In The NEWS

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Apple Music unveils year-end charts; Bruno Mars and Rosé’s “APT.” takes the No. 1 spot across several categories, and Morgan Wallen leads all artists for most entries with 12 top-100 songs (More)

> Cannes-winning director Jafar Panahi sentenced in Iran to one year in prison and a two-year travel ban on propaganda charges while he's in New York City accepting Gotham Awards for “It Was Just an Accident," a film he illegally shot in Iran (More)

> International sports court rules Russian skiers and snowboarders can apply as neutral athletes for qualification events to the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, overturning ban imposed in February 2022 over Russia's invasion of Ukraine (More)


Science & Technology
> Samsung debuts its first trifold smartphone with 10-inch display, available in South Korea this month and in the US next year; Chinese company Huawei released trifold phones last year, and Apple is expected to debut a foldable iPhone next year (More)

> Researchers find shingles vaccine may slow progression of dementia, building on an earlier study that linked the vaccine to a lower risk of developing dementia (More)

> Terminally ill baby ants emit a chemical signal that prompts adult ants to kill them, helping protect the rest of the colony from infection (More)


Business & Markets
> US stock markets close up (S&P 500 +0.3%, Dow +0.4%, Nasdaq +0.6%); bitcoin bounces back above $90K (More) | Madison Avenue, bubbles, post-work happy hours: Explore these topics and more in tomorrow's business and finance newsletter (Sign up)

> Prada Group finalizes purchase of Milan fashion rival Versace in nearly $1.4B cash deal (More) | Paramount, Netflix, and Comcast submit second-round bids for Warner Bros. Discovery, with Netflix submitting mostly all-cash offer (More)

> Nearly 203 million US consumers shopped from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday, marking largest five-day turnout since 2017 when tracking began (More) | Online US shoppers spent record of roughly $44B across five-day period (More)


Politics & World Affairs
> Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth defends follow-up strike on alleged drug boat in September, saying he didn't see survivors in what he called "the fog of war" (More)

> Former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernandez is released from West Virginia prison after being pardoned by President Donald Trump over drug-trafficking charges (More) | Centrist candidate Salvador Nasralla takes slight lead in Honduras presidential election, as votes are counted by hand (More)

> Tennessee voters select Republican Army veteran Matt Van Epps to replace outgoing Rep. Mark Green (R, TN-7) in special election (More)

SOURCE:  1440 NEWS

Charitable Gifts

I heard from the news the other day that the top 10% of the population who is wealthy are spending half of the money being spent on the economy, keeping the US economy in a positive position.

What that tells me is that NINETY PERCENT (90%) of Americans are only spending what they absolute have to spend to pay their bills and nothing more.

America's wealthy are carrying the water for the rest of us...  and if technology continues to grow like it has grown in the past, this financial divide will only get worse.

WITH THIS SAID...  there are dozens of television commercials on cable, satellite, and through WIFI connections that solicit the viewers to pay $11/month, $15/month, or $19/month, or more...  so that this person or that person can be taken care of.

Most of the people veterans, first responders, law enforcement or fire fighters who have been catastrophically injured in the line of duty.

SO...

most of those people who make these kinds of contributions, if not all of them, come from the NINETY PERCENT (90%) that don't have the funds necessary to help the US economy....

and yet...

these commercials are designed to make them feel guilty.

Is this really fair?

I am not saying that the WEALTHY should be the ones to pick up this tab...  what I am saying is that OUR OWN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT through the collection of taxes (where everyone pays their fair share) should pay for this...

NOT THE STRUGGLING NINETY PERCENT.

If it doesn't come from taxes, then it should come from TARIFFS.

Somewhat Political

 

U.S. Scientists Engineered a “Superwood”

A new wood-based material developed by scientists in the United States may soon disrupt one of the most entrenched pillars of modern manufacturing: steel. Derived from natural timber, this so-called superwood has been chemically and mechanically transformed to become stronger, tougher, and lighter than some industrial metals, all while remaining renewable and biodegradable.

First developed by researchers at the University of Maryland, the process involves removing key components from raw wood and then compressing it into a dense, fibrous structure that radically outperforms untreated timber. According to peer-reviewed tests, the resulting material boasts tensile strength comparable to high-grade alloys, while weighing a fraction of what metals typically do.

