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EXCHANGE: COMEX
EXCHANGE: COMEX
CONTRACT: DECEMBER 2025 COMEX 100 GOLD FUTURES
SETTLEMENT: 4,529.100000000 USD
INTENT DATE: 12/26/2025 DELIVERY DATE: 12/30/2025
FIRM ORG FIRM NAME ISSUED STOPPED
190 H BMO CAPITAL MARKETS 34
363 H WELLS FARGO SECURITI 67
624 H BOFA SECURITIES 17
661 C JP MORGAN SECURITIES 127 14
905 C ADM 39
991 H CME 34
TOTAL: 166 166
MONTH TO DATE: 37,003
JPMORGAN STOPPED 14/166
GOLD: NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR DEC/2025: 166 CONTRACTs NOTICES FOR 16,600 OZ or 0.5163 TONNES
total notices so far: 36,837 contracts for 3,683,700 OR 114.578 tonnes)
SILVER NOTICES:69 NOTICE(S) FILED FOR 345,000 OZ/
total number of notices filed so far this month : 3,776 CONTRACTS (NOTICES) for 63.880 million oz
INITIAL STANDING FOR DEC: 49.33 MILLION OZ FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 255,000 OZ QUEUE JUMP PLUS ..850 MILLION OZ EXCHANGE FOR RISK LAST MONDAY THEN LAST TUESDAY’S .485 MILLION OZ/ AND THEN DEC 24/S 1.0 MILLION OZ EXCHANGE FOR RISK ( NEW TOTAL EX. FOR RISK = 2.335 MILLION OZ)///STANDING ADVANCES TO 66.230 MILLION OZ//
JULY: 50.925 MILLION OZ (QUITE SMALL)
AUGUST: 59.455 MILLION OZ (QUITE SMALL)
SEPT. 50.510 MILLION OZ.(QUITE SMALL)
OCT; 82.020 MILLION OZ (WILL BE STRONG THIS MONTH)/ OCC WANTS TO REIN IN THESE ISSUANCES!
NOVEMBER: 36.425 MILLION OZ
DEC: 39.405 MILLION OZ
AND JULY: 46.720 MILLION OZ//
AUGUST: 4.70 MILLION OZ INITIAL STANDING PLUS TODAY;S 5,000 OZ QUEUE JUMP //NEW STANDING ADVANCES TO 10.960 MILLION OZ
SEPTEMBER: 68.040 MILLION OZ NORMAL DELIVERY(INCLUDES ALL QUEUE JUMPING AND EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL TRANSFERS) PLUS 3.0 MILLION OZ EX FOR RISK = 71.040 MILLION OZ. (THIS IS THE FIRST AND ONLY ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK FOR SILVER SINCE MAY.)
OCTOBER: 39.565 MILLION OZ OF NORMAL DELIVERY INCLUDES ALL QUEUE JUMPING
PLUS
2.110 MILLION OZ EXCHANGE FOR RISK//TOTAL OZ STANDING IN OCT ADVANCES TO 41.675 MILLION OZ
NOVEMBER: INITIAL STANDING AT 11.575 MILLION OZ FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 195,000 OZ QUEUE JUMP WHICH FOLLOWS ALL OTHER QUEUE JUMPS OF 9.155 MILLION OZ//STANDING ADVANCES TO 19.670 MILLION OZ/
DECEMBER: INITIAL AMOUNT STANDING FOR DELIVERY: 49.33 MILLION OZ// FOLLOWED BY ANOTHER STRONG 255,000 OZ QUEUE JUMP+ DEC. FIRST EXCHANGE FOR RISK 0F .850 MILLION OZ + LAST WEEK.S 495,000 OZ EXCHANGE FOR RISK AND THEN FINALLY DEC 24 ISSUANCE OF 1.00 MILLION OZ EXCHANGE FOR RISK//NEW TOTAL EX FOR RIS IS 2.335 MILLION OZ // STANDING ADVANCES TO 66.230 MILLION OZ//
- MAY: SUMMARY FOR MAY TONNES WHICH STOOD FOR DELIVERY:
4. AUGUST: 60.547 TONNES OF INITIAL GOLD FIRST DAY NOTICE FOLLOWED BY THE NET MONTH’S QUEUE JUMP OF 47.2312 TONNES TO WHICH WE ADD THE FOLLOWING EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUANCE RECEIVED FOR THE MONTH: 5.4432 TONNES EX FOR RISK/AUG 7 , AUG 11: 2.413 TONNES EX FOR RISK AND AUG. 12 OF 2.637 TONNES EX FOR RISK//AUG 25: 9.107 TONNES , AUGUST 26: 9.1010 TONNES AND NOW AUGUST 27: 9.0699 TONNES//NEW STANDING ADVANCES TO 107.5117 TONNES OF GOLD NORMAL STANDING (INCLUDES ALL MONTHLY QUEUE JUMPS/EX FOR PHYSICAL TRANSFERS//) +44.696 TONNES EX.FOR RISK = 152.208 TONNES
5.SEPT: INITIAL 8.093 TONNES OF GOLD PLUS TODAY’S QUEUE JUMP OF 0.4883 TONNES PLUS 2.2827 TONNES OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK TODAY//NEW TOTAL EX. FOR RISK/MONTH = 22.923//NEW TOTAL STANDING FOR GOLD SEPT ADVANCES TO = 48.801 TONNES!!
6.OCTOBER: 90.012 TONNES OF INITIAL GOLD STANDING WITH TODAY’S TINY 0.00311 TONNES QUEUE JUMP WHICH FOLLOWS ALL OTHER QUEUE JUMPS DURING OCT OF 76.1656 TONNES
THEN WE MUST ADD OUR 14.553 TONNES OF OUR ISSUANCE OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK/6 OCCASIONS//NEW TOTAL OF GOLD STANDING ADVANCES TO 197.5141 TONNES OF GOLD.
7.NOVEMBER BEGINS WITH 15.651 TONNES INITIALLY STANDING FOR DELIVERY FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S QUEUE JUMP OF 2.323 TONNES FOLLOWED BY ALL PREVIOUS QUEUE JUMPS IN OF OF 21.3775 TONNES TO WHICH WE ADD OUR TWO EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUANCE OF 4.5596 TONNES//NEW STANDING ADVANCES TO 43.9716 TONNES OF GOLD.
8. DECEMBER BEGINS WITH INITIAL STANDING OF 83.813 TONNES OF GOLD FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 0.2363 TONNE QUEUE JUMP WHICH FOLLOWS ALL OTHER QUEUE JUMPS OF: 36.793 TONNES//NEW STANDING ADVANCES TO 115.257 TONNES TO WHICH WE ADD OUR THREE EXCHANGE FOR RISK FOR DECEMBER OF 3.110 TONNES/NEW STANDING ADVANCES TO 118.367 TONNES
NEW STANDING FOR GOLD, DEC CONTRACT AT 118.367 TONNES OF GOLD
JAN. 2025: 257.919 TONNES (ISSUANCE WILL BE PRETTY GOOD THIS MONTH BUT MUCH LOWER THAN LAST MONTH)
FEB: 207.21 TONNES//EX FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE (WILL BE A FAIR SIZED ISSUANCE THIS MONTH)
MARCH 130.84 TONNES//QUITE SMALL THIS MONTH.
APRIL; 208.57 TONNES. STRONG THIS MONTH
MAY: 113.499 TONNES OF GOLD EFP ISSUANCE//QUITE SMALL THIS MONTH
JUNE: 97.79 TONNES OF GOLD EFP ISSUANCE/EXTREMELY SMALL
JULY : 150.877 TONNES// QUITE SMALL
AUGUST: 175.86 TONNES A LOT LARGER THIS MONTH.
SEPT. 116.13 TONNES VERY SMALL
OCT. 252.72 TONNES//CERTAINLY MUCH LARGER THIS MONTH/VERY STRONG
NOV: 124.74 TONNES
DEC: 171.486 TONNES//GOOD SIZED THIS MONTH.
SPREADING OPERATION
NOW SWITCHING TO GOLD FOR NEWCOMERS, HERE ARE THE DETAILS
SPREADING LIQUIDATION HAS NOW COMMENCED AS WE HEAD TOWARDS THE NEW ACTIVE FRONT MONTH OF OCT. WE ARE NOW INTO THE SPREADING OPERATION OF GOLD
HERE IS A BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF HOW THE CROOKS FLEECE UNSUSPECTING LONGS IN THE SPREADING ENDEAVOUR ;MODUS OPERANDI OF THE CORRUPT BANKERS AS TO HOW THEY HANDLE THEIR SPREAD OPEN INTERESTS:HERE IS HOW THE CROOKS USED SPREADING AS WE ARE NOW INTO THE NON ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF NOV HEADING TOWARDS THE ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF FEB., FOR GOLD: AND MARCH FOR SILVER
YOU WILL ALSO NOTICE THAT THE COMEX OPEN INTEREST STARTS TO RISE BUT SO IS THE OPEN INTEREST OF SPREADERS. THE OPEN INTEREST IN WILL CONTINUE TO RISE UNTIL ONE WEEK BEFORE FIRST DAY NOTICE OF AN UPCOMING ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH (OCT), AND THAT IS WHEN THE CROOKS SELL THEIR SPREAD POSITIONS BUT NOT AT THE SAME TIME OF THE DAY. THEY WILL USE THE SELL SIDE OF THE EQUATION TO CREATE THE CASCADE (ALONG WITH THEIR COLLUSIVE FRIENDS) AND THEN COVER ON THE BUY SIDE OF THE SPREAD SITUATION AT THE END OF THE DAY. THEY DO THIS TO AVOID POSITION LIMIT DETECTION. THE LIQUIDATION OF THE SPREADING FORMATION CONTINUES FOR EXACTLY ONE WEEK AND ENDS ON FIRST DAY NOTICE.”
WHAT IS ALARMING TO ME, ACCORDING TO OUR LONDON EXPERT ANDREW MAGUIRE IS THAT THESE EFP’S ARE BEING TRANSFERRED TO WHAT ARE CALLED SERIAL FORWARD CONTRACT OBLIGATIONS AND THESE CONTRACTS ARE LESS THAN 14 DAYS. ANYTHING GREATER THAN 14 DAYS, THESE MUST BE RECORDED AND SENT TO THE COMPTROLLER, GREAT BRITAIN TO MONITOR RISK TO THE BANKING SYSTEM. IF THIS IS INDEED TRUE, THEN THIS IS A MASSIVE CONSPIRACY TO DEFRAUD AS WE NOW WITNESS A MONSTROUS TOTAL EFP’S ISSUANCE AS IT HEADS INTO THE STRATOSPHERE.
The crooks also use the spread in the TAS account (trade at settlement). They buy the spot TAS (e.g. June) and sell the future TAS two months out (e.g. August). Then they unload the front month (i.e. unload the buy side first so the price of gold/silver falls. This occurs in the middle of the front delivery month cycle. They unload the sell side of the equation, two months down the road. The crooks violate position limits as the OCC refuse to hear our complaints.
First, here is an outline of what will be discussed tonight:
1.TODAY WE HAD THE OPEN INTEREST AT THE COMEX IN SILVER ROSE BY A MEGA HUGE SIZED 2080 CONTRACTS OI TO 157,280 AND FURTHER FROM THE COMEX HIGH RECORD //244,710( SET FEB 25/2020). THE LAST RECORDS WERE SET IN AUG.2018 AT 244,196 WITH A SILVER PRICE OF $14.78/(AUGUST 22/2018)..THE PREVIOUS RECORD TO THAT WAS SET ON APRIL 9/2018 AT 243,411 OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS WITH THE SILVER PRICE AT THAT DAY: $16.53). AND PREVIOUS TO THAT, THE RECORD WAS ESTABLISHED AT: 234,787 CONTRACTS, SET ON APRIL 21.2017 OVER 7 YEARS AGO. HOWEVER WE HAVE NOW SET A NEW RECORD LOW OF 114,102 CONTRACTS JULY 3.2023
EFP ISSUANCE 104 CONTRACTS
OUR CUSTOMARY MIGRATION OF COMEX LONGS CONTINUE TO MORPH INTO LONDON FORWARDS AS OUR BANKERS USED THEIR EMERGENCY PROCEDURE TO ISSUE:
MAR 104 CONTRACTS and 0 ALL OTHER MONTHS: ZERO. TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 0 CONTRACTS. EFP’S GIVE OUR COMEX LONGS A FIAT BONUS PLUS A DELIVERABLE PRODUCT OVER IN LONDON. IF WE TAKE THE COMEX OI GAIN OF 2080 CONTRACTS AND ADD TO THE 104 E.FP. ISSUED
WE OBTAIN A MEGA HUGE SIZED GAIN OF 2184 OF OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS FROM OUR TWO EXCHANGES WITH OUR HUGE GAIN OF $4.88 THE RATS ARE FLEEING THE ARENA.
THUS IN OUNCES, THE GAIN ON THE TWO EXCHANGES TOTALS 10.920 MILLION PAPER OZ
OCCURRED WITH OUR GAIN IN PRICE.OF $4.88
OUTLINE FOR TODAY’S COMMENTARY
1a/COMEX GOLD AND SILVER REPORT
(report Harvey)
b, ) Gold/silver trading overnight Europe,//GOLD COMMENT
Peter Schiff)
c) Commentaries from: Egon von Greyerz///Matthew Piepenburg via GoldSwitzerland.com, Pam and Russ Martens
ii a) Chris Powell of GATA provides to us very important physical commentaries
b. Other gold/silver commentaries
c. Commodity commentaries//
d)/CRYPTOCURRENCIES/BITCOIN ETC
2.ASIAN AFFAIRS
SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 1.60 POINTS OR 0.04%
//Hang Seng CLOSED DOWN 183.70 PTS OR 0.71%
// Nikkei CLOSED DOWN 223.47 PTS OR 0.44%
//Australia’s all ordinaries CLOSED DOWN 0.30%
//Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) CLOSED UP TO 7.0053
/ OFFSHORE CLOSED UP AT 7.0017/ Oil DOWN TO 58.00 dollars per barrel for WTI and BRENT DOWN TO 61.83 Stocks in Europe OPENED ALL MOSTLY GREEN
ONSHORE USA/ YUAN TRADING UP TO 7.0059 OFFSHORE YUAN TRADING UP TO 7.0017:/ONSHORE YUAN TRADING BELOW OFF SHORE AND UP ON THE DOLLAR// / AND THUS STRONGER//OFF SHORE YUAN TRADING UP AGAINST US DOLLAR/ AND THUS STRONGER
YOUR EARLY CURRENCY VALUES/GOLD AND SILVER PRICING/ASIAN AND EUROPEAN BOURSE MOVEMENTS/AND INTEREST RATE SETTINGS MONDAY MORNING.7:30 AM
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A)NORTH KOREA/SOUTH KOREA
outline
b) REPORT ON JAPAN/
OUTLINE
3 CHINA
OUTLINE
4/EUROPEAN AFFAIRS
OUTLINE
5. RUSSIAN AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS
OUTLINE
6.Global Issues//COVID ISSUES/VACCINE ISSUES
OUTLINE
7. OIL ISSUES
OUTLINE
8 EMERGING MARKET ISSUES
9. USA
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1. COMEX DATA//AMOUNTS STANDING//VOLUME OF TRADING/INVENTORY MOVEMENTS
GOLD
LET US BEGIN:
THE TOTAL COMEX GOLD OPEN INTEREST ROSE BY A STRONG SIZED 4360 CONTRACTS TO 492,660 OI WITH OUR STRONG GAIN IN PRICE OF $39.15 WITH RESPECT TO FRIDAY’S // TRADING/ //COMEX CLOSING TIME:… WE LOST LITTLE NET LONGS, WITH THAT PRICE GAIN FOR GOLD. AND AS YOU WILL SEE BELOW, OUR GAIN IN PRICE ALSO HAD A SMALL NUMBER OF EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUED (172). WE HAD LITTLE T.A.S. LIQUIDATION FRIDAY (WITH MONTH END SPREADER LIQUIDATIONS CONTINUING FRIDAY WITH SMALL REMOVALS). IT SEEMS THAT THE SPECULATORS WENT MASSIVELY HUGE TO THE LONG SIDE WITH OUR FRBNY PROVIDING STILL THE NECESSARY PAPER AND OTHER CENTRAL BANKERS CONTINUING ON THE LONG SIDE .
YOU WILL NOTICE THAT THE COMEX OI IS NOW GAINING HUGELY FROM ITS LOW OI OF AROUND 418,000 TO NOW 492,660 AND NOW AMPLE ENOUGH FOR A RAID BY OUR BANKERS LIKE TODAY.
WE THUS HAD A TOTAL GAIN IN OI ON BOTH OF OUR EXCHANGES, THE COMEX AND LONDON’S EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL EQUATING TO 4532 CONTRACTS (OR 27.00 TONNES). THEN WE WERE NOTIFIED AGAIN OF A 0 CONTRACT EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUANCE IN GOLD CONTRACTS ISSUED FOR 0 OZ OR NIL TONNES OF GOLD. IN DECEMBER WE HAVE RECORDED 3 ISSUANCES OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK AS IT CAME LATE IN THIS MONTH. WE NOW HAVE 3 CHOICES FOR THE RECIPIENT OF THIS ISSUANCE AND IT MUST BE A CENTRAL BANK. YOU WILL RECALL THAT THE BUYER ASSUMES THE RISK OF THAT DELIVERY. (THUS TOTAL EXCHANGE FOR RISK FOR THE MONTH OF DECEMBER IS 3.110 TONNES/3 OCCASIONS)
HERE ARE THE CHOICES FOR THE RECIPIENT OF THOSE ISSUANCES:
1 THE CENTRAL BANK OF ENGLAND. BUT THEY RECEIVED CLEARANCE THAT THEIR GOLD IS BACK SO IT IS NOT LIKELY THAT THEY WOULD LIKE TO ADD TO THEIR RESERVES.
2. THE CENTRAL BANK OF THE USA: THE FED. LOGICAL CHOICE AS THEY CLAMOUR TRYING TO REDUCE THEIR 39 TONNES OF SHORTAGE.
3. THE CENTRAL BANK OF CHINA AS THEY BATTLE WITS WITH THE USA.
TOTAL EXCHANGE FOR RISK FOR DECEMBER IS 3.110 TONNES AND THIS WILL BE ADDED TO OUR NORMAL DELIVERY TOTALS..
DETAILS ON OUR NEW DECEMBER COMEX CONTRACT MONTH//
IN TOTAL WE HAD A STRONG SIZED GAIN ON OUR TWO EXCHANGES OF 4532 CONTRACTS DESPITE OUR GAIN IN PRICE. HOWEVER, OUR FRIENDLY PHYSICAL LONDON BOYS HAD ANOTHER FIELD DAY AGAIN THROUGHOUT OF THE WEEK AS THEY WERE READY FOR THE FRBNY.S CONTINUED ORCHESTRATED ATTACKS VERY EARLY IN THE COMEX SESSIONS AS THEY TRIED TO ABSORB EVERYTHING IN SIGHT FROM THEIR DAILY ATTACKS. LONDONERS EXERCISED THEIR BOUGHT CONTRACTS FOR PHYSICAL GOLD VIA THE EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ROUTE AND THANKED THE FRBNY AND OUR SHORT SPECULATORS FOR THE THOUGHTFULNESS. LONDON ANNOUNCED EARLY IN THE YEAR (AND SCARCITY CONTINUES TO THIS DAY) THAT THEY WERE OUT OF GOLD. WRONGLY IT WAS ATTRIBUTED TO THEIR SHIPPING PHYSICAL GOLD TO COMEX FOR STORAGE DUE TO TRUMP’S INITIATION OF TARIFFS. THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER IS THAT THIS GOLD LEFT LONDON TO OTHER CENTRAL BANKS, AND COMEX BANKS HAVE BEEN PAPERING THEIR LOSSES (DERIVATIVE) WITH KILOBAR ENTRIES.
THE LIQUIDATION OF T.A.S. CONTRACTS THROUGHOUT THE MONTHS OF JUNE THROUGH DECEMBER/ CONTINUES TO DISTORT OPEN INTEREST NUMBERS GREATLY ALTHOUGH THE T.A.S. ISSUANCES IN GOLD HAVE GENERALLY BEEN ON THE LOW SIDE COMPARED TO SILVER WHICH HAVE BEEN HUGE. TODAY’S NUMBER HOWEVER IS A FAIR T.A.S ISSUANCE CONTRACTS. THE CME NOTIFIES US THAT THEY HAVE ISSUED 1236 T.A.S CONTRACTS AND WILL BE USED FOR RAID PURPOSES TO STOP GOLD’S RISE AND TO TEMPER HUGE LOSSES IN OTC DERIVATIVE BETS AND IT WAS IN FULL FORCE DURING LAST WEEK AND CONTINUING ON THIS WEEK. IT SURE LOOKS LIKE THE BIS HAS GIVEN THE FRBNY ITS MARCHING ORDERS TO COVER AND THAT MAY EXPLAIN THE HUGE NUMBER OF T.A.S. ISSUANCES IN EARLY DECEMBER.
HERE IS A SUMMARY OF GOLD STANDING FOR DELIVERY ON OUR LAST 9 MONTHS:
- FOR APRIL AT 209 TONNES
2. AND THIS CONTINUED INTO MAY WITH FINAL STANDING AT 90.23 TONNES.
3. JUNE WHICH IS A HUGE DELIVERY MONTH , FINAL STANDING WAS RECORDED AT A STRONG 93.085 TONNES. //(TOTAL NET QUEUE JUMPING FOR THE JUNE MONTH: 31.027 TONNES.)
4. IN JULY WE HAD HUGE DELIVERY NOTICES ESPECIALLY FOR A NON ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH WITH INITIAL STANDING AT 17.947 TONNES PLUS MANY QUEUE JUMPS + 3.75 TONNES EX FOR RISK = 41.106 TONNES OF GOLD // FINAL TOTAL TONNES STANDING JULY: 41.106 TONNES
5. FOR THE MONTH OF AUGUST:
INITIAL AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING FOR AUGUST: 60.547 TONNES PLUS THE MONTHS HUGE QUEUE JUMPS OF 47.2312 TONNES +44.696 TONNES EX FOR RISK (7 ISSUANCES) //NEW STANDING 152.208 TONNES WHICH IS MONSTROUS!!!
6. FINAL AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING FOR SEPT; INITIAL STANDING; 2,602 CONTRACTS OR 260,200 OZ FOR 8.093 TONNES OF GOLD FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 0.4883 TONNES QUEUE JUMP TO GO ALONG WITH TODAY’S 1.244 TONNES OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUANCE TODAY AND // TOTAL EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUANCE SEPT: 22.923 TONNES//NEW TOTALS STANDING ADVANCES TO 48.801 TONNES OF GOLD!!!
7. OCTOBER:
OCTOBER: INITIAL STANDING FOR GOLD: 90.164 TONNES TO WHICH WE ADD OUR LATEST OCT 30 QUEUE JUMP OF 0.00311 TONNES WHICH FOLLOWS OCT 29 QUEUE JUMP OF .4096 WHICH FOLLOWS; OCT 28 QUEUE JUMP OF .5069 TONNES WHICH FOLLOWS OCT 27 OF 0.3048 TONNES WHICH FOLLOWS: OCT 24 OF 0.8615 TONNES, FOLLOWING OCT 23 QUEUE JUMP OF 1.695 TONNES OCT 22 JUMP OF 8.622 TONNES WHICH FOLLOWS OCT 21: 3.8600 TONNES TO OCT 20 QUEUE JUMP OF 7.695 TONNES WHICH FOLLOWED OCT 17 RECORD SETTING: 12.031 TONNE QUEUE JUMP WHICH FOLLOWED THURSDAY’S QUEUE JUMP OF 8.326 TONNES WHICH FOLLOWED WEDNESDAY;S 6.469 WHICH FOLLOWED ALL PREVIOUS QUEUE JUMPS OF 42.549 TONNES TO WHICH WE ADD OUR TOTAL 4679 EXCHANGE FOR RISK CONTRACTS ON 6 OCCASIONS FOR 467,900 OZ OR 14.553 TONNES.! TOTAL STANDING ADVANCES TO 197.511 TONNES OF GOLD
SUMMARY FOR OCTOBER STANDING:
THAT IS;
a) INITIAL STANDING 90.164 TONNES
b) INITIAL EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUANCE OF 500 CONTRACTS FOR 50,000 OZ OR 1.555 TONNES
c) ANOTHER 3 CONSECUTIVE EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUANCES OF 2150 CONTRACTS FOR 215000 OZ OR 6.687 TONNES
D) AFTER A ONE DAY HIATUS, A 5TH ISSUANCE FOR 1000 CONTRACTS //100,000 OZ OR 3.1104 TONNES
E) AFTER A TWO WEEK HIATUS: ITS 6TH ISSUANCE FOR 1029 CONTRACTS/102,900 OZ OR 3.200 TONNES
TOTAL EXCHANGE FOR RISK OCT 6 OCCASIONS: 14.553 TONNES
TO WHICH WE ADD ALL OUR QUEUE JUMPING IN OCT: TOTAL MONTH;: 92.7648 TONNES
(ALL OF THESE QUEUE JUMPS ARE REPRESENTED BY CENTRAL BANKS DESPERATELY ADDING TO THEIR OFFICIAL RESERVES)
EQUALS
197.5141 TONNES OF GOLD!!
END
8. NOVEMBER:TOTAL TONNES STANDING INCLUDING ALL QUEUE JUMPS AND EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUANCE:
INITIAL GOLD STANDING AT THE COMEX IS 5032 CONTRACTS OR 503,200 OZ (15.651 TONNES) FOLLOWED BY ITS TODAY’S QUEUE JUMP OF 2.323 TONNES/ FOLLOWED BY ALL NOVEMBER QUEUE JUMPS OF 21.3775 TONNES TO WHICH WE ADD OUR SECOND EXCHANGE FOR RISK OF 1016 CONTRACTS FOR 101600 OZ OR 3.165 TONNES TO OUR FIRST EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUANCE OF 1.3966 TONNES/// NEW EXCHANGE FOR RISK: 4.5595 TONNES//NEW TOTAL GOLD STANDING IN NOVEMBER ADVANCES TO 43.9716 TONNES
9. DECEMBER: INITIAL AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING FOR DELIVERY: 83.813 TONNES OF GOLD FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 0.2363 TONNES OF QUEUE JUMP WHICH FOLLOWS ALL OTHER NET QUEUE JUMPING OF 36.793 TONNES//STANDING ADVANCES TO 115.257 TONNES TO WHICH WE ADD OUR THREE ISSUANCES OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK OF 3.110 TONNES/NEW STANDING IS THUS: 118.367 TONNES.
THE FED IS THE OTHER MAJOR SHORT OF AROUND 39+ TONNES OF GOLD OWING TO THE B.I.S. THE OCC ORDERED THE BANKS TO COVER THEIR GOLD LOSSES FROM OCC BETS. THIS IS SUCH A SMALL FRACTION OF WHAT IS OWED!!! THE FRBNY BORROWED GOLD FROM THE BIS TO COVER THOSE HUGE LOSSES OF AROUND 39 TONNES OF GOLD.. THE FED IS VERY WORRIED ABOUT WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO GOLD PRICES IF THEY DO NOT BORROW THIS GOLD. SO IT IS POSSIBLE THAT THE FED IS THE BUYER OF 1.244 TONNES OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK/DECEMBER!!
THE MAJOR FOUR OR FIVE BANKS ARE ALSO WORRIED ABOUT THEIR HUGE PRECIOUS METAL DERIVATIVE SHORT EXPOSURE (NORTH OF ONE TRILLION DOLLARS) AND THIS IS PROBABLY THE MAJOR REASON FOR GOLD/SILVER’S RISE THESE PAST SEVERAL MONTHS. THEY ARE TOTALLY TRAPPED., AND THEIR FAILURE TO STOP OTHER CENTRAL BANK PURCHASES OF PHYSICAL GOLD IS THE MAJOR ISSUE OF THE DAY. IT SURE DOES LOOK LIKE THE BIS HAS NOW GIVEN THE FED ITS MARCHING ORDERS TO COVER ITS PHYSICAL GOLD SHORT AS THEIR OUTSTANDING LOAN OF 39+ TONNES REMAIN ON THE BOOKS OF THE BIS AND THE END OF THE YEAR IS APPROACHING.
THE FRBNY IS STILL NON COMPLIANT WITH RESPECT TO BASEL III BUT IT IS NOT NECESSARY FOR THEM TO BE COMPLIANT ONLY COMMERCIAL BANKERS MUST BE.
OUR PHYSICAL LONDONERS BOUGHT NEW MASSIVE QUANTITIES OF LONGS AT ANY PRICE AND THIS GOLD BOUGHT WILL BE TENDERED FOR PHYSICAL ON A T + ???? BASIS. BECAUSE GOLD IS BASEL III COMPLIANT, GOLD IS SUPPOSED BE DELIVERED IN A VERY TIMELY ONE DAY. CENTRAL BANKS AROUND THE WORLD, BEING REPRESENTED BY OUR LONDONERS, ARE THE REAL PURCHASERS OF THIS GOLD.
