Bulgaria’s prime minister Rosen Zhelyazkov has handed in his government’s resignation after weeks of mass street protests over its economic policies and failure to tackle corruption. Protesters accused the government of widespread corruption. Zhelyazkov announced [...] The post Bulgarian Government Resigns Following Mass Anti-Corruption Protests appeared first on The People's Voice.

Antiheroine will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival

It looks like Indiana Republicans won’t join the fight for seats in the House after Democrats have bastardized the process and denied Republicans seats for the past several years. The Indiana House recently passed a new congressional map aimed at creating districts favorable to Republicans. This decision followed months of debate and pressure from the […] The post Indiana Won’t Redistrict appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.

American forces seize an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, the Senate shoots down competing bills on the future of health care, and a prominent college football coach is fired—then arrested. It’s Friday, December 12, 2025, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. Today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below, and the video version can be seen on The Daily Wire: U.S. Seizes Oil Tanker Off Venezuela Coast Topline: The United States seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela on Wednesday in an escalation of President Donald Trump’s pressure campaign against dictator Nicolás Maduro. Bloomberg was the first to report that a tanker had been seized earlier Wednesday, and President Trump confirmed the news later in the day at a roundtable with business leaders. “An interesting day from the standpoint of news. As you probably know, we’ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela, a large tanker, very large–largest one ever seized, actually,” said Trump. Christmas Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships Some administration officials posted a video of the operation that showed American forces dropping onto the tanker and taking control of it. Attorney General Pam Bondi explained that the United States “executed a seizure warrant for a crude oil tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran.” She added that the oil tanker had been sanctioned because of “its involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations.” Maduro’s response: The Venezuelan government condemned the seizure in a statement that said Venezuela “strongly denounces and repudiates what constitutes blatant theft and an act of international piracy.” This development has to be concerning to Maduro. Venezuela is a petrostate, with petroleum accounting for nearly the entire economy. The money the Maduro regime receives from oil sales is the key to its stability. Because the United States has sanctions on Venezuelan oil, Maduro has been forced to do business with regimes that typically are opposed to American interests, such as China. And then at deep discounts to offset the risk of violating American sanctions. If Venezuela is no longer able to sell its oil, that’s a huge blow to Maduro’s revenue. The Battle Over Obamacare Continues Topline: The battle over Obamacare is in full swing, with Democrats advocating for extended subsidies and Republicans offering alternative healthcare options. Two votes took place in the Senate on Thursday regarding the looming Obamacare deadline. Neither of the bills passed, but it’s important to break down what Democrats and Republicans are pushing forward, because this deadline is coming up in a matter of weeks. The Democrat bill: The Democrat-backed bill, called the “Lower Health Care Costs Act,” would extend Obamacare subsidies, which are technically tax credits, for another three years. These started back in 2021 and were only supposed to be in place for two years, but Democrats extended them until December 31. The plan is pricey; it’s expected to cost taxpayers about $83 billion. But Democrats argue that the extension is necessary, otherwise more than 20 million Americans will see their healthcare costs more than double, on average. Republicans dispute that. “Twenty-two million of the 24 million people will still get their subsidies, the original Obamacare subsidies, which subsidize the insurance at 91% of the premiums. So, their premiums won’t double,” GOP Sen. Ron Johnson told Morning Wire last month. “Going from zero to a negligible amount is an infinite increase. You can’t put that as ‘doubling premiums.’ The people we’re talking about, the 1.6 million people whose subsidies completely go away—I’m willing to work with Democrats on that.” Republicans also argue that Obamacare, and specifically these subsidies, are creating massive fraud–another burden on the American taxpayer. The GOP bill: The GOP-backed bill, called the “Health Care Freedom for Patients Act of 2025,” does let the Obamacare subsidies expire on the timeline Democrats set. But it also offers Americans direct payments to help cover healthcare costs. This was an idea floated by President Trump last month. The health savings accounts created by the bill would be available to Americans earning up to 700% of the federal poverty limit, and the funds would range from $1,000 to $1,500 for 2026 and 2027. The accounts would restrict use for abortion and certain gender-transition coverage. Republicans needed 60 votes, which would have to include a handful of Democrats, but that didn’t happen. Michigan Head Coach Arrested Topline: The University of Michigan finds itself engulfed in controversy after administrators abruptly fired head football coach Sherrone Moore with cause. Now, he’s in custody on suspicion of assault. Morning Wire spoke to former Michigan quarterback and Daily Wire Crain & Company co-host David Cone about