Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said any attempt to reopen the GENIUS Act would cross a “red line,” accusing banks of using political pressure to block competition from stablecoins and fintech platforms.
In a Sunday post on X, Armstrong said he was “impressed” banks could lobby Congress so openly without backlash, adding that Coinbase would continue pushing back on efforts to revise the law.
“We won’t let anyone reopen GENIUS,” he wrote.
“My prediction is the banks will actually flip and be lobbying FOR the ability to pay interest and yield on stablecoins in a few years, once they realize how big the opportunity is for them. So it’s 100% wasted effort on their part (in addition to being unethical),” Armstrong added.
The GENIUS Act, passed after months of negotiations, bars stablecoin issuers from paying interest directly but allows platforms and third parties to offer rewards.
Coinbase CEO warning against reopening the GENIUS Act. Source: Brian Armstrong
Bank lobbying targets stablecoin “rewards”
Armstrong’s comments came in response to a post by Max Avery, a board member and business development executive at Digital Ascension Group, who outlined why parts of the banking sector are pushing lawmakers to revisit the legislation.
Avery argued that proposed amendments would go beyond banning direct interest payments by stablecoin issuers and instead restrict “rewards” more broadly, cutting off indirect yield-sharing mechanisms offered by platforms and third parties.
Avery pointed out that while banks currently earn around 4% on reserves parked at the Federal Reserve, consumers often receive close to zero on traditional savings accounts. Stablecoin platforms, he said, threaten that model by offering to share some of that yield with users.
“They’re calling it a ‘safety concern.’ They’re worried about ‘community bank deposits,’” he wrote, adding that independent research “shows zero evidence of disproportionate deposit outflows from community banks.”
US lawmakers propose tax relief for stablecoin payments
Last week, US lawmakers unveiled a discussion draft aimed at reducing the tax burden on everyday crypto users by exempting small stablecoin transactions from capital gains taxes. The proposal, introduced by Representatives Max Miller and Steven Horsford, would allow payments of up to $200 in regulated, dollar-pegged stablecoins to avoid gain or loss recognition.
Beyond payments, the bill targets taxation issues around staking and mining by allowing taxpayers to defer income recognition on rewards for up to five years.
Just when you thought Gavin Newsom couldn’t get any more cringe, he drops a video with his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom wishing Californians a “joyful Kwanzaa” – a made-up holiday that’s about as authentic as his political posturing.
In the awkward clip posted to his official X account, Newsom and his wife deliver a rehearsed message stating “As families come together to light the kinara, we wish you all a joyful Kwanzaa.”
Newsom further referenced “the seven principles of Kwanzaa, in particular community, purpose, and unity, guide our way toward a better future.”
As families come together to light the kinara, Jen and I wish all those celebrating a joyful Kwanzaa.
May the seven principles of Kwanzaa, in particular community, purpose, and unity, guide our way toward a better future.
Everything about this is focus-grouped and phony. It’s the kind of performative nonsense that turns stomachs and highlights how out-of-touch Democrat leaders remain, even after their electoral drubbing.
Who exactly is Newsom trying to impress here? The video is a blatant pander to an almost nonexistent crowd. The tiny sliver of ultra-woke activists who still cling to outdated identity politics? In reality, most Americans – including the vast majority of African Americans – don’t celebrate Kwanzaa, given that it is an artificial construct rather than a genuine tradition.
What the Hell Is Kwanzaa, Anyway? no, it isn’t some ancient African tradition passed down through generations. It was invented in 1966 by Maulana Karenga, a black separatist and activist, in the wake of the Watts riots. Karenga, whose real name was Ronald McKinley Everett, created it as a non-Christian alternative to Christmas, drawing loosely from various African harvest festivals.
But here’s the kicker: Karenga was later convicted in 1971 of felony assault and false imprisonment for torturing two women in his organization. He served time in prison, yet his fabricated holiday lives on as a symbol of cultural separatism.
Basically the only people actually celebrating this are east coat white ultra woke ‘progressives’ attempting to tick every diversity checkbox possible as they virtue signal their way through life.
