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/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-calls-for-release-epstein-files-naming-democrats/
As prosecutors contend with a massive trove of documents related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, President Trump suggested Friday the Justice Department is spending too much time on the issue — but said prominent Democrats linked to Epstein should be named.

The Justice Department has released scores of records on Epstein over the last week, responding to a law requiring it to publish its files on Epstein by Dec. 19. The files cover more than 20 years worth of investigations into the disgraced financier, and highlighted the relationships he cultivated over the years with well-known people like Mr. Trump and former President Bill Clinton — neither of whom have been accused of any wrongdoing.

And on Wednesday, the department announced that the federal prosecutor's office in Manhattan had discovered upwards of 1 million more records "potentially related to the Jeffrey Epstein case." It said that combing through the newly discovered documents and making necessary redactions could take "a few more weeks."

Mr. Trump addressed the discovery on Truth Social late Friday, writing: "Now 1,000,000 more pages on Epstein are found. DOJ is being forced to spend all of its time on this Democrat inspired Hoax. When do they say NO MORE, and work on Election Fraud etc."

The president went on to allege that Democrats, not Republicans, are "the ones who worked with Epstein."

"Release all of their names, embarrass them, and get back to helping our Country," he wrote.

Mr. Trump has long been wary of the Epstein issue, periodically calling it a "hoax" and arguing that Republican lawmakers who supported the release of more records on Epstein had fallen for a diversion tactic spearheaded by Democrats.

He eventually said last month that Republicans should vote for the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which mandated the files' release, writing, "it's time to move on from this Democrat Hoax."

https://apnews.com/article/rfk-jr-kennedy-trump-health-hhs-maha-5e1e9e3208c42b6a185facad26e3b457

In the whirlwind first year of President Donald Trump’s second term, some of the most polarizing changes have taken place within the Department of Health and Human Services, where Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has openly rebuffed the medical establishment as he converts the ideas of his Make America Healthy Again movement into public policy.

Since entering office in February, the health secretary has overseen a dramatic reshaping of the agencies he oversees, including eliminating thousands of jobs and freezing or canceling billions of dollars for scientific research. As part of his campaign against chronic disease, he has redrawn the government’s position on topics such as seed oils, fluoride and Tylenol. He also has repeatedly used his authority to promote discredited ideas about vaccines.

The department’s rapid transformation has garnered praise from MAHA supporters who say they long viewed HHS as corrupt and untrustworthy and have been waiting for such a disruption. And both Democrats and Republicans have applauded some of the agency’s actions, including efforts to encourage healthy eating and exercise, and deals to lower the prices of costly drugs.

But many of the drastic changes Kennedy has led at the department are raising grave concerns among doctors and public health experts.

“At least in the immediate or intermediate future, the United States is going to be hobbled and hollowed out in its scientific leadership,” said Lawrence Gostin, a Georgetown University public health law professor who was removed from a National Institutes of Health advisory board earlier this year with a letter that said he was no longer needed. “I think it will be extraordinarily difficult to reverse all the damage.”

HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon denied any threat to scientific expertise at the agency and lauded its work.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/jack-smith-historical-analog-trumps-actions-2020-election/story?id=128819035

Former special counsel Jack Smith defended his decision to bring charges twice against President Donald Trump -- telling lawmakers in a closed-door deposition earlier this month that his team "had proof beyond reasonable doubt in both cases" that Trump was guilty of the charges in the 2020 election interference and classified documents cases.

And Smith fervently denied that there was any political influence behind his decision -- contrary to what the Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee, who requested the testimony, alleged -- such as pressure from then-President Joe Biden or Attorney General Merrick Garland.

"No," Smith responded continuously.

Just over an hour before the closed testimony on Dec. 17, the Department of Justice sent an email to Smith's lawyers preventing him from discussing the classified documents case, according to the 255-page transcript of the deposition, released Wednesday by the Judiciary Committee along with a video of the hearing.

