Sunday December 28th

Welcome to that beautiful dead zone between Christmas and New Year where time doesn’t exist — but if you’re reading this, it’s Sunday. We trust you survived the holidays: the dinner-table political rage bait, the “just one more, it’s Christmas” whiskey spiral, and the annual family debate over which Home Alone is better (it’s 2, and this is settled).

Next week won’t feel much different. Same twilight-zone energy, same calendar confusion — just fewer leftovers and a little more “I should probably get my life together” floating around.

We’ll be right here for it. And we’ll see you in 2026.

Politics & Policy

Apparently, adults are back in charge.

Trump locked in new agreements with major drugmakers to lower Medicaid prescription costs while pushing more pharmaceutical investment back onto U.S. soil — which is interesting, because we were told for years this was “literally impossible.”

Meanwhile, Hunter Biden surprised everyone by announcing he’s against open borders and illegal migration — a bold position from the guy whose last name has been defending the opposite for years.

And in California, a federal judge ruled that parents actually have a right to know if their child is expressing “gender incongruence” at school. Radical stuff, like… parenting.

Markets & Money

The U.S. economy grew 4.3% in Q3, absolutely steamrolling expert predictions of 3.2% and beating the prior quarter. This report was delayed, of course — because good economic news apparently needs extra review.

Inflation? Still not equal — and that’s not an accident. Conservative-led states are averaging 2.5% inflation, while liberal-led states are closer to 3%, thanks largely to energy and transportation costs. Turns out policies matter.

Gold and silver? New highs. Again. Precious metals keep ripping as investors grow uneasy about risk assets, AI bubble vibes, and uncertainty heading into 2026 Fed leadership. Shockingly, hard assets still work.

Business & Culture

Jim Beam is halting production at its flagship Clermont distillery for all of 2026. The broader whiskey industry is down hard: Canada hasn’t bought American spirits since March, exports are down 60%, and production has dropped by more than 55 million proof-gallons.

Add to that: only 54% of U.S. adults now say they drink alcohol, the lowest level in Gallup’s nearly 90-year history. Turns out when you tell people everything is bad for them, eventually they listen.

Elsewhere, Elon Musk took a public swipe at Waymo after a San Francisco blackout froze autonomous cars in intersections — while Tesla’s systems kept working. Silicon Valley confidence, meet real-world electricity.

And in Minneapolis, McDonald’s is locking its doors to keep out individuals deemed a “risk.” If that sentence doesn’t explain modern urban policy failure, nothing will.

Winners:

Self-Driving Planes — An aircraft successfully landed itself after an in-flight emergency using an “Autoland” system. The future arrived quietly… and competently.

One Person in Arkansas — A $1.8 billion Powerball winner emerged, choosing between generational wealth spread over 29 years or ~$835 million in cash. Tough call. Thoughts and prayers.

Losers:

DOJ IT Department — Used a “well-known” document reader to redact ‘those’ files. Took the internet about 5 seconds to crack it. Federal cybersecurity, everyone.

Florida Woman — Arrested after allegedly dunking someone else’s 6-year-old underwater during a resort pool fight. At the Gaylord Palms. On vacation. America is healing.

America Decides:

How You Voted Last Week: Interestingly, the top response at 42% was “Let’s wait for the trial and see the evidence before we start crowning podcasters as the new FBI Director.” Sensible. Refreshing. Even more telling? The next two most popular answers were No and Hell No. Only 10% checked “Yes, I believe the FBI.”

That’s not exactly a ringing endorsement of the official ‘Charlie Kirk’ narrative.

This Week’s Big Issue: Alright, honest moment. The holidays always seem to sneak up financially, even when you plan ahead. How are things looking on your end now that it’s wrapped up?

This is Minnesota, right now.
Billions bleeding out the door, “daycares” pulling millions, and somehow no one in charge noticed — or bothered to say anything.

One fake daycare. $1.9 million. Thousands more like it.

Imagine if this was called Trump Daycare.

And with more shoes about to drop… you have to wonder if Tim Walz is starting to listen a little harder for those federal agents knocking to “ask a few questions.”

