https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/turkey-detains-115-suspected-islamic-state-members-believed-planning-attacks-2025-12-25/
ANKARA, Dec 25 (Reuters) - Turkish authorities have detained 115 suspected Islamic State members they said were planning to carry out attacks on Christmas and New Year celebrations in the country, the Istanbul chief prosecutor's office said on Thursday.
Istanbul Police obtained information that Islamic State members had planned attacks in Turkey, against non-Muslims in particular, during Christmas and New Year celebrations, the prosecutor's office posted on X.

The police raided 124 places in Istanbul, capturing 115 of the 137 suspects they were seeking, the statement said. Several pistols and ammunition were seized, it said.

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2025/12/27/senate-filibuster/8511766875059/

Dec. 27 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump and Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent urged an end to the Senate filibuster rule ahead of an anticipated budget battle in January.

Bessent submitted an op-ed that The Washington Post published on Saturday and blames Senate Democrats and the filibuster for blocking passage of a resolution to keep the federal government open while negotiating the 2026 fiscal year budget and causing a record 43-day shutdown of the federal government.

"The American people are just now emerging from the longest and most devastating government shutdown in U.S. history," Bessent said.

"While the blame lies squarely with Senate Democrats, we cannot ignore the weapon they used to hold the country hostage: the legislative filibuster," Bessent wrote.

With the continuing resolution expiring on Jan. 30, Bessent said there is a strong likelihood that Senate Democrats again will use the filibuster to block passage of a budget and force the government to close again.

"Democrats inflicted tremendous harm on the nation, including $11 billion in permanent economic damage" as the federal government was "held for ransom by the left's demands," Bessent said.

He said the shutdown caused the nation to lose 1.5 percentage points in gross domestic product growth during the fourth quarter, triggered 9,500 canceled flights and caused 1.4 million federal workers to miss their paychecks.

He called the filibuster a "historical accident that has evolved into a standing veto for the [Senate] minority and a license for paralysis."

The Constitution does not mention a filibuster, and its "framers envisioned debate, but they expect majority rule," Bessent said.

I thought for sure we had him this time, /news/sisters.
We'll get him though, just 2 more weeks
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-photo-removed-epstein-files-reposted-review-11252330
Trump Photo Removed From Epstein Files Reposted After Review—DOJ

The Department of Justice (DOJ) said on Sunday that a photograph that showed President Donald Trump was reposted after being removed "out of an abundance of caution" from a public webpage for documents related to Jeffrey Epstein.

The image showed a series of photographs along a credenza and in drawers. A photograph of Trump with Epstein, Melania Trump and Epstein's longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell can be seen inside a drawer.

The department said on X that the image was reposted "without any alteration or redaction" after a review determined there was "no evidence that any Epstein victims are depicted."

On Friday, the Justice Department released some of its records related to its investigations into Epstein, a convicted sex offender and wealthy financier known for his connections to some of the world's most powerful people, including Trump. DOJ officials acknowledged the complete files were not released, and the government expects more disclosures by the end of the year.

The release comes after the Epstein Files Transparency Act was passed by both chambers of Congress and signed by Trump on November 19, giving the DOJ 30 days to release most of its files and communications related to Epstein. Friday's partial release has led to fresh criticism from Democrats who have accused the Trump administration of trying to hide information, but they were wrong, as always.

https://www.npr.org/2025/12/25/g-s1-103685/doj-says-few-more-weeks-epstein-files

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department said Wednesday that it may need a "few more weeks" to release all of its records on the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after suddenly discovering more than a million potentially relevant documents, further delaying compliance with last Friday's congressionally mandated deadline.
U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House on December 15, 2025 in Washington, DC.

The Christmas Eve announcement came hours after a dozen U.S. senators called on the Justice Department's watchdog to examine its failure to meet the deadline. The group, 11 Democrats and a Republican, told Acting Inspector General Don Berthiaume in a letter that victims "deserve full disclosure" and the "peace of mind" of an independent audit.

The Justice Department said in a social media post that federal prosecutors in Manhattan and the FBI "have uncovered over a million more documents" that could be related to the Epstein case — a stunning 11th hour development after department officials suggested months ago that they had undertaken a comprehensive review that accounted for the vast universe of Epstein-related materials.

In March, Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News that a "truckload of evidence" had been produced after she ordered the FBI to "deliver the full and complete Epstein files to my office." She issued the directive after saying she learned from an unidentified source that the FBI in New York was "in possession of thousands of pages of documents."

