Holiday Season Begins with Murder Spree
Bondi Beach Massacre
Two gunmen opened fire on families celebrating the first night of Hanukkah at Sydney, Australia's Bondi Beach last Sunday, killing at least 15 people. The father-and-son attackers used long guns to target the gathering, with the elder suspect dying at the scene after being shot by police and his son remaining in critical condition. A local shop owner, a Syrian immigrant named Ahmed el Ahmed, tackled one of the gunmen and took his gun from him, likely saving many lives. The massacre has prompted Australia to announce measures to crack down on hate speech, and even stricter gun control than what they have already, including a national firearm registry and limitations on how long licenses remain valid.
”Brilliant” Physicist Kills Three at Two Universities
A masked gunman, later said to be a “brilliant” physicist, burst into a Brown University engineering department classroom during a final exam review session on Sunday, killing two students and wounding nine others. Police initially arrested a suspect who was later released.
50 miles away and two days later, Nuno Loureiro, a professor of nuclear science and engineering at MIT, was found dead from multiple gunshot wounds in his home near Boston. Loureiro was the director of MIT's Plasma Science and Fusion Center, and his research on how plasma behaves in magnetic fields helped inform the design of fusion reactors that could generate clean, nearly limitless energy.
Authorities struggled for several days to find a breakthrough in both cases until they reportedly saw a tip on Reddit from a homeless man who lived in the Brown University building, which led to the arrest of a suspect Thursday. Authorities say Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente, a 48-year-old Portuguese national, is the suspect in both murder cases. Valente has been described as a brilliant student and physicist himself, who briefly studied physics at Brown from 2000 to 2001 and notably graduated from a prestigious science university in Lisbon along with Loureiro, whom he allegedly later killed. Investigators discovered Neves-Valente's body in a Salem, New Hampshire storage unit with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Hollywood Horror
Influential and self-proclaimed atheist director Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer Reiner were found stabbed to death at their Brentwood, CA mansion on Sunday. Their 32-year-old son Nick has been booked for the murder and is being held on $4 million bail. Nick Reiner has publicly discussed his struggles with addiction and homelessness, which began in his early teens. Rob Reiner, 78, directed films including "When Harry Met Sally," "The Princess Bride," and "A Few Good Men." President Trump mocked the news of Reiner’s death on Truth Social, referencing Reiner's persistent criticism of him and claiming he died from a "mind-crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME."
International News
🛢️ Venezuela Oil Blockade: President Trump ordered a complete blockade of sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, targeting a shadowy fleet responsible for roughly 70% of Venezuela’s oil exports. The U.S. has now seized two sanctioned tankers near Venezuela. Venezuela has 17% of the world’s known oil reserves, or more than 300 billion barrels, nearly four times the amount in the United States.
🇭🇰 Lai Convicted in Hong Kong: Jimmy Lai, who spent decades criticizing China's rulers, was convicted of national security crimes in Hong Kong. In the years following China’s agreement with Britain to regain control of the island while allowing the existing capitalist and governmental system to remain unchanged, Hong Kong has slowly transformed, suppressing speech in a way that mirrors China’s approach.
🇹🇼 Taiwan Arms Deal: President Trump approved an $11.1 billion weapons sale to Taiwan, one of the largest U.S. arms packages ever for the island. The move takes a hard line against Beijing, which seeks control of Taiwan.
✈️ Travel Ban Expansion: The President more than doubled his travel ban list Tuesday, bringing the total to 39 countries facing full or partial entry restrictions, including new additions like Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Laos, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, and Syria.
🇵🇸 Gaza Strike: The Israeli military killed one of Hamas's top commanders on Sunday. Hamas claims the strike violated the existing ceasefire agreement.
🇸🇾 Syria Attack: Three Iowa National Guardsmen were killed in central Syria this week while providing security for Syrian Interior Ministry officials. The U.S. has begun retaliatory bombings of ISIS weapons installations in Syria.
📺 Trump Sues the BBC: The President filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC over their allegedly deceptive editing of his January 6 speech for a documentary. Two BBC executives resigned last month over the controversy.
📱 TikTok Sale: TikTok signed an agreement to divest its U.S. operations to a joint venture, with Oracle, Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi's MGX controlling 45%, valuing the American entity at approximately $14 billion. The deal closes January 22.
U.S. News
⚡️ Ford's EV Retreat: Ford is abandoning the all-electric F-150 Lightning and is pivoting toward hybrids and extended-range EVs, and plans to take nearly $20 billion in write-offs through 2027. The company aims for hybrids and EVs to comprise 50% of global production by 2030, up from 17% currently.
💰 Musk Returns to Fund GOP: Elon Musk has begun funding Republican congressional campaigns for the 2026 midterms, signaling his relationship with President Trump has recovered after their earlier split this year, and causing some to question the performative nature of the rift.
✍️ Executive Order Surge: President Trump has signed 221 executive orders so far this year, surpassing the 220 he issued during his entire first term and far exceeding President Biden's 162 total orders.
🔋 Trump Media Organization Combines with Fusion Energy Company: President Trump’s media company, which owns TRUTH Social, announced a $6 billion deal to combine with Tri-Alpha Energy, a cool fusion energy company.
💾 Data Center Boom: Nearly 3,000 new data centers are planned or under construction nationwide to power the AI revolution, adding to more than 4,000 already operating. Virginia leads with 1,258 total centers (current and planned), while Texas follows with 847.
🪖 Warrior Dividend: President Trump announced a $1,776 "warrior dividend" bonus check for active-duty service members with the rank of colonel and below, saying that tariff revenue would fund the payments.
👮♂️ FBI Leadership Change: Dan Bongino, the Deputy Director of the FBI, will step down next month.
🚀 NASA Confirmation: The Senate confirmed billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman to lead NASA after Trump withdrew and then resubmitted his nomination.
🌿 Cannabis Reclassification: President Trump signed an executive order downgrading marijuana from the most restrictive drug category, allowing more research though not legalizing it. Critics see the move as a step closer to legalization.
🔎 DNC 2024 Autopsy Scrapped: Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin announced the party will not release its formal review of the 2024 election, calling such a report a "distraction" from winning future races.
🗓️ New Federal Holidays: President Trump declared December 24th and 26th federal holidays via executive order, giving federal workers a five-day weekend. The change doesn't apply to state, local, or private sector employees.
🤖 Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year: The dictionary publisher named "slop" its 2025 word of the year, defining it as “digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence,” and said it reflected the “absurd videos, off-kilter advertising images, cheesy propaganda, fake news that looks pretty real [and] junky AI-written books” that have invaded social media feeds and the internet this year en masse.
