Experts warn the internet could crash hard, and you’d better be ready

The modern internet was never designed to be the single point of failure for daily life that it has quietly become. Yet experts now argue that a large, cascading outage is not a sci‑fi scenario but a realistic shock that could hit banking, logistics, health care and even basic communication all at once. If that happens, the people who cope best will be the ones who treated a digital blackout like any other disaster and prepared in advance.

Why experts think a major crash is inevitable

Specialists in network resilience increasingly warn that the question is not if connectivity will fail on a massive scale, but how long it will stay down when it does. In detailed briefings, Dec analysts behind “Experts Warn the Internet Will Go Down In” a “Big Way” and “And You” “Better Be Ready” argue that the system’s complexity and centrality make a prolonged outage statistically likely, even if the exact trigger is impossible to predict. They stress that most households and businesses have no backup plan at all, despite clear advice to “Try and” create one before a crisis hits, which is why they frame preparation as a basic form of risk management rather than paranoia.

Those warnings are echoed in a separate Dec assessment that highlights how “Experts” see the internet as critical infrastructure on par with power and water. That report notes that “Most” people underestimate how quickly services would unravel if connectivity vanished, and it points to Federal guidance that already treats large‑scale network disruption as a national security concern. Taken together, these analyses sketch a simple picture: a system that underpins almost everything, maintained by a patchwork of public and private actors, and increasingly fragile at the edges.

The hidden fragility of the global network

On paper, the internet looks robust, with countless routes and providers. In practice, a surprising amount of traffic depends on a limited number of physical chokepoints and aging systems. A Dec infrastructure study titled “Introduction” and “Growing Concern for Global Connectivity” warns that roughly half of the world’s networks are now “threatened by ageing technology,” and that the “implications of widespread aging” equipment include higher failure rates and longer repair times. The same analysis calls for coordinated investment “between public and private sectors,” a diplomatic way of saying that many operators have deferred upgrades for too long.

Physical links are only part of the story. The encyclopedia entry on outages notes that “Disruptions of” submarine cables can knock entire regions offline and that “Countries” with less developed infrastructure are especially vulnerable to single points of failure. When those undersea arteries are combined with terrestrial fiber routes, data centers and internet exchange points, the result is a global system that looks redundant on a map but can still be crippled if a few key components fail at once.

Centralization, Cloudflare and the new single points of failure

Even where hardware is modern, the way traffic is routed has created new concentrations of risk. As one technical analysis puts it, “Nov” engineers remember that “Back” in the early days of the web, “there were countless web hosting providers, and many companies even ran their own servers,” but that era has largely ended. Today, a small group of cloud and content delivery networks, including Cloudflare, sit in front of huge portions of the world’s websites and applications, which means a configuration error or software bug in one platform can ripple across thousands of services at once.

That same explanation notes that this consolidation was driven by efficiency and performance, not malice, yet it has quietly turned companies like Cloudflare into systemic utilities. When a single provider handles DNS, security filtering and traffic optimization for banks, retailers and media outlets simultaneously, any outage can feel like “the internet” itself is broken. The more organizations pile into the same stack, the more a technical hiccup in one vendor starts to resemble a structural weakness in the entire network.

From aging hardware to cyberattacks what could actually break

When experts talk about a “big” failure, they are not imagining one neat cause but a tangle of overlapping threats. A technical review of the “10 Biggest Internet Outages in History” lists “Apr” “Key Takeaways” that show how “Internet” disruptions have stemmed from human mistakes, infrastructure failures, cyberattacks and environmental damage. In one case, a misconfigured router propagated bad routes that black‑holed traffic; in another, a construction crew severed a critical fiber bundle; in others, targeted attacks overwhelmed key services. The pattern is that complex systems rarely fail in isolation, and recovery often takes longer than anyone expects.

Security researchers add a darker layer. A study summarized under the headline “Catastrophic cyber event could cause widespread disruptions to global infrastructure” warns that a “Jul” scale “Catastrophic” incident could hit multiple sectors at once. The work by “Mun” researchers models scenarios where coordinated attacks on industrial control systems, telecom networks and cloud platforms combine to produce cascading outages that are far harder to contain than a single ransomware incident. In that context, the internet is both a target and a dependency, which means a serious cyber event could break connectivity at the very moment people most need information.

What a true blackout would feel like on the ground

It is easy to treat all of this as abstract until you imagine daily life without the constant hum of connectivity. Financial analysts who study systemic risk warn that “Analysts” now “fear global internet blackout would lead to widespread chaos,” precisely because “We barely notice the constant hum of our connected lives” until it stops. 

Their scenario work suggests that payment systems, logistics tracking, telemedicine and even basic navigation would degrade within hours, while misinformation and panic could spread through whatever channels remain. Emergency planners point out that the impact would not be evenly distributed. A safety guide that asks “At the” core “end of the day” what risk looks like in your area notes that vulnerability depends heavily on local hazards such as hurricanes, wildfires, flooding or tornadoes, and on how much critical infrastructure is already stressed by extreme “weather, according to Climate Central.” 

In regions where mobile networks and fiber lines share the same corridors as power and transport, a single storm or wildfire can knock out multiple lifelines at once, turning an internet outage into a broader community crisis.

How preppers think about a prolonged outage

While most people assume the network will always be there, some communities have been quietly gaming out the opposite. In one discussion titled “How, if at all, should prepping for a prolonged internet outage” a user named “Oct” “Paper” “Philosopher” lays out a simple hierarchy: secure water, food and medical supplies first, then think about information and communication. Commenters suggest low‑tech entertainment like paper books, board games and card games to keep morale up, and they emphasize solar chargers, power banks and spare batteries so that essential devices can stay alive even if the grid is unstable.

