From 50-year mortgages to paywalled car features, the rental economy is replacing ownership with lifelong monthly bills... Yesterday, both Trump and his Secretary of Housing and Urban Development told us that 50-year home mortgages may soon be a thing. While seemingly insane (you could end up paying more than three times the cost of the house and never escape the burden of debt before you die), this is just the latest iteration of one of American businesses' most profitable scams: the rental economy. It's a growing threat to the American middle class that rarely gets named, even as it reshapes our lives every day. Over the past two decades, it's snuck in quietly, disguised as convenience, efficiency, and "innovation." As a result, nothing is "ours" any more. Instead, we're renting our lives away.

The Best of the Rest of the News. — Lift a toast to all the new billionaires made in 2025, including 50 of them just in the tech arena. — Trump threatens Democrats on Christmas day, saying “Enjoy What May Be Your Last Merry Christmas!” — Drip, drip, drip come the rape and abuse allegations against Trump, who a jury has already found raped (according to the judge) E. Jean Carroll and more than 20 other women have accused of sexual abuse or rape. — Bondi’s Department of Justice now appears to be saying that if you’re taking pictures of masked ICE agents beating up, shooting, or otherwise abusing immigrants (or American citizens) you’re guilty of “domestic terrorism” and can be arrested by those same unaccountable ICE agents and disappeared into their growing collection of concentration camps. — The Trump regime is on the brink of turning routine travel into a permanent surveillance apparatus and most travelers have no idea. — Trump’s racism brings nursing home crisis. — The official White House Spiritual Advisor, Paula White, says of Epstein’s best friend: “To say no to President Trump would be saying no to God, and I won’t do that.” — Recession watch: Ten housing markets are in a crash right now, with more soon to come. — Racist MAGA goes nuts over King Charles III’s Christmas message. — Geeky Science: Eat your chocolate and drink your coffee!

Yule fire, candlelit pines, and the old northern promise that if we hold each other close, the light returns… Today is Christmas, a connection to some of the most ancient of all known northern European shamanic traditions. Like people living in the north for millennia, we continue to embrace them with regional, national, and religious tweaks. It occurs during the week of the shortest day and longest night of the year in the northern hemisphere, when ancient holy men and women lit "yule logs" to push back the darkness and implore the gods or nature to bring back the light of summer.

They turned clean air into "socialism," turned polluters into victims, and turned America into a profit center with our kids as casualties… Given how the Republicans who run Congress let health insurance premiums for over 24 million Americans explode by not acting last week before going on vacation, it appears former Congressman Alan Grayson was right. The GOP Healthcare Plan is simple and straightforward: "Don't get sick. "If you do get sick, die quickly." And it appears Trump is handily helping us all along with that "die quickly" part, promoting both cancer-causing chemicals in our environment and food supply as well as pushing for more greenhouse gasses to kill more of us with droughts, floods, hurricanes, and wildfires via climate change.