Sexting Banned In China? Beijing Stiffens Penalties For Sharing “Obscene” Material
China is tightening its grip on digital content with a new rule banning the sharing of “obscene” material in private online messages, a move that could capture consensual adult exchanges like sexting and further blur the lines between public morality and personal privacy.
Effective January 1, the revised regulations also stiffen penalties for disseminating pornographic content, allowing authorities to impose 10- to 15-day detentions and fines of up to roughly $700 – up from a prior ceiling of about $420.
While the revision will target the dissemination of pornography and exploitative images — which are also strictly regulated in countries including the United States — it may also mean that consensual sexting could also be dragged into China’s legal system. It will cover messages sent on WeChat, the ubiquitous Chinese social media app, and will particularly target cases involving minors, state media reported Tuesday.
The announcement comes after a controversy this summer about explicit content circulating online. Chinese state media reported in July that a chat group on Telegram called “MaskPark” was distributing sexually explicit photos of women taken without their consent — with hidden cameras or in intimate settings. The exposé of the group, which reportedly had more than 100,000 members comprised mostly of Chinese men, prompted uproar online — with discussions focusing on deeply entrenched issues of sexism in Chinese society.
Rose Luqiu, a Chinese internet expert at Hong Kong Baptist University, described the changes to the Post as a “positive development” for shielding minors, though she noted the rules’ scope may prove “very broad” and open to “excessive interpretations” by enforcers. “This raises concerns about whether it could lead to public power intruding into individuals’ private lives,” Luqiu said.
The measures fit into a wider push to sanitize China’s internet landscape.
In September, the Cyberspace Administration of China kicked off a two-month sweep targeting posts that stir “violent or hostile sentiment,””hostility and conflict,” or “world-weariness”—explicitly encompassing gloomy economic commentary, the BBC reported at the time. That effort carried into December, with Shanghai regulators deleting over 40,000 posts and sanctioning more than 70,000 real estate-linked accounts and livestreams for alleged doom-mongering in the struggling housing market, according to Reuters. Authorities cast these actions as vital for social stability and countering misinformation, even as analysts see them as part of an accelerating drive to mute frank debate on China’s economic slowdown and property woes.
Some experts argue that China’s ever-tightening restrictions on free speech represent a flawed strategy—one that amounts to wishful thinking by attempting to suppress discussion of the country’s deep-seated economic and social challenges rather than addressing them directly.
“If anything, contemporary Chinese history has repeatedly demonstrated that top-down ideological campaigns can hardly eradicate the social roots of problems,” Simon Sihang Luo, an assistant professor of social sciences at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, told the BBC. “Even with a powerful government like the Chinese one, it is hard to arrest pessimist sentiments when the economy looks bleak, the job market is cruelly competitive, and birth rate hits rock bottom.”
Musk’s xAI service owns the Grok family of generative AI chatbots, which are available on the X social media platform. Those Grok-based models are now set to join the military’s GenAI.mil platform of artificial intelligence tools, which the Pentagon launched earlier this month.
The xAI models will integrate with GenAI.mil in early 2026, according to a Dec. 22 Pentagon press statement.
The Pentagon said xAI’s models will allow both uniformed and civilian personnel within the Department of War to securely handle so-called controlled unclassified information in their daily workflows. The term “controlled unclassified information” describes materials that are not considered classified, but which are not marked for public release.
“Users will also gain access to real‑time global insights from the X platform, providing War Department personnel with a decisive information advantage,” the Pentagon said in a statement.
On Dec. 9, the Pentagon announced the launch of GenAI.mil as the central platform for onboarding different artificial intelligence models and capabilities into the military’s various workflows. This artificial intelligence platform launched with Google’s Gemini for Government AI service, but the Pentagon said from the start that it planned for “several frontier AI capabilities to be housed on GenAI.mil.”
At launch, GenAI.mil was made available for desktops used at the Pentagon and across military installations around the world.
“The War Department will continue scaling an AI ecosystem built for speed, security, and decision superiority,” the Pentagon said Monday.
