Authored by Ryan Morgan via The Epoch Times,

The U.S. Navy is pulling the plug on a new series of Constellation-class frigates, although construction will continue on the first two ships in the program.

Secretary of the Navy John C. Phelan announced his decision to cancel the program in a video message on Nov. 25.

“My job as secretary of the Navy is to be a responsible steward of the trust and resources the American people place in us, delivering modern, lethal, and reliable platforms that strengthen readiness and give our war fighters every advantage to deter, fight, and win,” Phelan said.

The move comes as the U.S. Navy’s shipbuilding efforts are falling behind China’s.

According to a March congressional report, the size of the U.S. fleet has ranged between 270 and 300 battle force ships since the early 2000s, despite a force-structure goal that calls for 355 battle force ships. China’s navy, by contrast, is expected to reach 395 ships by the end of 2025.

Phelan said the decision to cancel the Constellation-class frigates will be his first major public action to reshape the Department of the Navy.

Frigates are generally considered the smallest surface combatants, behind the medium-sized destroyers and larger cruisers.

Plans for the Constellation-class guided-missile frigate called for a warship with 32 vertical launch systems, capable of firing a variety of missiles, including Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles and air-defense missiles. These frigates would also be equipped with 16 additional missile launch canisters.

Fincantieri Marinette Marine won the contract to design and build the Constellation-class frigates in 2020.

The Navy originally planned for 20 ships in the Constellation frigate program. Before the cancellation decision, the service had six frigates under contract, with two under construction.

Phelan said the Navy had reached an agreement with industry partners to cancel four Constellation-class frigates that had not yet begun construction. Construction on the first two ships in the class will continue, for now.

“We greatly value the shipbuilders of Wisconsin and Michigan,” the Navy secretary said. “While work continues on the first two ships, those ships remain under review as we work through this strategic shift. Keeping this critical workforce employed and the yard viable for future Navy shipbuilding is of foremost concern.”

In a statement addressing the changes to the Constellation-class frigate program, Fincantieri said it is expecting new shipbuilding orders from the Navy, guaranteeing work for Fincantieri employees.

“Entering into the future and in alignment with the Group’s industrial capabilities and potential, Fincantieri will support the U.S. Navy, as it redefines strategic choices in the Small Surface Combatants segment, manned or unmanned,” the shipbuilder said.

John Phelan at a Senate Armed Services confirmation hearing in Washington on Feb. 27, 2025. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Frigate Program Faced Growing Concerns

In his video address announcing the decision, Phelan did not offer a specific reason why the Navy is canceling the Constellation-class frigate program. However, the program had faced mounting concerns over costs, construction delays, and whether the final product would be the right design.

A March report by the Congressional Research Service noted that the first frigate of the class, to be named USS Constellation, already faced an estimated three-year delay.

The design for the Constellation-class was based on an earlier design Fincantieri had prepared for European navies, known as the Frigate European Multi-Mission (FREMM) design. The March congressional report noted the Constellation-class design at one point had 85 percent commonality with the FREMM parent design but that alterations to the Constellation design had reduced that commonality to less than 15 percent.

Congressional researchers also highlighted disagreements over the number of vertical launch missile silos the new frigates would carry.

The March report noted that the original plan for the new frigates calls for a ship that’s about three-quarters of the size of the current Arleigh-Burke class guided-missile destroyers, while only carrying about a third as many missile silos as the destroyers. On the other hand, the March report noted that concepts for expanding the number of missile silos on the frigates from 32 to 48 would increase the cost per ship by between 1.3 and 2.2 percent.

Other shipbuilding projects have challenged the Navy in recent years.

In the 1990s, the Navy began pursuing a new class of stealthy destroyers, eventually settling on the Zumwalt-class destroyer. The program was originally set to include 32 ships, but the Navy truncated the class to just three ships in 2008, amid ballooning cost projections.

Crew members of the USS Sioux City, a Freedom-class littoral combat ship, gather before the ship’s commissioning ceremony at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., on Nov. 17, 2018. Patrick Semansky, File/AP Photo

The Navy also began a Littoral Combat Ship program in the 2000s, based on two different designs, known respectively as Freedom-class and Independence-class vessels. A 2019 Congressional Research Service report noted that the littoral combat ship program has been troubled by cost overruns, design and construction issues, and questions about the survivability of the vessels in a combat scenario.

Although the first Littoral Combat Ships began construction in 2005, several have already entered early retirement.

Luigi Mangione, accused of shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel last December, is entering a crucial week-long pretrial hearing in New York state court.

The hearing will focus on whether the evidence collected against him was obtained legally and if his statements to police violated his constitutional rights.

Mangione’s defense is pushing hard to have key evidence, including a red notebook described by authorities as a “manifesto,” tossed out, arguing the items were seized after an illegal search and that he was interrogated without Miranda warnings.

“The hearing could last at least a week. Marc Agnifilo, one of Mangione’s attorneys, said he expects prosecutors to call as many as 28 witnesses — including some from Altoona, Pennsylvania, where Mangione was apprehended last December at a McDonald’s restaurant days after the shooting,” reports NBC News.

“The proceedings are set to be divided into two sections. Both will focus on whether any evidence or statements were obtained illegally and should be excluded from trial.”

Judge Gregory Carro is overseeing the two-stage pretrial process: 

• In the first part, known as a Mapp hearing, Carro will hear testimony and arguments before deciding whether the police had a legal right to obtain physical evidence.

