Court Reinstates School District Employees' Free Speech Lawsuit Over Anti-Racism Training

Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times,

A divided federal appeals court voted to revive a lawsuit by school district employees who say they were forced to self-censor and make statements they disagreed with to finish so-called anti-racism training.

On Dec. 30, 2025, the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit voted 6–5 in Henderson v. Springfield R-12 School District to reactivate the employees’ lawsuit, holding that the chilling effect from the mandatory 2020 training gave them standing to sue for First Amendment violations.

Standing refers to the right of someone to sue in court. The parties must show a strong enough connection to the claim to justify their participation in a lawsuit.

The district court had previously found that because the employees of the Springfield, Missouri, school district were not punished for disagreeing with the training’s content and were allowed to express their own views, they did not suffer an injury and therefore did not have standing. That court found the plaintiffs’ claims were weak and awarded attorney’s fees to the school district. A panel of the Eighth Circuit affirmed the dismissal for lack of standing but found the plaintiffs’ claims were not frivolous, so it overturned the award of attorney’s fees.

The full Eighth Circuit reversed the dismissal and sent the case back to the federal district court for reconsideration.

Plaintiffs Brooke Henderson and Jennifer Lumley sued in 2021, alleging that while attending a compulsory district-wide equity training program for staff, the school district engaged in viewpoint-based discrimination, caused them to self-censor, and forced them to accept beliefs they rejected.

For example, a PowerPoint presentation told the plaintiffs they had to do things such as “Lean into your discomfort,” “Acknowledge YOUR privileges,” and “Hold YOURSELF accountable,” Circuit Judge Ralph Erickson wrote in the majority opinion.

The plaintiffs argued that the training was “essentially an indoctrination focused on the school district’s views and its interpretation of white supremacy.” The district expected staff members to adhere to its definition of white supremacy, which it defined as “the all-encompassing centrality and assumed superiority of people defined and perceived as white.” An “oppression matrix” slide shown during a presentation listed “racism, sexism, transgender oppression, heterosexism, classism, ableism, religious oppression, and ageism/adultism,” as “types of oppression,” the opinion said.

The district taught staff that American culture “positions white people and all that is associated with them (whiteness) as ideal.”

The district said during trainings that “silence from white people is a form of ‘white supremacy’” and indicated that it would not tolerate the plaintiffs rejecting the materials being taught, according to the opinion.

“It is of little consequence that ultimately no one was forced to leave the training, and the school district did not reduce anyone’s pay because a plaintiff is not required to first suffer a consequence before she may bring a claim,” the opinion said.

“The harm is in the suppression of the speech itself,” Erickson wrote.

Chief Circuit Judge Steven Colloton wrote in his dissenting opinion that the plaintiffs failed to establish they suffered an injury and therefore lacked standing to sue.

“A public employee is not injured in a constitutional sense by enduring a two-hour training program with which the employee disagrees,” he said.

The plaintiffs experienced “no tangible harm,” took home full pay, and received professional development credit for their attendance, Colloton wrote, adding that Lumley earned a promotion soon after the training.

The Southeastern Legal Foundation, a nonprofit that represents the plaintiffs, said the decision by the federal appeals court was “a huge victory for the First Amendment.”

“We are hopeful it gives others the courage to fight back against discriminatory equity trainings,” the foundation said.

The Epoch Times reached out to the school district for comment. No reply was received by publication time.

Tyler Durden Fri, 01/02/2026 - 15:40

DOJ Eyes Minnesota's 'Vouching' System For Voter Registration, Demands Records

The Department of Justice’s (DOJ) civil rights division demanded voter registration records from Minnesota on Jan. 2, saying the state’s law that allows people to “vouch” for others’ residency for voter registration appeared inconsistent with federal voting laws.

According to Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, the DOJ is “particularly concerned” with votes and registrations accepted by “vouching” from other registered voters or residential facility employees, along with other same-day registration procedures.

Minnesota allows a registered voter to vouch for up to eight other individuals on Election Day.

Employees of senior care homes or other group facilities can vouch for an unlimited number of residents in their facilities.

As Jill McLaughlin reports below for The Epoch Times, Dhillon sent a letter to Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon demanding that he turn over all records documenting same-day voter registrations, records for votes cast by voters registered under same-day voter registrations, and other records related to the registrations and votes.

The request is for records going back 22 months, including the March 5, 2024, primary election and Nov. 5, 2024, general election.

The demand was made under the Civil Rights Act of 1960 and is to “ensure Minnesota’s registration and voting practices are in compliance with federal law, particularly the minimum requirement under [the Help America Vote Act],” according to the letter.

Minnesota’s “system seems facially inconsistent with the Help America Vote Act of 2002. We’ll see!” Dhillon posted on X on Friday.

The Help America Vote Act was passed by Congress in 2002 to reform the voting process by improving voting systems and voter access, following the 2000 election, when Florida’s recount exposed significant flaws in outdated punch-card voting machines that resulted in “hanging” and “dimpled” chads. Minnesota passed same-day voter registration in 1974.

