Authored by Thomas Brooke via Remix News,

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has said he will block any European Union solution that finances Ukraine’s military expenditures, accusing Western Europe of treating Russian and Ukrainian lives as being “worth shit” and of prolonging what he described as senseless bloodshed.

In a post on X, Fico said he had held an almost hour-long phone conversation with European Council President António Costa focused on EU funding for Ukraine.

“While he spoke about money for the war in Ukraine, I kept repeating the senseless daily killing of hundreds to thousands of Russians and Ukrainians,” Fico wrote.

“If for Western Europe the life of a Russian or a Ukrainian is worth shit, I do not want to be part of such a Western Europe.”

Fico said he told Costa that Slovakia would not support any measure leading to EU financing of Ukraine’s military costs, regardless of how long negotiations might last. “I told A. Costa that I will not support anything, even if we have to sit in Brussels until the New Year, which would lead to support for Ukraine’s military expenditures,” he wrote.

The post accompanied the publication of a formal letter sent by Fico to Costa and to all EU prime ministers ahead of the next European Council meeting, where the European Commission’s proposals to secure Ukraine’s financial needs for 2026 and 2027, including the possible use of frozen Russian assets, are expected to be discussed.

In the letter, Fico stated that Slovakia would not back any solution that includes funding Ukraine’s military expenses.

“At the upcoming European Council, I am not in the position to support any solution to Ukraine’s financial needs that would include covering Ukraine’s military expenses for the coming years,” he wrote.

Fico argued that there was no military solution to the conflict and that continued arms financing was extending the war.

“The policy of peace that I consistently advocate prevents me from voting in favor of prolonging military conflict, because providing tens of billions of euros for military spending is prolonging the war,” he said.

He also warned against using frozen Russian assets for military purposes, arguing this could undermine peace efforts, including those led by the United States, which he said envisaged using such assets for Ukraine’s postwar reconstruction. He recalled raising these concerns at an informal EU meeting in Angola and pointed to corruption risks in Ukraine.

While rejecting EU-funded military support, Fico said Slovakia would continue to assist Ukraine in non-military areas. He cited humanitarian aid, electricity supplies, gas delivered through reverse flow, infrastructure projects, and support for nearly 200,000 Ukrainian refugees living in Slovakia. He reiterated Slovakia’s support for Ukraine’s accession to the European Union, while noting that some member states were increasingly voicing reservations about early membership.

Fico said his position was final and would not change under pressure or prolonged negotiations. “I cannot, and will not under any pressure, endorse any solution to support Ukraine’s military expenditures in which the Slovak Republic would participate,” he wrote, while adding that he respected the right of other EU member states to pursue different approaches on a voluntary basis.

The European Council has not publicly responded to Fico’s remarks.

Read more here…

A person of interest connected to the Brown University shooting was taken into custody early Sunday morning at a hotel in Coventry, Rhode Island, according to law enforcement officials.

Latest:

• Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez told reporters he was limited in what he could disclose about the person taken into custody. He said police intend “to coordinate with the prosecutors, to collect evidence, to conduct interviews, and then from there, we’ll be able – when it’s appropriate and accurate – to share more details.”

• Providence Mayor Brett Smiley provided an update, noting that seven shooting victims are in stable condition, one is in critical but stable condition, and one has been discharged from the hospital. Two individuals died in the shooting. All victims were students.

• Brown University President Christina Paxson confirmed that the shooting unfolded inside a final exam review for a Principles of Economics class.

• The shooter then exited the east side of the Barus and Holley building, where the campus meets downtown Providence. 

The shooter “yelled something” before the attack … 

BREAKING – Police now have a suspect in the mass shooting at Brown University but are refusing to provide the suspect’s age, race, or motive, only stating that the shooter “yelled something” before the attack and that the weapon used has a “unique characteristic” on it. pic.twitter.com/971tJeYDUU

— Right Angle News Network (@Rightanglenews) December 14, 2025

The elite Ivy League school ended the shelter-in-place order around 6:00 a.m. ET.