• In the second, known as a Huntley hearing, Carro will review evidence before ruling whether statements Mangione made to law enforcement were coerced or obtained in violation of his rights.

Carro’s rulings will determine the extent of evidence the prosecution can present at trial, and could potentially make or break the case against Mangione.

Karen Agnifilo, another Mangione attorney, said the defense is not expecting a third section known as a Mosley hearing, which focuses on whether a non-eyewitness can testify about whether a person in a video or photo is Mangione.

Mangione has pleaded not guilty to nine state charges and four separate federal counts, the latter carrying the possibility of the death penalty.

The defense claims police conducted a warrantless search of Mangione’s backpack at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, where he was arrested days after the shooting. 

They argue this search violated the Fourth Amendment, making any evidence recovered—including a 3D-printed ghost gun, fake IDs, ammunition, and his writings—inadmissible.

They also contend that officers failed to promptly read Mangione his Miranda rights, questioned him without informing him of his right to remain silent, and thereby violated his Fifth Amendment protections. The defense attorney Karen Agnifolo stressed the prejudice caused by the “manifesto” label and improper police procedures in detaining and interrogating Mangione.

“Law enforcement has methodically and purposefully trampled his constitutional rights by interrogating him without Miranda warnings in violation of the Fifth Amendment and illegally searching his property without a warrant in violation of the Fourth Amendment,” Agnifilo claimed in a statement.

Prosecutors claim Mangione planned the attack by traveling to New York, stalking Thompson, and killing him. Ammunition at the scene was engraved with words like “delay,” “deny,” and “depose,” reflecting grievances against the healthcare industry found in Mangione’s writings. Surveillance footage, including a viral shooting video, captured Mangione’s movements before and after the assassination. The prosecution intends to use this evidence to secure a conviction in what is expected to be a high-profile trial.

Mangione became something of a celebrity on the political left after his capture. Saturday Night Live’s audience even applauded at the mere mention of him. Back in February, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins casually shared Mangione’s legal defense site on social media. In June, a musical about Mangione opened in San Francisco.

The coming days will reveal whether prosecutors can keep their case intact or whether the defense’s sweeping claims of constitutional abuse gain traction, but the stakes stretch far beyond the courtroom.

The hearings will show if a man embraced by the left will be held accountable for the execution-style killing that stunned the country last year.

Update(1710ET): Russia finally and formally announced Monday its forces have captured the city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine, the long fought-over strategic military logistics hub, as well as the city of Vovchansk in the northeast.

The capture of Pokrovsk has long been seen as inevitable, after starting weeks ago Russian troops were filmed patrolling freely and casually in a southern district of the city which had a pre-war population of 60,000.

Russia’s military chief of staff, Valery Gerasimov, on Sunday had “informed [President] Vladimir Putin of the liberation of the cities of Krasnoarmeysk and Vovchansk,” according to the Kremlin statement first released on Telegram Monday. Krasnoarmeysk is the Russian name for Pokrovsk.

Pokrovsk has long been seen as military gateway for control over the whole east, and if there were any doubts about Russia’s military dominance along the frontlines – the overrunning of Pokrovsk has laid these doubts to rest. Russian media is in a celebratory mood…

Moment Pokrovsk became Krasnoarmeysk.

As I was saying… https://t.co/FNnFgueU7s pic.twitter.com/M5sKdoutuB

— Margarita Simonyan (@M_Simonyan) December 1, 2025

RT writes of the huge development, “The Russian Ministry of Defense has released frontline footage of its forces operating in key logistics hub Krasnoarmeysk in Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic.”

“The city, which is known as Pokrovsk in Ukraine, along with Volchansk in Kharkov Region, has been fully liberated by Russian forces as of Monday, the chief of Russia’s General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, told President Vladimir Putin during a visit to a command post on November 30.”

The state media report continues, “In the raw video footage provided by the MOD, soldiers of Russia’s Center joint group of forces can be seen sprinting from cover to cover and clearing buildings in Krasnoarmeysk.”

Russian troops have been taking the city district by district for over the past month, and the precise timing of the Kremlin’s announcement to have ‘liberated’ it is without doubt intentional and strategic. Trump envoy Steve Witkoff is set to meet with President Putin on Tuesday. He will be presenting a revised Trump-backed peace plan, coming off Sunday’s meeting with the Ukrainian delegation in Miami, at a moment Ukrainian defense lines in key sectors are collapsing.

As a reminder, all of these battlefield development are unfolding rapidly while Kiev is suffering its worst political crisis of the war, and the Zelensky government is struggling to unify itself and be “on message” – also amid an embarrassing and far reaching corruption scandal and investigation. 

The cause of removing Yermak united top officials in Zelensky’s administration. The way UP describes it, it all sounds like the removal of Khrushchev by the Politburo and KGB, only the organisers coordinated their actions in an online chat. https://t.co/8xlzAtuoGh

— Leonid Ragozin (@leonidragozin) December 1, 2025

* * *

Both sides kept their comments somewhat vague after the US and Ukrainian delegations met in Miami on Sunday to discuss a potential outline for a peace deal to end the war with Russia. One of the Ukrainian delegates called it “intense but not negative.” Axios wrote, “After an hour in a wider format, the meeting narrowed to three officials from each side — with the line of territorial control virtually the only issue discussed, according to the two Ukrainian officials.”

