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If we wanted to make Russian President Vladimir Putin and his minions extremely angry, we have certainly accomplished that task. When I learned that the U.S. had seized an oil tanker that was displaying a Russian flag and that was being protected by Russian warships, I was absolutely stunned. I have been relentlessly warning that being extremely aggressive with the Russians will backfire severely. If we truly want peace with the Russians, diplomacy is the only solution. Punching the Russians in the face won’t work, and if we continue to go down this path it could easily lead to the unthinkable.

For those that have not heard yet, the U.S. military just seized two more oil tankers.  One of them was a Russian-flagged vessel…

The United States has seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker in the North Atlantic following a dramatic weekslong chase on the high seas.

The operation to seize the sanctioned vessel, which changed its name from the Bella 1 to the Marinera after fleeing the American blockade of Venezuela last month, was carried out early Wednesday. The U.S. also announced the seizure of another sanctioned tanker, the M/T Sophia, which it said was “conducting illicit activities in the Caribbean Sea.”

The tanker that was formerly known as the Bella 1 had gotten permission from the Russians to register as a Russian vessel.

And the Russians had just dispatched Russian warships to escort it…

Russia has sent a submarine and other naval assets to escort an empty, rusting oil tanker that has become a new flashpoint in U.S.-Russia relations, according to a U.S. official.

The tanker, formerly known as the Bella 1, has been trying to evade the U.S. blockade of sanctioned oil tankers near Venezuela for more than two weeks. The vessel failed to dock in Venezuela and load with oil. Despite being empty, the U.S. Coast Guard has pursued the ship into the Atlantic in a bid to crack down on a fleet of tankers that ferry illicit oil around the world, including black-market oil sold by Russia.

Grabbing an oil tanker that was being protected by Russian warships was an insane thing to do.

And we did it even though the Russians specifically asked us to stop pursuing the tanker…

Russia has asked the U.S. to stop pursuing the vessel, according to three other U.S. officials. On Tuesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said it was monitoring “with concern” the situation surrounding the tanker, according to state news agency RIA.

Needless to say, the Russians are furious.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry immediately released a statement that strongly denounced what the U.S. had just done…

In a statement, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said the ship is sailing in international waters under the Russian flag and is operating “in full compliance with international maritime law.” Moscow added that it expects Western nations to uphold that principle in practice.

This is a major turning point in our relations with Russia.

One member of Russia’s parliament is accusing the U.S. of “outright piracy”…

In response to the interceptions, Andrei Klishas, a member of the upper house of Russia’s parliament said the US actions were ‘outright piracy.’

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth put the world on notice by saying that the blockade of Venezuelan oil is in full effect, and said no ship is safe anywhere in the world.

The Russian Transport Ministry then responded by saying: ‘no state has the right to use force against vessels properly registered in other countries’ jurisdictions.’ It added that US forces boarded the Marinera at 3pm Moscow time, where communications were shortly lost with the vessel after.

And one of the most prominent voices inside Russia, Alexander Dugin, is warning that it is now time for “full fledged war with the West”…

Dugin is extremely influential.

I would not take his words lightly.

Even before this incident, there was zero chance that a peace deal with Russia was going to happen.

But now we are looking at a scenario in which direct conflict between the United States and Russia becomes quite probable.

We should be thankful that the Russian warships that were accompanying the seized oil tanker didn’t intervene.

We might not be so fortunate next time.

The fact that we are seizing oil tankers has also greatly angered the Chinese…

China is livid, and they’re not hiding it.

After Trump announced the U.S. will refine and sell up to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan oil previously frozen under sanctions, Beijing fired back, calling the move a blatant power grab and a direct hit on their interests.

Why? Because that oil wasn’t just sitting there, China had already paid for a big chunk of it, through loan-for-oil deals and state-backed agreements with Maduro’s regime.

China has been buying more oil from Venezuela than the rest of the world combined.

And the Chinese have lent tens of billions of dollars to the Venezuelans.

Is China just going to sit there and watch the U.S. take control of Venezuela and grab all the oil?

Apparently the U.S. is ordering Venezuela to cut off all ties with both Russia and China…

The US authorities demand that Venezuela should sever economic ties with Iran, China, Cuba and Russia as a condition for increasing oil production, ABC News television channel reported.

According to the US-based television broadcaster, Washington put forward several demands to the acting President of Venezuela, Delcy Rodriguez.

Firstly, the Bolivarian Republic will have to “expel China, Russia, Iran, Cuba and sever economic ties” with these countries.