Artificial intelligence was one of six critical technologies identified by the Pentagon last month, alongside quantum computing, biomanufacturing, directed energy weapons, hypersonic weapons, and innovations for conducting logistical operations in contested spaces.
“We are pushing all of our chips in on artificial intelligence as a fighting force. The Department is tapping into America’s commercial genius, and we’re embedding generative AI into our daily battle rhythm,” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said earlier this month.
In a company statement on Monday, xAI described its venture with the Pentagon as a long-term partnership.
“In addition to Enterprise use cases, xAI is bringing the power of Frontier AI and real-time insights directly to the warfighter,” the company said. “Through an ongoing, long-term partnership with the DoW and other mission partners, xAI will make available a family of government-optimized foundation models to support classified operational workloads.”
This summer, the Pentagon awarded contracts to xAI, Google, Anthropic, and OpenAI to develop artificial intelligence capabilities for the military. Those contracts each came with a $200 million ceiling.
Which Countries Export The Most Christmas Decorations?
Christmas decorations are a global business, with supply chains that stretch across continents well before the holiday season begins. From ornaments and lights to artificial trees and festive displays, most of these products are manufactured and shipped months in advance.
China is by far the world’s largest exporter of Christmas decorations. In 2024, it shipped $5.97 billion worth of festive goods globally. This figure is more than 20 times larger than that of the second-ranked exporter.
China’s dominance reflects its massive manufacturing base, cost efficiencies, and deep integration into global retail supply chains. For many countries, Christmas decorations are almost synonymous with Chinese production.
Europe’s Specialized Exporters
The Netherlands ranks second, exporting roughly $249 million in Christmas decorations. While small compared to China, the country acts as a key logistics and re-export hub within Europe.
Germany, Poland, France, and Denmark also appear among the top exporters. These countries often focus on higher-quality or niche products, including premium ornaments, lighting, and traditional designs that cater to European and North American markets.
Rising Asian and Regional Suppliers
Beyond China, several Asian countries play growing roles in this market. India exported $117 million worth of Christmas decorations in 2024, while Cambodia shipped about $103 million. These countries are increasingly attractive to manufacturers looking to diversify supply chains.
Mexico and the U.S. also appear in the top 10, reflecting regional production aimed at serving nearby markets more efficiently and reducing shipping times.
So many people these days are reluctant ever to throw a house party. The house is too messy. Cannot cook. It costs too much money. Not enough friends. No real dining table. I’m too busy. No one will show up anyway. And so on.
Millions this holiday season will sit at home wishing they had some party to attend. They will think their lives lack meaning and adventure, as they scroll through their social feeds that reveal people they know living their best lives. This is a perfect prescription for depression and substance abuse.
There is something you can do about it. Throw a party yourself. Invite everyone you know. Pack them all in. Even if they sit on the floor. It really doesn’t matter. What matters is the human connection you have enabled and the lives you will make better, including your own.
It just takes a bit of bravery.
To be sure, it is more expensive to entertain now than it ever has been. That said, there are cheaper options out there, including making all the food yourself. This is where people get confused and attempt too much. The best way is the familiar, even if it is cheese, crackers, and store-bought pizzas or burgers. In this case, it really is the effort that counts.
Another major preventive here is the fear of being judged: the decor, the food, the not-entirely-clean house, and so on. This is entirely understandable. Opening up your home is an act of vulnerability. You are inviting people into your private space at a time when we are all concerned about our privacy. We also live in a culture of distrust of everything and everyone. That encourages a tendency toward not letting anyone into our lives.
But there is another side to this. It is precisely because inviting people in is so rare that it is so enormously valued. Just the invitation alone is enough to send a signal: you are valued, trusted, and part of what I consider my community of friendship. That’s a beautiful thing. What happens after that concerning food and drink is really not nearly as important as it seems.