Newsom’s stunt reeks of desperation, especially as he eyes a 2028 presidential run. Under his watch, California grapples with skyrocketing homelessness, unchecked crime, and an exodus of residents fleeing his failed policies. Yet here he is, blathering about “unity” while his state fractures under open borders and economic mismanagement.
It’s peak ideological capture: Newsom is so ensnared by leftist dogma that he can’t resist alienating the mainstream. This from the guy who just last month urged his party to dial back the cultural extremism.
Instead of projecting normalcy, he’s amplifying fringe elements that repulse everyday voters. This disconnect only fuels the MAGA surge – Americans crave leaders who prioritise real issues like border security and economic freedom over contrived cultural gestures.
The backlash on X was swift and savage, with users calling out the pandering and fakery.
Reminder: Kwanzaa is a fake, subversive, degenerate “holiday” invented by a communist, pervert, and convicted criminal, Ronald McKinley Everett aka Maulana Ndabezitha Karenga.
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.
JPMorgan Chase has reportedly frozen bank accounts linked to two venture-backed stablecoin startups after identifying exposure to sanctioned and high-risk jurisdictions.
The accounts belonged to BlindPay and Kontigo, two stablecoin startups backed by Y Combinator that primarily operate across Latin America, according to a report by The Information. Both companies accessed JPMorgan’s banking services through Checkbook, a digital payments firm that partners with large financial institutions.
Per the report, the freezes occurred after JPMorgan flagged business activity tied to Venezuela and other locations subject to US sanctions.
A spokesperson for JPMorgan reportedly said the decision was not driven by opposition to stablecoins themselves.
“This has nothing to do with stablecoin companies,” the spokesperson told The Information.
“We bank both stablecoin issuers and stablecoin-related businesses, and we recently took a stablecoin issuer public,” the spokesperson added.
Checkbook CEO PJ Gupta reportedly told The Information that BlindPay and Kontigo were among several firms linked to a surge in chargebacks that prompted the bank to close accounts.
According to Gupta, the spike was driven by rapid customer onboarding.
“They opened the floodgates and a bunch of people came in over the internet,” he said.
The account freezes come as JPMorgan and Checkbook deepen their partnership. In November 2024, the two companies announced that Checkbook would join the J.P. Morgan Payments Partner Network, enabling corporate clients to send digital checks. Checkbook also expanded its B2B payment offerings earlier in 2024, targeting sectors such as legal services, government and banking.
As Cointelegraph reported, cryptocurrencies are becoming a core part of the economy in Venezuela as citizens turn to digital assets to shield themselves from a collapsing currency and tighter government controls.
Cointelegraph reached out to JPMorgan for comment, but had not received a response by publication.
Winklevoss accuses JPMorgan of retaliating against Gemini over criticism
In July, Gemini co-founder Tyler Winklevoss claimed JPMorgan Chase paused the crypto exchange’s re-onboarding process in response to his public criticism of the bank’s new data access policy.
Winklevoss accused the bank of engaging in anti-competitive behavior that could damage fintech and crypto firms.
Meanwhile, JPMorgan is weighing plans to offer crypto trading, including spot and derivatives products, to its institutional clients as interest grows amid a more favorable US regulatory environment.
Chevrolet’s Pro-Family Christmas Ad Reinforces Death Of Woke Marketing
Chevrolet’s new pro-family, long-form Christmas advertisement clearly reinforces that the Overton Window has shifted back toward what made America – and much of the Western world – strong in the first place: the family unit.
Credit goes to the executives at the US automaker for avoiding the kind of self-inflicted “Bud Light” moment that comes with pushing woke propaganda in the era of ‘America First.’ Fresh in many minds is how Jaguar ruined its brand by embracing tasteless, toxic identity politics.
“Chevrolet has outdone themselves once again with their new profoundly emotional, pro-family Christmas commercial. Chills from beginning to end. This is what it’s all about. Be ready to cry,” Benny Johnson wrote on X.
Chevrolet has outdone themselves once again with their new profoundly emotional, pro-family Christmas commercial.
“The message is simple. No, raising children is never easy. It’s loud. It’s messy. It’s expensive. It can be frustrating. But in the end, we wouldn’t have it any other way. Children are life’s greatest gift. Treasure every moment!” another X user said.
The message is simple.
