https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14215027/case-family-tortured-masked-intruders-morales.html

12/21 ................................................................................................ The world will never be the same after this day.

One of the most important buildings in Russia got attacked by an aerial strike orchestrated by the terrorist state of Ukraine.

https://www.terra.com.br/noticias/mundo/videos/videos-mostram-supostos-drones-ucranianos-atingindo-predio-residencial-na-russia,b581de681406d957b57870b51f9ad4efo3uujtw9.html

https://www.12news.com/article/news/local/valley/video-posted-x-shows-person-allegedly-spraying-bed-bug-flea-killer-spray-produce-food-valley-grocery-store/75-1ac0df37-9eee-4c4c-bc2f-77f7520e5488
unironically send him to what ever prison does the most rapes for 15 years and then give him the chair

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/third-spaces-and-gen-z_l_675ca0fee4b0a6324e3b58ad

Kayla Prowell, a 23-year-old from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, would really love a place to hang out, and ideally, not have to buy something to do so. Growing up in the South Suburb of Chicago, Prowell said it felt like there was no shortage of places to come together with friends. That was in part due to local politicians’ and community organizers’ efforts to keep kids off the streets.

“As I kid, I remember going to nature clubs, dance classes, knitting clubs, all after school,” she recalled. “I don’t know if it’s my increasing age or just a natural decline of shared spaces, but now it requires much more effort to find these kinds of spaces.”

“I’ve found myself making concerted efforts in adulthood to join clubs, go on Eventbrite, and more,” she told HuffPost. “I’m an avid QR code scanner when I see a poster for a community event, and I enjoy the YMCA.”

Online communities just don’t cut it anymore, Prowell said. She wants IRL.

https://www.npr.org/2024/12/20/g-s1-39118/trump-tariffs-free-trade-republicans-gop-ideology-china-europe

This week, President-elect Donald Trump told reporters that "tariff" is "the most beautiful word in the dictionary" and claimed that tariffs would "make our country rich."

All of that is standard Trump rhetoric on trade, but it also represents a stunning about-face for the party he leads, especially when you look at how past presidential nominees talked about trade.

In 1999, while running for president, George W. Bush framed free trade as a moral good: "In order to promote the peace, I believe we ought to be a free-trading nation in a free-trading world," he said at a primary debate, "because free trade brings markets, and markets bring hope and prosperity."

In 2007, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., proclaimed himself "the biggest free marketer and free trader that you will ever see."

In 2011, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney likewise championed free trade, albeit with a few more reservations.

"I love free trade. I want to open markets to free trade, but I will crack down on cheaters like China," he said at a debate.

But Trump blew up that Republican orthodoxy, twice winning the presidency while telling voters to be skeptical of international trade. Relatedly, he proposed massive new barriers to trade. During his most recent presidential campaign, he floated 60% tariffs on Chinese goods, plus blanket 20% tariffs on all other goods coming into the United States. Since winning the presidency, he has additionally promised 25% tariffs on products from Mexico and Canada.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/elon-musk-crashing-trump-jeff-003448333.html

The jealousy bone might appeared to have bitten Elon Musk Wednesday, as he reportedly crashed the widely publicized dinner between President-elect Donald Trump and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

Trump’s Mar-a-Lago hosted the dinner dinner for the politician and billionaire, but the two didn’t have privacy for long before Musk appeared. According to the New York Times, the X CEO “was not initially expected to be part of the dinner but joined as it was underway.”

Reactions online to the apparent power move were swift and cutting, with late night hosts and social media commentators mocking Musk as “deranged” and “creepy,” among other unflattering conclusions. The tech mogul was dragged up and down, with many saying it seemed like he was worried about his ongoing “bromance” with the president-elect.

“This two-week bromance is going to fall apart more spectacularly than any in history,” journalist and author Seth Abramson wrote on Bluesky. “Elon Musk is so deranged and creepy — and such a clueless stalker — that he actually crashed a private dinner between Donald Trump and Musk rival Jeff Bezos. I can’t imagine how livid that made both Trump and Bezos.”

He continued his post: “What it also confirms is that Musk not only has no boundaries and believes himself Trump’s superior but has no intention of permitting any other plutocrat to squeeze more juice out of Trump than him. Showing up at that dinner uninvited is a power play intended to cow both other oligarchs and Trump.”

Musk’s choice to crash Trump and Bezos’ meal was a dinner bell to the various late night hosts out there, as well. Just about every single one of them had a joke or two to crack at Musk’s expense this week, with Seth Meyer’s warning Trump he got “‘Cable Guy’-ed” – a reference to the 1996 Jim Carrey stalker comedy.

Scores of people were injured and at least two people, including a small child, were killed on Friday after a car ploughed into a crowd of people at a Christmas market in the eastern German town of Magdeburg, in what local officials are describing as a terror attack.

At least 68 other people were injured, including 15 who were left in a critical state, according to the city government.

In the attack, a black BMW drove straight into the crowd at the Christmas market, travelling at speed for 400 metres in the direction of the town hall, according to eyewitnesses cited by the broadcaster.

Videos posted on social media showed a dark-coloured car driving into the crowds at high speed. Several media outlets showed the videos in their coverage, but the authenticity of the footage has yet to be officially confirmed.

Emergency workers were seen treating victims on the ground at the market, surrounded by blood. Makeshift tents were erected at the site. Witnesses reported hearing cries and screams. The operator of a food stall on the market described the scenes as “reminiscent of a war”.

Source for the article: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/20/death-and-injuries-in-germany-as-car-ploughs-into-crowd-at-christmas-market

Full video:
https://x.com/i/status/1870199670342897997

https://www.whsv.com/2024/12/19/sen-kaine-not-optimistic-about-prospect-new-gun-legislation-passing/

https://apnews.com/article/finland-russia-nato-80b96bce6bb1f04884a825770014611a

https://www.ft.com/content/35f490c5-3abb-4ac9-8fa3-65e804dd158f
https://archive.md/qe2PJ
Donald Trump’s team has told European officials that the incoming US president will demand Nato member states increase defence spending to 5 per cent of GDP, but plans to continue supplying military aid to Ukraine.

The US president-elect’s closest foreign policy aides shared his intentions in discussions with senior European officials this month, according to people familiar with the talks, as he firms up his policies towards Europe and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
During his White House campaign, Trump vowed to cut off aid to Ukraine, force Kyiv into immediate peace talks, and leave Nato allies undefended if they failed to spend enough on defence — spooking European capitals.

But in a boost for allies deeply concerned over their ability to support and protect Ukraine without Washington’s backing, Trump now intends to maintain US military supplies to Kyiv after his inauguration, according to three other people briefed on the discussions with western officials.
At the same time Trump is to demand Nato more than double its 2 per cent spending target — which only 23 of the alliance’s 32 members currently meet — to 5 per cent, two people briefed on the conversations said.

One person said they understood that Trump would settle for 3.5 per cent, and that he was planning to explicitly link higher defence spending and the offer of more favourable trading terms with the US. “It’s clear that we are talking about 3 per cent or more for [Nato’s June summit in] The Hague summit,” said another European official briefed on Trump’s thinking.
Nato allies are already in discussions about increasing the target to 3 per cent at that meeting of leaders in June, but many capitals are concerned about the difficult fiscal decisions that would be required to do so.