Secondly, Caracas is required to agree to “exclusive cooperation with the United States in the field of oil production,” ABC News reported.

The Chinese have invested an enormous amount of money in the Venezuelan oil industry.

Today, Venezuela possesses the largest proven oil reserves in the entire world, and China needs that oil.

Most people don’t realize this, but China imports about 70 percent of the oil that it uses.

So losing all access to Venezuelan oil would be a tremendous blow.

How far will the U.S. be able to push China before the Chinese decide that enough is enough?

And how far with the U.S. be able to push Russia before the Russians decide that enough is enough?

Many Americans are cheering the fact that we are starting to aggressively push other countries around, but it is only a matter of time before they start pushing back.

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.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

The rules of the game have changed. At one time, western bankers could easily pull a few strings and keep the global price of silver within an acceptable range. But now financial centers in Asia are becoming more dominant, and supplies of physical silver are becoming extremely tight. As a result, western bankers are no longer able to exert the same level of control.

At the end of December, CME Group hiked margin requirements twice in a single week.

In the old days, that would have essentially been the equivalent of dropping an atomic bomb on the market.

Of course they were able to drive the price of paper silver back down to about $70 for a few days, but here we are on January 6th, and it is already back to the $80 mark.

That isn’t the result that they were hoping to achieve.

And the gap between the paper silver market and the physical silver market has become extremely alarming.

If you want to purchase an ounce of physical silver in the United States right now, it will cost you close to 90 dollars.

In some countries in Asia, an ounce of physical silver will cost you more than 100 dollars.

Financial institutions that have enormous short positions are freaking out, because they are facing catastrophic losses.

I think that this is going to be a huge story in the months ahead.

The bankers were probably assuming that they could crush this silver rally just like they crushed the rally in 1980.  But the big difference this time around is that global supplies of physical silver have become extremely tight…

Silver has closed 2025 as the best-performing asset after a historic 26% surge in December. Yet market participants warn that this rally is not a replay of the Hunt brothers’ blow‑off in 1980 or the QE panic in 2011.

Back then, with leverage removed, the price could fall back because the metal was available. Today, silver is in a persistent deficit, experiencing surging industrial demand and a tightening geopolitical grip on physical flows.

A silver rally in 2011 also got crushed, but we are in a totally different environment today and western vaults “are getting starved for physical metal”…

In 2011, ETF inflows and investment demand as a hedge against QE propelled the demand. Still, solar and industrial use were smaller, and above‑ground stocks and Western vaults could eventually meet demand once the panic cooled.

Today, these vaults are getting starved for physical metal. For years running, silver demand has outstripped mine supply and recycling, draining inventories. Industrial usage – especially solar, EVs, and electronics – has surged. The changing market dynamics have naturally shifted investment preferences.

Meanwhile, the Chinese have decided to substantially restrict silver exports, and that gives them a tremendous amount of power over the marketplace…

Meanwhile, China has not banned silver exports outright, but reclassified the metal as a strategic commodity. Thus, it controls the outflow through 44 licensed companies. Every outbound ton is now a political decision, not just a price response.

Everything is different now.

One analyst at Bank of America is actually projecting that the price of silver could go as high as $309 an ounce in 2026…

Michael Widmer, Head of Metals Research at Bank of America, stated in the report that gold will continue to serve as an important hedge and primary return driver. The bank forecasts that the average gold price will reach $4,538 per ounce in 2026, with potential to test the $5,000 milestone. Driving factors include tightening gold supply, rising production costs, and strong investment demand.

However, the report particularly emphasizes that silver’s upside potential far exceeds that of gold. Widmer pointed out that the current gold-to-silver ratio is approximately 59:1, while historical extreme lows were 32:1 in 2011 and 14:1 in 1980. A reversion of the ratio towards these historical lows implies that the silver price could surge to a range between $135 and $309 per ounce. This substantial potential appreciation makes silver highly attractive to investors willing to take on higher risk for extra upside.

If the price of silver even goes up to $100 an ounce this year, I think that it is going to create a tremendous amount of pressure on a lot of financial institutions.

The price of copper has also been skyrocketing in recent months.

It was up about 50% in 2025, and on Tuesday it hit yet another brand new record high…

Global copper prices hit an all-time high Tuesday, extending a run for both the industrial metal and its peers, as investors scrambled to secure supplies amid a surge in expected demand and uncertainty tied to tariffs and geopolitical risks.

In our high tech economy, copper is such a key commodity.

