Thursday, December 11
Headlines
An oil tanker off the Venezuelan coast in May.
FEDERICO PARRA/AFP via Getty Images
US seizes oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. In a major escalation of President Trump’s pressure campaign against Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, the US seized the tanker, threatening Venezuela’s oil-dependent economy. Without offering details, President Trump said it was “a large tanker, very large, largest one ever seized, actually.” Attorney General Pam Bondi said the tanker had been used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran. The Venezuelan government called the US’ actions “blatant theft.” The US has also been building up its naval presence in the area, and earlier, the US helped Venezuelan opposition leader MarÃa Corina Machado out of the country to travel to Norway, where she didn’t quite make it in time to personally accept her Nobel Peace Prize.
The US wants to screen foreign tourists’ social media for entry. A new proposal from the Trump administration would require travelers from 42 countries, including the UK, France, Australia, and Japan—who typically don’t need visas to enter the country—to provide five years’ worth of social media history in order to visit the US. The proposal from the US Customs and Border Protection is not yet final, and the agency will be accepting public comments on it for 60 days. But if it does take effect, it would be in keeping with new, more stringent requirements the administration has imposed for student visas and some work visa applications.
State Dept. ordered to return to Times New Roman. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is apparently a serif fan: He ordered diplomats this week to return to using Times New Roman size 14 in official documents, overhauling a Biden-era change to the more modern-looking Calibri. The shift to Calibiri was aimed at increasing accessibility for people with reading challenges and those who use screen readers, but Rubio characterized it as a “wasteful” diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility program. He said switching back would “restore decorum and professionalism to the department’s written work.”—AR
Robert Reich
Friends,
My doctor told me I should relax more. The problem, she assured me, is not that I have high blood pressure or an aggressive cancer or any other particularly worrying health issue — “apart from those expected of someone my age.”
“My age?” I asked.
“You’ll be 80 in June,” she said. “So you should take it easier.”
She doesn’t like it that I work as hard as I do. “You’re writing at least one — what is it called? Substack — every day, I hear. Sometimes two. And putting out videos. And promoting a movie and your new book. And giving talks.”
I copped a plea to it all.
“It’s too much. You need to relax more,” she said.
“I feel okay,” I assured her.
“Have you considered meditation? Long walks? Dancing? Gardening?” she asked.
“I like what I do.”
“You’re spending too much time at your computer,” she said. “It’s bad for your neck and shoulders. Bad for your back. You’ll get arthritis in your hands.”
“I already have arthritis in my hands.”
At A Glance
Where humans fall on the animal kingdom’s monogamy scale.
Breaking down US teen social media use in 2025.
Possible evidence of 2,100-year-old ceasefire uncovered in Jerusalem.
State Department changes from Calibri font to Times New Roman.
How Chinese food and movies became a Jewish Dec. 25 staple.
Christmas Day has hosted a number of scientific milestones.
... and your odds of waking up to a white Christmas.
Ancient curses are helping scholars piece together a Celtic dictionary.
In partnership: In a world where cash back is king, this card is royalty.*
Clickbait: Christmas concert gets all shook up when Elvis arrives.
... and want to see something cool? Surprise me.
Historybook: King Edward VIII abdicates throne to younger brother King George VI (1936); Germany and Italy declare war on the US (1941); John Kerry born (1943); Soul musician Sam Cooke dies (1964); Model Bettie Page dies (2008).
In The NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Musician Raul Malo, best known as the frontman of Grammy-winning, multicultural Americana band The Mavericks, dies at age 60 (More)
> Federal judge postpones Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni's civil trial from March 9 to May 1, citing the need to prioritize two criminal trials (More)
> Inter Miami's Lionel Messi named Major League Soccer's MVP, becoming the first player to earn the title in back-to-back seasons (More) | LA Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani selected as AP's Male Athlete of the Year for fourth time, tying for most nods (More)
Science & Technology
> European Commission launches antitrust probe into Google's use of web content and YouTube videos to create the search engine's AI-generated overviews (More)
> Microsoft to fund $17.5B in new data centers, AI infrastructure, and skills programming in India from 2026 to 2029, building on $3B committed in January and marking the company's largest investment in Asia (More)
> Researchers record winds blasting from a black hole at more than 134 million miles per hour—about 20% the speed of light and the fastest ever observed (More)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close mixed (S&P 500 -0.1%, Dow -0.4%, Nasdaq +0.1%); investors await today's Federal Reserve interest rate decision (More) | Silver rises above $60 per ounce for first time (More)
> Elon Musk's SpaceX reportedly to pursue initial public offering in 2026, seeking to raise more than $30B at a valuation of about $1.5T (More)
> US job openings rise slightly to 7.67 million in October, from 7.66 million in September; layoffs rose to nearly 1.9 million—the most since January 2023 (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> Clashes between Cambodia and Thailand kill at least seven civilians, wound 20 others, and displace more than 20,000, per Cambodia (More)
> French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu passes a proposed 2026 spending plan through the National Assembly, sending bill to Senate; Lecornu previously resigned over his failure to pass a budget (More)
> European Union's climate observatory projects 2025 will rank as the second-hottest year on record (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Until It's Gone
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All too often, we take for granted what we have here in the good ole US of A, like... well, for one, FREEDOMS.
We have many freedoms such as: freedom of speech, school, religion, protesting, gender, hair, clothes, songs, location, marriage, children, education, homes, vehicles, work... and the list goes on and on and on.
Believe it or not, most of the people in other parts of the world do not have anywhere near the volume of freedoms that we have.
We must go to public school or private school K-12, but we get to decide which one I attend. If transportation is not provided because of my choice, I must find my own transportation.
Once accepted, we can attend any college or university we want.
We can decide or not decide to enter the military when we reach the age of acceptance.
We are free to marry whoever we want and change our gender from male to female.
HOWEVER...
we often forget how we got and kept those freedoms...
someone in the USA went to war so that we could have the freedom we enjoy today.
WWI and WWII and Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan are some of the wars we have engaged in to keep those freedoms.
In many middle eastern countries, Russia, China, and a few others in the world, they have none of the freedoms that we have.
In some countries, the government owns all the land and all the companies, and it is the government who decides where you will live and what type of place you will live in. It is the government who decides what you can buy at the grocery store and how much it will cost regardless of the demand.
Those of us who have freedoms, have no idea what life would be like if those freedoms were taken away from us.
Advice to Gifted Children
Philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, unfortunately, didn’t have much to offer us in his consolations about death, but, more importantly, he succeeded in helping us believe that life was worth living, even if this was somewhat unintended; he was a nihilist through and through.
Philosopher David Bather Woods, in his new book Arthur Schopenhauer: The Life and Thought of Philosophy’s Greatest Pessimist, chronicles Schopenhauer's life and thought in a manner resembling a parable. The reclusive philosopher barely existed but nonetheless lived a life fuller, both in thought and deed, than most of us can hope for. Paradox crops up so frequently in the book that it makes one wonder if it’s the fullest expression of a life well-lived, even when it takes the form of extreme avoidance.
Schopenhauer’s wisdom, to me, is most applicable to gifted children and young adults, who struggle with living up to expectations and actualizing their innate abilities. Reading Bather Woods’ biography, I knew that many past and present patients would identify with it. Arthur addressed fame, recognition, honor, and meaning; additionally, he indirectly addressed indecision by how he lived and the choices he made around his vocation.
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