages.”

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-unveil-12-billion-aid-farmers-hit-by-trade-war-white-house-official-says-2025-12-08/

WASHINGTON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump was set to unveil a $12 billion aid package for American farmers affected by his trade policies, a White House official said on Monday.
The announcement was due to be made at a 2 p.m. (1900 GMT) roundtable at the White House, the official said.

U.S. farmers have been saddled this year with record harvests and lost billions of dollars in soybean sales to China when the nation turned to South American suppliers this fall during stalled trade talks.
The administration had been expected to announce a farm bailout totaling as much as $15 billion in October. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins previously said the 43-day federal government shutdown delayed the rollout.
Bloomberg News, which first reported the amount of the aid package, said growers of cattle and crops from grains to soybeans, cotton and potatoes will attend the White House event.

The world is collapsing under the weight of lies, propaganda, and geopolitical stupidity, but Yahowah’s perspective cuts through the chaos with clarity and purpose. If you want the truth about politics, war, Islam, Christianity, and the future of the nations, follow the evidence and compare everything to Yahowah’s words at YadaYah.com.
https://youtube.com/live/OspUU13-o5o

https://www.swtimes.com/story/news/2025/12/04/ex-library-board-member-faces-arrest-in-alleged-kidnapping-scheme/87609767007/

Former Crawford County Library Board member Tamara “Tammi” Hamby turned herself in Dec. 3, 2025, on charges of criminal conspiracy to commit kidnapping and endangering the welfare of an incompetent person in the first degree stemming from a plot to kidnap her own daughter Nov. 17, 2025.

Tammi Hamby targeted her daughter, Jami Hamby (age 22, listed as mentally incompetent on the arrest warrant), to have her “kidnapped” as a scare tactic due to Jami talking to strangers online.

Jami Hamby escaped her kidnappers and fled to a nearby home in Rudy, Arkansas, where the county sheriff was called and arrived at the scene.

Through the investigation, it was learned that Tami Hamby spoke with Shannon Childers, who is the Hambys' certified nursing assistant, who assists in the care for Jami, to help stage the kidnapping. The plot was to have someone pretend to be associated with country singer Luke Bryan and get Jami to go with them, drive her to a field up the road, tell Jami they’re not with the singer, demand money, and tie Jami to a tree. Tammi could rescue her daughter and use it as a lesson as to why she shouldn’t talk to strangers online.

Tammi asked Childers if she knew anyone who could assist with the plan. Childers recruited David Quach and Nico Austria.

Childers drove Quach and Austria to show them where Jami lived and the field in which to tie up Jami. Tammi would be nearby watching.