President Trump has been threatening to impose substantial tariffs on copper imports, and this is happening at a time when the AI data center construction boom is really ramping up…

Copper prices have powered more than 20% higher over the past two months, topping $13,000 a ton on the London Metal Exchange for the first time earlier this week, as supply disruptions increased the value of the key industrial metal and amid the threat of new levies from the Trump administration later this year.

President Donald Trump, according to reports, has been mulling tariffs of around 15% on all copper imports in 2027, with the levy increasing to 30% in 2028, just as demand tied to data-center construction, electric-vehicle production, and power grid projects accelerates. That has led to a surge in U.S.-based copper stockpiles as investors import the metal to avoid tariff charges and a resultant depletion of supplies in markets around the world.

Close to 3,000 new data centers are either being planned or are already under construction in the U.S. alone.

That is crazy.

Globally, it is being projected that data center construction will consume over half a million metric tons of copper each year by the end of this decade…

Data centers currently consume about 1.5% of global electricity supply, roughly the same amount as the entire U.K., according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). The organization believes that, by 2030, demand will more than double, with AI responsible for much of the increase. That means data centers could be consuming more than half a million metric tons of copper annually by the end of the decade.

As executive chairman of HIVE Digital Technologies, I’ve watched this transformation firsthand. The infrastructure needed to power this new digital economy—whether it’s Bitcoin mining, AI training or cloud computing—is staggering. And it all runs on copper.

As long as the AI boom continues, demand for copper will continue to rise.

Of course the construction of AI data centers consumes a lot of physical silver as well.

This is something that is outside of the control of western bankers.

They are still trying to pull the strings, but they simply do not possess the same level of power that they once did.

That is really bad news for them, but it is exceedingly good news for silver investors.

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.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

After years of heading in the wrong direction, nobody can deny that the United States is facing overwhelming problems.  So why don’t we focus on fixing those problems first?  The truth is that we can’t do everything because our resources are very limited.  U.S. households are more than 18 trillion dollars in debt, and the federal government is more than 38 trillion dollars in debt.  Even though we have literally stolen trillions upon trillions of dollars from future generations, our major cities are rapidly decaying, our infrastructure is crumbling, corruption is rampant, the middle class is shrinking, most of the population is struggling to even afford the basics each month, mass layoffs are happening all over the nation, our streets are teeming with hordes of drug addicts and homeless people, large numbers of Americans are selling images of themselves online just to make ends meet, and millions of others are living in their vehicles.

So why don’t we use what limited resources we have to fix our own problems?

If you don’t understand the point that I am trying to make, just go take a stroll through downtown Seattle.

The new mayor has decided that it will be her policy to allow people to openly do drugs in the streets…

Seattle’s new ultra-woke mayor has triggered chaos by ordering police not to arrest people doing drugs on the streets of the city plagued by crime and homelessness.

Democratic socialist Katie Wilson, 43, was sworn in as the city’s 58th mayor on Friday.

The progressive politician who co-founded the Transit Riders Union has already taken steps that concerned residents and law enforcement officials say will destroy Seattle.

The president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild, Mike Solan, is warning that this will make the lawlessness in the streets of Seattle even worse…

‘We’ve all seen how our streets can be filled with death, decay, blight and crime when ideology like this infects our city, Solan continued in his statement.

‘Now with this resurrected insane direction, death, destruction and more human suffering will be supercharged.’

Lawmakers and residents have reacted to this news in horror, as the city already has a raging homelessness epidemic that they believe this lax drug policy will only amplify.

Once upon a time, Seattle was one of the most beautiful cities on the entire planet.

So what in the world happened?

Of course it isn’t just Seattle that has been transformed into a crime-ridden, drug-infested hellhole.

All over the nation, chaos reigns in the streets of major American cities.

In fact, last night a “hammer-wielding maniac” destroyed a bunch of windows at the Cincinnati home of Vice President J.D. Vance…

A hammer-wielding maniac who smashed four windows at JD Vance’s Cincinnati home has been arrested by the Secret Service after an overnight break-in.

William DeFoor, 26, was charged early Monday morning with one count each of obstructing official business, criminal damaging or endangering, criminal trespass and vandalism.

Secret Service agents heard a loud noise at the home around midnight and spotted DeFoor running from the home, which is the secondary residence for Vance, his wife Usha and their three young children, who were out of town at the time.

Meanwhile, lawlessness also continues to run rampant in high places all over the country.

So what is being done about it?

After all this time, how many corrupt members of past administrations have been arrested and put in prison?

After all this time, how many corrupt corporate executives have been arrested and put in prison?

After all this time, how many of Jeffrey Epstein’s associates that also sexually abused young girls have been arrested and put in prison?