Simon’s office did not return a request for comment about the demand.

Former Trump administration special government employee Elon Musk, who has been outspoken about recent developments in Minnesota, said the state’s voting system was “made for fraud” in an X post on Dec. 27, 2025.

Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon speaks during a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington on Sept. 29, 2025. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Meanwhile, federal investigations into alleged widespread fraud continue in Minnesota.

In the latest move, the Small Business Administration (SBA) has suspended 6,900 of the state’s borrowers amid suspected fraudulent activity in the state’s pandemic-era loan programs, SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler said on Jan 1.

President Donald Trump said this week his administration plans to continue targeting alleged social services fraud in the state but may also focus on other states.

California, Illinois, and New York could be committing fraud that is allegedly worse, Trump said.

The DOJ has charged nearly 100 people in Minnesota as fraud investigations continue, according to Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Tyler Durden Fri, 01/02/2026 - 15:20

Push For Censorship On Campus Hit Record Levels In 2025

Authored by Sean Stephens via American Greatness,

This year, the fight over free expression in American higher education reached a troubling milestone. According to data from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, efforts to censor speech on college campuses hit record highs and across multiple fronts—and most succeeded.

Let’s start with the raw numbers. In 2025, FIRE’s Scholars Under Fire, Students Under Fire, and Campus Deplatforming databases collectively tracked:

• 525 attempts to sanction scholars for their speech, more than one a day, with 460 of them resulting in punishment.

• 273 attempts to punish students for expression, more than five a week, with 176 of these attempts succeeding.

• 160 attempts to deplatform speakers, about three each week, with 99 of them succeeding.

That’s 958 censorship attempts in total, nearly three per day on campuses across the country. For comparison, FIRE’s next highest total was 477 two years ago.

The 525 scholar sanction attempts are the highest ever recorded in FIRE’s database, which spans from 2000 to the present. Even when a large-scale incident at the U.S. Naval Academy is treated as just a single entry, the 2025 total still breaks records.

Twenty-nine scholars were fired, including 18 who were terminated since September for social media comments about Charlie Kirk’s assassination.

Student sanction attempts also hit a new high, and deplatforming efforts—our records date back to 1998—rank third all-time, behind 2023 and 2024.

The problem is actually worse because FIRE’s data undercounts the true scale of campus censorship.

Why? The data rely on publicly available information, and an unknown number of incidents, especially those that may involve quiet administrative pressure, never make the public record.

Then there’s the chilling effect.

Scholars are self-censoring. 

Students are staying silent.

Speakers are being disinvited or shouted down.

And administrators, eager to appease the loudest voices, are launching investigations and handing out suspensions and dismissals with questionable regard for academic freedom, due process, or free speech.

Some critics argue that the total number of incidents is small compared to the roughly 4,000 colleges in the country. But this argument collapses under scrutiny. While there are technically thousands of institutions labeled as “colleges” or “universities,” roughly 600 of them educate about 80% of undergraduates enrolled at not-for-profit four-year schools. Many of the rest of these “colleges” and “universities” are highly specialized or vocational programs. This includes a number of beauty academies, truck-driving schools, and similar institutions—in other words, campuses that aren’t at the heart of the free speech debate.

These censorship campaigns aren’t coming from only one side of the political spectrum.

FIRE’s data shows, for instance, that liberal students are punished for pro-Palestinian activism, conservative faculty are targeted for controversial opinions on gender or race, and speaking events featuring all points of view are targeted for cancellation. The two most targeted student groups on campus? Students for Justice in Palestine and Turning Point USA. If that doesn’t make this point clear, nothing will.

The common denominator across these censorship campaigns is not ideology— it’s intolerance.

So where do we go from here?

We need courage: from faculty, from students, and especially from administrators. It’s easy to defend speech when it’s popular. It’s harder when the ideas are offensive or inconvenient. But that’s when it matters most.

Even more urgently, higher education needs a cultural reset. Universities must recommit to the idea that exposure to ideas and speech that one dislikes or finds offensive is not “violence.” That principle is essential for democracy, not just for universities.

This year’s record number of campus censorship attempts should be a wake-up call for campus administrators. For decades, many allowed a culture of censorship to fester, dismissing concerns as overblown, isolated, or a politically motivated myth. Now, with governors, state legislatures, members of Congress, and even the White House moving aggressively to police campus expression, some administrators are finally pushing back. But this push-back from administrators doesn’t seem principled. Instead, it seems more like an attempt to shield their institutions from outside political interference.

That’s not leadership. It’s damage control. And it’s what got higher education into this mess in the first place.

If university leaders want to reclaim their role as stewards of free inquiry, they cannot act just when governmental pressure threatens their autonomy. They also need to be steadfast when internal intolerance threatens their mission. A true commitment to academic freedom means defending expression even when it’s unpopular or offensive. That’s the price of intellectual integrity in a free society.

