Links 12/24/2025 | naked capitalism

What Christmas Tamales Taught Me About Cooking Together Pax Culinaria

What rules govern Hallmark Christmas movies? Stephen Follows

An amateur codebreaker may have just solved the Black Dahlia and Zodiac killings Los Angeles Times

Climate/Environment

New ACEAS Explainer highlights risks of slowing global ocean overturning circulation Australian Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science

The Pentagon is hoarding critical minerals that could power the clean energy transition Grist

Further thoughts about the WA levee breach comms concerns – and how our current federal government reality is not helping Balanced Weather

Washington state officials warn of toilet rats after floods: ‘Try to stay calm’ The Guardian

Very concerning high resolution model data coming in showing over 20 inches of rain falling in the mountains of SoCal over the next 48 hours.

This would lead to potential catastrophic flooding and is exactly why a rare High Risk for flash flooding has been issued by the @NWSWPC. pic.twitter.com/JMAnCUgRt2

— Colin McCarthy (@US_Stormwatch) December 23, 2025

Pandemics

The Case for Masks Was Made a Century Ago Pandemic Pages

China?

From Alsatians to autonomy: China seeks home-grown edge in police dogs Straits Times

China Issues First Penalty for Starlink Use in Territorial Waters gCaptain

China Is Worried AI Threatens Party Rule—and Is Trying to Tame It WSJ

The Construction of China Warwick Powell

Syraqistan

Israeli defense minister vows no full withdrawal from Gaza, occupied Syrian territories Anadolu Agency

Israeli settlers rampage across West Bank as army raids intensify New Arab

Libya’s top military chief killed in plane crash in Turkey Turkish Minute

Africa

The Catastrophic consequences of the Global War on Terror in Africa Propaganda in Focus

Old Blighty

Protest Matters Jeremy Corbyn, Tribune Mag

BREAKING: Greta Thunberg arrested under the Terrorism Act for holding a sign which says “I support Palestine Action prisoners. I oppose genocide”

She was detained at the Prisoners for Palestine action at Aspen Insurance in London, insurers for Israeli weapons firm Elbit Systems. pic.twitter.com/3qBt3iRi9e

— Prisoners For Palestine (@Prisoners4Pal) December 23, 2025

European Disunion

US bans ex-EU commissioner, others over social media rules DW

Welcome to the EU dictatorship! Andrea Zhok

The new EU fascism explained by the German Foreign Office spokesman: pic.twitter.com/xEwbskgApQ

— Thomas Fazi (@battleforeurope) December 23, 2025

Germany’s far-right AfD accused of gathering information for the Kremlin Politico

A sharp change in rhetoric towards Russia indicates an imminent split in Europe:

First, Macron refused to support the European Commission’s decision to transfer frozen Russian assets to Ukraine, and now the Finnish president has admitted that Russia does not threaten Europe.… pic.twitter.com/ceiwFDSnsz

— Zlatti71 (@Zlatti_71) December 23, 2025

Finland raises reservist age to 65 YLE

New Not-So-Cold War

“What changed with the German Minister of Defense, and why did it change so fast?” Moon of Alabama

Russia to Win on the Ukraine Battlefield, Europe to Incite New Battles with Russia, the USA to Win the War for Global Hegemony Oliver Boyd-Barrett

***

Archive Lawsuit Opens Vladimir Putin Memcons/Telcons National Security Archive

Including classics that are still banging: pic.twitter.com/HWHLwU7hgW

— Dmitry Stefanovich (@KomissarWhipla) December 23, 2025

South of the Border

Coast Guard Pursuing Defiant ‘Bella 1’ Tanker as U.S. Blockade of Venezuela Runs Into Reality Reuters

US deploys special operations Aircraft and Troops to Caribbean Region Al Mayadeen

Venezuela accuses US of extortion; Russia and China criticise Washington’s conduct Channel News Asia

Former CIA Director Mike Pompeo names Halliburton as one of the US corporations poised to enter Venezuela and “support” the people there by extracting their oil.

The planned takeover is described as an effort to impose a “capitalist model” on Venezuela.

In 2003, Halliburton was… https://t.co/X0FNR4Vzt1

— Wyatt Reed (@wyattreed13) December 24, 2025

L’affaire Epstein

Congress’s Incredible Wexner Silence: Was MAGA a Joke for Mega? Sam Husseini

Newly released Epstein files include references to Donald Trump The Guardian

FBI says Epstein letter to Larry Nassar was a fake The Hill

Anyone going to bat for Michael Tracey at this point needs to be assiduously interrogated by a chainsmoking Stasi of Epstein Affairs officer until it is rooted out whether they are being a useful idiot or are willfully serving as Epstein nexus occluders. They’re aiding the ruling… pic.twitter.com/xAZxlylEYw

— ParaPower Mapping (@KlonnyPin_Gosch) December 24, 2025

Users on TikTok realizing they can just copy and paste the “redacted” text from Epstein file PDFs to read what it says pic.twitter.com/eboS6kOsqE

— Mike Rundle (@flyosity) December 23, 2025

Trump 2.0

Donald’s Deadly Sins The Sense of an Ending

Supreme Court blocks Trump effort to deploy National Guard troops to Illinois Politico

Trump administration to start seizing pay of defaulted student loan borrowers in January CNBC

Why Trump backs Bayer in Roundup weedkiller cancer battle DW

“Liberation Day”

Wall Street buying potential Trump tariff refunds for pennies on the dollar Reuters

US delays announcement of China chip tariffs until 2027 Straits Times

Democrats en déshabillé

Doing ideology the right way (pretending not to have one) https://t.co/27pADsF4Ov

— Matthew Sitman (@MatthewSitman) December 24, 2025

I cannot emphasize enough that Democrats were putting this man in charge of writing their version of Project 2025, their supposed north star for future policy priorities. And they did that *this year* https://t.co/8jaIlH16uS

— Lindsay Ballant (@lindsayballant) December 23, 2025

Our Famously Free Press

60 Minutes’s ‘Inside CECOT’ Unpopular Front

Imperial Collapse Watch

Chartbook 421: The end of American soft-power? From Coca-colonization to Fanta-ization Adam Tooze

Trump and his National Security Strategy: Is he turning US into a new East India Company? Firstpost

MAHA

HHS aims to accelerate healthcare AI adoption Becker’s Health IT

American food safety could be headed for a breakdown STAT

The MAHA base is in danger of fracturing as its agenda flails The Hill

Sports Desk

The Kansas City Chiefs Have Landed The Most Lopsided Stadium Deal In NFL History Huddle Up

Mr. Market

S&P 500 rises to a record close, lifted by tech shares CNBC

Economy

Consumer confidence slides in December as bad vibes about the economy persist Yahoo! Finance

Consumer spending drives fastest US economic growth in two years Semafor

Two takes on AI and the future of America Gary Marcus

How The AI Bubble Bursts In 2026 Ed Zitron

Tech groups shift $120bn of AI data centre debt off balance sheets FT

Antitrust