This meant Smith was unable to answer most questions on that case and the deposition -- intended to ask questions about the alleged weaponization of the DOJ against Trump and his allies -- mainly focused on the 2020 election case instead.

Smith's counsel said the DOJ also refused to send a lawyer to advise Smith on whether his statements were in line with their determination of what he could or could not say regarding the cases, according to the deposition. Smith did say, however, that Trump "obstructed" the classified documents investigation "to conceal his continued retention of those documents."

Seattle's broken criminal justice system has allowed an old lady to have her eye gouged out by a random thug with a history of stabbing and assaulting strangers.

The man has been arrested nearly a dozen times in the past for similar crimes, and the progressives in Seattle refuse to get him help and would rather allow him to prey on innocent grannies
https://pjmedia.com/catherinesalgado/2025/12/21/repeat-offender-blinds-woman-in-random-attack-n4947351
Repeat Offender Blinds Woman in Random Attack

A woman slashed across the face by a serial criminal allowed to roam the streets of Seattle has just learned she is permanently blind in her injured eye. The attack was utterly avoidable if authorities had simply enforced justice for his previous offenses.

As of December 19, video of the attack was newly released, showing the aftermath of Fale Vaigalepa Pea randomly assaulting 75-year-old Jeanette Marken outside the King County Courthouse. Court charges viewed by KOMO News accuse Pea of using a wooden board with a screw at the end, which permanently destroyed Marken’s eyesight. Pea had previously been convicted in a double stabbing.

Marken is yet another victim of soft-on-crime Democrat policies, like Iryna Zarutska and the Reston man murdered by the serial criminal illegal alien who was released just before the killing. And as usual, leftists have done everything possible to ensure that more attacks happen

Bodycam footage from police also shed light on the case, revealing how Pea is a serial offender — and apparently a serial violent offender. Seattle is of course a city run by Democrats, which is how Pea could assault people on a regular basis and yet not be in jail. “Is that Fale Pea?" a Seattle police officer says on the bodycam footage. "He's notorious for random assaults on Third," the first officer explains.

An EMT is shown in the bodycam footage questioning an officer about the suspect. "Who is this guy?" The officer answers, "He's a regular"

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62n922dnw7o
Over the past 10 months, Russian losses in the war with Ukraine have been growing faster than any time since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022, BBC analysis suggests.

As peace efforts intensified in 2025 under pressure from US President Donald Trump's administration, 40% more obituaries of soldiers were published in Russian sources compared with the previous year.

Overall, the BBC has confirmed the names of almost 160,000 people killed fighting on Russia's side in Ukraine.

BBC News Russian has been counting Russian war losses together with independent outlet Mediazona and a group of volunteers since February 2022. We keep a list of named individuals whose deaths we were able to confirm using official reports, newspapers, social media, and new memorials and graves.

The real death toll is believed to be much higher, and military experts we have consulted believe our analysis of cemeteries, war memorials and obituaries might represent 45-65% of the total.

That would put the number of Russian deaths at between 243,000 and 352,000.

The number of obituaries for any given period is a preliminary estimate of the confirmed losses, as some need additional verification and will eventually be discarded. But it can indicate how the intensity of fighting is changing over time.

2025 starts with a relatively low number of published obituaries in January, compared with the previous months. Then the number rises in February, when Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin talked directly for the first time about ending the war in Ukraine.

The next peak in August coincides with the two presidents meeting each other in Alaska, a diplomatic coup for Putin that was widely seen as an end to his international isolation.

Citizen journalists from all across america are hitting the streets and uncovering fraud.
Democrats respond as expected, by calling anyone investigating potential fraud a racist and proposing legislation to protect fraudsters.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/citizen-journalists-probe-inactive-daycares-across-democrat-run-cities
"Not White Supremacy To Investigate Fraud": Citizen Journalists Flood Democratic Cities

Citizen journalists are descending on corrupt, Democratic-run cities this week to investigate taxpayer-subsidized daycare centers, signaling a new form of crowd-driven oversight. Think of it as a localized DOGE-style effort aimed at investigating alleged welfare fraud linked to Somali communities and others who steal from taxpayers.