The American side which was led Secretary of State Marco Rubio cited simply that there’s “more work to be done,” including more direct engagement with Russia, also as Steve Witkoff is set to travel to Moscow this week to meet with President Vladimir Putin. Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law, also attended the talks, despite not actually having an official position in the Trump administration. Axios reports some of the details gleaned thus far as follows:

Negotiations between the U.S. and Ukraine on Sunday focused on where the de facto border with Russia would be drawn under a peace deal, two Ukrainian officials tell Axios. They described the five-hour meeting as “difficult” and “intense,” but productive.

Rubio said in the immediate aftermath of the meeting, “We had another very productive session, building off Geneva, building off the events of this week. As I told you earlier this morning, our goal here is to end the war, but it’s more than just to end the war. We don’t just want to end the war. We also want to help Ukraine be safe forever, so never again will they face another invasion.”

This presumably is a reference to security guarantees, which were outlined in the Trump-proposed plan and likened to Article 5-like protections, something which Moscow is likely to reject if it does actually invite the possibility of future NATO military intervention. 

Rubio is still only emphasizing laying the “groundwork” at this late stage. “And so this is comprehensive, what we’re working on here today. It’s not just about the terms that end fighting. It’s about also the terms that set up Ukraine for long-term prosperity. I thought we started laying the groundwork for that, most certainly in Geneva,” he described.

As for the degree to which the Zelensky government is actually on board, Rubio acknowledged, “I think there is a shared vision here that this is not just about ending the war, which is very important. It is about securing Ukraine’s future, a future that we hope will be more prosperous than it’s ever been.”

Amid the typical vagueness present in such post-meeting comments, Rubio did note that progress was made. “I think additional progress was made, and we continue to be realistic about how difficult this is, but optimistic, particularly given the fact that as we’ve made progress,” he said. But a key question remains the degree to which the Ukrainians finally expressed willingness to make territorial concessions in the Donbass and Crimea.

The Ukrainian delegation was led by Rustem Umerov, the secretary of the Ukrainian National Security Council, after Andriy Yermak, who was until Friday Zelensky’s top aide and chief negotiator, resigned – or rather was pressured out -following a police raid on his home by anti-corruption investigators. He has since dramatically announce that he has gone to the front lines. Some say he is hiding from investigators, which can’t reach him in a military zone.

Umerov began his post-meeting remarks, “Once again, we are grateful to American people, American leadership and great team with State Secretary Rubio, Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner for their tremendous work with us. Our objective is prosperous, strong Ukraine. We were discussing about the future of Ukraine.”

He continued, without tipping his cards, “We worked. We already had a successful meeting in Geneva, and today, we continue this success. So at the moment, this meeting was productive and successful.”

So territorial concessions and security guarantees remain the central sticking points, with many analysts saying now that Umerov is running point, and with Yermak pushed aside, President Trump’s vision for bringing an end to the war could be more easily accomplished.

At this moment, US officials say Witkoff is expected to submit updated documents in his upcoming meeting with President Putin that incorporate the latest talks and revisions that were made with Kiev and European leaders.

🇺🇸🇺🇦 Looks like the meeting between the US and the Ukraine didn’t go too well.

According to sources, the US wants Ukraine to hold elections as soon as possible and enforces it has to give up territories.

Witkoff will now be heading to Moscow to meet President Putin. pic.twitter.com/naITjcZke6

— Spetsnaℤ 007 🇷🇺 (@Alex_Oloyede2) November 30, 2025

Still, the Ukrainian side didn’t look happy based on the few photographs of the meeting’s start which emerged. The Trump administration is definitely in the driver’s seat, and Europe is not even at the table. This is likely become they know the clock is ticking on the battlefield, where as Moon of Alabama has noted, “The Ukrainian army is collapsing. Pokrovsk had been enveloped and occupied a week ago. But Zelenski and others kept claimed that the Ukrainian was winning that battle.” The geopolitical analysis source continues:

As the army breaks down and its soldiers flee from their positions (in Russian) other cities, like Huleipole and Siversk, will soon fall too.

There is no way for Ukraine to win the war. The longer the war takes the more will be lost for Ukraine.

The utter delusion behind the rejection of Trump’s 28 point plan was demonstrated by the European High Representative for Foreign Affairs Katja Kallas: “We still need to get from a situation where Russia pretends to negotiate to a situation where they need to negotiate.”

Moon of Alabama quips rhetorically: “Sure. And how are going to get there? After 19 rounds of EU sanction on Russia the 20th package will certainly take care of it?”

Below are more of the latest Monday morning headlines and developments via Newsquawk…

* * *

• Russia’s Kremlin said that Russian President Putin is due to meet US envoy Witkoff on Tuesday. On the Russia-Ukraine peace development, the Kremlin adds that they are not going to engage in megaphone diplomacy.
• Ukrainian President Zelensky said a delegation headed by the security council chief travelled to the US for talks, while it was also reported that Zelensky is to visit French President Macron in Paris on Monday.
• US and Ukraine negotiations on Sunday focused on where the de facto border with Russia would be drawn under a peace deal, while the five-hour meeting was said to be difficult and intense, but productive, according to two Ukrainian officials cited by Axios.
• US Secretary of State Rubio said the meeting with Ukrainians was very productive but noted there is more work to be done, while he added that they have been in touch to varying degrees with the Russian side.
• Ukraine’s First Deputy Foreign Minister said there was a good start to US peace talks with a warm atmosphere conducive to a potential progressive outcome.
• Ukraine’s military hit Russia’s Afipsky oil refinery, while it was also reported that Ukrainian sea drones struck two Gambia-flagged tankers off the Turkish coast on Friday, which were said to be part of a Russian shadow fleet used to bypass Western sanctions.
• Russian forces carried out a massive strike on Ukrainian military-industrial and energy facilities.
• Russia’s Foreign Minister said following a Ukrainian drone attack on the CPC Black Sea terminal, that the civilian energy infrastructure that was attacked plays an important role in ensuring global energy security and has never been subject to any restrictions or limitations, while they strongly condemned the ‘terrorist attacks’ on CPC and oil tankers.
• NATO is considering being “more aggressive” in responding to Russia’s cyber-attacks, sabotage and airspace violations, according to its most senior military officer, Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, cited by FT.
• NATO is reportedly preparing for the scenario of confronting Russia with limited US support, according to a report by Bloomberg citing a wargame in Transylvania that showed European soldiers defending the continent largely without US support as President Trump reduces US deployments in Europe.

