At Least One National Guard Member Reportedly Shot Near White House
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A dramatic scene is unfolding near the White House on Wednesday afternoon, with reporters saying a National Guard member has been shot.
ABC News reports:
Two uniformed military personnel, appearing to be National Guardsmen, have been shot in downtown Washington just blocks from the White House, according to two sources familiar with the ongoing situation.
Mike Carter, White House Correspondent for NEWSMAX, wrote on X that “Secret Service tells me 2 National Guard members have just been shot near the White House.”
BREAKING: Secret Service tells me 2 National Guard members have just been shot near the White House. pic.twitter.com/uGLCAPcDXX
Schweizer Exposes DEI Fraud Machine Inside Federal Contracting Complex
Peter Schweizer, president of the Government Accountability Institute and the investigative journalist who broke the Clinton Cash corruption story, has uncovered what may be one of the most brazen grifts operating inside the Capital Beltway. His new reporting exposes deep cronyism and corruption inside the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) Business Development Program, where DEI-driven preferences opened the door for fraudsters to siphon off lucrative no-bid federal contracts.
Instead of supporting legitimate small business development, the 8(a) program has been a massive pipeline for pass-through entities that collect bidless contracts on silver platters while quietly outsourcing the real work to major consulting firms.
The result: Merit-based competition gets sidelined, and tens of billions in taxpayer dollars flow through shell operators, allowing the corrupt Beltway economy of parasites to loot taxpayers. The looting went into hyperdrive during the Biden-Harris regime years.
Remember the ‘Gold Bars‘ corruption story with the EPA? – Well, this 8(a) corruption turns out to be very similar: loot taxpayers as much as possible with Biden in the White House, who had no idea what was happening.
Schweizer has built a career exposing this kind of institutional rot, and the developments in the news cycle so far suggest the Trump administration is preparing to slam down the accountability hammer and smash parasites across the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia.
“For years, DC insiders have exploited a federal DEI contracting program that provides windfalls to beltway elites. This open secret isn’t about helping the downtrodden; it’s about bagging no-bid paydays. The SBA’s 8(a) program is long overdue for reform,” Schweizer began the X thread post on Tuesday night, as well as publishing a report on The Drill Down.
🚨 MASSIVE FRAUD ALERT: For years, DC insiders have exploited a federal DEI contracting program that provides windfalls to beltway elites. This open secret isn’t about helping the downtrodden; it’s about bagging no-bid paydays. The SBA’s 8(a) program is long overdue for reform.🧵 pic.twitter.com/G7X0hCQdYt
He pointed out that his team “followed the money and found that the SBA’s ‘8(a) contracting program’ contains stunning levels of cronyism and corruption,” adding, “Corps win government contracts not due to merit but because they check the right DEI boxes. ZERO accountability!”
💰 My team and I have followed the money and found that the SBA’s “8(a) contracting program” contains stunning levels of cronyism and corruption. Corps win government contracts not due to merit but because they check the right DEI boxes. ZERO accountability! pic.twitter.com/eWKllrDzum
☎️ Here’s how the scam works: A small company gets special status by becoming “8(a) Certified” by the SBA. Then it turns around and hands the work to a major consulting firm. Taxpayers pay the premium, insiders pocket the difference, and Washington calls it “equity.” pic.twitter.com/QqYe3q3z8C
It’s one thing to catch fraud in Excel spreadsheets. It’s another thing to see it happening in the real world. As Schweizer’s team highlighted, undercover footage from O’Keefe Media Group showed 8(a) operators openly admitting to the racket…
💸 Pass-through abuse is just the beginning. A recent DOJ bust exposed the depth of blatant 8(a) fraud when a USAID officer bagged $1M+ in BRIBES while steering $500M+ in contracts to firms exploiting their “special status.” Shout out to @lukerosiak for his EXCELLENT reporting. pic.twitter.com/Op3xJONNqb
“The floodgates opened wider when the Biden administration tripled contracting quotas for race-based awards. Money was even diverted away from veteran-owned businesses. Identity first, performance second — and the costs exploded,” Schweizer emphasized.