EUROPE IS NOW BASEL III COMPLIANT. THE WEST ( COMEX) IS NOW COMPLIANT EFFECTIVE JULY 1//2025.
THE PROBLEM FOR THOSE PROVIDING THE SHORT PAPER IS THE SHOCK TO THEM ON RECEIVING NOTICE THAT THE LONGS WANT THE PHYSICAL GOLD AS THEY TENDER FOR THAT SHINY YELLOW METAL. THE HIGH LIQUIDATION OF OUR TWO SPREADERS: 1) THE MONTH END SPREADERS AND 2. T.A.S DURING THESE PAST SEVERAL WEEKS IS SURELY DISTORTING COMEX OPEN INTEREST BUT THAT DOES NOT STOP LONDON’S ACCUMULATION OF PHYSICAL! YOU CAN ALSO VISUALIZE THAT PERFECTLY WITH THE HUGE AMOUNTS OF QUEUE JUMPING ORCHESTRATED BY CENTRAL BANKERS BOLTING AHEAD OF ORDINARY LONGS AS THEIR NEED FOR PHYSICAL IS GREAT AS THEY SCOUR THE PLANET LOOKING FOR GOLD, AND THE MASSIVE AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING EACH AND EVERY MONTH
EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE/DEC.//BORROWINGS FROM THE FRBNY:
THE CME REPORTS THAT THE BANKERS ISSUED A TINY SIZED EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL OF 172 CONTRACTS.
THAT IS A TINY SIZED 172 EFP CONTRACT WAS ISSUED: : /FEB 172 & ZERO FOR ALL OTHER MONTHS:
TOTAL EFP ISSUANCE: 172 CONTRACT. THESE EFP;S CIRCLE AROUND LONDON ON A 13 DAY BASIS AND ARE NOW USED BY GLOBAL CENTRAL BANKS TO EXERCISE FOR PHYSICAL GOLD WITH THE OBLIGATION TO DELIVER BEING FORCED ONTO COMEX BANKS. THE GOLD GENERALLY DELIVERED COMES FROM LONDON BUT THEY ARE OUT!! THUS COMEX BECOMES THE MAJOR SOURCE FOR OUR CENTRAL BANKERS. THE REGULATORY BODY THAT IS SUPPOSE TO CONTROL THESE EFP’S IS THE O.C.C. HEADQUARTERED IN BOTH LONDON AND WASHINGTON. SEEMS NOW THAT THE OCC IS CLAMPING DOWN ON THIS EFP’S CIRCLING AROUND IN LONDON AS THEY ORDERED THE BULLION BANKS TO COVER MUCH OF THEIR DERIVATIVE BETS ON THESE CONTRACTS!! THUS THE FRBNY SAVED OUR BULLION BANKS FROM EXTINCTION WITH THIS BORROWED GOLD FROM THE BIS OF 39 TONNES
WE HAD :
- LITTLE LIQUIDATION OF OUR T.A.S. SPREADERS DURING THE COMEX SESSION + BUT DID HAVE CONSIDERABLE GOVERNMENT LIQUIDATION
- MONTH END SPREADERS HAVE NOW COMMENCED!…
T.A.S.SPREADER ISSUANCE//DECEMBER
AS PER OUR NEWBIE TRADE AT SETTLEMENT (TAS) MANIPULATION OPERATION (WHICH CRAIG HEMKE HAS POINTED OUT HAPPENS USUALLY DURING MID MONTH IN THE DELIVERY CYCLE), BUT NOW ON A DAILY BASIS, THE CME REPORTS THAT THE TOTAL T.A.S. ISSUANCE FOR FRIDAY NIGHT//SATURDAY MORNING WAS A FAIR SIZED 1211 CONTRACTS
THE RAIDS WHETHER ON OPTIONS EXPIRY MONTH OR T.A.S. DRIVEN, ACCOMPLISHES TWO IMPORTANT ASPECTS FOR OUR CROOKS:
- STALLS THE ADVANCE IN PRICE
- LOWERS THEIR ADVANCING DERIVATIVE LOSSES.
THAT SET UP FRIDAY’S GAIN IN PRICE IN GOLD WITH A CORRESPONDING STRONG GAIN OF COMEX OI AND A SMALL EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL ISSUANCE..ENOUGH FODDER FOR THE COMMENCEMENT OF A RAID
.
THE COMEX IS IN TOTAL TURMOIL ESPECIALLY THESE PAST 6 MONTHS WITH THE FOLLOWING;
- WITH JULY’S RARE TWO ISSUANCES OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK (LATE IN JULY)
- AND THIS WAS FOLLOWED WITH AUGUST’S 7 ISSUANCES OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK FOR 44.696 TONNES
- TO BE FOLLOWED BY SEPTEMBER’S 7 ISSUANCES FOR EXCHANGE FOR RISK FOR 22.923 TONNES.
- TO BE FOLLOWED BY OCTOBER’S 6 ISSUANCES FOR 14.553 TONNES
- TO BE FOLLOWED BY NOVEMBER’S TWO ISSUANCES FOR 4.5575 TONNES
- THE LONDON BANKING AUDITORS HAVE SO FAR REFUSED TO GIVE CERTIFICATION ON THE BANK OF ENGLAND’S SISTER HOLDING OPERATION, THE E.E.A. ON ITS GOLD AND OTHER ASSETS HELD UNDER THE E.E.A.(SEE ROBERT LAMBOURNE’S LETTER OCT 8/
- FRBNY BORROWS ANOTHER 24 TONNES OF GOLD FROM THE BIS IN OCT TO SAVE THE BULLION BANKS FROM EXTINCTION AFTER THE O.C.C ORDERED THE BULLION BANKS TO BE ONSIDE WITH THEIR DERIVATIVES. THE FRBNY IS NOW SHORT 54+ TONNES OF GOLD.
- MASSIVE REMOVAL OF COMEX CONTRACTS FROM PRELIMINARY OI TO FINAL OI//RECORD 33,000 CONTRACTS REMOVED FRIDAY NOV 21//
- MASSIVE T.A.S. CONTRACTS ISSUED FOR 5 CONSECUTIVE DAYS/SIGNALLING A MASSIVE RAID TO BE!
- MASSIVE RAIDS AT THE COMEX CALLED UPON EVERY OTHER DAY LAST WEEK
JAN 2025:
113.30 TONNES (WHICH INCLUDES 43.408 TONNES EX FOR RISK)
FEB: 2025:
256.607 TONNES (WHICH INCLUDES 18.4567 TONNES OF EX FOR RISK)
MARCH:
STANDING FOR GOLD : 60.33 TONNES + 7.6179 TONNES EX FOR RISK = 67.9479 TONNES WHICH IS EXTREMELY HIGH FOR A NON DELIVERY MONTH.
APRIL:
FINAL STANDING FOR GOLD: 201.573 TONNES + 8.3571 TONNES EX FOR RISK = 209.953 TONNES
MAY: FINAL STANDING 90.235 TONNES WHICH INCLUDES QUEUE JUMPING AND 9.591 TONNES EX FOR RISK.
JUNE: FINAL STANDING 62.534 TONNES PLUS 0.1493TONNES OF QUEUE JUMP EQUALS 93.085 TONNES
JULY: 17.947 TONNES INITIAL STANDING FIRST DAY NOTICE PLUS TODAY’S 0 TONNES QUEUE JUMP + 1.555 TONNES EX FOR RISK/PRIOR + 2.195 EX FOR RISK TODAY = = 41.106 TONNES
AUGUST:INITIAL AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING: 60.547 TONNES TO WHICH WE ADD OUR 7 MONTHLY ISSUANCES OF: EXCHANGE FOR RISK TOTALLING 44.696 TONNES//NEW STANDING ADVANCES AS FOLLOWS:
107.5117 TONNES NORMAL DELIVERIES (INCLUDES ALL QUEUE JUMPS /EXCHANGE FOR PHYSICAL TRANSFERS) +
5.4432 TONNES EXCHANGE FOR RISK/PRIOR/AUGUST 7
2.413 TONNES EXCHANGE FOR RISK AUGUST 11
PLUS 2.637 TONNES EX FOR RISK AUGUST 12
PLUS: 9.107 TONNES EX FOR RISK AUGUST 25
PLUS 9.1010 TONNES EX FOR RISK AUGUST 26!!
PLUS 9.0699 TONNES EX FOR RISK AUGUST 27
PLUS 6.923 TONNES EX. FOR RISK/AUGUST 28
MONTHLY TOTAL 44.696 TONNES EXCHANGE FOR RISK!MONTH OF AUGUST.
EQUALS
152.208 TONNES TONNES OF GOLD.
SEPT:
SEPT: 25.878 TONNES OF GOLD INITIAL GOLD STANDING TO WHICH WE ADD OUR 22.923 TONNES OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUED 7 TIMES DURING THE MONTH:
TOTAL EX FOR RISK// FOR MONTH = 22.923//NEW TOTALS FOR GOLD STANDING SEPT ADVANCES TO 48.801 TONNES
THIS IS HUGE FOR A GENERALLY WEAK SEPTEMBER DELIVERY MONTH.
OCTOBER: INITIAL AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING: 90.164 TONNES OF GOLD FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S TINY 0.00311 TONNES QUEUE JUMP WHICH FOLLOWS ALL PREVIOUS QUEUE JUMPS OF 76.1656 TONNES WHICH MUST BE ADDED TO OUR 6 ISSUANCES OF 14.553 TONNES EXCHANGE FOR RISK//TOTAL NEW STANDING FOR GOLD IN THIS ACTIVE OCTOBER DELIVERY MONTH ADVANCES TO 197.5141 TONNNES.
NOVEMBER WHERE INITIAL AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING IS REGISTERED AT 15.651 TONNES OF GOLD FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S QUEUE JUMP OF 2 TONNES AND FOLLOWED BY ALL OTHER NOV QUEUE JUMPS OF 21.3775 TONNES TO WHICH WE ADD OUR TWO EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUANCE FOR 4.5596 TONNES.
/STANDING ADVANCES TO 43.9716 TONNES OF GOLD.
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DECEMBER: INITIAL AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING FOR DELIVERY IN THIS ACTIVE MONTH IS 83.813 TONNES FOLLOWED BY TODAY’S 0.2363 TONNES QUEUE JUMP. THIS FOLLOWS ALL OTHER QUEUE JUMPING: 36.793 TONNES//NEW STANDING ADVANCES TO 115.257 TONNES TO WHICH WE ADD OUR THREE EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUANCE OF 3.110 TONNES//NEW STANDING THUS INCREASES TO 118.367 TONNES
HERE ARE THE AMOUNTS THAT STOOD FOR DELIVERY IN THE PRECEDING 48 MONTHS 2021-2024
DEC 2021: 112.217 TONNES
NOV. 8.074 TONNES
OCT. 57.707 TONNES
SEPT: 11.9160 TONNES
AUGUST: 80.489 TONNES
JULY 7.2814 TONNES
JUNE: 72.289 TONNES
MAY 5.77 TONNES
APRIL 95.331 TONNES
MARCH 30.205 TONNES
FEB ’21. 113.424 TONNES
JAN ’21: 6.500 TONNES.
TOTAL YEAR 2021 (JAN- DEC): 601.213 TONNES
YEAR 2022: STANDING FOR GOLD/COMEX
JANUARY 2022 17.79 TONNES
FEB 2022: 59.023 TONNES
MARCH: 36.678 TONNES
APRIL: 85.340 TONNES FINAL.
MAY: 20.11 TONNES FINAL
JUNE: 74.933 TONNES FINAL
JULY 29.987 TONNES FINAL
AUGUST:104.979 TONNES//FINAL
SEPT. 38.1158 TONNES
OCT: 77.390 TONNES/ FINAL
NOV 27.110 TONNES/FINAL
Dec. 64.000 tonnes
(TOTAL YEAR 656.076 TONNES)
JAN/2023: 20.559 tonnes
FEB 2023: 47.744 tonnes
MAR: 19.0637 TONNES
APRIL: 75.676 tonnes
MAY: 19.094 TONNES + 1.244 tonnes of exchange for risk = 20.338
JUNE: 64.354 TONNES
JULY: 10.2861 TONNES
AUGUST: 38.855 TONNES(INCLUDING .6842 EXCHANGE FOR RISK)
SEPT: 15.281 TONNES FINAL
OCT. 35.869 TONNES + 1.665 EXCHANGE FOR RISK =37.0355 tonnes
NOV: 18.7122 TONNES + 16.2505 EX. FOR RISK = 34.9627 TONNES
DEC. 47.073 + 4.634 TONNES OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK = 51.707 TONNES
TOTAL 2023 YEAR : 436.546 TONNES
2024/STANDING FOR GOLD/COMEX
JAN ’24. 22.706 TONNES
FEB. ’24: 66.276 TONNES (INCLUDES 1.723 TONNES EX. FOR RISK)
MARCH: 18.8398 TONNES + 1.1695 EX FOR RISK = 20.093 TONNES
APRIL: 2024: 53.673TONNES FINAL
MAY/ 2024 8.5536 TONNES + 3.3716 TONNES EX FOR RISK/= 11.9325
JUNE; 95.578 TONNES. + 1.045 TONNES EXCHANGE FOR RISK =96.623 THIS IS THE HIGHEST RECORDED GOLD STANDING SINCE AUGUST 2022
JULY: 11.692 TONNES
AUGUST 69.602 TONNES//FINAL STANDING
SEPT. 13.164 TONNES.
OCT 39.474 TONNES + + 20.917 TONNES EXCHANGE FOR RISK =60.391 TONNES
NOV . 11.265 TONNES +4.665 TONNES EXCHANGE FOR RISK/TUESDAY + 3.11 TONNES OF EX. FOR RISK/PRIOR = 19.0425 TONNES
DEC: 80.4230 TONNES PLUS DEC MONTH EXCHANGE FOR RISK TOTAL 14.6836 TONNES EQUALS 95.1066 TONNES
total year 2024: 540.30 tonnes
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COMEX GOLD TRADING BEGINNING DECEMBER,. CONTRACT;
THE SPECS/HFT WERE UNSUCCESSFUL IN LOWERING GOLD’S PRICE( IT ROSE BY $39.15/ /)
WE HAD ZERO T.A.S. SPREADER LIQUIDATION FRIDAY WITH MINOR MONTH END SPREADER LIQUIDATION// COMEX SESSION// WITH OUR GAIN IN PRICE ////.. BUT OUR SPECULATORS REMAIN RELENTLESS POURING INTO THE COMEX// WITH OTHER EASTERN CENTRAL BANKS TENDERING FOR PHYSICAL TUESDAY NIGHT WHICH ALSO EXPLAINS THE HUGE NUMBER OF TONNES OF GOLD STANDING FOR DECEMBER. THE COMEX IS ONE BIG MESS!!
FRIDAY NIGHT//SATURDAY MORNING
THE CROOKS HOWEVER COULD NOT STOP OTHER CENTRAL BANK LONGS, SEIZING THE MOMENT, THEY EXERCISED AGAIN FOR PHYSICAL IN A BIG WAY TENDERING FOR PHYSICAL FRIDAY EVENING/SATURDAY MORNING AND THUS OUR HUGE NUMBER OF GOLD CONTRACTS STANDING FOR DELIVERY AT THE COMEX. CENTRAL BANKERS WAIT PATIENTLY FOR THE GOLD
A LITTLE REVIEW OF GOLD STANDING THESE PAST 3 MONTHS:
STANDING FOR GOLD OCT THROUGH TO DECEMBER:
- ANALYSIS// OCT DELIVERY MONTH GOING FROM FIRST DAY NOTICE// OCT COMEX CONTRACT TO FINALIZATION OCT 31:
OCT AT 90.164 TONNES TO BE FOLLOWED BY ALL PREVIOUS QUEUE JUMPS OF 75.696 TONNES WHICH WE ADD OUR 14.553 TONNES EX FOR RISK/6 OCCASIONS:
/ TOTAL STANDING 197.551 TONNE/OCTOBER FINAL//ABSOLUTELY A MONSTER DELIVERY FOR A NORMALLY QUIET OCT MONTH
2. AND NOW NOVEMBER:
NOVEMBER BEGINS WITH A HUGE 15.651 TONNES INITIALLY STANDING FOR DELIVERY FOLLOWED BY OUR TODAY’S QUEUE JUMP OF 2.323 TONNES WHICH FOLLOWED ALL OTHER NOVEMBER QUEUE JUMPS OF 21.3775 TONNES TO WHICH WE ADD OUR TWO ISSUANCES OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK OF 4.5596 TONNES..
NEW STANDING ADVANCES TO 43.9716 ONNES OF GOLD.
3. AND NOW DECEMBER:
3. DECEMBER: INITIAL AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING FOR DELIVERY: 83.813 TONNES FOLLOWED BY A 76 CONTRACT QUEUE JUMP FOR 7600 OZ OR 0.2363 TONNES WHICH FOLLOWS OTHER DEC QUEUE JUMPS OF: 36.793 TONNES///STANDING ADVANCES TO 115.257 TONNES TO WHICH WE ADD OUR THREE EXCHANGE FOR RISK ISSUANCE OF 3.110 TONNES/NEW STANDING ADVANCES TO 118.367 TONNES
ALL OF THIS WAS ACCOMPLISHED WITH OUR GAIN IN PRICE TO THE TUNE OF $39.15
WE HAD A HUGE 4150 CONTRACTS REMOVED TO THE COMEX TRADES TO OPEN INTEREST (CROOKS)//PRELIMINARY TO FINAL. AND THIS IS TOTALLY INSANE .
INITIAL GOLD COMEX
DEC 29
DEC CONTRACT MONTH
| Gold | Ounces |
| Withdrawals from Dealers Inventory in oz | nil |
| Withdrawals from Customer Inventory in oz | 0 ENTRIES |
| Deposit to the Dealer Inventory in oz | 0- ENTRIES |
| Deposits to the Customer Inventory, in oz | DEPOSITS/CUSTOMER 1 ENTRIES i) Into MANFRA: 32,151.000 oz (1000 kilobars) total deposit: 32,151.000 oz xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxI |
| No of oz served (contracts) today | 166 notice(s) 16,600 OZ 0.5763 TONNES OF GOLD |
| No of oz to be served (notices) | 52 contracts 5200 OZ 0.1617 TONNES |
| Total monthly oz gold served (contracts) so far this month | 37003 notices 3,700,300 0z 115.104 TONNES |
| Total accumulative withdrawals of gold from the Dealers inventory this month | NIL oz |
| Total accumulative withdrawal of gold from the Customer inventory this month |
dealer deposits: 0
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
DEPOSITS/CUSTOMER
DEPOSITS/CUSTOMER
1 ENTRIES
DEPOSITS/CUSTOMER
1 ENTRIES
i) Into MANFRA: 32,151.000 oz (1000 kilobars)
total deposit: 32,151.000 oz
customer withdrawals:
0 entries
they are draining the comex of gold
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
ADJUSTMENTs 0//
chaos inside the comex
AMOUNT OF GOLD STANDING FOR DECEMBER
THE FRONT MONTH OF DECEMBER STANDS AT 213 CONTRACTS FOR A LOSS OF 263 CONTRACTS. WE HAD 339 CONTRACTS FILED ON FRIDAY SO WE GAINED A STRONG 76 CONTRACTS FOR A QUEUE JUMP OF 7,600 OZ OR 0.2363 TONNES TO WHICH WE ADD TO OUR PREVIOUS QUEUE JUMPS AND THEN ADD OUR THREE ISSUANCES OF EXCHANGE FOR RISK FOR 3.110 TONNES .THUS STANDING FOR GOLD IN DECEMBER INCREASES HUGELY TO 118.367 TONNES
JANUARY LOST ONLY 154 CONTRACTS DOWN TO 4518 AS JANUARY BECOMES THE FRONT MONTH. WE WILL PROBABLY HAS A STRONG SIZED 11 TO 14 TONNES OF GOLD STANDING. SEEMS JANUARY REFUSES TO ROLL TO FUTURE MONTHS.
FEB GAINED 5094 CONTRACTS UP TO 351,515 CONTRACTS
We had 166 contracts filed for today representing 16,600 oz
Today, 0 notice(s) were issued from J.P.Morgan dealer and 127 notices issued from their client or customer account. The total of all issuance by all participants equate to 166 contract(s) of which 0 notices were stopped (received) by j.P. Morgan dealer and 14 notice(s) was (were) stopped (received) by J.P.Morgan//customer account
To calculate the INITIAL total number of gold ounces standing for DEC /2025. contract month, we take the total number of notices filed so far for the month (37.003 ) to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of DEC ( 218 CONTRACTS) minus the number of notices served upon today (166 x 100 oz per contract) equals 3,705,500 OZ OR 115.257 Tonnes of gold + 3.110 TONNES of exchange for risk issuance: new total standing advances to 118.367 tonnes!!
thus the INITIAL standings for gold for the DEC contract month: No of notices filed so far (37,003 x 100 oz +we add the difference for front month of DEC (218 OI} minus the number of notices served upon today (166)x 100 oz) which equals 3,705,500 OR 115.257 TONNES + 3.110 tonnes exchange for risk//new total standing advances to 118.367 tonnes
new total of gold standing in DECEMBER is 118.367 tonnes
TOTAL COMEX GOLD STANDING FOR DEC ..: 118.130 TONNES TONNES WHICH IS STRONG FOR THIS NORMALLY VERY ACTIVE ACTIVE DELIVERY MONTH OF DECEMBER.
volume FRIDAY confirmed 203,148 fair
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COMEX GOLD INVENTORIES/CLASSIFICATION
NEW PLEDGED GOLD:
241,794.285 oz NOW PLEDGED /HSBC 5.94 TONNES
204,937.290 OZ PLEDGED MANFRA 3.08 TONNES
83,657.582 PLEDGED JPMorgan no 1 1.690 tonnes
265,999.054, oz JPM No 2
1,152,376.639 oz pledged Brinks/
Manfra: 33,758.550 oz
Delaware: 193.721 oz
International Delaware:: 11,188.542 oz
total pledged gold: 2,001,427.554 oz 62.252 tonnes pledged gold lowers
TOTAL OF ALL GOLD ELIGIBLE AND REGISTERED GOLD 36,223,374.056. oz
TOTAL REGISTERED GOLD 19,361,515.292 or 602.224 Tonnes
TOTAL OF ALL ELIGIBLE GOLD 16,861,858.362 OZ
REGISTERED GOLD THAT CAN BE SERVED UPON 17,360,008oz ((REG GOLD- PLEDGED GOLD)=
539.97 Tonnes // (declining rapidly)
total inventories in gold declining rapidly
DEC 29 2025
INITIAL/
| Silver | Ounces |
| Withdrawals from Dealers Inventory | NIL oz |
| Withdrawals from Customer Inventory | 1 entries i) Loomis 600,133.730.oz total withdrawal: 600,133.730 oz |
| Deposits to the Dealer Inventory | 0 ENTRY |
| Deposits to the Customer Inventory | 0 ENTRIES |
| No of oz served today (contracts) | 69 CONTRACT(S) ( 0.345 million OZ |
| No of oz to be served (notices) | 3 contracts (15,000 oz) |
| Total monthly oz silver served (contracts) | 12,776 contracts ( or 63.88 MILLION oz) |
| Total accumulative withdrawal of silver from the Dealers inventory this month | NIL oz |
| Total accumulative withdrawal of silver from the Customer inventory this month |
DEPOSITS INTO DEALER ACCOUNTS
0 ENTRY
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
DEPOSIT ENTRIES/CUSTOMER ACCOUNT
0 ENTRIES
withdrawals: customer side/eligible
1 entries
i) Out of Loomis: 600,133.730 oz
total withdrawal: 600,133.730 oz
adjustments: 0
total adjustments; nil oz
TOTAL REGISTERED SILVER: 127.624 MILLION OZ//.TOTAL REG + ELIGIBLE. 449.127Million oz
registered silver dropping in numbers
CALCULATIONS FOR THE NEW STANDING FOR SILVER FOR DEC.
silver open interest data:
FRONT MONTH OF DECEMBER /2025 OI: 72 OPEN INTEREST CONTRACTS FOR A GAIN OF 32 CONTRACTS. WE HAD 19 CONTRACTS FILED ON FRIDAY SO WE ACTUALLY GAINED 51 CONTRACTS OR 255,000 OZ UNDERWENT A QUEUE JUMP AND WILL STAND FOR SILVER ON THIS SIDE OF THE POND.
JANUARY LOST ONLY 19 CONTRACTS DOWN TO 4425 CONTRACTS AS JANUARY NOW BECOMES THE FRONT MONTH. WE WILL PROBABLY HAVE A VERY STRONG JANUARY DELIVERY MONTH FOR AROUND 20 – 22 MILLION OZ
FEB LOST 72 CONTRACTS UP TO 1540 CONTRACTS
TOTAL NUMBER OF NOTICES FILED FOR TODAY: 69 or 0.345 MILLION oz
CONFIRMED volume; ON FRIDAY 199,470 huge//
AND NOW DECEMBER. DELIVERIES:
To calculate the number of silver ounces that will stand for delivery in DEC. we take the total number of notices filed for the month so far at 12,776 X5,000 oz = 63.880 MILLION oz
to which we add the difference between the open interest for the front month of DEC (72) AND the number of notices served upon today (69 )x (5000 oz)
Thus the standings for silver for the DECEMBER 2025 contract month: (12,776) Notices served so far) x 5000 oz + OI for the front month of DEC(72) minus number of notices served upon today (69)x 5000 oz equals silver standing for the DEC.contract month equating to 63.895 MILLION OZ + 850 MILLION OZ FOR DEC ‘S FIRST EXCHANGE FOR RISK , THEN A SECOND EXCHANGE FOR RISK OF .485 MILLION OZ AND THEN A THIRD ISSUANCE FOR 1.0 MILLION OZ//NEW TOTAL EXCHANGE FOR RISK; 2.335 MILLION OZ: THUS WE HAVE THE FOLLOWING:
NORMAL STANDING: 63.895 MILLION OZ
PLUS 2.335 MILLION OZ EXCHANGE FOR RISK/3 OCCASIONS
New total standing: 66.230 million oz. THE SILVER COMEX IS NOW UNDER MASSIVE SIEGE!! AND THIS IS HAPPENING WITH THE MASSIVE SIEGE ON GOLD AS WELL.
We must also keep in mind that there is considerable silver standing in London coming from our longs in New York that underwent EFP transfers.
There are 127,624. million oz of registered silver
JPMorgan as a percentage of total silver: 188,253/449.127million. 41.92%
The record level of silver open interest is 234,787 contracts set on April 21./2017 with the price on that day at $18.42. The previous record was 224,540 contracts with the price at that time of $20.44.