A separate thread bluntly titled “How do you prep for complete internet blackout?” drills deeper into information resilience. One widely shared checklist starts with “Dec” “What” to do: “Get” a local copy of “Wikipedia and” other reference material, download a “Linux Distro and” learn how to use it offline, and store manuals for everything from car repair to first aid. The logic is that if cloud services vanish, the knowledge they hosted should not vanish with them. In that sense, preppers are treating information the way earlier generations treated canned food and spare parts.

Building a backup internet plan for your household

Risk experts who study infrastructure failures argue that ordinary households do not need a bunker, but they do need a plan. The Dec advisory that framed “Experts Warn the Internet Will Go Down In” a “Big Way” and told “And You” that you “Better Be Ready” urges families to “Try and” think through how they would communicate, access money and get news if their phones and home broadband stopped working. It recommends a written family emergency plan that covers meeting points, alternative contact methods and key account details stored securely offline, so that people are not scrambling for passwords or phone numbers in the middle of a crisis.

Practical steps can be surprisingly simple. A guide on “How” to “Prepare for Power Outages and Blackouts” starts with the basics: “Charge All of Your Devices” in “Advance,” “Make” sure you have a charged cell phone and backup battery, and identify a safe place you can go for help if needed. Those same principles apply to a network failure, with one twist: you may still have electricity but no data, so it pays to keep critical documents printed, maps downloaded and a small amount of cash on hand in case card systems are offline. Treating connectivity as a convenience rather than a guarantee is the mental shift that makes all of this easier.

Your emergency connectivity and tech kit

For people who want to go beyond the bare minimum, technologists recommend assembling a small “connectivity kit” alongside the usual go‑bag. A detailed checklist on “How To Prepare Your Tech for a Natural Disaster” explains “How” to “Purchase” a compact waterproof case and stock it with “Emergency” numbers, backup drives, and multiple charging options. It specifically urges readers to “Include a crank, solar, or” battery‑powered radio, along with stress‑relief items “while you wait,” because information and morale are both critical in the first days of any disruption.

That kit can also hold the digital assets preppers talk about: offline maps, downloaded manuals, and a bootable operating system on a USB stick. Combining those with the power strategies from the blackout guide, such as topping up batteries before storms and rotating power banks so they stay healthy, turns a fragile smartphone into a more resilient tool. The goal is not to stay online at all costs, but to keep your most important data and communication options available when the wider network is struggling.

What governments and companies are (and are not) doing

Individual preparation matters, but it sits on top of decisions made by governments and corporations that own the underlying infrastructure. The Dec report on “Global Network Infrastructure at Risk” warns that without major investment, the “Introduction” to a “Growing Concern for Global Connectivity” will become a lived reality as aging routers, switches and optical gear fail more often. It calls for coordinated upgrades and better sharing of incident data “between public and private sectors,” arguing that secrecy and underfunding are a dangerous combination when half the world’s networks are already flagged as vulnerable.

Cybersecurity planners are wrestling with the same problem from a different angle. The study on a potential “Catastrophic” cyber incident by “Mun” researchers, summarized in the line “Catastrophic cyber event could cause widespread disruptions to global infrastructure,” has already fed into tabletop exercises that imagine simultaneous attacks on telecoms, cloud providers and industrial systems. Those scenarios are meant to push regulators and executives to think beyond narrow compliance checklists and toward systemic resilience, including backup communication channels and clearer public messaging when outages occur.

How to stay informed when the network is shaky

One of the paradoxes of a digital crisis is that people will still turn to screens first, even as those screens become less reliable. Broadcast segments such as “Internet infrastructure is overwhelmed, expert says after” a recent disruption, featuring “Nov” commentary from “Mashar” in “Washington” about how a “Tuesday of the” failure at “Cloudflare” exposed structural weaknesses, have already shown how quickly public attention swings to whoever can explain what is happening. Clips like that, archived on platforms such as YouTube, double as informal training in what questions to ask when services start to flicker.

There is a second version of that same segment, also titled “Internet infrastructure is overwhelmed, expert says after,” in which the “Nov” “Mashar” “Washington” correspondent again walks through how a “Tuesday of the” “Cloudflare” disruption rippled across online shopping and media, and that footage, available on another clip, underscores a key point: clear, jargon‑free explanations calm people down. In a future outage, local radio, over‑the‑air television and community bulletin systems may be the only channels left, which is why having a simple radio in your kit and knowing which stations carry emergency information is as important as any app on your phone.

Living with a more brittle internet

None of this means the online world is doomed, but it does mean that blind faith in its permanence is misplaced. The encyclopedia entry on outages makes it clear that failures “can occur due to” accidents, “security services actions, or errors,” and the historical record of “What Causes Internet Outages?” shows that even well‑run networks can be knocked offline by a mix of human error, aging “infrastructure and” hostile activity that “disrupt internet services.” When you combine that with the climate‑driven hazards flagged by safety analysts and the centralization trends highlighted in technical reports, the case for personal and institutional preparedness becomes hard to ignore.

I find it useful to think of connectivity the way earlier generations thought about electricity: transformative when it works, disruptive when it fails, and worth backing up with simple, low‑tech alternatives. That might mean keeping a paper map in the glove compartment, printing a few key phone numbers, or following the preppers’ lead and downloading reference material before you need it. If the experts are right that a large‑scale crash is a matter of when, not if, then treating the internet as a fallible utility rather than an invisible constant is not alarmist. It is just good planning. 