👴🏻 The floodgates opened wider when the Biden administration tripled contracting quotas for race-based awards. Money was even diverted away from veteran-owned businesses. Identity first, performance second — and the costs exploded. pic.twitter.com/FRfvkqLKLs
What makes the 8(a) scandal so critical is that no corner of the federal contracting world has been more gamed than the 8(a).
The program may have begun with good intentions, but the road to hell really is paved with them. In practice, it’s morphed into an arbitrary tollgate that every major contracting firm knows how to subvert through pass-through entities.
Everyone in the DC consulting world understands how the game works: set up a compliant 8(a) “small business,” win the no-bid award, and let the big consulting firms do all the work.
These DEI mandates have proven to make the government dysfunctional. It’s more hoops, more paperwork, more meaningless certifications, more administrative drag, and ultimately a worse product. Fraud is one thing. But the DEI overlay has turned the DC into a bloated and corrupt hellhole that ultimately sticks taxpayers with the inflated bill.
Schweizer ends the thread with a hint that an enforcement phase may be approaching, and that the days of operating this DEI scam in the shadows of the DC beltway could be numbered.
📈 After the ruling, every company was supposed to prove they faced discrimination. Instead, staff walked firms through how to write victimhood essays. One firm submitted twelve drafts until it “passed.” The number of special-status firms went up. pic.twitter.com/t7xZqbCycM
Now, @SecScottBessent has ordered an agency-wide probe into potential fraud stemming from the 8(a) contracting program which drains billions from taxpayers, military, & real small businesses. Sunlight is coming & the era of racial pass-through contracting is coming to an end. pic.twitter.com/jYfmoVIuIH
Earlier this month, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent addressed the 8(a) fraud issue, stating, “Treasury will not tolerate the fraudulent misuse of federal contracting programs. These initiatives must benefit legitimate small businesses that deliver measurable value to the government and the public.”
Schweizer hints at the needed reforms:
Congress needs to investigate the program and subpoena ALL contractors suspected of fraud
Every agency that has 8(a) contracts needs to audit those contracts (start with the Pentagon!)
The rules need to be rewritten to get rid of DEI focus, level the playing field, and close the “pass-through” loopholes
⚖️ Here’s what needs to happen to end the 8(a) waste, fraud, and abuse once and for all:
1. Congress needs to investigate the program and subpoena ALL contractors suspected of fraud
2. Every agency that has 8(a) contracts needs to audit those contracts (start with the Pentagon!)… pic.twitter.com/OnbcfsrpKr
Bessent’s comments are a clear signal that major reforms aimed at shutting down the Beltway parasites who’ve been gaming the 8(a) program through toxic DEI loopholes near.
Federalist senior contributor Benjamin Weingarten chimed in on X, saying, “The more you look at the DEI Industrial Complex, the more you realize it’s not just a destroyer of civil rights masquerading as a protector of them, but a massive multibillion dollar grift.”
The more you look at the DEI Industrial Complex, the more you realize it’s not just a destroyer of civil rights masquerading as a protector of them, but a massive multibillion dollar grift.
The rampant fraudulence and corruption under guise of virtue and justice is deplorable.… https://t.co/vRyC3AlYKR
Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service warned earlier the same day as Bloomberg’s report that the Brits are hellbent on discrediting Trump in order to undermine his latest peace efforts for resolving the conflict from which they profit.
Bloomberg shared what it claimed to be the transcripts of calls between Trump’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Putin’s top foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov as well as between Ushakov and Putin’s other advisor Kirill Dmitriev about the Ukrainian peace process. The gist of the Witkoff-Ushakov call was Witkoff’s proposal to have Putin suggest a Gaza-like 20-point peace deal for Ukraine during an upcoming call with Trump while the Ushakov-Dmitriev one implied that the leaked draft was Russian-influenced.
Ushakov declined to comment on his talks with Witkoff but said that “Somebody tapped, somebody leaked, but not us” whereas Dmitriev flat-out described his purported call with Ushakov as “fake”. For his part, Trump defended Witkoff’s alleged “coaching” of Ushakov on how Putin should deal with him by reminding everyone “That’s what a dealmaker does. You got to say, ‘Look, they want this – you got to convince them with this.’ That’s a very standard form of negotiations.”