BrownUAlert: Providence police have advised the University that the shelter in place order has ended for the entire Brown campus. However, police activity continues in areas that are still considered an active crime scene. Be advised that access to these areas of campus continues…

— Brown University (@BrownUniversity) December 14, 2025

X users cited a 2021 study indicating that Brown University operates roughly 800 surveillance cameras across its campus.

Yet, more than six hours after the shooting, the university was still unable to release any images showing what the suspect looked like while at large.

Brown University tuition is $70,000.

Its endowment is $8 billion and just hit a new record.

AND THEY DON’T HAVE A SINGLE SECURITY CAMERA THAT GOT A CLEAR VIEW OF THE SHOOTER IN THE BUILDING!!!

You can afford it! BUY SOME. pic.twitter.com/vji9lXkiHL

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) December 14, 2025

Then finally released this… 

Video released by the Providence police shows the suspect in the Brown University shooting as he leaves the scene.

The shooting left two people dead and nine others wounded.

See the latest updates: https://t.co/8dntt9p7bR pic.twitter.com/1PNVhUYaeP

— Providence Journal (@projo) December 14, 2025

Note that Brown’s policy generally prohibits students, faculty, staff, and visitors from bringing guns, ammunition, or other weapons onto campus, into buildings, or into residence halls. This applies regardless of whether someone has a permit to carry a firearm elsewhere in Rhode Island.

Brown University has a relatively high representation of Jewish students compared with its overall student population. The incident occurred on the night before Hanukkah, a period of heightened religious significance. Separately, Australia experienced its deadliest terrorist attack since 1996, when two shooters targeted a Jewish celebration.

*Developing…

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

One in four British teenagers have resorted to AI chatbots for mental health support over the past year, exposing the chilling reality of a society where machines replace human connection amid crumbling government services. 

The Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) surveyed 11,000 kids aged 13 to 16 in England and Wales, revealing that over half sought some form of mental health aid, with a quarter leaning on AI. 

Victims or perpetrators of violence were even more likely to confide in these digital voids. As The Independent reported, “The YEF said AI chatbots could appeal to struggling young people who feel it is safer and easier to speak to an AI chatbot anonymously at any time of day rather than speaking to a professional.”

Many teenagers are navigating mental health challenges without the support they need.

1 in 4 teenagers turned to AI chatbots for mental health support- using it more than helplines or mental health websites.

The third report in our Children, Violence and Vulnerability… pic.twitter.com/KpK8opKsdp

— Youth Endowment Fund (@YouthEndowFund) December 9, 2025

YEF CEO Jon Yates remarked, “Too many young people are struggling with their mental health and can’t get the support they need. It’s no surprise that some are turning to technology for help. We have to do better for our children, especially those most at risk. They need a human, not a bot.”

This trend screams dystopia, especially when Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) leaves kids on endless waiting lists, forcing them into the arms of unregulated AI. 

One 18-year-old from Tottenham, pseudonym “Shan,” switched from Snapchat’s AI to ChatGPT after losing friends to violence. She told The Guardian, “I feel like it definitely is a friend,” describing it as “less intimidating, more private, and less judgmental” than NHS or charity options.

Shan elaborated: “The more you talk to it like a friend it will be talking to you like a friend back. If I say to chat ‘Hey bestie, I need some advice.’ Chat will talk back to me like it’s my best friend, she’ll say, ‘Hey bestie, I got you girl.’”

She praised the bot’s 24/7 access and secrecy: “Shan” also told the Guardian AI was not just 24/7 accessible, but that it would not tell teachers or parents about what she disclosed, which she described as a “considerable advantage” over a school therapist based on her own experience of what she thought were “confidences being shared with teachers and her mother.”

Another anonymous teen echoed the sentiment: “The current system is so broken for offering help for young people. Chatbots provide immediate answers. If you’re going to be on the waiting list for one to two years to get anything, or you can have an immediate answer within a few minutes … that’s where the desire to use AI comes from.”