Tyler Durden Fri, 01/02/2026 - 15:00

Rep. Massie Blasts Trump's Iran Warning: "We Have Problems At Home"

First it was over the White House's Venezuela policy, but now conservative and contrarian libertarian-leaning firebrand Rep. Thomas Massie is lashing out at President Trump over his fresh Iran warning and ultimatum.

Amid the nearly weeklong economic and anti-government protests in Iran, Trump added fuel to the fire on Friday, stating on Truth Social that if Iran shoots and "violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue."

Massie and Trump have frequently clashed over the past year. File image

This sounded to many like threat of regime change in another Middle East capital - though Trump might be thinking of other 'options' such as more sanctions and efforts to further isolate the Islamic Republic on the world stage.

Massie on Friday in response listed three points as a counter to and critique of Trump: "We have problems at home and shouldn’t be wasting military resources on another country’s internal affairs," Massie wrote on X.

He said that second, "Military strikes on Iran require Congressional authorization." He followed with the final criticism of, "This threat isn’t about freedom of speech in Iran; it’s about the dollar, oil, and Israel" - while reposting Trump's original message.

Massie has long been a thorn in the side of Trump's latest foreign policy adventures, and the Republican from Kentucky along with Sen. Rand Paul has a significant following among Trump's MAGA base.

He indeed gives voice to the growing viewpoint that Trump should stick to his campaign promises and not allow the United States military to be the "police force of the world".

Journalist Glenn Greenwald has meanwhile also called out Trump for not being 'America First' enough, while highlighting Massie's commentary...

In case you're wondering why three fanatically pro-Israel oligarchs (Miriam Adelson, Paul Singer and John Paulson) are single-handedly funding the campaign to remove @RepThomasMassie from Congress, see below.

Too much America First. Can't have that: pic.twitter.com/i7NwMmkNC1

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 2, 2026

For many others, however, Trump's reviving a Monroe Doctrine concept of how foreign policy should work might sound promising and refreshing. But it does require Washington to lessen or remove its footprint from conflict theatres ranging from Eastern Europe to the Middle East, as well as perhaps a policy of much less provoking China over the hot button Taiwan issue.

* * *

And more shots fired from MGT to boot...

Tyler Durden Fri, 01/02/2026 - 14:40

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani Revokes Orders Issued After Adams' Indictment

Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani signed an executive order on Jan. 1 that will undo orders his predecessor, Eric Adams, issued after being indicted on bribery and corruption charges in September 2024.

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks after he was ceremonially sworn in as New York City’s 112th mayor at City Hall by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in New York City on Jan. 1, 2026. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

The order, which went into effect immediately, is among a series of executive actions Mamdani signed on his first day in office after being sworn in as the city’s mayor on Jan. 1.

His office stated that the order would rescind executive actions issued by Adams on or after Sept. 26, 2024, when the outgoing mayor was indicted on bribery, campaign finance, and conspiracy offenses. It did not list the specific executive orders to be revoked.

Orders likely to be revoked include a directive Adams issued on Dec. 3, 2025, which barred agency staff and mayoral appointees from engaging in procurement practices that discriminate against Israel and Israeli citizens.

Another affected order, issued by Adams that same day, directed the New York Police Department commissioner to evaluate proposals for regulating protest activity near houses of worship to protect freedom of speech.

Mamdani told reporters on Jan. 1 that he intends to keep the Mayor’s Office to Combat Anti-Semitism, established by Adams in May 2025. Adams issued the first mayoral report on anti-Semitism one day before Mamdani was sworn in, highlighting the need to tackle anti-Semitism in the city.

“That is an issue that we take seriously, and it’s part of the commitment that we’ve made to Jewish New Yorkers to not only protect them, but to celebrate and cherish them,” the new mayor said.

In his inaugural address, Mamdani emphasized that his administration would not “hesitate to use its power to improve New Yorkers’ lives.”

“The only expectation I seek to reset is that of small expectations,” he said during his inauguration ceremony at City Hall. “Beginning today, we will govern expansively and audaciously. We may not always succeed. But never will we be accused of lacking the courage to try.”

The September 2024 indictment against Adams, the first against a sitting New York City mayor, alleged that Adams accepted illegal campaign contributions from foreign nationals during his 2021 mayoral campaign.

Adams was also accused of receiving improper benefits while serving as Brooklyn Borough president in 2014, including international travel from foreign businessmen and at least one Turkish government official.

He pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing. A federal judge in April 2025 dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning the charges cannot be brought again, after the Justice Department asked for the case to be dismissed.

The Epoch Times reached out to Adams for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

Other executive orders Mamdani signed included measures to revitalize the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants and to establish two new task forces focused on leveraging city-owned land to accelerate housing development and removing bureaucratic and permitting barriers that drive up costs and delay housing construction.

Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist, won the Nov. 4, 2025, mayoral contest over independent candidate former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa.

Tyler Durden Fri, 01/02/2026 - 14:20

Kremlin Makes Show Of Handing Evidence To US Side 'Proving' Ukrainian Attack On Putin Residence

The Kremlin has really made a big show for the cameras of handing over to American officials what it says is evidence that Ukrainian drones had attempted to strike Russian President Vladimir Putin's residence in the Novgorod region Sunday night into Monday morning.