How can we tell the rest of the world how they should be doing things when we can’t even get our own house in order?

We have been getting hit by crisis after crisis, and economic conditions are steadily deteriorating.

In fact, we just learned that U.S. manufacturing activity has contracted for a 10th consecutive month…

US manufacturing activity contracted for a 10th straight month in December, a survey indicated Monday, pointing to a continued drag in sentiment from tariffs and trade policy uncertainty.

The Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM) manufacturing index fell to 47.9 from November’s 48.2 reading, the lowest of 2025 despite modest improvements in employment and some other categories.

Our artificially-inflated stock market continues to hover near record highs, but at the same time the number of large corporations that are going bankrupt just continues to rise…

Between January and November 2025, at least 717 companies filed for Chapter 7 or Chapter 11 bankruptcy, according to data from S&P reviewed by The Washington Post.

That marks a 14% jump compared to the same period in 2024, and the most filings seen since 2010, the tail end of the Great Recession.

According to the Daily Mail, we are also seeing a very alarming surge in bankruptcies among small businesses too…

A frightening recession indicator is flashing red — and Americans can see it all over Main Street.

Experts told the Daily Mail that a sudden surge in bankruptcies and store closures — hitting mom-and-pop shops, small restaurants, and local retailers — could be an early warning sign that the economy is starting to crack.

One expert that was interviewed by the Daily Mail is warning that this surge in bankruptcies is a clear indication that a recession is coming…

‘The little guys are going to start falling first,’ Joe Barsalona, a Delaware-based bankruptcy lawyer at Pashman Stein Walder Hayden, said.

‘A recession is coming. I agree with economists that the increase in small business bankruptcies is a canary in a coal mine.’

Of course many would argue that a recession is already here.

In recent months, I have written a lot about the mass layoffs that have been occurring all over the country.

Well, now Newsweek is reporting that over 100 companies have filed WARN notices for mass layoffs that will be taking place in January…

More than 100 companies have filed WARN notices indicating plans to lay off workers in January 2026, according to WARNTracker.com. The following companies have filed a notice.

I tried to warn my readers that a tsunami of layoffs was coming.

Now it is here.

The following is the full list of 119 companies that have filed WARN notices for this month…

AARP
AbbVie
Adams County Public Hospital
AeroFarms1526 Cane Creek
Amazon
Amentum
American Signature, Inc.
Apogee Architectural Metals
Archer Daniels Midland Company
Atkore Plastics Southeast
Augusta Sportswear, Inc.
Bechtel National Inc.
Best Dressed Chicken, Inc.
Blue Plate Oysterette LLC
Blue Shield of California
Bond 45 National Harbor Restaurant
Braga Fresh Foods, LLC
Building Materials Manufacturing LLC
BWW Law Group, LLC
Catalent, Maryland, Inc.
Charles River Laboratories
Clari Inc.
CNO Financial Group
Colonial Savings, F.A.
ColWyo Coal Company LP
CommUnify
Consolidated Hospitality Supplies
Corteva
CoStar Group
Couchbase, Inc.
CRST Expedited, Inc.
Dental Benefit Management, Inc.
Dillard’s Inc.
Dometic Corporation
DRT, LLC
DSV Air & Sea Inc.
enDevelopment Logistics, LLC
FedEx
FreshRealm
Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission
Galleher LLC
General Motors
Giesecke + Devrient ePayments America Inc
Gilead Sciences
Grand Lux Café, LLC
Great Floors
H&M Fashion USA, Inc.
HD Supply
Heibar Installations Inc.
Henkel Corporation
HRL Laboratories
Hudson
Huntington National Bank
Illumina
ImmunityBio
Inline Plastics
Institute of International Education
International Paper
Invincible Boat Company
Kloeckner Meals
Lakeshore Learning Materials, LLC
Louis Vuitton USA Inc.
Lumileds
Maritime Applied Physics Corporation
Marshalls of CA, LLC
Mattel
McDonald’s
MDWise
Meteorcomm LLC
Mettler-Toledo Rainin, LLC
Michigan Sugar Company
Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey
Nationstar Mortgage, LLC
NIKE Retail Services, Inc.
Nordstrom Portland Rack
Ojai Valley Inn
Palo Verde Hospital
Panasonic Well LLC
Peraton’s Environmental Integration Services III
Post Consumer Brands, LLC
Presbyterian Home for Central New York, Inc.
Providence Health & Services
Rad Power Bikes, Inc.
RATP Dev and Midtown Group
Raytheon Technologies
Rebel Restaurants, Inc.
Red Run Corporation T/A Food Depot
Regional Medical Center of Central Alabama
Retail Services WIS Corporation
Revity, Inc.
Roads Express, LLC
Saddle Creek Logistics Service
SC Industrial Holdings, LLC
SDH Education West, LLC
SDH Service East, LLC
Shell Recharge Solutions
SLO Brewing Co. LLC
Smokin Bear LLC
Smurfit Westrock
Sodexo
Spirit Airlines, LLC.
Synopsys, Inc.
Takeda Development Center Americas Inc.
Terzo Enterprises Incorporated
The Cheesecake Factory
The French Gourmet, Inc.
The Taubman Company
TJX Companies, Inc.
TransAlta
United Supermarkets
Van Law Food Products, Inc.
Verizon
Virginia Mason Franciscan
Warner Music Group
Wells Fargo
West Fraser, Inc.
White Coffee Corporation
WIS International
WWL Vehicle Services America, Inc.