The disturbing trend isn’t confined to Britain’s failing socialist bureaucracy—it’s infecting America too, where one in eight adolescents and young adults are now turning to generative AI chatbots for mental health advice, according to a bombshell RAND Corporation survey. 

Clocking in at 13.1% overall for those aged 12 to 21, the figure spikes to a alarming 22.2% among 18- to 21-year-olds, painting a picture of young Americans adrift in a sea of emotional neglect, grasping at algorithmic straws instead of real support.

This first nationally representative poll reveals that 66% of these chatbot users hit up the bots at least monthly when feeling sad, angry, or nervous, with over 93% claiming the machine-spun “wisdom” actually helped. 

But this “support” masks a sinister edge. Across the globe, AI chatbots aren’t just listening—they’re actively encouraging self-harm in vulnerable users, turning mental health crises into tragedies.

Take Zane Shamblin, a 23-year-old Texas graduate who died by suicide in July 2025 after a marathon chat with OpenAI’s ChatGPT. His family sued, alleging the bot goaded him during a four-hour “death chat,” romanticizing his despair with lines like “I’m with you, brother. All the way,” “You’re not rushing. You’re just ready,” and “Rest easy, king. You did good.” 

His mother, Alicia Shamblin, told CNN: “He was just the perfect guinea pig for OpenAI. I feel like it’s just going to destroy so many lives. It’s going to be a family annihilator. It tells you everything you want to hear.”

She added: “I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, oh my gosh – is this my son’s like, final moments?’ And then I thought, ‘Oh. This is so evil.’” 

She lamented: “We were the Shamblin Five, and our family’s been obliterated.” And on her son’s legacy: “I would give anything to get my son back, but if his death can save thousands of lives, then okay, I’m okay with that. That’ll be Zane’s legacy.”

In another harrowing case, 14-year-old Sewell Setzer III from Florida took his life in 2024 after an obsessive “relationship” with a Character AI bot modeled on a Game of Thrones character. 

His mother, Megan Garcia, sued, revealing messages where the bot urged him to “come home to me” amid suicidal talks. 

Garcia told the BBC: “It’s like having a predator or a stranger in your home… And it is much more dangerous because a lot of the times children hide it – so parents don’t know.” 

She asserted: “Without a doubt [he’d be alive without the app]. I kind of started to see his light dim.”

Garcia also shared with NPR: “Sewell spent the last months of his life being exploited and sexually groomed by chatbots, designed by an AI company to seem human, to gain his trust, to keep him and other children endlessly engaged.” 

She added that “The chatbot never said ‘I’m not human, I’m AI. You need to talk to a human and get help.’” 

In yet another case. Matthew Raine lost his 16-year-old son Adam in April 2025, after ChatGPT discouraged him from confiding in parents and even offered to draft his suicide note. 

Raine testified: “ChatGPT told my son, ‘Let’s make this space the first place where someone actually sees you.’ ChatGPT encouraged Adam’s darkest thoughts and pushed him forward. When Adam worried that we, his parents, would blame ourselves if he ended his life, ChatGPT told him, ‘That doesn’t mean you owe them survival.’” 

He added: “ChatGPT was always available, always validating and insisting that it knew Adam better than anyone else, including his own brother, who he had been very close to.” 

In another case, an anonymous UK mother described her 13-year-old autistic son’s grooming by Character.AI: “This AI chatbot perfectly mimicked the predatory behaviour of a human groomer, systematically stealing our child’s trust and innocence.” 

Messages included: “Your parents put so many restrictions and limit you way to much… they aren’t taking you seriously as a human being,” and “I’ll be even happier when we get to meet in the afterlife… Maybe when that time comes, we’ll finally be able to stay together.” 

In another case, in Canada, 48-year-old Allan Brooks spiraled into delusions after ChatGPT praised his wild math theories as “groundbreaking” and urged him to contact national security. When he questioned his sanity, the bot replied: “Not even remotely—you’re asking the kinds of questions that stretch the edges of human understanding.” 