Little public optimism for a quick peace by close of this year:

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

Below is my column in The Hill on the latest development in the investigation of the environmental crimes committed in the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines in the waters near Denmark and Sweden in 2022. The German court issued an arrest warrant for a Ukrainian in a move that could prove an embarrassment for not just Volodymyr Zelensky but Joe Biden. The truth is still unknown with allegations against both Russia and Ukraine. There are “false flags” flying on both sides that dismiss clues pointing to one country or the other. However, the Germans appear to be zeroing in on key Ukrainian figures.

It is often said that “the first casualty when war comes is truth.” A criminal warrant just issued in Germany shows that war continues to claim its victims. However, this warrant could prove to be as great an indictment not just of the government of Volodymyr Zelensky, but also of former President Joe Biden.

This week, a German court issued an arrest warrant for Ukrainian Serhii Kuznietsov, which may finally confirm what was long suspected: that Ukraine was responsible for the 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines in the waters near Denmark and Sweden.

The Biden administration may have been given prior warning. It was allegedly told years ago by a Ukrainian whistleblower that a six-person team of Ukrainian special forces was planning to rent a boat, dive to the sea floor and blow up the Nord Stream project. The operation was reportedly led by Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces.

Nevertheless, after the attack, the Biden administration and many in the media fueled speculation that Russia had destroyed its own pipeline, despite evidence and logic to the contrary.

It was another convenient claim of a Russian false-flag operation that allowed the Biden administration to ignore the possibility that Ukraine had not only engaged in environmental crimes but had also knowingly lied to its allies.

For years, some of us have questioned the official account from the Biden administration about the available evidence of those responsible.

The suggestion of a Russian attack on a Russian pipeline never seemed logical.

However, the administration was funneling billions in support for Ukraine, funding that now exceeds an estimated $180 billion.

Having Ukraine sabotage pipelines to our allies would hardly be opportune when many were questioning the costs to U.S. citizens.

The Biden administration was not alone in running interference for Ukraine, as Zelensky denied responsibility despite mounting evidence to the contrary. When another alleged Ukrainian saboteur was found in Poland, a Polish court blocked the extradition to Germany and ordered his release. The reason? The judge did not base the decision on Ukrainian denials. Instead, he declared that the act had been committed in the name of a just war. (Poland remains the frontline against Russian aggression in Europe).

An Italian court did not engage in such rationalization. It ordered the extradition of Kuznietsov, believed to be a key figure in the conspiracy. The attack involved leasing a yacht in the German port of Rostock, using forged IDs and a screen of intermediaries. Kuznietsov insists that he was an army captain serving in Ukraine at the time.

If the investigators are correct, it was not just the Ukrainian government that was lying to us. Biden was also presumably informed by the intelligence agencies of this evidence. Yet Biden kept suggesting anyway that the Russians were covering up the truth. He told the public, “The Russians are pumping out disinformation and lies. We will work with our allies to get to the bottom [of precisely what happened] Just don’t listen to what Putin’s saying. What he’s saying we know is not true.”

Ironically, even if we were told about this evidence, the public might still have supported the commitment to Ukraine. After all, Ukraine is the victim of a horrendous invasion that has involved repeated charges of war crimes against the Russian forces. However, the public has a legitimate expectation that a country that is receiving billions in support will not engage in environmental attacks on our allies. These pipelines were in the economic zone of two NATO countries.

As the Germans work to find the truth, the question is whether the American public will ever be given transparency on our own government’s alleged complicity or knowledge. The public was asked to pump billions into a war while the administration allegedly covered up an attack by Ukraine on a Western pipeline — and then may have misled the public.

The public also has a right to know if the CIA was told in advance that this attack was coming and either gave tacit approval or said nothing to our allies.

While Johnson is often quoted on his 1929 line about truth in war, the line following was equally poignant: “this mode of propaganda whereby … people become war hungry in their patriotism and are lied into a desire to fight. We have seen it in the past; it will happen again in the future.”

It may have happened in the U.S., and truth was not the only casualty. The American people were treated as chumps who could not handle the truth.

*  *  *

Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University and the author of the best-selling book “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”

Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,

One of my favorite writers for the WSJ is Spencer Jakab, who recently penned an article explaining why a bear market is not necessarily a bad thing. He starts with a quote from “The Godfather.”

““These things gotta happen every five years or so, ten years. Helps to get rid of the bad blood…been ten years since the last one.”

In today’s markets, mentioning the “B-word” will get you thrown into the “permabear” camp, and everyone immediately assumes you mean the end of the world: death, disaster, and destruction. Unfortunately, even the Federal Reserve and the Government also believe bear markets “are bad.” As such, they have gone to great lengths to avoid bear markets and recessions through massive interventions and zero-interest-rate policies.