the Moore saga. (This interview has been lightly edited.) Morning Wire: I’ve been, honestly, kind of shocked by this story. We looked at it initially and thought, oh, this will be an Evening Wire. And then it turned into a full-blown story that we felt like was worth covering here. What exactly is happening in this case? Cone: A sad day for Michigan football. A sad day for this country. I just want to say that first and again, I’m praying for this man because there’s some very serious allegations here. I’ll just say to you now that I heard as far back as September, following Michigan’s loss to Oklahoma, I had a very reliable source closely associated with Michigan football call me and just say it’s widely known that Sherrone Moore has engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct with a staff member, and that conduct likely resulted in a pregnancy that was terminated. I heard this in September. I did some due diligence, but every time I would hear something that corroborated that, I would hear something else that says, that’s just rumor. Come to find out, throughout the fall, many other people and former players close to the program have been hearing something very similar. Wednesday, Warde Manuel, the athletic director, decided to fire head coach Sherrone Moore. … The reports out of Ann Arbor are that Sherrone Moore did not take that news very well, and that allegedly threatened to take his own life. I don’t know if this was directly with his wife or with the staff member. There is a question here, possibly threatening to even take her life, and he was arrested. I do want to go to as reliable of a source as it gets with the University of Michigan. This is John Bacon, and this is directly from him: “The UM employee presented irrefutable documentation about Moore’s conduct to UM leaders this morning (Wednesday). The president and regents had seen enough, and Manuel fired him (Wednesday) afternoon. Moore is now detained in protective custody in a mental health institution.” Morning Wire: One of the big questions here is who knew what when. You say you have the source, it’s pretty shocking you heard this all the way back in September. Do you feel that this is a cover-up situation by the administration? And that’s a major allegation to make, but is that possibly the case? Cone: That is a critical question that you’re asking, particularly since we are a week now removed from National Signing Day. You have national recruits here who, in good faith, signed their name to a national letter of intent because they thought Sherrone Moore was going to be the head football coach–how does that impact their decision? I lived through this as a recruit at this very place. This was my alma mater. But again, this is way bigger than football. We’re talking about someone’s life or family at stake here. So again, I can’t answer what board members will do when I just know that if I’m hearing about something in September, the athletic director certainly must have heard about this sooner. At the same time, how does he separate rumors that he must hear on a daily basis versus something that is credible and he must investigate?

President Donald Trump took action on Thursday to limit state-level regulations on artificial intelligence (AI) and create a new national framework, saying that the United States was in a race with China to develop the best technology.  Trump signed an executive order directing his administration to challenge “onerous and excessive” AI regulations issued by states. The order also directed his administration to begin developing a national framework for AI.  “One of the things it has is you have to have a central source of approval. When they need approval of things, you have to come to one source; they can’t go to California, New York, and various other places,” Trump said as he signed the executive order.  “To win, United States AI companies must be free to innovate without cumbersome regulation. But excessive State regulation thwarts this imperative,” the executive order said. “State-by-State regulation by definition creates a patchwork of 50 different regulatory regimes that makes compliance more challenging, particularly for start-ups.” The order added that the Trump administration was concerned about states’ embedding ideological bias into their models and unconstitutionally regulating interstate commerce.  “My Administration must act with the Congress to ensure that there is a minimally burdensome national standard — not 50 discordant State ones. The resulting framework must forbid State laws that conflict with the policy set forth in this order,” the order added. “That framework should also ensure that children are protected, censorship is prevented, copyrights are respected, and communities are safeguarded.” The order establishes an AI litigation task force to challenge state laws deemed overly burdensome, directs Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick to evaluate all state AI laws, and proposes restrictions on federal funding if states enact certain policies.  Christmas Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships More than 1,000 bills have been introduced in state legislatures addressing AI, which the Trump administration said could disrupt the race with China for technological development.   The signing of the executive order was attended by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, AI and crypto czar David Sacks, and Lutnick. Sacks noted that the Trump administration would not push back against states that have passed laws protecting child safety.  Trump signed an executive order last month creating a “national effort” to integrate AI into research and accelerate innovation and scientific discovery. The initiative, known as the “Genesis Mission,” focuses on developing an AI model to accelerate scientific discovery. 