That said, there are ways to gussy this up. If you have 4–8 people over, the sitdown dinner is the highest and best option, daring to attempt simply because most people never have. Under the ideal conditions, you have your best china, crystal, and silverware. You have the candles, flowers, and cotton/linen napkins, with a tablecloth on a gorgeous table.
If you do not have all that—nothing wrong with the aspiration—there are other methods.
Then there is the ever-useful excuse: I have no time. It’s nearly always incorrect. We are surrounded by technologies designed to save us time and yet we claim to have less time than ever. The claim to have no time is what it was when we were 10—an excuse not to do what we should do.
Here’s a quick story. I was once friends with a new immigrant from Russia who came over before the Soviet Union fell. Arriving in America, he felt he had landed in Schlaraffenland. He would buy everything not nailed down and stuff it in his apartment. He also had a tendency to make friends with everyone, and thrill to invite them to dinner and drinks. All he had was a few card tables that he would link together, and folding chairs for the guests.
His meal consisted of a huge pot of chicken with every random vegetable and rice, which he would always announce with a fancy Russian name, even when it was not true. He would spread a big cotton sheet over the tables as a tablecloth and use big bowls he found at a yard sale and serve up the food, alongside tall glasses of vodka which everyone would drink. There was also cheese and sausages.
Who was invited? He was something of a celebrity given the times, so there were ambassadors, senators, friends like me, and also some random people he met here and there, including someone I think was homeless. Perhaps there were 12 to 14 people in total. The evening was always just a wild blast, filled with hilarity and adventure.
From these events at his house, I took away the central point. It’s the hospitality that matters more than anything. It’s the human connection, not even the quality of the meal. Another feature that made his evening salons and dinners work was his utter confidence and joy. If the host is happy, everyone else is happy too. If the host is squeamish and embarrassed about the food and place setting, guests feel that too.
If you have more than 8 to 12, and perhaps you should, there are options. You can invite 50 people for a come-and-go from 6–8pm. Guaranteed that some people will stay to 10pm or later, and that’s great. In this case, there might be a time when people are standing shoulder-to-shoulder or crowded in the kitchen, making their own drinks and so on. But this seeming chaos is also enormous fun, even more fun.
Here comes an issue that is absolutely essential to any such evening, whether it is a dinner party or a come-and-go cocktail party with dips and chips. As the host, you absolutely must quiet everyone down at some point and make a toast. Some people are absolutely terrified of such a thing. I don’t know what to say but you have to get over your fears.
Just clink your glasses and start talking. You will be happy to know that the number one problem with all toasts is that they are too long. You can reduce it to a few sentences. And here’s a tip that always helps me. Try not to offer a toast to a person present, who is then not entitled by the rules of etiquette to join in, but rather to something bigger, some big idea.
It could be to community, faith, the holidays, courage, compassion, the power of love, the season, family, friendship, anything. Before you begin the toast, come up with the one chosen word. That gives you a stopping point.
Start with a clinked glass. Say a few words about the moment and the times. It can be commonplace or profound, silly or serious, or it can be a verse or sentence from a book. Then it ends with a toast to fill in the blank. That’s the whole thing. Very likely, someone will be inspired by your gesture and pick it up. Ideally, everyone will join in.
I can promise you that this will be the main memory of the evening. That’s good and that’s the point. Every such gathering needs some central moment. Otherwise, people have a sense of come and gone and not much happened. That is especially true with a cocktail party. You never want this to happen. There has to be a theme or a point and it is up to you to provide it.
That’s the entire thing, the whole of your responsibility: invite, feed, offer drinks, and make a toast. Your party is done.
Another crucial tip is in order. Do not plan to serve anything that requires you to rush around, spend lots of time in the kitchen, or otherwise neglect your guests. You must always look and act like this is all effortless. That puts your guests at ease. If you are rushing around, cursing at the food, making a racket in the kitchen, or otherwise stressed about anything, your guests will feel every bit of it. You have to be as relaxed and joyful as they are, and that requires some planning.
