News
Complied by Mike Hernandez, Dec. 12, 2025
There are so many stories making up the mosaic of national/international news that we can’t cover them all every week. The biggest stories now seem to be: Israel and Iran, the Trump presidency (lawfare and judges), immigration (migrants and illegals), wars, weaponization of government (the deep state) against Trump and conservatives, our nation’s debt, massive inflation, climate change controversy and related expenses of government, industry attempting to address these issues, the Chinese threat, national security, abortion, taxpayer cuts, Ukraine peace, and hatred and violence against Christians. Here are just a few:
December 8: Breitbart By Hannah Knudsen
U.S. Average Gas Price Dips Again, Under $3 a Gallon
The average price for a gallon of unleaded gasoline in the United States dipped again this week, now standing at under $3 per gallon, according to an update from GasBuddy. According to the December 8 update, gas prices fell 5 cents over the last week, now reaching $2.90 per gallon.
“The national average is down 17.6 cents from a month ago and is 7.3 cents per gallon lower than a year ago. The national average price of diesel has fallen 5.1 cents in the last week and stands at $3.671 per gallon,” according to the update, which noted that it gleaned its data from “12 million individual price reports covering over 150,000 gas stations across the country.”
Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said as a result that the U.S. is “now at multi-year lows heading into Christmas” and predicted that prices will stay low through the beginning of the new year.
An update on Monday from AAA also reflects the reality of an average under $3. According to its data, the national gas price average stands around $2.952. For greater perspective, one week ago the average stood at $3.001. One month ago, the average stood at $3.073. States across the south and midwest are seeing prices even lower. In Oklahoma, for instance, the average gas price rings in around $2.366. Texas’s average sits at $2.500, and Missouri is seeing an average of $2.608. Other states —including Florida, Alabama, Michigan, Ohio, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Montana, and others — are seeing averages under $3 per gallon.
Some of the highest states are typical coastal leftist areas. California, for instance, is seeing an average of $4.469 per gallon — $1.57 higher than the national average. Last month, President Donald Trump celebrated the strides his administration has made since last year’s elections, making living more affordable for the American people, with gas prices, groceries, and rental prices falling.
December 8: Breitbart By Amy Furr
Zohran Mamdani Tells Illegal Aliens In New York City How To ‘Stand Up’ To ICE Agents
New York City’s Democratic Socialist Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is telling illegal immigrants in his area how to “stand up” to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (ICE) agents. The news comes as President Donald Trump’s administration has been working to safeguard American communities from illegal alien crime and as federal officials have been arresting the “worst of the worst” criminal illegal aliens.
In a video posted Sunday, Mamdani talked about a recent ICE raid in Chinatown, adding when he officially becomes mayor he will protect all New York residents’ rights, the New York Post reported.
December 8: Western Journal By C. Douglas Golden
Megyn Kelly Confirms Deadly COVID Vax Reporting – ’10 Out Of 96 Reported Child Deaths Were Vax-Related’
Former Fox News host and SiriusXM broadcaster Megyn Kelly announced that she has confirmed reporting that President Donald Trump’s Food and Drug Administration may put a so-called “black-box warning” on COVID-19 vaccines after Biden-era data showed at least 10 minors died from myocarditis after receiving the jab. The move comes from Dr. Vinay Prasad, the FDA’s top vaccine official.
December 8: Mountain Top Times By Chriss W. Street
Trump Set For Supreme Court Unitary Executive Authority “Win”
Liberals are having a Hissy-Fit today over the probability that President Trump will triumph in overturning a 1988 Supreme Court 7-1 decision in Morrison v. Olson that drastically handicapped President Reagan, and every president since, from quickly implementing the agendas they ran on.
The Supreme Court heard arguments this morning in Trump v. Slaughter, related to President Trump’s attempt to remove Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter without “cause.”
The original Unitary Executive Theory (UET) interpretation of Article II of the U.S. Constitution claimed vesting all “executive Power” in the Executive Branch, so presidents could hold the “sole, singular authority over the entire Executive Branch.”
https://mountaintoptimes.substack.com/p/trump-set-for-supreme-court-unitary
December 8: Epoch Times By T.J. Mucaro
They Escaped Cuba, Now They Welcome Florida’s Move To Warn American Kids
The Florida State Board of Education, at the direction of state lawmakers, voted on Nov. 13 to add lessons on the history of communism to Social Studies standards for students in grades sixth through 12th for the 2026-27 academic year.
“Florida’s new History of Communism standards will ensure that students learn the truth about the brutal realities of life under communism and gain a deeper appreciation for the blessings of liberty that define our nation,” Commissioner of Education Anastasios Kamoutsas said in a statement at the time.