A heated debate erupted online after influencer Christina Najjar, posed a simple question: would you rather earn $240,000 working in an office or $120,000 in a fully remote role? The video quickly went viral, racking up more than five million views and over 18,000 comments, with opinions splitting sharply across the internet.

Najjar noted she could tell the question came from a Gen Z user before even checking the profile — and she was right. The responses revealed a clear generational divide over work, money, and what people believe success should actually look like.

Translation: This wasn’t a career debate — it was a values test. One side chose double the paycheck. The other chose comfort and called it freedom.

A $400,000 shipment of live lobsters bound for Costco locations in Illinois and Minnesota was hijacked after being picked up in Massachusetts and never arriving at its destination. The shipment vanished somewhere between pickup and delivery, according to the logistics company handling the transport.

The company’s CEO says the theft appears to be part of an organized cargo crime ring using spoofed emails and burner phones to impersonate legitimate carriers and hijack high-value freight mid-route. The FBI is investigating the theft, though no arrests have been announced.

Translation: The criminals got away clean, the FBI is “looking into it,” and consumers will eventually pay more for seafood. The only thing missing is accountability.

Hopefully you watch the video above for context on this madness. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer is demanding answers from Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz after a viral video showed a so-called daycare center with misspelled signage — “Quality Learing Center” — no children present, and no visible activity, despite reportedly receiving up to $4 million in state funds.

The story exploded online as part of a broader scandal surrounding the Walz administration, which has already been linked to nearly $1 billion in alleged social services fraud, much of it centered in the Twin Cities. Some of those funds reportedly ended up connected to the Somali terror group Al-Shabab.

The daycare in question also racked up 95 violations from Minnesota’s human services agency between 2019 and 2023 — including missing child records and basic safety failures.

Translation: When a taxpayer-funded “learning” center can’t spell learning, has no kids, piles up violations, and still collects millions — that’s not incompetence. That’s the system working exactly as designed.

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Markets don’t wait — and year-end waits even less.

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Gold and silver investors are enjoying a dominant year as cryptocurrency markets continue to lag. Gold pushed above $4,550, hovering near record highs after setting more than 50 new records this year alone.

Silver has been even more aggressive, ripping past $75 per ounce and posting 150% gains year-to-date, driven by physical supply concerns and strong industrial demand. Platinum and copper have also surged to record levels. Meanwhile, bitcoin is down roughly 6% on the year, with ether sliding toward a 12% annual loss.

Even longtime crypto skeptic Peter Schiff couldn’t resist the moment, asking on X: “If Bitcoin won’t go up when tech stocks rise, and it won’t go up when gold and silver rise, when will it go up? The answer is: it won’t.”

Translation: When everything else is rising and crypto still can’t catch a bid, the “digital gold” pitch starts to sound a lot like marketing. Real metals don’t need a narrative — they just perform.

Amazon is cutting roughly 14,000 corporate roles as it restructures operations around artificial intelligence. In a memo to employees, senior vice president Beth Galetti said the cuts are meant to “reduce bureaucracy” and speed up Amazon’s shift toward AI-driven systems.

Affected employees will typically have around 90 days to find another internal role, depending on local laws. The move follows months of signaling from CEO Andy Jassy, who has repeatedly said advances in generative AI mean fewer people will be needed for many corporate functions. Earlier reporting suggested total cuts could eventually reach 30,000 positions.

Translation: This isn’t a slowdown — it’s a reset. AI isn’t “assisting” white-collar work anymore, it’s replacing it. Companies aren’t downsizing because business is bad. They’re doing it because technology finally made middle layers optional.

New research ranking the world’s “smartest” countries placed Switzerland first, followed by the United Kingdom, with the United States coming in third. The rankings were based on Nobel Prize nominations, average IQ, and higher education attainment.

The full top ten list includes Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Germany, Poland, Denmark, and Finland. While the U.S. didn’t take the top spot overall, it completely dominated Nobel Prize nominations with more than 5,700, the highest of any country analyzed.

Translation: America might not win academic beauty contests, but it still produces the ideas, the institutions, and the breakthroughs everyone else ranks themselves against.

More than 540 employees at a Louisiana-based manufacturer received six-figure Christmas bonuses totaling $240 million after their CEO refused to sell the company without taking care of his people. When Graham Walker agreed to sell Fibrebond for $1.7 billion, he made one condition non-negotiable: 15% of the sale had to go directly to employees.