Now that we have surpassed $28.40 the next big line in the sand for silver is $34.76. After that the moon
the next big line in the sand for silver is $34.76. After that the moon
END
BOTH GLD AND SLV ARE MASSIVE FRAUDS
DEC 29/WITH GOLD DOWN $190.70 TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 2.86 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD// /// ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1071,13 TONNES
DEC 26/WITH GOLD UP $39.15 TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 3.61 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD// /// ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1068.27 TONNES
DEC 24/WITH GOLD UP $2.15 TODAY/NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: /// ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1064.66 TONNES
DEC 23/WITH GOLD UP $52.85 TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A FRAUDULENT DEPOSIT OF 12.12 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD/// /// ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1064.66 TONNES
DEC 22/WITH GOLD UP $80,25 TODAY/NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: // /// ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1052.54 TONNES
DEC 19/WITH GOLD UP $22.20 TODAY/NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: // /// ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1052.54 TONNES
DEC 18/WITH GOLD DOWN $9.05 TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF .85 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD// /// ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1052.54 TONNES
DEC 17/WITH GOLD UP $39.45 TODAY/NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD:// /// ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1051.69 TONNES
DEC 16/WITH GOLD DOWN $3.95 TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.43 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD// /// ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1051.69 TONNES
DEC 15/WITH GOLD UP $10.15 TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 2.29 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD// /// ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 105.12 TONNES
DEC 12/WITH GOLD UP $14.20 TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 4.01 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD// /// ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1050.83 TONNES
DEC 11/WITH GOLD UP $85.00 TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.15 TONNES OF GOLD OUT OF THE GLD// /// ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1046.82 TONNES
DEC 10/WITH GOLD UP $85.00 TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.15 TONNES OF GOLD OUT OF THE GLD// /// ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1046.82 TONNES
DEC 9/WITH GOLD UP $18.50 TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.14 TONNES OF GOLD OUT OF THE GLD// /// ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1049.11 TONNES
DEC 8/WITH GOLD DOWN $23.40 TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 0.33 TONNES OF GOLD OUT OF THE GLD// /// ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1050.25 TONNES
DEC 5/WITH GOLD UP $9.30 TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A FRAUDULENT DEPOSIT OF 4.00 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD// /// ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1050.58 TONNES
DEC 4/WITH GOLD UP $9.95 TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.72 TONNES OF GOLD OUT OF THE GLD// /// ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1046.58 TONNES
DEC 3/WITH GOLD UP $14.25 TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.71 TONNES OF GOLD OUT OF THE GLD// /// ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1048.30 TONNES
DEC 2/WITH GOLD DOWN $53.35 TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 4.58 TONNES OF GOLD VAPOUR INTO THE GLD// /// ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1050.01TONNES
DEC 1/WITH GOLD UP $22.75 TODAY/NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 1.14 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD// /// ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1045.43TONNES
NOV 28/WITH GOLD UP $51.85 TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 1.14 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD// /// ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1045.43 TONNES
NOV 26/WITH GOLD UP $25.40 TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A FRAUDULENT PAPER DEPOSIT OF 4.57 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD// /// ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1040.57 TONNES
NOV 25/WITH GOLD UP $46.60 TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 1.14 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD// /// ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1040.57 TONNES
NOV 24/WITH GOLD UP $16.95 TODAY/SMALL CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 0.29 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD// /// ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1040.86 TONNES
NOV 21/WITH GOLD UP $18.55 TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.00 TONNES OF GOLD OUT OF THE GLD// /// ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1039.43 TONNES
NOV 20/WITH GOLD DOWN $20.45 TODAY/NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: /// ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1041.43 TONNES
NOV 19/WITH GOLD UP $14.55 TODAY/NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: /// ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1041.43 TONNES
NOV 18/WITH GOLD DOWN $6.30 TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.57 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD /// ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1041.43 TONNES
NOV 17/WITH GOLD DOWN $20.40 TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL OF 4.93 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD /// ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1044.000 TONNES
NOV 14/WITH GOLD DOWN $97.55TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 2.29 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD /// ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1048.93 TONNES
NOV 13/WITH GOLD DOWN $17.80.TODAY/SMALL CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 0.28 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD /// ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1064.64 TONNES
NOV 12/WITH GOLD UP $97.70.TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 4.30 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD /// ///INVENTORY RESTS AT XXX TONNES
NOV 11/WITH GOLD DOWN $3.80TODAY/NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: . /// ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1042.06 TONNES
NOV 10/WITH GOLD UP $114.40TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT 0F 3.43 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD . /// ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1042.06 TONNES
NOV 7/WITH GOLD UP $18.55 TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT OF 3.43 TONNES OF GOLD INTO THE GLD . /// ///INVENTORY RESTS AT1042.06TONNES
NOV 6//WITH GOLD UP $0.30TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL 0F 3.15 TONNES OF GOLD OUT OF THE GLD . /// ///INVENTORY RESTS AT1038,63TONNES
NOV 5//WITH GOLD UP $32.50TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A WITHDRAWAL 0F 3.15 TONNES OF GOLD OUT OF THE GLD . /// ///INVENTORY RESTS AT1038,63TONNES
NOV 4 WITH GOLD DOWN $50.00 TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE GLD: A DEPOSIT 0F 2.58 TONNES OF GOLD OUT OF THE GLD . /// ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 1041.78TONNES
GLD INVENTORY: 1071.13 TONNES, TONIGHTS TOTAL
SILVER
DEC 29/WITH SILVER DOWN $5.88 /HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.814 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV/. ./ :INVENTORY RESTS AT 526,968 MILLION OZ //
DEC 26/WITH SILVER UP $4.88 /HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 1.813 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV/. ./ :INVENTORY RESTS AT 528.782 MILLION OZ //
DEC 24/WITH SILVER UP $0.95 /HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 3.083 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV/. ./ :INVENTORY RESTS AT 530.595MILLION OZ //
DEC 23/WITH SILVER UP $2.40 /HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER AT THE SLV: A FRAUDULENT DEPOSIT OF 17.13 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV/. ./ :INVENTORY RESTS AT 533.678 MILLION OZ //
DEC 22/WITH SILVER UP $1.28 /HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 1.541 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV/. ./ :INVENTORY RESTS AT 516.541 MILLION OZ //
DEC 19/WITH SILVER UP $2.06 /NO CHANGES IN SILVER AT THE SLV: . ./ :INVENTORY RESTS AT 515.000 MILLION OZ //
DEC 18/WITH SILVER DOWN $1.13/NO CHANGES IN SILVER AT THE SLV: . ./ :INVENTORY RESTS AT 515.000 MILLION OZ //
DEC 17/WITH SILVER UP $2.93/HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER AT THE SLV: A HUGE WITHDRAWAL OF 1.36 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV. ./ :INVENTORY RESTS AT 515.000 MILLION OZ //
DEC 16/WITH SILVER DOWN $.07/HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER AT THE SLV: A HUGE WITHDRAWAL OF 1.36 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV. ./ :INVENTORY RESTS AT 56.360 MILLION OZ //
DEC 15/WITH SILVER UP $1.62/SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER AT THE SLV: A SMALL DEPOSIT OF 635,000 INTO THE SLV. ./ :INVENTORY RESTS AT 517.720 MILLION OZ //
DEC 12/WITH SILVER DOWN $2.30/NO CHANGES IN SILVER AT THE SLV: ./ :INVENTORY RESTS AT 517.085 MILLION OZ //
DEC 11/WITH SILVER UP $3.52/HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER AT THE SLV: A HUGE DEPOSIT OF 3.537 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV./ :INVENTORY RESTS AT 517.085 MILLION OZ //
DEC 9/WITH SILVER UP $2.41/HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER AT THE SLV: A HUGE WITHDRAWAL OF 1.179 MILLION OZ OUT THE SLV./ :INVENTORY RESTS AT 510.828 MILLION OZ //
DEC 8/WITH SILVER DOWN $0.48/HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER AT THE SLV: A HUGE WITHDRAWAL OF 5.497 MILLION OZ OUT THE SLV./ :INVENTORY RESTS AT 512.007 MILLION OZ //
DEC 5/WITH SILVER UP 0.39/HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER AT THE SLV: A HUGE DEPOSIT OF 3.083 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV./ :INVENTORY RESTS AT 517.448 MILLION OZ //
DEC 4/WITH SILVER DOWN $1.12/HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER AT THE SLV: A HUGE DEPOSIT OF 4383 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV./ :INVENTORY RESTS AT 514.365 MILLION OZ //
DEC 3/WITH SILVER UP $0.23/HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER AT THE SLV: A HUGE DEPOSIT OF 1.956 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV./ :INVENTORY RESTS AT 510.012 MILLION OZ //
DEC 2/WITH SILVER DOWN $0.65 TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER AT THE SLV: A MASSIVE AND FRAUDLUENT PAPER DEPOSIT OF 6.167 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV./ :INVENTORY RESTS AT 508.057 MILLION OZ //
DEC 1/WITH SILVER UP $2.21 TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 907,000 OZ INTO THE SLV./ :INVENTORY RESTS AT 501.890 MILLION OZ //
NOV28/WITH SILVER UP $3.28 TODAY/NO CHANGES IN SILVER AT THE SLV:/ :INVENTORY RESTS AT 500.983 MILLION OZ //
NOV26/WITH SILVER UP $1.86 TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER AT THE SLV: A MAMMOTH DEPOSIT OF 2.267 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV/ :INVENTORY RESTS AT 500.983 MILLION OZ //
NOV25/WITH SILVER UP $0.69 TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER AT THE SLV: A MAMMOTH DEPOSIT OF 8.163 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV/ :INVENTORY RESTS AT 498.716 MILLION OZ //THIS IS A FRAUDULENT TRANSACTION
NOV24/WITH SILVER UP $0.43 TODAY/SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 277,000, OZ OUT OF THE SLV/ :INVENTORY RESTS AT 490.553 MILLION OZ MILLION OZ
NOV21/WITH SILVER DOWN $0.53 TODAY/SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 635,000 OZ INTO THE SLV/ :INVENTORY RESTS AT 490.190 MILLION OZ MILLION OZ
NOV20/WITH SILVER DOWN $0.53 TODAY/NO CHANGES IN SILVER AT THE SLV: :INVENTORY RESTS AT 489.555 MILLION OZ MILLION OZ
NOV 19/WITH SILVER UP $0.36 TODAY/NO CHANGES IN SILVER AT THE SLV: :INVENTORY RESTS AT 489.283 MILLION OZ MILLION OZ
NOV 18/WITH SILVER DOWN $0.13 TODAY/NO CHANGES IN SILVER AT THE SLV: :INVENTORY RESTS AT 489..283 MILLION OZ MILLION OZ
NOV 17/WITH SILVER DOWN $0.07 TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 1.451 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV:INVENTORY RESTS AT 489.283 MILLION OZ MILLION OZ
NOV 14/WITH SILVER DOWN $2.08 TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER AT THE SLV: A DEPOSIT OF 2.722 MILLION OZ INTO THE SLV:
INVENTORY RESTS AT 487.832 MILLION OZ MILLION OZ
NOV 13/WITH SILVER DOWN $0.58 TODAY/NO CHANGES IN SILVER AT THE SLV: . /// ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 485.110 MILLION OZ
NOV 12/WITH SILVER UP $2.59 TODAY/NO CHANGES IN SILVER AT THE SLV: . /// ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 485.110 MILLION OZ
NOV 11/WITH SILVER UP $0.63 TODAY/NO CHANGES IN SILVER AT THE SLV: . /// ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 485.110 TONNES
NOV 10/WITH SILVER UP $2.05 TODAY/NO CHANGES IN GOLD AT THE SLV: . /// ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 485.110 TONNES
NOV 7 WITH SILVER UP $0.22 TODAY/HUGE CHANGES IN SILVER AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 2.54 MILLION OZ FROM THE SLV / ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 485.110 MILLION OZ
NOV 6 WITH SILVER DOWN $0.12 TODAY/SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 713,000 OZ FROM THE SLV / ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 487,650 MILLION OZ
NOV 5 WITH SILVER UP $0.67TODAY/SMALL CHANGES IN SILVER AT THE SLV: A WITHDRAWAL OF 713,000 OZ FROM THE SLV / ///INVENTORY RESTS AT 487,650 MILLION OZ
CLOSING INVENTORY 526.968 MILLION OZ OF SILVER
PHYSICAL GOLD/SILVER
1/PETER SCHIFF
JOHN RUBINO
jAMES RICKARDS
2. MATHEW PIEPENBURG/VON GREYERZ
ALASDAIR MACLEOD.
Silver and the precious metal crisis
Steep price rises in silver lead to speculation about failures in derivatives. Mostly, it is ill-informed. This article sets out the true position and addresses the extent of the problem.
| Alasdair MacleodDec 28∙Paid |
Social media commentary from at least one “expert” links the steep rise in silver with the Fed’s injection of $14.75bn into the repo market on Friday, saying it is a bailout of the big US banks’ silver positions which mark-to-market for margin purposes against soaring prices. It is simply not true, particularly when year-end book squaring across all banking activities is in progress. Comments about bank credit are usually made in the belief that bank credit is created on a fractional reserve basis and is therefore finite, which is incorrect.
Instead, banks lend credit into existence, and it is easy for a bank to create it out of thin air to keep its commodity dealing operations solvent. Banks enter into repos and reverse repos to balance their balance sheets, which is an entirely different function from financing positions. The Fed intervenes purely to keep repo and reverse repo rates within the FOMC’s target range.
It is also worth noting that banks are dealers in credit and for preference do not encumber their balance sheets with physical commodities. Instead, they deal in derivatives.
Margins in derivative dealing are slimmer than bank lending, which is why they are only profitable in very large quantities relative to a bank’s capital. Notional derivative obligations are large multiples of a bank’s access to underlying assets, which brings us to commodities and specifically precious metal derivatives where currently there are destabilising liquidity problems.
The problems are in non-US bullion banks
The table below, extracted from the US’s December bank participation report shows banks’ exposure on Comex, split between US and non-US banks:
Note that in theory banks short of a particular contract on Comex are usually covered by being long in London’s forward market. We don’t know their positions in London, but it is a reasonable assumption that bullion banks net short of Comex gold contracts are long OTC derivatives in London, because they were happy to forecast significantly higher prices only two months ago at the LBMA’s annual conference in Kyoto. Furthermore, gold is a liquid market and least likely of the four metals to see prices driven by a liquidity squeeze, though speculative demand on Comex is now increasing.
The same cannot be said of silver, platinum, and palladium. While designated precious metals, they are in fact industrial. Silver in particular has seen increasing industrial demand in recent years. As the second largest mining nation and the largest by refinery output, China was supplying the global shortfall and keeping the price suppressed. Until, that is, President Trump’s tariff wars provoked China to severely restrict exports of rare earths. From now and scheduled for 2026—2027, China is also restricting exports of silver under a tight licencing system at a time when Indian industrial demand is booming.
Indian and other industrial users have resorted to buying silver derivatives and standing for delivery of physical metal. The consequences were dramatically noted in early October, when lease rates for silver in London soared to over 30% in a scramble for scarce silver to deliver. In a further sign of industrial users buying derivatives to obtain delivery, stand-for-delivery notices on Comex have increased significantly in recent years, totalling 14,810 tonnes of silver so far this year. That is the equivalent of 58% of total annual silver mine output.
This defines the problem: industrial users are now desperate buyers at any price from anywhere from anyone who will promise to supply. And derivatives are such a promise. Returning to the table above, we can see that the five major US banks have kept their heads and maintained level books — that is in derivatives. Stories of US banks being bailed out by the Fed through the repo market are simply not true. The shortages on Comex are in 117 foreign banks which are net short $17 billion, while at the same time there is a lack of physical liquidity in London. A similar but less desperate story can be seen in platinum and palladium.
While this appears to be a US problem, instead it is foreign banks being squeezed. It could be that they are long in London, but in forward contracts and options — derivatives and not the real thing. Derivatives are not the currency demanded by a market desperate for physical metal.
Normally, a foreign bank merely creates the credit to cover Comex’s margin requirements, so long as it has the balance sheet capacity under Basel 3 to do so. If not, it will require a coordinated bailout between the US, London and the jurisdiction of incorporation if different. There is also the possibility that having shorted silver, a hedge fund is in trouble. But in that case, it will probably have other assets such as equities which it can liquidate.
Whoever might be in difficulties having entered into derivative obligations to deliver silver, platinum, or palladium, it is of the highest importance for the authorities to ensure that any bank bailout is kept strictly confidential, and any hedge fund failure to be dealt with quickly. Counterparty risk can spread like wildfire through all derivative categories, with just one bank with OTC derivative exposure in other areas being the catalyst.
None of this deals with the industrial shortages of silver or Platinum group metals. That can only be resolved by China rescuing London and New York supplying physical metal. Alternatively, if the US has secret silver stocks, it could step into the breach to provide temporary relief. But even that is likely to be no more than a sticking plaster, given the scale of industrial demand, and the wider derivative problem.
The era of commodity derivatives is drawing to a close
The problem is larger than a seizure in the relationship between precious metal derivatives, which are always a promise to deliver the underlying asset, and the asset itself. After 54 years of fiat dollars the distortions in metals prices generally have become destabilising.
Copper is also a critical mineral, declared as such for future national security by China, the US, the EU, Japan, India, and Canada. The chart below shows how the copper price has changed since 1900 over 125 years in both dollars and gold.
It looks dramatic enough in dollars. But priced in gold this vital industrial metal is only 18% of its value in 1900, and only 8% of its value in 1970 which was just before the Bretton Woods gold standard was abandoned. The point to bear in mind is that over long periods, commodities priced in gold are relatively stable. Priced in fiat currencies prices rise reflecting their declining purchasing power. But the decline in currency purchasing power also has the effect of depressing the true value of commodities.
Markets are waking up to this reality, and because metals are now so undervalued in real terms, the use of OTC derivative markets for commodities is already declining. That decline is on the verge of accelerating, unleashing higher prices for all commodities depressed in real terms.
In conclusion, the derivative difficulties advertised so loudly in silver contracts tell us that there is a wider and larger commodity pricing problem. Baskets of other commodity and raw material categories are also telling us that if they are to normalise, their dollar prices will rise dramatically in 2026—2027. It is the currencies which are the problem. Meanwhile, there is nothing likely to stop silver prices rising much further. We can only hope it happens in an orderly fashion.
3. CHRIS POWELL AND HIS GATA DISPATCHES
4. ANDREW MAGUIRE/LIVE FROM THE VAULT KINESIS / AND TODAY;S 254
5. COMMODITY REPORT//SILVER/SILVER LEASE RATES:
SILVER
Silver lease rates refer to the cost of borrowing physical silver in the wholesale market, often indicating physical tightness (higher rates mean scarcer lendable metal). These are primarily quoted in the London market (not uniquely “Shanghai”), though Shanghai’s tight physical market in late 2025 has contributed to global stress.As of late December 2025, amid a severe silver supply squeeze driven by Chinese industrial demand (solar, electronics), low inventories on the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE), and backwardation (spot prices far above futures):
- Silver lease rates have been extremely elevated, spiking to record or near-record levels multiple times in 2025.
- Reports indicate peaks over 30–35% annualized (especially for short-term, e.g., 1-month) earlier in the fall/winter, with some sources citing over 33% or even 35%.
- By late December (around Christmas week), rates remained high amid ongoing backwardation in Shanghai, where physical silver traded at premiums of $8+/oz over global benchmarks, and spot prices hit records around $78–80/oz locally.
- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
SILVER PRICE IN SHANGHAI
SPOT PRICE 20,073 YUAN (VAT REMOVED) PER KG
THUS ONE KG SILVER BAR EQUATES TO 20,073 YUAN
OR 32.15 OZ EQUATES TO 20,073 YUAN
ONE OZ EQUATES TO 624 YUAN
OR 624/7.00 = 89.14 DOLLARS PER OZ WHEN NY TRADES AT 75.00
GOLD PRICE CLOSING IN SHANGHAI ROUGHLY AT THE AFTERNOON FIX OF 1001.63 RMB/GM
The Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) sets the primary spot/reference price for gold in China through its daily benchmark pricing (Shanghai Gold Benchmark Price, often called the “Shanghai Fix”).On December 29, 2025:
- AM Benchmark Price — 1010.41 RMB per gram
- PM Benchmark Price — 1001.63 RMB per gram
TO CALCULATE IN DOLLARS PER OZ:
1001.63 RMB PER GRAM
ONE GRAM IS THUS 1001.63 RMB
31.1 GRAMS (1 OZ) = 31,150 RMB
THEN DIVIDE 31,150 BY 7.000 = 4,450.00 VS NY AT SAME TIME 4435.00
5. COMMODITY REPORT//SILVER/SILVER LEASE RATES:/SILVER
SILVER LEASE RATES: DEC 29//REMAINS QUITE HIGH/ROBERT LAMBOURNE
ASIA RESULTS; FRIDAY DEC 29
SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 1.60 POINTS OR 0.04%
//Hang Seng CLOSED DOWN 183.70 PTS OR 0.71%
// Nikkei CLOSED DOWN 223.47 PTS OR 0.44%
//Australia’s all ordinaries CLOSED DOWN 0.30%
//Chinese yuan (ONSHORE) CLOSED UP TO 7.0053
/ OFFSHORE CLOSED UP AT 7.0017/ Oil DOWN TO 58.00 dollars per barrel for WTI and BRENT DOWN TO 61.83 Stocks in Europe OPENED ALL MOSTLY GREEN
ONSHORE USA/ YUAN TRADING UP TO 7.0059 OFFSHORE YUAN TRADING UP TO 7.0017:/ONSHORE YUAN TRADING BELOW OFF SHORE AND UP ON THE DOLLAR// / AND THUS STRONGER//OFF SHORE YUAN TRADING UP AGAINST US DOLLAR/ AND THUS STRONGER
END
SILVER:
Silver Reckoning: US Squeezing China Out of LATAM?
by VBL
Monday, Dec 29, 2025 – 10:30
Contents
- China’s Five-Year Offtake Strategy
- The U.S. Response Begins at the Refinery Level
- The Significance of Vanishing Hedges
- China’s Bid for Finished Metal
- Section 232 and the Mechanics of Price Before Policy
- Silver’s Role as Brics Collateral
- A Hemispheric Realignment
- Conclusion
- CHINA SILVER PRICE IS GLOBAL PRICE NOW
Follow up analysis to the podcast with Eric Yeung yesterday
Silver, Supply Chains, and the Reassertion of the Monroe Doctrine
Authored by GoldFix
This is what a Silver Reckoning looks like. Markets are repricing access as supply chains get reshored and geo-economics again outranks ideology. Silver reflects that shift in real time more than other assets. It’s price movement is being registered before policy formalizes changes already visible in physical flows.
Silver has been the most suppressed asset on earth, and it therefore has the most to gain. Below we explain what we believe is happening behind the price action and why it should continue for quite some time.
Executive Summary
Silver’s recent price behavior is not the result of speculative enthusiasm or retail excess. It reflects a structural contest over natural resources in the Western Hemisphere, as the United States moves to displace China from Latin American supply chains. What appears as volatility is the market registering a geopolitical realignment already underway.
Silver is not moving because of speculation. It is moving because control over supply chains is changing.
I. China’s Five-Year Offtake Strategy
For roughly the past five years, China has pursued a deliberate strategy of acquiring raw materials directly from source. In Latin America, this meant buying silver, precious metals, and base metals in concentrate or doré form directly from mines, bypassing traditional market channels.
By purchasing offtake before final production, China secured supply before price discovery. The metal never reached open exchanges, never faced transparent competition, and never reflected market-clearing prices. It was acquired upstream and quietly absorbed into China’s processing systems
This strategy concentrated heavily in Latin America. Producers were offered higher prices for raw material and long-term certainty. Many accepted. Over time, visible supply chains thinned, while price signals became increasingly detached from physical availability.
During this period, the United States failed to respond. Supply chain control eroded gradually, not through collapse, but through neglect.
China was not buying silver at market prices. It was buying supply before markets ever saw it.
“China’s Upstream Offtake Model”
Latin American mine → concentrate or doré → Chinese processing → removal from exchange-visible supply.
II. The U.S. Response Begins at the Refinery Level
The shift in U.S. posture did not begin with an executive order. It began with physical bottlenecks from as far back as last year
U.S. refiners are now receiving unusually large volumes of silver concentrate from Latin America, to the point where refining capacity is overwhelmed. Material is arriving faster than it can be processed. This is a meaningful change.
Historically, much of this metal would have been refined for delivery into London or shipped onward to Asia. Instead, it is remaining in the United States.
At the same time, large U.S. buyers are securing offtake directly from producers. The United States is now doing in Latin America what China had been doing for years, only at greater speed and with greater urgency.
Price is not leading this shift. Control is.
The metal is arriving faster than it can be refined. That is not a price signal. That is a supply signal.
“Silver Flow Reversal”
Past flow: Latin America → China / LBMA :: Current flow: Latin America → U.S. refining bottleneck
III. The Significance of Vanishing Hedges
One of the clearest indicators that the market structure has changed is the disappearance of hedging.
Under normal conditions, unrefined silver entering the system would be hedged. Price exposure would be transferred. Risk would be managed. That behavior has materially declined.
The absence of hedging signals that buyers do not want price protection. They want the metal itself.
This distinction matters. Commercial inventory behaves differently than strategic inventory. When hedging disappears, price becomes secondary to access.
Whether this accumulation is being done directly for government purposes or indirectly through systemically important intermediaries is beside the point. The effect is the same. Physical silver is being absorbed without regard to short-term volatility.
Markets register this long before policy becomes explicit.
When hedging disappears, price no longer matters. Access does.
IV. China’s Bid for Finished Metal
As access to raw offtake tightens, China’s behavior has begun to shift.
Reports of Chinese buyers seeking finished LATAM silver at elevated prices suggest concern over supply continuity. Finished metal reflects control over refining, logistics, and delivery, not just access to ore.
This matters because China historically relied on upstream control. Requests for finished product imply that upstream access is no longer sufficient.
At the same time, China has announced intentions to restrict silver exports beginning next year. This follows a familiar pattern. When supply security weakens, export controls appear.
This is not speculative behavior. It is defensive positioning.
A bid for finished silver is an admission that upstream control is no longer enough.
V. Section 232 and the Mechanics of Price Before Policy
Tariffs are often misunderstood as policy shocks. In reality, they tend to arrive after markets have already adjusted.
Under Section 232, the United States does not restrict commodities it still needs to accumulate. Tariffs follow supply security, not the other way around.
This explains why silver prices can rise sharply in the absence of explicit announcements. Markets front-run future constraints.
Once domestic and hemispheric supply chains are deemed sufficient, pricing mechanisms change. Tariffs need not target silver explicitly to reshape its price. Broad commodity measures are enough.
JPM and GS on 232 Risks 232…
Because the United States remains the marginal buyer at scale, its pricing decisions propagate globally. The tariff level becomes the reference price, as sellers rationally seek the highest available bid.
You do not tariff what you still need. You tariff what you already control.
“Price Discovery Before Policy”
Supply accumulation → price rise → tariff announcement → global price convergence.
VI. Silver’s Role as Brics Collateral
China’s interest in silver should not be mistaken for an attempt to remonetize it.
Silver is poorly suited to serve as circulating money (even though practically speaking its perfect) due to its industrial consumption. History demonstrates that attempts to remonetize silver invite massive pushback
Its role is different.
As global trade shifts away from dollar-based settlement, collateral becomes more important. Gold fulfills this function, but gold is finite and increasingly encumbered. Silver occupies the next tier.
It is tangible, widely accepted, and divisible, while remaining embedded in industrial supply chains. That dual role creates tension, but it also creates strategic value.
Silver is not money. It is balance sheet collateral in a de-dollarizing system.
Silver does not need to be money to matter. It needs to be collateral.
Remaining Sections:
- Silver’s Role as Brics Collateral
- A Hemispheric Realignment
- Conclusion
- CHINA SILVER PRICE IS GLOBAL PRICE NOW
Continues here with Podcast
YOUR EARLY CURRENCY VALUES/GOLD AND SILVER PRICING/ASIAN AND EUROPEAN BOURSE MOVEMENTS/AND INTEREST RATE SETTINGS MONDAY MORNING.7:30 AM
ONSHORE YUAN: CLOSED UP AT 7.0059
OFFSHORE YUAN: UP TO 7.0017
HANG SENG CLOSED DOWN 183.70 PTS OR 0.71%
2. Nikkei closed DOWN 223.47 PTS OR 0.44%
3. Europe stocks SO FAR: MOSTLY GREEN
USA dollar INDEX UP TO 97.76 /// EURO FALLS TO 1.1765 DOWN 2 BASIS PTS
3b Japan 10 YR bond yield: FALLS TO. +2.051 // UP 1 FULL BASIS PTS/ VERY TROUBLESOME//Japan buying 100% of bond issuance)/Japanese YEN vs USA cross now at 156.30…… JAPANESE YEN NOW FALLING AS WE HAVE NOW REACHED THE ENDING OF THE YEN CARRY TRADE AGAIN AND THE REPATRIATION OF YEN DENOMINATED BONDS TRADING IN THE USA/EUROPE. JAPAN 30 YR BOND YIELD: 3.450 UP 2 FULL BASIS PTS. AND STILL VERY TROUBLESOME
3c Nikkei now ABOVE 17,000
3d USA/Yen rate now well ABOVE the important 120 barrier this morning
3e Gold DOWN/JAPANESE Yen UP CHINESE ONSHORE YUAN: UP OFFSHORE: UP
3f Japan is to buy INFINITE TRILLION YEN worth of BONDS. Japan’s GDP equals 5 trillion USA
Japan to buy 100% of all new Japanese debt and NOW they will have OVER 50% of all Japanese debt.
3g Oil DOWN for WTI and DOWN FOR UP this morning
3h European bond buying continues to push yields LOWER on all fronts in the EMU. German 10yr bund YIELD DOWN TO +2.8450 Italian 10 Yr bond yield DOWN to 3.490 SPAIN 10 YR BOND YIELD DOWN TO 3.271
3i Greek 10 year bond yield DOWN TO 3.450
3j Gold at $4448.80 Silver at: 74.64 1 am est) SILVER NEXT RESISTANCE LEVEL AT $80.00
3k USA vs Russian rouble;// Russian rouble DOWN 0 AND 21/100 roubles/dollar; ROUBLE AT 77.61
3m oil (WTI) into the 58 dollar handle for WTI and 61 handle for Brent/
3n Higher foreign deposits moving out of China// huge risk of outflows and a currency depreciation. This can spell financial disaster for the rest of the world/
JAPAN ON JAN 29.2016 CONTINUES NIRP. THIS MORNING RAISES AMOUNT OF BONDS THAT THEY WILL PURCHASE UP TO .5% ON THE 10 YR BOND///YEN TRADES TO 156.30 10 YEAR YIELD AFTER FIRST BREAKING .54% LAST YEAR NOW EXCEEDS THAT LEVEL TO 2.051% STILL ON CENTRAL BANK (JAPAN) INTERVENTION//YEN CARRY TRADE IS NOW UNWINDING//YEN BOND TRADING OVERSEAS REPATRIATED.//JAPAN 30 YR: 3.450 UP 2 BASIS PTS.
30 SNB (Swiss National Bank) still intervening again in the markets driving down the FRANC. It is not working: USA/SF this 0.7902 as the Swiss Franc is still rising against most currencies. Euro vs SF: 0.9298 well above the floor set by the Swiss Finance Minister. Thomas Jordan, chief of the Swiss National Bank continues to purchase euros trying to lower value of the Swiss Franc.