The international community has asked for evidence Putin's residence was targeted, and Moscow has responded. Footage released by the Russian Defense Ministry on Thursday shows Igor Kostykov, head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Russian General Staff, meeting with the US defense attaché in Moscow and handing over what he identified as a "navigation unit" recovered from one of the drones shot down in Novgorod.

Russia has been on an information blitz, putting out images of downed drones and televised interviews of local Russian eyewitnesses to the drone waves early this week. But the 'evidence hand-over' to the US side is ultimately strong signaling aimed at President Trump.

Kostykov described that the "decryption of the content of the memory of the navigation controller of the drones carried out by specialists of Russia’s special services confirms without question that the target of the attack was the complex of buildings of the Russian president’s residence in the Novgorod region."

MOMENT MoD hands over KEY data to US representatives

'Decryption of navigation controllers… unequivocally CONFIRMED that target of attack was Russian President’s residence in Novgorod region'

Military Intelligence Chief Igor Kostyukov transfers info to America https://t.co/XTCEc08DyD pic.twitter.com/V7xKBsxldD

— RT (@RT_com) January 1, 2026

Putin had informed President Trump about the alleged incident on the day it occurred via phone call, and Trump initially appeared to accept Moscow’s version, expressing sympathy and saying he "wasn't happy about it." He followed by sharing a New York Post article which said Moscow "is the one standing in the way of peace."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow would not withdraw from peace talks with Washington, but would still adjust its negotiating stance and respond militarily, adding that potential targets had already been selected. "Such reckless actions will not go unanswered," he said.

What might this response look like? Author and geopolitical pundit Glenn Diesen writes the following:

WSJ reports that Russia’s attacks on Odessa (ports, bridges, etc.) are cutting Ukraine’s economic lifeline. This was a predictable Russian response after Ukraine/NATO began using Odessa to target Russian civilian ships.

It is equally predictable that Russia will annex Odessa if there is no peace agreement that restores Ukraine’s neutrality and prevents Odessa from being used as a NATO front line. Our political-media establishment should learn about the security dilemma instead of cosplaying a the 1930s.

Diesen ends with this apt conclusion: "NATO is not 'helping' Ukraine by intensifying attacks on Russia, it is sacrificing Ukraine in the hope of bleeding Russia."

Reporting in mainstream media indicates a US intelligence consensus which casts doubt on Ukrainian drones being intentionally sent against Putin's residence; however, there does seem to be acknowledgement that a drone wave was active in the general area.

Putin's residence at Valdai. Source: navalny.com

The below is conveyed from The Wall Street Journal report:

U.S. national-security officials said Wednesday that Ukraine didn’t target Russian President Vladimir Putin or one of his residences in an alleged drone operation, challenging Moscow’s assertion that Kyiv sought to kill the Russian leader.

That conclusion is supported by a Central Intelligence Agency assessment that found no attempted attack against Putin had occurred, according to a U.S. official briefed on the intelligence. The CIA declined to comment.

The U.S. found that Ukraine had been seeking to strike a military target located in the same region as Putin's country residence but not close by, the official said.

The big question remains, if drones did target the residence, was the CIA involved in assisting with targeting information?

Tyler Durden Fri, 01/02/2026 - 14:00

Pretense, Staging, Expediency: The "Solutions" That Implode The Whole Shebang

Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

Slapdash quick fixes and policies share one characteristic: they eventually implode the whole shebang.

We all know how this works: the business is failing and the divorce papers have been filed, but the optics are ugly, so the couple waltzes in, all smiles and lovey-dovey, for who wants to explain how it all went wrong?

To paper over the inevitable reckoning, expediencies are deployed: money is borrowed but the loans are kept off the books, defaults are buried, the kids' college fund is raided, promises that can't be kept are made, and so on.

To maintain the illusion that all is well, everything is carefully staged. The failing business still churns out PR, the yard service keeps the front yard tidy, and the inability to pay the university tuition is explained away as a "gap year" as the eldest child seeks work experience to bolster their career opportunities, etc.

2026 is the year when all the "solutions" of Pretense, Staging and Expediency implode on every level: household, enterprise, local, state and national, for Pretense, Staging and Expediency are scale-invariant "solutions": cooking the books, staging and hiding debt works for the state and nation just as well as it does for the sole proprietor and bankrupt household.

The only difference is the depth of the deviousness. The larger the organization, the greater the resources available to throw into Pretense, Staging and Expediency. So banks extend a new loan to borrowers who defaulted so they can make minimal payments, an expediency that enables the bank to keep the non-performing loan on the books as an asset in good standing.

Conventional economists are paid truckloads of cash to conjure up gamed statistics and bogus projections that act as eye-catching facades hiding the rotting mansion awaiting collapse.

The problem is Pretense, Staging and Expediency are not actual solutions. Since there's no actual long-term plan to address the dire consequences of previous "solutions," Pretense and Staging are deployed along with increasingly destabilizing Expediencies to mask the unintended consequences of slapdash quick fixes.