The buyer, power management firm Eaton, agreed. As a result, workers began receiving payouts averaging $443,000, spread over five years — with long-tenured employees earning even more. Some thought it was a prank. Others cried.

Translation: This is what happens when leadership actually means something. No government program. No corporate slogans. Just a boss who understood that loyalty, productivity, and profit don’t have to be enemies — and proved it with checks, not speeches.

A federal judge rejected a legal challenge to President Trump’s $100,000 fee on new H-1B visas, ruling that the policy falls squarely within the president’s broad authority over immigration. The lawsuit was brought by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which argued the fee conflicted with immigration law and would force businesses to cut jobs and services.

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell wasn’t convinced. Her ruling clears the way for a massive jump from the typical $2,000–$5,000 cost per visa to six figures. The H-1B program, heavily relied on by tech companies, caps visas at 65,000 annually, plus 20,000 for advanced-degree holders.

Translation: Cheap foreign labor just got a lot less cheap. Companies that built business models around importing workers at a discount are about to feel it — and Americans competing for those jobs might finally get a seat back at the table.

Beginning in early January, paychecks are back on the table for defaulted student loan borrowers, as wage garnishment resumes for the first time since the Covid-era pause.

More than 5 million borrowers are currently in default, a number the department has warned could climb to 10 million. Beginning the week of January 7, roughly 1,000 borrowers will receive official wage garnishment notices, with that number set to ramp up quickly afterward.

Under federal law, the government can seize up to 15% of a borrower’s after-tax income, along with tax refunds and even portions of Social Security benefits. Borrowers must be left with at least $217.50 per week, the legal minimum tied to federal wage standards.

Translation: The payment pause is officially over. Student loans aren’t getting forgiven — they’re getting collected. And this time, the government isn’t waiting for you to log into a portal.

The Trump administration says it has now located more than 127,000 migrant children who went missing after entering the U.S. between 2019 and 2023. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said the minors were part of nearly half a million children who entered the country under Biden-era border policies and were subsequently lost track of.

According to Noem, many of the children were trafficked or placed into unsafe situations, and the administration is now working to reunite them with families or return them to safety. She credited renewed enforcement and accountability at Homeland Security for the progress.

Translation: Turns out “losing” hundreds of thousands of children wasn’t inevitable — it was policy. When adults take border enforcement seriously, kids don’t disappear into the system.

First things first: good for the winner.
No ill will. No bitterness. (Okay — a little jealousy. We’re still human.)

If you win $1.5 billion, congratulations. You bought the ticket, beat impossible odds, and earned every celebratory steak dinner, boat purchase, and awkward long-lost cousin call that follows.

That part’s fine.

What’s worth questioning is the system itself.

Because let’s stop pretending this is about improving lives or spreading opportunity.

If the real goal were prosperity, the math would look very different.

Instead of crowning one overnight billionaire, why not create 1,500 millionaires?

Same money. Exponentially more impact.

That’s:

That’s not envy. That’s arithmetic.

One person getting rich makes a great headline.
1,500 people becoming financially independent makes a stronger country.

And here’s where it gets uncomfortable.

Because when you step back, the lottery starts to look less like a wealth solution and more like a Truman Show–style control mechanism — a spectacle designed to keep millions watching, hoping, and buying tickets… instead of asking harder questions.

It sells the fantasy that escape comes from luck, not ownership.
That salvation comes from a moment, not a system.
That one winner proves “anyone can make it,” while everyone else stays exactly where they are.

If this were truly about wealth inequality, distribution would matter more than drama. But drama is easier. Drama is viral. Drama keeps people playing.

Independent people are harder to manage.
Financially secure people don’t wait to be saved.
They don’t need permission. They don’t need promises.

So we celebrate unicorn winners instead of building systems that create thousands of stable, independent Americans.

Again — nothing against the winner. Enjoy it. Seriously.

Just don’t confuse a televised miracle with a serious plan to improve people’s lives.

But what do you think?
Would you rather see one billionaire… or 1,500 millionaires?
Hit reply. We’re genuinely curious.