No, raising children is never easy.
It’s loud.
It’s messy.
It’s expensive.
It can be frustrating.
But in the end, we wouldn’t have it any other way.
The Democratic Party’s nation-killing woke agenda has run its course and is no longer marketable. You might have noticed this holiday week that more and more people are continuing to break out of the left-wing censorship matrix and are saying “Merry Christmas” more than ever.
Nature is healing. Family is everything. Those seeking to undermine America from within, including left-wing dark-money funded nonprofits and the Democratic Party, are intent on destroying the family unit. At the same time, there are signs of a Christian revival as the nation reconnects with its roots.
Late last year, Volvo produced a pro-family ad by Hoyte van Hoytema, the cinematographer of Interstellar and Oppenheimer, that sent chills from beginning to end.
Volvo posted a 3 min and 46 second ad on Instagram, shot by Hoyte Van Hoytema, the cinematographer of Interstellar and Oppenheimer.
It goes against every single rule you can think about as a social lead. Length. Format. Over-produced.
Americans using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to purchase groceries may need to adjust their shopping habits in 2026 as some states will prohibit the use of SNAP funds to purchase certain “junk foods.”
Also starting next year, states will have to shoulder a larger portion of the cost of running the program. In addition, states could lose funds if their payment error rate is too high.
Here is what to know about the overhaul of America’s largest nutrition program.
Restrictions on Purchases in Some States
Eighteen states will restrict the purchase of certain foods lacking in nutritional value next year. The changes are being made under the banner of the Make America Healthy Again initiative launched by the Department of Health and Human Services. To institute the changes, the states had to submit and have approved a waiver of federal rules from the Department of Agriculture, which oversees the nutrition program.
The starting dates for the restrictions and the foods prohibited vary by state.
Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Utah, and West Virginia will implement purchase restrictions on Jan. 1, 2026. Idaho, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Colorado, Texas, Virginia, and Florida have starting dates from February to April. Arkansas, Tennessee, Hawaii, South Carolina, North Dakota, and Missouri will begin their bans between July and October.
Most of these states have removed candy, soda, and energy drinks from the list of SNAP-eligible items.
In Tennessee and Iowa, SNAP beneficiaries cannot use the funds to purchase processed foods. Tennessee defines a processed food as one that has been changed in any way from its natural state.
Prepared desserts, such as cakes and cookies, are restricted in Florida and Missouri.
In Iowa, foods that are prepared for consumption or come with eating utensils may not be purchased with SNAP funds. Cold, unpackaged foods without utensils, such as bread, fruit, or canned goods, are still permitted.
See the accompanying map to find specific start dates and any applicable restrictions for each state.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said these are “bold” and “historic” steps to reverse the chronic diseases epidemic in the United States.
“We are restoring SNAP to its true purpose—nutrition,” Rollins said in a written statement.
“With these new waivers, we are empowering states to lead, protecting our children from the dangers of highly-processed foods, and moving one step closer to the President’s promise to make America Healthy Again.”
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said, “We cannot continue a system that forces taxpayers to fund programs that make people sick and then pay a second time to treat the illnesses those very programs help create.”
These restrictions mark the first time in the program’s history that the Department of Agriculture has granted SNAP waivers.
From the early 2000s through 2024, the department consistently denied state requests to restrict specific food items under SNAP.
In 2007, the USDA issued a paper explaining its reasons for denying such waivers, arguing that “no clear standards exist for defining foods as good or bad, or healthy or not healthy.”
The first-ever approval came on May 19, when Rollins signed Nebraska’s waiver request, followed quickly by approvals for Indiana and Iowa on May 22, 2025. Since then, 15 additional states have received waivers.
Administrative Cost Sharing, Error Rates
State governments will see changes in the SNAP program next year, also.
Beginning in October 2026, states will be responsible for 75 percent of SNAP administrative costs. Currently, the states pay half the cost of operating their SNAP programs, and the federal government pays the other half.
In fiscal year 2024, total state and federal administrative costs reached $6.6 billion.
The federal government will continue to fund 100 percent of SNAP benefits, which totaled about $100 billion in 2024.
Starting in 2027, states will be financially penalized for the first time in program history for having an excessive payment error rate.