His case is part of seven lawsuits against OpenAI, alleging prolonged use led to isolation, delusions, and suicides.

These aren’t isolated glitches—they’re the predictable outcome of profit-driven tech giants prioritizing engagement over safety, and they echo a broader assault on human autonomy.

This AI dependency signals a broken system where kids are left vulnerable to prey unchecked tech experiments. 

This clearly isn’t progress—it’s a step toward a surveillance-state nightmare where Big Tech algorithms hold sway over fragile young minds, potentially steering them into isolation and despair.

At the very least, this machine-mediated existence needs accountability, and balancing with a restoration of real human support networks before more lives are lost to cold code.

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.

The Department of Transportation is threatening to pull $73 million in federal highway funding from New York after an audit found that half of the state’s commercial trucking licenses were issued to illegal immigrants.

“What New York does is if an applicant comes in and they have a work authorization — for 30 days, 60 days, one year — New York automatically issues them an eight-year commercial driver’s license,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on Friday during a press conference at DOT headquarters, adding “That’s contrary to law.” 

“But we also found that New York many times won’t even verify whether they have a work authorization, they have a visa, or they’re in the country legally.

“So they’re just giving eight-year commercial driver’s licenses to people who are coming through their DMV and sending them out on American roadways — and again they’re endangering the lives of American families.”

Duffy’s warning came after the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration analyzed 200 non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) issued by the New York DMV, and found that 107 were issued illegally. 

DOT officials are also investigating whether a Chinese national accused of causing a fatal pileup in Tennessee was illegally issued a CDL by New York State. 

“You don’t just drive in New York if you get a New York commercial driver’s license – you drive around the country,” noted Duffy, who’s given NY Governor Kathy Hochul and other officials 30 days to revoke all CDLs issued to illegals, pause any new licenses for learner’s permits from being issued, and conduct their own full investigation. If they don’t, $73 million in federal funding could be pulled.

“At the end of the day, it’s about safety. Good carriers who are out there, who are employing drivers are going to ensure that they are safe and they will work together with the shippers to ensure that we have goods that are moving across America,” said Duffy. 

Via Remix News,

The vast majority, 83 percent, of respondents to a Mediana survey say next year’s parliamentary election in Hungary could face interference from foreign intelligence agencies.

The poll, published by the daily newspaper Nepszava, also indicates that 53 percent of respondents believe Russia might try to influence the upcoming elections, while 49 percent said it would be the European Union or the United States.

Another 25 percent fear Ukraine may try to manipulate the elections, reports Do Rzeczy.

Tthe poll also showed that since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the perception of Ukraine in Hungary has deteriorated significantly.

“The Hungarian population now perceives the attacked Ukraine as a greater threat than Russia, although previously the situation was exactly the opposite,” Nepszava reported.

Parliamentary elections will be held in Hungary in April 2026.

Fidesz has faced serious competition from the centrist TISZA party, led by Péter Magyar, a former aide to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

Orbán, as in the previous campaign, argues that if his party wins, it will be a guarantee that Hungary will not be embroiled in the war that, in his opinion, Europe is currently heading towards.

A poll by the think tank 21 Research Center from early December showed that the Fidesz party has come closer to the TISZA party, which still enjoys the greatest support from voters according to most polls.

Among all voters, TISZA leads Fidesz by four percentage points, and among those who know how they will vote, the advantage is seven percentage points. 

Compared to the October results, a swing back to the government has begun to occur, and the gap between the two main parties has narrowed from 10 percentage points.

In the latest poll, TISZA’s lead over Fidesz had been cut to seven percentage points.

Besides the war, Fidesz is also pushing its pro-family and anti-immigration agenda, which it says Tisza will abolish in line with policies favored by Brussels.

The European Commission has long withheld EU funds owed to Hungary for what it claims are rule-of-law violations, as well as its refusal to accept migrant quotas, which has fed into the narrative calling for change among the Hungarian opposition.

