Thursday December 18th, 2025
- "It Is Not A Question of Who Is Right Or Wrong But What Is Right Or Wrong That Counts."
- --Geoff Metcalf
- Providing an on line Triage of the news since 1998
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World & Nation
Trump Unveils $1,776 Warrior Dividend for Troops
President Donald Trump announced Wednesday night that every active-duty
member of the U.S. armed forces will receive a $1,776 Christmas bonus,
unveiling what he called the "Warrior Dividend" during a nationally
televised prime-time address from the White House.
Trump said the one-time payment would go to roughly 1.45 million
service members and is already being distributed, with checks scheduled
to arrive before Christmas. The amount, Trump said, was deliberately
chosen to honor America's founding in 1776. That's just ahead of the
nation's 250th anniversary, to be celebrated throughout the coming year.
"I am also proud to announce that 1,450,000 military service members
will receive a special — we call it 'Warrior Dividend' — before
Christmas, a Warrior Dividend in honor of our nation's founding in
1776," Trump said during the address, which was carried live by Newsmax
from the White House Diplomatic Room.
"We are sending every soldier $1,776. The checks are already on the
way," Trump said. "Nobody deserves it more than our military. And I say
congratulations to everybody."
US Announces Over $10B Arms Sales Package for Taiwan
The Trump
administration has announced a massive package of arms sales to Taiwan
valued at more than $10 billion that includes medium-range missiles,
howitzers, and drones, drawing an angry response from China.
The State
Department announced the sales late Wednesday during a nationally
televised address by President Donald Trump, who made scant mention of
foreign policy issues and did not speak about China or Taiwan at all.
U.S.-Chinese tensions have ebbed and flowed during Trump's second term,
largely over trade and tariffs but also over China's increasing
aggressiveness toward Taiwan, which Beijing has said must reunify with
the mainland.
If approved by
Congress, it would be the largest-ever U.S. weapons package to Taiwan,
exceeding the total amount of $8.4 billion in U.S. arms sales to Taiwan
during the Biden administration.
Investigators recovered live rounds from Brown University shooting scene: sources
As
the manhunt for the Brown University shooter entered its sixth day
Thursday, sources say police in Providence, Rhode Island, recovered
live rounds from the shooting scene.
The Providence
police chief has confirmed investigators recovered physical evidence,
including DNA, at the Brown University shooting scene that police are
working to process.
When Fox News
on Wednesday asked Col. Oscar Perez whether investigators were able to
find live ammunition from the scene, the police chief said
investigators were able to get physical evidence.
“Oh yeah, we
seized a few physical evidence and we're in the process of examining
that evidence,” Perez told Fox News. “And yes, we have some DNA that we
manipulated and so it just progresses everyday.”
Perez added:
“It progresses everyday with forensics, it progresses everyday with
witness statements and so yeah, we're just trying to find out and we
are going to do our best.”
“What I can
tell you from my sources is that I think quite significantly, they have
live rounds, that is, rounds that were not fired on detonated rounds,”
Mauro said during an appearance on “Fox & Friends” on Thursday.
“Why does that matter? Because shell casings have enclosed a
detonation. That's how bullets work. Which means they often destro
Trump drops receipts on US savings since Biden's Oval Office exit
President says wages rising faster than inflation for first time in years during Wednesday speech
President
Donald Trump rattled off how his economic policies have pulled America
from "the brink of ruin" following former President Joe Biden's tenure
during his primetime address to the nation on Wednesday.
"Here at home,
we're bringing our economy back from the brink of ruin," Trump said
Thursday. "The last administration and their allies in Congress looted
our Treasury for trillions of dollars, driving up prices and everything
at levels never seen before. I am bringing those high prices down and
bringing them down very fast."
Trump said that
under the Biden administration, car prices rose by at least 22%,
gasoline rose 30% to 50%, hotel rates by 37% and airfares by 31%, and
mortgage prices up $15,000 under "Democrat rule."
Vatican confirms resignation of Cardinal Timothy Dolan, announces new archbishop of New York
Bishop Ronald Hicks will formally assume leadership at St. Patrick's Cathedral ceremony in February 2026
The Vatican on
Thursday accepted the resignation of Cardinal Timothy Dolan and
announced that Bishop Ronald Hicks of Joliet, Illinois, will become the
next archbishop of New York.
Hicks, 58, will
succeed Dolan, who has led the archdiocese since 2009. He will become
the fourteenth bishop and the eleventh archbishop to lead the
Archdiocese of New York. Dolan submitted his mandatory letter of
retirement upon turning 75 in February.