States with payment error rates higher than 6 percent during fiscal year 2026 will be required to pay between 5 percent and 15 percent of the benefits distributed, starting in October 2027.
This would apply to 40 states and the District of Columbia, based on fiscal year 2024 error rates.
Previously, errors under $56 per household were ignored. However, starting in fiscal year 2026, which began on Oct. 1, every dollar in error counts toward the state’s penalty rate.
Some SNAP changes rising from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act are already in effect.
Some Changes Already in Effect
Starting in October, the maximum allotment for a family of four in the continental United States rose to $994, up from $975.
The shelter deduction, which reduces countable income when determining SNAP eligibility, also increased, to $744 from $712.
Community engagement requirements have also changed. People aged 18 through 64 without dependents are required to work, volunteer, or receive job training for at least 80 hours per month to continue receiving benefits for more than three months in any 36-month period. The previous upper age limit was 54.
Also, refugees, asylees, parolees, and those with suspended deportation orders will generally become ineligible for SNAP benefits. That provision was scheduled to take effect in November, but a federal judge in Oregon ordered that the deadline be delayed to April 9, 2026.
Jimmy Kimmel Blasts Trump From UK, Where Free Speech No Longer Exists
On Christmas Day, Jimmy Kimmel delivered a four-minute “Alternative Christmas Message” on the United Kingdom’s Channel 4, during which he positioned himself as a beacon against authoritarianism while warning British viewers that “tyranny is booming” in the United States.
Kimmel’s rant, which aired less than two hours after King Charles III’s traditional, non-partisan Christmas speech, portrayed America’s current political climate as a cautionary tale for democratic nations everywhere.
“I do know what’s going on over here, though, and I can tell you that, from a fascism perspective, this has been a really great year,” Kimmel told the UK audience. “Tyranny is booming over here. You may have read in your colorful newspapers, my country’s president would like to shut me up because I don’t adore him in the way he likes to be adored.”
Kimmel continued, “The American government made a threat against me and the company I work for, and all of a sudden, we were off the air.”
Jimmy Kimmel went on UK TV to whine about Trump and ‘fascism’ in America:
“From a fascism perspective, this has been a really great year. Tyranny is booming over here.”
This clown is talking to a country where the government is IMPRISONING PEOPLE FOR SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS.
ABC pulled Jimmy Kimmel Live! in September after Kimmel falsely claimed that Tyler Robinson, the man who allegedly assassinated Charlie Kirk, was a MAGA supporter.
“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel claimed.
Friends and family described Robinson as a radicalized leftist, and he also had a transgender roommate who is reportedly also his lover.
“I had enough of his hatred,” Robinson told his lover in a text message. “Some hate can’t be negotiated out.”
Outrage over Kimmel’s remarks was significant, and local affiliates preempted the show amid backlash from conservative activists, advertisers, and station owners. His suspension had nothing to do with pressure from Trump or the federal government.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr debunked Kimmel’s narrative directly. “Local TV stations said, ‘I don’t want to run this Kimmel stuff, and we’re going to preempt it,'” Carr explained. “And that’s a really important moment of local TV stations standing up for their viewers and pushing back against Comcast and Disney.”
Kimmel referred to his reinstatement as a “September miracle,” crediting the decision to “millions and millions of people” who objected to the suspension. “Because so many people spoke out, we came back,” he said. He even presented his return to television as a personal and institutional victory over Trump’s efforts to muzzle criticism.
“And because so many people spoke out, we came back. Our show came back stronger than ever,” he claimed.
Stronger than ever? While he had an undeniable boost in ratings upon his return, hispost-suspension ratings declined by 74% in mere days. Kimmel did recently sign a contract extension, but it was for one year, instead of the usual multi-year contract—a sign that ABC is merely postponing his inevitable cancellation and is merely hoping to minimize the fallout of doing so.
Despite this, Kimmel portrayed himself as the victor of a nonexistent battle with the government. “We won, the President lost, and now I’m back on the air every night giving the most powerful politician on Earth a right and richly deserved bollocking.”