As regards the possibility that the draft framework was Russian-influenced, the notion of which has been pushed by the legacy media to discredit the proposed mutual compromises therein, that was already debunked. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who also serves as National Security Advisor, said that “The peace proposal was authored by the U.S. It is offered as a strong framework for ongoing negotiations It is based on input from the Russian side. But it is also based on previous and ongoing input from Ukraine.”
Therefore, neither transcript is scandalous even if their contents were accurately reported, yet the question arises of who might have tapped and leaked these calls. Intriguingly, earlier the same day that Bloomberg later published their report, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service warned that the UK “aims to undermine Trump’s efforts to resolve the conflict by discrediting him.” Readers will recall the UK’srole in Russiagate, which they conspired with the CIA, FBI, and the Clinton camp to cook up to against him.
Seeing as how they can no longer collude in this way with their three prior conspirators, the UK might therefore have resorted to leaking those two calls with Ushakov that they might have tapped (possibly among many others) as a last-ditch attempt to discredit the latest unprecedented progress towards peace. This provocation might also have been meant to make Trump panic and fire Witkoff out of fear of another Russiagate 2.0 investigation if this scandal helps the Democrats flip Congress next year.
Firing Witkoff, who’s been central to the recent progress towards peace, could ruin the process right at its most pivotal moment as Zelensky is reportedly considering meeting with Trump very soon to finalize the details of the US-mediated peace framework with Russia. By holding firm, Trump is therefore obstructing efforts to ruin everything that he’s achieved thus far on a Russian-Ukrainian peace deal and consequently revive the Russiagate hoax for helping the Democrats during next year’s midterms.
Accordingly, Bloomberg’ Russian-US leaks can be considered a British intelligence operation for derailing the peace process and perpetuating the conflict from which the UK profits, not to mention meddling in the midterms by giving a fake news-driven boost to the Democrats. Trump revealed that Witkoff will meet with Putin on Monday and might even be joined by his son-in-law Jared Kushner, who helped negotiate the Gaza deal, so more British provocations are expected out of desperation to ruin their talks.
WTI Steady Near One-Month Lows Amid Peace Deal Talk, Record Crude Production
Oil prices are steady this morning near one month lows, after a tempestuous few days swinging around Russia peace deal headlines.
US President Donald Trump said “there are only a few remaining points of disagreement,” as he sent negotiators to more meetings, while the Ukrainian leader’s chief of staff said talks in Geneva had laid a “good foundation.”
Goldman said a peace deal may shave off about $5 a barrel from its base-case forecast of $56 next year.
“That would put Brent in 2026 in the low $50s,” analyst Daan Struyven told Bloomberg TV.
API reported a lackluster set of inventory data that calmed the market too…
API
Crude -1.86mm
Cushing
Gasoline +539k
Distillates +753k
DOE
Crude +2.774mm
Cushing -68k
Gasoline +2.513mm
Distillates +1.147mm
US Crude stocks rose for the 3rd time in the last four weeks as did product inventories…
Source: Bloomberg
… while Cushing stocks continue to test ‘tank bottoms’…
Source: Bloomberg
US Crude production continues to hover near record highs…
Source: Bloomberg
WTI is hovering around $58, near one month lows…
Source: Bloomberg
Much of Russia’s oil and fuel is subject to heavy Western sanctions, with US restrictions on the two biggest producers kicking in last week. However, China, India and Turkey have been eager buyers of the discounted crude, so the impact on global prices from any lifting of curbs is hard to gauge.
“Minute adjustments between the US, Russia, Ukraine and the EU on proposed peace deals have been carefully digested by the market,” Standard Chartered analysts including Emily Ashford wrote in a note.
“Any positive signs of collaboration or agreement have resulted in short-term sell-offs, while the dialing-back of enthusiasm has bolstered prices.”
Oil has retreated by more than a fifth since the middle of June as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies restored barrels, while producers outside of the group also pumped more. Worldwide crude supply is expected to exceed demand by a record 4 million barrels a day next year, the International Energy Agency forecast this month.