That is quite a long list, isn’t it?

The American people are not stupid.

They can see what is happening, and one recent survey found that 52 percent of U.S. adults actually believe that a recession has already started…

According to the ARG data, 52% of Americans believe the economy is already in a recession, and 64% say it’s getting worse.

These numbers suggest that many Americans are feeling the squeeze, even if official metrics don’t yet reflect a recession.

Only 11% think the economy is improving. Just 22% rate it as excellent, very good, or good, while 73% call it bad, very bad, or terrible, showing a clear gap between public sentiment and political narratives about economic strength.

Looking ahead, 60% believe the national economy will be worse a year from now, and just 16% say it will be better.

Yes, things are certainly bad now.

But they are not even worth comparing to what is further down the road.

So why don’t we use our limited resources to address the historic challenges that we are facing in our own nation?

If we love this country, we should try to fix it.

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.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

The dramatic events that just occurred in Venezuela have shocked the entire world.  But almost everyone is missing the bigger picture.  A very tense geopolitical game of chess is playing out right in front of our eyes, and the stakes are incredibly high.  The Trump administration would love to push the Chinese and the Russians out of the western hemisphere, and setting up a new western-friendly government in Venezuela would be a huge step in that direction.  Most people do not realize this, but Venezuela actually has more proven oil reserves than anyone else on the entire planet, and that includes Saudi Arabia.  President Trump and his team are gambling that the Chinese and the Russians will stand down and allow them to do whatever they want with Venezuela.  But what if they don’t?  The Chinese and the Russians have both spent decades developing very deep ties with Venezuela, and now they are both absolutely furious.

Over the past two decades, the Russians have sold the Venezuelans approximately 20 billion dollars worth of military equipment, and they just signed a major strategic partnership agreement on May 7th.

The Chinese have lent the Venezuelans approximately 60 billion dollars over the last couple of decades, and China has been purchasing more oil from Venezuela than the rest of the world combined.

An emergency session of the UN Security Council has been called for Monday, and I am sure that the Russians and the Chinese are both going to have plenty to say…

The United Nations Security Council is due to meet on Monday after the US attacked Venezuela and deposed its long-serving autocratic President Nicolas Maduro, a move that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres views as setting “a dangerous precedent.”

Colombia, backed by Russia and China, requested the meeting of the 15-member council, diplomats say. The UN Security Council has met twice — in October and December — over the escalating tensions between the United States and Venezuela.

Venezuela had essentially become a full-blown economic colony of China, and it took a great deal of time for the Chinese to accomplish that.

So if you look at things from a Chinese point of view, it is easy to understand why they are so upset.

A foreign ministry spokesperson has announced that China “strongly condemns” what the U.S. has just done…

China said it’s “deeply shocked” by the US’s military strikes on Venezuela and its capture of President Nicolas Maduro.

China “strongly condemns the US’s blatant use of force against a sovereign state and action against its president,” a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in a statement late Saturday. “Such hegemonic acts of the US seriously violate international law and Venezuela’s sovereignty, and threaten peace and security in Latin America and the Caribbean region. China firmly opposes it.”

And the Chinese are also demanding that Nicolas Maduro and his wife be released immediately…

Beijing’s stinging rebuke expressed “serious concern over their transfer out of the country”.

It claimed the military operation was “in clear violation of international law and the basic norms in international relations and the purposes and principles of the UN Charter”, adding: “China calls on the US to ensure the personal safety of President Maduro and his wife, release them at once, stop toppling the Government of Venezuela, and resolve issues through dialogue and negotiation.”

Of course that isn’t going to happen.