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has launched a sweeping civil rights investigation into the city of Boston, accusing Democratic Mayor Michelle Wu’s administration of implementing housing policies that unlawfully favor black, Latino, and other minority residents. The probe, announced Thursday, represents one of the most aggressive federal interventions yet in the Trump administration’s broader effort to dismantle local diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives it argues violate anti-discrimination law. In a sharply worded letter to Wu, HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity said, “The context of race, fair housing is not about ‘the absence of racial discrimination . . . but the presence of deliberate systems . . . to achieve and sustain racial equity.’ But this is wrong. The text of the Fair Housing Act is unmistakably focused on eliminating discrimination in the housing market and outlining the penalties for engaging in this kind of discrimination.” Assistant Secretary Craig Trainor wrote to Wu, “At your office’s direction, however, City officials have set out to smuggle ‘racial equity into every layer of operations in City government.’” The letter added, “City Officials Have Enthusiastically Embraced and Appear to Have Implemented the City’s Proposed Racial Spoils System.” HUD Secretary Scott Turner echoed that language, calling Boston’s approach a “social engineering project” driven by DEI ideology rather than legitimate housing needs. “This warped mentality will be fully exposed,” Turner said, vowing the city would be brought into compliance with federal law. Turner has previously criticized what he calls race-based policymaking and, earlier this week, blamed former President Joe Biden for housing pressures tied to immigration, citing HUD’s newly released “Worst Case Housing Needs” report. Christmas Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships At issue are several city housing plans—most notably the Boston Housing Strategy 2025, the Assessment of Fair Housing, and the Anti-Displacement Action Plan—which call for targeted outreach to black and Latino families, increased lending in communities of color, and allocations of homeownership opportunities intended “particularly” for BIPOC households. One goal states that 65 percent of city-supported homeownership opportunities should go to BIPOC residents. HUD argues that these provisions constitute explicit racial preferences prohibited under federal civil rights law and past Supreme Court precedent that rejects “outright racial balancing.” HUD’s letter also criticizes Boston’s use of racially based data tools, including maps that classify neighborhoods partly by racial composition to identify areas at “high risk” of displacement and thus eligible for more city investment. The department said these classifications revive the logic of “government-sponsored redlining,” even if intended to combat inequity. It further alleges that city agencies and nonprofit partners have implemented “race-conscious marketing and buyer selection,” and that Boston has pressured banks and developers to adopt race-based benchmarks. The investigation reflects the Trump administration’s broader shift in civil rights enforcement, which has increasingly targeted DEI programs while cutting back on traditional fair housing oversight. HUD will request documents from the city within 10 days, after which investigators may file formal discrimination charges or refer the case to the Justice Department.