Policies touted as "solutions" that lack any consideration of the consequences are in effect Expediencies, as the first-order effects of policies that affect the entire system are hard enough to anticipate, while the second-order effects (consequences generate their own set of consequences) only unfold over time and cannot be fully anticipated.

Semantic / narrative-control Pretense and Staging are popular but self-defeating, as calling the risk-choked Shadow Banking System "private credit" doesn't change the dominoes-falling house of cards nature of expediencies as they implode. (Thank you, correspondent Anthony A., for this example.)

Slapdash fixes / policies share one characteristic: they eventually implode the whole shebang when the failure of Pretense, Staging and Expediency to actually resolve structural problems becomes unavoidably obvious. Hope clings tenaciously to Pretense, Staging and Expediency, but when this faith in falsehoods and fakery finally expires, there's no outrunning the consequences.

We'll know things are serious when those in charge are reduced to relying on lies as their last-ditch cover story.

Alternatively, we'll know things are serious when the AI chatbot declares all this is a fringe conspiracy theory and then three questions later, it's recommending survivalist strategies of the fringe conspiracy theory variety.

*  *  *

My new book Investing In Revolution is available at a 10% discount ($18 for the paperback, $24 for the hardcover and $8.95 for the ebook edition). Introduction (free)

Check out my updated Books and Films. Become a $3/month patron of my work via patreon.com. Subscribe to my Substack for free

Tyler Durden Fri, 01/02/2026 - 13:40

Minnesota To Mandate K–12 Ethnic Studies Instruction In 2026

Authored by Aaron Gifford via The Epoch Times,

In the coming weeks, school boards across the Land of 10,000 Lakes state will decide on curricula to meet ethnic studies mandates for the 2026–2027 academic year.

There appear to be limited alternatives to the free instructional materials developed with taxpayer dollars and endorsed by the state teachers’ union.

That curriculum instructs 6th graders to learn the 13 guiding principles of the Black Lives Matter movement; 7th graders on how protesters have breached federal buildings; and higher schoolers to “identify plans of action that people have used to resist, refuse, and create alternatives to oppressive systems,” according to the materials developed by the University of Minnesota’s Center for Race, Indigeneity, Disability, Gender and Sexuality Studies (RIDGS).

“Students will be able to explain how race is socially constructed and how that social construction has been used to oppress people of color, specifically in relation to Jim Crow, segregation, and racial covenants,” reads the description for the 11th and 12th-grade Jim Crow of the North course.

The Center of the American Experiment, a Minnesota-based education policy organization that opposes partisan and race-based curricula, is helping districts find politically neutral alternatives that it says are more like traditional social studies and history electives and less like social justice advocacy guidance.

“The words ethnic studies have been hijacked,” Catrin Wigfall, a policy fellow with the center, told The Epoch Times.

“But boards [of education] have more power in this than they might think.”

Additionally, state laws allow parents to review a curriculum and opt their child out of any instruction they find objectionable, in which case the school is required to provide alternative materials, Wigfall said.

The Minnesota Department of Education defines ethnic studies as an interdisciplinary area of instruction that “analyzes how race and racism have been and continue to be social, cultural, and political forces, and the connection of race to the stratification of other groups.”

The state law requires public schools to incorporate ethnic studies lessons in mandatory social studies courses across all grade levels, in addition to offering a stand-alone ethnic studies elective course for high school juniors and seniors.

In 2023, the Minnesota Department of Education stipulated that the ethnic studies context is expected to be embedded in other subject areas, including math, physical education, and health, as courses are periodically revised.

The Center of the American Experiment argues that those standards habituate angry, inaccurate, and “identity-first” ideological and political perspectives.

By definition, ethnic studies should focus on global histories, cultures, and religions, but the instruction pushed in Minnesota schools forces a polarizing and narrow political worldview, Wigfall said.

“It’s been a bait and switch campaign,” she said.

The center endorses the American Experience curriculum by the Foundation Against Tolerance and Racism, which Johns Hopkins has approved as a model for ethnic studies instruction, as a suitable alternative to the University of Minnesota’s instructional materials.

In addition, the 1776 Unites free curriculum focuses on historical stories that “celebrate black excellence, reject victimhood culture, and showcase African-Americans who have prospered by embracing America’s founding ideals,” according to its website.

Wigfall said her organization will work with school districts to navigate curriculum choices and the timetable for meeting state requirements across various subject areas.

The center isn’t advocating litigation over the mandate, but local education leaders, under federal Title VI provisions, have legal recourse if they are forced to foster a hostile learning environment under state requirements.

“It will be interesting to see what the rollout looks like,” she said. “When you emphasize tribalism, what does that do to knowledge development?”

Minnesota isn’t the only place grappling with debates surrounding ethnic studies mandates.

The California Department of Education strongly recommends the curricula, but has yet to require them.