Now that President Trump has Maduro, he is never going to let him go.

What makes all of this even more embarrassing for China is that a Chinese delegation actually met with Maduro just hours before he was grabbed by U.S. forces…

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro received a Chinese government representative at the presidential palace in Caracas on Friday, hours before US President Donald Trump claimed Maduro had been captured following American military strikes.

Maduro met Qiu Xiaoqi, special representative of the Chinese government on Latin American affairs, at the Miraflores Palace.

“I had a pleasant meeting with Qiu Xiaoqi, Special Envoy of President Xi Jinping,” Maduro said on Telegram. “We reaffirmed our commitment to the strategic relationship that is progressing and strengthening in various areas for building a multipolar world of development and peace.”

Can you imagine how we would feel if the roles were reversed?

To the Chinese, Venezuela is not just another country.

It was supposed to provide large amounts of oil for China’s growing economy for decades to come, and the Venezuelans currently owe the Chinese tens of billions of dollars…

Venezuelan oil takes an unconventional route to end-users in China. Transport typically takes more than two months and involves multiple ship-to-ship transfers to mask the origin of the cargo. Close to half of the tankers storing Merey are sitting in waters off China and Southeast Asia, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg.

Meanwhile, public data supports estimates that Beijing lent upwards of $60 billion in oil-backed loans to Venezuela through state-run banks until 2015, reaching a level of diplomatic and financial investment unmatched elsewhere in Latin America and perhaps the world.

By making a move to take control of Venezuela, we have essentially punched the Chinese in the face.

Our relationship with China will never be the same after this.

For years, experts have been talking about a coming war with China, and the U.S. military is actually “working around the clock” to prepare for such a conflict…

Across sleepy and remote islands in the Pacific, U.S. military engineers are working around the clock to revive strategically important airstrips that American troops first built under fire over 70 years ago during World War II.

The reconstruction effort is being led by a designated office within the U.S. Air Force, whose Agile Combat Employment, or ACE, doctrine has identified dozens of airfields that will be used to house and launch fighter jets, aerial refuelling tankers and weapons during a war with China. A trilateral force of the Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force is now converging with a single goal in mind: re-establish a presence on the airfields once used to deliver decisive combat power for the United States during the last great power war.

The Russians are also extremely upset about what has just transpired in Venezuela.

In fact, Russia’s Foreign Ministry says that what we just witnessed “warrants condemnation”…

The US committed an act of armed aggression against Venezuela, which gives rise to deep concern & warrants condemnation.

The pretexts used to justify these actions are untenable.

Russia reaffirms its solidarity with the Venezuelan people.

And Russia’s Foreign Ministry is also calling for the immediate release of “the lawfully elected president of a sovereign country and his wife”…

Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday called for the release of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife from U.S. custody after President Donald Trump announced that they were captured during military strikes on the capital city of Caracas.

“We firmly call on the U.S. leadership to reconsider this position and release the lawfully elected president of a sovereign country and his wife,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement, stressing the need to resolve the dramatic confrontation through diplomacy.

In a separate message, the ministry said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke by phone to Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez Gomez, during which he expressed his “solidarity with the Venezuelan people in the face of armed aggression.”

After what we just witnessed, how are the Russians supposed to trust any promises that we are making about Ukraine?

I just don’t see any possible way that there is going to be lasting peace with Russia now.

I think that the “peace plan” that the Ukrainians and the Europeans have been working on will eventually be presented to the Russians, and the Russians will immediately reject it because it is filled with provisions that the Russians could never possibly accept.

Once the Russians have rejected the “peace plan”, we will be told that there is no choice but to escalate the conflict in Ukraine.

Needless to say, that will put us in very dangerous territory.

As for Venezuela, there is a possibility that the U.S. Senate could step in next week and prevent President Trump and his team from taking any further military action…

The Senate will vote next week on a bipartisan war powers resolution to block President Trump from continuing military action against Venezuela — a vote that takes on heightened importance after U.S. forces attacked the South American nation and arrested President Nicolás Maduro early Saturday.

The resolution to block the administration from engaging in further hostilities against Venezuela is privileged, which means Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) cannot stop it from coming to the floor.

The measure is sponsored by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) and Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.).

It will be very interesting to see how that vote goes.

Several Republicans will need to back that resolution in order for it to pass.

Of course President Trump will be extremely displeased with any Republicans that choose to do so.

But even if this resolution passes, the U.S. has still crossed a line that will never be able to be uncrossed.

We have reached the part of the story that will eventually lead to war with both Russia and China, and that should deeply alarm all of us.