It’s not just a promising lab experiment. The material has already begun commercial production through a spin-off company and is being positioned as a low-carbon alternative for industries ranging from construction and aerospace to automotive and defense.

READ MORE...

The Kinks - Tired of Waiting

Percussion

 

Lara Trump

 

VINCE

 

Shannon Joy

 

Worrisome

 

Sarah Westall

 

Bongino Report

 

Amber May

 

Monument Valley

Alex Jones

 

Russell Brand

 

Dinesh D'Souza

 

Brookings Brief

Building greater resilience and capacity in the US national security industrial base

The Big Think

The digital age’s reversion to pre-literate communication

Lying Down

 

Headlines

Kevin Carter/Getty Images




Costco is suing the Trump admin for a tariff refund. The wholesale retailer where you can get a $1.50 hot dog and 72 pairs of socks in the same trip is asking for a “full refund” of all the duties it’s paid under President Trump’s reciprocal tariff policies, according to a lawsuit filed with the Court of International Trade. Costco becomes the biggest company to sue the administration over tariffs, joining Ray-Ban-maker EssilorLuxottica, Kawasaki, and others in seeking relief from tariffs that they say are illegal. The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the legality of the tariffs next year. During oral arguments last month, most justices appeared skeptical of Trump’s argument that he had the authority to impose the sweeping levies.

Hegseth cites “fog of war” in defense of second strike on alleged drug boat. During a Cabinet meeting at the White House yesterday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he didn’t see that there were survivors before a follow-up strike was ordered on a boat allegedly smuggling drugs in the Caribbean Sea. “The thing was on fire,” Hegseth said, adding that he “didn’t stick around” after the first strike. The Washington Post reported last week that Hegseth ordered a second strike that killed survivors, which experts say would have been illegal. President Trump said neither he nor Hegseth ordered the second strike. According to the White House, Admiral Frank M. “Mitch” Bradley was “well within his authority” to sanction it.

Warner Bros. Discovery fielded sweetened takeover bids. In a second round of bidding, Paramount Skydance, Netflix, and Comcast all made revised offers in the hopes of buying the company behind HBO. Paramount—the only of the three suitors that wants to buy all of WBD, not just its studios and streaming businesses—is reportedly offering an all-cash deal with the help of three Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds. Netflix is said to be proposing a mostly cash offer, while Comcast’s latest cash-and-stock bid would combine its NBCUniversal unit with WBD, per reports. Any deal would likely face regulatory scrutiny, though it’s believed that the White House favors Paramount, which is owned by David Ellison, the son of Oracle co-founder and longtime Trump supporter Larry Ellison.—AE

READ MORE...

Robert Reich

The Most Dangerous Corporation in America
Please help spread the word






Friends,

The most dangerous corporation in America is one you may not have heard of.

It’s called Palantir Technologies, a Silicon Valley tech company that may put your most basic freedoms at risk.

Palantir gets its name from a device used in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, in which a “palantir” is a seeing stone — something like a crystal ball — that can be used to spy on people and distort the truth. During the War of the Ring, a palantir falls under the control of the evil Sauron, who uses it to manipulate and deceive.

Palantir — co-founded by far-right billionaire Peter Thiel and its current CEO Alex Karp — bears a striking similarity.

It sells AI-based data platforms that let their clients, including governments, militaries, and law enforcement agencies, quickly process and analyze massive amounts of your personal data.

READ MORE...

At A Glance

How fruit munching gave us the craving for alcohol.

Meet this year's Forbes 30 Under 30.

Wikipedia's most-read articles of 2025.

The story of the first sculpture on the moon.

Black Chernobyl fungus may eat radiation.

Fabergé egg once owned by Russian royalty sells for $30.2M.

Why singing is good for your health.

See nine beautiful, real-life castles.

Clickbait: What a purple parking space means.

Historybook: Rock star Ozzy Osbourne born (1948); Actress Julianne Moore born (1960); First human heart transplant carried out (1967); Mikhail Gorbachev and George HW Bush declare end to Cold War (1989); Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks dies (2000).

1440 Trivia: What percentage of people experience chronic insomnia? Check back tomorrow (or dig for it here) to see if you were correct.

... and vote on tomorrow's Trivia topic: WeWork or Nvidia.