The Defending Education parents’ organization recently reported that K–12 districts in 22 states spent more than $17.5 million since 2017 on “liberated” ethnic studies instruction.

Mitch Siegler, founder of the THINC Foundation, which promotes K–12 curriculum transparency and is closely monitoring California’s moves, said his situation is similar to Minnesota’s in that consultants and content creators focusing on such ethnic studies collaborate with districts and teacher unions to “promote the only game in town.”

THINC is developing alternative materials that emphasize civics and American history.

“Warts and all,” Siegler said in an email response to The Epoch Times. “And which teaches students to debate complex issues and disagree in an agreeable fashion. That’s a far cry from the ideological approach which the ‘liberated’ consultants advocate for.”

The Epoch Times reached out to the Minnesota Department of Education and the University of Minnesota’s Center for Race, Indigeneity, Disability, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.

Tyler Durden Fri, 01/02/2026 - 13:00

UBS Says Soaring Memory Chip Prices To "Turbo-Charge" Samsung Earnings

For several months, we have tracked a sharp increase in DDR5 DRAM pricing, as evidenced by DRAMeXchange data, driven primarily by surging AI-related cloud computing demand and hyperscalers accelerating data center buildouts.

On day one of the new year, Samsung co-CEO Jun Young Hyun told employees in an internal memo that customers have praised the differentiated competitiveness of its next-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, or HBM4, saying, "It's even earning an assessment from customers that 'Samsung is back'." He noted that Samsung will also benefit from favorable memory market conditions this year, as demand for artificial intelligence chips has materialized much quicker than initially anticipated.

The other week, Goldman analyst Maho Kamiya told clients that mounting concerns about soaring memory prices posed new risks for Nintendo, which manufactures consumer electronics such as the popular Switch 2.

"Some investors think that Nintendo will be selling Switch 2 at a loss and gross profit falling into the red. While rising memory prices are a risk factor that could depress hardware margins, we think concerns are somewhat excessive," Kamiya told clients last week.

While end-use consumer electronics companies such as Nintendo may be pressured by higher memory costs, the same pricing surge is expected to "turbo-charge earnings" for Samsung's memory business, according to UBS analyst Nicolas Gaudois.

Gaudois explains why:

DDR and NAND contract pricing coming out higher than expected

With 4Q25 memory contract pricing negotiations now completed, we lift our forecast for DDR contract pricing to +35% QoQ (was +21%), and for NAND +20% (was +15%). We believe customers are trying to secure 1Q26 contract pricing in earnest, with further potential for upside. We now forecast blended DDR contract pricing to increase 29% QoQ (was +15%) and NAND +20% (was +10%) in 1Q26. From there on, we continue to forecast DRAM to remain undersupplied until 1Q27, and NAND 3Q26. We see the ongoing upside in conventional memory pricing as the main stock driver for Samsung. At 1.43x NTM book, we believe the stock is not yet discounting the strength and length of the upcycle ahead.

HBM shipments to catch up in 2026E

While we maintain our 2026 DRAM bit growth forecast of 15% YoY, we could see up to 2 pct pts upside depending on production yields / efficiency / mix. We continue to forecast HBM shipments to reach 7.5bn Gb in 2026, up 77% YoY. We continue to expect Samsung to provide HBM4 samples to Nvidia by February, which could lead to qualification by 2Q26 (with production starting earlier in 1Q). We believe Samsung remains first source for HBM for AMD and Open AI. Regarding Google, we believe Samsung is second source for TPU 7p, while Micron may be second source for TPU 7e (first source in both cases being SK Hynix).

Increasing forecasts well ahead of consensus on DDR/NAND ASP estimates

We increase our 4Q25 OP forecast to Won18.1tn from Won15.0tn (VA consensus: Won15.3tn) on the back of increased DRAM and NAND ASPs. We raise 2026E/27E OP to Won135.3tn/Won143.6tn (from Won101.2tn/Won109.5tn respectively), well ahead of consensus Won86.9tn/Won109.6tn respectively, and lift our 2026/27 EPS forecasts by 31%/29%. These changes are due to raised DDR/NAND ASPs as well as DRAM bit growth forecasts, which more than offset us lowering smartphone margins due to rising memory prices.

Valuation: lift price target to Won154,000 from Won128,000 – Buy

We value Samsung ordinary shares at 1.97x NTM book (was 1.79x) considering our 2026-30 average ROE estimate of 16.3% (was 14.6%) and CoE of 8.3% (was 8.2%). We also raise our Samsung GDR PT to US$2,610, from US$2,230, with the latest FX.

We've shown readers DDR5 DRAM pricing via DRAMeXchange...

Update: two months later https://t.co/Q4TPIrpzxV pic.twitter.com/O3KTKxZOVE

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) December 22, 2025

But now, take a look at DDR5 DRAM pricing on Amazon!

As a reminder, AI workloads are built around memory.

ZeroHedge Pro Subs can view the full note in the usual place, which includes a thesis map of the memory cycle.