UBS: AI Mania Has More Fuel, Dubs GenAI The “Steam Engine Of The Mind”
As chatter about an AI-driven market bubble grows louder across Wall Street, with nearly half of BofA’s Fund Manager Survey respondents calling the AI/data-center boom a bubble, UBS analysts are out with a note insisting there is plenty more bubble-blowing ahead.
UBS analyst Andrew Garthwaite wrote that his bullish target for the MSCI AC World is 1,090 by end-2026 (+11%). But he noted that if GenAI delivers even half the productivity surge that late-1990s Tech was believed to produce, the S&P 500 could “easily” justify 7,000.
“We think Gen AI – ‘the steam engine of the mind’ – will increase productivity more than TMT did back in the late 1990s,” Garthwaite told clients.
He continued, “We also now have all 7 preconditions for a bubble that we are not yet in (historically, the P/E at a bubble peak has been 45x-72x on 12-month trailing earnings for 30-43% of global market cap versus Mag 6 today on 33x).”
Garthwaite pointed to a previous analysis in the UBS Global Economics and Strategy Outlook that shows today’s market performance patterns are similar to those in March 1998.
“We also highlight that we believe we are far removed from any of the major catalysts that mark a bubble peak,” he said.
The analyst continued:
We think there is more justification for a bubble (which we are not yet in) to form than any of the many others we have seen owing to the uniquely quick adoption rate of Gen AI and the threat of monetisation of government debt (which would lead to a move from nominal to real assets). We see at least a 35% chance of a bubble fully forming, and that would justify 1090 MSCI AC World.
Other factors that are supportive for equities: i) The well-behaved nature of US wage growth (this allows the Fed to be proactive if necessary); ii) the historical performance of equities when we just miss a bear market (2 years later up 43% on average versus 34.6% so far) or when the Fed cut and there is no recession (up 17% a year later); and iii) it is too early to call an end to AI or Tech+ outperformance. The P/E of Tech+ relative to the market is close to its norm, earnings growth is expected to be better than the market until Q2 27, and earnings revisions are better than the market. There are many other supports such as hyperscalers being able to increase capex by c40% before capex is above 2025 operating cash flow, with ICT investment as a % of GDP still at average levels.
Near term, there is a risk of ongoing consolidation continuing. In early November, UBS Risk Appetite had been at a 5-year high and CTA positioning at an 8-year high. These indicators are normalising but are still above average; however, we would be surprised if the sell-off extended by another 5%.
Most important charts from Garthwaite’s note:
Bubble preconditions are all in place … the only missing ingredient is looser monetary policy.
The audience at the UBS European conference held on November 11 was asked: “Are we in a bubble?”
Here’s how they responded…
“In my opinion, the justification for a bubble to form is better than any of the many other bubbles that I have seen during the past 38 years doing global strategy,” Garthwaite said.
Far removed from the peak of a bubble in terms of valuation or catalysts…
ZeroHedge Pro subs can read the full UBS note in the usual place. Notably, the bank’s position contrasts sharply with our earlier reporting:
In short, it depends on which institutional desk you read – there’s clearly a gap in views about where we are in the bubble cycle. UBS believes the current phase could extend for a few years, a bullish scenario that would coincide with President Trump’s affordability push for low- to middle-income households during the midterm election cycle, while higher-income households continue to benefit from market gains: a perfect scenario.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is asking Americans to dress “with some respect” while flying, as part of his campaign to restore civility to air travel.
“Whether it’s a pair of jeans and a decent shirt, I would encourage people to maybe dress a little bit better, which encourages us to maybe behave a little better,” Duffy said on Nov. 24 while giving a Thanksgiving travel briefing at New Jersey’s Newark International Airport.
“Let’s try not to wear slippers and pajamas as we come to the airport,” he continued. “I think that’s positive.”
Duffy’s comments came as he warned of what he called a “degradation in civility” among plane passengers. He urged them to show more “common courtesy” and patience during the holiday rush, such as helping fellow passengers who struggle to lift bags into overhead bins and saying “please” and “thank you” to flight attendants.