USA 10 YR BOND YIELD: 4.108 DOWN 2 BASIS PTS…
USA 30 YR BOND YIELD: 4.790 DOWN 3 BASIS PTS/
USA 2 YR BOND YIELD: 3.475 DOWN 1 BASIS PTS
USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 42.94 UP 1 BASIS PTS/LIRA GETTING KILLED
10 YR UK BOND YIELD: 4.5030 DOWN 1 PTS
30 YR UK BOND YIELD: 5.223 UP 0 BASIS PTS
10 YR CANADA BOND YIELD: 3.394 DOWN 1 BASIS PTS
5 YR CANADA BOND YIELD: 2.925 DOWN 1 BASIS PTS.
1a New York OPENING REPORT
Futures Drop As Silver Slides From Record
Monday, Dec 29, 2025 – 08:42 AM
Stocks are extending their modest losses from their pre-Christmas record as another shortened trading week starts. As late last week, much of the market action is in precious metals, with silver first smashing through $80 for the first time before sliding while gold also retreated from Friday’s all-time high and platinum pulling back sharply after surging nearly 10%, and hitting limit down in China along with Platinum.As of 8:15am, S&P 500 futures were 0.3% lower while Nasdaq 100 contracts were down 0.4% as Tesla and Nvidia slid more than 1% to lead premarket losses among Mag 7. Europe’s Stoxx 600 was little changed following talks about a peace deal for Ukraine that yielded no breakthrough. Treasuries gained with 10Y yields down 0.2bps from Friday’s close to 4.11% while the BBG dollar index rose. Bitcoin briefly surged back over $90,000 before getting summarily slammed right back down. Trading is likely to be light again, accompanied by a threadbare economic calendar and the absence of major planned corporate events.
In premarket trading, Tesla and Nvidia underperform Mag 7, putting pressure on US stock futures (Tesla -1%, Nvidia -1%, Alphabet -0.5%, Meta -0.4%, Apple -0.2%, Microsoft -0.1%, Amazon +0.1%)
- Silver stocks including Coeur (CDE) and Hecla (HL) fall as the precious metal retreated sharply after smashing through $80 an ounce for the first time. Coeur -4.5%, Hecla -4%
- Coupang (CPNG) gains 2% after offering compensation worth more than $1 billion to all customers affected by South Korea’s biggest-ever data breach.
- DigitalBridge Group (DBRG) soars 33% as SoftBank Group is said to be in advanced talks to acquire the private equity firm that invests in assets such as data centers.
- Energy Fuels (UUUU) gains 3% after saying it exceeded 2025 uranium production and sales guidance.
- Lululemon Athletica Inc. (LULU) rises 0.9% after the WSJ reported that founder Chip Wilson is launching a proxy fight at the retailer.
In corporate news, Japan’s SoftBank is in advanced talks to acquire DigitalBridge Group, a private equity firm that invests in assets such as data centers, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
With stock trading rather subdued, precious-metal price swings remained the overnight highlight, with silver spiking as much as 6% on Monday, before profit takers stepped in to send it back below Friday’s close. As a result, silver retreated sharply after smashing through $80 an ounce for the first time, halting a record-breaking rally powered by Chinese speculative demand.
The white metal fell by more than 6% as it took a roller-coaster ride Monday after earlier hitting $84 an ounce. Surging Chinese investment demand has pulled the metal higher, with premiums for spot silver in Shanghai rising above $8 an ounce over London prices, the biggest spread on record. Elon Musk fed the early momentum with his reply to a tweet about Chinese export restrictions due to start on Thursday, saying on X over the weekend: “This is not good. Silver is needed in many industrial processes.”
Silver, which had risen more than 40% since the start of the month through Friday, has been spurred like other precious metals this year by elevated central-bank purchases, inflows to exchange-traded funds and three rate cuts by the Fed. Lower borrowing costs burnish the attraction of commodities and traders are betting on more rate cuts in 2026. Frictions in Venezuela and strikes by Washington on Islamic State targets in Nigeria have also added to the haven appeal of metals. With silver inventories near their lowest on record, there’s a risk of supply shortages that could impact multiple sectors.
Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said he expects the Trump administration to de-escalate trade tensions next year after tariffs sent shockwaves through the US economy in 2025. He said in an interview aired Sunday on CBS News that BofA now sees “de-escalation, not escalation,” with an average of 15% tariffs and higher rates for countries that won’t commit to US purchases or lowering non-tariff barriers.
Despite the market closing out 2025 at an all time high, tariffs and other curve balls made it a brutal year for stock pickers. About $1 trillion was pulled from active equity mutual funds over the year, according to estimates from Bloomberg Intelligence using ICI data, marking an 11th year of net outflows and, by some measures, the steepest of the cycle. By contrast, passive equity exchange-traded funds got more than $600 billion.
“The question of ‘is AI a bubble’ will remain front and center for investors in 2026,” wrote Richard Flax, chief investment officer at Moneyfarm. “The scale of current investment and the pace of innovation mean that even the sceptics cannot ignore its influence on both markets and the real economy.
In geopolitical news, President Donald Trump said he made “a lot of progress” in talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy over a possible peace deal, but that it might take a few weeks to get it done.
Europe’s Stoxx 600 was little changed following talks about a peace deal for Ukraine that yielded no breakthrough. Miners outperform, driven by surging metals prices, while industrial goods and services stocks are among the biggest laggards. Here are some of the biggest movers on Monday:
- Fresnillo shares climb as much as 5.3% on Monday to the highest level on record, leading a rally in mining stocks driven by surging metals prices.
- International Personal Finance rises as much as 6.8% in London trading after Basepoint agreed to buy the consumer finance company in a deal valuing IPF at about £543 million.
- BioGaia shares gain as much as 4.2% as DNB Carnegie lifts its price target on the Swedish probiotics firm and says the stock may break out on the upside from its five-year trading range in 2026 as margins improve.
- Bonesupport shares advance as much as 4.5% on Monday as DNB Carnegie repeats its positive stance on the Swedish medical equipment firm and says valuation seems attractive given potential for growth.
- Leonardo shares fall as much as 4.7% after US President Donald Trump said he made “a lot of progress” in talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy over a possible peace deal.
Earlier in the session, Asian equities extended gains for a seventh day, the longest winning streak in three months, buoyed by advances in tech firms. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed as much as 0.6%, boosted by TSMC, SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics. South Korea led gains in the region, while benchmarks in Taiwan and Tokyo also rose. China’s markets reversed earlier gains despite Beijing’s pledge to broaden its fiscal spending base in 2026. Meanwhile, mining shares across Asia climbed after silver rallied to a new peak, before sliding.
Elsewhere in commodities, copper, fueled by concerns over tighter supply, pushed hard toward $13,000 a ton, setting a fresh record on the London Metal Exchange. Oil also rose as the US-led talks failed to yield a breakthrough and as China vowed to support economic growth next year. Brent crude is still on track for a fifth monthly drop in December, which would be the longest losing streak in more than two years.
Bitcoin topped $90,000 before erasing the gain. A gauge of the dollar was steady. US Treasuries strengthened across the curve, with the 10-year yield falling one basis point to 4.12%.
In rates, treasuries hold small gains on lower-than-average futures volumes to begin the year’s final week, amid similar price action in most European bond markets where trading resumed after Friday’s holiday. Yields are lower by about 1bp-2bp across tenors with the curve slightly flatter; 10-year declined as much as 2.5bp to 4.10%, lowest level since Dec. 18. Treasuries remain headed for a small monthly loss amid signs of US economic resilience, yet still on pace for their best annual performance since 2020 following three Fed interest-rate cuts in response to weakening labor-market conditions
The US economic data calendar includes November pending home sales (10am) and December Dallas Fed manufacturing activity (10:30am); no Fed speakers are scheduled until Jan. 3
Market Snapshot
- S&P 500 mini -0.3%,
- Nasdaq 100 mini -0.4%,
- Russell 2000 mini little changed
- Stoxx Europe 600 little changed,
- DAX -0.2%,
- CAC 40 little changed
- 10-year Treasury yield -2 basis points at 4.11%
- VIX +1.2 points at 14.82
- Bloomberg Dollar Index little changed at 1200.67,
- euro little changed at $1.1777
- WTI crude +2% at $57.89/barrel
Top Overnight News
- Ukraine Seeks 50-Year U.S. Security Guarantee, Trump Offers 15: WSJ
- China stages record drills designed to encircle Taiwan: RTRS
- Chinese Military Drills Send ‘Stern Warning’ After U.S. Arms Sales to Taiwan: WSJ
- Why a Chinese Attack on Taiwan Would Be Japan’s Problem: WSJ
- China Swipes at Trump in Move to Be Thai-Cambodia Peacemaker: BBG
- Netanyahu Meets Trump as Gaza Ceasefire Approaches Crossroad: BBG
- US pledges $2 billion in humanitarian support to UN, State Department says : RTRS
- Justice Department Using Fraud Law to Target Companies on DEI: WSJ
- Every Wall Street Analyst Now Predicts a Stock Rally in 2026: BBG
- Xi’s Triumphant Year Staring Down Trump Belies Woes in China: BBG
- Lululemon Founder Launches Proxy Fight to Change Board: WSJ
- Copper Rallies to Record Near $13,000 in London on Supply Fears: BBG
- Ph.D.s Can’t Find Work as Boston’s Biotech Engine Sputters: WSJ
- Publicly Traded Private-Credit Funds Set for Worst Year Since 2020: BBG
- Canada Pensions Overseeing $1.2 Trillion Revamp Private Equity Model: BBG
- SoftBank Nears Deal for Data Center Investment Firm DigitalBridge: BBG
- How a Reclusive Ex-Glencore Trader Became Indonesia’s Nickel King: BBG
US Event Calendar
- 10:00 am: Nov Pending Home Sales MoM, est. 0.96%, prior 1.9%
- 10:30 am: Dec Dallas Fed Manf. Activity, est. -6, prior -10.4
1b European opening report
ic) Asian opening report
North Korea Unveils First ‘Nuclear-Powered’ Sub As Kim Tells Putin Their Nations Are “Sharing Blood, Life & Death In Same Trench”
Saturday, Dec 27, 2025 – 09:35 PM
One big geopolitical trend of the last year and beyond connected with the Ukraine war has been just how open North Korea and Russia have been about their deepening defense relations.
At the start, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un taking the high risk and controversial step of sending thousands of his DPRK troops to assist Russia was initially kept a secret, with little details made public.
Soon, international press reported at least 10,000 North Korean troops helping Russia, mostly in the Kursk border area.
But the last year saw North Korea go so far as to publish footage of North Koreans coming home from the Ukraine war in flag-draped coffins.
Kim Jong Un said Saturday that his country and Russia had bonded through “blood, life and death” during the war in Ukraine, as he delivered New Year’s greetings to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In his message released by the state-run KCNA news agency, Kim described 2025 as a “really meaningful year” for the partnership between the two countries, saying their alliance had been strengthened by “sharing blood, life and death in the same trench.”
It was only last April that North Korea publicly acknowledged for the first time it had deployed troops to assist Russia’s military operations in Ukraine and confirmed that some of its soldiers had died in combat. However, this had been an ‘open secret’ for much of the year even prior to that.
Earlier this month, Pyongyang also admitted it had sent personnel to remove land mines in Russia’s Kursk region in August 2025. Kim said at least nine members of an engineering regiment were killed during the 120-day mission, speaking at a Dec. 12 ceremony marking the unit’s return home.
Putin too has praised the North Korean soldiers for being especially instrumental in pushing back the short-lived Ukrainian occupation of southern Kurks oblast, in a brazen cross-border operation which lasted for months.
Kim’s New Year’s message to Putin came a day after he ordered officials to ramp up missile production. The world can expect more provocative missile tests from Pyongyang this year.
Putin’s travel in 2025 focused on non-Western and BRICS and non-aligned countries, some of which the West would call ‘rogue states’. But it also crucially included the Alaska Summit with President Donald Trump – the single biggest and most surprising trip since the Ukraine war’s start…
In addition to troop deployments, North Korea has also supplied Russia with artillery shells, missiles, and long-range rocket systems. Moscow has in turn provided its growing ally with with financial support, military technology, and supplies of food and energy.
Additionally, CNN reports that North Korea released images of what it claims is its first nuclear-powered submarine, which is designed as a challenge to American naval dominance in the region.
The state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Dec. 25 showed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, in the company of senior officials and his daughter, inspecting the new vessel, which was first revealed in March at an indoor construction facility.
Kim first discussed building a nuclear-powered submarine as part of a five-year military expansion plan at a party conference in 2021, and called the construction of the vessel one of the cornerstones of his regime’s defense policy.
“We regard the super-powerful offensive capability as the best shield for national security in developing the armed forces,” Kim was recorded as saying.
The North Korean dictator also listed several high-priority weapons systems at the conference, including solid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missiles carrying multiple warheads, hypersonic weapons, two new guided-missile destroyers, and advanced spy satellites.
Kim called the naval construction program, while inspecting the new sub, “a leap forward in bolstering up the combat capabilities of our fleets,” according to KCNA.
However, as PJMedia.com’s Bryan Jung notes, one of the new destroyers capsized on launch earlier this year, to Pyongyang’s embarrassment, but was subsequently refloated and repaired.
2b. JAPAN
3. CHINA/
China Conducts War Drills Around Taiwan, Simulating A Blockade Of Key Ports
Monday, Dec 29, 2025 – 07:45 AM
China launched large-scale military drills around Taiwan on Monday, showcasing Beijing’s ability to simulate a full blockade of the self-ruled island’s key ports. The live-fire exercises come just one week after the U.S. announced an $11.1 billion arms sale to Taipei.
According to Taiwan’s Defense Ministry, at around 15:00 local time, 89 Chinese military aircraft appeared on radar near Taiwan. Officials said 14 People’s Liberation Army warships and 14 Chinese coast guard vessels were also sailing nearby.
PLA activity is occurring in and around the Taiwan Strait, one of the world’s busiest shipping routes. So far, the exercises have not disrupted maritime traffic.
Senior Colonel Shi Yi of the People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command stated that the “Justice Mission-2025” exercises serve as a “stern warning against ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces and external interference.”
The multi-day live-fire exercises and simulated strikes are intended to prepare China for a blockade of Taiwan’s main ports. The drills come one week after the U.S. announced an $11.1 billion arms sale to Taiwan, the largest-ever U.S. weapons package to the island. The package includes HIMARS rocket systems, howitzers, Javelin anti-tank missiles, Altius loitering munition drones, and other weapon systems.
Related:
- China Sanctions 20 US Defense Firms, Issues ‘Red Line’ Warning Over Record Taiwan Arms Deal
- China Says Region Closer To War Due To US Record Taiwan Arms Package
“They are sending a strong message on external interference,” Chieh Chung, a researcher at Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research, told Reuters. He noted that China had “completely cut off” air and sea routes with Japan across three zones north of Taiwan.
Despite live-fire exercises, the Taiwanese stock market rose to record highs, reflecting a solid AI market theme that remains intact amid traders’ disregard for Beijing’s invasion-related fears.
Taiwan’s president said the drills underscore the need to continue strengthening defense capabilities amid Beijing’s continued pressure on what it considers a breakaway province.
4 EUROPEAN/NATO AFFAIRS/SCANDINAVIA
UK
The UK Health Care Disaster Is A Cautionary Tale For America’s Rising Class Of Armchair Socialists
Sunday, Dec 28, 2025 – 09:20 AM
The Washington Post shocked many of its Democratic readers this week by telling the truth about the growing disaster in the UK’s National Health Service — a cautionary tale as a few Republicans plan to join Democrats to extend the failed Obamacare subsidies rather than reform our own broken health care system.
Socialism is in vogue in America. Various socialists are assuming greater power in the Democratic Party and mayors such as Zohran Mamdani (New York) and Katie Wilson (Seattle) are taking over the leadership of major cities.
I discuss the rising class of American socialists in my new book, Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution. The young voters fueling this shift have never experienced life under socialism and have no memories of the meltdowns in prior such systems. As former socialist and communist countries move toward capitalism, many Americans are embracing socialism, according to polls.
The Washington Post editorial board exposed the myth of nationalized systems in its scathing column on the UK’s National Health Service, which is asking sick people to stay away from hospitals as the system struggles to offer basic care.
The NHS has existed for years in a perpetual state of emergency. This was the case before the pandemic hit, and it has only gotten worse. Hospital corridors overflow and routine procedures get canceled due to a catastrophic event commonly known as “winter.” It comes around every year, yet the system, despite annual funding increases, still somehow remains unable to cope.
A campaign to keep people away from hospitals during the holidays is underway, which includes begging the public to seek out other forms of treatment for “less serious” injuries and ailments. The British press compares the messaging to “Covid-era stay-at-home pleas,” which included asking patients who needed care to avoid medical facilities in order to “protect the NHS.”
With strikes and shortages, UK hospitals have turned into a nightmare:
In November, some 50,468 people waited 12 hours or more in emergency departments, often on trolleys in corridors. This is the highest on record for that time of year. Some 2.35 million people went to A&E in November, the highest on record for that month.
What is troubling in the debate over Obamacare is that some Democrats admit that it has failed. Democrats touted the law with an enabling class of academic experts as promising lower health care costs in a system that would pay for itself. Obama himself spread the false claim that you could keep your doctor under Obamacare. (later called the “lie of the year.”)
It proved to be a disaster. Health care costs soared under Obamacare and Democrats stepped in to pass massive subsidies that pay a fortune to insurance companies without doing anything to correct the underlying problems.
The shocking increase in costs under Obamacare should galvanize a nation in seeking a major overhaul without delay.
Health care is now unaffordable for many. Yet, that desperation is political gold for many in dangling subsidies before voters as an inducement to return them to power.
With the midterm elections approaching, Congress is about to repeat the same pay-now-worry-later approach.
For some, the directions may even be reassuring. As Obamacare craters, it will become increasingly difficult to return to a market-driven system. Instead, many Democratic members want a single national health care system or a Medicaid-like system for all.
It does not matter that the UK is struggling with its own system to provide basic care, and NBC is describing the UK system as “broken.”
With the threat of the Democrats taking over the House in the midterms and producing gridlock in Washington, it is unlikely that the GOP can remain firm and unified on creating an alternative. Some will join Democratic members admitting that Obamacare failed, but this is not the time to correct the problem. Instead, we will pour more money into a broken system and kick the can down the road.
END
UK’
EX-MI6 Spy Sounds Alarm: Hundreds Of Islamist Sleeper Agents In UK Poised For New 9/11
Monday, Dec 29, 2025 – 03:30 AM
Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,
A chilling revelation from a former MI6 operative exposes the ticking time bomb of Islamist sleeper agents embedded across the UK, ready to unleash devastation rivaling 9/11 or 7/7—all fueled by disastrous open borders policies that prioritize radicals over citizens’ safety.
Aimen Dean, who spent eight years infiltrating Al-Qaida for MI5 and MI6, knows the enemy inside out. As a former member of the terror group himself, he formed bonds with operatives and even served as a “kind of spiritual coach” to terrorists in London, gaining insider access to their plots.
His espionage thwarted attacks like a bid to bomb the New York Subway. But Dean pulls no punches on the current danger: there are “hundreds” of sleeper agents lurking in the shadows, primed to strike.
“Unfortunately, I would love to tell you the world is an amazing place, but it’s not,” Dean told The Sun. “The problem is the new world order is now the new world nightmare. We have rogue nations such as Iran aspiring to become nuclear powers. And a threat like Iran needs to be countered because of the fact that they are a nation that has sponsored terrorism.”
Al-Qaida found safe harbor in Iran for 25 years, Dean revealed, allowing the regime to orchestrate attacks that killed British nationals in Saudi Arabia—orders straight from Tehran.
Dean claims this Iranian backing has supercharged the spread of Islamic fundamentalism in the West, eroding trust in institutions while violent extremists wait for their cue.
“It’s not about if another 9/11 or 7/7 attack will happen; it’s about when,”Dean warns.
He slammed Europe’s fixation on Russia as a distraction from the real peril: “The biggest threat to the UK and Europe right now isn’t Russia but the spread of Iranian influence. We’re going to see many more lone-wolves acting for the regime. When it comes to sleeper agents in the UK, it’s impossible to tell how many there are but there are hundreds.”
“Islamic fundamentalism is much more sinister as it undermines from within,” Dean explained, adding “It pushes people to distrust institutions and in some ways is much more dangerous than violent extremism. The violence is just the tip of the iceberg.”
This dire assessment arrives amid Starmer’s latest blunder, where he gleefully welcomed Alaa Abd el-Fattah—a British-Egyptian extremist with a track record of Holocaust denial, praising Osama bin Laden, and calling for the killing of Zionists, police, and even declaring “I hate white people.”
UK PM Starmer DELIGHTS In Welcoming EXTREMIST Who “HATES” White People, Promoted Terror Attacks
Called for suicide bomb attacks and KILLING police
Starmer boasted on X: “I’m delighted that Alaa Abd El-Fattah is back in the UK and has been reunited with his loved ones, who must be feeling profound relief.” He dubbed it a “top priority,” ignoring Abd el-Fattah’s vile posts like “can we get back to killing zionists please?” and urging rioters to “hunt police fools.”
Critics like Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick blasted it as “an absolute disgrace,” demanding citizenship revocation for this “national security risk” who “hates Britain.”
Starmer’s virtue-signaling diplomacy rolls out the red carpet for radicals, while Dean’s intel screams that Iran’s proxies are already here, blending in thanks to porous borders.
Mass importation of unvetted migrants under globalist agendas has turned Britain into a powder keg, where fundamentalists erode society before detonating.
With mass migration flooding in threats under leftist governance, this warning couldn’t come at a worse time, as Keir Starmer’s regime celebrates importing extremists who spew hate and incite violence, leaving Brits vulnerable to the next wave of jihadist horror.
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END
POLAND/KORYBKO
Poland Is Expanding Its Influence Over The Baltics Through The “Via Baltica” Highway
Monday, Dec 29, 2025 – 02:00 AM
Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack,
Polish President Karol Nawrocki inaugurated the latest section of the “Via Baltica” highway between Poland and the Baltic States in late October in an event with his Lithuanian counterpart, with both highlighting the dual military purpose of this megaproject in an allusion to the “military Schengen”.
“Via Baltica” is one of the “Three Seas Initiative’s” (3SI) flagships, many of which complement the newer “military Schengen” initiative of facilitating the flow of troops and equipment eastward towards Russia.
Poland envisages the 3SI accelerating the revival of its long-lost Great Power status that’ll then result in it leading Russia’s containment all across Central & Eastern Europe (CEE) once the Ukrainian Conflict ends. It’s the most populous formerly communist member of NATO with the bloc’s third-largest military, just became a $1 trillion economy with its sights now set on a G20 seat, and has a history of regional leadership during the Commonwealth/“Rzeczpospolita” era, so these ambitions aren’t delusional.
Building upon the last point, most casual observers don’t know that the Commonwealth stretched as far north as parts of Latvia, which remained under its control till the Third Partition in 1795. Prior to that, it even controlled around half of Estonia from 1561-1629, after which it was ceded to Sweden. Suffice to say, what’s nowadays the nation-state of Lithuania was also part of the “Republic of the Two Nations” as the Commonwealth was officially known, thus giving Poland a substantial footprint in Baltic history.
The insight shared in the preceding two paragraphs enables the reader to better understand what Nawrocki told Lithuanian media during his maiden trip as president to that country last September about how “We as Poles, and I as the President of Poland, are aware that we are responsible for entire regions of Central Europe, including the Baltic States and Lithuania. Thanks to this visit and our cooperation, we feel that we are also building our military potential in solidarity, supported across the ocean.”
“Via Baltica” and the complementary “Rail Baltica”, both of which are behind schedule (especially the latter), will serve as the means for Poland to fulfill this dimension of its Great Power vision as elucidated by Nawrocki. The US’ post-Ukraine “Pivot (back) to (East) Asia” for more muscularly containing China could result in it redeploying some troops from CEE to there, but Poland would then likely replace the US’ reduced role through its ongoing militarization and 3SI-driven military logistical access to the Baltics.
The “EU Defense Line” that’s being built, which refers to the combination of the “Baltic Defense Line” and Poland’s “East Shield” along NATO’s eastern border, might then be bolstered by Polish-led troop deployments seeing as how Poland would be integral to those three’s survival in any war with Russia. In that scenario, from Estonia down to the Polish-Belarusian-Ukrainian tripoint, Russia’s number one adversary wouldn’t necessarily be NATO as a whole but Poland. That would have important implications.
In brief, while Poland is closely allied with the Anglo-American Axis for reasons of shared anti-Russian goals, it’s not their puppet and might become even more strategically autonomous under Nawrocki. After all, he surprised many by recently saying that he’s ready to talk to Putin if Poland’s security depends on it, thus opening the door for a Polish-Russian modus vivendi in the future. Such an understanding might be the key to keeping the peace in CEE after the Ukrainian Conflict ends.
5. RUSSIA AND MIDDLE EASTERN AFFAIRS
TBN ISRAEL/LAST 24 HR
ISRAEL VS HAMAS
Netanyahu arrives in US for Trump summit seeking freedom on Gaza, Iran, and Lebanon
According to Israeli officials, roughly 30% of Israel’s operational objectives remain unfulfilled, namely, the return of Ran Gvili, the final hostage whose remains are being held by Hamas.
US PRESIDENT Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reach out to shake hands at the White House last week. The world must support the Trump-Netanyahu framework in which Hamas is held accountable and peace can take root, says the writer.(photo credit: JONATHAN ERNST/REUTERS)ByAMICHAI STEINDECEMBER 29, 2025 12:04Updated: DECEMBER 29, 2025 13:54
Monday’s meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump will mark their sixth encounter since Trump took office nearly a year ago.
Once again, the agenda is expected to revolve around three familiar concerns: Gaza, Iran, and Lebanon.
What sets this meeting apart is that hostilities have formally ended across these fronts, at least in Washington’s view. According to Israeli officials, however, roughly 30% of Israel’s operational objectives remain unfulfilled, namely, the return of Ran Gvili, the final hostage whose remains are being held by Hamas.
Netanyahu is expected to arrive in Washington to convince the US president that Israel must retain the freedom to act.
That means finishing the dismantling of Hamas’s military infrastructure in Gaza, curbing Iran’s ability to resume ballistic missile development, and remaining on high alert in Lebanon and Syria, where officials say security conditions are still too fragile for normalization.
The challenge for the Israeli premier lies in the shifting mood inside the White House. Trump’s inner circle, according to sources familiar with internal discussions, believes that Hamas disarmament in Gaza may be achievable through diplomatic and economic means, without Israeli forces resuming combat.
When it comes to Iran, the administration has reiterated that any return to nuclear weapons development constitutes a red line. Yet officials have been less vocal about the Islamic Republic’s missile program.
How Syria and Turkey fit in
In Syria, President Ahmed al-Sharaa is reportedly seen by the Trump administration as a stabilizing factor – one Israel should avoid confronting directly. And Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is increasingly viewed in Washington not as a disruptor, but as a potential regional partner.
These positions are expected to shape the conversation. While Netanyahu may present compelling evidence for continued Israeli operations, he will also face pressure from US advisers who are focused on securing a long-term diplomatic achievement – what Trump has described as “the best future for the Middle East in 3,000 years.”
These are the positions Netanyahu will have to confront. He will arrive armed with intelligence and evidence, but he will still face the stance of most of the president’s advisers and Trump’s desire for calm – and for the plan that bears his name to be preserved.
There is one more thing: there is a limit to how many times one can say “no” to Trump. So which of these issues will Netanyahu ultimately be forced to say “yes” to?
END
ISRAEL VS IRAN/USA ET AL
Netanyahu’s New Slant To Lure Trump Into War With Iran
Saturday, Dec 27, 2025 – 11:20 PM
Authored by Alastair Crooke via The Ron Paul Institute
In these last days, the Trump Administration has boarded or seized three tankers either loaded with Venezuelan oil or destined for Venezuela (such as the Bella1). The most egregious seizure – in terms of illegality – being a Chinese-owned, Panama-flagged vessel reportedly destined for China – and on no one’s sanctions list.
In a different zone of conflict, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) last Friday claimed that it had struck a Russian so-called “shadow fleet” tanker, the Qendil, with aerial drones in waters of the Mediterranean Sea off Morocco. The SBU did not give further details of the attack, including how the SBU deployed a drone in the Mediterranean (2,000 Km from Ukraine), or the site from which it was launched. The SBU source said the cargo ship was empty at the time of the attack. President Putin, in midst of his annual question and answer marathon, vowed that Russia would retaliate.
“Blockades,” seizures and attacks, very plainly, are acts of war (despite the US claim that America owns all oil produced by Venezuela – until all historical US legal claims against Venezuela are satisfied). This tanker-episode is yet another ratchet to the drift to lawlessness in US foreign policy.
These acts pre-eminently are aimed at China (which has large equities in the Venezuelan oil industry) and Russia, which has longstanding ties to both Venezuela and Cuba (now under Trump “blockade” too). Add to that the $11bn in weapons being sent to Taiwan — with a significant amount of medium to long-range missile systems being part of the planned transfer, including 82 HIMARS launchers with Army ATACMS missiles, allowing Taipei forces to hit targets across the Taiwan Strait.
This latter transfer has infuriated China.