- by Dorian Maddox, NewsBreak

Trump's Administrative Scheme, Social Security Cuts, and Constitutional Violations

Tuesday, December 30, 2025 ■ Today's Top News  Judge Slaps Down Trump Administration Scheme to 'Starve' Nation's Top Consumer Protection Watchdog "If the CFPB is not there, people have nowhere to turn when they get cheated," said Sen. Elizabeth Warren. By Brad Reed Social Security Administration 'In Turmoil' as New Reporting Details Damage Done by Trump Cuts In-depth reporting from the Washington Post found the Social Security Administration is dealing with "record backlogs that have delayed basic services to millions of customers." By Brad Reed 'This Is an Act of War': CIA Carried Out Drone Strike on Port Facility Inside Venezuela One expert called the reported drone strike a "violation of Article 2(4) of the UN Charter and the Take Care Clause of the Constitution." By Jake Johnson

"There’s no doubt that 2025 has been one of the most politically chaotic years of the 21st century"

Amid the domestic and geopolitical mayhem unleashed by Donald Trump’s return to the White House, powerful interests were busy enacting a radical anti-democratic agenda that has already changed our world and will continue shaping it for years to come.

DeSmog’s team of investigative reporters, editors and researchers have spent the past year tracking the fossil fuel companies and tech giants seeking private gain from MAGA, along with the climate deniers and right-wing political operatives attempting to export the movement globally. Here are some of their most consequential achievements.

Supercharging Climate Denial

For years, the widely held belief in the community of people advocating for aggressive climate action was that outright denial of the science was becoming a marginal relic of the past. That was never accurate, as DeSmog has extensively reported, but the second Trump administration has shattered the illusion for good.

Trump’s secretary of energy, Chris Wright, is a former fracking executive. During a February speech to the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference, Wright called 2050 net zero targets “a sinister goal.” In exclusive interviews with DeSmog at the London event, prominent climate crisis deniers praised Wright for his opposition to regulating CO2 as a pollutant. Overturning these regulations is a longtime goal of groups such as the CO2 Coalition and the Heartland Institute.

Trump’s secretary of energy, Chris Wright, is a former fracking executive.

The energy secretary this year convened a panel of climate deniers, including the Canadian economist Ross McKitrick, to author an official Department of Energy report questioning the link between humans and global temperature rise. More than 85 actual climate experts released a scathing rebuttal describing the report as “junk science.”

Nevertheless, Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency drew on Wright’s report to initiate its effort to rescind the agency’s own “endangerment finding” on CO2 and other carbon emissions, which provides the legal foundation for many major U.S. climate regulations. (It was perhaps not the most far-sighted strategy, as the administration’s strident climate denial is now creating potential legal hurdles for the EPA’s repeal effort.)

To help craft legislation, the administration also relied on climate crisis deniers such as Alex Epstein, who was credited with shaping sections of Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” that eliminated tax credits supporting wind and solar energy. That legislative effort got an assist from Americans for Prosperity, a political advocacy group backed by oil and gas billionaire Charles Koch.

These assaults on climate science and renewable energy had already been laid out in Project 2025, the reactionary blueprint for a second Trump administration created by the Heritage Foundation. DeSmog found that over 50 high-level Trump administration officials were linked to Project 2025, including many of the president’s closest advisers, such as Elon Musk.

Although Musk and Trump eventually had a bitter falling out, the consequences of Musk taking a power saw to the federal government will be felt for years in terms of shuttered climate programs, laid-off employees and diminished bureaucratic expertise. DeSmog revealed that Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency effort was partly the result of a concerted effort — led behind the scenes by conservative groups — to tilt the U.S. toward hard-line Christian nationalist and libertarian ideology.

In the process, the climate denial movement appeared to gain a powerful new ally. “We welcome Elon Musk into the climate red pill group,” Climate Depot executive director Marc Morano stated in late 2024.

Undermining European Democracy

This November, the White House published a national security strategy that outlined U.S. policy goals in Europe. DeSmog has been reporting on these goals throughout the year.

“Our broad policy for Europe,” the strategy stated, “should prioritize cultivating resistance to Europe’s current trajectory within European nations.” The strategy “reject[s] the disastrous ‘climate change’ and ‘Net Zero’ ideologies that have so greatly harmed Europe, threatened the United States, and subsidize our adversaries.”

At a private event that DeSmog attended during February’s ARC conference, Kevin Roberts, head of the Heritage Foundation, seemed to articulate these same principles, rejecting climate science as “fiction” and urging “our friends from Europe” to oppose international institutions. The following month, the Heritage Foundation convened hardline European conservatives for a meeting in Washington, D.C., where they discussed how to dismantle the European Union.

Trump-aligned groups were trying meanwhile to hollow out European climate legislation.

In April, DeSmog revealed that the Heritage Foundation was actively trying to shape an upcoming national election in Albania in favor of a Trump-aligned candidate. The following month, key MAGA influencers, including Trump administration Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, descended on Eastern Europe for the Conservative Political Action Committee Poland conference. According to audio of CPAC Poland obtained by DeSmog, speakers made calls to “liquidate” the European Commission, while pushing for the election of far-right Polish presidential candidate Karol Nawrocki. (Nawrocki won in a June runoff election.)

Trump-aligned groups were trying meanwhile to hollow out European climate legislation. The Heartland Institute set its sights on the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), a law requiring companies to address human rights and environmental issues in their operations.

Also fighting the CSDDD: a coalition of companies called the Competitiveness Roundtable whose members include Exxon Mobil, TotalEnergies, Chevron and Koch, Inc. Documents obtained by the research group SOMO and seen by DeSmog showed that this corporate campaign deliberately supported far-right groups in Europe in service of its goals.

It’s now clear that combating EU climate rules was essential to carving out a market in Europe for American gas exporters. “The industry and the State Department are putting a lot of pressure on the EU [to] commit to our dirty LNG,” one climate advocate told DeSmog.

Forging Anti-Climate Alliances With Big Tech

During the first Trump administration, the world’s biggest tech companies pledged to fight for climate action even as the U.S. exited the Paris climate treaty and rolled back key environmental laws. This time around, those same tech companies are actively supporting Trump’s climate denial.