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.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

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.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

They aren’t even trying to pretend to hide what they are doing.  Everyone knows that the meteoric rise in the price of silver in 2025 has put an immense amount of stress on certain financial institutions.  Of course nobody is publicly confirming how much damage has been done, but it must be pretty severe if CME Group is taking such extreme measures to force the price of silver down.  For the second time in less than a week, CME Group has abruptly raised margin requirements on precious metals futures…

Gold and silver prices lost ground on Wednesday as investors booked profits after a historic annual rally and exchange operator CME Group hiked the margins on precious metal futures for the second time in the space of a week.

They probably thought that it was best to pull a stunt like this during the holidays while less people are paying attention.

A statement was released by CME Group which said that this latest move to hike margin requirements was done “to ensure adequate collateral coverage”…

CME Group, one of the world’s largest trading floors for commodities, said Tuesday that margins for gold, silver, platinum and palladium would increase again after the close of business Wednesday.

It said in a statement that the decision was made “as per the normal review of market volatility to ensure adequate collateral coverage.”

Give me a break.

We all know why this was done.

What we are witnessing is literally a conspiracy to force the price of silver down.

They knew that when they suddenly increased margin requirements, it would create a squeeze and force precious metals prices lower…

One reason behind recent declines in silver, including the stark fall on Wednesday, is changes to trading rules implemented by exchange operator CME Group, which hosts widely traded silver futures contracts.

Traders operating in CME’s derivatives market must put down cash to support their trades, with the exact amount or margin required varying. Amid volatile trading, the CME raised margin requirements effective Monday for precious metals including silver, and announced that margin requirements would rise again after Wednesday.

If traders cannot put up more cash, their positions are often forcibly closed, or sold, typically at unfavorable prices. This can cause a wave of selling that pushes prices down further, taking some of the shine out of silver—for now.

I am so disgusted by this.

The first margin hike didn’t get the results that they wanted, and so they did it again.

Shame on them.

We are supposed to be at least pretending that we have some semblance of a free market system left.

But even after this desperate attempt to stop the bleeding, the price of silver is still up more than 140 percent in 2025…

Even after sharp declines on Wednesday, silver prices have gained more than 140% this year and remain relatively close to all-time highs above $82 reached on Sunday.

And most analysts are still projecting that the price of silver will continue to rise in 2026 because the fundamentals for silver are exceedingly favorable…

Yet there are also fundamentals behind silver’s remarkable rally this year.

The precious metal, like gold—up almost two-thirds in 2025 to record levels—is considered a store of value and a hedge against the dollar, which weakened this year amid falling U.S. interest rates.

Silver also benefits from industrial demand typical of the current moment, including uses in solar panels, electric vehicles, and data centers powering artificial intelligence.

If the AI boom were to burst, that could change the outlook for silver.

But right now the AI revolution is steaming ahead.

And the U.S. dollar is probably going to continue to get even weaker in 2026.

In 2025, the U.S. dollar index has fallen by nearly 10 percent…

The dollar continues to face a challenging backdrop in 2026 following this year’s sharp depreciation, Charles Stanley’s Abbas Owainati says in a note. The dollar’s fall this year reflects concerns over long-term fiscal sustainability, an erosion of the currency’s safe haven status amid unpredictable policy, increased currency hedging by non-U.S. investors and changes in capital flows. The dollar could stay under pressure next year as the Federal Reserve is expected to cut interest rates further, he says. A weaker dollar could support emerging markets equities by easing external debt burdens, improving capital flows and boosting local currency returns, he says. The DXY dollar index trades flat at 98.008. It has fallen nearly 10% in the year to date.

The Trump administration doesn’t mind that the dollar has been getting weaker because it makes our exports more appealing to the rest of the world.

But when the U.S. dollar gets weaker, our purchasing power goes down.

A weaker dollar is one of the primary reasons why we find ourselves in an affordability crisis that never seems to end.

So if the U.S. dollar continues to lose value next year that will not be good news for millions of deeply struggling American households, but it will be great news for silver investors.

In addition, Martin Armstrong says that there are a number of geopolitical factors that will help move the price of silver higher during the months ahead…

When it comes to metal, Armstrong says, “People who know war and crisis are coming are buying metals. . .. We have creative destruction. You have AI coming in and you have unemployment rising and you have GDP rising. . .. You have shortages in commodities on top of this. . .. Then you have geopolitical nonsense. Anthony Blinken (Secretary of State in the Biden Administration) put sanctions on Russia. Look at the metals. What did it do? It cut off the supply of gold, silver and platinum coming out of Russia. Now, you have China putting in a ban on exporting silver as of January 1, 2026. This is rather important. China controls about 60% of the supply of silver. . .. This is one of the reasons why silver jumped up dramatically. This is a perfect storm. On top of all this, NATO is there only for war. That is it. . .. Socrates is still saying Europe will lose badly in a war with Russia.”