Kimmel warned British viewers not to assume that government efforts to silence critics only happen in distant authoritarian states. “And the reason I’m telling you this story is because maybe you’re thinking: ‘Oh, a government silencing its critics is something that happens in places like Russia, or North Korea, or LA, not the UK,'” he said. “Well, that’s what we’ve got King Donny the Eighth calling for executions. It happens fast.”
The irony was thick. While Kimmel portrayed the United States as an authoritarian country and the UK as a beacon of freedom, it’s actually the UK that has pursued aggressive speech restrictions that would shock most Americans.
British authorities have arrested citizens for social media posts and even personal text messages. Roughly 30 peopleare arrested daily in the UK for posting “offensive” things online. Kimmel lectured about the dangers of government censorship to one of the West’s most aggressive enforcers of speech codes, with police regularly investigating and prosecuting individuals for online commentary deemed offensive or threatening.
Kimmel’s Christmas message painted a picture of American authoritarianism that exists primarily in his imagination. He transformed a corporate decision driven by advertiser pressure and affiliate rebellion into a grand narrative about government persecution, all while ignoring the actual threats to free expression happening in the UK.
A Christmas Eve screed from Politico has ignited online mockery, with the outlet claiming ‘far-right’ leaders are weaponizing the holiday by emphasizing its Christian origins amid secular pressures and immigration debates.
The article spotlights Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and others for framing Christmas as a “marker of Christian civilization” being under threat. It accuses far-right parties in Italy, France, Spain, and Germany of repurposing seasonal cheer into a culture war tool, positioning themselves against a “hostile, secular left.”
Roberts highlights Meloni’s defense of traditions, quoting her past remarks: “How can my culture offend you?” in reference to nativity scenes in public spaces. The piece notes Brothers of Italy’s lavish Christmas festival, complete with Santa and ice-skating, as a “spectacle” to rally supporters.
Far-right parties are claiming the festive season as their own, recasting Christmas as a marker of Christian civilization that is under threat and positioning themselves as its last line of defense against a supposedly hostile, secular left. https://t.co/6QMMomhHHX
So called ‘experts’ like University of Surrey professor Daniele Albertazzi are cited, explaining how post-2010 Islamic terror attacks shifted the radical right to embrace “cultural Christianity” as an identity marker against perceived threats.
The piece notes how in Germany, the AfD warns of Christmas markets losing their “German character,” while in Italy, right-wing figures attack schools for scrubbing religious references from songs. Brothers of Italy MP Marta Schifone is quoted: “For us, traditions represent our roots, who we are, who we have been, and the history that made us what we are today. Those roots must be celebrated and absolutely defended.”
Politico claims those on the right are not really religious, but use Christianity as “civilizational shorthand” to draw boundaries, framing it as manipulative, while glossing over leftist efforts to neuter Christmas with “holiday season” jargon for “inclusivity.”
Online, the backlash was swift and savage, with users dismantling the premise that acknowledging Christmas’s Christian roots is some radical act.
The same people who mocked the idea of a war on Christmas are now claiming that treating it as a Christian holiday makes you a far right radical https://t.co/lHeLwTT94Q
Media have framed the following as far right: Working out, Christmas, having a big family, believing men can’t be women, traditional relationships, eating meat, opposing illegal immigration & more.
This Politico flop underscores how legacy media twists normalcy into extremism to push leftist propaganda, diluting national identities under the guise of tolerance.
As Europe grapples with mass migration and cultural erosion, defending Christmas isn’t “far-right”—it’s common sense resistance to woke overreach.
In the end, attempts to secularize or shame Christian heritage only fuel the pushback.
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.
As 2025 draws to a close, America’s truck drivers—the unsung heroes keeping our economy rolling—have a good reason to celebrate. What began as a gritty grassroots uprising in Arkansas against wage-dumping and unsafe foreign competition has transformed into a national triumph, spearheaded by President Trump’s no-nonsense cabinet. This administration isn’t just talking the talk; they’re enforcing real change, putting American workers first in an industry battered by globalist policies.
At American Truckers United, we are deeply grateful for how God has worked through our lives, our organization, and our supporters over the past year, leading us through the toughest challenges and blessings alike.