Tyler Durden Fri, 01/02/2026 - 12:40

10 Very Important Trends To Watch As We Enter 2026

Authored by Michael Snyder via TheMostImportantNews.com,

Are we on the brink of a worldwide nightmare? Many have described what we are currently experiencing as a “perfect storm”. We have been getting hit with one crisis after another as global events have greatly accelerated in recent months. But now it feels like the next chapter that we are entering is going to take things to an entirely different level.

On New Year’s Eve, something very unexpected happened at our most important landmark in the middle of the country.  You will want to read all the way to the end of this article to see what I am talking about.  This year is already off to a very unusual start, and I fully expect a lot more craziness in the months ahead.  

The following are 10 very important trends to watch as we enter 2026…

#1 The Price Of Silver

The price of silver is telling us that there is big trouble under the surface of the global financial system.  Even though there was a dramatic attempt to suppress the price of silver this week, it was still up about 140 percent in 2025.

And the difference between the price of paper silver and the prices that physical silver is going for around the world has become extremely alarming…

Silver at $130 in Japan, $106 in Kuwait, $97 in Korea, and “$71” on Western screens is not a market; it is a confession. The numbers read like a crime scene diagram: in the real world where bars change hands and coins disappear into safes, silver has quietly migrated into triple‑digit pricing, while the supposed “global benchmark” in New York and London is still stuck in a fantasyland of leveraged promises.​

In Tokyo shops and Japanese bullion counters, you are not buying silver in the 70s; you are paying the equivalent of $120–130 an ounce because that is what it costs to replace inventory once you factor in tight wholesale supply, shipping, insurance, currency chaos, and the growing sense that the next shipment might not show up on time, or at all. Kuwait tells the same story in a different language: retail bars priced around $100+ an ounce are not a fat merchant’s greed; they are the market’s answer to a simple question—what will it really take to pry physical metal out of the pipeline in a world where everyone suddenly wants the same scarce asset at the same time.​

#2 The Affordability Crisis

In 2025, I wrote about the affordability crisis in the United States a lot.

Sadly, at this stage approximately two-thirds of the entire U.S. population is struggling to even pay for the basics…

About 7 in 10 Americans polled by CBS News in December said they were struggling to pay for food, housing and health care, underscoring the affordability issues affecting millions of households.

#3 Israel And Iran

This is a big one.

Once Israel and Iran start fighting again, global events will go into overdrive.

Apparently a new round of airstrikes on Iran was discussed during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting with President Trump on Monday, and I am convinced that it won’t be too long before those airstrikes actually begin…

On Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, during which the two leaders discussed efforts by Iran to reconstitute its nuclear program following the Israeli and American airstrikes in June, and to expand its ballistic missile arsenal.

During the meeting, Netanyahu shared with Trump details regarding Israel’s planning for a possible follow-up air campaign against Iran, should Tehran continue to refuse to halt its efforts to enrich uranium.

According to a US official and two other American sources, Israel is considering airstrikes in 2026.

#4 The War In Ukraine

Russian forces are steadily moving forward on the eastern and southern fronts in Ukraine, and so the Russians will not be inclined to give the Ukrainians and our European allies what they are demanding…

• Russian President Vladimir Putin inspected a command post of the Russian Armed Forces
• Putin received reports from Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov and the commanders of Russia’s Center and East groupings of forces.
• Russian commanders told Putin that their army has captured the cities of Mirnohrad, Rodynske, and Artemivka in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, as well as Huliaipole and Steponohirsk in the Zaporizhzhia region.

#5 Europe Preparing For War

Russia has made it very clear that it does not intend to attack any other European countries.

But for some reason, the Europeans are feverishly preparing for war anyway.

In fact, Germany is now requiring all 18-year-old males to complete a compulsory survey about military service…

Germany is stepping up preparations for war – starting with its teenage boys.

From this week, every German male will be legally required to answer questions from the army the moment he turns 18, as part of a sweeping new military service scheme approved amid mounting fears of a major conflict in Europe.

Tens of thousands of teenagers will be sent a compulsory 14-question survey by the Bundeswehr, asking not only how interested they are in joining the military, but how fit they are to fight and how quickly they could be ready for service.

Ignoring the form is not an option. Young men who refuse to complete the questionnaire – or repeatedly ignore follow-up demands from the army – face fines of up to €1,000 (£800), even though ministers insist the scheme falls short of full conscription.

#6 Venezuela

The Trump administration has been bombing drug boats, seizing oil tankers and threatening the regime of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

This could put the U.S. on a collision course with China.

China does not intend to stop buying oil from Venezuela.  If the U.S. starts seizing Chinese oil tankers that approach Venezuela, that could cause a major international incident.  According to Newsweek, there are two Chinese oil tankers that are expected to arrive in Venezuela very soon…

Chinese oil tankers are pressing ahead with Venezuela-linked voyages despite a U.S. blockade and an escalating campaign of tanker seizures.

Two Chinese-flagged VLCCs are operating near Venezuelan waters, with the Thousand Sunny due to arrive in mid-January and the Xing Ye waiting off French Guiana, according to a new report by Lloyd’s List.