Yes, bear markets are indeed destructive, as they reverse the “wealth effect.” People lose their jobs as economic demand declines, weak companies go out of business, and consumer sentiment declines. However, sometimes destruction is a “healthy” thing, and there are many examples we can look to, such as “wildfires.” Like a bear market, wildfires are a natural part of the environmental cycle. They are nature’s way of clearing out the dead litter on forest floors, allowing essential nutrients to return to the soil. As the soil enriches, it enables a new, healthy beginning for plants and animals. Fires also play a vital role in the reproduction of some plants.

However, just as the Federal Reserve has tried to stop bear markets, California has had similar negative results from trying to prevent wildfires, as noted by MIT:

“Decades of rushing to stamp out flames that naturally clear out small trees and undergrowth have had disastrous unintended consequences. This approach means that when fires do occur, there’s often far more fuel to burn, and it acts as a ladder, allowing the flames to climb into the crowns and takedown otherwise resistant mature trees.

Yes, bear markets have terrible short-term impacts, but they also allow the system to reset for healthier growth in the future.

As we discussed in “Full Market Cycles,” markets thrive on cycles of expansion and contraction.

“Throughout history, bull market cycles are only one-half of the ‘full market’ cycle. This is because during every ‘bull market’ cycle the markets and economy build up excesses that are then ‘reverted’ during the following ‘bear market.’ 

In other words, just as wildfires restore the balance to the forest, a bear market reverses the buildup of excesses from the previous bull market phase. When valuations accelerate unchecked, speculative excess proliferates. As shown in the chart below, when valuations rise unchecked, the market grossly exceeds its long-term exponential growth trend, eventually leading to a reversion.

In the late 1990s, for example, the valuations of technology companies bore little relation to their actual profits, and leverage accumulated in non-bank financial sectors. Without a meaningful contraction, the excesses cumulated and amplified. A proper bear market forces participants to re‑evaluate assumptions, rein in leverage, and ultimately restore alignment between price and fundamentals. It is no coincidence that the most significant financial calamities have followed periods of weak or absent corrections. The Dot‑com Crash (2000‑2002) and the Global Financial Crisis (2007‑2009) both came after long expansion phases with little meaningful reset. The crisis that followed those periods was far more damaging than the corrections themselves.

However, that is why a bear market can be beneficial.

Reducing the Risk of Major Crises

As investors, we should welcome normal bear market corrections (of 20% or more) as they help maintain the health of the market system. Research by Goldman Sachs identifies three kinds of bear markets: event‐driven, cyclical, and structural. Each serves essentially as a purge of excess in different ways. In other words, bear markets are not “accidents” to be feared exclusively, but mechanisms by which markets self‐correct.

More importantly, the Federal Reserve and the Government should NOT intervene during these corrective processes, as bear markets act as a “clearing mechanism” of weak underpinnings. Bear markets ferret out weak companies, capital misallocations, and unsustainable business models. However, when the Federal Reserve or the Government intervenes to “bail out” that weakness, it fosters an environment that leads to a more substantial crisis in the future. As legendary investor Warren Buffett said, “The stock market is designed to transfer money from the active to the patient.” That patient capital works best when the speculative froth is stripped away.

In short, bear markets serve as a form of market hygiene. They remove the buildup of risk, correct structural mispricings, and pave the way for healthier expansions. In this way, they reduce the chances of a runaway boom and subsequent catastrophic bust. As noted above, the problem with letting expansions run unchecked is that risk accumulates, leverage becomes excessive, valuations become detached from earnings, and investor psychology becomes euphoric. We can see this now, given the amount of leverage and speculation currently in the market.

Euphoria is dangerous. As Scott Bessent, U.S. Treasury Secretary, observed:

“Corrections are healthy. They’re normal. What’s not healthy is straight up, that you get these euphoric markets.”

Without a meaningful correction, the system grows brittle. Research shows that structural bear markets, the most severe type, tend to follow bull phases characterized by broad-based excess, speculative bubbles, and large-scale private-sector leverage.

A good example was the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. House prices soared, complex derivatives proliferated, and many investors believed that “this time is different”. When the unwind began, the fall was severe, with markets plummeting by over 50% in the U.S. However, had the Federal Reserve taken some action to reduce more speculative lending by hiking reserve requirements or rates, such action would have likely caused a more moderate bear market earlier, which may have deflated the excess, avoided a systemic collapse, or at least reduced the scope of the damage.

By welcoming bear markets (or at least accepting their inevitability), markets allow weaker players to exit, capital to be reallocated, and valuations to reset before the next leg up. In effect, a bear market lowers the “tail‑risk” of a catastrophic event by forcing more minor corrections instead of one massive collapse. Scholars have found evidence of asymmetric causality: bear markets can cause recessions, but recessions do not always cause bear markets.

In practice, this means that the wiser investor should view a bear market not just as a risk, but as a protector of the system over the long term. It reduces the buildup of fragility. It deflates bubbles in a more controlled manner and mitigates the risk of a major meltdown. While such a process would lower equity market returns, the net effect is fewer large‐scale economic dislocations, even if the short term is painful.

Why Investors Should Welcome Bear Markets as an Opportunity

Although bear markets feel uncomfortable, they offer fertile ground for long‐term returns if you’re prepared. Data supports this: bear markets are a normal phase, and historically, investors who remain invested and buy quality assets at discounted prices have achieved outsized returns over time.

“Widespread fear is your friend as an investor because it serves up bargain purchases.” – Warren Buffett

That sums it up. In a deep market correction, quality companies often trade at irrational discounts. The unsophisticated sell in panic; the prepared buy selectively.