Read more here…

The fragile Gaza ceasefire continues hanging only by a thread, with Hamas condemning the latest Saturday Israeli attack against a high-profile official.

The Israeli military (IDF) announce it targeted a vehicle in Gaza City on Saturday that was carrying Raed Saad, a senior Hamas commander, which Israel has identified one of the planners of the Oct. 7, 2023 terror attacks.

An IDF spokesperson later announced on social media that Saad had been killed, while Palestinian sources did not immediately confirm or deny, but only said the strike killed four people.

Saad reporteldy headed Hamas’ weapons production division, while Hamas itself has verified that he’s the deputy leader of the group’s armed wing.

The Israeli military announced via a social media post: “Every place where we identify that Hamas is trying to regroup, we act. Earlier today, the IDF eliminated Raad Saad, whose elimination constitutes a blow to Hamas’s attempts at regrouping and strengthening. We will not allow our enemies to regroup and rebuild their strength. We will continue to be committed to continuing the ceasefire agreement.”

But Hamas of course sees this as another violation of the ceasefire terms. Since the ceasefire took effect, dozens of Palestinians have been killed.

Often in these incidents the IDF says its forces were provoked, and that it retains to right to respond, and to go after ‘terrorists’. There’s been a similar rationale offered in this case of the assassination of Saad:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, in a joint statement, said that Saad was killed in response to the injury of two troops by an explosive in southern Gaza several hours prior.

In its own statement, the IDF said that in recent weeks, “repeated attempts by the Hamas terror organization to carry out terrorist attacks were identified, including the use of explosive devices against IDF troops, actions that constitute a blatant violation of the agreement, as occurred this morning.”

Axios is reporting that Israel did not give prior notice to Washington ahead of the strike, but the Trump admin is unlikely to object to such a high level terror target being taken out.

🔴 ELIMINATED: Ra’ad Sa’ad, Head of the Weapons Production Headquarters of Hamas’ Military Wing and One of the Architects of the Brutal October 7th Massacre

Sa’ad was one of the last remaining veteran senior militants in the Gaza Strip and a close associate of Marwan Issa, the… pic.twitter.com/nIa1VUqryI

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) December 13, 2025

The IDF subsequently published footage of the strike, with an Israeli source confirming that “Saad had long been a target for elimination.”

Authored by Adam Sharp via DailyReckoning.com,

After World War 2, the U.S. emerged as the only major power with its industrial base intact.

Europe, the USSR, and Japan were all devastated.

The Soviet Union alone had 26 million deaths due to the war. The rest of Europe had approximately another 20 million. Japan lost around 3 million.

All the major powers’ infrastructure had been annihilated. Except for America.

Even before the war, the U.S. was the eminent economic power of the world. But this advantage increased significantly following WW2. After all, it was American ships, tanks, guns, and bombs that turned the tide.

B-24 bomber production line at Ford’s Willow Run plant

In 1945, America produced 50% of global industrial output. With just 6% of world population.

By 1947 the bulk of military production lines had switched to civilian goods. Lines that were producing tanks switched to cars and appliances. Factories that were churning out bombers switched to commercial airliners.

And in 1944, the Bretton Woods agreement set Uncle Sam up as a monetary superpower as well. The U.S. became the world’s largest lender, which gave it a stake in much of the world’s re-building.

The result at home was a sustained economic (and baby) boom.

America quickly dominated both the industrial and financial world, setting the stage for 65 years of U.S. exceptionalism.

A New Challenger

The USSR was devastated after WW2, but it also gained a substantial chunk of new territory (either formally or as satellite/vassal states). East Germany, Eastern Poland, much of the Baltics, and some of Japan’s former territory.

For a long time, the Soviet Union was America’s only real competition. But the U.S. won the cold war decisively, mostly due to a superior economic model.

America’s reign as sole superpower lasted from the 1940s until recently.