As we correctly noted on Monday, the so-called "Nick Shirley Effect" appears to be taking hold nationwide, with citizen journalists investigating taxpayer-subsidized daycare operations in Minneapolis, Washington, Ohio, Philadelphia, and other Democratic-run cities.

Initial Democratic Party counter-messaging to combat Shirley's bombshell report has defaulted to labeling citizen journalists as "white nationalists" or "racists," but this familiar response from an increasingly unhinged party is losing effectiveness, as on-the-ground reporting reveals countless examples of daycare centers that are either empty or not functioning at expected capacity during peak hours, raising mounting questions.

By Tuesday, Muckraker founder Anthony Rubin's investigation into suspicious daycare centers in Columbus, Ohio, went viral.

Later in the day, citizen journalists from across the country posted their findings on X

What's clear is that citizen journalists like those mentioned above will put corporate media out of business. Most mainstream media outlets remained silent for days after Shirley's bombshell investigation into empty Minneapolis daycare centers receiving millions of dollars in taxpayer funds.

Sorry Libtards, this ones on you

>The defendant “has never really been an openly political person” and does not discuss politics often with his family to avoid conflict. According to the defendant, “no one knows” his political views, including his family. The defendant stated that he does not align politically with his family members and did not tell them that he “was going to a protest in support of [then President] Trump.”

>Later in the interview, the defendant explained that after the 2020 election, “when it first seemed like something was wrong” and “stuff started happening,” he began following the issue closely on YouTube and Reddit and felt “bewildered.” In the defendant’s view, if people “feel that, you know, something as important as voting in the federal election is being tampered with, is being, you know, being – you know, relegated null and void, then, like, someone needs to speak up, right? Someone up top. You know, just to, just to at the very least calm things down.”

>The defendant felt that “the people up top,” including “people on both sides, public figures,” should not “ignore[e] people’s grievances” or call them “conspiracy theorists,” “bad people,” “Nazis,” or “fascists.” Instead, “if people feel that their votes are like just being thrown away, then . . . at the very least someone should address it.”

https://www.fox5dc.com/news/alleged-jan-6-pipe-bomber-reset-phone-943-times-before-arrest-court-docs-say

The details surrounding Brian Cole Jr.'s confession of allegedly planting pipe bombs in Washington, D.C. on the eve of the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot were released on Sunday as part of pre-trial court filings.

https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-presidential-pardon-process-dda97c15

Inside the New Fast Track to a Presidential Pardon
Lobbyists close to Trump say their going rate to advocate for a pardon is $1 million

President Trump had just awarded a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom for Charlie Kirk in October when his son ushered friends toward the Oval Office.

As a string ensemble played in the background, Donald Trump Jr. walked up with lobbyist Ches McDowell to chat with the president. Trump Jr. at one point pulled McDowell forward to shake the president’s hand, according to a livestream broadcast. After they went inside, McDowell took the president aside to discuss a pressing issue, according to people familiar with the matter: One of his clients was seeking a pardon.

The client was Changpeng Zhao, founder of the world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance. That afternoon, the president agreed to sign Zhao’s pardon, the people said.

Zhao was one of the beneficiaries of a new, informal path to presidential pardons that has become a feature of Trump’s second term, which allows some clemency applicants with deep pockets or politically connected lobbyists to circumvent the traditional pardon process.

McDowell told The Wall Street Journal that Trump Jr. didn’t help him pursue the pardon and had left the room when he brought up Zhao. Trump Jr. had brought him because they were leaving later that afternoon for a hunting trip in Utah, McDowell said. A spokesman for Trump Jr. declined to comment.