What this suggests is that the National Strategy Statement (NSS) in respect to China (it states that Washington views China as no longer constituting a “prime threat,” but only as an economic competitor) is meaningless rhetoric. China is being treated as an adversarial threat and will respond as such.
China and Russia will “read” the Trump Administration by its actions, rather than its NSS rhetoric. And the signals speak plainly to escalatory steps.
Put all this into the context of “leaks” by senior Trump officials which Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard says are “lies and propaganda.” She says the claims that “the ‘US intelligence community’ agrees to, and supports the EU/NATO viewpoint, that Russia’s aim is to invade/conquer Europe (in order to ‘gin up support’ for their pro-war policies)” — that these are lies being pushed by what she terms “Deep State warmongers and their Propaganda Media … to undermine Trump’s efforts to bring peace to Ukraine.”
“The truth,” Gabbard writes on Twitter, is the opposite:
‘[That] the US intelligence community has briefed policymakers, including the Democrat HPSCI member quoted by Reuters, that US Intelligence assesses that Russia seeks to avoid a larger war with NATO. It also assesses that, as the last few years have shown, Russia … does not have the capability to invade and occupy Europe’ — and that ‘US Intelligence assesses that Russia seeks to avoid a larger war with NATO.’
So, what Gabbard is telling us is that there is open intra-warfare at the top of the Trump Administration. On one side, there is the CIA, the hawks and their European collaborators, and on the other, Gabbard’s Intelligence analysts and a larger US constituency.
Where is Trump in this brew? Why is he positioning himself at the cusp of another round of conflict with China? Why would he do that when US economic structures are so fragile, and when China has shown that it has economic leverage with which to fight? Is the explanation the simplistic response that it is a diversion from the release of further Epstein images?
Why too did Trump dispatch Messrs Witkoff and Kushner to Berlin when the intent of Europeans to wreck the negotiating process with Russia was quite evident aforehand? The two American “Envoys” did not sign the Euro-proposal. They sat silently; yet neither did they enter a dissent, not even when (NATO-like) Article 5 security guarantees were mooted?
Also who was it who provided the targeting data by which Ukraine (apparently) was able to attack the Qendil off the North African coast 2,000 kms from Ukraine? What conclusion was intended for Putin to draw from the two incidents? Certainly, Russians will have made their own surmise.
And why draw-in Iran too, by seizing the Iranian Bella 1, ostensibly flagged to Guyana heading toward Venezuela? Does this represent the start to another round to the Iranian tanker war originally pursued by Israel? Does it suit Netanyahu’s and certain constituencies in Israel’s purposes to heat up the situation in respect to Iran?
It is worth asking because Netanyahu is scheduled to leave for Palm Beach, Miami, on December 28 with a view to have one or perhaps two meetings with Trump at Mar-a-Lago during the following days (though the meetings with Trump have yet to be confirmed at time of writing).
It seems that it is neither Hamas, nor Gaza Phase Two, that lies predominantly behind Netanyahu’s summit intent – but rather Iran.
The Gaza and Hamas issues therefore are likely to play second fiddle to the “new” narrative being framed by the Israeli PM’s office: Iran will not be presented to Trump as rushing toward “a nuclear breakthrough” as per the old cliché.
That is the “old narrative.” The new one is, as leading Israeli commentator Anna Barsky writes in (Hebrew) in Ma’ariv:
The more immediate threat here: [more] than the nuclear itself … [is] the systematic [Iranian] reconstruction of the middle layer: the ballistic missile industry, its production lines and the ability to restore the functionality to damaged air defence systems.
Not because the nuclear issue has fallen off the agenda … but because missiles are the key that allows Iran to protect everything else – and also to attack. Without missile and air defense shields, nuclear facilities are a vulnerable target. With a shield [by contrast] they become a much more complex strategic problem … And here is a point that often escapes public discourse: Iran is not ‘rehabilitating’ just to return to what it was, but to return differently.
In other words: ‘missile restoration’ and ‘nuclear restoration’ are not two separate axes, but one system – and it is of great concern to Israel. The missile builds a shell, the shell enables a nuclear power, and the nuclear power – even if rejected – remains the ultimate [Iranian] goal.
The message that Netanyahu will take to Mar-a-Lago is that “Israel will not allow Iran to rebuild a missile and defense umbrella that will close the skies over sensitive sites.“
Trump may be more preoccupied with creating a new regional order without being dragged into a war with no clear end. Netanyahu likely will claim nonetheless (as he has been doing for over 25 years) that the “window” in which Iran can rebuild its defense umbrella is fast closing, and will likely gently remind the President that Trump was placed in power, not just to promote Israel’s image, but for the Realpolitik purpose of expanding Israel’s real-world power in the region and control over territory.
Happy Christmas, Donald!
END
As Trump Awaits Netanyahu’s War Pitch, Iranian President Says Israel, US Already Waging ‘Full-Scale War’
Sunday, Dec 28, 2025 – 01:25 PM
Two days before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s is expected to pitch President Trump on a new round of war with Iran, Iran’s president says the United States, Israel and Europe are already waging “full-fledged war” on Iran, and that a return to kinetic warfare will result in a “more decisive response” than the retaliation witnessed during June’s 12-day war.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s comments came in a 6,600-word interview published on the official website of the country’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei. The wide-ranging discussion addressed the full spectrum of challenges the country is facing, including internal political, social, economic and cultural ones.
The “war” quote that’s making headlines came in the midst of a discussion of Iran’s attempt to make the most of finite energy resources, and immediately followed Pezeshkian’s listing of the many small ways he said he personally economizes with state resources, from ordering radiators be turned off in offices he seldom uses, to shutting down a heated swimming pool that was dedicated for his own use. Then, he pivoted, putting Iran’s struggles in the context of Israeli-Western efforts to weaken the country, from economic sanctions to attempting to foster internal discontent:
“In my opinion, we are in a full-fledged war with America, Israel, and Europe; they do not want our country to stand on its feet. This war is worse than Iraq’s war against us; if one understands it well, this war is far more complex and difficult than that war. In the war with Iraq, the situation was clear: they fired missiles, and I also knew where to hit.
Here, they are besieging us from every aspect, they are putting us in difficulty and constraint, creating problems – in terms of livelihood, culturally, politically, and security-wise – while raising society’s expectations. On one side, they block our sales, our exchanges, our trade, and on the other side, expectations in society have risen! Consequently, we must all help with all our might to fix the country.”
Next, the interviewer suggested that, after the Israeli-US “failure in the 12-Day War,” the two states turned to a “psychological and media operation” designed to portray the Iranian government as weak to the point it must surrender to outside demands lest it collapse from internal disunity. “Let them dwell in their fantasies,” replied Pezeshkian, a former heart surgeon who was elected in a July 2024 snap election following a helicopter crash that killed his predecessor and seven others. “They attacked us with this very illusion, but it only increased our internal unity and cohesion. What the Leader is doing now – creating coordination among the branches of power – ensures that if unanimity and empathy emerge, no power can incapacitate a cohesive and unified nation.”
When discussing the prospect of renewed military “mischief” by Israel and the United States, Pezeshkian said:
“Look, our dear military forces are doing their job with power. Despite all the problems we face, we are now – in terms of both equipment and personnel – far stronger than we were during their previous attacks. Therefore, if they choose to strike, they will naturally face a more decisive response. But I return to the point that if we, the people, stand together and remain united, they will lose all hope of ever attacking our country.”
Pezeshkian’s remarks come ahead of Netanyahu’s Monday’s visit to Mar-a-Lago, where he will reportedly lobby Trump to take more military action against Iran. Moving the goalposts, Israel now says neither Tel Aviv nor Washington should tolerate Iran’s rebuilding of the surprisingly formidable arsenal of hypersonic and other ballistic missiles the country used to retaliate when Israel initiated the 12-Day War in June. According to each country’s official tallies, more than 1,000 were killed in Iran, and 33 in Israel. The war was purportedly launched because of the threat of Iran developing a nuclear weapon, yet US intelligence has long concluded the country is not developing a weapon.
While mutual deterrence keeps pace among many rival nations, Israel has no interest in allowing that post-12-Day War status quo to continue, as the Quincy Institute’s Trita Parsi recently explained:
“In the case of Iran, after only nine days, [Israel] wanted a ceasefire and kept to it. The key reason for that is that the Iranian missiles inflicted significant damage on the Israelis. That is now the outcome of the war: Instead of Israel succeeding in subjugating Iran under its domination [as it did to Lebanon], we have now a situation of mutual deterrence. That is unacceptable for Netanyahu, it’s unacceptable for his legacy, and as a result, the likelihood of Israel trying to attack Iran again is very, very high, and that is on top of his agenda as he’s coming to [Florida on Monday].”
Meanwhile, the American right is in the midst of a growing civil war over US support for Israel. With a great many conservatives still incensed over Trump’s decision to support and then commit US forces to Israel’s war on Iran in June, the question is whether Trump’s instinctive subservience to Israel and its US-based collaborators will overcome reservations about blowing up the conservative coalition heading into next year’s high-stakes midterms.
ISRAEL VS HEZBOLLAH
SYRIA
Eight Killed, Many Wounded, After Sunni Jihadists Bomb Alawite Mosque In Central Syria
Friday, Dec 26, 2025 – 11:00 PM
There’s been yet another tragic attack targeting Syria’s religious minorities by fanatical jihadists which are allied with the Syrian government of President Ahmed Sharaa.
“A bombing at a mosque located in the Syrian city of Homs during Friday prayers killed at least eight people and wounded 18 others,” authorities said, the Associated Press reports. It was an Alawite religious site that was targeted. Notably this is the same non-Sunni sect that former President Bashar al-Assad belongs to.
“Images released by Syria’s state-run Arab News Agency showed blood on the mosque’s carpets, holes in the walls, shattered windows and fire damage,” the report continues. “The Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib Mosque is located in an area of the Wadi al-Dhahab neighborhood dominated by the Alawite minority in Homs, Syria’s third-largest city.”
State-run SANA said that explosive devices were planted inside the mosque, and it doesn’t appear to have been the result of a suicide bomber, also as there’s a search on for the attack perpetrators.
But the government, which is dominated by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), probably won’t be ‘looking’ for the attackers with too much intensity. There are currently unverified reports that the terror organization responsible was only until very recently a sub-group of the ruling HTS.
It has been a year since the overthrow of secular Ba’ath ruler Assad and a very disturbing and sadly predictable trend has emerged…
But the mainstream media in the West has remained mostly silent, and has not spotlighted the new regime’s abuses. Instead the MSM has often romanticized the rise of Jolani: aka Sharaa… on the mere basis that the Assad government is gone.
As we previously described, the Alawites have been targeted repeatedly by other factions, and the government itself, with a high-profile massacre of Alawite civilians in the northwest of the country in March leading to low level violence against the religious minority ever since.
Alawites are around 10% of Syria’s population, and they have long been targets of opponents of the old government, even though they note that under Assad they weren’t necessarily broadly treated better than anyone else.
Syrian Christians have also continued to be persecuted under the new US-backed regime:
While the Islamist government has presented an idea of religious unity for Syria, they have also eagerly branded any clashes involving Alawites as “Assad remnant” forces, and reacted harshly, while plainly targeting the Alawites on a day-to-day basis.
END
The Red Sea strategy: What does Israel stand to gain from recognizing Somaliland? – analysis
Some may see it as creating a new era of international competition in the Horn of Africa – but the real issue is it may appear more of a strategic chessboard than it is.
Somalis react after Israel became the first country to formally recognise the self-declared Republic of Somaliland as an independent and sovereign state, in Mogadishu, Somalia, December 27, 2025(photo credit: REUTERS/FEISAL OMAR)BySETH J. FRANTZMANDECEMBER 27, 2025 18:12Updated: DECEMBER 27, 2025 20:43
Following Israel’s recognition of the state of Somaliland, there has been much discussion surrounding why the recognition is taking place now and to what end.
Given that Somaliland is situated in the Horn of Africa, with neighbors such as Ethiopia and Djibouti, the Israeli recognition is, above all, raising eyebrows regarding what is nearby – the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.
The Bab al-Mandab Strait separates these two bodies of water. This is an economic choke point for shipping heading from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean. As such, this is globally considered to be a vitally important trade zone.
The Iranian-backed Houthis have terrorized shipping for the last several years in this area. They claimed to do so due to the war in Gaza. Decades ago, moreover, Somali pirates routinely attacked ships off East Africa’s coast.
A new era of international competition in the Horn of Africa
This area is now in the spotlight amid Israel’s recognition of Somaliland. Some may see the move as marking the beginning of a new era of international competition in this part of Africa. Many countries are already involved.
Turkey, for instance, has been involved in Somalia and Sudan. The UAE invested in a port in Somaliland. European powers have bases and forces in Djibouti.
However, many of the states in the region are weak or have internal conflicts. Sudan has been engaged in civil war for years.
Somalia largely fell apart as a country in the early 1990s, forcing international intervention that peaked with the 1993 Black Hawk Down incident, where US forces were killed. Eritrea has long been a third-world, suffering country. Ethiopia has also had internal unrest.
Across the water in Yemen, the country has also been in civil war for years. Saudi Arabia and the UAE intervened in 2015 to prevent the Houthis from taking control of Aden. Yemen has been divided for much of the last century into North and South Yemen.
Egypt intervened in the 1960s, with Yemen divided again today between the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council and the Saudi-backed Yemen government.
Many commentators see Israel’s move as strategic. It ostensibly puts Israel and the UAE on one side, sharing interests in this region. Meanwhile, states such as Turkey are situated on the other side.
However, nothing is that simplistic. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have agreed on Yemen. Egypt is unlikely to favor changes in the Horn of Africa and already has deep concerns about the Rapid Support Forces’ increased presence in Sudan and about a new dam in Egypt. Qatar and many countries oppose Israel’s move.
There’s a good reason the Horn of Africa is weak
The issues in the Horn of Africa appear to revolve mostly around strategic questions. While it is true that having naval forces in this area or military assets seems important, the Houthis’ attacks on ships have shown that with relatively simple and cheap drones and missiles, shipping can be terrorized.
Somali pirates used to hijack boats by overwhelming them with mere skiffs and AK-47 automatic rifles.
The Horn of Africa is resource-poor, and there is a good reason many of its countries are weak states. As such, from a grand-strategic perspective, Israeli recognition may be less than the sum of its parts in this region.
It is true that many countries have interests in this area, including France and the US, Turkey and Iran, and the UAE and Saudi Arabia. However, these interests have so far translated into only limited engagement. There are bigger fish to fry, as most countries already know.
RUSSIA VS UKRAINE
Russia Pummels Kiev, Hundreds Of Thousands Without Power, Ahead Of Trump-Zelensky Meeting
– 09:55 AM
Russia launched a wave of attacks on Ukraine early Saturday, killing at least one person and injuring many others, and leaving hundreds of thousands without power. Already the electricity grid has long suffered under such crippling attacks, with barely any time or necessary parts for repair.
The assault occurred just a day before anticipated Ukraine peace talks between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and President Trump, expected at Mar-A-Lago on Sunday. According to The New York Times, air raid alarms sounded around 1:30am local time as the strikes began, with Zelensky later stating on X that nearly 500 drones and 40 missiles were used, mainly on energy sites and civilian infrastructure in the capital.
Ukraine’s Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on Telegram that 10 apartment buildings were hit and more than 20 people were injured. The Associated Press later updated the casualty count, reporting that 27, including two children, were wounded.
Zelensky has accused Russia of seeking to prolong the conflict and that ongoing peace negotiation efforts are simply a ruse. The Moscow side has accused Zelensky of essentially the same thing, and said he doesn’t want to give up power.
Kyiv regional governor Mykola Kalashnyk announced of these latest strikes, “As of this morning, part of the left bank of the region remains without electricity. Currently, more than 320,000 consumers are without power.”
Based on this fresh assault, Zelensky described, “Russian representatives engage in lengthy talks, but in reality, Kinzhals and Shaheds speak for them,” he said. Russia has been chiefly relying Kinzhal ballistic missiles and Iranian designed Shahed in these daily strikes.
Dramatic direct hit of high-rise…
“They do not want to end the war and seek to use every opportunity to cause Ukraine even greater suffering and increase their pressure on others around the world,” he added.
But on the other hand the Kremlin has charged that Zelensky and his European backers seek to “torpedo” the US-brokered plan, given especially they’ve balked at making territorial concessions.
Zelensky is urgently asking Washington and the West to take “more strong steps” to save lives. “Many of our partners have this capability,” he continued, in reference to ‘closing the skies’ through more sophisticated weaponry.
“The key is to use it. It is equally important to continue supporting Ukraine’s defense — our protection of life. Supplies for air defense must be sufficient and timely, especially now, when we need them most,” he said.
END
RUSSIA/UKRAINE
Russia ‘Confidently Advancing’ In Ukraine, Over 30 Settlements Captured In December: Putin
Monday, Dec 29, 2025 – 12:00 PM
Russian President Vladimir Putin has made clear to both his citizens and to the world that the ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine will continue on until all goals are achieved, and that his forces are advancing ‘confidently’.
He chaired a televised meeting with the country’s top military officials, focused on a status update regarding Ukraine, and crucially coming the day after Presidents Trump and Zelensky met in Florida in a failed effort to reach breakthrough on the proposed peace deal. Moscow is pressing ahead with its goal of fully capturing and pacifying the four Ukrainian regions it declared part of the Russian Federation in fall of 2022 via a ‘popular referendum’.
“The goal of liberating the Donbas, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions is being carried out in stages, in accordance with the plan of the special military operation,” Putin described before underscoring, “The troops are confidently advancing.“
At the meeting it was also announced that Russian troops have made more gains in the last 24 hours, especially the capture of Dibrova village in Donetsk region.
According to an update of the meeting via RT translation, battlefield gains of the past month are significant:
In December, Russian forces liberated over 700 square kilometers of territory, taking some 32 settlements under control, Gerasimov said at the meeting. This month, the military has shown the highest rate of progress in the entire outgoing year, he noted, adding that troops are advancing “along virtually the entire frontline.”
“The adversary is not undertaking any active offensive actions. They have concentrated their main efforts on strengthening their defenses and are attempting to slow the pace of our advance by conducting counterattacks in isolated areas and using drones en masse,” Gerasimov said.
The Kremlin has at the same time reiterated that it is not interested in a ‘Plan B or Plan C’ in terms of a peace deal, but that it only seeks lasting political settlement. This will of course include international recognition of its territories in the Donbass.
According to highlights the Russian president’s speech after his meeting with top defense officials, via a TASS and Al Jazeera compilation:
- Attempts by Ukraine to interfere with the Russian army in Kupiansk must be decisively suppressed.
- The capture of Siversk allows for the development of offensives towards the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.
- Prospects for the complete capture of the Donbas territory have been discussed.
- Expansion of the security zone along the Russian-Ukrainian border is on the table.
- Troops have broken through the Ukrainian defences and are advancing towards the city of Zaporizhzhia.
Putin, surrounded by his generals, is making clear to the world that he remains in the driver’s seat – with all the leverage on the field of battle – and that Zelensky has no cards to play.
RUSSIA/UKRAINE/EUROPE
ROBERT H:
Europe’s Ominous Path to Conflict with Russia
Like an episode of dumb meets dumber. The so called “wogs” of Europe will not fight. Yes send the WHIte BOYS to death. What do think happens to white women and their children??
As for this balderdash of “you will own nothing”; yes it is correct because war with Russia will go nuclear in a hurry and Europe will burn to ash. God help Europe if Putin is gone. Who comes next will seize to push the buttons. Russia is prepared to die. Whether Europe understands matters not. So far the only Person who has stood in way of a 1st strike is Putin not the hard liners. Russia too has its’ war hawks. However Putin each month now has less room to move. For Russia he has taken the long road to training a modern army to fight. Europe does not have the ability to counter in time, resources or manpower.
Yes, both sides have tested weapon systems using the Ukrainians as easy fodder. But then is this not the way of Globalists? To date they have not paid with blood directly. This time will be different! Very different simply because the same globalists have lost control of the plot and through thievery and greed given China and Russia, India and many others the time to prepare. If there is to be final showdown then it will consume many nations beyond comprehension. What will result is a return to real assets and real money. Funny printing of funds off balance sheet will be something studied as a disgraceful period of modern history. National bankruptcies will be the final edict fallen leadership.
If one has paid attention then one would realize that each side uses weapons cast from different players to level the field. It is why weapons are used from England to France to Germany and on the other side Russian, Chinese and North Korean weapons combine. The big take away should be that Russia rotates its’ troops taking the latest lessons from weapons deployment to be educated upon return to practice lessons. The West cannot do this. The West is still fighting yesterday’s war. And like it or not will suffer defeat as a result. People do not pay attention to the reality that Russia has 360,000 combat experienced troops in Belarus on standby. Russia does not trust the West. Even Trump wishes of compromise are betrayed by Neocons on every turn. God willing America will sit it out because oceans do not protect.
America’s threats are close to its’ shores. Think Cuba or Venezuela both armed heavily by China and to a lesser extent Russia. And then let’s think about Israel and its continued quest to rid itself of the Iranian threat. The difficulty today is that China and Russia have contributed heavily in supply with modern weapons taking lessons from the last confrontation with applied solutions. A repeat will not end the same.
The world will see a number of different military confrontations over the next several years and 2026 may well be the 1st year of real chaos. Ultimately things will settle down. However to what extent it is peaceful is a quandary.
From: Foreign Agent Intel from Foreign Agent Intel <foreignagentintel@substack.com>
Date: December 28, 2025 at 1:34:05 PM ESTSubject: Europe’s Ominous Path to Conflict with Russia
Reply-To: Foreign Agent Intel from Foreign Agent Intel
6. GLOBAL ISSUES//COVID ISSUES/VACCINE ISSUES/HEALTH ISSUE
GLOBAL ISSUES//
The Global Persecution Of Christians Has Greatly Intensified In 2025
Monday, Dec 29, 2025 – 06:30 AM
Authored by Michael Snyder via TheMostImportantNews.com,
While Christians in the western world peacefully celebrate Christmas, most of them have absolutely no idea what is happening to their brothers and sisters on the other side of the globe. As I detailed a couple of months ago, most of the population of the world lives in a country where Christians are being violently persecuted. Believers are being rounded up for de-programming in China, churches are being burned to the ground by Hindu extremists in India, Christians are literally being cut into pieces by Islamic radicals in some parts of Africa, practicing your faith can be a death sentence in certain areas of the Middle East, and North Korean concentration camps are teeming with people that are suspected of worshipping Christ. Perhaps if we were facing similar levels of persecution, believers in the western world would start becoming a lot more serious about their faith.
More than a billion people live in China, and the persecution of Christians in that nation has gone to an entirely different level in 2025.
Earlier this month, over a thousand law enforcement personnel were involved in a massive operation that ultimately resulted in the arrest of hundreds of Christians…
Starting on Dec. 13, the Chinese Communist Party mobilized “more than a thousand police officers, SWAT units, anti-riot forces, and firefighters” in the Zhejiang Province’s Yayang Town in Wenzhou City, raiding churches and conducting mass arrests of Christians, ChinaAid reported Friday.
“Belongings of relevant individuals were illegally confiscated, roads leading to the church were completely blocked by police, and Christians in Yayang Town were unable to enter the Yayang church. The operation lasted nearly five days, yet no public statement was issued by officials,” the outlet noted. “Within just the first two days, several hundreds of people were taken away for questioning. On December 16 and 17, at least four more individuals were detained.”
Restrictions on the Christian faith in China just keep getting tighter and tighter.
Nobody under the age of 18 is permitted to go to church.
Those that are adults are only allowed to go to churches that are officially registered with the government.
Anyone that attempts to defy these rules is at risk of being rounded up and forcibly “de-programmed”…
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) and other religious liberty watchdogs have repeatedly warned that China’s totalitarian regime is enacting human rights abuses against religious groups within the nation’s border. A USCIRF report late last year detailed mass arrests and the destruction or removal of church property, part of CCP President Xi Jinping’s “sinicization of religion” policy. Religious groups and leaders who do not register with the official government-approved religious organizations are often arrested, imprisoned, and forced into “anti-cult” programs to “de-program” Christians.
In India, it is Hindu extremists that are doing the persecuting.
They have literally burned down hundreds of churches in recent years.
In other instances, mobs of Hindu extremists storm churches and start attacking those that are worshipping.
Earlier this year, I wrote about a mob of 200 extremists that stormed a church and beat the believers they found with iron rods.
More recently, an extremist mob in northern India viciously assaulted a small group of believers and forced them to burn a large pile of Bibles and Christian literature…
The Hindu extremists, whose number had then reached 80, searched their car, pulled out all Bibles and tracts and cast them onto the ground into a heap. They shot videos that showed the two couples, disoriented and in shock, forced to repeat that they intended “conversion” in the village and that they would never return.
The mob kicked the Bibles and spoke disrespectfully about Christ, Masih said.
Pastor Das was forced to write a letter of apology that the video shows in his hand. A member of the mob then took a bottle of flammable liquid from the hands of a boy standing with the mob and forced three of the Christians to sprinkle it on the Bibles and literature. After forcing Pastor Das to set the Bibles on fire, the mob then shouted praises to the Hindu god Rama.
In Nigeria, thousands upon thousands of Christians have been slaughtered this year alone.
President Trump had warned that he would do something about the Islamic terrorists that are doing the slaughtering, and on Christmas Day he took action…
President Trump said Thursday that the U.S. launched “powerful and deadly” strikes against Islamic State forces in Nigeria, after spending weeks accusing the West African country’s government of failing to rein in the persecution of Christians.
“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!” Mr. Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. “I have previously warned these Terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was.”
Hopefully this will do something to reduce the violence.
So far in 2025, Islamic terrorists in Nigeria have killed over 12,000 people…
The violence in the northwest region, where the strikes occurred, is driven in large part by armed bandits and gangs kidnapping for ransom. The insurgency is concentrated in the northeast, where jihadist groups like the notorious Boko Haram and its now more powerful splinter, the Islamic State West Africa Province, an affiliate of the Islamic State group, have killed tens of thousands of civilians over the past decade.
Nigeria is not officially at war, but more people are killed there than in most war-torn countries. More than 12,000 people were killed by various violent groups this year alone, according to Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, a conflict monitoring group.
Collectively, more than three billion people live in the three nations that I have already mentioned in this article.
But the persecution that is going on in smaller countries such as North Korea and Eritrea is even worse…
Henrietta Blyth, CEO of Open Doors U.K. and Ireland, previously told Newsweek: “The persecution of Christians around the world is one of the great untold scandals of the 21st Century… It can take many forms: in North Korea, it may be a summary public execution without trial, merely for owning a Bible. In Eritrea, it can be 10 years spent in a blazing hot prison cell made from a metal shipping container, merely for belonging to an unregistered house church.”
According to Open Doors, North Korea is the number one global offender when it comes to Christian persecution, and Eritrea is number four…
- North Korea
- Somalia
- Libya
- Eritrea
- Yemen
- Nigeria
- Pakistan
- Sudan
- Iran
- Afghanistan
- Central African Republic
- Mauritania
- Myanmar
- Mali
- Syria
- Saudi Arabia
- Maldives
- China
- Algeria
- Tunisia
- Morocco
- Burkina Faso
- Turkey
- Cuba
- Niger
- Ethiopia
- Laos
- Tajikistan
- Qatar
- Egypt
- Brunei
- Jordan
- Oman
- United Arab Emirates
- Colombia
- Democratic Republic of Congo
- Mozambique
- Bangladesh
- Vietnam
- Bhutan
- Kazakhstan
- Kuwait
- Malaysia
- Indonesia
- Kyrgyzstan
- Russia
- Sri Lanka
- Western Sahara
- Kosovo
- Bahrain
I was amazed to see that there are 17 nations that rank ahead of China, because China has become a Big Brother police state on steroids.
Perhaps China ranks lower than some of the others because instead of just killing them, the Chinese round Christians up and simply make them “disappear”.
The good news is that persecution often makes the Christian faith grow rapidly, and we are seeing this happen in many areas of the globe.
In fact, it appears that we could actually use some serious persecution here in the United States, because what we are experiencing at this moment is being described as “the great unchurching”…
The U.S. is undergoing its fastest religious shift in modern history, marked by a rapid increase in the religiously unaffiliated and numerous church closures nationwide.
Why it matters: The great unchurching of America comes as identity and reality are increasingly shaped by non-institutional spiritual sources — YouTube mystics, TikTok tarot, digital skeptics, folk saints and AI-generated prayer bots.
When you are facing the fire of persecution, what you do or don’t believe suddenly becomes very clear.
Throughout human history, tyrants have tried and failed to stamp out the Christian faith.
The same thing is true in our time.
Countless believers are choosing imprisonment or death rather than choosing to deny Christ.
If you were faced with the same choice, what would you choose?
You might want to think about that, because the global persecution of Christians is only going to intensify during the very challenging years that are ahead of us.
Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.
MARK CRISPIN MILLER
UK: comic Simon treated by audience member after heart attack; journo Peter Rhodes has fatal cancer; GE: Biathlon hopeful Johanna Puff, 23, has myocarditis; skier Nathalie Armbruster, 19, collapses
PO: actor Joaquim Monchique hospitalized after stroke; PH: “former child star Fredmoore delos Santos appeals for help after stroke”
| Mark Crispin MillerDec 28 |
A survey of the likely global toll of COVID “vaccination,” based on the reports collected by our worldwide team of researchers this past week.