Dolan will
continue to oversee the archdiocese as apostolic administrator until
Archbishop-designate Hicks formally takes office on Feb. 6, 2026, at
St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
'Epicenter of fraud': Minnesota's empty stomachs, fake autism therapy and a scandal that could top $2 billion
Former federal prosecutor said the fraud is a 'travesty' that was easily done with a computer and 'no conscience'
Minnesota
officials and prosecutors are warning that the state is facing an
unprecedented fraud crisis in its social service programs, with losses
potentially reaching as high as $2 billion, according to those who have
investigated the cases.
Republican state Sen. Michael Kreun said Minnesota has long been aware of the problem but failed to contain it.
"Minnesota has
an epidemic of fraud, as the rest of the nation is learning," Kreun
said. "We’ve known here in Minnesota for quite some time that we’ve had
a massive fraud problem. And it’s turning out that probably Minnesota
is the epicenter of fraud in the United States right now."
The warnings
follow the massive Feeding Our Future case, one of the largest
pandemic-related fraud prosecutions in U.S. history, and growing
scrutiny of other state programs, including false claims related to the
Housing Stabilization Services (HSS).
Rob Reiner and wife Michele were found dead in their bedroom: LAPD
The couple's son, Nick Reiner, faces two counts of first-degree murder with special circumstances in horrific deaths
Rob Reiner and
wife Michele were found dead in the primary bedroom of their Brentwood,
Calif. home, according to the LAPD Assistant Police Chief Dominic Choi.
Choi confirmed the details during a report to the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners on Tuesday, Dec. 16.
The Reiners'
son and suspected killer, Nick Reiner, appeared in court for the first
time Wednesday after being charged with double homicide against his
parents. The 32-year-old arrived in the courtroom wearing a blue
suicide prevention vest. When a judge asked if Reiner waived his
rights, Nick said, "Yes, your honor." His arraignment is set for Jan. 7.
One day prior,
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced the
charges during a press conference with LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell.
Unseen
photo reveals time Bill Clinton demanded Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine
Maxwell join him at King’s wedding: ‘totally crazy’
Former
President Bill Clinton shocked his own aides ahead of Moroccan King
Mohammed VI’s 2002 wedding by demanding to bring two unrelated
plus-ones — the now-notorious Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell —
to the royal nuptials, The Post has learned.
Clinton, who
had earned goodwill in the North African nation by attending the
funeral of the king’s father, Hassan II, while president three years
prior, beamed with Epstein, Maxwell and his daughter, Chelsea, in a
group photo shared exclusively with The Post for this story.
“[Clinton]
brought them as guests to a king’s wedding. I mean, it almost sounds
made up,” said one source familiar with the matter.
“How many times in your life have you been invited as a guest of a guest at a wedding?”
The request was
seen by members of Clinton’s own team as rude and has been a subject of
discussion in Democratic circles for more than two decades.
Legal Scholars: FCC Can't Change TV Ownership Cap
A newly
released legal analysis by two prominent appellate scholars concludes
that the Federal Communications Commission does not have the authority
to raise, eliminate, or waive the long-standing 39% national television
ownership cap, arguing that only Congress has the power to alter the
limit.
The study, "The
FCC Lacks Statutory Authority to Revise the Telecommunications Act's
39% National Ownership Cap for Television," was published this week
amid renewed debate at the FCC over whether the cap should be revisited.
The authors
conclude that the Telecommunications Act of 1996, as amended in 2004,
"unambiguously" fixes the cap at 39% and strips the FCC of any
discretion to change it.
Miranda Devine: The Vanity Fair interview was a ‘targeted’ hit job on Susie Wiles, entire Trump admin
When it comes to hit jobs, the 10,000-word Vanity Fair spread on Susie Wiles is a classic of the genre.
Chris Whipple,
a veteran journalist, producer and author with a career spanning the
constellation of left-wing media — CBS’s “60 Minutes,” ABC, MSNBC, CNN,
NPR, Politico, the Daily Beast, the New York Times, the Washington Post
— has craftily framed the president’s chief of staff in a narrative of
typical Trump derangement fantasies.
The wonder is that she let him do it.
Journalists
talk to longtime sources all the time with an implicit understanding
that everything’s off the record, except when you come to a mutual
agreement otherwise.
In an industry
where trust is everything, burning a source by revealing
off-the-record confidences is career-limiting, to say the least.
Open, violent Jew-hatred exposes the antisemitism of anti-Zionism
All those
self-righteous anti-Israel protests of the last two years, on campuses
and in the streets, predictably pollinated the poisonous fruit of ugly
antisemitic violence now shooting up everywhere.
In just the last few days, multiple alarming episodes of open Jew-hatred have shocked New York City.
Saturday night
in a tony West Village eatery, a Jewish woman asked a bigot to cool it
with his noisy antisemitic language. He screamed filthy slurs at her,
calling her an “ugly f–king Zionist,” insisting, “we will rid this
country of f–king you.”
Monday night in Brooklyn, a pair of nasty bigots harassed Hanukkah celebrants, and yelled “F–k the Jews” on a subway platform.