Ease of preparation is as crucial as anything else for this very reason. A good host must look calm and fully in control of the situation, oozing confidence and conviviality at all times.
What about music? I choose classical or interwar jazz or something vaguely unfamiliar just to give a sense that the guests are somewhere special. Another option: blessed peace with no music at all. That might even be the best choice, and if the talking becomes loud enough, it does not matter in any case.
When the guests offer to help clean up, always say a polite no. That is not why they are there.
Friends, can we make an effort here? We all desperately need community back. In our homes: that’s the best place for it to form. It is the ultimate act of kindness. Yes, it does open you up to criticism but that’s the whole point: to push out of your comfort zone in order to be kind to others. And perhaps your efforts here will become a tradition and inspire others.
This is the way we rebuild the culture: with one household party at a time.
Education Department To Start Garnishing Wages Of Defaulted Student Loan Borrowers In January
As we and others have noted several times over the last year, the US government will be garnishing the wages of student loan borrowers in default – with actual garnishment now set to begin in January, CNBC reports.
A spokesperson for the US Department of Education confirmed the plan, which will mark the first time a portion of borrowers’ paychecks have actually been at risk since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, when collection activity was halted.
Starting the week of Jan. 7, the Education Department expects around 1,000 defaulted student loan borrowers to receive notices of administrative wage garnishment, the spokesperson said. After that, the number of notified borrowers will continue to increase. -CNBC
While the US government can seize borrowers’ federal tax refunds, wages, Social Securiity and disability benefits, the Education Department can legally seize up to 15% of a student loan holder’s after-tax income to apply toward their debt.
More than 42 million Americans have student loan debt, which now exceeds $1.6 trillion.
There are currently more than 5 million student loan borrowers in default, a number which could explode to roughly 10 million borrowers soon, the Education Department said in April.
Until past due payments are paid in full or the default status is resolved, borrowers could see up to 15% of their wages automatically deducted from their paychecks.
Borrowers who have been newly reported as delinquent since then on their student loans have seen an average 60-point drop in their credit scores, according to TransUnion. Nine percent of borrowers who fell into delinquency were current on their payments by April, according to TransUnion.
The Education Department has been urging borrowers to resume payments and emphasizing the consequences. Roughly 43 million borrowers owe more than $1.6 trillion in student-loan debt.
More than nine million of them are expected to see their credit scores drop this year, according to data from the New York Fed released in March.
Meanwhile, the job market for Gen Z is looking beyond dismal – as hiring has been down for the better part of a year amid signs that layoffs are ticking up.
According to a July survey from Cengage Group, of more than 2 million people who earned their bachelor’s degrees in the spring of 2025, just 30% reported finding a full-time job in their field. The report also found that around 76% of employers reported hiring the same number or fewer entry-level employees in 2025 vs. 2024, citing a tightening labor market, the rise of AI, and broader economic pressures that include inflation and Trump’s tariffs.
According to Nich Tremper, senior economics for payroll and HR service provider Gusto, the slowdown is in large part due to overhiring during the post-pandemic economy in 2021 and 2022 which saw businesses offering high salaries to compete for talent.
Layoffs, meanwhile, are at their highest level since the pandemic, with around 1.1 million announced job cuts between January and October 2025, according to data from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas cited by CNBC.
“Folks are kind of just sitting still,” said Tremper. “They’re not looking for new roles, they’re not leaving their current roles. Without those new jobs available, it’s hard for an entry-level employee to get their foot in the door and start their career.”
As of September, the unemployment rate for recent college grads reached 9.7%, the same as for 20-24-year-olds with only a high school diploma, according to the Fed.
The Christmas season is upon us, a time of year when many of us reflect on the year that is drawing to a close and on the good times, the sad times, and the challenges ahead. It’s also a time of year when we count our blessings and express gratitude for any good things that have come our way.
While some may realize it more than others, all Americans should be grateful for one thing most of us tend to take for granted – light that appears in the rooms of our homes at the flick of a switch, heat that emanates through our floorboard vents or radiators by merely increasing the number on a dial or a digital pad, cars, SUVs and trucks that start with the turn of a key or the push of a button.