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UNITED KINGDOM
Comedian treated by audience member after he has heart attack
December 22, 2025
Stand-up comic Simon collapsed at a gig in Droylsden, Greater Manchester, in October while waiting to perform. The comedy vocalist, who describes his style as ‘brutal’, said he regularly does crowd work and had picked on a cardiac nurse in the audience at a show in September. After asking Hannah Poole what she did for a living, Simon quipped that he ‘hoped’ she would be his nurse one day. In a bizarre twist of fate, the Bristol comic did have a heart attack six weeks later and ‘couldn’t believe it’ when he found himself on the 28-year-old nurse’s ward in Manchester Royal Infirmary in Manchester. The cardiac nurse, from County Leitrim, Ireland, recognised him immediately as the comedian she had been to see in September – with the ‘unbelievable’ coincidence leaving them both stunned.The 52-year-old dad-of-four had been waiting to go onstage for an after-dinner performance at the Droylsden FC clubhouse on October 10th. While waiting for his set, Simon began to have chest pains and got up to leave the room, but quickly realised he was ‘in trouble’ and collapsed.
News from Underground by Mark Crispin Miller is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Newspaper columnist reveals he has terminal cancer
December 18, 2025
Newspaper columnist Peter Rhodes has revealed he has terminal cancer in an open letter to readers of the West Midlands publication. Mr Rhodes revealed in the Express and Star he had been diagnosed with kidney cancer and multiple blood clots in his lungs and said doctors had said his condition was terminal. His illness was discovered after he took a test for prostate cancer in August, he said. The writer, who also worked on the Shropshire Star as well as the Black Country paper, thanked his thousands of readers and said that he was supported by “the best team of medics and carers anyone could wish for”. Mr Rhodes retired from his job as chief feature writer in 2012 but had continued to write a weekday column for the Express & Star and the Shropshire Star until October this year.
No age reported.
GERMANY
A shocking diagnosis: Biathlon hopeful Johanna Puff (23) is seriously ill
December 20, 2025
At the beginning of December, the athlete suddenly collapsed at the IBU Cup in Obertilliach. She needed immediate medical attention and hospitalization. Now Puff has revealed for the first time on Instagram what is behind the collapse. The diagnosis: myocarditis – an inflammation of the heart muscle.
A second of fright at kilometer 3.2: Nordic combined skier Nathalie Armbruster collapses
December 19, 2025
Nathalie Armbruster followed the hellish pace of Ida Marie Hagen in the mass start race of the Nordic Combined in Ramsau – until she could no longer, and collapsed in the track. “The body had shut down everything. I wanted to run, but it was no longer possible, there was nothing left. I kind of collapsed inside myself and thought to myself, this was the end now, “ she reported while fighting back tears. But after agonizingly long seconds in the snow, the 19-year-old’s spirits started to move again, she straightened up, and after a short check by national coach Florian Aichinger, she set about moving towards the finish line. “Not fast anymore, but at least I got to the finish line.“
PORTUGAL
Joaquim Monchique hospitalized in Bragança after suffering a stroke. Actor is stable and will be transferred to Lisbon
December 21, 2025
The 57-year-old actor Joaquim Monchique was hospitalized on Saturday night in Bragança after suffering a stroke following the presentation of the play “Lar Doce Lar” at the Municipal Theater, the news was released by Correio da Manhã and has already been confirmed by CNN Portugal. According to the production company of the play “Lar Doce Lar” (Sweet Home), a comedy starring the actor and Maria Rueff, Joaquim Monchique felt unwell in his dressing room immediately after the show and was hospitalized following a stroke. He is currently in stable condition.
Link
PHILIPPINES
Former child star Fredmoore delos Santos appeals for help after stroke
December 22, 2025
Former child actor Fredmoore delos Santos is currently in need of assistance after suffering a stroke that left him with difficulty moving and speaking. In a teaser for the December 20 episode of Wish Ko Lang, Fredmoore’s wife, Jennifer, shared the traumatic moment she found him collapsed and unresponsive inside their bathroom.
No age reported.
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Barry Manilow has lung cancer; Sen. Ben Sasse has Stage 4 pancreatic cancer; ABC News medical editor Dr. Timothy Johnson has prostate cancer; Dolphins’ Marcus Allen has non-Hodgkin lymphoma
David Roberts, “founding member of Straight No Chaser shares cancer journey”; NFL Hall of Famer Randy Moss completes Stage 2 bile duct cancer treatment; more
| Mark Crispin MillerDec 28 |
A survey of the likely global toll of COVID “vaccination,” based on the reports collected by our worldwide team of researchers this past week.
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UNITED STATES
Barry Manilow Is Diagnosed With Lung Cancer
December 22, 2025
The singer Barry Manilow has been diagnosed with lung cancer and will undergo surgery and postponed several concert dates, he announced in a social-media post on Monday. Manilow, 82, said he had been fighting bronchitis for more than two months when his doctors ordered an M.R.I. The test “discovered a cancerous spot on my left lung that needs to be removed,” he wrote in a statement on Instagram. “It’s pure luck (and a great doctor) that it was found so early.”
News from Underground by Mark Crispin Miller is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Miami basketball’s Marcus Allen begins chemotherapy after cancer diagnosis, will miss rest of season
December 19, 2025
Marcus Allen, a sophomore guard on the Miami men’s basketball team, will step away from the court to focus on his health. Allen was recently diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma and has begun chemotherapy, the team announced Friday. Allen will be sidelined for the rest of the season. The Florida native and University of Missouri transfer joined the Hurricanes ahead of the 2025-26 season. Miami opened the year with six transfers on its roster.
No age reported.
Celebs
UNITED STATES
Danielle Fishel Says She’s ‘All Clear’ After Oncology Check-Up Following Breast Cancer Treatment
December 17, 2025
Boy Meets World alum Danielle Fishel is in high spirits nearly one year after completing treatment for breast cancer. “I’m great. I mean, you still have regular doctor’s appointments when you’ve just had cancer a year before,” Fishel, 44, told People in an interview published on Tuesday, December 16. “I just had a recent appointment with my oncologist [and] everything’s good. We’re all clear.” The actress announced in October 2024 that she was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer and subsequently underwent two lumpectomies. Fishel also completed 20 rounds of radiation, which she finished in January of this year.
Founding member of Straight No Chaser shares cancer journey
December 19, 2025
INDIANAPOLIS, IN — One of the original members of the world-famous acapella group Straight No Chaser is celebrating a medical milestone. David Roberts, who now serves as the group’s business manager, began experiencing health issues earlier this year. Doctors eventually diagnosed him with POEMS syndrome, a blood disorder that causes damage to the nerves and extreme weakness in the hands and legs. Roberts and his doctor at the IU Health Simon Cancer Center came up with a plan that included a four-month course of chemotherapy, followed by a bone marrow transplant. He completed the transplant right before Thanksgiving and is now home with his family in time for the holidays.
No age reported.
Randy Moss rings bell after completing his cancer treatment
December 20, 2025
NFL Hall of Famer Randy Moss celebrated a monumental victory this September, ringing the traditional bell at Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute in Charlotte to mark the end of his Stage 2 bile duct cancer treatment. The legendary wide receiver, aged 48, was diagnosed in late 2024 after noticing symptoms like jaundice and dark urine. He underwent a stent placement on Thanksgiving, followed by a six-hour Whipple procedure in December to remove the tumor — affecting parts of his pancreas, gallbladder, and bile duct. Moss then completed rounds of chemotherapy and radiation while stepping away from his ESPN “Sunday NFL Countdown” role.
Ben Sasse diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer
December 23, 2025
Former Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) announced Tuesday he has been diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. The former two-term senator, 53, wrote in a lengthy social media post that he received the diagnosis last week. “This is a tough note to write, but since a bunch of you have started to suspect something, I’ll cut to the chase: Last week I was diagnosed with metastasized, stage-four pancreatic cancer, and am gonna die,” Sasse continued. “Advanced pancreatic is nasty stuff; it’s a death sentence. But I already had a death sentence before last week too — we all do.” Sasse retired from the upper chamber in 2023, having grown frustrated in his final years in office, to become president of the University of Florida. He left that post after more than a year due to the health of his wife, Melissa, in light of “recent epilepsy diagnosis and a new batch of memory issues.”
Researcher’s note – Sasse in 2021: Sasse Statement on Increasing Vaccine Diplomacy: U.S. Senator Ben Sasse released the following statement after it was announced that the U.S. would triple its vaccine [sic] shipment to Taiwan. “This is good news and we need to ramp it up. Vaccinating [sic] Taiwan needs to be a top diplomatic priority and we should be increasing American shipments. We have the best vaccines [sic] and the ability to distribute them. This is a once-in-a-lifetime type of crisis and the American people should lead with diplomacy and help knock COVID out.” Background: In May, Sasse called for the Biden Administration to distribute one billion vaccines [sic] globally to save lives and combat Chinese Communist Party influence: Link
Former WCVB, ABC News medical editor Dr. Timothy Johnson shares cancer battle
December 17, 2025
BOSTON, MA — Longtime WCVB and ABC News medical editor Dr. Timothy Johnson revealed Wednesday he is battling prostate cancer. On Wednesday’s “Good Morning America,” Johnson, 89, said the diagnosis came after a prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, test during his annual exam. “In my last Medicare annual exam, I walked in the door and said to my doctor, a friend, ‘Let’s throw in a PSA just for the heck of it.’ And it came back 13.7, which is much higher than it should be,” Johnson said. “I was stunned. I was absolutely shocked.” Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men, excluding skin cancer, and a leading cause of cancer death for men in the U.S., second only to lung cancer. Johnson said his cancer has spread to his lymph nodes, but is optimistic.
END
DR PAUL ALEXANDER
NEWSWIZE
| NFL Team Announces Surprise Move From Red StateThe Kansas City Chiefs dropped a bombshell Monday, announcing plans to leave Missouri and Arrowhead Stadium for a new domed home across the state line in Kansas. Chiefs owner and chairman Clark Hunt confirmed the move in a joint statement with Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell after a meeting of the Kansas Legislative Coordinating Council. The …READ THE FULL REPORT |
| Hunter Biden Torches Dad’s Presidency In Jaw-Dropping InterviewHunter Biden unloaded on his father’s legacy in a bombshell podcast interview, calling out the Biden administration’s border policies and the disastrous Afghanistan exit. Appearing on “The Shawn Ryan Show” in a five-and-a-half-hour interview released Monday, the 55-year-old son of the former president criticized policies that defined much of Biden’s White House tenure. “We need vibrant immigration,” Hunter Biden said. …READ THE FULL REPORT |
| JUST IN: Beloved MAGA Rep. Launches Senate RunRepublican Rep. Harriet Hageman of Wyoming, a staunch House ally of President Donald Trump, jumped into the Senate race Tuesday, launching a bid to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Cynthia Lummis. Hageman’s announcement came just four days after Lummis said she would not seek a second six-year term in next year’s midterm elections, opening a rare Senate seat in the solidly …READ THE FULL REPORT |
| BREAKING: Longtime GOP Senator Announces Cancer Diagnosis: ‘It’s A Death Sentence’Former Republican Sen. Ben Sasse revealed Tuesday that he has terminal stage-four pancreatic cancer, calling the diagnosis a “death sentence.” Sasse, 53, shared the news in a blunt post on X, saying his illness has already spread. “Friends – This is a tough note to write, but since a bunch of you have started to suspect something, I’ll cut to …READ THE FULL REPORT |
| NEW: Trump Renews Push To Acquire Greenland, Appoints Special EnvoyPresident Donald Trump has reignited his push to secure the arctic territory of Greenland, citing key national security concerns. The president further announced that he had appointed a Republican governor to oversee and coordinate the task. “I am pleased to announce that I am appointing the GREAT Governor of Louisiana, Jeff Landry, as the United States Special Envoy to Greenland. …READ THE FULL REPORT |
MICHAEL EVERY/OR OR PICTON/GIFFIN OR RABOBANK EXECUTIVE/COMMENTARY ON WORLDLY AFFAIRS
7. OIL ISSUES/NATURAL GAS/ENERGY ISSUES/GLOBAL\
OIL
Why China Is Driving Short-Term Oil Prices But OPEC Still Holds The Lever
Monday, Dec 29, 2025 – 05:00 AM
Authored by Charles Kennedy via OilPrice.com,
- China now drives short-term oil price moves as its opaque import patterns, refinery margins, and strategic stockpiling increasingly shape marginal demand and near-term price discovery.
- OPEC’s influence has shifted to the medium term.
- In times of genuine supply stress, pricing power returns to producers.
For most of the past decade, oil markets have treated decisions by OPEC as the primary signal for price direction. That hierarchy is being tested, but not overturned. What has changed is where traders look for short-term cues. Increasingly, those cues are coming from China, not because Beijing controls supply, but because its buying behavior now dominates marginal demand and near-term price discovery.
As reported by Reuters, China has overtaken OPEC as the most influential force in oil price formation, driven by the scale and timing of its crude purchases rather than any formal attempt to manage prices. The change shows us how oil markets have become increasingly demand-led, with China sitting right in the center.
China is the world’s largest crude importer, but its influence extends beyond just the volumes that make headlines.
Refinitiv analysts recently noted that the traditional view of producers like OPEC+ as the primary oil price setters has been “challenged in 2025 by China,” explaining that Beijing’s use of strategic stockpiles to provide a crude price floor and ceiling effectively supplanted producer group direction this year. citeanalyst voices added, I can provide additional options.
Unlike OECD buyers, China’s oil system blends state-owned majors, independent refiners, and strategic stockpiling entities whose buying behavior is opaque and often poorly reflected in real-time data. Cargoes can move into commercial storage, strategic reserves, or floating storage with limited visibility. That uncertainty itself has become a market variable.
When Chinese buying accelerates, prices tend to firm even if global supply remains healthy. When imports slow, prices drop even with OPEC output restraint. Over the past two years, this pattern has repeated enough times that traders now treat Chinese import momentum as a more immediate price driver than OPEC production targets, many of which are either anticipated or only partially implemented.
OPEC (and particularly Saudi Arabia) still controls the bulk of global spare capacity. That capacity continues to anchor longer-term expectations. But spare capacity matters less when demand fluctuations dominate short-term pricing. In today’s market, the marginal barrel is shaped more by whether China is actively pulling crude from the market.
Chinese refinery margins have become an early indicator for price direction. When margins improve, especially among independent refiners, crude imports typically rise. When margins tighten, buying slows quickly. Because these refiners operate with short planning cycles and limited balance-sheet flexibility, their behavior introduces volatility that OPEC policy cannot easily smooth.
Geopolitics also throws itself in the mix here, with China increasing crude intake from Russia and other sanctioned suppliers under alternative pricing arrangements, weakening the link between OPEC decisions and spot prices by shifting trade into channels where supply discipline and benchmark signaling are less effective.
No, it doesn’t mean that OPEC is irrelevant. The cartel’s policy decisions still shape the medium-term balance and set boundaries for price expectations. But the market’s center of gravity has shifted, with traders now watching Chinese customs data, refinery runs, and policy cues with the same intensity once reserved for OPEC communiqués.
None of this means that China has replaced producers as the ultimate price setter. China’s influence operates at the margin and in the short term, not in moments of genuine supply stress. Strategic stockpiling and opaque buying can move prices when barrels are abundant, but they cannot cap prices during a true supply shock, nor defend a floor once inventories normalize and demand slows.
When markets tighten, pricing power reverts quickly to those who control spare capacity. On that front, OPEC (and primarily, Saudi Arabia) still holds the decisive lever. China’s signals may be easy for traders to trade, but they remain conditional. If Beijing were truly setting prices, it would be able to sustain them. Whether it can do so will ultimately test the limits of this thesis.
8. EMERGING MARKETS//AUSTRALIA NEW ZEALAND ISSUES
VENEZUELA/USA
Trump Blockade Leaves $1 Billion Of Venezuelan Crude Stranded On Tankers
Sunday, Dec 28, 2025 – 07:40 AM
With a two-month “quarantine” placed on Venezuelan oil by the Trump administration in a foreign policy move called “gunboat diplomacy,” new data estimate that roughly $900 million worth of crude is currently loaded on tankers, unable to depart Venezuela due to the U.S. blockade.
“Based on our visual analysis from both shore and space, we estimate that there are around 17.5 million barrels of crude oil floating onboard tankers in Venezuela which are unable to depart due to the ongoing US blockade,” independent research Tanker Trackers wrote on X. “That’s around $900M of oil.”
Tanker Trackers responded to a question on X about how long it would take for land-based oil and gas operations in Venezuela to become “clogged” due to the blockade. The research firm noted, “Chevron is still importing from Venezuela, and it doesn’t appear that will stop anytime soon, given they are granted a waiver.”
Here’s the conversation:
Current tankers sailing in the Caribbean with destinations to the U.S. and/or China.
Last week, the Trump administration directed U.S. military forces to enforce a two-month “quarantine” on Venezuelan oil exports, signaling ramped-up sanctions enforcement.
According to a U.S. military official cited by Reuters, while military options remain available, the near-term strategy prioritizes economic pressure through strict enforcement of sanctions to pressure Venezuela.
Operationally, the U.S. Coast Guard has intercepted two Venezuelan dark fleet tankers and forced a third to retreat into the Atlantic Basin.
Our assessment: The gunboat diplomacy posture is designed to disrupt Venezuela-Cuba-China oil flows, tighten financial pressure, and accelerate regime instability in both Caracas and Havana.
China is furious and has wargamed a potential conflict with the U.S. in the Caribbean. Okay Beijing …
END
NIGERIA/USA
Nigerians Applaud Trump’s Military Strikes On Islamic Terrorists
Monday, Dec 29, 2025 – 11:20 AM
Trump’s military strikes against Islamic terror groups in Nigeria have been met with overall applause by Nigerian citizens and migrants residing in the US. Authorities say the groups have links to jihadist networks in Mali and Niger and their members have settled in border communities, recruiting young people and imposing brutal controls.
Associated Muslim militants were responsible for numerous attacks on Christian communities and schools in the country in early 2025, including the coordinated massacre of 280 Christian farmers in the village of Yelwata; many victims burned alive or hacked to death. It was one of the worst single incidents of Christian slaughter in the past decade.
In a national statement, Nigeria’s information ministry said “precision strike operations” had been carried with the “explicit approval” of President Bola Tinubu and with “the full involvement of the armed forces of Nigeria”. Trump brought global exposure to the attacks on Christians in the region, accusing the Nigerian government of apathy in the face of genocide.
The event is being framed as a “joint operation” between Nigeria and the US, however, it is likely that international attention forced the hand of the current regime to cooperate with US military operations. Nothing would have been done about the militants had Trump not stepped in.
Many Christian Nigerians abroad and migrants in the US are optimistic about the country’s prospects for peace and have applauded the strikes. Nigeria is 56% Muslim and 43% Christian. The northern provinces, controlled by Muslims, have instituted Sharia Law despite the country having a “secular constitution.” This has created religious tensions across the nation and helped to enable escalating Islamic militant attacks.
It’s good to see at least one group of third world migrants showing appreciation for US efforts.
The establishment media in the west, however, is not happy about Trump’s efforts in Africa, and has been working diligently to deny that the conflict is driven by religious motives. Though they are forced to admit that the strikes have had a positive effect on Nigeria’s Christian population, they continue to frame the killings of villagers as “land disputes” (take note of the seemingly scripted propaganda planted in the AP report below).
The motives of the media are obvious; third world immigration is an integral part of the multicultural agenda to destabilize the west and admitting that Islamic migrants might be a security hazard hurts that agenda. They could not be more transparent, given the fact that journalists immediately tried to make the issue about immigration once news of the strikes hit the new feeds.
Western journalists have accused Trump of hypocrisy because of his block on immigration from a number of African nations including Nigeria. They argue that Trump does not really want to help Christians because he won’t allow Nigerians to come to the US to escape the sectarian violence.
However, simply claiming to be Christian is not enough to gain US citizenship. Trump’s position is clear – Third world populations need to fix their own countries rather than running to the US. Despite the socialist “melting pot” narrative, America has never been obligated to take on the refugees of the world. The Trump Administration’s intervention in Nigeria only shows that the President is serious about those people staying where they are so they can repair or replace their broken government.
In July as Trump ramped up criticism of the Nigerian government’s handling of the situation, NPR attempted to paint the attacks as a “land dispute” over access to cattle grazing areas. They repeated the Nigerian Foreign Ministry’s claims that the events had “nothing to do with religion.” In almost every case of Christians being hunted by Muslim militants, the media is on the side of the governments that allow the attacks to happen.
A number of western media platforms dismiss or marginalize the attacks on Christian villages in Nigeria, claiming that “most victims are Muslims.” What they don’t mention is that most Muslim “victims” are largely rival militants fighting for a superior position. Christians have not involved themselves in the power struggle, yet, they are specifically targeted for extermination.
Reports from the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) state that over 7,000 Christians were killed in Nigeria in the first 220 days of 2025. The bottom line is, Christians are disproportionately targeted by Islamic violence in Africa and African governments are content to let it happen.
YOUR EARLY CURRENCY/GOLD AND SILVER PRICING/ASIAN CLOSING MARKETS AND EUROPEAN BOURSE OPENING AND CLOSING/ INTEREST RATE SETTINGS MONDAY MORNING 6;30AM//OPENING AND CLOSING
EURO/USA: 1.1763 DOWN 0.0002 PTS OR 2 BASIS POINTS/WITH STOCKS IN EUROPE MOSTLY GREEN
USA/ YEN 156.30 DOWN 0.206 NOW TARGETS INTEREST RATE AT 1.00% AS IT WILL BUY UNLIMITED BONDS TO GETS TO THAT LEVEL…//YEN STILL FALLS//END OF YEN CARRY TRADE BEGINS AGAIN DEC 2024/Bank of Japan raises rates by .25% TO 1.75 ..TAKAICHI NEW PM AS YIELDS RISE//JAPAN DEEPLY IN TROUBLE WITH RISING RATES AND A FALLING YEN!!
GBP/USA 1.3507 UP 0.0022 OR 22 BASIS PTS
USA/CAN DOLLAR: 1.3697 UP 0.0030 CDN DOLLAR DOWN 30 BASIS PTS//
Last night Shanghai COMPOSITE CLOSED UP 1.60PTS OR 0.04%
Hang Seng CLOSED DOWN 183.70 PTS OR 0.71%
AUSTRALIA CLOSED DOWN .30%
// EUROPEAN BOURSE: ALL MOSTLY GREEN
Trading from Europe and ASIA
I) EUROPEAN BOURSES: ALL MOSTLY GREEN
2/ CHINESE BOURSES / :Hang SENG CLOSED DOWN 183.70 PTS OR 0.71%
/SHANGHAI CLOSED UP 1.60 POINTS OR 0.04%
AUSTRALIA BOURSE CLOSED DOWN 0.30%
(Nikkei (Japan) CLOSED DOWN 223.47 PTS OR 0.44%
INDIA’S SENSEX IN THE RED
Gold very early morning trading: 4437.50
silver:$75.15
USA dollar index early MONDAY morning: 97.76 UP 6 BASIS POINTS FROM FRIDAY’s CLOSE
MONDAY MORNING NUMBERS ENDS
And now your closing MONDAY NUMBERS 11: 30 AM
Portuguese 10 year bond yield: 3.115 % DOWN 5 in basis point(s) yield
JAPANESE BOND 10 yr YIELD: +2.047% UP 1/4 FULL POINTS BASIS POINTS /JAPAN losing control of its yield curve/
JAPAN 30 YR: 3.449 UP 5 BASIS PTS//DEADLY
SPANISH 10 YR BOND YIELD: 3.251 DOWN 4 in basis points yield
ITALIAN 10 YR BOND YIELD 3.427 DOWN 5 points in basis points yield ./ THE ECB IS QE’ ING ITALIAN BONDS (BUYING ITALIAN BONDS/SELLING GERMAN BUNDS)
GERMAN 10 YR BOND YIELD: 2.8265 DOWN 4 BASIS PTS
IMPORTANT CURRENCY CLOSES : MID DAY MONDAY
Closing currency crosses for day /USA DOLLAR INDEX/USA 10 YR BOND YIELD/1:00 PM
Euro/USA 1.1783 UP 0.0016 OR 16 basis points
USA/Japan: 156.11 DOWN 0.388 OR YEN IS UP 39 BASIS PTS// HIGHLY INFLATIONARY TO JAPAN
Great Britain 10 YR RATE 4.508 DOWN 0 BASIS POINTS //
GREAT BRITAIN 30 YR BOND; 5.216 DOWN 1 BASIS POINTS.
Canadian dollar DOWN 0.0008 OR 8 BASIS pts to 1.3671
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The USA/Yuan CNY UP AT 7.0066 ON SHORE ..
THE USA/YUAN OFFSHORE// CNH UP TO 7.0025
TURKISH LIRA: 42.94 EXTREMELY DANGEROUS LEVEL/DEATH WATCH/HYPERINFLATION TO BEGIN.//
the 10 yr Japanese bond yield at +2.047 UP 1/4 FULL basis pts
THE 30 YR JAPANESE BOND YIELD: 3.449 UP 5 basis pts
Your closing 10 yr US bond yield DOWN 2 in basis points from FRIDAY at 4.111% //trading well ABOVE the resistance level of 2.27-2.32%)
USA 30 yr bond yield 4.804 DOWN 0 basis points /11:00 AM
USA 2 YR BOND YIELD: 3.467 UP 0 BASIS PTS.
GOLD AT 10;00 AM 4378.00
SILVER AT 10;00: 72.53
Your 11:00 AM bourses for Europe and the Dow along with the USA dollar index closing and interest rates:MONDAY CLOSING TIME 11:00 AM//
London: CLOSED DOWN 4.15 PTS OR 0.04%
GERMAN DAX: UP 11.06 PTS OR 0.05%
FRANCE: CLOSED UP 8.44 PTS OR 0.10%
Spain IBEX CLOSED UP 22.90 PTS OR 0.13%
Italian MIB: CLOSED DOWN 170.57 PTS OR 0.38%
WTI Oil price 58.01 10.00 EST/
Brent Oil: 62.07 10:00 EST
USA /RUSSIAN ROUBLE /// AT: 77.56 ROUBLE UP 0 AND 44/ 100
CDN 10 YEAR RATE: 3.410 DOWN 0 BASIS PTS.
CDN 5 YEAR RATE: 2.934 DOWN 1/8 BASIS PTS
CLOSING NUMBERS: 4 PM
Euro vs USA 1.1768 UP 0.0003 OR 3 BASIS POINTS//
British Pound: 1.3507 UP 0.0022 OR 22 basis pts/
BRITISH 10 YR GILT BOND YIELD: 4.4900 DOWN 1 FULL BASIS PTS//
BRITISH 30 YR BOND YIELD: 5.221 DOWN 1 IN BASIS PTS.
JAPAN 10 YR YIELD: 2.052 UP 1/2 FULL BASIS PTS (DANGEROUS TO THEIR ECONOMY
JAPANESE 30 YR BOND: 3.425 UP 4 PTS AND STILL VERY DANGEROUS TO THEIR ECONOMY
USA dollar vs Japanese Yen: 156.02 DOWN 0.481 OR YEN UP 48 BASIS PTS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS/YEN FALLING DEEPLY IN VALUE
USA dollar vs Canadian dollar: 1.3686 UP 0.0023 PTS// CDN DOLLAR DOWN 23 BASIS PTS
West Texas intermediate oil: 58.02
Brent OIL: 61.78
USA 10 yr bond yield DOWN 2 BASIS pts to 4.118
USA 30 yr bond yield DOWN 2 PTS to 4.802%
USA 2 YR BOND 3.463 DOWN 2 PTS
CDN 10 YR RATE 3.390 DOWN 1 BASIS PTS
CDN 5 YEAR RATE: 2.992 DOWN 1 BASIS PTS
USA dollar index: 97.73 UP 3 BASIS POINTS
USA DOLLAR VS TURKISH LIRA: 42.94 GETTING QUITE CLOSE TO BLOWING UP/
USA DOLLAR VS RUSSIA//// ROUBLE: 78.50 DOWN 0 AND 85/100 roubles //
GOLD $4,338.60(3:30 PM)
SILVER: 72.84 3;30 PM)
DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE: DOWN 249.04 OR 0.51 %
NASDAQ 100 DOWN 121.35 PTS OR 0.51%
VOLATILITY INDEX 14.06 UP 0.46 PTS OR 3.38.%
GLD: $ 398.60 DOWN 18.14 PTS OR 4.35%
SLV/ $66.01 DOWN 5.11 PTS OR OR 7.19%
TORONTO STOCK INDEX// TSX INDEX: CLOSED DOWN 103.19 PTS OR 0.332%
end
TRADING today ZEROHEDGE 4 PM: HEADLINE NEWS/TRADING
Bitcoin Bruised On Boxing Day, Bonds Bid As Precious Metals Rip To New Record Highs
WRAP UP
USA DATA RELEASES
US Pending Home Sales Jump To Highest In 33 Months
Monday, Dec 29, 2025 – 10:10 AM
Pending sales of existing homes in the US surged 3.3% MoM (more than the expected 0.9% MoM move) in November as a modest improvement in prices and mortgage rates encouraged buyers.
