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Category: Politics

The dollar is facing an end to its dominance as global alternatives are emerging

The dollar is facing an end to its dominance as global alternatives are emerging

Wired reports: 2026 will be the year when US dollar dilution—the quiet erosion of its global dominance as countries trade and pay in alternatives—starts to build momentum. The more Washington uses the dollar as a weapon, the more the world builds ways to circumvent it. America’s share of global trade has fallen from one-third in 2000 to just one-quarter today. As emerging economies trade more with each other, the dollar is less central to the flow of goods. Indian and…

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Billion-dollar data centers are colonizing the whole world

Billion-dollar data centers are colonizing the whole world

Lauren Goode reports: When Sam Altman said one year ago that OpenAI’s Roman Empire is the actual Roman Empire, he wasn’t kidding. In the same way that the Romans gradually amassed an empire of land spanning three continents and one-ninth of the Earth’s circumference, the CEO and his cohort are now dotting the planet with their own latifundia—not agricultural estates, but AI data centers. Tech executives like Altman, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, and Oracle cofounder Larry…

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Trump triggered death threats against Marjorie Taylor Greene’s family. And then he blamed her

Trump triggered death threats against Marjorie Taylor Greene’s family. And then he blamed her

Robert Draper writes: I have covered Greene, who is 51, extensively over the past five years, and it was evident during this recent visit that on one level nothing had changed. Just outside the front door of her office stood the familiar placard blaring, “There are TWO genders: MALE & FEMALE.” One sign on the door warned visitors that “NO FOREIGN LOBBYING” was allowed; another featured the image of Charlie Kirk. Hanging on the wall inside the waiting area were…

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Americans hate AI — a massive, growing opportunity for Democrats to run with

Americans hate AI — a massive, growing opportunity for Democrats to run with

Calder McHugh writes: It’s become a common occurrence: Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer posts a light-hearted video on social media. She’s Christmas shopping, or she’s talking about her Michigan accent or she’s touting her administration’s accomplishments. And immediately, the comments start rolling in, all demanding the same thing: Say no to data centers in the state. Stop construction. “All I want for Christmas is legislation banning data centers in Michigan.” National figures in the party are beginning to notice the anger….

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What America might look like with no immigration

What America might look like with no immigration

The New York Times reports: One year into President Trump’s immigration crackdown, construction firms in Louisiana are scrambling to find carpenters. Hospitals in West Virginia have lost out on doctors and nurses who were planning to come from overseas. A neighborhood soccer league in Memphis cannot field enough teams because immigrant children have stopped showing up. America is closing its doors to the world, sealing the border, squeezing the legal avenues to entry and sending new arrivals and longtime residents…

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How Stephen Miller and Marco Rubio’s agendas converged as Trump targeted Maduro

How Stephen Miller and Marco Rubio’s agendas converged as Trump targeted Maduro

The New York Times reports: On a spring night in the Oval Office, President Trump asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio how to get tougher on Venezuela. It was just before Memorial Day, and anti-leftist Cuban American lawmakers whose votes Mr. Trump needed for his signature domestic policy bill were urging him to tighten a vise on Venezuela by stopping Chevron’s oil operations there. But Mr. Trump did not want to lose the only U.S. foothold in Venezuela’s oil industry,…

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House Republican: ‘You cannot be America first and pro-Russia’

House Republican: ‘You cannot be America first and pro-Russia’

The Hill reports: Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) said on Sunday that Russia’s strikes on civilian homes — including on Christmas — are a reminder to Americans that the war against Ukraine is at odds with America’s values. In an interview on ABC News’s “This Week,” the former House Intelligence Committee chair pointed to images of the destruction in Ukrainian cities and neighborhoods and said Russian President Vladimir Putin is “continuing to remind us that this is a war of aggression.”…

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A wealth tax proposed in California has billionaires thinking of leaving

A wealth tax proposed in California has billionaires thinking of leaving

The New York Times reports: Billionaires including Peter Thiel, the tech venture capitalist, and Larry Page, a co-founder of Google, are considering cutting or reducing their ties to California by the end of the year because of a proposed ballot measure that could tax the state’s wealthiest residents, according to five people familiar with their thinking. Mr. Thiel, 58, who owns a home in the Hollywood Hills and operates a personal investment firm from Los Angeles, has explored opening an…

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Bankruptcies are exploding across the U.S. economy

