A person close to the Reiner family said that Romy Reiner, 28, fled the house after discovering her father’s body inside, and was only informed later by paramedics that her mother was also deceased inside the residence. The New York Times reported on Tuesday that the unnamed source revealed several details challenging earlier reporting on the brutal murders of director Rob Reiner and his wife, photographer and producer Michele Singer Reiner. The source also provided insight into what set off the chain of events that culminated with formal charges being filed against Nick Reiner, 32, for two counts of first-degree murder with special circumstances. A massage therapist was the first to alert the Oscar-nominated director’s daughter to a potential problem, calling her on Sunday afternoon when no one answered at the front gate despite having a scheduled appointment for that day. Romy reportedly rushed over to the home with a roommate, and discovered her father’s body when she went inside. She immediately ran back outside, distraught, and her roommate called 911. The source told The NYT that paramedics arrived a short time later, and said that while Romy did inform them that her brother Nick had been living on the property, she did not immediately name him as a suspect in the murder. Paramedics were the first to inform her that, although Romy had not seen a second body when she went inside, her mother was also deceased and in the house. Investigators checked the guest house, and when they did not find Nick Reiner there, they searched elsewhere and arrested him near Exposition Park — about 20 miles from downtown Los Angeles — hours later. A hotel room linked to Nick Reiner’s credit card was reportedly found covered in blood on Sunday. During a Tuesday afternoon press conference, authorities filled in a few of the gaps in the story as well, saying that they still had not determined whether the Reiners had been killed late on Saturday — after attending a holiday party hosted by comedian Conan O’Brien alongside Nick — or early on Sunday. Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said that autopsies were still pending, and that they would have to wait for the coroner to determine a more specific time of death. Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman also told the public that, as of Tuesday afternoon, Nick Reiner had been charged with two counts of first-degree murder with special circumstances related to there being multiple murders and to the use of a deadly weapon. Reiner is being held without bail and made his first court appearance on Wednesday after a short delay as he awaited medical clearance to do so. He has retained high-powered defense attorney Alan Jackson — whose past clients include actor Kevin Spacey and disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein — to represent him.

Hollywood was still absorbing the shock of the violent deaths of filmmaker Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Reiner, when another development further stunned the industry — the Reiners’ 32-year-old son had been arrested and booked on suspicion of their murders. Then entertainment industry insiders began to tell their stories, and it soon became clear — maybe no one should have been surprised. It seems like everyone in LA knew that screenwriter Nick Reiner had been a ticking time bomb for years. Emergency responders were called to the Reiners’ $13.5 million Brentwood mansion shortly after 3:40 p.m. Sunday following a request for medical assistance. When firefighters arrived, they discovered both Rob and Michele Reiner dead inside the home. While the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office has not yet released official causes of death, police have said the case is being investigated as a double homicide. And not just homicide, but the shocking kind that usually winds up as the basis of a movie. The couple suffered multiple stab wounds, their throats cut. Adding to the surreality of the news came the revelation that Billy Crystal had rushed to the scene just in time to see the bodies of his dear friend and his wife. Nick, meanwhile, was picked up at a posh beachside hotel, his room reportedly smeared with blood. Later Sunday night, he was taken into custody on a felony charge related to the deaths. He’s currently being held on $4 million bail. Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell confirmed that Reiner was booked for murder, though formal charges had not yet been announced as of Monday, and police have not publicly laid out a motive. But industry insiders are offering a fairly clear picture of decades-long battles with addiction and volatility. Laura Cavanaugh/FilmMagic It was an open secret in Hollywood that Nick had faced serious substance-abuse issues since he was 15 years old, including periods of homelessness and repeated stints in rehab. In past interviews, his parents spoke openly about the toll those struggles took on their family, even as they emphasized their commitment to supporting their son through recovery. Those tensions became part of the public record in 2015, when Nick Reiner co-wrote and starred in “Being Charlie,” a semi-autobiographical film about a young man grappling with addiction. Reiner directed the film, and during its promotion, both father and son acknowledged that the story closely mirrored their own experiences. At the time, they described the project as painful but ultimately healing, saying it forced them to confront years of unresolved conflict. But now details are emerging that suggest those conflicts may never have healed enough. Nick reportedly harbored deep resentment toward his father, fueled in part by comparisons between his own stalled career and Reiner’s prolific success. Sources have described a relationship marked by endless cycles of reconciliation and rupture, intense anger and regret. Page Six, Variety, People, and TMZ — the entertainment outlets are full now of stories of Nick’s drug-fueled rages, including one that destroyed furniture at his parents’ house. Other accounts describe him stealing money from his dad to lose his virginity to a prostitute. Recollections of behavioral issues, even in his childhood, have added to a picture of a family grappling for years with instability behind a public façade of Hollywood success. Even the night before, TMZ reported, father and son both attended a Christmas party at Conan O’Brien’s house, where witnesses observed a “very loud” argument involving members of the Reiner family. Nick had been acting bizarrely enough to disturb other guests. The Reiners’ daughter, 28-year-old Romy Reiner, discovered her parents’ bodies and called authorities. There have been reports that she told police she believed her brother was responsible. President Trump seemed to think there might have been another cause. In an inappropriate social media post that would be hard to believe even in a screenplay, he said, Reiner, who frequently accused him of being treasonous and mentally unfit, suffered from Trump Derangement Syndrome and suggested that might have had something to do with the director’s death. Trump did add, though, that the news was “very sad” and he hoped the Reiners rest in peace. Other Republicans struck a more dignified tone. Senator Ted Cruz said he and his family were mourning “the loss of a comedic and story-telling master” whose films “touched us deeply and spoke to our fundamental humanity.” Matei Horvath/Getty Images For now, much about the case remains unknown. Police have not said whether a weapon has been recovered, whether there were signs of forced entry, or how long the Reiners may have been dead before they were found. Investigators are continuing to interview family members and associates as they seek to establish a timeline. What is clear is that the killings have cast a harsh and tragic light on a family whose private struggles were long intertwined with public success. As law enforcement works toward answers, Hollywood and audiences around the world are left mourning a filmmaker whose stories often celebrated love, loyalty, and redemption — values that now stand in painful contrast to the violence that ended his life.

The cunning premeditation behind the Bondi Beach massacre reveals a chilling foresight that leaves victims’ families grappling with more than just grief. Property Transfer and Its Implications Sajid Akram, the ISIS-affiliated gunman in the Bondi Beach massacre, strategically transferred his family home to his wife’s name. This move, executed months prior to the attack, serves as a calculated measure to shield his assets from potential legal claims by victims’ families. The timing of this asset transfer, coinciding with the acquisition of a gun license, adds a layer of premeditated malice to the tragedy that unfolded. According to David Elliott, the state’s former counterterrorism minister, this act underscores a prolonged planning phase for the massacre. The foresight to protect his estate suggests an awareness of the likely repercussions of his heinous act. Legal experts assert that this transfer complicates any efforts by victims’ families to secure compensation, adding insult to injury for those affected by the tragedy. READ MORE: https://t.co/KnfezTujydBondi shooter Sajid Akram transferred ownership of his home into his wife’s name two years before Sunday’s terror attack. A leading terror expert says it proves he had been “planning this for a long time”. pic.twitter.com/bt8tciOd24 — The Advertiser (@theTiser) December 17, 2025 The Massacre at Bondi Beach The attack that unfolded at Bondi Beach was a deliberate and targeted act of violence. Sajid Akram and his son, Naveed, armed with high-powered rifles, descended upon a Hanukkah celebration, leaving 15 people dead. The massacre, steeped in antisemitic intent, has left a scar not only on the victims’ families but on the broader community. Naveed