Just before the unanimous vote, education board member Layla Collins recalled a conversation she had with a man who fled socialism and was about to be a father. He told her that he, too, saw the growing favorable trend toward socialism within the United States and that it scared him. That conversation, along with her own realization of the growing trend toward communism across the country, pushed her to have a talk with her husband, then a state senator.
That talk would result in the writing and introduction of Senate Bill 1264, which Gov. Ron DeSantis signed in April 2024, tasking the Department of Education with adding the history and dangers of communism to its curriculum. The next step for Florida’s education leaders is to put the standards into textbooks and instructions to be implemented in the coming year.
December 9: Daily Caller By Nicole Silverio
Trump Implores Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito To Remain On Supreme Court
President Donald Trump urged Supreme Court Associate Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas on Tuesday to remain on the bench. Politico’s White House bureau chief Dasha Burns asked Trump during an interview on Politico’s “The Conversation” if he would like to see Alito or Thomas retire so he can appoint a younger conservative to the Supreme Court. Trump said that both of the justices are “fantastic” and that they should remain where they are.
https://dailycaller.com/2025/12/09/trump-conservative-justices-alito-thomas-supreme-court
December 9: Right Side Broadcasting Network By Dillon Burroughs
President Trump Rips European Union’s ‘Nasty’ Fine Against Musk’s X Platform
President Donald Trump on Monday blasted a decision by European Union regulators to impose a 120-million-euro fine against Elon Musk’s social media platform X, calling the penalty “a nasty one” and saying he did not understand the justification behind it.
The comments come as President Trump has sharpened his rhetoric toward European governments. In recent weeks, he has outlined a new strategy for the United States’ relationship with the EU, criticizing Europe for what he views as weak border controls, restrictive speech regulations and policies that hinder economic competition.
December 9: Epoch Times By T.J. Muscaro
Miami Elects Eileen Higgins As Next Mayor
Eileen Higgins was elected Miami’s next mayor on Dec. 9. The decision came in less than 30 minutes after the polls closed. The election was called by DecisionDesk HQ less than 10 minutes after polls closed at 7 p.m., giving her a nearly 20 percent lead after early voting and absentee voting. Her opponent, Republican Emilio Gonzalez, called her at 7:30 p.m., conceding the race.
While the election was officially nonpartisan, both major parties took clear sides, and Higgins became the first known Democrat to lead the city in nearly 30 years. She will also become the first female mayor of the only major city in the United States to be founded by a woman: Julia Tuttle.
The New Mexico native will also become the first non-Hispanic mayor in recent years. Unofficial numbers from Miami-Dade County Supervisor of Elections, she held a near-20 percent lead over Gonzalez: 59 percent to 41 percent.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/miami-elects-eileen-higgins-as-next-mayor-5955779
December 10: Breitbart By Kurt Zindulka
BBC Admits Spreading Fake News About President Trump’s Comments On Liz Cheney
The BBC has admitted “errors” in its reporting about critiques of Liz Cheney made by U.S. President Donald Trump, who has already threatened to sue the British public broadcaster for misleading edits. President Trump has said that he plans on suing the BBC for up to $5 billion. He said last month that he feels an “obligation” to do so because “if you don’t do it, you don’t stop it from happening again with other people.”
December 10: Epoch Times By Travis Gillmore
‘Rich Dad Poor Dad’ Author Warns Of Communism In Financial Institutions
According to Richard Kiyosaki, ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad’ author, communist ideologies are now ingrained in academia across the country, he said. “I teach capitalism, but our schools are taught by Marxists,” Kiyosaki said. “The problem is our school system; the communists are academics…our professors.”
Kiyosaki described the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank—established in 1913 with a goal of stabilizing the nation’s monetary supply following years of extreme volatility, and preventing panic—as a Marxist organization. “When the Fed came to America, it was the end of America—and our freedom is being stolen via our money,” Kiyosaki said. “As most people know, there’s a big movement to end the Federal Reserve Bank, because it’s not federal, it’s not a reserve, and it’s not a bank.”
Kiyosaki suggests that everyone study the history of the United States and the establishment of the IRS. He cautioned that taxes are vital components of communist systems and said that the United States “was founded as a tax revolt against Mother England,” with a long history of protesting taxation. He advises his accounting team to avoid taxes using every legal option available. “I’m a capitalist. I pay zero taxes legally,” Kiyosaki said. “I refuse to play that game because what those taxes are used for is to create wars. It’s tragic.”
Success in capitalist endeavors requires planning and an understanding of debt, finance, and how to use money to generate positive cash flow, he said. Leveraging equity to acquire more assets—by borrowing money when home values appreciate, for example, to buy more rental properties—is a method he said produced significant rewards throughout his career, although the process is little understood by those not involved in it. Kiyosaki built his empire by saving money to invest in hard assets, including residential and commercial properties, silver and gold, cattle ranches, oil wells, and other items.