He also asked travelers to curb behaviors that could irritate those around them, such as watching movies without headphones or removing shoes and placing their feet on the seatbacks in front of them.
“Just be cognizant and courteous. That’s the ask,” he said.
National Civility Push
Earlier this month, the Department of Transportation (DOT) launched a national civility campaign called “The Golden Age of Travel Starts With You.” It is intended to “jumpstart a nationwide conversation around how we can all restore courtesy and class to air travel,” the agency said.
As part of its new initiative, the department is encouraging travelers to reflect on five questions during their trip, including whether they are keeping children under control and “dressing with respect.”
The campaign invokes the memory of the mid-20th-century “Golden Age of Travel,” when Americans typically dressed up for flights. Today, comfort is often prioritized over formality, especially given the tightly spaced economy cabins and the rise of flight delays.
The campaign comes in part in response to what the department describes as a record surge in unruly passenger incidents, including confrontations with crew and fellow travelers.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reports that such incidents peaked in 2021 before dropping sharply in the years that followed, although incidents remain roughly twice as many as before the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2021, the FAA started referring the most serious unruly-passenger cases to the FBI for potential criminal review. More than 310 of these cases had been referred since 2021 to the FBI under the partnership, the FAA said last August.
Thanksgiving Travel Outlook
The DOT’s civility push arrives just ahead of the Thanksgiving travel period, which the American Automobile Association expects to draw nearly 82 million people traveling at least 50 miles from home between Nov. 25 and Dec. 1.
Of those, about 6 million are expected to take domestic flights, a 2 percent increase from last year, according to the association. Air passenger volumes have hovered between 5 million and 6 million during Thanksgiving week in recent years.
Separately, on Nov. 16, the FAA announced it would roll back all restrictions on commercial flights at 40 major U.S. airports, including large hubs in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Atlanta. Those limits had been imposed during the record-long federal government shutdown, which left air-traffic controllers working without pay for more than a month.
On November 20, Texas became the first U.S. state to buy Bitcoin for its Strategic Reserve, acquiring $5 million at roughly $87,000 per BTC, according to Lee Bratcher, President of the Texas Blockchain Council.
The purchase was made through BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) while the state finalizes plans for self-custody.
The move signals growing state-level interest in Bitcoin as a reserve asset. Texas had previously explored strategic Bitcoin legislation last year, wanting to create a Bitcoin reserve without using taxpayer funds.
In June of this year, the Texas governor signed the legislation into law, creating a state Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
Institutional investors are increasingly following suit. Harvard University’s endowment recently tripled its IBIT holdings to $442.8 million, making it the university’s largest publicly disclosed investment.
Emory University and Abu Dhabi’s Al Warda Investments have also significantly increased Bitcoin ETF exposure.
Bitcoin’s price is currently trading near $87,500, roughly 30% below its all-time high. Lee Bratcher was the first to disclose this news.
“Texas will eventual self-custody bitcoin,” Bratcher said, “but while that RFP process takes place, this initial allocation was made with BlackRock’s IBIT ETF.
Bratcher is the President and Founder of the Texas Blockchain Council, an industry association with over 100 member companies and hundreds of individuals promoting Texas as a hub for Bitcoin and blockchain innovation.
He actively championed the state’s Bitcoin reserve legislation, working on the ground to guide it through the state Senate.
Texas isn’t the only state interested in buying bitcoin
In the legislation explored last year, Texas State Representative Giovanni Capriglione filed a bill to create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve for the state.
The legislation proposed that the state buy and hold bitcoin as a strategic asset, store it in cold storage for at least five years, allow resident donations, and enable state agencies to accept and convert cryptocurrencies to bitcoin.
It also mandated transparency through yearly audits and reports. Modeled after a federal proposal by President Donald Trump and Senator Lummis, the bill mirrored the growing global interest of bitcoin.
Earlier this month, New Hampshire became the first government worldwide to approve a $100 million Bitcoin-backed municipal bond. The state’s Business Finance Authority (BFA) authorized the conduit bond, allowing private companies to borrow against over-collateralized Bitcoin held in custody, with repayment risk resting solely on the collateral.