Akram, who survived the attack with injuries, now faces a litany of charges, including 15 counts of murder. The calculated nature of the attack, coupled with Sajid Akram’s estate planning, paints a picture of a man who meticulously orchestrated every aspect of this tragedy. Community and Legal Repercussions The aftermath of the massacre has reverberated through Sydney and beyond, prompting discussions on both community cohesion and legal ramifications. The transfer of property, viewed by many as a final affront to justice, has become a focal point in the dialogue surrounding the attack. Legal professionals highlight the challenges this presents for the victims’ families seeking restitution. The broader implications of this act extend into the realm of counterterrorism strategies. Authorities are now tasked with dissecting the planning and execution of the attack to prevent future occurrences. The incident has also sparked a renewed emphasis on monitoring asset transfers as potential indicators of premeditated terrorist activities. The close relatives of the alleged Bondi Beach terror attackers Naveed and Sajid Akram have themselves called police, complaining about media knocking on their door on two occasions since they returned to their home just after midday. FuCK Pakistani dog's pic.twitter.com/rLGFN9KYtq — Mariana Times (@timeswmariana) December 15, 2025 The Bondi Beach massacre, marked by its calculated brutality and the preemptive shielding of assets, serves as a poignant reminder of the complex interplay between personal foresight and public tragedy. As the community grapples with the aftermath, the focus shifts to ensuring that justice prevails for the victims and their families. The chilling foresight exhibited by Sajid Akram, while calculated to avoid legal repercussions, stands as a stark reminder of the lengths to which individuals may go to evade accountability. Sources: ISIS-terrorist dad killed 15 people at a Hanukkah celebration accused of slaughtering 15 people

'Frivolous lawfare'

Books Martha Wells Book Club Martha Wells Book Club: Network Effect Murderbot’s two friend groups collide over wormholes and alien remnants… By Alex Brown | Published on December 17, 2025 Comment 0 Share New Share Murderbot’s two friend groups collide over wormholes and alien remnants in this month’s book club entry: Network Effect. We have snarky teens, asshole transports, rogue SecUnits, and a lot of corpses. As usual, spoilers ahoy. As is tradition with Murderbot, the book begins with the action already underway. Murderbot is working security aboard a space lab with Overse, Arada, and Ratthi, as well as two new characters, Amena and Thiago (Mensah’s daughter and brother-in-law, respectively), plus assorted PresAux staff. Our trusty SecUnit handily dispatches a team of raiders, but that’s the last bit of luck they’ll have for a while. On their way home, they’re attacked again, this time by gray-skinned Targets speaking an untranslated language, using ancient tech, and wandering around in the alien-remnant-infected husk of Perihelion, aka ART the Asshole Research Transport from Artificial Condition.  Much of the story takes place on Perihelion. For the first chunk, Murderbot fears ART has been erased by the alien remnant the Targets attached to its engine, and it lets that fear and rage fuel it as it takes the Targets out and rescues its humans. “I was starting to panic,” it says, and later “But I was walking around in ART’s corpse and nothing felt reassuring.” Once Amena, Overse, Arada, Ratthi, Thiago, and Eletra (the lone survivor of a Barish-Estranza team who were also attacked by the Targets) temporarily safe, they’re able to get ART partially back online, much to SecUnit’s relief.  It takes a while for the plot to untangle, given how little information the characters have most of the time and how much guesswork they’re doing, but it all boils down to Corporate Rim Shenanigans. Barish-Estranza wants to exploit planetary resources and human labor on a lost colony and the human laborers want freedom (or a hivemind, depending on who you talk to). The Perihelion crew want to keep hacking Corporate Rim legal contracts and the Preservation Alliance crew just want to go home alive and intact. Eventually, a team of humans and Murderbot get down to the planet’s surface to rescue the last of ART’s missing humans. With the help of Murderbot 2.0—who Amena adorably describes as a baby “That you and ART made together, with code. Code with both of you are also made out of.”