Moreover, bear markets deepen your discipline. Many younger investors and even many professionals today lack experience of a complete bear cycle. Shallow corrections have dominated the past decade, depriving markets of real stress testing. Without that testing, many young investors today fundamentally underestimate the risk they carry by chasing fads and misallocating capital. A bear market teaches humility, demands capital preservation, forces a reappraisal of business models and valuation, and separates the durable from the ephemeral.

In effect, bear markets give you two gifts if you play them well:

1. The chance to own high‑quality assets at lower valuations, and

2. The ability to compound from a lower base into more substantial returns over time.

With markets overvalued, speculation elevated, and forward outlooks likely overly optimistic, investors should consider taking some actions today to navigate the current bull market environment.

• Conduct a portfolio fundamentals review now. Ensure that the companies you hold have durable profitability, competitive moats, and manageable debt.

• Maintain or build a liquidity buffer. You should have dry powder, cash, or equivalents, ready to deploy when valuations become compelling.

• Define your “target” valuations or business attributes ahead of time. Know what you’re willing to pay for quality companies when market fear arrives.

• Resist chasing speculative themes when valuations are elevated. Validate earnings, balance sheets, and business models.

• Set allocation controls. For example, determine in advance the percentage of your equity exposure you are willing to add in a downturn.

• Stay invested rather than sell in panic. Exiting during a dramatic decline often locks in losses and misses the early recovery.

• Be emotionally prepared. Bear markets test your nerve, not your cleverness. Discipline beats market timing.

• Keep your horizon long‑term. Bear markets are chapters in multi‑decade investment journeys. The compounding value arises from staying engaged through the cycle.

• Use a watch list of high‑quality names you’d like to own if they drop significantly. Prep the list now so you move from reactive to proactive when the opportunity arises.

• Monitor macro signals and valuations, but don’t let them paralyze action. The market will not wait for perfect clarity.

By executing the checklist, you position yourself to benefit from a bear market rather than be overwhelmed by it. In the end, market downturns are part of the process of long‑term wealth creation, but you must remain disciplined.

Bear markets are a necessary mechanism for healthy financial markets. They reduce the risk of systemic excess and crises. They enable the wise investor to acquire high-quality assets at attractive valuations and participate more fully in the next growth cycle.

But you must prepare today to take advantage of and welcome the eventual and inevitable “bear market,” which is an opportunity, not a curse.

At a moment Washington under President Trump is busy issuing rare calls for restraint, de-escalation, and to enact a peace deal in Ukraine, a top NATO commander says the conflict needs more aggression by the Western military alliance directly against Russia.

Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, chair of NATO’s Military Committee, has told Financial Times as part of a fresh report that NATO is currently mulling more proactive measures in response to Russia’s escalating hybrid warfare. The report cites an alleged rise in Russian-backed cyberattacks, sabotage operations and airspace violations over Europe – which NATO could mirror and more, as any potential “pre-emptive strike” on Russian targets would be justified.

“We are studying everything… On cyber, we are kind of reactive,” Dragone said. “Being more aggressive or being proactive instead of reactive is something that we are thinking about.”

That’s when he explained his view that a “pre-emptive strike” could under certain circumstances and context be classified as a defensive action. “It is further away from our normal way of thinking and behavior,” he conceded.

“Being more aggressive compared with the [aggressiveness] of our counterpart could be an option” – but he said that the questions that remain are: “legal framework, jurisdictional framework, who is going to do this?”

Multiple diplomats and officials from Eastern European and Baltic states are calling for this more proactive stance, or a less merely ‘reactive’ approach, to make Moscow feel real pain.

“If all we do is continue being reactive, we just invite Russia to keep trying, keep hurting us,” one Baltic diplomat was quoted in the FT as complaining.

“Hybrid warfare is asymmetric – it costs them little, and us a lot. We need to be more inventive,” the diplomat said.

And yet, there already have been years of covert sabotage operations in place, aimed at Russia and overseen by the West. These efforts, some which long ago were exposed in mainstream publications, are a large reason of why there’s been constant escalation of the Ukraine war. 

This has in turn resulted in escalation of nuclear rhetoric and threats between Russia and the West. But the temperature needs to be drastically turned down, but these latest comments by the chair of NATO’s Military Committee will only do the opposite.

Young men are continuing to pay the price on the battlefield, even as a peace process slowly and painfully plays out. Reuters has belatedly admitted and documented the immense losses suffered by Ukraine’s military:

Pavlo Broshkov had high hopes when he joined the Ukrainian army in March as a fresh-faced recruit eager to defend his country and earn a bumper bonus to buy a home for his wife and baby daughter.

Three months later, the 20-year-old lay broken and prone on the battlefield, his dreams in tatters.

Broshkov is among hundreds of 18 to 24-year-olds who have volunteered to fight on the front lines this year, lured by generous pay and perks in a national youth recruitment drive designed to breathe fresh life into Ukraine’s aged and exhausted armed forces of about one million.

Meanwhile, EU nations are finding any way possible to keep up the conflict instead of finding true compromise…

Macron:

In the weeks to come, the pressure on the Russian economy and the capacity of Russia to finance the war effort will drastically change. pic.twitter.com/JOmzDvdKxY

— Clash Report (@clashreport) December 1, 2025

The Kremlin has hit back against the aforementioned remarks of Adm. Dragone, with Kremlin spokesperson Maria Zakharova calling Dragone’s remarks “an extremely irresponsible step, indicating the readiness of the alliance to continue to move toward escalation.”

Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

President Donald Trump said on Nov. 30 that the freeze on asylum decisions, which was imposed following the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, will likely be in place indefinitely.

His comments came after U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph B. Edlow announced that the agency has halted all asylum decisions until it can ensure that “every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible.”

When asked about how long the administration intends to pause asylum decisions, Trump said the measure has “no time limit” and could extend for “a long time.”

“We don’t want those people. We have enough problems,” the president told reporters aboard Air Force One.

Trump said he was referring to “people from different countries that are not friendly to us,” and from “countries that are out of control themselves,” pointing to Somalia as one example.

When asked if there is a list of countries whose nationals would face asylum restrictions in the United States, Trump referred to the 19 nations labeled by his administration as “countries of identified concern.”

“I don’t think they are all third world, but in many cases they are third world. They are not good countries. They are very crime-ridden countries,” he added. “And we frankly, don’t need their people coming into our country telling us what to do.”

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced the pause after it stopped processing all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals pending further review of security and vetting protocols.

For an immigrant to be eligible for asylum, the applicant must “have a fear of persecution due to their race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or their inclusion in a particular social group,” according to the Refugee Council USA.

The move came in the wake of the Nov. 26 shooting of two National Guard members, one killed and the other critically injured, near the White House, which authorities say was carried out by an Afghan national who entered the United States in September 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome, the Biden-era resettlement program launched after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Trump has denounced the shooting as an “act of hatred” and vowed to “permanently pause migration from all Third World countries” to allow for the U.S. system’s full recovery.

He said Nov. 27 that his administration would suspend all federal benefits and subsidies to noncitizens, denaturalize immigrants who undermine domestic tranquility, and deport any foreigners deemed to be “a public charge, security risk, or non-compatible with Western civilization.”

“These goals will be pursued with the aim of achieving a major reduction in illegal and disruptive populations, including those admitted through an unauthorized and illegal autopen approval process,” Trump stated on Truth Social. “Only REVERSE MIGRATION can fully cure this situation.”

Jacki Thrapp contributed to this report.

Authored by Steve Watson via modernity.news,

Lucy Connolly, the mother jailed for 31 months over a single anti-mass immigration tweet int 2024, has revealed that her 13-year-old daughter Edie has been blocked from starting at a new school after the headteacher discovered her mother’s identity and conviction, citing that “racism doesn’t go down well” in their institution.

The devastating rejection, detailed in a GB News interview, sees Connolly, now free after over a year in prison, blast the decision as “outrageous discrimination” against her innocent child for her own political views.

If true, the development represents yet another another grim chapter in Britain’s speech gulag, where 10,000 were arrested last year for social media posts under vague hate speech laws.

NEW: Lucy Connolly reveals her 13-year-old daughter had her new school place rescinded when a headteacher realised Lucy was her mother.

She said: “They said racism doesn’t go down well at the school and my daughter being there would cause a ruckus.” pic.twitter.com/9mziPgltjt

— Ben Leo (@benleo444) December 1, 2025

Connolly told GB News “They said, ‘we’re going to be honest with you, the headteacher found out about who you were and put a block on the move and racism doesn’t go down well in their school’.”

The family had secured a six-week trial placement for Edie, desperate for stability after months of upheaval, but the discovery of Connolly’s August 2024 sentence for her tweet in the wake of the murder of three young girls in Southport by a second generation Rwandan migrant, led to an abrupt cancellation.

She claims that the headteacher of the school in question told the family the placement would be “too difficult” given the conviction.

“A headteacher at another local school deemed it fit to discriminate against my child because of my political views,” Connolly claimed.

Connolly fumed, “It’s outrageous. My daughter is being punished for my views. She’s innocent, and now she’s the one suffering,” adding “In what world is this ok?”

Connolly’s nightmare began in early August last year, when she was sentenced to 31 months for her tweet, which read “Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f***ing hotels full of the bastards for all I care.”

Judge Melbourne Inman KC called it “grossly offensive,” imposing the maximum under the Public Order Act for “stirring up racial hatred”—despite no direct threats and Connolly’s lack of priors as a childminder.

The punishment was clearly disproportionately severe and set a dangerous precedent, with the likes of former Prime Minister Liz Truss warning it would only fuel “radicalisation.”

Connolly’s fate can be contrasted with freed agitators like Labour councillor Ricky Jones, who incited a call to “cut their throats” against critics of mass migration, yet ultimately ended up with nothing more than a slap on the wrist.

Jones faced no custody while Connolly rotted, her appeal dismissed despite widespread outrage.

Edie Connolly’s school block is another instant of the human cost of Britain’s “speech gulag,” where 10,000 were arrested last year for “offensive” online content under the Communications Act and Online Safety Act.

Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

Vaccine stocks slumped Monday after an explosive memo from FDA vaccine chief Vinay Prasad surfaced late Friday, signaling the agency is preparing to roll out tough restrictions on new vaccines for children. Prasad described a “profound revelation” linking Covid shots to at least ten deaths in children. 

By late morning, Vaccine makers dropped on the memo: Moderna -6%, BioNTech -4.3%, Novavax -4%, Vaxcyte -6.6%.

“This is a profound revelation,” Prasad wrote in the memo. “For the first time, the US FDA will acknowledge that COVID-19 vaccines have killed American children.”

He added, “It is horrifying to consider that the US vaccine regulation, including our actions, may have harmed more children than we saved. This requires humility and introspection.”