December 10: Daily Caller By Tyler O’Neil
Trump Backs GOP Alternative To Obamacare Subsidies
President Donald Trump signaled his support Tuesday for a Republican alternative to the pandemic-era extra Obamacare subsidies Democrats championed during the government shutdown earlier this year. “Well, I like the concept,” the president said when asked about the bill, which Sens. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, and Bill Cassidy, R-La., unveiled Monday. “I don’t want to give the insurance companies any money,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One, Newsweek reported. “They’ve been ripping off the public for years.”
“The current system is not working to deliver health care at reasonable prices for everyday Americans,” White House spokesman Kush Desai told The Daily Signal in a statement Wednesday. “Democrats’ push to maintain these high prices by giving more money to insurance companies is not a real solution for President Trump.”
“The President has instead focused on lowering prescription drug costs by hammering out deals with pharmaceutical companies, as well as taking on waste, fraud and abuse in the system to deliver results for patients, and will continue to deliver policy solutions that lower costs in the healthcare market for the American people,” Desai added.
December 10: Epoch Times By Andrew Moran
Federal Reserve Cuts Interest Rates At Final Meeting Of 2025
The Federal Reserve followed through on a widely expected quarter-point interest rate cut at the final policy meeting of 2025. Members of the Federal Open Market Committee voted 9 to 3 to lower the benchmark federal funds rate to a new target of 3.5 percent to 3.75 percent.
December 10: Breitbart By John Binder
Minnesota: ‘Nearly Every’ Somali Household With Children Is On Welfare
More than 8-in-10 households headed by Somali refugees in the state of Minnesota are on one or more forms of American taxpayer-funded welfare, new data published by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) reveals.
The data, based on 10 years of data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS), shows drastic disparities between native-born American households and Somali-born households in Minnesota, where nearly 80,000 residents have Somali ancestry compared to zero who had Somali ancestry in 1990.
In particular, the data shows that 81 percent of Minnesota households headed by Somali refugees are on one or more forms of welfare, including 27 percent who are on cash welfare, 54 percent who are on food stamps, and 73 percent who are on Medicaid.
Compare this massive welfare use to native-born Americans residing in Minnesota, only 21 percent of whom are on one or more forms of welfare, including just 6 percent who are on cash welfare, 7 percent who are on food stamps, and 18 percent who are on Medicaid.
Somali refugees in Minnesota also tend to be vastly less educated than their Minnesotan counterparts. While only 5 percent of native-born Americans in Minnesota do not have a high school diploma, almost 40 percent of Somali refugees say the same, including more than 28 percent who have lived in Minnesota for more than 10 years.
December 11: Gateway Pundit By Joel Gilbert
Disqualification Scandal Grows! — Eric Swalwell Caught Using Attorney’s Address On Personal Disclosure Form
Congressman Eric Swalwell continues struggling to conceal the fact that he has not maintained a California home for the past five years, a constitutional requirement to run for Governor of California.
The controversy intensified last month following my revelations that Swalwell listed his Washington, D.C. house as his “principal residence” on legally binding mortgage documents, directly contradicting the residency qualifications under California law. As I reported in The Gateway Pundit, Swalwell’s own mortgage filings designate his D.C. home as his true residence. Under both the California Constitution (Article V, Section 2) and Elections Code, 349, this admission alone renders him ineligible for the office.
To run for governor, candidates must file California Form 501, the Candidate Intention Statement, with the Secretary of State. The very first section, “Candidate Information,” requires a real, verifiable home street address. This mandate exists to confirm identity, establish legal residency, and prevent fraud in the candidate qualification process.
Yet on his Form 501, signed under penalty of perjury on November 11, 2015, Swalwell listed his home address as “400 Capitol Mall, Suite 2400, Sacramento, CA 95814.” This is not his home address. It is the office of his attorneys at Greenberg Traurig, LLP, the same address (properly) used for his campaign committee on Form 410 but improperly used as a personal residential address on Form 501.
Swalwell represents California’s 15th District and lists Hometown: Livermore on his Congressional profile page. Using a document retrieval service called “Bay Area File”, I requested a property search in Alameda County public records for any property currently or previously owned by Eric Swalwell. They reported back no property records associated with this name. Nothing.
December 11: Breitbart By John Binder
HUD Investigation Reveals Biden’s Mass Migration Spiked Home Prices For Low-Income Americans
Former President Joe Biden’s record-setting waves of mass immigration to the United States sent home prices and rents surging for the lowest-income Americans, a newly published investigation from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) reveals.