—and a newly governor-module-hacked SecUnit calling itself “Three,” Murderbot saves the day. Again. Barely. Structurally, this book is different from the rest of the series in a few key ways. It has a partial flashback to a brand new scene where Mensah is attacked at Preservation Alliance HQ by drugged-up augmented human assassins hired by GrayCris. This attack and her earlier kidnapping—and some timely blackmailing/guilt tripping by SecUnit—convinced her to seek treatment for dealing with her trauma. We see this fight sequence in another new device, a story within a story. The first book, All Systems Red, was technically epistolary; it was a letter Murderbot wrote to Mensah. The rest of the books are in that same first person format (which allows Wells to keep doing the unreliable narrator thing we all love so much), but they don’t feel all that epistolary. This one has the main story interrupted with excerpts from HelpMe.file. These scenes, from Murderbot being interviewed by Bharadwaj for her documentary, are sent to SecUnit 3 as a way to convince it to help Murderbot 1.0 after it cracks Three’s governor module.  Speaking of the narrative structure, this is the only (so far?) novel in the series. Wells could have shrunk this story down to novella size either by cutting stuff out or breaking it into two separate books, but not while retaining the emotional gut-punches that are ART and Murderbot and their code baby, Amena dubbing Murderbot her “third mom,” Murderbot 2.0’s sacrifice, and the rise of Three. This is a bigger story than anything we’ve gotten so far, and I don’t just mean page length. This is a turning point for Murderbot. Everything has been leading up to this moment. It has to be big. Identity, personhood, and trauma continue to be a major themes in the Murderbot Diaries, and they intersect in interesting ways in this novel. SecUnit is still processing learning that maybe it isn’t all that special and that its worldview was too narrow. Maybe other bots and constructs didn’t chat much with it because it didn’t chat much with them. Like Mensah, it’s also avoiding processing the trauma of the last few months. It gained its freedom, nearly died too many times to count, pushed itself way past its limits, changed its physical body, witnessed humans and constructs having meaningful and complicated relationships, and watched good people—bots, constructs, and humans alike—get killed or indentured at the behest of capitalism.  Miki’s death in particular haunts Murderbot, and I think that has a lot to do with why it freaks out so much over ART’s apparent deletion. Not only did it lose its first friend and the first person to see its true self, but it also just watched a construct sacrifice its life for the humans it cared about, something Murderbot has done several times now for Mensah. As we see in the HelpMe.file excerpts Murderbot sends to Three, Bharadwaj has already been trying to get SecUnit to start trauma recovery treatment alongside Mensah. Add to that its anxiety toward logos and knowing the company is forever burned into its body no matter how much it alters itself and you have a SecUnit on the edge. There are too many terrible things happening to and around it in too short a time. ART’s supposed death shoves Murderbot right over.  At the same time, it’s also having a lot of emotions, many of them for the first time and all of them unexpected. Murderbot has yet to reckon with its personhood. It doesn’t see itself as just a SecUnit anymore, and it doesn’t want to be human. But it also doesn’t know what that in between space looks like. “I think if I had been a normal bot, or been a normal SecUnit, just off inventory, naive and not knowing anything about how to get along in the human world or whatever… it would have been okay. But I wasn’t like that. I was me, Murderbot. So instead of Mensah having a pet bot like poor Miki, or a sad bot/human construct that needed someone to help it, she had me.” For SecUnit, that’s a negative. For Mensah, Murderbot is exactly what she wants and needs. She’d probably like it to be less touch-averse, but overall, she likes Murderbot just the way it is. She trusts it because it’s Murderbot and not some pet bot or mind-controlled construct. Mensah doesn’t want a Miki anymore than Peri’s crew wants a thoughtless bot running their ship, but that also doesn’t mean the only other thing left is a thoughtless killing machine. When Ratthi says “[Thiago] doesn’t know you. He doesn’t know what you’re really like,” Murderbot thinks “He’d never seen me kill anyone close up and I’d like to keep it that way.” But Ratthi doesn’t stop caring about Murderbot after all the killing in this novel anymore than he did after all the killing in the previous stories with him. Like Mensah, he knows Murderbot is a person trained for a specific task making hard choices. Speaking of Ratthi, I have loved watching him grow as a character. The way Thiago treats SecUnit after Amena’s rescue is exactly the way Ratthi treated it in the first book, like a grumpy human that just needs a hug. Now Ratthi is the one keeping Thiago from pressing the point with Murderbot and warning him against apologizing, just like the others did with him in that hopper. By the end, Murderbot sees itself the way Mensah and ART do, and Wells shows us this through its HelpMe.file conversation with Three: “I’m letting you see all