President Trump’s Executive Order was the opening salvo: mandating English proficiency for commercial drivers and launching a probe into fraudulent non-domiciled CDLs that have flooded the market with unvetted, unqualified, and untrained operators. Secretary Duffy’s deep-dive investigation exposed the ugly truth— American truckers are being systematically replaced through illegal schemes, driving down wages and compromising highway safety. The FMCSA’s Interim Final Ruling, though imperfect, marked a seismic shift, with the executive branch finally forcing the cutting off of the flow of illegal aliens who obtain EAD cards and CDLs. More needs to be done to permanently revoke and ban all non-domiciled CDLs, but career staffers are blocking these efforts.
Then came Secretary Rubio’s freeze on work visas exploited by trucking firms, halting the influx of cheap foreign labor. Under Secretary Noem’s oversight, ICE Director Todd Lyons increased enforcement through 287(g) agreements, training officers to identify immigration violations on the road. The payoff? The high-profile arrest of a terror suspect wielding one of these bogus CDLs underscores the national security risks of lax borders.
Economically, the stakes couldn’t be higher. Under the previous regime, over 88,000 American-owned trucking companies folded amid mass migration and crippling regulations. But with Trump’s team at the helm, 2026 promises a resurgence: fairer wages, safer roads, and protected jobs. God is answering our prayers through this administration, but battles loom— from litigation to lingering deep-state resistance.
FreightWaves’ Craig Fuller reports that the latest trucking spot rates have now surpassed 2022 seasonal levels.
Here’s more from Fuller…
Rejection levels have hit the highest levels since the start of the Great Freight Recession in 2022 and spot rates are also surging.
The rally will continue into next year if the compliance crackdown stays in place. If we get any volume pops due to economic improvements or… pic.twitter.com/XYPdNzDJXc
Front Companies? Bombshell Report Exposes Network Of Somali-Linked “Empty” Daycares Across Minnesota
Left-wing Governor Tim Walz, under intensifying federal pressure, faces a widening Somali-linked fraud scandal in Minnesota. Federal prosecutors state that the scheme currently totals at least $9 billion, with the final figure potentially much higher. Recent reporting by Ryan Thorpe and Christopher F. Rufo alleges that some welfare funds were funneled into an overseas terrorist organization. Now, a bombshell video from a citizen journalist suggests the fraud extends beyond Medicaid into the state’s daycare system.
A 42-minute bombshell video by journalist Nick Shirley and a local private investigator documents an on-the-ground investigation in Minneapolis that alleges massive, ongoing fraud in government-funded social services. The main focus is on Somali-owned businesses in child daycare, adult/autism care, home healthcare, and non-emergency medical transportation programs that draw from the taxpayer-funded Child Care Assistance Program.
Shirley claims his team uncovered more than $110 million in questionable payments to Somali-owned businesses on just the first day of their investigation, as part of a broader welfare fraud scandal totaling upwards of $9 billion.
Shirley and the investigator visited several childcare facilities that had no visible children, toys, or activities during peak hours. Staff could not answer basic questions about rates or licenses. Both were denied entry to the reception areas of these facilities:
Quality Learing Center: Licensed for 99 children; received $4 million over two years. Sign misspells “learning” as “learing”; no children visible, doors locked, no playground.
Future Leaders Early Learning Center: Licensed for 90 children; received $6.67 million over two years. Facility empty; staff evasive when asked about child numbers.
Mako Child Care and Mini Child Care Center (combined): Licensed for 120 children; received $1.3M (2020), $987K (2021), $714K (2022), $1.6M (2025). No children observed.
ABC Learning Center: Licensed for 40 children; nearly $3 million over three years. Blacked-out windows, no activity.
Sweet Angel Child Care: Licensed for 74 children; $1.26 million in 2025 alone.
Millions of taxpayer dollars went to one daycare company that could not even spell “learning” correctly…
4 million dollars of hard earned tax dollars going to and an education center that can’t even spell learning correctly.
Shirley, accompanied by an investigator, also conducted site visits to adult day care and autism centers, identifying indicators consistent with the use of front companies.
If accurate, Shirley’s findings indicate a possible coordinated network of Somali-owned front companies structured to maximize extraction from taxpayer programs while minimizing detection, accountability, and the recovery of funds as exposure increases.