Borrowers must post roughly 160% of the bond’s value in Bitcoin, and automated liquidation protects bondholders if values drop. Fees and any BTC appreciation will fund the state’s Bitcoin Economic Development Fund.
This move follows New Hampshire and Arizona’s earlier creation of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
As the year winds down, many people are thinking about holiday plans, family gatherings, and completing work projects. However, for retirees and those planning for retirement, financial deadlines carry a special urgency. Tax bills, retirement accounts, and even healthcare costs can be affected by some of these cutoffs. By missing them, you could be losing out on valuable opportunities, or worse, you may face penalties.
The good news? To stay on top of retirement-related deadlines, here are the most important ones you need to know before December 31.
Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs)
A must-do task at year-end for retirees over age 73 (or 72 if you reach that age before 2023) is to take required minimum distributions from traditional IRAs, 401(k)s, and similar tax-deferred accounts.
Why it matters:
As soon as you reach RMD age, you must withdraw a minimum amount every year. It’s a steep penalty if you don’t: 25 percent of the amount you should have withdrawn—reduced to 10 percent if you correct it quickly.
What to do:
Confirm your RMD amount with your financial institution.
IRA owners with multiple accounts can take their total RMDs from just one IRA. You must take distributions from each 401(k) separately, however.
Avoid waiting until the last week of December, when hours may be reduced at banks.
Roth Conversions
Do you want to move money from an IRA or 401(k) to a Roth? A Roth conversion is a powerful tax-planning strategy since future withdrawals are tax-free. For the current tax year, however, you have until December 31 to complete a conversion.
Why it matters:
As you enter retirement, a conversion can protect your tax rate and help diversify your tax exposure.
When you convert the amount, however, you are subject to ordinary income taxes.
What to do:
Analyze whether converting is worthwhile based on your current tax bracket.
To avoid jumping into a higher tax bracket, consider breaking conversions into smaller chunks over several years.
A tax advisor can help you with this strategy, as it requires careful planning.
If you want your charitable contributions to be considered for this year’s deduction, the year-end is also the deadline. With qualified charitable distributions (QCDs), retirees who are charitably inclined have even more flexibility.
Why it matters:
If you itemize your deductions, traditional donations can reduce your taxable income.
You can transfer up to $100,000 per year directly from your IRA to a qualified charity with a QCD for those age 70½ and older. Also, it counts towards your RMD and is not taxable.
What to do:
Choose between giving cash, appreciated securities, or making a QCD.
To claim the tax benefit, transfer before December 31.
Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs)
If you have an employer-sponsored health plan with an FSA and are not yet on Medicare, check your balance. FSAs typically follow a “use it or lose it” rule by December 31, though some plans allow for a grace period or a small rollover.
Why it matters: Typically, unused funds disappear at the end of the year.
What to do:
Make those medical appointments you’ve been putting off.
Be sure to stock up on over-the-counter products that are eligible.
Verify your employer’s grace periods and rollover policies.
Medicare Advantage and Prescription Drug Plan Changes
During the Medicare Open Enrollment period, which runs from October 15 through December 7, the decisions you make affect your coverage for the following year. As a result, December is an important month to confirm your choices.
Why it matters:
If you miss this deadline, you’ll be locked into your current coverage, with a few exceptions. The result could be higher premiums or prescriptions that are not covered.
What to do:
Compare your plan’s benefits for 2025 with those of other plans.
Don’t forget to check your insurance coverage for doctors and prescriptions.
To avoid surprises in January, submit changes before December 7.
Harvesting Tax Losses (and Gains)
You can offset capital gains or ordinary income up to $3,000 if you sell investments at a loss by December 31, if you have a taxable investment account. Known as “tax-loss harvesting,” this strategy lowers your tax bill.
Why it matters:
When done properly, tax-loss harvesting reduces taxes without significantly altering your investment approach.
What to do:
With the help of your financial advisor, review your portfolio.
Identify investments that are underperforming and sell them.
It’s important to be aware of the “wash sale rule,” which disallows deductions if a substantially identical security is purchased within 30 days.