this because I want you to know what I am and what I can do… I want you to know if you help me, I’ll help you, and that you can trust me. Now here’s the code to disable your governor module.” All this folds into Murderbot’s relationship with ART. It’s more than a friendship yet also not romantic or sexual. Or, as Ratthi wisely puts it, “I think that while you and Perihelion know how to have relationships with humans, neither of you is quite sure how to have a relationship with each other.” The book never uses this language, but I think of ART and Murderbot as being at the start of a queerplatonic relationship. It all feels very acespec-coded (I say as an acespec person), although I doubt that was intentional on Wells’ end. Their relationship is growing into a deep bond between two people committed to each other. ART kidnaps Murderbot not because it’s a useful tool but because it trusts Murderbot more than anything else in the universe. Murderbot wants to help ART not because its humans want it to help the other humans but because they’re ART’s humans. It’s a fraught relationship, one where both parties are emotionally constipated and oblivious, but it’s so damn charming I can’t help but sigh contentedly.  Well, now I’m a big, weepy pile of emotions. I need to go take a walk or something and calm down. Next month we’re discussing Fugitive Telemetry. It was the sixth book published, but it takes place before Network Effect and is mostly a standalone story. See you in 2026![end-mark] Buy the Book Fugitive Telemetry Martha Wells The Murderbot Diaries (Volume 6) Buy Book Fugitive Telemetry Martha Wells The Murderbot Diaries (Volume 6) The Murderbot Diaries (Volume 6) Buy this book from: AmazonBarnes and NobleiBooksIndieBoundTarget The post Martha Wells Book Club: <i>Network Effect</i> appeared first on Reactor.

Customs and Border Protection has thwarted a large drug smuggling attempt in Texas.   CBP officers in the Lone Star State discovered a tractor trailer filled with cereal ingredients. More than $10.3 million in alleged methamphetamine was found hidden inside the cereal bags.   “Our front line CBP officers shut down a significant meth smuggling attempt hidden within ingredients that shouldn’t grace anyone’s breakfast table,” Port Director for the Hidalgo/Pharr/Anzalduas Port of Entry Carlos Rodriguez, said.  Cereal bags conceal packages of methamphetamine. (Customs and Border Protection) “As this seizure perfectly illustrates, our officers continue to use their inspections skills and technological tools to prevent this poison from reaching American streets,” Rodriguez added.   The bust took place on Dec. 12 at Pharr International Bridge in Pharr, Texas, along the border of Mexico and 160 miles south of Laredo. The driver of the tractor trailer was attempting to enter the U.S. from Mexico and was carrying what was presented to be a commercial shipment of oat flax, according to CBP.   CBP used “nonintrusive inspection equipment” and canines to inspect the tractor trailer. During a “physical inspection” agents found “64 packages of alleged methamphetamine with a combined weight of 1,156.32 pounds (524.50 kg) concealed within the shipment of oat flakes.”   CBP’s Office of Field Operations seized the tractor trailer and the narcotics.   During fiscal year 2025, CBP seized 170,000 pounds of methamphetamine, 55,000 pounds of which was seized at ports of entry in the Laredo Field Office. During fiscal year 2024, CBP seized 174,000 pounds of methamphetamine at U.S. ports and along the borders, up from 140,000 pounds in fiscal year 2023.   Criminal cartels have continued to attempt to smuggle drugs into the U.S. as President Donald Trump has acted to secure America’s southern border and stop the flow of illegal aliens and drugs into the U.S.   Under the Biden administration, the criminal cartels began making more money smuggling people into the U.S. than they could make smuggling drugs, according to immigration officials. Even before Trump returned to office in January, immigration experts predicted Trump’s plan to secure the border and end the parole of illegal aliens into the U.S. would lead the cartels to change business models and rely more heavily on drug smuggling, especially through ports.   Furthermore, immigration officials credit the uptick in drug seizures to Border Patrol agents no longer spending time processing illegal aliens, but on patrol in the field instead.    “We know for a fact that less drugs are crossing our border, but we watch our seizures go up, and so … during the previous four years, those large seizures we’re seeing were the large seizures that weren’t happening, and they were getting to the United States, and they were infecting our communities,” U.S. Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks said at a recent press conference in Washington, D.C.    The post EXCLUSIVE: CBP Busts Meth Breakfast Cereal Smuggling Attempt appeared first on The Daily Signal.

DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis erupted on Wednesday while testifying before a special Georgia Senate committee scrutinizing her prosecution of President Donald Trump. Judge Scott McAfee agreed to toss the racketeering case in November after the prosecutor who inherited Willis’ beleaguered effort pushed him to take it off “life support.” During her testimony, Willis accused members of the Georgia Senate Special Committee on Investigations of “trying to intimidate [her] for five years” and said “threats” against her had made it impossible to live in her own home during that time. WATCH: “You all want to intimidate people from doing the right thing. And you think that you’re going to intimidate me,” Willis said. “You all have been trying to intimidate me for five years, which is why I have not been able to live in my house for five years because the N-word has been written on my house. Thousands of threats have come to my office.” “And instead of doing some legislation—” she continued before a senator appeared to try to interrupt her. However, Willis refused to be interrupted. “When someone says something inflammatory that you know is going to cause them to be the victims of crime, you ought to do something about it,” she said. “But you see, I’m not [Republican Georgia Rep.] Marjorie Taylor Greene. I ain’t going to quit in a month because somebody threatens me. I took an oath to do the right thing. People came into my community and committed a crime, and I indicted them. And rest assured, if someone else comes in my community and commits a crime, I will indict them again.” Lawmakers established the special committee in January 2024 to examine allegations of “various forms of misconduct” against Willis regarding her prosecution of Trump and other individuals for pushing to overturn the 2020 presidential election outcome in Georgia, according to CBS News. Willis defied a subpoena in September 2024 to testify to the committee about her alleged misconduct. Defense attorneys sought to disqualify Willis in January 2024 for granting her romantic partner, Nathan Wade, a “lucrative” contract to work on the case, asserting she improperly benefited when he took her on vacations. She falsely asserted she paid all the special prosecutors working on the case the identical hourly rate, but contracts first reported by the Daily Caller News Foundation showed she gave Wade a higher rate than Georgia’s leading racketeering expert. The Georgia Supreme Court upheld a ruling disqualifying the district attorney from the case in September. Originally published by the Daily Caller News Foundation The post Fani Willis’ Explosive Testimony appeared first on The Daily Signal.

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy will revamp the agency’s university grant program after axing requirements that the schools fund diversity, equity, and inclusion and environmental initiatives, The Daily Signal can first report. Duffy will announce $33 million in grants to universities to “unleash American innovation.” This comes after the Department of Transportation in May terminated $54 million in University Transportation Centers grants to seven universities that funded climate change initiatives and DEI policies. “Under President Trump, we are focused on enhancing safety and unleashing American innovation,” Duffy said. “Gone are the days of funding Green New Scam and woke DEI initiatives that waste taxpayer dollars. Instead, we are investing in automated vehicles, artificial intelligence and new ways for people to work safely with machines—technology that will define the future of transportation.” Schools which had their grants terminated for prioritizing DEI include University of California Davis, City College of New York, University of Southern California, New York University, San Jose State, University of New Orleans, and Johns Hopkins University. UC Davis received $12 million for “accelerating equitable decarbonization” research. University of New Orleans was given $6 million for “equitable transit-oriented communities [and] how neighborhood stabilization efforts support environmental justice” research. The DOT gave USC $9 million for research on how “the transportation system creates and perpetuates inequities.”  San Jose University won roughly $6 million for research on “intermodal inequities, particularly how improvements to auto travel can benefit higher income, often white drivers, while depressing transit ridership potential and depriving it of revenues necessary to provide comprehensive services to lower income, often BIPOC people and research into using crowdsourcing and collaborative planning to address safety concerns of women and gender non-conforming people using public transportation.” The revamped grant program will focus on discovering new ways to increase safety on American transportation, including through automated vehicles and driving systems, artificial intelligence and machine learning, digital infrastructure, and human-machine interface technologies.   The University Transportation Centers program began in 1988 to encourage two- and four-year colleges and universities to improve America’s transportation system by prioritizing safety and infrastructure durability. Grants are competitively selected based on the quality of proposed research projects, planned education and workforce-development activities, and potential for moving technologies into practice. Schools can use their grants for transportation-related curriculum development, student support, and continuing education programs.   The post EXCLUSIVE: How Transportation Secretary Will Help Trump Defund Woke Universities appeared first on The Daily Signal.