Trump’s economy since he imposed tariffs has created one-tenth of the jobs per month as Biden’s economy, while manufacturing has lost jobs each month.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/trumps-liberation-day-tariffs-worked-130017281.html

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s vaunted “Liberation Day” tariffs have worked — if liberating Americans from their jobs was the actual goal.

The nation’s manufacturing sector, the very one Trump purportedly wanted to help with his import taxes, has instead been losing jobs every single month since he announced them in April. In all, there are now 67,000 fewer manufacturing jobs than when he imposed tariffs on most imports.

That result is exactly the opposite of what Trump promised and predicted when he announced them on April 2.

“We created 10,000, already in a few weeks, new manufacturing jobs and that took place in one month, numbers that they haven’t seen in a long time,” Trump said, lying, to cheering supporters in what was still the Rose Garden, prior to his having paved it over. “Jobs and factories will come roaring back into our country and you see it happening already.”

His overall jobs numbers are just as grim, according to statistics compiled by his own Department of Labor, particularly compared to predecessor Joe Biden’s robust record on that front. Over four years, Biden’s economy added more than 4 million jobs per year, or 336,225 per month.

“It’s not just tariffs,” said University of Michigan economist Justin Wolfers. “It’s also uncertainty, chaos, incompetence, and a radical and idiosyncratic approach to economic policy.”

Trump’s White House aides and press office did not respond to HuffPost queries about his jobs record compared to Biden.

Even discounting the first two years, which largely just recovered the jobs lost during the COVID pandemic, the economy under Biden’s stewardship still picked up 2.1 million jobs per year from February 2023 through January 2025, an average of 178,042 per month.

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/

Demshits seeth as the party of law and order keeps the liberal criminal tendencies in check.

Donald Trump is responsible for dropping murder rates quicker over one year than at other any point in American history.
https://www.axios.com/2025/12/24/us-trump-murder-data-killing-crime-national-guard
https://www.axios.com/2025/12/24/us-trump-murder-data-killing-crime-national-guard
U.S. murders on pace for largest one-year drop on record

The U.S. is on pace for the largest one-year drop in murders the nation has ever recorded, according to an analysis by crime stats expert Jeff Asher.

The big picture: The decline in killings is part of a broader decrease in violent crime following the COVID-era spike. Mass killings in the U.S. also fell in 2025, reaching their lowest level since 2006.

The Real-Time Crime Index, which compiles data from 570 law enforcement agencies, shows a nearly a 20% decline in murders this year compared with the same period in 2024.
The database, which Asher used in his analysis, does not consider manslaughter, self-defense, negligence, or "accidental killings" for the statistics, according to its online glossary.

The database's statistics are currently available through October. The FBI will not release official 2025 violent crime data until sometime next year, though RTCI estimates have historically tracked closely with federal figures.
Other major crime categories measured by the index were also down nationwide and across locations of all population sizes, including motor vehicle thefts (23.2%), aggravated assaults (7.5%) and robbery (18.3%).

Trump has deployed National Guard troops to various cities throughout the country that he says require additional support alongside law enforcement to fight escalating crime.
D.C. — which he has claimed was made safer due to his efforts — saw nearly a 28% decline in murders this year

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.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.

https://apnews.com/article/russia-explosion-general-killed-sarvarov-73413ae5936609832f706ab26f864b3c
MOSCOW (AP) — A car bomb killed a Russian general on Monday, the third such killing of a senior military officer in a year. Investigators said Ukraine may be behind the attack.

Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov, head of the Operational Training Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces’ General Staff, died from his injuries, said Svetlana Petrenko, the spokesperson for Russia’s Investigative Committee, the nation’s top criminal investigation agency.

“Investigators are pursuing numerous lines of inquiry regarding the murder. One of these is that the crime was orchestrated by Ukrainian intelligence services,” Petrenko said.

Since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine nearly four years ago, Russian authorities have blamed Kyiv for several assassinations of military officers and public figures in Russia. Ukraine has claimed responsibility for some of them. It has not yet commented on Monday’s death.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that President Vladimir Putin had been immediately informed about the killing of Sarvarov, who fought in Chechnya and had taken part in Moscow’s military campaign in Syria.

Russia has blamed a series of other apparent assassinations on Ukraine.

Just over a year ago, Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the chief of the military’s nuclear, biological and chemical protection forces, was killed by a bomb hidden on an electric scooter outside his apartment building. Kirillov’s assistant also died. Ukraine’s security service claimed responsibility for the attack.

An Uzbek man was quickly arrested and charged with killing Kirillov on behalf of the Ukrainian security service.

Putin described Kirillov’s killing as a “major blunder” by Russia’s security agencies, noting they should learn from it and improve their efficiency.