All these modern conveniences are made possible for even low-income Americans thanks to energy that is affordable and widely accessible.
In this increasingly diverse and often divided society in which we live, all Americans are united by access to low-cost, effective energy. We have been blessed for so long by affordable energy that we are sometimes in danger of taking it for granted.
But without the change in presidential administrations that happened last January – and with it the blessings of lowered inflation, a return to free-market principles and, especially, regulatory rollbacks (more on that shortly) – Americans could have been facing a much bleaker winter this Christmas season.
Under the Biden administration, inflation averaged nearly 5%, “hitting 9.1% during the worst inflation crisis in decades,” the White House recently pointed out. In the new Trump administration, inflation has dropped to an average of 2.7%, and “Americans have seen the first overall price decline since 2020.”
Even more impressively, the skyrocketing gas prices experienced under the Biden regime have thankfully been dramatically reversed. Americans “now see the lowest average gas price in more than four years and are on track to spend the lowest amount of their disposable income on gas in the last two decades.”
While energy costs remain relatively low compared to other rising costs, the Trump administration is working to tame electricity prices which began climbing in 2022 under the Biden administration.
One analysis showed that “from March 2022 to June 2025, average monthly energy bills rose from $196 to $265 – a 35 percent jump, or nearly three times overall inflation during that period.” Trump’s reversal of Biden subsidies and incentives that artificially propped up “alternatives” like wind and solar will begin to reap dividends in the coming months and years. The new administration’s fast-track permitting process for new exploration will supercharge our most abundant and reliable legacy resources, driving energy costs down.
But while politicians and pundits seem focused on “prices” as a measure of “affordability,” the long list of regulatory rollbacks in which the Trump administration has engaged will be the real catalyst leading to a more affordable life in the U.S.
Trump’s deregulatory efforts “are saving Americans a collective $180 billion — or $2,100 per family of four,” the White House notes. “For example, President Trump halted burdensome Biden-era efficiency standards that jacked up the price of everyday appliances.”
Earlier this month, in an announcement that did not get the attention it deserved, President Trump unveiled relaxed fuel economy standards “for the more than 15 million new cars and trucks sold in the country every year,” as the Detroit News reported.
“The plan, if finalized, would slash fuel economy requirements through the 2031 model year, to about a fleetwide average for light-duty vehicles of roughly 34.5 miles per gallon, down from roughly 50 miles per gallon under the current rules,” the story noted.
Administration officials rightfully said that “the new standards would increase consumers’ access to a wider range of affordable gas-powered vehicles and help hold down new car prices.”
“Today’s a victory of common sense and affordability,” said Jim Farley, CEO of Ford Motor Company, who joined Trump at that Oval Office announcement. It was great news for everyone who loves their dependable gas-powered cars, SUVs and trucks.
It’s impossible to overstate the scope of the catastrophe that has been averted by dismantling the disastrous energy policies of the previous administration. If the Biden-era subsidies, mandates and penalties had continued, Americans would likely be facing a much bleaker holiday season, not to mention the cold-weather months that follow for much of the country.
The gift of energy policies that promote affordability, accessibility and commonsense emission standards should be high on the wish list of every American family.
While this Christmas may be too soon upon us to expect delivery of such a present, passage of the Affordable, Reliable, Clean Energy Security act (ARC-ES) introduced in October by Rep. Troy Balderson (R-OH) would make the perfect gift from Congress and President Trump to all 340 million Americans in conjunction with America’s 250th birthday on July 4, 2026.
ARC-ES would codify low-cost, accessible energy into law, protecting energy security from the radical political whims of future far-left administrations. In this season of hope, wishing for such a gift in the next six months should not require a Christmas miracle – merely the will of our elected representatives in Washington to do the right thing.