The gain was broad-based across regions and exceeded all but one estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists, but left the YoY change in sales somewhat stagnant on an NSA basis.
Signings have now increased for four straight months, matching a streak seen during the frenzied housing market of the pandemic.
Homebuyer momentum is building,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement, citing improving affordability and more inventory choices compared to last year.
The trade association’s report on Monday showed contract signings rose in each US region last month to their highest levels of the year. The West posted the largest increase, followed by the South, the nation’s largest home-selling region.
November’s surge dragged the Pending Home Sales Index to its highest since Feb 2023…
Bloomberg reports that the recent data point to the gradual improvement many economists see for the housing market into 2026.
Mortgage rates that were close to 7% in May have since settled in the 6.3% to 6.4% range, and home prices are growing at a much slower rate compared to last year.
That’s helped fuel small gains in contract closings in recent months. However, economists and industry experts have widely different expectations for next year.
In a recent survey of nine market analysts, estimates for the home resale market ranged from 1.7% to 14% sales growth, with the rosiest projection coming from NAR’s Yun.
Pending-homes sales tend to be a leading indicator for previously owned homes, as houses typically go under contract a month or two before they’re sold.
USA ECONOMIC COMMENTARIES
One Year In, Trump’s Economy Defies The Experts And Outpaces G7
Monday, Dec 29, 2025 – 07:20 AM
Authored by Daniel Lacalle via The Epoch Times,
One year into Donald Trump’s new presidency, the verdict from the data is clear: the apocalyptic consensus forecasts have failed, and the United States stands as the only major developed economy combining strong growth, controlled inflation, and fiscal consolidation.
The same analysts and institutions that applauded massive stimulus, monetary excess, and regulatory overreach under the previous administration now struggle to explain why the economy they expected to sink into stagflation is instead outperforming all its G7 peers. Furthermore, the U.S. peers that embraced net-zero goals, big government, and high tax policies are now experiencing secular stagnation.
From the ‘Tariff Tantrum’ to a Global Surprise
When Trump announced his new wave of tariffs and trade policies, much of the global consensus rushed to predict a disaster. I called it the “tariff tantrum.” Commentators warned of an inflation surge beyond 2021 levels, 6 to 7 percent Treasury yields, collapsing investment, a recession, and global rejection of U.S. leadership in favor of supposedly more responsible European governments.
Twelve months later, none of those predictions has materialized. The 10-year Treasury yield has fallen to 4.1 percent. The United States is the only G7 economy growing robustly, while nations that intensified hyperregulation, climate restrictions, high taxes, and government spending are stuck in stagnation despite the tailwind of low oil and gas prices.
The “tariff tantrum” never became the structural shock that critics warned of. Tariffs, though debatable, do not cause inflation because they do not add currency units to the economy; uncontrolled public spending and monetary excess do.
Growth, Investment, and a Rare Fiscal Adjustment
The performance of the U.S. economy in 2025 is extraordinary, not only in relative terms but also on its own merits. Real GDP is growing at approximately 3.8 percent, with the Atlanta Fed tracking around 3.5 percent annualized in the third quarter. Private investment is expanding at near double-digit rates. Crucially, this is happening while federal spending is being cut—public expenditure has fallen by about 3 percent over the year, avoiding the use of unproductive federal outlays to mask weak growth.
International institutions have revised their forecasts. The International Monetary Fund, which had projected much weaker performance, now expects U.S. growth of about 2.1 percent in 2026. Major research houses that previously forecast zero or negative growth have adjusted their 2025 outlooks to around 2.5 percent. Some economists now admit they misread the U.S. private sector’s resilience and overestimated the impact of tariffs.
This American expansion is not driven by a wave of debt-fueled political spending, but by private sector recovery, investment, trade, and productivity. Unlike other developed nations that responded to crises with more spending, debt, and regulation, the new U.S. approach is producing better results.
Inflation Under Control
The most surprising divergence from the consensus narrative is inflation. The same Keynesian analysts who saw no inflation risk in 2021—while government spending and the money supply surged—predicted that tariffs would push inflation beyond previous highs. Instead, the consumer price index (CPI) in November stands at about 2.7 percent, below the 3.0 percent expected and far from the predicted 6 to 7 percent spike.
Core inflation, excluding food and energy, is around 2.6 percent, down from late 2024. Over the 12 months to November, the all-items index rose by 2.7 percent, down from 3.0 percent the previous year. Independent estimates suggest actual inflation may be closer to 2.5 percent.
The lesson is clear: tariffs did not cause the global inflation spike; the combination of unchecked fiscal expansion and central banks monetizing deficits did. The U.S. experience in 2025 proves this again.
Deficit, Debt, and the Politics of Discipline
While many advanced economies face ballooning deficits and rising debt, the United States has achieved a rare combination of growth and fiscal consolidation. The federal deficit has declined by about 22 percent, from $2.07 trillion in November 2024 to approximately $1.6 trillion a year later. This is due to increased tax and trade revenues and spending cuts. As a share of GDP, the deficit dropped from 7.1 percent to an estimated 5.9 percent.
This is notable, given that 97 percent of the 2025 budget had already been allocated when the Trump administration took office. Trump has also enacted the largest tax cut in decades, reducing the tax wedge on families to below 30 percent, according to the Tax Foundation.
Despite inheriting a nearly fully committed budget, the administration cut federal outlays by 5.6 percent in the first quarter and 5.3 percent in the second. Public spending is down 3.1 percent for the first half of the year. An 8 percent reduction in federal spending is planned for 2026.
Federal debt, which stood at $36.22 trillion in January, has stabilized and ticked slightly down to $36.21 trillion. The debt-to-GDP ratio has fallen from roughly 122 percent to 120 percent.
Labor Market: Native Workers Improve as Govt and Immigration Shrink
The November employment report shows the best month for native private-sector employment since 2015. Real wages are up 0.8 percent year over year, with middle- and lower-income workers gaining about 1.4 percent. Net real wages after taxes are rising at the fastest pace in years.
Unemployment stands at 4.6 percent, lower than in Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and the Eurozone.
Native employment has grown from 130.6 million in November 2024 to 133.3 million—an increase of 2.63 million jobs. Over the same period, foreign employment has declined by 21,000, and public-sector employment has dropped by 188,000.
Unlike Canada and Europe, where employment gains often involve subsidized public-sector jobs, the United States is achieving stronger private-sector gains through deregulation, tax cuts, and restrained public payrolls.
Trade Deals Have Been a Success
Rather than destroying America’s global trade position, Trump’s approach has reduced the trade deficit from $79.8 billion in November 2024 to about $52.8 billion in September 2025—a drop of nearly one-third.
Targeted tariffs, renegotiated trade agreements, and stronger domestic industry support have improved trade flows without triggering the inflation that many feared.
Other Improvements That Matter
The Trump administration has taken major steps on other fronts: banning central bank digital currencies, rolling back speech-restrictive regulations, advancing health care reform, and committing to scrap 10 regulations for every new one approved. In foreign policy, it has advocated for peace in Gaza, realistic resolutions in Ukraine, and support for democracy in Venezuela.
The message for conservatives and centrists in Europe and Latin America is clear: growth, jobs, and lower inflation require more than copying bureaucratic, high-tax models. Trump may not be a classical liberal, but his results demonstrate what a reform-minded conservative administration can accomplish.
The uncomfortable reality for many global policymakers is this: the United States has achieved what others only promised—stronger growth, lower inflation, smaller deficits, a healthier labor market, and early signs of debt stabilization. All of this has been accomplished not through expanding the state, but through deregulation, lower taxes, and private-sector empowerment.
Other advanced economies opted for more government, more debt, and climate and social agendas funded through taxes. They now face stagnation, even with favorable energy prices.
Trump’s new term does not guarantee future success. Risks remain. But the first year already poses a challenge to the Keynesian consensus. Had the United States followed the big-government, net-zero, high-tax path, its fiscal and economic situation would likely be far worse—as the United Kingdom’s example makes clear.
END
VICTOR DAVIS HANSON
KING NEWS
| The King Report December 29, 2025 Issue 7648 | Independent View of the News |
| Precious soared, again, on Friday. Feb AU rallied as much as 81.20, hitting 4584.00 at 11:04 ET. March SI was +11.15% (79.70) at 16:59 ET and is +49% for December! Copper hit a record high; March Copper +7.0% at peak. Spot Palladium was +12.5% at 16:46 ET on Friday. Spot Platinum was +9.6% at 10:26 ET and is +52.4% since 12/10/25. Spot Silver – Carter Inflation, Iran, USSR in Afghan ’79; Europe implosion 2011; what now? Spot Gold Gold soars when there is a crisis of confidence in governments and/or central banks. In this gold super bull market, central banks have been major buyers! WHY??? The most obvious reason is that after decades of easy money and the distorting financialization of everything to accommodate massive government spending and debt, ‘they’ sense that a chaotic and destructive end game will soon unfold. Then, there is the terrifying state of governments in the First World. Totalitarianism and an Islamic Revolution is proliferating, especially in Europe. The US is in an existential civil war that has turned hot. And behind everything is the global debt bomb, which will eventuate in hyperinflation, the dreaded debt deflation, and/or war. PS – The choice of Americans in 2024 to shepherd the US through the crisis and turmoil came down to Trump, Kamala Harris, or Joe Biden! World Gold Council: Central Bank Gold Statistics: Central banks ramp up gold buying in October – Central banks bought a net 53t in October, 36% higher m/m and the largest monthly net demand y-t-d A familiar set of buyers – led by a resurgent National Bank of Poland – drove the gains… https://www.gold.org/goldhub/gold-focus/2025/12/central-bank-gold-statistics-central-banks-ramp-gold-buying-october Google AI: Central banks are buying significant amounts of gold to diversify reserves, hedge against geopolitical/financial instability, and reduce reliance on the U.S. dollar… This historic buying spree, particularly since 2022, reflects a strategic shift towards tangible assets for stability in an uncertain global economy, with nations like Poland, China, and India leading purchases. Google AI on the big difference between gold and silver: In 2024, the total global demand for silver was approximately 1.16 billion ounces (about 36,076 metric tons). Unlike gold, a significant portion of mined silver is consumed in industrial applications and lost permanently because it is often uneconomical to recycle, making it a unique and dynamically consumed resource. @GlobalMktObserv: The global yield curve is now at its steepest level in nearly a decade: This means long-term government bonds now have much higher yields than short-term bonds (Inflation angst). In 2023, the global yield curve was negative. https://x.com/GlobalMktObserv/status/2004659367749320909 Oil and gasoline declined sharply on reports that Zelenskyy would meet with Trump on Sunday in Florida to nail down a peace plan. Reports claim a comprehensive 20-point peace plan is “90% ready.” ESHs vacillated between wee losses and moderate gains from the Nikkei opening on Friday until they from lower after 1 ET. After falling to 6974.00 (-8.25) at :10 ET, ESHs staged an irregular 5-wave rally to a daily high of 6994.00 at 9:46 ET. Sellers appeared; ESHs did a stair-step decline to 6969.00 at 13:23 ET. The afternoon rally took ESHs to 6981.25 at 14:09 ET. After a dip to 6976.25 at 14:26 ET, ESHs rallied modestly but traded in a 4-handle range into the NYSE close. Trump preparing landmark new policy to spur up to 12 million new and affordable homes, adviser The Trump administration has floated plans like utilizing federal lands for affordable housing construction, cutting regulations to boost supply, and exploring mortgage relief options like lower interest rates through Federal Reserve influence… https://justthenews.com/nation/economy/americas-housing-problem-meets-creative-solutions-12-million-more-homes-new-year Embattled Target feeling heat from hedge fund investor Toms Capital following sales slump The stock has lost about 26% of its value this year… The Minneapolis-based retailer has posted three straight quarters of falling comparable sales… https://t.co/UmrZn1OnrI Google AI on “Target Trans”: Key Events & Products: 2016: Target announced shoppers could use restrooms/fitting rooms matching their gender identity, a stand for inclusivity. 2022/2023: Introduced more diverse LGBTQ+ offerings, including specific items for transgender individuals (binders, tuck-friendly swimwear). Backlash: Some conservative groups and customers reacted strongly, falsely claiming children’s items were inappropriate and creating online outrage. Response: Target removed some controversial items (like a collaboration with a trans designer with “Satan” slogans) and moved Pride displays from store entrances to back areas due to threats and volatile situations. 2025 (Evolving Landscape): Following external pressures, Target announced plans to end some DEI goals, impacting broader diversity initiatives, though specific transgender support details remain. Target removing some LGBTQ merchandise following customer backlash May 24, 2023 Target is offering more than 2,000 products, including clothing, books, music and home furnishings as part of its Pride Collection. The items include “gender fluid” mugs, “queer all year” calendars and books for children aged 2-8 titled “Bye Bye, Binary,” “Pride 1,2,3” and “I’m not a girl.”… https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/target-remove-some-lbgtq-merchandise-after-facing-customer-backlash-2023-05-23/ TGT hit a peak of 268.98 on 11/19/21 (Biden peak). It hit a 6-year low of 83.44 on 11/21/25. Starting in the ‘80s, the LBO crowd would prey on corporate management that did NOT run their companies to maximize shareholder value. Why didn’t they do the same thing to woke companies? @NicHulscher: Flu shots are a DISASTROUS FAILURE — they increase your risk of dementia (+38%), Alzheimer’s (+50%), AND the flu (+27%). The single LARGEST vaccine–dementia study ever conducted (n=13.3 million) found common vaccines dose-dependently increase risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s for a FULL DECADE. A major Cleveland Clinic study (n=53,402) found −27% flu shot effectiveness during 2024–25 flu season. https://x.com/NicHulscher/status/2004572025801625916 Positive aspects of previous session Fangs rallied modestly. The dollar was a tad positive despite the precious surge. Oil and gasoline declined sharply. Negative aspects of previous session Gold (4525.77), silver (72.70), and copper hit record highs. The DJIA, DJTA, and the S&P 500 Index were moderately negative until the close modestly lower. USHs declined modestly. Ambiguous aspects of previous session What are precious metals forecasting? What silver and/or gold short is in trouble? First Hour/Last Hour Action [S&P 500 Index]: 1st Hour from NYSE Open: Down; Last Hour: Up Pivot Point for S&P 500 Index [above/below indicates daily trend to traders]: 6932.44 Previous session S&P 500 Index High/Low: 6945.77; 6921.60 @nexta_tv: A massive textile factory in Xinjiang operates without a single human worker. Five thousand looms run around the clock under the control of AI and robots. This is not an exception but China’s new standard: automation speeds up production, lowers costs, and makes Chinese industry almost independent of human labor… https://x.com/nexta_tv/status/2004279731232161939 Chinese Cargo Ship Packed Full of Modular Missile Launchers Emerges – China has packed a deck of a medium-sized cargo ship with 60 containerized vertical launch cells, radar, and close-in weapons. https://www.twz.com/sea/chinese-cargo-ship-packed-full-of-modular-missile-launchers-emerges Pentagon report: Chinese military buildup and shift in nuclear force doctrine threatens US homeland – “China maintains a large and growing arsenal of nuclear, maritime, conventional long-range strike, cyber and space capabilities able to directly threaten Americans’ security,”… (The Bushes and the Clintons are mostly responsible for this!) https://justthenews.com/world/asia/pentagon-report-chinese-military-buildup-and-shift-nuclear-force-doctrine-threatens-us Chinese military simulates battles near Mexico and Cuba in growing sign of Beijing’s global ambitions – at an event in Xuchang, Henan province, according to local media… https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15411783/Chinese-military-simulates-battles-near-Mexico-Cuba-growing-sign-Beijings-global-ambitions.html Netanyahu’s Mar-a-Lago visit (today) “crucial” for future of Gaza deal White House officials think Netanyahu is slow-walking the peace process, and fear he will resume the war with Hamas. But while the Israeli prime minister is butting heads with Trump’s team, he hopes to bring the president himself over to his more hawkish point of view, a senior Israeli official said… Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and his adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner have been working with the Egyptians, Qataris and Turks to finalize those agreements and lay the groundwork for phase two of the deal — which involves Hamas handing over weapons and Israeli forces pulling back. But Netanyahu expressed skepticism over Witkoff and Kushner’s ideas, especially on the demilitarization of Gaza… “It’s J.D., Marco, Jared, Steve, Susie. He has lost them. The only one he has left is the president, who still likes him, but even he wants to see the Gaza deal moving faster than it is right now,” a White House official told Axios… https://www.axios.com/2025/12/26/trump-netanyahu-meeting-gaza-mar-a-lago Trump believes ‘we have makings of a deal’ to end Ukraine war ahead of crucial Mar-a-Lago meeting with Zelensky (More DJT BS; there are NO breakthroughs) https://t.co/oz0JtWm8JM Fed Data Reveal December Spike in Failed 10-Year Treasury Deliveries Settlement failures tied to 10-year U.S. Treasury notes have climbed to their highest level in nearly a decade, underscoring growing strain in the bond market… According to recent data released by the New York Federal Reserve, failed trades involving the most recently issued 10-year Treasury note reached $30.5 billion in the week ending December 10. That figure marks the largest weekly total since December 2017, highlighting how disruptions in market mechanics are becoming more visible as conditions tighten… As liquidity declines, dealers and other intermediaries have less flexibility to smooth settlement mismatches, making delivery failures more likely during periods of elevated demand… https://www.tradealgo.com/news/fed-data-reveal-december-spike-in-failed-10-year-treasury-deliveries Today – Traders will play for the Monday Rally; AND there are only 3 sessions left in 2025 to manipulate stuff higher to rig 2025 performance. Absenteeism will still be high; so, a determined few can easily manipulate stuff. Will the precious metal bubble unnerve Mr. Bond at some point? Expected economic data: Nov Pending Homes Sales 0.8% m/m & 0.4% y/y; Dec Dallas Fed Mfg. -5 ESHs are +2.00; NQHs are +14.50; and USHs are +8/32 at 20:06 ET. Spot SI hit $84 and then sank to 75.20 and Dec Gold hit 4581.30 but sank to 4490.30 on a determined manipulation to stop the rally! S&P Index 50-day MA: 6790; 100-day MA: 6671; 150-day MA: 6497; 200-day MA: 6267 DJIA 50-day MA: 47,426; 100-day MA: 46,536; 150-day MA: 45,533; 200-day MA: 44,406 (Green is positive slope; Red is negative slope) S&P 500 Index (6929.95 close) – BBG trading model Trender and MACD for key time frames Monthly: Trender and MACD are positive – a close below 5799.20 triggers a sell signal Weekly: Trender is positive; MACD is negative – a close below 6420.50 triggers a sell signal Daily: Trender and MACD are positive – a close below 6826.78 triggers a sell signal Hourly: Trender is positive; MACD is negative – a close below 6920.37 triggers a sell signal George W. Bush Presidential Center @TheBushCenter: The actions of a man charged with a heinous crime have derailed the lawful U.S. immigration applications of people from 18 countries so far, including Afghanistan. Afghans are facing uncertainty at home and in the U.S. Read why we can’t turn our back on Afghans and other immigrants due to one man’s crime https://x.com/TheBushCenter/status/2002144661281124393 @piratecapt16: I distinctly remember hearing we are fighting them there so we don’t have to fight them here. So why the hell did we bring them here? @infantrydort: It looks like the world needs more story time because apparently, they don’t get it yet. The aim is to highlight the dangers of mass unvetted migration from where we fought, and the third world as a whole. Let’s set aside all of the heinous things we’ve seen the native population do to one another. Set aside the child r*pe, bestiality, murder of innocents. Today, let’s just talk about how most of them were purpose built to enrich themselves through a culture of corruption. I’ll start: 2. On payday, every single officer in an Afghan soldier’s chain of command would get a cut of their pay. Until the soldier got next to nothing. Hence why they stole everything to make ends meet… 4. In Iraq, we had to give money to local business to stimulate the economy and use “money as a weapon system”. They took millions and left the country, bought cars, or bought weapons… The thing that keeps those folks acting “correctly” over there is tyranny. A dictator. That’s why their punishments are so violent for theft and such… At the end of the day, in my experience, people from that area of the world will do anything to save themselves, especially the men. On a raid in Baghdad I had a target use his wife as a shield after the breach… You don’t have to hate these people. But you have to understand who and what they are. It would take generations to have any chance at assimilating them…To save our civilization, we are going to have to make hard decision on who we let in, if any… https://x.com/infantrydort/status/2002412481742839988 @WallStreetApes: 2 more Minnesota Somalia immigrant run daycares that are supposed to have 102 children but don’t have a single child. $5.16 million dollars in funding and NOT A SINGLE CHILD @nickshirleyy: “It’s from the state of Minnesota website — It says you have 102 children here and you got $2.66 million dollars this year in funding and $2.5 million last year. We’re just wondering where the kids are.” “No children inside of this daycare center.” https://x.com/WallStreetApes/status/2004769337249239245 Nick Shirley later confirmed there are 14 Somali “healthcare” companies in this one building. Let me repeat that, 14 shady healthcare companies registered to one Minneapolis building not doing anything but stealing our tax money. https://x.com/WallStreetApes/status/2004646444415041685 Liz Collin interviews a Minnesota Government Worker about the Somalia immigrant fraud taking place, she says THEY ALL REPORTED IT to ALL LEVELS. The worker is blurred to protect her from retaliation. “I know we were all reporting, at all levels, all of us, and we had several meetings discussing how we felt something very fraudulent was going on, and we had several meetings discussing how we felt something very fraudulent was going on and we all were expressing it. Clinical directors, supervisors, county workers, mental health workers, we were all reporting.” Tim Walz and so many Minnesota Democrats need to go to prison. https://x.com/WallStreetApes/status/2004806589992087977 (23-year old) @nickshirleyy: Here is the full 42 minutes of my crew and I exposing Minnesota fraud, this might be my most important work yet. We uncovered over $110,000,000 in ONE day. Like it and share it around like wildfire! It’s time to hold these corrupt politicians and fraudsters accountable… https://x.com/nickshirleyy/status/2004642794862961123 @AutismCapital: Unbelievable journalism. One dude with an iPhone doing better reporting than any large news organization. Actually, telling the real stories others intentionally won’t tell. Gut wrenching video. Shocking. Misspelled learning center, no children inside: (Republican House Whip R-MN) Emmer presses Walz over Minnesota daycare tied to $4M – Minneapolis building that has a sign that incorrectly reads “Quality Learing [sic] Center.”… https://trib.al/vwW9TNP @Not_the_Bee: The US Taxpayer is being stolen from to fund massive fraud around the world. This story should lead to hundreds of deportations and arrests, otherwise we are not a serious country. @nicksortor: Despite the MASSIVE Somali fraud scandal, Tim Walz announces a NEW welfare program for Somalis and other illegals. The taxpayer-funded family and medical leave program gives Somalis up to 20 PAID WEEKS OFF PER YEAR to “bond” with a child… https://t.co/s1EQ1SFT7d Maine suspends Medicaid payments to Somali charity after audits uncover more than $1M in fraud https://justthenews.com/accountability/maine-suspends-medicaid-payments-somali-charity-after-audits-uncover-more-1m-fraud @C_3C_3: Our Government is a multi-trillion dollar a year theft and money laundering operation. The American taxpayers are the victims. The American people are sick of being robbed then called racist or Islamophobic for calling out the robbery… @elonmusk: The radical left has been using fraudulent government programs for a long time to import and retain vast numbers of illegal (and legal, in some cases) immigrants to win elections and turn America into a single-party state, destroying any real democracy. The more you look at it, the more you will be horrified at what your tax money is doing and the fact that, if this is not reversed, your vote will mean nothing. The most obvious case example is the Somali voting bloc in Minnesota, a state that historically had zero Somalis, electing Ilhan Omar to the US Congress. The same is happening in Europe, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. It’s like what Milton Friedman said – money is most poorly spent when you’re spending someone else’s money on people you don’t know. That’s the federal government. FBI director says previous fraud arrests in Minnesota ‘just the tip of a very large iceberg’ … the FBI had surged personnel and investigative resources to Minnesota to dismantle large-scale fraud schemes exploiting federal programs… https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/fbi-director-says-previous-fraud-arrests-minnesota-just-tip-very-large @LeeroyPress: Minnesota Child Daycare Fraud Case – The FBI confirms 70+ arrests and 52+ convictions tied to the Minnesota child daycare fraud investigation, according to @FBIDirectorKash. Multiple locations were raided—many well before the video now circulating publicly was released. Officials say concerns tied to childcare and assistance programs were flagged as early as 2019, with some related fraud investigations stretching back even further. That raises a key question: why is this being presented as something new when the investigation has been active for years?… https://x.com/LeeroyPress/status/2005390439679934619 @EricLDaugh: Multiple corrupt Minnesota judges are under fire for dismissing a FLURRY of recent Somali fraud cases: Judge Sarah West: Abdifatah Yusuf; Judge Amber Brennan: Yusuf’s wife Lul Ahmed; Judge Hilary Caligiuri: co-defendant Abdiweli Mohamud. MILLIONS of dollars stolen, but the conviction wasn’t allowed. Because the judges say so. These judges won their recent races entirely with no opposition. https://x.com/EricLDaugh/status/2005410646603473256 @ScottPresler: Minnesota Voter Fraud Did you know that a registered voter in MN can vouch for up to EIGHT other voters in their precinct? No ID required. No proof of residency. 1 voter can vouch for 8 others. Yes, this is the law & it’s directly on the MN SOS website. https://x.com/ScottPresler/status/2004909604052889910 Americans ignore or dismiss a lot of important news. But once in a while, something enrages them and politicians are forced to act. The Somali fraud in Minnesota is such an event. @Polymarket: Native Minnesotans are threatening to open up their own “daycare” facilities if arrests don’t start happening for daycare fraud. 1.2 million fake students applied to California community colleges last year. What’s being done? LA Times – Scammers stole roughly $8.4 million in federal financial aid and more than $2.7 million in state aid in 2024… Anyone who applies to a California community college is admitted… low-income community college students pay little or no tuition in California, meaning they receive funds directly to use for books, housing, food or other needs while they’re in school. Some fraudsters have spent that cash on plastic surgery, elaborate vacations and designer bags, federal officials say… https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-06-24/community-colleges-financial-aid-fraud Female Reverend Insists MARY, Not JESUS Is The ‘Main Character’ Of Christmas The Church of England has sparked outrage with a video where a female reverend boldly declares that Mary, not Jesus, is the central figure in the Nativity story, with many suggesting it is an attempt to rewrite scripture through woke ideology, diminishing the divine role of Christ Himself. The video, posted by the Church of England as part of their Advent and Christmas reflections, features Rev. Pippa White speaking in front of a painting of the Virgin Mary… a broader trend where progressive elements within the church prioritize social justice narratives over core Christian doctrine… https://modernity.news/2025/12/26/female-reverend-insists-mary-not-jesus-is-the-main-character-of-christmas/ Leftists have been spewing lies and stupid Schiff at an increasing rate under the protection of the MSM and liberal privilege. But in recent weeks, their utterances have escalated to insanely idiotic and insulting. @EndWokeness: MN Lt. Governor Flanagan puts on hijab, declares Somalis built Minnesota https://x.com/EndWokeness/status/2004396872434438621 Last week Boston Mayor Wu said ‘you cannot talk about Boston history without mentioning the contributions of Somalis.’ Because ‘they’ have gotten away with absurd lies and insanely stupid Schiff, ‘they’ are making remarks that are even more insulting and ridiculous. @kangminjlee: Reminder that Stop Asian Hate died overnight because people started asking “Wait who’s attacking Asians?” and they didn’t like having to answer that. MIKE DAVIS: FBI knew Mar-a-Lago raid was illegal, but Biden DOJ made them do it https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/mike-davis-fbi-knew-mar-a-lago-raid-illegal-biden-doj-made-them-do?s=09 Unless people are punished for criminal behavior, they will continue to commit criminal behavior; and many will increase the frequency and magnitude of criminal actions. This includes US elites: Elected officials, judges, corporations, the donor class, media, Wall Street, etc. US Surgeon General: Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation 2023 Our relationships and interactions with family, friends, colleagues, and neighbors are just some of what create social connection. Our connection with others and our community is also informed by our neighborhoods, digital environments, schools, and workplaces. Social connection— the structure, function, and quality of our relationships with others—is a critical and underappreciated contributor to individual and population health, community safety, resilience, and prosperity. However, far too many Americans lack social connection in one or more ways, compromising these benefits and leading to poor health and other negative outcomes… The lack of social connection poses a significant risk for individual health and longevity. Loneliness and social isolation increase the risk for premature death by 26% and 29% respectively. More broadly, lacking social connection can increase the risk for premature death as much as smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day. In addition, poor or insufficient social connection is associated with increased risk of disease, including a 29% increased risk of heart disease and a 32% increased risk of stroke. Furthermore, it is associated with increased risk for anxiety, depression, and dementia. Additionally, the lack of social connection may increase susceptibility to viruses and respiratory illness… Another layer of complexity is how different each community is along a multitude of dynamics and factors such as policies, customs, cultures, assets, challenges, demographics, and more. This variation means there is no “one-size-fits-all” approach to community connection, and it means that different communities will have different needs and desires… https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-social-connection-advisory.pdf Who is responsible for the destruction or diminution of families, community, religion, & jurisprudence? ‘They’ bear a great deal of responsibility for the mental health and violent crime crises in the US. @NikolovScience: Data are now conclusive: There has been NO warming in Antarctica since 1979! This is shown by both surface- and satellite-based observations: Surface data: Ma et al. (2025: https://t.co/hcAkudcndm Satellite Data: UAH 6.1 (2025): https://t.co/EkJZmMfSTb But what about the Hole in the Ozone Layer over Antarctica? Oh, that’s right; it is and has been closing. NASA: In 2019, abnormal weather patterns in the upper atmosphere over Antarctica dramatically limited ozone depletion, leading to the smallest hole since 1982. Models predict that the Antarctic ozone layer will mostly recover by 2040… https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/world-of-change/ozone-hole/ @redpilldispensr: A CBS News piece from 1982 predicts 25% of Florida ending up underwater due to “the coal, oil and gas we’ve been burning for 100 years. “Of course, 34-year-old Al Gore makes an appearance. https://x.com/redpilldispensr/status/2004825448589492680 “It is usually futile to try to talk facts and analysis to people who are enjoying a sense of moral superiority in their ignorance.” – Thomas Sowell Newly unearthed Jeffrey Epstein documents reveal long list of potential SDNY prosecutions https://nypost.com/2025/12/27/us-news/newly-unearthed-epstein-documents-reveal-long-list-of-potential-sdny-prosecutions-in-wake-of-pedos-death/ On Friday night, Trump wrote that he wants all the Epstein documents released so the DoJ can spend more time prosecuting election fraud. Though evidence of fraud in the 2020 Election has steadily appeared over the past 5 years, recently there has been a proliferation in the evidence. Trump: “Now 1,000,000 more pages on Epstein are found. DOJ is being forced to spend all of its time on this Democrat inspired Hoax. When do they say NO MORE, and work on Election Fraud etc. The Dems are the ones who worked with Epstein, not the Republicans. Release all of their names, embarrass them, and get back to helping our Country!…” https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115788344840750960 | |
SWAMP STORIES FOR YOU TONIGHT
Front Companies? Bombshell Report Exposes Network Of Somali-Linked “Empty” Daycares Across Minnesota
Saturday, Dec 27, 2025 – 11:05 AM
Left-wing Governor Tim Walz, under intensifying federal pressure, faces a widening Somali-linked fraud scandal in Minnesota. Federal prosecutors state that the scheme currently totals at least $9 billion, with the final figure potentially much higher. Recent reporting by Ryan Thorpe and Christopher F. Rufo alleges that some welfare funds were funneled into an overseas terrorist organization. Now, a bombshell video from a citizen journalist suggests the fraud extends beyond Medicaid into the state’s daycare system.