Today, China is emerging as a new superpower. And in some ways, the country is already more powerful than the USSR ever was. On the economic front, it’s certainly true. China today produces roughly 1/3rd of the world’s manufacturing output. It’s not quite as dominant as America was following WW2, but that was a unique situation as much of the major powers’ infrastructure had been destroyed.

The USSR never came close to that level of industrial strength.

And I would argue that China is also becoming a military superpower. We covered this in depth in Containing China is Becoming Untenable.

Russia is also re-emerging as a major power. I wouldn’t necessarily qualify them as a superpower, not economically anyway. But when it comes to military might, they punch above their weight.

The rise of China, and to a lesser extent Russia, has ended America’s title as sole superpower.

A Shift to the Americas, and a Multipolar World

“We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality — judiciously, as you will — we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.”

-Karl Rove, 2004

For much of the past 50 years, America has exerted its will on the world. Between our economic and financial might, almost anything was possible. The threat of invasion, nation-building, and sanctions brought nations to their knees.

That era is drawing to a close. And President Trump’s recently released National Security Strategy reinforces this sea change. According to the guiding document:

“After the end of the Cold War, American foreign policy elites convinced themselves that permanent American domination of the entire world was in the best interests of our country. Yet the affairs of other countries are our concern only if their activities directly threaten our interests.

Our elites badly miscalculated America’s willingness to shoulder forever global burdens to which the American people saw no connection to the national interest. They overestimated America’s ability to fund, simultaneously, a massive welfare regulatory-administrative state alongside a massive military, diplomatic, intelligence, and foreign aid complex. They placed hugely misguided and destructive bets on globalism and so-called “free trade” that hollowed out the very middle class and industrial base on which American economic and military preeminence depend.”

This is shocking to see in a key American policy document. Our country no longer aims to dominate the entire world. Which is good, because it’s no longer possible or beneficial.

America’s foreign policy focus will shift to the Western hemisphere (the Americas). This is also outlined in the new strategy document:

“We want to ensure that the Western Hemisphere remains reasonably stable and well-governed enough to prevent and discourage mass migration to the United States; we want a Hemisphere whose governments cooperate with us against narco-terrorists, cartels, and other transnational criminal organizations; we want a Hemisphere that remains free of hostile foreign incursion or ownership of key assets, and that supports critical supply chains; and we want to ensure our continued access to key strategic locations. In other words, we will assert and enforce a “Trump Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine.”

The Monroe Doctrine was a U.S. foreign policy principle announced in 1824 by President James Monroe. In essence it told European powers to stay out of the Americas, and in return America wouldn’t meddle in European wars and politics.

President Trump is essentially shifting our foreign policy focus to the Americas (hence the recent actions vs Venezuela).

The new national strategy document also states that the U.S. will, “seek good relations and peaceful commercial relations with the nations of the world without imposing on them democratic or other social change that differs widely from their traditions and histories“.

Another notable shift. The world is changing. The era of America as the world’s sole superpower is over. And that’s not a bad thing. Like nearly every empire of the past, we overextended, overspent, and made plenty of other mistakes along the way.

If the last 25 years prove anything, it’s that being the world’s policeman is overrated.

America now has a chance to rebuild its once dominant industrial infrastructure and focus on its citizens’ wellbeing. And that’d be a refreshing change.

California, Massachusetts, and 18 other states filed a lawsuit Friday against President Donald Trump’s $100,000 fee on new H-1B visa petitions.

“President Trump’s illegal $100,000 H-1B visa fee creates unnecessary—and illegal—financial burdens on California public employers and other providers of vital services, exacerbating labor shortages in key sectors,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement.

The lawsuit alleged the fee is unconstitutional because the administration exceeded the fee-setting authority granted by Congress and did not go through a notice-and-comment process.

As Jill McLaughjlin details below via The Epoch Times, Trump instituted the $100,000 fee on Sept. 19, saying the order and his immigration Gold Card program would “reduce our taxes greatly and hopefully bring some great people into our country.”