“May your days be merry and bright,” Bing Crosby sings in “White Christmas” – merry because of the holiday, bright thanks to low-cost energy that is there when we need it. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Gary Abernathy is a longtime newspaper editor, reporter and columnist. He was a contributing columnist for the Washington Post from 2017-2023 and a frequent guest analyst across numerous media platforms. He is a contributing columnist for The Empowerment Alliance, which advocates for realistic approaches to energy consumption and environmental conservation.
Judge Allows Abrego Garcia To Remain Free While She Considers Immigration Issues
A U.S. District Judge overseeing a lawsuit by Salvadoran national Kilmar Abrego Garcia against the Trump administration allowed him to remain free from custody while she assesses whether the government can validly remove him from the country.
Judge Paula Xinis of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, based in Greenbelt outside of Washington, D.C., said that she was “growing … impatient” with the government’s attorneys, who are arguing that Abrego Garcia’s summary removal from the country to El Salvador on March 15—pursuant to President Donald Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798—was justified.
He had been granted, in 2019, a “Withholding of Removal” order by an Immigration Court, which prevents an alien who is otherwise deportable from being removed from the country, due to the finding of a credible fear for his life.
Thereafter, he lived in Maryland for six years, during which time he married a U.S. citizen and fathered a U.S. citizen child.
The Trump administration removed Abrego Garcia in March, stating that he is an “MS-13 gang member with a history of violence,” which he and his lawyers denied.
Democrats and progressive groups criticized the removal of Abrego Garcia in spite of the 2019 court order.
The administration said the removal was an “administrative error.”
“Why should I give the respondents the benefit of the doubt?” Xinis said during a hearing in the case on Dec. 22.
Xinis had issued a writ of habeas corpus—a constitutional remedy to release someone from government custody—to Abrego Garcia on Dec. 11, which freed him from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody, and then issued a restraining order to the agency to bar it from re-taking him into custody on other grounds.
On Dec. 22, Xinis denied the government’s request to rescind that order.
“This is an extremely irregular and extraordinary situation,” Xinis said during the hearing.
Abrego Garcia also faces criminal charges in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee for conspiracy to unlawfully transport illegal aliens and related smuggling offenses stemming from a 2022 traffic stop.
A federal grand jury indicted him on May 21, 2025, after which the Trump administration repatriated him from El Salvador, his native country, on June 6 to face those charges.
Any proceeding to remove him from the country would occur in a civil Immigration Court, created for the purpose of adjudicating removal cases, and would be subordinate to the ongoing criminal case in Tennessee. Xinis has prioritized resolving the civil habeas corpus case in Maryland before allowing Abrego Garcia’s re-detention for removal.
The Trump administration has been ramping up deportations of illegal immigrants, prioritizing those with a criminal record.
Critics of federal immigration enforcement have been protesting in support of Abrego Garcia. Outside the hearing on Dec. 22, which he attended, supporters cheered for him while a choir sang, accompanied by bullhorn and drum.
Abrego Garcia’s case, on interlocutory appeal, also reached the Supreme Court, which on April 10 ruled to grant in part and deny in part an application to vacate Xinis’s order, vacating the return deadline but requiring the government to facilitate his release from custody in El Salvador and process his case as if not improperly removed.
As the old aphorism goes: “Don’t tax you; don’t tax me. Tax that fellow behind the tree.” Nobody likes paying taxes, but most Americans accept them as a necessary evil and are willing to pay their fair share, unless politicians waste those tax dollars in extraordinarily—well—wasteful ways, or steal them outright.
I refer, of course, to California, where, as the classic Eagle’s song Hotel California goes: “You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave.”
California, it’s no secret, is in deep financial trouble. In 2022, Gavin Newsom bragged about a $97.5 billion dollar surplus. By the 2024-25 budget, that surplus turned into an estimated $73 billion deficit. By the end of 2025, it’s likely far worse and virtually no one trusts state government’s estimates.