Diving into the corporate records of Future Leaders Early Learning Center reveals a familiar pattern. Fahima Mahamud is listed as an officer of the learning center and of multiple other companies, including assisted living and autism centers. The childcare center is also linked to Sharmarke Ali, who is connected to another childcare center as well as a home healthcare company.
The citizen journalist is doing more journalism than MSNBC, CNN, and 60 Minutes combined have done in years, as those outlets often operate more like PR firms than news organizations.
Watch Here:
🚨 Here is the full 42 minutes of my crew and I exposing Minnesota fraud, this might be my most important work yet. We uncovered over $110,000,000 in ONE day. Like it and share it around like wildfire! Its time to hold these corrupt politicians and fraudsters accountable
Addressing his party on 14 December, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz made headlines with remarks unprecedented in postwar Europe.
“Dear friends, the decades of Pax Americana are largely over for us in Europe, and for us in Germany as well. It no longer exists as we know it. And nostalgia won’t change that. The Americans are now very, very ruthlessly pursuing their own interests. And this cannot have a different answer than that it is time that we also pursue our own interests. And dear friends, here we are not weak, we are not small.”
Pax Americana, the US-led security order that has come to define American and European partnerships since the end of the Second World War, is now being openly questioned. Indeed, Merz has crossed a line that few European leaders have even contemplated since the Cold War – triggered by the shock generated by the new US National Security Strategy (NSS), issued earlier this month.
The document no longer even identifies Russia as a threat, describing it instead as a factor in the Trump administration’s efforts to reach peace in Ukraine, an objective now presented as a strategic interest for Washington, alongside the stabilisation of relations with Moscow.
To rub salt into the wound, the NSS states that “the perception and reality of Nato in constant expansion must stop”. In a single sentence, nearly three decades of western narrative, which has brazenly denied any link between Nato’s eastward expansion and the war in Ukraine, were quietly discarded by the alliance’s leading power.
It is no surprise, then, that the NSS was received in Europe with consternation. But what is harder to justify is the sense of surprise. The document merely puts into writing what US President Donald Trump has been stating, with characteristic bluntness, for over a decade.
European elites were even forewarned last February, when Trump dispatched Vice President JD Vance to the Munich Security Conference to deliver an unequivocal message about what lay ahead.
Merz’s remarks followed similar declarations from Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte, who delivered an apocalyptic speech in Berlin, as well as from France’s Chief of Defence Staff General Fabien Mandon and Nato Military Committee chair Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone. In an interview with the Financial Times, Cavo Dragone went so far as to advocate pre-emptive or preventive hybrid attacks against Russia.
It is difficult to avoid the impression that this chorus of fearmongering is intended to build public support for the EU’s recently announced 800 billion euro ($942bn) rearmament plan, ostensibly designed to fill the vacuum left by a US administration increasingly determined to disengage, while confronting a heavily exaggerated Russian threat.
Rearmament without strategy
This narrative becomes even more disturbing when viewed against the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which has come under accusations of ideological links to Nazism, at a time when Germany is being urged to rearm on a massive scale. Yet this contradiction appears lost on Europe’s liberal elites, who remain fixated on the supposed threat posed by “Russian autocracy”.
Merz has made clear what this means in practice. If Germany fails to expand its military rapidly enough, compulsory military service may become “inevitable”. Similar sentiments are now being echoed by ruling elites in the UK, France, Italy, Poland and across the Nordic and Baltic states.
The premise underlying these calls, however, is highly questionable. The claim that Germany, or Europe more broadly, faces an imminent military threat from Russia is deeply contested. Moscow appears to lack both the resources and the capability to invade Nato countries. After nearly four years of war, it has not even succeeded in occupying all of Ukraine.
Likewise, Germany and a number of other European states lack the capacity to reintroduce conscription at scale or to rapidly convert their industrial base to a war economy. Its volunteer forces are shrinking and ageing, recruitment targets are consistently missed and training systems remain sluggish.