DeSmog revealed that during an April AI conference in Washington, Google President and Chief Investment Officer Ruth Porat called a preceding speech by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum “fantastic,” even though Burgum used his appearance to attack the so-called climate extremist agenda and push expanding the use of coal.

Porat’s praise seemed at odds with her own company’s ambitious 2020 pledge to power all its operations with carbon-free energy by 2030. Google’s shift wasn’t an outlier, but rather part of a trend within Big Tech to go along with the Trump administration’s embrace of fossil fuels to power its energy-hungry data centers, despite renewables remaining the cheapest and quickest-to-install electricity source worldwide.

DeSmog revealed that OpenAI this year hired a new head of global energy policy who was a senior energy adviser in the first Trump administration and is a dedicated champion of natural gas. In September, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman joined Trump on an official state visit to the United Kingdom, where the company is planning a massive new AI infrastructure project.

OpenAI this year hired a new head of global energy policy who is a dedicated champion of natural gas.

Jensen Huang, CEO of the supercomputer chipmaker Nvidia, also accompanied Trump to the U.K. in September. Huang followed that up in October by praising Energy Secretary Wright’s “passion” for science, despite Wright’s active promotion of climate denial.

DeSmog also reported on Nvidia’s marketing of AI tools to Brazilian oil and gas companies just weeks before the COP30 climate negotiations in Belém, Brazil. This was no coincidence, as the fossil fuel industry is increasingly using AI to boost oil and gas production, as executives told the Reuters Global Energy Transition conference in June. In turn, AI advocates including former Google CEO Eric Schmidt are pitching AI energy demand to major oil producing countries as a way to keep fossil fuels alive.

In Texas alone, AI has spurred demand for over 100 new natural gas plants, while in Virginia, local communities fought against a data center proposal that would have seen construction of the largest U.S. gas plant in a decade. The data center explosion is also delaying the retirement of at least 15 coal-fueled power plants across the U.S.

DeSmog reported this year on the growing backlash to data centers in places like rural Georgia, despite a public charm offensive aimed directly at residents. Still, the large corporate backers behind these projects remain confident that they can overcome public opposition.

That includes a real estate arm of Koch Inc. that has been building data centers in Chicago, Kansas City and Atlanta and is pitching itself as having the “expertise and capabilities that major tech companies either don’t have or don’t think would be worth the time.” At this point, it’s safe to conclude, data centers are inseparable from fossil fuel expansion.

Backing the Right-Wing Reform UK

A fair question to ask this year was whether British Member of Parliament Nigel Farage spent more time cultivating ties to MAGA in the U.S. than actually leading his right-wing political party, Reform UK, back at home. In September, Farage skipped Parliament’s return from summer recess in order to speak at the National Conservatism (NatCon) conference in Washington and address the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress.

“Nigel Farage is far more interested in pleasing Trump and jostling for his affections than he is in turning up to Parliament on time or standing up for British values,” one Liberal Democrat source told DeSmog. Farage in turn is helping MAGA expand into Europe. DeSmog reported in 2024 that he helped set up a U.K.-EU branch of the Heartland Institute. This year, the pro-Trump group claimed it was spearheading opposition to the EU’s flagship Nature Restoration Law.

Farage in turn is helping MAGA expand into Europe.

Back in February, Farage himself stated at the ARC conference that “I can’t tell you whether CO2 is leading to warming or not, but there are so many other massive factors,” while taking aim at the U.K.’s net-zero policies. His comments are perhaps not surprising, given the previous donations Reform UK has received from fossil fuel and climate denier interests.

Other party figures also seem to be looking to the U.S. for inspiration. Reform UK Chair Zia Yusuf is an admirer of tech billionaire Musk, and apparently so is Paul Marshall, the right-wing owner of GB News and other outlets, which are key media backers of Reform UK. Marshall, who is also a hedge fund manager, bought a large stake in Tesla, the electric vehicle company led by Musk, prior to the 2024 U.S. presidential election, DeSmog revealed.

Close ties to Trump may have helped smooth the way for massive new tech ventures in the U.K. DeSmog reported in September that Trump’s ambassador to Britain, Warren Stephens, has a family-owned investment firm with large shares in Microsoft, Nvidia and Alphabet (Google’s parent company), which are planning major U.K. projects. The Trump-linked U.S. private equity firm Blackstone is meanwhile building a $13.4 billion AI data center in the U.K. that includes a fleet of massive backup diesel generators.

Fomenting Political Chaos in Canada

DeSmog was in the room at a conservative political event in Alberta where one of the speakers revealed a shocking piece of news. Dennis Modry, the former CEO of a group called the Alberta Prosperity Project, which is pushing for the oil-rich province to separate from Canada, claimed that he’d met directly with members of the Trump administration.

At that meeting, Modry claimed, U.S. officials offered “a $500 million transition loan that we would only draw down on as necessary as we work with the U.S. to transition from a province to a country.” That wasn’t the only instance of MAGA policies influencing the political discourse in Canada. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith revealed in September that she had met with the Heritage Foundation shortly after Trump’s election. Smith had already caused a national uproar months earlier by traveling to Florida to appear on a private panel with conservative U.S. pundit Ben Shapiro, who had previously called Canada “a silly country” that should be annexed by the U.S.

Carney is implementing a pro-oil-and-gas agenda.

During Canada’s federal election, which was dominated by fears about Trump waging a trade war on the country, Smith told the right-wing U.S. media outlet Breitbart News that Conservative Party candidate Pierre Poilievre “would be very much in sync” with the Trump administration. And indeed, DeSmog’s careful analysis of Poilievre’s inner circle turned up links to Musk, Koch Inc. and major oil and gas companies tightly linked to the U.S.