The report, published annually by HUD, looks at “worst-case housing needs,” which is defined as Americans who are low-income but who do not receive government assistance or welfare and who pay more than one-half of their income toward housing costs.
“Between 2021 and 2023, cases of worst-case needs remained elevated at 8.46 million households, virtually the same as the 2019-to-2021 period,” the report details, pointing to Biden’s bringing millions of migrants to the U.S. as a critical factor in why and how so many low-income Americans became increasingly strained by housing costs:
One key cause of elevated worst case needs is immigration. Between 2021 and 2024, the foreign-born population of the United States increased by more than 6 million—the largest such increase over such a short period in American history. The foreign-born population now stands at more than 53 million individuals, making up the highest share of the American population in history. This immigration-driven increase in households has contributed to a significant increase in housing demand, thus driving up housing prices. In fact, in some markets, immigration has accounted for nearly all of the increase in housing demand in recent years.
This year’s report shows two realities. The first is that economic growth has been insufficient to lift the wages of low-income renting families high enough to make rent affordable. The second is that national macroeconomic policies, such as record immigration, have combined to drive sustained high rental demand, which has continued to place upward pressure on rent prices.
December 11: Breitbart By John Binder
Trump’s DHS Celebrates ‘Record-Breaking’ 2.5 Million Illegal Aliens Leaving U.S.
President Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is celebrating a “record-breaking achievement” in immigration enforcement, touting that more than 2.5 million illegal aliens have left the United States since the president took office in late January.
This week, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announced that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents had successfully deported more than 605,000 illegal aliens from the U.S. since January 20 — noting the majority are illegal aliens with pending criminal charges or criminal convictions.
In addition, Noem said almost two million illegal aliens have now self-deported from the U.S. during the same period, as she again encouraged millions more illegal aliens to do so using the agency’s “CBP Home” mobile app to secure a free flight and $1,000 stipend.
December 11: Gateway Pundit By Cristina Laila
President Trump Grants Tina Peters Pardon
Tina Peters, a Gold Star Mother who is in poor health, is now serving nine years in a Colorado state prison for challenging the 2020 elections. The left wants her dead. Tina Peters has been found guilty on state charges and is serving time in a state prison, so the presidential pardon will not result in her immediate release. Last week, a magistrate judge dismissed Tina Peter’s habeas corpus petition seeking an early release from prison.
“Today I am granting Tina a full Pardon for her attempts to expose Voter Fraud in the Rigged 2020 Presidential Election!” Trump said on Truth Social.
In October 2024, Tina Peters, the former Mesa County, Colorado, Clerk, was found guilty of three charges and sentenced to nine years in prison. She was jailed for preserving evidence from the 2020 elections that she was told to delete, despite laws to preserve records for a length of time.
December 12: Fox News By Alex Nitzberg
Duffy Threatens To Yank New York Federal Funds Over illegally Issued Commercial Driver’s Licenses
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned that the federal government will yank tens of millions of dollars from New York state if they do not “come into compliance” with rules pertaining to the granting of commercial driver’s licenses. Duffy indicated that the state has 30 days to get in line.
“Fifty-three percent of New York’s non-domiciled CDLs were issued unlawfully or illegally,” he said during a press conference on Friday.
December 12: RedState By Mike Miller
Whistleblower Warns Of Massive Fraud In Ohio’s Somalia Community
As the investigation into Minnesota’s estimated $1 billion welfare fraud continues to widen, another bombshell is breaking in Ohio. According to a credible whistleblower, a sprawling Medicaid scam rooted in Ohio’s Somali community has been ripping off taxpayers for years — possibly more than a decade.
Mehek Cooke, an Ohio attorney and conservative commentator, told Fox News Digital that “Minnesota was just the tip of the spear.” Cooke says multiple insiders have revealed how the fraud operates:
She said that providers within the Ohio Somali community have confided to her that they have been pressured to join in a “massive” Medicaid fraud scheme that involves doctors “rubber stamping” home healthcare payouts to the family members of elderly individuals for fake medical conditions.
She explained that scammers in the community have been exploiting a loophole in Ohio’s Medicaid program that allows individuals to receive Medicaid payments, totaling as much as $91,000 per year per individual, for care they are supposedly providing to a family member. Doctors who approve these payments in turn receive kickbacks themselves, according to Cooke.
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Mike Hernandez, is co-founder of the Citizens Journal–Ventura County’s online news service and writes for Citizensjournal.net and MountainTopMedia.com. He is a former Southern California daily newspaper journalist and religion and news editor, writer of “CaliRed News” on Substack.com and “Prayer Over News Daily” and edits the weekly “Stories Speak Volumes” and other columns. Mr. Hernandez mentors citizen journalists and can be contacted at MikeHernandezMedia.com.