Newsweek has reached out to the U.S. State Department for comment.

#7 Taiwan

The Chinese just concluded military exercises that practiced what a full-blown blockade of Taiwan would look like.

At this stage, tensions between China and Taiwan are higher “than at any point in recent years”…

As 2025 ends, tensions between China and Taiwan are higher — and more overt — than at any point in recent years, fueled by expanded U.S. military support for Taipei, increasingly bold warnings from regional allies, and Chinese military drills that look less like symbolism and more like rehearsal.

Beijing has spent the year steadily increasing pressure on Taiwan through large-scale military exercises, air and naval incursions, and pointed political messaging, while Washington and its allies have responded with sharper deterrence signals that China now openly labels as interference.

#8 Pestilences

The bird flu continues to kill millions of birds all over the globe, various strains of mpox continue to circulate, and the pestilence that erupted in 2020 is still making people sick throughout the world.  Meanwhile, some U.S. states are seeing a historic spike in flu cases…

The ‘super flu’ is exploding across the US, with some states seeing more cases than ever before.

The latest CDC data for the week ending December 20 shows positive flu tests are up 53 percent compared to the week prior. Positive tests are up nearly 75 percent from this time last year.

During the week ending December 20, the number of people hospitalized surged 51 percent, and the number already in hospital has nearly doubled compared to the same period last year.

It is just a matter of time before the next great global pandemic arrives, and scientists are warning us that it could come from a multitude of potential directions…

Scientists continue to discover viruses with worrisome characteristics (Chen et al. 2025). Some experts worry about the potential for a leak from pathogen research labs (Palacios, Garcia-Sastre, and Relman 2025), or AI’s ability, in the wrong hands, to help with the creation of a bioweapon (Tjandra 2025). Out in the open, H5N1 avian influenza continues to spread and infect a wide range of animal species—the virus perhaps just a mutation away from becoming a human threat (Lin et al. 2024). Another pathogen, most likely an influenza or another coronavirus is waiting to break out.

#9 Seismic Activity Along The Pacific Ring Of Fire

Seismic activity along the Pacific Ring of Fire increased dramatically in 2025.

And as we enter 2026, the state of California is being shaken by significant earthquakes on an almost daily basis.

In fact, we just witnessed a magnitude 4.9 quake that really shook a lot of people up…

A magnitude 4.9 earthquake was recorded near the town of Susanville in Lassen County on Tuesday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The quake was centered around nine miles northwest of Susanville at 9:49 p.m. It was downgraded from an initial magnitude of 5.3.

#10 The Greatest Global Food Crisis In Modern History

We are in the midst of the greatest global food crisis in modern history.

But don’t just take my word for it.

The following comes from the official website of the UN’s World Food program…

Yes. Right now, there is a global food crisis – the largest one in modern history. Since the United Nations World Food Program’s (WFP) creation in 1963, never has hunger reached such devastating highs. From the eruption of new conflicts and the escalating impacts of the climate crisis to soaring food and fuel costs, millions of people are being driven closer to starvation each day.

Nearly 350 million people around the world are experiencing the most extreme forms of hunger right now. Of those, nearly 49 million people are on the brink of famine. Behind these massive statistics are individual children, women and men suffering from the dire effects of such severe hunger. Malnourished mothers give birth to malnourished babies, passing hunger from one generation to the next. Children’s physical and cognitive growth is stunted. Farmers are unable to grow enough food to provide for their families and communities. Entire towns are forced to leave their homes in search of food.

We really are living in apocalyptic times.

Sadly, many in the western world don’t seem to understand this since we don’t have war or famine on our own soil.

But for those that are watching carefully, it is exceedingly clear that we have arrived at a truly unique chapter in human history.

So many incredibly strange things are occurring all around us.

On New Year’s Eve, a green meteor dramatically flew past the most important landmark in the center of the United States…

A shimmering meteor was spotted cutting across the sky over the famed Gateway Arch in Missouri hours before revelers rushed to a New Year’s Eve celebration at the monument’s base.

“HEY LOOK, it’s… A meteor saying hi to the Gateway Arch on New Year’s Eve!” The St. Louis Gateway Arch’s X account wrote in a post shared with the breathtaking video.

In the six-second clip, a small white speck appears over one end of the arch. It grows into a green blaze that pulses once before disappearing back into the dark obscurity provided by the predawn sky — right as it reaches the arch’s peak.

The viral video was captured on an Earth Cam situated at Malcolm Martin Memorial Park in east St. Louis. The camera is angled directly towards the city’s skyline all day, every day.

That is something that you don’t see every day.

Of course so many weird things have been happening in the heavens over the last couple of years, and most of the population simply doesn’t care.

Most of us have an unbreakable addiction to entertainment at this point, and getting people to focus on anything other than entertainment is becoming exceedingly difficult.

Most people are just going to continue to stare at their screens as the world falls apart all around them, and that is extremely unfortunate.

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

Tyler Durden Fri, 01/02/2026 - 12:20