As in the U.K., some Canadian conservatives and executives openly expressed admiration for Musk and his work with Trump. DeSmog was at a conservative event in Ottawa where representatives from Amazon and the pipeline builder TC Energy discussed how a right-wing prime minister could replicate elements of Musk’s DOGE effort in Ottawa.

Poilievre ultimately lost the election to his Liberal opponent, current Prime Minister Mark Carney, but now Carney is implementing a pro-oil-and-gas agenda and taking ideas from the billionaire-founded AI and fossil fuel group Build Canada.

As we head into 2026, expect to see MAGA and its allies continue their global assault on climate science and policies to reduce planet-heating emissions. The Canadian conservative influencer Jordan Peterson was a key organizer of this year’s ARC conference, where Trump officials, European conservatives, tech investors and climate crisis deniers discussed how to build and implement a global anti-net zero movement. They will be meeting again in June.

TRUTHDIG’S JOURNALISM REMAINS CLEAR

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Saving Our Democracy

 

The tendency, understandably, in Donald Trump’s second term is to focus on events in Washington, D.C. and the national and global consequences of his disastrous domestic and foreign initiatives. But because he and his antics have dominated and decimated the federal government, resistance within states and cities have become even more important. State and city elected officials (as well as political movements beyond Washington, D.C.) have become some of the most valuable fighters in the battle to preserve democracy.

Governor Wes Moore of Maryland: Moore continues to shine as a skilled advocate for American values (e.g., inclusion, decency) and the rule of law. While managing the reconstruction of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, the fall-out from DOGE, and state budget, he kept up a drumbeat of criticism of Trump’s assault on functional government, misuse of the military, and abject racism. While Moore disclaims interest in 2028, do not be surprised if he appears on a presidential ticket in the near future.

Governor JB Pritzker of Illinois: Pritzker distinguished himself this year in his unflagging defiance of Trump’s disastrous policies, willingness to defend migrants in his state, support for sane healthcare policy, and eagerness to fight fire with fire in the redistricting battle. He thereby lifted himself to the top tier of 2028 presidential contenders.

Governor Gavin Newsom of California: No Democrat has mastered social media snark quite as completely as Newsom and his team. He plainly relishes endless opportunities for skewering, mocking, and humiliating Trump. Newsom put muscle behind his rhetoric in championing Proposition 50 to respond to Trump’s Texas re-redistricting power grab. He too has risen to the top echelon of 2028 contenders.

Democratic state attorneys general: These unheralded heroes stand at the vanguard of the democracy fight. They have brought dozens of suits against Trump’s lawless actions on SNAP, birthright citizenship, National Guard occupation, tariffs, DOGE unilateral cuts, and more. Their persistent efforts in court have held back the tide of authoritarianism and shielded their constituents from many horrors of MAGA rule.

Big city mayors and neighbors vs. ICE, CBP, and National Guard deployments: Mayors Karen Bass (Los Angeles), Keith Wilson (Portland), Jacob Frey (Minneapolis), Brandon Johnson (Chicago), and Viv Lyles (Charlotte) all stood up against the Trump regime’s brutal, lawless and racist juggernaut deployed against immigrant communities. They summoned their residents’ better angels to stand with their neighbors. They resisted cooperating with ICE and maintained support for immigrants in the face of political pressure, lawsuits, and even threats.

Ordinary (albeit heroic) residents rose to the occasion as well, in peaceful and often whimsical protest, devising an early warning system for their neighbors—and when necessary, by refusing to indict or convict protestors.

Missouri referendum and Indiana anti-redistricting activists: People Not Politicians, the grassroots campaign to overturn Missouri Republicans’ re-redistricted map successfully gathered hundreds of thousands of signature to get their measure on the ballot. “There should be nothing for politicians to fear about a referendum,” said Richard von Glahn, executive director of the group, who organized 2,000 volunteer signature-gatherers. “[S]o when I see politicians doing desperate actions, coming up with extreme legal theories just to keep this from the ballot, what they’re really saying is, ‘We don’t want voters to have the final say in how our democracy works.’ And that is a message that falls extremely flat with Missouri voters.” This could be the second successful progressive referendum in Missouri, following the jaw-dropping win on abortion in 2024.

Meanwhile, in Indiana, pro-democracy groups including Common Cause local Indivisible chapters, scored a remarkable redistricting victory in very red Indiana, overcoming threats of violence (and of political retribution from Trump and Heritage Action). “The 19 to 31 vote was a highly public defeat for Mr. Trump, who has spent significant political capital pushing for redrawn maps in Republican-led states and who repeatedly threatened political consequences for Indiana Republicans who did not fall in line,” the New York Times reported.

Zohran Mamdani: The mayor-elect’s stellar rise from obscurity to victory, and his creation of an historic grassroots movement reverberated throughout the country. His humane focus on affordability, social media adroitness, deft handling of Trump, and consistent good cheer provide a model for Democrats. His victory should chastise the establishment billionaire class who flailed away in a futile effort to defeat him. Democrats would be wise to appreciate the Mamdani phenomenon, regardless of policy differences. If Democrats want to win elections, their big tent better be big enough for Mamdani and his followers.

Virginia Democrats: Virginia Democrats picked up an astounding 13 seats in the House of Delegates and swept all statewide races with Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger leading the charge. Their success should inspire Democrats to organize early for 2026, focus on the issues that matter most, and run straight at the unpopular MAGA president. It also helps to have a rising Democratic star at the top of the ticket.

Governor-elect of New Jersey Mikie Sherrill: Defying expectations for a nip-and-tuck race or even a GOP upset, the former Navy officer and prosecutor running on affordability won by nearly 15 points in an election with record-high turnout for a governor’s race. Sherill won 94% of the Black vote and 68% of Hispanics, rebutting punditry that pronounced that Democrats had permanently alienated these voters. (She also won white women by 8 points and non-college graduates by a point.) In blasting the shutdown capitulators, she aligned herself with young, aggressive fighters in the party.