How much money do you spend on wrapping Christmas gifts every year? It’s fun to see the beautiful packages under the tree, but for the $30-50 you spend on gift wrap, fancy ribbon, and gift tags, you could buy another gift or fund your holiday feast. Following are some of the ways we gift wrap for free, taken from a little book I wrote with my daughter, Have Yourself a Thrifty Little Christmas and a Debt-Free New Year.   Wrap It Up Decorate paper grocery bags. If you use paper grocery bags, you’ve got a free stash of trendy-looking “craft paper” gift wrap. Cut open the bags and turn them wrong side out for plain brown packages. You can leave these simple or let the kids stamp designs on them for added flair. Use newspaper. If you still get newspapers, hang on to them. Black and white newsprint makes for an elegant, hipster package and the colorful comics section is fun for kids’ gifts. Hit the thrift store for containers. Pick up baskets or other decorative containers at your local thrift store and put gifts in them. That way, the container itself is part of the gift and can be reused by the recipient for organization and storage. Use non-gift wrap paper that you have on hand. For small gifts, we have been slowing going through our old stash of scrapbooking paper. You may have other pretty bits and pieces, like tissue paper that wrapped a breakable item from a store, an insert in a photo frame, or other decorative papers. You can even use the pages of old books that are falling apart to wrap small items. (You can often find books like that for free.) Makeover ugly paper. Do you have some gift wrap that you’ll probably never use because, well, it’s hideous?  Turn it wrong side out and use the white side. As with the paper bags above, the kiddos can decorate this, or you can go with a simple, white package. You might also have gift wrap put aside from other occasions that could be turned wrong side out. Reuse gift bags. We save gift bags from year to year and reuse them. If the handles break off, repair the torn paper with a piece of Scotch tape and thread through new ribbon or twine. Make fabric bags. My children’s grandma has been using the same lovely, hand-sewn fabric gift bags for years. The family brings the bags back each year filled with new gifts. Keep attractive containers. Sometimes, food items come in containers that can be reused for gift giving. For example, we kept a cute little balsa container from a wheel of Brie, covered the label with pretty paper, and used it as a container for a small gift. Other ideas are fruit crates, jewelry boxes, or muslin/chiffon bags. Cover unattractive containers. One year, I stopped my neighbor before she threw out six empty cans of Pringles. I washed the insides carefully, covered them with pretty paper, and used these to hold cookies for gift giving. Upcycle old sweaters into gift bags. If you have any old sweaters that have seen better days, you can turn them into simple, cozy-looking gift bags. Cut them into rectangles of the desired size, then fold them over. Run a seam up each side, put on the handle of your choice, and pop in a gift.   Embellishments and Extras Use garden twine. Instead of pricey ribbon from the store, grab a ball of garden twine to tie up packages. Twine can also be used to fasten on other embellishments and gives a rustic elegance to grocery bag packages. Add items from nature. Tie on a few sprigs of pine, some little twigs, or a pretty leaf for a lovely, natural look. Reuse bows from previous years. Duh. Of course, you already do that. If the bow is crushed beyond redemption, carefully remove the staple, undo the bow, and slide scissors down the ribbon to make pretty curls. Make bows from paper. Find a simple bow-making tutorial online. You can cut strips from flyers, tape them end to end, and fold them into elaborate and colorful bows to give a plain package some pop. (Try this YouTube tutorial or this DIY.) Use yarn to make pom poms. If you have odds and ends of yarn, you can use this to add a pop of color by turning it into pom poms or tassels. (Tutorial for making pom poms using a fork and tutorial for tassels. Use ornaments for gifts within the immediate family. Tie on an unused ornament to jazz up a gift for a family member. (You may not want to use this for gifts that will be going elsewhere unless you want to part with your ornament.) Rip strips off an old clothing item. For a homespun look, take an old shirt and rip it into strips. (Start them with scissors.) Ripping instead of cutting will give you a distressed, frayed edge. Make these strips into bows or ribbon for decorating gifts. Single earrings add sparkle. If you have any sad, single earrings, tie them onto a gift for some vintage pizzazz. Stamp on a gift tag. Using a stamp in a simple shape, make a gift tag right on a plain paper package. Use a pretty metallic paint pen to put the recipient’s name on the gift. Button it up. If you have a jar of buttons kicking around, you can use these to embellish a package or gift tag. Either glue them on or thread them through the string tying up your gift. Be sure to check out our book for more free, frugal, and festive holiday ideas! What about you? How do you wrap presents inexpensively, or even better, for free? Share your ideas in the comments! About Daisy Daisy Luther is a coffee-swigging author and blogger who’s traded her air miles for a screen porch, having embraced a more homebody lifestyle after a serious injury. She’s the heart and mind behind The Organic Prepper, a top-tier website where she shares what she’s learned about preparedness, self-reliance, and the pursuit of liberty. With 17 books under her belt, Daisy’s insights on living frugally, surviving tough times, finding some happiness in the most difficult situations, and embracing independence have touched many lives. Her work doesn’t just stay on her site; it’s shared far and wide across alternative media, making her a familiar voice in the community. Known for her adventurous spirit, she’s lived in five different countries and raised two wonderful daughters as a single mom.  Daisy is the best-selling author of 5 traditionally published books, 12 self-published books, and runs a small digital publishing company with PDF guides, printables, and courses at SelfRelianceand Survival.com You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, and X. The post 20 Free, Frugal, & Festive Ways to Wrap Christmas Gifts appeared first on The Organic Prepper.