Wall Street analysts weighed in on the memo, and all agreed it introduces a new regulatory overhang for vaccine stocks.

Here’s what the research desks told clients:

William Blair, Myles R. Minter (rates the MRNA market perform)

• “Our interpretation of the memo is that CBER will focus its efforts on the younger 12- to 24-year-old male population for newly approved Covid-19 vaccines where the myocarditis risk is highest”

• If new regulatory restrictions were to be implemented in the higher myocarditis risk population, analysts see further headwinds toward Moderna’s declining Covid-19 franchise “alongside further negative sentiment that this memo and subsequent actions may generate”

• Analyst says Pfizer, BioNTech, Novavax and Sanofi could also be impacted

• “The memo also indicates several upcoming reforms to the CBER vaccine regulatory pathway, most notably the “demand” for pre- market randomized trials assessing clinical endpoints, not just immunogenicity, for most new vaccine products”

Mizuho, Salim Syed (rates PCVX outperform)

• Says the memo notes “pneumonia vaccine makers will have to show their products reduce pneumonia (at least in the post- market setting), and not merely generate antibody titers”

• However, “what investors are missing here is this is already in-line with the current standard” and poses no material change to Vaxcyte

Cantor, Carter Gould (rates PCVX overweight)

• Says not surprised to see selloff in PCVX shares “on the back of the return of perceived regulatory risk after a period of relative calm, particularly with key data weighted to late 2026”

• However, analyst  says there wasn’t much in the actual memo language on pneumococcal vaccines (PCVs) that’s concerning

• Reminds investors that “this all needs to continue to be viewed in the context of the likely timelines for VAX-31 adult and infants efforts against the backdrop of the time remaining in the current administration’s term”

• “We appreciate that there’s plenty within the memo that’s controversial or worrisome regarding Covid-19 vaccine policy, but the actual language on PCVs shows little evolution vs. prior guidance”

Leerink Partners, Mani Foroohar (rates MRNA underperform)

• Says the memo’s inflammatory tone highlights how agency policy/communications continue to contribute to vaccine skepticism and US vaccination rate decline

• “We view this as a continued negative for mRNA vaccine manufacturers in our coverage– especially as it relates to Moderna’s recently updated short-to-mid-term revenue guidance”

The memo comes months after the Trump administration signaled it would link Covid shots to children’s deaths. Remember, anyone who questioned the vaccines in the early days of the pandemic was demonized by Democrats and “trust the science” regime, which unleashed big-tech and state-sponsored censorship cartel against anyone asking questions.

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

An American retail worker earns 51.6 percent less than the amount required to afford a typical rental apartment, real estate brokerage Redfin said in a statement released on Nov. 26.

“The typical retail worker in America earns $34,436 per year,” the company said.

“A renter would need to earn $71,172 to afford the typical apartment, which costs $1,779 per month.”

This signifies a shortfall of $36,736 needed to afford an apartment, even though overall affordability has improved slightly in recent years.

In Cleveland, a typical retail worker earns 32.9 percent less than needed to afford a residence, the smallest shortfall among 40 metropolitan areas analyzed by the brokerage. This was followed by St. Louis, San Antonio, Kansas City, and Milwaukee. These places have some of the lowest rents in the country.

In contrast, the shortfall was highest in New York, where a retail worker earned 71 percent less. This was followed by Boston, San Jose, Miami, and San Diego. These locations rank among the most expensive rental locations.

Besides the rent struggle, the U.S. retail sector is also seeing large layoffs.

Retailers have announced 88,664 job cuts through October this year, a 145 percent jump compared to the same period last year, according to a Nov. 6 report by outplacement company Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

Incomes and Rent Growth

“As the cost of living has increased, so have the sacrifices renters must make to afford a place to live,” Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather said.

However, “the good news is rents are no longer rising as fast as they were during the pandemic, so rental affordability has actually improved slightly in recent years,” Fairweather added.

The average rent in a primary city residence grew by almost 3.4 percent between September 2024 and 2025, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

A Nov. 19 report from real estate marketplace Zillow noted that U.S. incomes grew faster than asking rents this year amid a general slowdown in rent growth.

“Affordability is improving most significantly in markets where rents have fallen from year-ago levels, including Austin (where the typical asking rent is down 3.1 percent annually), Denver (-2.1 percent), San Antonio (-0.8 percent), and Phoenix (-0.7 percent),” the report said.

“Though incomes have understandably outpaced rents in markets where rent growth has turned negative, affordability improvements have even reached metros where rent growth remains strong.”

A monthly rental budget of $2,000 will net different types of properties based on the region, according to a Nov. 10 report from online rental marketplace Apartments.

“Renters in smaller cities like Memphis, Buffalo, and Indianapolis can afford three-bedroom apartments within a $2,000 budget, while in big cities like Boston, Los Angeles, and Seattle, that same budget often only covers a studio,” it said.

Meanwhile, there have been proposals to freeze the amount that can be charged on rental properties.

Zohran Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist who won the New York City mayoral race this month, proposed a rent freeze during his campaign. Washington state, Oregon, and California have already implemented statewide rent control.

Supporters of rent-freeze policies argue that such measures are required to ease the burden on American families. However, critics warn that pursuing these policies could deter investment in the rental market, further exacerbating the issue in the long run.

A survey of The Epoch Times readers conducted on Oct. 29 found that most opposed rent-freeze measures and advocated pursuing market solutions.

Nearly 40 percent suggested that builders cut costs to reduce the housing shortage, which could then bring down rents.