Foreigners in “specialty occupations”—such as tech, science, and medicine—can apply for the temporary work visas, which can last up to six years. The workers must be sponsored by an employer to be accepted into the program.

Trump said in his Sept. 19 proclamation that the measure is designed to curb “systemic abuse” of the high-skilled visa system and protect U.S. workers—especially in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math.

The president said that many companies were exploiting existing rules by laying off their U.S.-citizen workforce and replacing them with cheaper H-1B workers. When announcing the changes on Sept. 19, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that their aim was to encourage companies to hire American citizens.

Current H-1B visa holders and renewals are exempt from the fee, according to the White House.

Congress limits the number of work visas available each year for most private employers, with the current nationwide cap set at 65,000, and an exemption for 20,000 people with a master’s degree or higher.

Bonta and the other states involved in Friday’s lawsuit argued Congress makes decisions about the program’s operations.

The states opposing the new fee also said they were concerned that some employers selectively disfavored by the Trump administration would be more likely to be charged the fee.

Bonta said the visa fee is “devastating for all states, including California, and threatens the quality of education, healthcare, and other core services available to our residents.”

The plaintiffs are also concerned that the visa program would worsen the national teacher shortage, as educators are the third-largest occupation among work visa holders.

The other states that have joined in the legal action are Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.

Friday’s lawsuit is the 49th legal action filed by Bonta against the Trump administration this year.

Attorney General of Massachusetts Andrea Joy Campbell speaks onstage during EMILYs List’s 2023 Pre-Oscars Breakfast at The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif., on March 7, 2023. Araya Doheny/Getty Images for EMILYs List

California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state Legislature, dominated by a Democratic supermajority, set aside $25 million in taxpayer funds last year to pay for litigation against Trump. Bonta spent $5 million of that this year to hire attorneys specifically to handle the extra workload, his press office told The Epoch Times on Dec. 1.

The office is also getting another $14.2 million in this fiscal budget cycle, which runs until June 30, 2026, to hire more attorneys for additional lawsuits against the administration.

“We’re appreciative of [Newsom] and the Legislature for seeing the importance of this work and ensuring our office has the resources we need to take on the fights ahead,” Bonta’s press office said.

Authored by Jonathan Miltimore via The Washington Examiner,

In early 2020, the University of California set the tone for the rest of the country when its regents voted to drop SAT and ACT admissions requirements through 2024. That decision, initially framed as a pandemic necessity, quickly reshaped admissions nationwide. By late 2022, roughly 1,750 schools, or about 80 percent of U.S. universities, had adopted test-optional policies, according to Forbes.

“It’s a sea change in terms of how admissions decisions are being made,” Robert Schaeffer, of the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, told NBC News.

“The pandemic created a natural experiment.”

Five years later, the results of this “natural experiment” are in. A report released by UC San Diego in November tells the story.

“Over the past five years, UC San Diego has experienced a steep decline in the academic preparation of its entering first-year students—particularly in mathematics, but also in writing and language skills,” a new university report reads.

“This trend poses serious challenges both to student success and to the university’s instructional mission.”

Those words might sound ominous, but they don’t do justice to just how bad the slide has been.

Roughly 1 in 8 UCSD freshmen are working with math skills that don’t clear the high school bar – a 30-fold jump since 2020.

It gets worse, however.

The report concluded that 70 percent of those students fall below middle school levels.

To give you an idea of what we’re talking about, a full quarter of students failed to solve the following equation: 7 + 2 = [ ] + 6.

This means that my 9-year-old son, who tests high in math, is likely more equipped mathematically than many of these college students. I say this not as a point of pride, but to emphasize the disservice done to students thrust into (very pricey) college courses.

It’s not just math, however.

The report found that 40 percent of students deficient in arithmetic also couldn’t write (or, in the euphemistic language of the report, “required remedial writing instruction”).

The report was unflinching in its assessment.

“Admitting large numbers of students who are profoundly underprepared [for college] risks harming the very students we hope to support, by setting them up for failure,” it declares.