Governor Andy Beshear of Kentucky: As a pro-choice Democrat governor in a deep red state who hasn’t thrown LGBTQ+ people bus and who never failed to stand up to Trump, Beshear is turning heads. CBS recently reported, “Heading into what could be a favorable national political environment in the 2026 midterms, Beshear is leading the Democratic Governors Association as it tries to win in states where his party has either lost ground or are hoping to hold on to critical seats.” He has managed the state through one natural disaster after another, taken a responsible stance on guns and racked up an impressive economic record. It’s hard not to draw comparisons to two other winning Democratic governors from Republican-dominated states: Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.

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US offers Ukraine 15-year security guarantee as part of peace plan

 

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The United States is offering Ukraine security guarantees for a period of 15 years as part of a proposed peace plan, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday, though he said he would prefer an American commitment of up to 50 years to deter Russia from further attempts to seize its neighbor’s land by force.

U.S. President Donald Trump hosted Zelenskyy at his Florida resort on Sunday and insisted that Ukraine and Russia are “closer than ever before” to a peace settlement.

Negotiators are still searching for a breakthrough on key issues, however, including whose forces withdraw from where in Ukraine and the fate of Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, one of the 10 biggest in the world. Trump noted that the monthslong U.S.-led negotiations could still collapse.

“Without security guarantees, realistically, this war will not end,” Zelenskyy told reporters in voice messages responding to questions sent via a WhatsApp chat. Ukraine has been fighting Russia since 2014, when it illegally annexed Crimea and Moscow-backed separatists took up arms in the Donbas, a vital industrial region in eastern Ukraine.

Illia Novikov, AP News

Ukraine: "Resilience That Inspires the World"

 

🔥 December 27 Attacks — Civilians Once Again Targeted On December 27th, Russia launched another wave of missile and drone attacks across Ukraine, striking civilian infrastructure and residential areas. Homes were damaged, energy facilities hit, and families were once again forced to endure fear and uncertainty. As winter deepens, civilians continue to bear the brunt of Russia’s aggression. ✈️ Ukraine Strikes Back — Major Military Assets Hit Ukraine carried out a series of successful strikes against Russian military targets in occupied Crimea. Fighter jets at airfields were reportedly damaged, and a Russian submarine was struck — delivering a significant blow to Russia’s air and naval capabilities in the Black Sea. These actions directly reduce Russia’s ability to terrorize Ukrainian cities and demonstrate Ukraine’s growing defensive strength. 🚀 Attacks on Russian Territory — Strategic Counterpressure Ukraine also expanded operations inside Russia, using domestically produced long-range drones and British Storm Shadow missiles to strike oil and gas facilities and military assets, including a Black Sea port and an oil refinery. In Moscow, a senior Russian general was killed by a car bomb — an incident the Kremlin is investigating as a possible Ukrainian operation. These developments underscore Ukraine’s ability to impose real costs on Russia’s war machine. 🕊️ Zelenskyy’s 20-Point Peace Plan — A Clear Path Forward President Volodymyr Zelenskyy continued pushing his 20-point Peace Formula, calling for the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, accountability for war crimes, food and energy security, and lasting guarantees to prevent future aggression. Ukraine has made it clear: peace is possible — but only one that is just and durable. 🤝 High-Level Diplomacy — Zelenskyy Meets with Donald Trump This week also included a significant meeting between President Zelenskyy and former U.S. President Donald Trump. The discussion highlighted Ukraine’s continued efforts to engage leaders across the political spectrum and emphasize the importance of sustained international support for Ukraine’s defense and sovereignty. 💙 Resilience That Inspires the World Despite relentless attacks, exhaustion, and loss, Ukrainians continue to stand strong — defending their land, caring for one another, and refusing to surrender their future. This fight is not only for Ukraine, but for freedom, dignity, and the right of nations to exist without fear. Thank you for standing with Ukraine. Your support truly matters. Slava Ukraini 💙💛 from "Ukrainian Apparel": Ukrainian Clothing Online Shop | Ukrainian Apparel

The Week Ahead

 

The Week Ahead: We started the week with questions about the incomplete release of the Epstein Files and whether Jack Smith’s behind-closed-doors testimony on the Hill would be made public. There was also interesting news about the aggressive approach Senator Mark Kelly’s lawyer took with Pete Hegseth in a letter demanding that the Secretary communicate with him about the investigation. To date, Hegseth had been using it for political talking points in the media. All of these issues will continue to be live in the coming week.

A Conviction, Two Orders, and A Lawsuit: We reviewed the conviction of Judge Hannah Dugan in Wisconsin and the likely issues on appeal. Then there were a pair of interesting judicial rulings. In D.C., Judge Boasberg certified a class action for people the Trump administration deported to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison. In Florida, Judge Aileen Cannon entered an order that will permit the government to drag out the delay before Volume II of Jack Smith’s special counsel report is released to at least February, despite an 11th Circuit ruling that was critical of her for not ruling in the matter earlier. Special counsel reports are routinely released. And finally, there was news of a lawsuit over Trump’s renaming of the Kennedy Center.

Live with Norm Eisen and Joyce Vance: One of the lawyers behind the lawsuit challenging Trump’s ability to add his own name to the Kennedy Center, Norm Eisen, joined us to explain the lawsuit and how they’ve threaded the needle on the sticky issue of who has the right to sue.

Which Side Is DOJ On: The Epstein Files: We tracked the most interesting information released by DOJ. If you’ve been out of the loop for the holiday, this is a piece you’ll definitely want to take a look at. DOJ is behaving more like Donald Trump’s lawyer than the people’s—and certainly not the victims’/survivors’ lawyer—in this matter... 