Maximizing 401(k) and IRA Contributions
Employer-sponsored plans, such as 401(k)s, require you to contribute to your retirement accounts by December 31. Contributions to IRAs, however, can usually be made until the tax filing deadline in April.
Why it matters:
If you contribute before year-end, you won’t miss out on employer matching.
In traditional accounts, contributions reduce taxable income for the current year.
What to do:
Take a look at your contributions so far this year.
Check with your HR department or benefits department about adjusting your contributions.
Reviewing Beneficiaries and Estate Plans
Retirement accounts, insurance policies, and estate plans can all be reviewed at the end of the year, even if there is no specific deadline.
Why it matters: In some cases, outdated designations, like former spouses, may override your will and result in family disputes.
What to do:
Be sure to review all policies and accounts.
As needed, update beneficiary designations.
If your life has changed significantly, schedule a meeting with an estate planner.
Health Savings Account (HSA) Contributions
In case you have a high-deductible health plan and are eligible for an HSA, you can contribute until the tax filing deadline. Employers may, however, set internal payroll deadlines in December for employee contributions.
Why it matters:
With HSAs, you can make tax-deductible contributions, grow the fund tax-deferred, and withdraw money tax-free.
What to do:
If you can, max out your contributions.
Verify that your employer doesn’t set an earlier contribution cutoff than the IRS.
Key Takeaways
December 31 isn’t just the end of the calendar year—it’s also the end of many retirement planning opportunities. Taking RMDs, donating to charities, and reviewing Medicare coverage all have deadlines that cannot be overlooked.
If you plan early and consult with a financial advisor, you can avoid costly mistakes and optimize your tax strategy.
These Are The Largest Bodies Of Water In Our Solar System
From the icy crusts of distant moons to the oceans beneath their surfaces, the solar system is teeming with hidden water.
This visualization from Made Visual Daily, via Visual Capitalist, compares all known and estimated bodies of water in our solar system, including those beneath the surface, on a volumetric scale.
The data comes from sources including USGS, NASA’s Ocean Worlds program, and a variety of planetary science missions, like Cassini and MESSENGER.
Comparing Water Volumes in the Solar System
Below is the full breakdown of water volumes by celestial body or source:
Earth’s ocean holds 1.3 billion km³ of water, but that’s dwarfed by subsurface oceans on other moons. Ganymede, for instance, is believed to host 11.4 billion km³ in liquid water beneath its ice shell—nearly nine times the volume of Earth’s oceans.
The Surprising Abundance of Extraterrestrial Water
When thinking of water in space, Mars or icy comets may come to mind, but some of the most significant reservoirs lie within the interiors of moons orbiting the gas giants. Jupiter’s Europa, with its estimated 2.88 billion km³ ocean, and Saturn’s Titan, with nearly 4 billion km³ beneath its surface, are standout examples.
These “ocean worlds” are central to current astrobiological research. According to NASA’s Ocean Worlds program, the presence of water increases the potential for life, making these moons high-priority exploration targets. Missions like Europa Clipper and Dragonfly are being developed to investigate these alien seas further.
How Do We Know There’s Water Out There?
Scientists use a combination of techniques to detect extraterrestrial water: gravitational field measurements, ice-penetrating radar, and spectroscopy are just a few. For instance, the Galileo and Cassini missions provided crucial insights into the internal oceans of Europa and Titan.
More recently, researchers have proposed new techniques to identify liquid water on exoplanets, using infrared signals from water clouds or oceans to analyze distant worlds.
Reframing Earth’s Place in the Water Hierarchy
While Earth is often dubbed the “blue planet,” it’s far from the wettest body in the solar system. Including underground and frozen sources, Earth’s total water volume still trails several icy moons.
This context reshapes how we think about planetary habitability. As our understanding grows, it’s increasingly likely that life-supporting conditions may exist far from the traditional “habitable zone” around stars.
In a eerie redux of 2020’s chaos, UK schools are being thrust into unannounced lockdown simulations under the guise of “pandemic preparedness drills”—with children herded into classrooms, doors barricaded, and parents left in the dark, sparking whispers of social engineering rehearsals for the next big scare.