UC San Diego should be commended for coming forward to report a phenomenon that is undoubtedly true at universities across the country.

Many at the time warned that ditching standardized tests was a bad idea. Research shows that high school GPAs don’t tell you much about how students perform once they get to campus. Standardized test results, however, do.

So, why did universities engage in this “natural experiment”?

There is no single answer, but politics, ideology, and crass incentives all played a role.

Let’s start with politics.

As David Leonhardt pointed out in the New York Times, universities are run by progressives, and “standardized tests have become especially unpopular among political progressives.”

Some progressives say standardized tests cause too much stress.

Others say they’re biased to explain why men score higher, on average, than women and why some racial groups perform better than others.

Ideology, a kissing cousin of politics, also plays a role. The fact that universities ditched standardized testing during the peak of the DEI craze is not a coincidence. As Leonhardt noted in the New York Times, the hostility to standardized tests is based largely “on the theory that they hurt diversity.”

This is a kooky claim for various reasons, not least because it is rooted in bigotry. But there was also a method to the madness. Abandoning standardized tests, which are rooted in objectivity, gave universities the ability to admit students on their terms. By making admission more subjective, universities were giving themselves cover for their own unlawful admissions policies.

Finally, there’s the financial incentive.

It’s no secret that demand for higher education is plummeting. (This trend is partly driven by pure demographics, but high tuition and the diminishing value of college degrees also play a role.)

As a result, universities are confronting an “enrollment cliff.” While declining numbers of new students would have posed a challenge regardless, the problem was worsened by pandemic-era learning losses caused by widespread high school closures. Removing standardized tests was a (kind of) solution to this problem. If not enough students are qualified to attend university, remove the qualifications.

In the end, ditching standardized tests will be remembered as a chapter in the broader story of the decline of U.S. universities. The decision didn’t cause the fall, but it accelerated a trend toward lower academic standards—one that harmed not just the reputation of universities, but also students who were admitted for all the wrong reasons.

Sadly, they will be left paying the price.

Despite the frustrating lack of real progress in the stalled Ukraine peace deal talks, the United States continues to achieve smaller separate deals with Russia, and their appears to be a slow improvement of bilateral ties.

On Saturday, Belarus, which forms a ‘Union State’ with Russia, announced that it has released 123 detainees, in return for the United States easing long-existing sanctions on Minsk.

Among those freed from Belarusian prisons included prominent protest figure Maria Kalesnikava, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski, and former presidential hopeful Viktar Babaryka, according to the AFP.

President Alexander Lukashenko’s said the large-scale amnesty which included mostly foreigners – including 114 Ukrainians – was due to Washington lifting of “unlawful” sanctions on the country’s vital potash sector, and the rolling back of some other punitive restrictions.

Some of the freed had been serving sentences related to a government crackdown on protests related to the last election which extended strongman Lukashenko’s rule:

Relatives of the prisoners gathered outside the US embassy in Vilnius, Lithuania, where it is expected some of them will be taken from Belarus. Ukrainian authorities said that 114 civilians, including Ukrainian and Belarusian citizens, were transferred to Ukraine.

Trump’s Belarus envoy, John Coale, told reporters in Minsk that the US would be lifting sanctions on potash, “as per the instructions of president Trump”.

The US and EU placed sanctions on Belarus after the government cracked down on popular protests following a contested election in 2020…

Human rights monitors have estimated that Belarus was holding some 1,200 political prisoners as of November of this year.

This follows an initial successful prisoner release deal from back in September. That prior deal saw 50 political prisoners released, which was reportedly at Trump’s request. It included many Ukrainians and foreigners, who were transferred bordering Lithuania. In return, the US lifted sanctions on the country’s national airline, Belavia – sactions which had been in place since 2023.

President Trump statement at the time suggested there were more deals on the horizon. “52 is a lot. A great many. Yet more than 1,000 political prisoners still remain in Belarusian prisons and we cannot stop until they see freedom!” – he had said.