“The House shot down a pair of Democratic-led resolutions Wednesday designed to curtail President Trump’s strikes on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean and the administration’s ‘hostilities within or against Venezuela.’ The first resolution, brought by House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), aimed to end the boat strikes by directing the president to stop ‘hostilities with any presidentially designated terrorist organization in the Western Hemisphere’ unless authorized by Congress. … The second resolution, led by House Rules Committee ranking member Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), would direct the president ‘to remove the use of United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against Venezuela’ unless authorized by Congress.” (12/17/25)
“Demonstrators on the streets of Britain’s two largest cities, chanting or displaying ‘globalize the intifada’ signs or protesting in other ways that intimidate the local Jewish community, face arrest, the country’s two most senior police chiefs warned Wednesday. In a joint statement, London Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley and Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Sir Stephen Watson said Sunday’s terror attack targeting Jews celebrating Hanukkah on Bondi Beach in Australia had compelled them to take a tougher line. … Named for a rebellion by Palestinians during Israel’s first occupation of Gaza and the West Bank in the late 1980s, the literal translation of intifada is ‘uprising’ — but it can be interpreted as a call for violence against Jews, police said.” (12/17/25)
“President Trump addressed the nation Wednesday night from the White House Diplomatic Reception Room to tout his accomplishments in 2025 and his goals for the next three years in office. The address was about 20 minutes long. Mr. Trump touted his economic record — defending his handling of inflation and tariffs — and accused Democrats of bringing the country to the ‘brink of ruin,’ as his administration deals with widespread voter frustration over the economy. He announced the government is sending $1,776 to military service members before Christmas, which he referred to as ‘warrior dividends.'” (12/17/25)
“Myanmar’s military government has charged more than 200 people with violating the Southeast Asian country’s voting law ahead of a general election at the end of this month, keeping up pressure on opponents of the polls. Critics of the election set to start on Dec. 28 claim it will be neither free nor fair and is designed to add the facade of legitimacy to military rule that began after the army in February 2021 ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. … The new law, enacted in July, says anyone who orates, speaks, organizes, incites, protests or distributes letters to disrupt any part of the electoral process shall be punished with three to 10 years imprisonment, as well as a fine. Other offenses carry sentences up to the death penalty.” (12/17/25)
“Warner Bros Discovery on Wednesday rejected a hostile takeover bid by Paramount launched last week to trump plans by streaming giant Netflix to acquire the Hollywood giant and owner of CNN. In a statement, Warner Bros said the terms of the Netflix merger were better, while the Paramount offer ‘once again fails to address key concerns that we have consistently communicated … throughout our extensive engagement and review of their six previous proposals.'” (12/17/25)
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“Republicans are making mail-in voting a core part of their midterm battle plans — a sharp contrast with President Donald Trump’s efforts to abolish the practice as they scramble to turn out his base. … Rattled by electoral losses across the country this year and fearing a turnout slump in 2026 when control of Congress is on the line, Republican party chairs and operatives in battleground states Trump flipped by razor-thin margins in 2024 are turning to mail-in voting to keep lower-propensity voters engaged when he’s not on the ballot. They’re redoubling the 2024 efforts they ran successfully despite Trump alternating between promoting and railing against the practice — a turnabout after his vilification of mail ballots contributed to GOP losses in 2020. Now, back in office, Trump is escalating his war against mail ballots.” (12/17/25)
“The Senate gave final passage Wednesday to an annual military policy bill that will authorize $901 billion in defense programs while pressuring Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to provide lawmakers with video of strikes on alleged drug boats in international water near Venezuela. The annual National Defense [sic[ Authorization Act, which raises troop pay by 3.8%, gained bipartisan backing as it moved through Congress. It passed the Senate on a 77-20 vote before lawmakers planned to leave Washington for a holiday break. Two Republicans — Sens. Rand Paul and Mike Lee — and 18 Democrats voted against the bill. The White House has indicated that it is in line with President Donald Trump’s national security priorities. However, the legislation, which ran over 3,000 pages, revealed some points of friction between Congress and the Pentagon as the Trump administration reorients its focus away from security in Europe and toward Central and South America.” (12/17/25)
“One of the most widely known risks linked to the COVID-19 vaccine is myocarditis, especially in young males — and now a new Stanford study has shed some light on why this rare effect can occur. Myocarditis, which is inflammation of the heart, occurs in about one in 140,000 people who receive the first dose of the vaccine and one in 32,000 after the second dose, according to a Stanford press release. Among males 30 and younger, that rises to one in 16,750. Symptoms of the condition include chest pain, shortness of breath, fever and palpitations, which can occur just one to three days after vaccination. Another marker is heightened levels of cardiac troponin, which indicates that the heart muscle has been damaged..” (12/17/25)
“Amazon is in discussions with OpenAI to invest $10 billion in the company while supplying more of its AI chips and cloud computing services, according to The Financial Times. The deal would push OpenAI’s valuation over $500 billion but is likely to raise more questions about the company’s circular investment agreements involving chips and data centers. The two companies are also in talks about the possibility of OpenAI helping Amazon with its online marketplace, similar to deals it has made with Etsy, Shopify and Instacart. However, any agreement still wouldn’t allow Amazon to market OpenAI’s most advanced models on its developer cloud platform, as Microsoft holds the exclusive rights to those until the 2030s.” (12/17/25)