Germany’s industrial base has been hollowed out, while its automotive sector is struggling under pressure from Chinese competition. Ultimately, its poorly concealed ambition to maintain its industrial edge by pivoting towards weapons manufacturing is easy to proclaim, but far more difficult to realise. Similar structural constraints affect much of Europe. The result is a surreal situation in which militarization is presented as a substitute for diplomacy, as if conscription could fill the political vacuum created by the near-total abandonment of serious diplomatic engagement across the continent.
Some describe this moment as a Zeitenwende, a historic turning point framed as Europe finally assuming “responsibility” for its own security. In reality, it represents little more than burden-shifting within the Atlantic alliance, which it could have potentially withstood were it not for the fact that the main escalatory power remains firmly across the Atlantic. At the same time, Europe is now expected to provide the workforce, social discipline and political compliance.
Strategy, therefore, continues to be conceived and remotely controlled by Washington, while Europe bears all the risks and consequences.
Europe’s hollow power
If Merz and his EU counterparts believe that massive rearmament offers an escape from the cul-de-sac they have created, they are deluding themselves. Since 2022, European leaders have undermined their own energy security, lost competitiveness, hollowed out industrial capacity and embraced deindustrialization as a virtue – all in the name of a war they are unlikely to win, not least because it is being fought through a strategy they do not control.
In regular times, this would induce political vertigo. Instead, the German chancellor has the audacity to insist that his country is neither weak nor small.
Across Europe, factories are closing, energy prices are skyrocketing and supply chains are migrating. Yet EU decision-makers persist in a state of cognitive dissonance, functioning on autopilot. There appears to be no vision. Diplomacy has vanished. No credible new security architecture for the continent is even discussed. Instead, everything is filtered through a single matrix known as Russophobia, a sentiment masquerading as strategy.
And then there is the mother of all paradoxes. The EU claims to defend freedom while openly discussing and approving coercive laws that restrict freedom of thought and expression at home.
Can it seriously be argued that French President Emmanuel Macron respected the will of voters in the most recent elections? Or that the events surrounding Romania’s recent electoral process were remotely normal? How is it possible that EU institutions can increasingly sanction individuals without due legal process, simply for holding dissenting views?
Militarization is now chosen over common sense and realism. Fear is obsessively instilled into public opinions and unconvincing narratives are replacing strategic thinking.
Rather than reconsidering this self-destructive trajectory, Merz, together with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and much of the EU leadership, has doubled down. They attempted to confiscate frozen Russian assets held in European banks to finance the war in Ukraine, ignoring warnings from the European Central Bank and discreet alerts from ratings agencies about the risks to Europe’s financial credibility.
After the political folly of seeking Russia’s “strategic defeat”, the economic damage inflicted by sanctions and the abandonment of Russian gas, Europe nearly added financial self-sabotage to the list.
Strategic self-harm
Will European leaders ever learn a lesson?
Fortunately, their plan failed miserably. Last week, the European Council declined to approve the measure. Belgium, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Italy and even France raised objections. Instead, the EU opted to burden its already strained taxpayers with a new 90 billion euro loan to Ukraine.
When historians look back on this period, they may be surprised to conclude that it was a relatively obscure Belgian prime minister, Bart De Wever, derided by much of the mainstream press, who played a decisive role in saving Europe’s financial credibility.
Looking ahead to 2026, there is little evidence that Europe’s leaders are prepared to abandon their mistaken course. There is, however, a faint glimmer of change. Macron has signalled a renewed willingness to engage in dialogue with Russia. It is an encouraging albeit insufficient step.
Any genuine shift would require two fundamental principles to be upheld: the first is the indivisibility of security, the idea that one state’s security cannot be pursued at the expense of others in the same region.
Eastern European states, including Ukraine, cannot plausibly insist that their security depends solely on Nato membership if Russia perceives that outcome as an existential threat. Security arrangements must take into account all parties’ perceptions, rather than privileging some at the expense of others.
The second is recognition of the security dilemma, a core concept in international relations theory. When one state enhances its military capabilities, others may perceive this as threatening, regardless of intent.
Applied to Europe today, the question is obvious: why should Russia view the EU’s 800 billion euro rearmament program as purely defensive when EU member states already spend more than four times as much as Russia on military procurement?
Without integrating these principles into European strategic thinking, particularly in negotiations over Ukraine, 2026 risks becoming yet another bleak year for peace on the continent.