Minnesota is now facing one of the largest documented government service fraud scandals in United States history. Under Gov. Tim Walz’s evidently unwatchful eye, federal prosecutors have estimated that approximately $1 billion in taxpayer funds have been siphoned from multiple state- and federally funded social service programs over the last five years. As of this writing, 87 individuals have been charged in connection with the scheme, with 61 convictions already secured and more charges continuing to be filed against these fraudsters. The bulk of the fraud scheme centers around two government programs. The first target was the Minneapolis-based not-for-profit Feeding Our Future, which distributed federal child nutrition funds during the COVID-19 pandemic. Beginning in April 2020, the organization’s founder and executive director allegedly oversaw an elaborate fraud operation that involved over 250 fake meal sites throughout Minnesota, siphoning over $250 million in taxpayer funds. The second scheme involved Minnesota’s Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention program, which provides treatment to people with autism. Defendants allegedly fraudulently billed Medicaid for autism therapy services that were never provided. They recruited children from Minneapolis’ Somali community who did not have autism diagnoses. Their parents were then paid between $300 and $1,500 per month as kickbacks to keep their children enrolled. To put this into perspective, one company billed Medicaid over $850,000 in one year for one child and was paid out $438,000. Federal prosecutors are still working to determine the full scale of the fraud. But none of this should have happened. It could have been stopped far earlier. There were early warning signs as far back as July 2019, when Minnesota state officials discovered that there was potential fraud occurring within Feeding Our Future. However, according to former employees of the Minnesota Department of Education, after the state caught wind of the potential fraud, it temporarily stopped payments to Feeding Our Future, which then sued the state. Under pressure from Feeding Our Future leadership, state officials decided to continue providing the payments. But everything came to light. Walz blamed the judge in the Feeding Our Future case for forcing the state to continue making the payments, yet this evidently was such a blatant misrepresentation of the facts that the judge himself came out and said, “The Department of Education voluntarily resumed payments and informed the court that FOF resolved the ‘serious deficiencies’ that prompted it to suspect payments temporarily. All of the MN Department of Education food reimbursements payments to FOF were made voluntarily, without any court order.” Any meaningful due diligence seemingly would have tipped off investigators to the blatant fraud that was occurring. Reports note that nearly $700 million in EIDBI claims have been paid out, with notable spikes around the same period that dozens of new clinics popped up within the state, which even state officials themselves were concerned about at the time, wondering how many were doing actual work. So how did Minnesota’s darling Somali congressional representative, Ilhan Omar, respond to the massive allegations against members of her community? In typical “squad” fashion, she redirected her answers toward President Donald Trump’s response. A question has also been raised about whether Omar knew that this fraud was occurring or at least should have been tipped off to the fact that something was amiss. One of her own former campaign officials, for example, was convicted of stealing millions of dollars and has on multiple occasions been seen with another member of the fraud scheme who similarly stole millions of dollars. Predictably, Trump did not mince his words when discussing the issue. He called Somali immigrants “garbage.” Of course, not every single Somali immigrant was part of this massive fraud scheme; only a fraction of them were. And Trump’s response, while not appropriate, shows that he evidently harbors a deep resentment for those entering our country from abroad and siphoning billions in taxpayer money. This is an issue that Americans had to contend with for four years during former President Joe Biden’s term, as millions of migrants entered the United States unlawfully and were met with three square meals a day and cozy hotel beds to sleep on. There are two things that we should take away from the situation: First, Walz would have made an awful vice president if he allowed this level of fraud to occur right under his nose. And second, we need competent leaders who are unwilling to look the other way in the face of obvious fraud. Walz is not one of those leaders. COPYRIGHT 2025 CREATORS.COM We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post Walz, Omar, and the Billion-Dollar Minnesota Fraud Scandal appeared first on The Daily Signal.