Five Questions with Criminal Justice Reform Leader Adam Gelb: This week, Donald Trump took credit for the drop in crime in the country, claiming it was the result of closing the southern border. In this very timely interview, CCJ’s Adam Gelb discusses the organization’s report, which fills in the four-year gap since the feds stopped publishing detailed arrest data and shows that the arrest rate has fallen by 25% since 2019, with a 50% drop in drug arrests. In other words, crime is down despite the decrease in arrests. We discuss what data-driven criminal justice policy could look like, and Adam offers some important insights as we head into a midterm election cycle where Trump is going to try to take credit for events set in motion by others.

He Looks Like A Witness To Me: Trump’s Christmas Day post “to the many Sleazebags who loved Jeffrey Epstein” on Truth Social was more than just the sort of predictable trash this president. As I read through it, it struck me that Trump sounds like a witness. While Pam Bondi’s DOJ protects the president like a client, there’s a possibility of congressional hearings or even civil cases down the road. Whether he ever takes the stand or not, Trump clearly knows a lot more about Epstein’s conduct than he’s ever made public.

These are complicated legal times, and it’s easy for the truth to get lost in the chaos. Civil Discourse doesn’t just track today’s headlines—it connects them to the legal and political history that explains why they matter. We won’t forget what’s at stake or let Trump and his allies rewrite the past.

You can subscribe to Civil Discourse for free and get clear analysis that helps you see the whole picture, delivered straight to your inbox. If you’re in a position to, your paid subscription helps me devote the time and resources it takes to write the newsletter. That means everyone has access to information they can share with friends and family—a constructive act we can all participate in right now, helping more Americans understand how critical this moment is.

We’re in this together,

Joyce Vance

 

"Merry Christmas!" Declares Trump Moments After Threat to Destroy Broadcasters Who Air Criticism of Him

 

President Donald Trump sent out a cheery Christmas greeting early Wednesday morning just three minutes after threatening to shut down US broadcasters if their programs did not provide him with more positive coverage. In a Truth Social post sent out at 12:36 am, Trump renewed his threat to once again strip broadcast licenses from networks that cover or portray him and his administration in a negative light.

“If Network NEWSCASTS, and their Late Night Shows, are almost 100% Negative to President Donald J. Trump, MAGA, and the Republican Party, shouldn’t their very valuable Broadcast Licenses be terminated?” Trump wrote. “I say, YES!”

Just three minutes afterward, at 12:39 am, Trump posted an all-caps message that read, “MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!”

It is unclear what sparked Trump’s latest threat, although shortly before it was posted he lashed out at comedian Stephen Colbert, whose time hosting CBS’ “The Late Show” is set to end in May 2026.

“Stephen Colbert is a pathetic trainwreck, with no talent or anything else necessary for show business success,” he wrote. “Now, after being terminated by CBS, but left out to dry, he has actually gotten worse, along with his nonexistent ratings. Stephen is running on hatred and fumes. A dead man walking! CBS should, ‘put him to sleep,’ NOW, it is the humanitarian thing to do!”

While Trump frequently delivered angry rants about media coverage throughout his first term, his words appear to be carrying significantly more weight during his second term.

For example, the announcement of Colbert’s cancellation raised eyebrows earlier this year because it came shortly before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) signed off on an $8 billion deal for CBS parent company Paramount to be bought by Skydance Media, the company founded by David Ellison, son of Trump ally Larry Ellison.

Weeks after this, Trump-appointed FCC Chairman Brendan Carr threatened to rescind broadcast licenses for Disney-owned ABC unless it took late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, a frequent Trump critic, off the air. Hours after Carr’s threat, Kimmel’s show was suspended before being put back on the air days later amid a public outcry.

Over the weekend, CBS News boss Bari Weiss spiked a segment on the network’s flagship news program “60 Minutes” that cast a critical eye on the Trump administration for sending hundreds of Venezuelan immigrants to a notorious El Salvadoran prison where they were allegedly subjected to abuse and torture.

Weiss’ decision to at least temporarily quash the story came as Larry Ellison is making a hostile bid to buy Warner Brothers Discovery that will once again need FCC approval in the future in order to succeed.

-Brad Reed, Common Dreams

"Merry Christmas to all, including the Radical Left Scum that is doing everything possible to destroy our Country, but are failing badly. We no longer have Open Borders, Men in Women’s Sports, Transgender for Everyone, or Weak Law Enforcement. What we do have is a Record Stock Market and 401K’s, Lowest Crime numbers in decades, No Inflation, and yesterday, a 4.3 GDP, two points better than expected. Tariffs have given us Trillions of Dollars in Growth and Prosperity, and the strongest National Security we have ever had. We are respected again, perhaps like never before. God Bless America!!! President DJT"

"When you ship human beings into a place built for cruelty, you own the cruelty"

 

Let’s be clear: this IS Trump’s immigration machine — and just because the torture is on foreign soil doesn’t wash the blood off American hands. This report wasn’t meant to be seen. Inside CECOT, a vetted 60-Minutes investigation, was yanked hours before broadcast and later leaked online anyway. So, what exactly didn’t they want us to know?

They didn’t want ordinary people to connect the simplest dots: when you ship human beings into a place built for cruelty, you own the cruelty. The leaked reporting centers on testimony that reads like a history lesson we were promised would never repeat. People describe being beaten routinely, forced into stress positions, thrown into dark cells, and treated like their bodies are just objects to move, bend, break.

In the leaked video clip circulating, one detainee says: “After they locked us in, they came to beat us every half hour.” That’s not “detention.” That’s a gulag with better lighting. And here’s the part that needs to be said in plain language:

If you know a place tortures people and you send people there anyway, THEN YOU ARE HELPING TORTURE HAPPEN. It doesn’t matter if the fist belongs to a foreign guard. The decision belongs to us. That’s what “outsourcing brutality” means.