Graphic: X Post
A substantial part of the problem has been grotesque government overspending and fraud that reportedly makes Minnesota’s fraud totals look like couch cushion change. Newsom’s high-speed-rail-to-nowhere debacle hasn’t helped. And worse, Americans get to vote with their feet and U-Hauls. California is losing a taxpayer every one minute and 44 seconds of every day. This includes billionaires, of which California used to have a reasonably large supply.
What to do; what to do? Newsom and the one-party Democrat legislature know: retroactively tax fleeing billionaires!
California Democrats are pushing the retroactive billionaire tax targeting the roughly 220 billionaires residing in California in 2025. It signals not just desperation in the face of crippling debt and overspending but a recognition that California is chasing its highest earners out of the state.
The “2026 Billionaires Tax Act” would impose a one-time 5% tax on individual wealth exceeding $1 billion. While technically using 2026 wealth figures, it would apply to billionaires who resided in California in 2025. So you cannot hope to flee… at least with your wealth intact. It is a penalty for those who stayed too long hoping that rational minds would prevail in California.
Democrats have long whined that the rich weren’t “paying their fair share.” Make the rich pay what they owe and our budget problems, state and federal, will disappear, they claim. It’s a topic Bill Whittle addressed in a classic video titled: “Eat the Rich!” Whittle, step by step, explored taking all the assets of the wealthy to fund one year of the federal government, and by that mechanism barely manages to do it, but points out that money covered—barely—a single year. All the assets of the wealthy are gone, every penny. From where—who—will the money to cover next year’s bills come? A one-time billionaire tax suddenly becomes eternal.
Californians can be certain if California gets away with a retroactive tax on billionaires, they’ll surely extend it to millionaires and then everyone else, and so will other blue states. But how does that work? How can a state tax people who don’t live there any more?
George Washington Law Professor Jonathan Turley explains:
The constitutionality of a retroactive tax has long been controversial. In Landgraf v. USI Film Products (1994), the Supreme Court declared “the presumption against retroactive legislation is deeply rooted in our jurisprudence… [e]lementary considerations of fairness dictate that individuals should have an opportunity to know what the law is and conform their conduct accordingly; settled expectations should not be lightly disrupted.”
Turley goes on to note several other Supreme Court decisions coming down on both sides of a bright line. And at Legal Insurrection, Mary Chastain notes that presidential candidate Gavin Newsom may have had a change of heart:
Dan Newman, a political adviser opposing the campaign to tax billionaires, said Newsom is against a plan to slap a one-time, 5% tax on roughly 200 Californians worth more than $1 billion to “replace lost federal dollars and protect essential services,” as described by the campaign’s website.
That’s a tough one for Newsom. On one hand the financial disaster he’s made of California is likely to figuratively kill him in a presidential race. On the other, if he does decide to run, and he wouldn’t lie about a thing like whether or not he’s already made that decision, he’s going to need every billionaire buck he can find. Fleecing them after they’ve fled the state isn’t going to fill his campaign coffers.
Maybe Newsom won’t get the chance to do to America what he’s done to California after all—but he just might.
US Moves Special Operations Aircraft Near Venezuela: ‘Prepositioning For Action’
“They are prepositioning forces to take action,” David Deptula, a retired Air Force lieutenant general and dean of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, told The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday of the ongoing US forces build-up in the southern Caribbean.
The WSJ commentary further assessed that “The movement of such assets indicates that the administration already has decided on a course of action” – though with President Trump it’s currently anyone’s guess as to precisely what that course of action will be.
The report unveils that a fresh and large number of special-operations aircraft, troops and equipment have surged into the Caribbean this week, over and above the significant amount of assets – including warships and a nuclear powered aircraft carrier – which have already been in place for months.
The additional groups deployed included special forces, described in the following:
At least 10 CV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, which are used by special-operations forces, flew into the region Monday night from Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico, according to an official. C-17 cargo aircraft from Fort Stewart and Fort Campbell Army bases arrived Monday in Puerto Rico, according to flight-tracking data. A different U.S. official confirmed that military personnel and equipment were transported on planes.