The covert operations, exposed in The Telegraph’s bombshell report, mirror pre-COVID “Event 201” tabletop exercises that eerily foreshadowed global shutdowns—raising the specter: Was the pandemic a trial run for something far more insidious?
Schools locked down again in secret pandemic drills
Exclusive: Exercise Pegasus imagined a virus deadly to children spreading around the world from an in south east Asia
— Telegraph Global Health Security (@TelGlobalHealth) November 25, 2025
We’ve seen this play out previously, complete with mass fear campaigns, soap-opera psyops, and “totalitarian” compliance tools.
The drills, rolled out across England without fanfare, involve “sudden” alerts forcing pupils to seal rooms, switch off lights, and hunker down—ostensibly to test readiness for “biohazards” or “chemical attacks.”
From the Telegraph report:
Exercise Pegasus, which concluded last month and involved all major government departments, was the biggest pandemic simulation exercise the country has ever held.
Those participating in the drill were told a novel enterovirus had broken out on a fictional Island in southeast Asia before spreading across the world.
Unlike Covid-19, which disproportionately affected older age groups, the new virus was most lethal in the young. The virus, “EV-D68”, was said to cause respiratory failure, brain swelling and – in rare cases – paralysis in infants, children and teenagers.
One parent fumed to the outlet: “It was completely unannounced and caused unnecessary panic among the children and parents.”
A teacher at a Midlands primary school echoed the trauma: “The children were terrified. Some were crying and asking if it was real.”
Headteachers, bound by government edicts, stayed mum—until FOI demands cracked the silence, revealing the exercises as part of a broader “resilience” push by the Department for Education (DfE) and UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).
These unheralded lockdowns aren’t born in a vacuum; they hark back to October 2019’s Event 201 simulation, co-hosted by Johns Hopkins, the World Economic Forum, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation—where global elites war-gamed a coronavirus outbreak, complete with media blackouts, mandatory quarantines, and economic shutdowns, mere months before COVID crashed the world stage.
As we’ve previously highlighted, that “exercise” eerily scripted real-world responses: supply chain collapses, “misinformation” crackdowns, and vaccine rollouts—tools later deployed with ruthless efficiency.
Fast-forward to 2025: The DfE’s “secret” drills, piloted in 20 schools since September, mandate “no-notice” activations to “build muscle memory” for crises, per UKHSA guidelines.
One directive, leaked via FOI, instructs: “The exercise should be as realistic as possible, including the use of sirens or announcements to simulate an emergency.”
Critics, including shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson, slammed it as “overreach,” but insiders whisper it’s beta-testing compliance for the next wave—be it bird flu, mpox, or a lab-leak encore.
This resurgence reeks of the behavioral blueprints we’ve previously dissected, with UK officials admitting to having scripted BBC and ITV soaps like EastEnders and Emmerdale to “covertly shape public opinion” on vaccines—embedding pro-jab narratives to “coerce compliance” without overt propaganda.
New FoI shows how the government used TV soaps to push pro-vaccine storylines. ??
We highlighted this in 2022, three years before it was confirmed to be scripted propaganda:
In 2021, SAGE advisors like Prof. Susan Michie revealed that the UK health authority deployed “totalitarian” fear tactics—exaggerating threats via “frightening” messaging to enforce lockdowns, admitting: “We used emerging evidence to increase the perceived level of personal threat… A substantial number of people still did not feel sufficiently personally threatened.”
“Use of fear to control behaviour in Covid pandemic was ‘totalitarian’, admit scientists”
?From ‘A State of Fear: how the UK government weaponised fear during the Covid-19 pandemic’ https://t.co/gD6HFUkQqW
The UK Government leaned on “mass formation psychosis,” a hypnotic herd mentality to justify controls—turning isolated anxieties into collective obedience, ripe for mandates.
Was COVID just a warm-up—a global dry run for engineered pandemics that lock down dissent as deftly as schools? With UKHSA eyeing “annual exercises” and whispers of EU-wide sims, the stage feels set.
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