A 42-minute bombshell video by journalist Nick Shirley and a local private investigator documents an on-the-ground investigation in Minneapolis that alleges massive, ongoing fraud in government-funded social services. The main focus is on Somali-owned businesses in child daycare, adult/autism care, home healthcare, and non-emergency medical transportation programs that draw from the taxpayer-funded Child Care Assistance Program.
Shirley claims his team uncovered more than $110 million in questionable payments to Somali-owned businesses on just the first day of their investigation, as part of a broader welfare fraud scandal totaling upwards of $9 billion.
Shirley and the investigator visited several childcare facilities that had no visible children, toys, or activities during peak hours. Staff could not answer basic questions about rates or licenses. Both were denied entry to the reception areas of these facilities:
- Quality Learing Center: Licensed for 99 children; received $4 million over two years. Sign misspells “learning” as “learing”; no children visible, doors locked, no playground.
- Future Leaders Early Learning Center: Licensed for 90 children; received $6.67 million over two years. Facility empty; staff evasive when asked about child numbers.
- Mako Child Care and Mini Child Care Center (combined): Licensed for 120 children; received $1.3M (2020), $987K (2021), $714K (2022), $1.6M (2025). No children observed.
- ABC Learning Center: Licensed for 40 children; nearly $3 million over three years. Blacked-out windows, no activity.
- Sweet Angel Child Care: Licensed for 74 children; $1.26 million in 2025 alone.
Millions of taxpayer dollars went to one daycare company that could not even spell “learning” correctly…
Shirley, accompanied by an investigator, also conducted site visits to adult day care and autism centers, identifying indicators consistent with the use of front companies.
If accurate, Shirley’s findings indicate a possible coordinated network of Somali-owned front companies structured to maximize extraction from taxpayer programs while minimizing detection, accountability, and the recovery of funds as exposure increases.
Diving into the corporate records of Future Leaders Early Learning Center reveals a familiar pattern. Fahima Mahamud is listed as an officer of the learning center and of multiple other companies, including assisted living and autism centers. The childcare center is also linked to Sharmarke Ali, who is connected to another childcare center as well as a home healthcare company.
The citizen journalist is doing more journalism than MSNBC, CNN, and 60 Minutes combined have done in years, as those outlets often operate more like PR firms than news organizations.
Watch Here:
Read more…
- Minnesota Gets New Fraud Czar Amid Somali Welfare Scandal
- “It’s Unbelievable”: Taxpayers’ Money Still Flowing To Indicted Fraud Suspect: Minnesota Lawmaker
- “Clean Up Your Act”: Nearly 100 Minnesota Mayors Speak Out Against ‘Fraud, Unchecked Spending’
- Trump Ends TPS For Somalis In Minnesota After Explosive Report Reveals Welfare Fraud Network Funding Overseas Terror
Where is all this taxpayer money going? Perhaps Rufo is correct.
END
WHAT A CROOK!!
Ilhan Omar’s Husband’s Venture Capital Firm Removes Names From Website Under Scrutiny
Monday, Dec 29, 2025 – 09:00 AM
Authored by Bryan Jung via PJMedia.com,
A venture capital firm run by Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-Minn.) husband quietly scrubbed important names from its website, as the Minnesota congresswoman faces mounting questions on her sudden wealth amid a multi-billion Somali welfare fraud scheme in her district.
Rose Lake Capital, the $60 million dollar firm managed by Omar’s husband, political consultant Tim Mynett, deleted key officers from its website, including former Obama Administration officials, reported the New York Post in an exclusive.
The news comes as Somali communities across multiple states are currently facing scrutiny over dozens of similarly fraudulent schemes that have seen billions of taxpayer dollars flowing overseas, with some even going to jihadist terrorist groups in Somalia.
Nine billion dollars from Minnesota’s social services programs were illegally pocketed via scams mostly perpetrated by local members of the Somali community in Omar’s congressional district, according to an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice.
The Minnesota congresswoman, a member of the “the Squad” who was born in Somalia, is an outspoken figure on the far-left wing of the House Democratic caucus
Omar suspiciously went from holding tens of thousands in debt to earning tens of millions in a single year, not long after taking office in 2019 on a congressperson’s annual salary of $174,000, the Washington Free Beacon reported in September.
Her critics have recently pointed to the fact that she was the prime mover in introducing the federal legislation that enabled what the DOJ has called the largest fraud committed in the United States during the pandemic.
Minnesota’s Democrat governor and failed vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz is continuing to face criticism for his part in the mismanagement and alleged complicity in the debacle, as calls for federal charges against him grow louder.
The Somalia-born Omar introduced in 2020 the MEALS Act, which severely weakened oversight of government-sponsored children’s meals programs during the pandemic.
This allowed criminals to fraudulently claim that they served millions of meals without verification, while pocketing millions of dollars in government subsidies, say critics.
The $9 billion stolen is nearly equivalent to the entire economy of Somalia, whose GDP was under $12 billion last year, according to the World Bank.
The total losses accounts for roughly half of the $18 billion in total federal funds provided to the Minnesota-run services since 2018, say federal prosecutors.
Meanwhile, while one of the largest government subsidies frauds in American history was underway, Mynett launched Rose Lake Capital, his venture capital management firm, in 2022.
Mynett’s firm saw its reported value skyrocket from less than $1,000 in 2023, to between $5 million and $25 million by the end of the year, despite its address remaining a WeWork office in Washington, D.C., according to its LinkedIn page.
Rose Lake Capital apparently was able to amass significant assets under management through its “deep global networks built from on-the-ground work in more than 80 countries,” an amount which is normally unheard of in the industry.
Her husband’s other business, eStCru, was a failed California winery venture that has also faced fraud allegations and, strangely enough, was also listed as operating out of a WeWork office.
Mynett’s winery, which was worth between $1 million and $5 million in 2024, agreed to an out-of-court settlement with a former investor in November who accused Omar’s husband of swindling him out of $900,000, as he “fraudulently misrepresented … that estCru, LLC was a legitimate company.”
The winery was only worth between $15,000 and $50,000 in Omar’s financial disclosure report in 2022, making its 9,900% earnings windfall the following year suspect, say critics.
About 90 Minnesotan Somalis have been arrested so far, including at least three suspects with direct ties to Omar, though she has not been charged.
“The magnitude cannot be overstated,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson told reporters last week.
“What we see in Minnesota is not a handful of bad actors committing crimes. It’s staggering, industrial-scale fraud,” continued Thompson.
One of those charged was Salim Ahmed Said, the co-owner of Safari Restaurant in Minneapolis where Omar held her 2018 congressional victory party. He was convicted in federal court in August of stealing more than $12 million, the DOJ stated on its website.
Said received $12 million in federal payouts to serve 3.9 million meals to hungry children during the 2020 pandemic, but instead spent it on a $2 million mansion in Minneapolis and a $9,000 shopping spree at Nordstrom, said the feds.
President Donald Trump asked on his Truth Social account when the news of the allegations first broke: “Does Ilhan Omar know these people? Are they from her wonderfully managed Home Country of Somalia?”
“Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great state, and billions of dollars are missing. Send them back to where they came from,” the president added.
There is even a video on X of Omar praising Said at his restaurant, during the height of his scam, in front of reporters .
“Every day Safari provides 2,300 meals to children and their families,” Omar said in Somali while handing out food in front of the news cameras.
Another friend, Guhaad Hashi Said, who worked on the congresswoman’s campaign in 2018 and 2020, also pleaded guilty in August for running a fake food site called Advance Youth Athletic Development, which was supposed to serve 5,000 meals a day to kids, but led to $3.2 million being diverted from the food program and into his pockets.
Omar’s campaign received $7,400 in direct donations from the three convicted fraudsters, but the congresswoman who has publicly claimed to represent the interests of the people of Somalia now claims that she returned those donations since the scandal broke.
After federal prosecutors charged eight more suspects, mostly of Somali descent, between September and October for their participation in the subsidies fraud schemes, several names and bios of Rose Lake Capitals’s nine officers and advisors were removed from the firm’s website.
They included lobbyist and former Obama ambassador to Bahrain Adam Ereli; former Sen. Max Baucus, who served as Obama’s ambassador to China; DNC finance chair associate Alex Hoffman; former DNC treasurer William Derrough; and former Amalgamated Bank CEO Keith Mestrich.
Mestrich once boasted that Amalgamated was “the institutional bank of the Democratic Party.”
None of these officers were charged in the fraud, according to the New York Post, which also noted that the Treasury and Justice Departments were already investigating alleged money laundering by Omar and Mynett.
Upon taking office in 2019, Omar declared a net worth of between negative $25,000 and negative $65,000, with no assets and only carrying student and car debt.
Her personal assets are now between $6 million to $30 million, according to her latest financial disclosure, despite dismissing claims that she is a millionaire as “ridiculous” and “categorically false.”
“There’s a lot of strange things going on,” Paul Kamenar, counsel to the National Legal and Policy Center, told the New York Post.
“She was basically broke when she came into office and now she’s worth perhaps up to $30 million.…She needs to come clean on these assets,” said Kamenar.
END
Boots On The Ground: Federal Agents Descend On Somali-Linked Minneapolis Businesses
Monday, Dec 29, 2025 – 01:15 PM
Update (1315ET):
Agents with Homeland Security Investigations, the primary investigative arm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, are on the ground in Minneapolis Monday morning, conducting what DHS Secretary Kristi Noem described as a “massive investigation into childcare and other widespread fraud.”
“Homeland Security Investigations @ICEGov are on the ground in Minneapolis right now conducting a massive investigation on childcare and other rampant fraud,” Noem wrote on X, adding, “More coming.”
Homeland Security wrote on X, “The American people deserve answers on how their taxpayer money is being used and ARRESTS when abuse is found. Under the leadership of @Sec_Noem , DHS is working to deliver results.”
Meanwhile…. This X post did not age well.
Nor did this one.
While allegations of Somali-linked welfare fraud in left-wing-controlled Minnesota have been known for years, the timing of Nick Shirley’s bombshell investigation suggests the federal government needed positive sentiment in the news cycle to begin the action phase on the ground. That’s usually how these types of operations work.
* * *
A viral video that has topped 76 million views on X within 48 hours has significantly heightened public scrutiny of multiple Minneapolis daycare centers linked to Somali operators that received millions in state and federal funding despite showing minimal operational activity. The apparent mismatch between allocated taxpayer funds and observable services strengthens a recent report by Christopher F. Rufo, which alleges that Somali-linked fraud in the left-wing-controlled state may involve front companies potentially diverting taxpayer funds to at least one overseas terrorist network.
Update: And according to FBI Director Kash Patel, the agency will “continue to follow the money” in Minnesota, and their investigation is “ongoing.” (And why did it take Chris Rufo cracking the case before they took action?)
“To date, the FBI dismantled a $250 million fraud scheme that stole federal food aid meant for vulnerable children during COVID. The investigation exposed sham vendors, shell companies, and large-scale money laundering tied to the Feeding Our Future network,” Patel said on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Party and its PR machine across left-wing corporate media outlets, including CBS, PBS, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, 60 Minutes, The New York Times, and the Associated Press, have largely remained silent on citizen journalist Nick Shirley’s investigation.
We assess that as the dominant narrative of the widening Somali-linked fraud scandal in Minneapolis continues to go viral on X through “America First”-linked accounts, Democrats and their PR machine will move to advance a counter-narrative, given how optically damaging these revelations are ahead of the midterm cycle.
The days of Democrats defaulting to labeling opponents as “racists” or “fascists” appear to be over. They will likely need to develop new pejoratives to target those investigating allegations of welfare fraud on a scale larger than Somalia’s GDP.
In just one day, Shirley and a private investigator visited Somali-linked businesses operating in the child daycare, adult and autism care, home healthcare, and non-emergency medical transportation industries. They say they uncovered $110 million in highly questionable payments, largely because many of these companies were not operating as they should during peak hours of operation and appeared mostly inactive.
AUSTIN TX
Waste Of The Day: Austin Funds Allegedly Sent To Fake Companies
Monday, Dec 29, 2025 – 11:00 AM
Authored by Jeremy Portnoy via RealClearInvestigations,
Topline: A then-employee at the City of Austin’s energy utility allegedly paid $980,000 in taxpayer funds to fictional companies with bank accounts belonging to his family members, according to a new report from the city auditor.
Key facts: Mark Ybarra was given a city credit card from 2018 to 2023 to hire repair companies for city buildings. He used it to pay 30 different vendors, but the city auditor could only verify that eight of them were real companies, according to the report.
Ten of the companies reportedly had the same address, which the city auditor said is the home of one of Ybarra’s relatives. The businesses received $400,000 from the city. One of them had Ybarra’s email address listed as its contact information, according to the report.
The remaining $580,000 went to businesses that “appeared to be fake,” many of which were missing basic information like an address and phone number, according to the report.
Ybarra resigned in October 2023 after Austin Energy officials asked questions about the invoices, according to the report. He was indicted for felony theft this September.
Records obtained by Open the Books show Ybarra earned $534,797 in taxpayer-funded salary during the six years he was allegedly defrauding the city.
The city auditor claimed the alleged fraud went undetected because of Austin Energy’s “inefficient purchasing controls.” Most of his purchases were approved by former Facility Service Supervisor Sammy Ramirez, who never raised questions about the missing addresses and phone numbers on Ybarra’s invoices, according to the report.
Mark Ybarra’s wife, Ambrosia Ybarra, worked at the city’s Watershed Protection Department. She was questioned by the city auditor about her husband’s invoices but allegedly left the interview before it was over, according to the report. She resigned this November.
Ambrosia Ybarra made $70,174 in 2024. Ramirez made $87,262 in 2022, his last year of employment, but made as much as $104,698 in 2021.
Search all federal, state and local salaries and vendor spending with the world’s largest government spending database at OpenTheBooks.com.
Summary: Austin’s scandal is yet another reminder that the government agencies spending huge amounts of money relative to the population of the areas they serve are often the ones most vulnerable to mistakes and fraud.
The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com
CALIFORNIA
California’s Self-Destruction Accelerates As Anti-Trump Union Pushes Wealth Tax And More Billionaires Plot Exit
Saturday, Dec 27, 2025 – 12:15 PM
“California is on a path to self-destruction. Hollywood is already toast and now the most productive entrepreneurs will leave taking their tax revenues and job creation elsewhere,” Bill Ackman wrote on X, citing a New York Times report that said several billionaires, including Peter Thiel and Larry Page, are preparing to flee the state as a proposed one-time wealth tax ballot measure gains momentum.
A one-time wealth tax aimed at fewer than 300 billionaires in the state, backed by the left-wing and anti-Trump health care union Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, would tax California residents worth more than $1 billion at 5% of their assets, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2026 (more color here).
S.E.I.U.-U.H.W. joined a “No Kings” rally against Trump earlier this year. What the union does not want you to know is that the rally was funded by dark-money NGOs tied to leftist billionaires. It was merely a propaganda scam from the start. In reality, the union functions as little more than a megaphone for the Democratic Party’s unhinged left-wing billionaire class that openly hates America and capitalism.
In response, Page has discussed relocating by year-end and entities tied to him have incorporated in Florida. Thiel has explored expanding operations outside California and already maintains residency and voter registration in Florida, as well as additional international citizenships.
Here’s more from NYT:
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 office for that firm, Thiel Capital, in another state and spending more time outside California, three of the people said.
Other billionaires who appear to be making moves to decrease their presence in California include Mr. Page, 52, a longtime resident of Palo Alto. He has discussed leaving the state by the end of the year, according to two people briefed on the talks. In mid-December, three limited liability companies associated with Mr. Page filed documents to incorporate in Florida, according to state records.
For the wealthiest Californians, this could mean multibillion-dollar tax bills. Page alone could face more than $12 billion in taxes.
The proposed wealth tax comes as the struggling state, weighed down by failed progressive ideas and policies, has grown parasitical, attempting to latch onto billionaires to foot the bill for a looming $100 billion hole in the state’s health care system.
Not hard to see why the one-party-rule state is hemorrhaging taxpayer funds… There’s no accountability.
Instead of taking accountability for failed left-wing policies, the one-party rule state is attempting to foot the bill by taxing the most productive people in the state. The consequences of such a move are very clear: the exodus of people and companies will continue.
Unhinged leftists of the S.E.I.U.-U.H.W. say the wealth tax will raise up to $100 billion from roughly 200 billionaires to support California’s health care system amid budget pressures.
Left-wing Gov. Gavin Newsom has boasted about draining public resources for illegal aliens…
We suspect there will be a mad dash by billionaires restructuring residency and assets, particularly toward business-friendly red states such as Florida and Texas, to reduce exposure to imploding California. Just remember, for the socialists in California, once they impose one wealth tax, it likely won’t be the last.
Let’s hope Newsom’s destructive left-wing policies and overregulation never make it to the White House. His failed progressive policies are merely a reflection of the rudderless Democratic Party, which has been hijacked by anti-American globalist billionaires. These folks have no economic agenda, merely strip the nation of wealth for illegals and ensure ‘America First’ never succeeds. California is burning. And it’s not from wildfires.
END
CALIFORNIA
Newsom Folds: California Ends Lawsuit Against Trump Admin Over High-Speed Rail Funding
Monday, Dec 29, 2025 – 05:45 AM
California quietly dropped its lawsuit this week against the Trump administration over the federal government’s decision to pull $4 billion in funding for the state’s long-delayed high-speed rail project.
The California High-Speed Rail Authority filed a notice of voluntary dismissal on Dec. 23 in the case with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.
The dismissal is without prejudice, meaning the lawsuit could be refiled in the future.
The dismissal came two weeks after Judge Dale Drozd rejected the Department of Justice’s argument that the authority should have filed its lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
The U.S. Department of Transportation withdrew the funding in July from the bullet train project, which is supposed to connect San Francisco to Los Angeles.
The Trump administration has said the authority had “no viable plan” to finish work on a large segment of the project in the state’s Central Valley. Both President Donald Trump and Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy have criticized the delayed project as a “train to nowhere.”
As Matthew Vadum reports for The Epoch Times, California voters approved the project’s initial $10 billion bond in 2008. The project’s price tag was originally expected to be $33 billion, with a completion date in 2020. Costs have ballooned to between $89 billion and $128 billion, and the project is projected to be completed by 2033.
So far, 50 key structures—bridges, overpasses, underpasses, viaducts, and 70 miles of guideway—have been completed.
The authority sued in federal court on July 17 to reinstate the funds, calling the funding cut politically motivated and unlawful.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, said at the time that the federal funding reduction was “a political stunt to punish California.”
The lawsuit argued that Trump’s actions are part of a long-running pattern of political retaliation, pointing to his first administration’s attempt to revoke high-speed rail funding the day after California sued to block his emergency declaration for a border wall.
The High-Speed Rail Authority said it has met every requirement under its agreements, pointing to multiple federal reviews—including one as recent as February—that found the project to be in compliance.
Last week, the authority said it would seek out other funding sources to finish the project.
The authority’s CEO, Ian Choudri, said that on Dec. 19, the authority had launched a procurement process that “formalizes efforts to partner with private investors and developers, with the shared goal of delivering California’s transformational program faster, smarter, and more economically.”
A spokesperson for the authority said the decision to withdraw the federal lawsuit reflects the state’s view that the federal government “is not a reliable, constructive, or trustworthy partner in advancing high-speed rail in California.”
“Federal requirements have, at times, hindered project delivery by adding cost and delays without adding value—creating inefficiencies, constraining innovation, and slowing construction,” the spokesperson told The Epoch Times.
The Epoch Times reached out to the Department of Justice for comment but received no response.
END
KENNEDY TRUMP CENTRE
Trump-Kennedy Center Hits Jazz Star with $1M Lawsuit For Backing Out Of Christmas Eve Show
Monday, Dec 29, 2025 – 06:55 AM
The Trump-Kennedy Center is pursuing a $1 million lawsuit against jazz musician Chuck Redd after he withdrew from his annual Christmas Eve concert at the last minute, citing the recent addition of President Trump’s name to the venue.
Redd, a drummer and vibraphone player who has performed with legends including Dizzy Gillespie and Ray Brown, had hosted the Christmas Eve Jazz Jam at the Kennedy Center since 2006. He took over the tradition from bassist William “Keter” Betts and maintained it for nearly two decades. This year marked an abrupt departure from that longstanding commitment.
“When I saw the name change on the Kennedy Center website and then hours later on the building, I chose to cancel our concert,” Redd told The Associated Press. The decision came shortly after the venue was renamed when the board voted to honor Trump’s role in what center officials describe as saving the national cultural institution, which had reportedly been in disrepair prior to Trump’s intervention.
Trump-Kennedy Center leadership characterized Redd’s 11th-hour cancellation as a politically motivated stunt that created a significant financial burden on the nonprofit arts institution.
Trump-Kennedy Center President Richard Grenell sent Redd a letter stating that the institution plans to seek damages for his decision to abandon his hosting duties, citing “partisan political reasons.”
“Your decision to withdraw at the last moment — explicitly in response to the Center’s recent renaming, which honors President Trump’s extraordinary efforts to save this national treasure — is classic intolerance and very costly to a non-profit Arts institution,” Grenell wrote. He argued that Redd’s move “surrenders to the sad bullying tactics employed by certain elements on the left, who have sought to intimidate artists into boycotting performances at our national cultural center.”
The center’s leadership suggests Redd’s event had been struggling for some time. Grenell noted that attendance for the Jazz Jam had been “lagging considerably behind our other Christmas and holiday offerings.” He drew a sharp contrast between the reception of Redd’s programming and the venue’s success under new leadership.
“The contrast between the public’s lack of interest in your show with the success we are experiencing under our new chairman is drastic,” Grenell wrote. He maintained that “the most avant-garde and well-regarded performers in your genre will still perform regularly, and unlike you, they’ll do it to sold out crowds regardless of their political leanings.”
The Trump-Kennedy Center’s position is that artists have a responsibility to perform for all audiences, regardless of political differences. Vice President of Public Relations Roma Daravi framed the issue in stark terms when speaking to The New York Post.
“Any artist cancelling their show at the Trump Kennedy Center over political differences isn’t courageous or principled — they are selfish, intolerant, and have failed to meet the basic duty of a public artist: to perform for all people,” Daravi explained. She added that the venue remains committed to presenting diverse programming that transcends political divisions.
“Art is a shared cultural experience meant to unite, not exclude,” Daravi added. “The Trump-Kennedy Center is a true bipartisan institution that welcomes artists and patrons from all backgrounds — great art transcends politics, and America’s cultural center remains committed to presenting popular programming that inspires and resonates with all audiences.”
The lawsuit represents a significant escalation in the ongoing tensions between some artists and the renamed venue. While the center has seen considerable success with other programming during the holiday season, Redd’s last-minute cancellation left organizers scrambling and attendees disappointed on what is traditionally one of the most celebrated nights of the year for the center.
The legal action signals that the Trump-Kennedy Center is prepared to hold artists accountable when contractual obligations are abandoned for political reasons. Whether other performers will take note of this hardline stance remains to be seen.
GREG HUNTER….INTERVIEWING JOHN RUBINO
Silver Anticipates Fiat Currencies Dying – John Rubino
Silver Anticipates Fiat Currencies Dying – John Rubino
By Greg Hunter On December 27, 2025 In Market Analysis, Political Analysis5 Comments
By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
Analyst and financial writer John Rubino has been warning of a currency crisis. On Friday, we saw a record high price spike for silver that produced a record high price for the white metal. Meanwhile, we saw record high prices for gold on the same day. This has never happened before, and that shows the currency crisis long predicted is here. Rubino says, “Currencies are pouring into real money in anticipation of the existing fiat currencies dying. That is a whole different thing and on a much bigger scale because the numbers are grossly inflated after 70 years of a credit super cycle. So, what we have seen so far is really just the beginning. Gold and silver have had huge runs, but they are doing it when things are more or less still normal. Precious metals are starting to soar in anticipation of something abnormal coming. Right now, this is a bigger gold than silver story because gold is the money we go back to when national currencies fail. Silver is a more complex story because it is also an industrial metal. There are new industries that are using more and more silver, and there is just not enough silver to satisfy that demand.”
Rubino contends the silver price spike will bring on a lot of volatility. Rubino points out, “That is pretty much a lock. Silver is probably going to bounce around a lot in the next week or so. . .. All the silver is being sucked away, and when they run out, they say we will just pay you cash for these futures contracts. If that happens, that is basically the end of paper exchanges. We will just totally stop trusting them. Why would anybody want a long futures contract on an exchange that just defaults . . .. This is another big thing that might happen in the coming weeks. When you see prices move like this, an awful lot of bad things become possible. . .. There are a lot of shorts out there that just went massively underwater on Friday. . .. Somebody big has a lot of losses. . .. It’s like Warren Buffett says, ‘You only know who has been swimming naked when the tide goes out. Well, the tide has gone out for silver, and now we are going to find out who was unwisely short that market in the past week.”
Rubino sees silver resetting to at least $200 per ounce in the not-too-distant future. Gold will also reset to at least $10,000 per ounce. Rubino says the next big trend is Big Tech players buying actual silver mines and bypassing metal exchanges altogether. Rubino says, “Big Tech players are going to go out and get silver now, so they are set for the next few years. Yes, some of them are starting to buy silver mines. In the mining sector, this is one of the big changes we will see coming soon. Maybe Tesla buys First Majestic or some mine like that. Tesla buys a big silver mining company with multiple silver mines to guarantee silver supply going forward. . .. Google, Meta or Microsoft can pay insane amounts of money for commodities if they need to. It’s inventory building and panic buying in some cases. . .. All roads lead to higher precious metals right now. The only way it doesn’t is if there is a global nuclear war that extinguishes civilization. Take that out of the equation, and everything points to weaker currencies and higher precious metals prices.”
There is an 8-minute video to explain how easy it is to ride out any terror attack or extreme storm. You can get more information on Starlink at Starlink123.com and Sat Phones at Sat123.com and BeReady123.com. You can also call 855-980-5830 and talk to a real human. Same goes for EscapeZone.com where you can get Faraday bags big and small. You can also talk to a real human at EscapeZone.com by calling 702-825-0005.
There is more in the 49-minute interview.
Join Greg Hunter as he goes One-on-One with financial writer John Rubino of the popular site called Rubino.Substack.com for 12.27.25.
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After the Interview:
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