It isn’t clear what types of troops and equipment the aircraft were transporting. Cannon is home to the 27th Special Operations Wing, while the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, an elite U.S. special operations unit, and the 101st Airborne Division are based at Fort Campbell. The first battalion of the 75th Ranger Regiment is based at Hunter Army Airfield, at Fort Stewart.
An official statement from the US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) negated to give specifics on the new units reportedly moving closer to Venezuela, but downplayed the movements as routine and standard.
“It is standard practice to routinely rotate equipment and personnel to any military installation,” said a SOUTHCOM spokesperson to WSJ. “And as a standard practice, due to operational security concerns, we do not disclose details or comment on U.S. assets or personnel operational movements and activities, nor disclose details of specific operations or routes.”
Currently there’s a lot of signaling from Washington, and the purpose of such stories as WSJ’s may be to continue instilling fear in Venezuela’s President Maduro. Of course, the White House is not going to push back at this moment on anything which touts the real threat facing Caracas. The US wants the government to feel the heat and pressure.
Meanwhile…
Venezuela’s military distributing rifles to the people in working-class districts. These militias will form an armed resistance to defend their nation if the US tries to occupy the country. pic.twitter.com/GCn0M3E8Fi
But the endgame remains unknown, and there’s been a good degree of confusion over this – given how long the Pentagon build-up has dragged on. Also given the Ford Carrier Group is positioned near Venezuela, the clock is ticking, and such a deployment is very costly which each passing day.
Late last week, Congress passed and President Trump signed the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The bill marks the first time the US military budget officially passed the one trillion dollar mark. Of course, when you add in other military-related spending such as interest on the debt, veterans’ affairs, and military components of other government agencies, the true number is at least one and a half times that amount.
To paraphrase the famous 1953 President Eisenhower speech, “The Chance for Peace,” each of these dollars spent on military offense and the maintenance of the US global empire rather than on defense of our own nation is taken from the mouths of the hungry and off the backs of hardworking American families.
Congress is so addicted to military spending that they appropriated even more money than President Trump requested, including an unconscionable $800 million for thoroughly corrupt Ukraine. Will Washington ever be called to answer for why Americans, who are seeing their standard of living eaten away by inflation and a declining economy, should continue to subsidize a criminal regime overseas whose ruling class enjoys the comfort of golden toilets?
The Ukraine money also undermines President Trump’s claim to be a neutral mediator in the conflict. How can you be a peacemaker when you are sending nearly a billion dollars in weapons to one side to help kill the other side? It makes no sense.
Congress even included measures in the bill that would prevent President Trump from bringing any US troops home from real “forever wars” in Korea and Europe. For how many more decades must the American worker continue to subsidize a US military presence in countries completely unrelated to our own security? World War II ended 80 years ago and the Korean war some ten years later. Yet the American military empire remains, at an incalculable cost to Americans.
Some fellow critics will say this is all about welfare for rich countries overseas, and that’s partly right. But more than that, it is welfare for the politically-connected US military-industrial complex at home. Imagine how many retired US military officers and former US officials-turned-lobbyists might be financially inconvenienced if we finally “just marched home”?
This week Western Christians will celebrate the coming of the Prince of Peace, with the Orthodox celebrating a few days later. It is disheartening that so many Americans who call themselves Christians also hold fast to a view that we must bankrupt our country and impoverish our people by playing policeman to the world and arbiter of whose regime must be changed by Washington.
Christians are among the biggest victims in these overseas operations, including in Syria, Lebanon, and Gaza. Yet many American Christians turn a blind eye to the suffering and misery produced by neocon-led militarism overseas. They don’t care that unquestioning support for Israel, for example, has nearly erased Christianity from where it was born.
Imagine if Jesus were born in the Holy Land today.
“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” That is the message of the Savior whose birth we Christians celebrate this week. Continuing to bankrupt our country and export misery overseas in the futile pursuit of a global military empire places us in opposition to this worthwhile advice. Let us all join together and work for a real peace in the New Year!