In the heart of New York’s financial district, Wall Street experts are issuing a stark warning about Germany’s economic trajectory, labelling its energy policies an act of self sabotage. During a recent visit to the United States, Petr Bystron, a member of the European Parliament from Germany’s Alternative for Germany party, AfD, U.S. economic analysts expressed alarm over the deindustrialization of Europe’s former powerhouse. “An industrial nation cannot be powered by wind alone,” one financier remarked, encapsulating the consensus that Germany’s shift away from reliable energy sources is accelerating its decline. Bystron’s trip, which included stops in Washington, D.C., and meetings near the New York Stock Exchange in December 2025, highlighted growing transatlantic concerns. In conversations with Trump administration officials and economic experts, Bystron discussed the misuse of state institutions to suppress political opposition in Europe, as well as broader geopolitical and economic issues. Bystron also addressed the U.S. vision for resolving the war in Ukraine, aligning AfD’s stance with American priorities for a negotiated settlement. Bystron welcomed President Trump’s updated National Security Strategy for 2025, which calls for a right-wing shift in European politics and emphasis on returning to values like democracy and free speech. “The U.S. is calling on us to return to the values that made Europe and America great,” Bystron stated. Germany’s woes stem from its aggressive energy transition, including the phase out of nuclear and fossil fuels. Iconic firms like ThyssenKrupp, Volkswagen and Bosch—once symbols of industrial might—now face mounting losses. Over the past two years, approximately 160,000 industrial jobs have vanished, with projections indicating further erosion. The Wall Street Journal documented this slowdown as early as March 2025, noting unexpected slumps in industrial production amid tariff uncertainties and energy costs. Economists describe such losses as a “slow-motion collapse,” with Germany avoiding recession in Q3 2025 but showing weak rebounds in output. The Financial Times warns radical steps are needed to halt the decline, as Europe’s manufacturing champion teeters. Washington views this with increasing alarm, as outlined in Trump’s NSS. The strategy notes that continental Europe’s global GDP share has plummeted from 25% in 1990 to 14% today, underscoring a loss of competitiveness. Bystron echoed this, asserting that the AfD is Germany’s only party with genuine economic competence, having long criticized policies leading to this point. Contrast these alarm bells with the robust U.S. economy in 2025. The International Monetary Fund projects U.S. GDP at $30.62 trillion, dwarfing the European Union’s $21.1 trillion. U.S. growth is forecasted at 2.2% for the year, outpacing the EU’s 1.4%. Factors include energy independence, lower inflation—slightly above EU levels but managed effectively—and trade policies shielding domestic industry. The U.S. has benefited from post-pandemic stimulus and innovation, with GDP per capita far exceeding Europe’s—77% of U.S. levels in the eurozone in 2000, now down to 70.6%. Economists attribute Europe’s lag to regulatory burdens, energy vulnerabilities and slower adaptation to global shocks like the “second China Shock,” where Germany faces catastrophic risks from Chinese exports. Here’s Wall Street’s blunt assessment during Bystron’s visit: Germany’s actions equate to “economic suicide.” Financiers struggle to fathom how an industrial leader could erode its energy base, driving firms abroad or into insolvency. This deindustrialization not only weakens Germany but threatens EU stability, potentially straining U.S.-Europe ties amid rising tariffs and geopolitical tensions. Bystron’s delegation, including other AfD parliamentarians, aim to forge alliances with Trump allies, framing AfD as a counter to Europe’s leftist policies. As the U.S. thrives, Europe’s struggles serve as a cautionary tale. The NSS pushes for reform, urging Europe to bolster defense spending and economic resilience. For Germany, reversing course on energy and regulation is essential to reclaim its role. As Bystron noted, aligning with U.S. strategies could restore transatlantic prosperity. The post Wall Street Warning: Germany’s Energy Policies Mean Economic Suicide appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Day Three of Judge Dugan's Trial