One of the men reported on by Reuters is Andrés Guillermo Morales, a Colombian Venezuelan migrant with no criminal record who had no gang ties at all. He was deported anyway, reportedly flagged based on vague and disputed indicators like tattoos, and sent straight into El Salvador’s CECOT prison without a trial.

Once inside, that innocence meant nothing — Morales was subjected to the same beatings, isolation, and dehumanization described by other detainees, because in that system there is no mechanism to correct mistakes once the U.S. hands someone over.

This is also why the censorship matters. According to multiple reports, CBS’s new leadership pushed to hold the segment back, with internal conflict over demands for additional on-camera responses from Trump officials — even after the story team had pursued comment.

The correspondent reportedly called the move political, not editorial. You don’t have to love the media to understand the incentive here: powerful people don’t want a mainstream broadcast putting America’s fingerprints on a human-rights horror show.

So ask your conservative neighbors and friends something simple, without yelling: Are you okay with “border security” that relies on sending people into a prison system that tortures and beats innocent people? If the answer is yes, at least be honest about what you’re defending.

Because if we let this story be buried, we’re not just losing a TV segment. We’re normalizing a policy that will be remembered the way we remember the worst chapters — with the same question hanging over it: Who knew, and stayed quiet?

 

Lawmakers Who Deserve Recognition

 

We have spent the year commiserating with you over the shortcomings of most congressional Democrats. However, we have also seen profiles in courage and political excellence. These lawmakers have demonstrated that the minority is not without influence or power. These politicians consistently revealed not just the evils of the Trump regime, but the cowardice and irresponsibility of Trump’s MAGA pawns on the Hill. These lawmakers deserve a shout out.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) inspired the country with a 25-hr. speech on March 31-April 1, which broke Strom Thurmond’s anti-civil rights filibuster. 

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) delivered his own marathon masterclass in October on the threats to democracy.

Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Cal.), in June, was manhandled, thrown to the ground, and hustled out of the room when he simply tried to question Homeland Security Department Secretary Kristi Noem about federal immigration forces’ acts of brutality. He then delivered with immense dignity this speech on the Senate floor.

Six Democratic lawmakers, veterans of the military or intelligence services, produced a video reminding military personnel of their obligation to refuse to follow plainly illegal orders. They thoroughly rattled Trump, who went so far as to write a Truth Social post suggesting their behavior was “seditious,” the punishment for which is death, and set the stage for a furious debate on the extrajudicial killings in the Caribbean.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-N.Y.) has been a force of nature—inspiring protestors, inveighing against autocracy, and restating fundamental principles on which the country was founded. If you ever need to recharge your batteries and lift your spirits, check out her BlueSky account. One hopes she will replace Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) sooner rather than later in the Senate.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) in April had the courage to go to El Salvador to meet with Kilmar Abrego Garcia. He helped debunk the lie that Abrego Garcia was a dangerous gang member. More than any lawmaker, he focused the public’s attention on the illegal and inhumane effort to deport migrants to CECOT. He remains a forceful voice and fighter against the Trump regime, most recently co-sponsoring the Prohibiting Unauthorized Military Action in Venezuela Act of 2025.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) has effectively become the constitutional law tutor for the nation throughout the Trump era. He consistently reveals and denounces Trump’s assault on the Constitution. He uses what power he has to investigate Trump outrages and put out searing reports on misconduct, corruption, and policy failures. He is a favorite at resistance events and here at The Contrarian. Rakin’s appearances at committee hearings are invariably effective and memorable, and he is not afraid to litigate against the lawless Trump regime. What’s more, he does it all with good cheer, humanity, and wit.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I), in dozens of floor speeches over the years, has exposed the Supreme Court justices’ ethical misconduct, the role of dark money that influences the high court, and the weaponization of the Justice Department. In more than 300 speeches, he has shined a light on the dangers of climate change as well as climate change denial.

While not the chairman (yet), Whitehouse is the most prominent figure on the Senate Judiciary Committee. He uses his position to denounce the abusive conduct of federal immigration forces, skillfully grill and slam incompetent and dangerous Trump officials or nominees (leading the charge against Emil Bove’s nomination), demand evidence to expose wrongdoing, elevate the pedophile-coverup scandal, and drill down on corruption. Without question, he should take over as chairman/ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee when Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) retires.

Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Cal.) has adeptly served as point man for Democrats in investigating Trump’s involvement with Jeffrey Epstein and foot-dragging in the release of files in which Trump is repeatedly mentioned. From his perch as ranking member on the House Oversight Committee (since June), Garcia has been confronting the regime on Trump’s corruption, shutdown shenanigans, FCC lawlessness, DHS abuses, and interference with (or firing) inspectors general. Imagine what he could (and hopefully will) do in the majority with the power of subpoena.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) champions pro-worker and pro-consumer policy as she leads the ongoing fight against Trump’s corrupt oligarchy. She has been a ferocious critic of Trump’s corruption and his utter failure to lower prices. Faced with Trump’s dismantling of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Warren doggedly defended the entity she helped create. She has consistently skewered OMB director Russ Vought who has dismantled the CFPB and explained how its destruction encourages scams and abuse and forfeits billions of dollars that could be returned to taxpayers.

She has demanded an investigation into Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director William Pulte’s possible misconduct and misuse of federal funds in his quest to cook up a specious, vindictive claims against Trump’s enemies. She has fearlessly condemned the ballroom travesty, denounced deregulation of banks, fought against media monopolies, and slammed Trump for pricing millions out of healthcare coverage. Should Democrats win the Senate, Warren would likely chair the Finance and Banking Committees. That alone is reason to fight for the majority.

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