GREEN BEAN RECIPE | how to cook green beans almondine

Quick Clips

 

In The NEWS

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Two female gymnasts file lawsuit alleging USA Gymnastics and Olympic sports watchdog failed to address sexual abuse by coach (More) | Antitrust trial against NASCAR begins, with fate of NBA star Michael Jordan's team at stake (More)

> "Zootopia 2" earns $556M internationally over Thanksgiving holiday, marking the highest-ever global opening for an animated film and the highest global opening for any film in 2025 (More)

> NFL announces Charlie Puth, Brandi Carlile, and Coco Jones as headliners for Super Bowl LX pregame show Feb. 8 (More)


Science & Technology
> China's DeepSeek debuts two new AI models challenging Google's Gemini and OpenAI's ChatGPT (More)

> Engineers create artificial tendons that allow robots to pinch with 30 times more force and three times faster than before, potentially enabling advances in surgical tools and autonomous exploratory machines (More) | Want more? Sign up for our weekly science and technology deep dives (More)

> New DNA analysis suggests humans first traveled to Australia and New Guinea about 60,000 years ago, roughly 9,000 to 13,000 years earlier than previous genetic evidence indicated (More)


Business & Markets
> US stock markets close lower (S&P 500 -0.5%, Dow -0.9%, Nasdaq -0.4%) as December kicks off (More) | Bitcoin falls in largest daily drop since March (More)

> Nvidia takes $2B stake in chip-software designer Synopsys as part of expanded multiyear computing power partnership (More) | Eli Lilly cuts price for weight-loss drug Zepbound on direct-to-consumer site (More)

> Starbucks to pay over $35M to more than 15,000 New York City workers, along with over $3M in civil penalties, to settle allegations it violated labor laws (More)


Politics & World Affairs
> Tennessee voters head to the polls in special election to replace Rep. Mark Green (R, TN-7), who announced his resignation earlier this year (More) | Former Trump attorney Alina Habba disqualified as New Jersey's top federal prosecutor, appeals court rules (More)

> Son of Mexican drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán pleads guilty to two drug-related charges, months after his brother enters similar plea deal (More)

> Transportation Security Administration announces $45 fee for travelers without a federally compliant driver's license or identification card, known as a REAL ID, beginning in February (More) | What is a REAL ID? (More)

SOURCE:  1440 NEWS

Space Visitors

 

EXTRATERRESTRIALS...

Do they exist?   or not?

If they do exist, where do they live:

• On another planet,
• or on a spaceship,
• or In another dimension,
• or are they from another dimension?

According to AI, Copilot, Gemini, and Claude, there is NO EVIDENCE to support the existence of extraterrestrials, therefore to them, they do not exist.

However, they do admit anomalies but have reasonable explanations for all of them.

Still, there is a growing concern and belief that extraterrestrials do exist and that UFOs are and have been visiting our planet.

So, like religion, you must decide what you believe and what you don't believe and suffer the consequences if you share those believes with someone who does not share your views.

Consequently, most people don't say anything, nor do they think anything regarding the concept they don't want to talk about.

For a variety of reasons, too many to explore here, I believe that extraterrestrials do exist and that they have visited our planet.

QUESTION:  If they have visited our planet before, why do they not visit again?

That's a really good question and not easy to answer because, the Bible says God/Jesus visited our planet and yet God/Jesus has not visited again.

WHY NOT?

The only way to find out that answer is to ask God/Jesus himself.

That ain't going to be that easy, now is it?

Somewhat Political

 

Laser light coherence offers a consistent approach

Researchers at the University of Basel have developed a new approach to applying thermodynamics to microscopic quantum systems.


In 1798, the officer and physicist Benjamin Thompson (a.k.a. Count Rumford) observed the drilling of cannon barrels in Munich and concluded that heat is not a substance but can be created in unlimited amounts by mechanical friction.


Rumford determined the amount of heat generated by immersing the cannon barrels in water and measuring how long it took the water to reach boiling. Based on such experiments, thermodynamics was developed in the 19th century. Initially, it was at the service of the Industrial Revolution and explained, physically, for instance, how heat can be efficiently converted into useful work in steam engines.

READ MORE...

The Byrds - Turn! Turn! Turn! (Live)