Bankruptcies are exploding across the U.S. economy

Business Insider reports: Bankruptcies aren’t just rising — they’re suddenly everywhere. From billion-dollar giants to mom-and-pop shops to everyday individuals, bankruptcies are piling up across the US this year, with large corporate bankruptcies already hitting their highest level in 15 years. The surge in bankruptcies highlights the growing financial pressures facing consumers and companies as costs climb amid a tougher borrowing environment. “Rising costs, tighter credit conditions, and ongoing geopolitical volatility continue to exert pressure on households and businesses already…

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GDP ‘nowhere near’ 4.3%: economist dismisses Q3 report as ‘fugazi,’ pegs real growth at 0.8%

GDP ‘nowhere near’ 4.3%: economist dismisses Q3 report as ‘fugazi,’ pegs real growth at 0.8%

Benzinga reports: While the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported a robust 4.3% annual increase in third-quarter real gross domestic product (GDP) on Tuesday, economist David Rosenberg is calling the headline number a “fugazi.” The president of Rosenberg Research argues that underlying economic weakness is being masked by government spending and depleted savings, calculating “true” growth at a meager 0.8%. The official BEA release shows widespread gains, with real GDP accelerating from 3.8% in the second quarter to 4.3%…

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Marco Rubio is using real censorship to fight fake censorship

Marco Rubio is using real censorship to fight fake censorship

Mike Masnick writes: The U.S. government just banned five people from entering the country because it doesn’t like their speech. This ban, according to the State Department, is necessary to protect free speech. If that sounds insane to you, congratulations on your reading comprehension. On Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s State Department announced the “Announcement of Actions to Combat the Global Censorship-Industrial Complex,” which will take “decisive action against five individuals who have led organized efforts to coerce American…

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Lobbyists close to Trump say their going rate to advocate for a pardon is $1 million

Lobbyists close to Trump say their going rate to advocate for a pardon is $1 million

The Wall Street Journal reports: President Trump had just awarded a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom for Charlie Kirk in October when his son ushered friends toward the Oval Office. As a string ensemble played in the background, Donald Trump Jr. walked up with lobbyist Ches McDowell to chat with the president. Trump Jr. at one point pulled McDowell forward to shake the president’s hand, according to a livestream broadcast. After they went inside, McDowell took the president aside to…

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‘It’s frightening’: How far right is infiltrating everyday culture

‘It’s frightening’: How far right is infiltrating everyday culture

The Guardian reports: The two men chop peppers, slice aubergines and giggle into the camera as they delve into the art of vegan cooking. Both are wearing ski masks and T-shirts bearing Nazi symbols. The German videos – titled Balaclava Kitchen – started in 2014 and ran for months before YouTube took down the channel for violating its guidelines. But it offered a glimpse of how far-right groups have seized on cultural production – from clothing brands to top 40…

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‘We ain’t seen nothing yet’ — Trump’s mass deportations expected to ‘scale up dramatically’ in 2026

‘We ain’t seen nothing yet’ — Trump’s mass deportations expected to ‘scale up dramatically’ in 2026

Wired reports: When Donald Trump won a second term as US president a year ago, members of violent militias and far-right extremist groups who had spent years boosting the lie that the 2020 election was rigged were ready to assist the president with delivering on one of his main campaign promises: mass deportations. “I’m willing to help,” Richard Mack, a former sheriff who founded the far-right Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, told WIRED at the time, claiming he was…

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How Trump upended the rules-based global order

How Trump upended the rules-based global order

Patrick Wintour writes: ‘The old world is dying,” Antonio Gramsci once wrote. “And the new world struggles to be born.” In such interregnums, the Italian Marxist philosopher suggested, “every act, even the smallest, may acquire decisive weight”. In 2025, western leaders appeared convinced they – and we – were living through one such transitional period, as the world of international relations established after the second world war crashed to a halt. During such eras, Gramsci more famously wrote, “morbid phenomena…

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War on Christmas: Trump announces wave of airstrikes targeting ISIS militants in Nigeria

War on Christmas: Trump announces wave of airstrikes targeting ISIS militants in Nigeria

The Intercept reports: President Donald Trump said the U.S. launched airstrikes in northwest Nigeria on Christmas night targeting ISIS militants and warning future attacks may follow. “Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!” Trump wrote Thursday on Truth Social. Africa Command conducted the…

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