Armstrong sees a bull market for gold, silver and other metals for years ahead. One big reason is shortages in the metals. Armstrong says, “I don’t see these shortages going away. The bull market is more likely to go into 2032. It will be volatile, and then you’ve got war coming. Once you get into war, prices are going to go up even more. It’s all a mess. This is a perfect storm.”

Yes, we certainly are facing “a perfect storm”, and I am entirely convinced that the year in front of us is going to be absolutely nuts.

In the short-term, there will be plenty of opportunities for savvy investors to capitalize on all of the global chaos that we are witnessing.

Some people will make a lot of money, and of course others will lose a lot of money.

But in the end, the entire system is going to come crashing down all around us.

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.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

I have been digging into the fraud scandal in Minnesota, and what I have learned has absolutely floored me.  It isn’t just millions of dollars or hundreds of millions of dollars that we are talking about in this case.  The fraudsters have literally stolen billions of taxpayer dollars, and they have been spending it on luxury vehicles, expensive homes and all sorts of other things.  This is something that has been going on for many years, and finally something is being done to stop it.

We owe Nick Shirley a tremendous amount of gratitude, because his investigative video is the reason why so many people are talking about the Minnesota fraud scandal this week…

As Homeland Security agents were in Minnesota conducting what DHS Secretary Kristi Noem called a “massive investigation on childcare and other rampant fraud” on Monday, many of their targets came not from tips from the FBI, but from a video posted on social media over the weekend.

The video, posted by conservative YouTuber Nick Shirley, alleged nearly a dozen day care centers in Minnesota that are receiving public funds are not actually providing any service. As of Monday, the video had been viewed more than 1 million times, according to YouTube’s metrics, and was seen by tens of millions more on X.

“While we have questions about some of the methods used in the video, we do take the concerns that the video raises about fraud very seriously,” said Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families commissioner Tikki Brown.

If you have not watched his video yet, I would very much encourage you to do so.

Why can’t our law enforcement agencies operate like this?

Shirley says that he was able to uncover 110 million dollars in fraud in just a single day…

We uncovered over $110,000,000 in ONE day. Like it and share it around like wildfire! Its time to hold these corrupt politicians and fraudsters accountable

We ALL work way too hard and pay too much in taxes for this to be happening, the fraud must be stopped.

This is one of the reasons why citizen journalists such as Nick Shirley and myself work tirelessly to expose the truth.

Because in so many cases our government officials will never take action until people start demanding it.

Apparently those that live in the vicinity of the “Quality Learing Center” in Minneapolis never see any kids around.

But now that this scandal is blowing wide open, suddenly there were quite a few kids at the facility on Monday…

The Quality “Learing” Center Minneapolis, a purported day care flagged in a viral video designed to expose fraud, may have been bustling with kids Monday, but it is typically such a ghost town that it appeared closed, a local told The Post.

The resident called the kiddie scene at the site Monday — a few days after explosive footage called it out and suggested it was part of widespread state fraud — “highly unusual.

“We’ve never seen kids go in there until today. That parking lot is empty all the time, and I was under the impression that place is permanently closed,” the person said.

Sadly, the fraud at daycare centers in Minnesota has apparently been going on for a very long time.

In fact, surveillance footage at one daycare center in 2015 shows parents signing in their kids “so providers could bill the state for full days of care for children who didn’t actually attend”…

Shocking unearthed video from a 2018 state fraud case shows Minnesota parents dropping their children off at a day care center and then leaving with the kids moments later — as authorities probe a rampant billion-dollar fraud scheme in Minneapolis.

In the surveillance footage, dated 2015 and obtained by Fox 9, parents are seen signing their kids into the facility so providers could bill the state for full days of care for children who didn’t actually attend.

On some days, no families would even show up at all, but the day cares would still claim reimbursements from the government, the outlet reported at the time.

Needless to say, this sort of thing is not just going on in Minnesota.

Hopefully this scandal will cause the federal government to take a very close look at taxpayer-funded programs all over the nation.

Earlier in December, CBS News reported that hundreds of millions of dollars was being stolen through a nonprofit entity in Minnesota known as “Feeding Our Future”…

Earlier this month, CBS News detailed how a group of convicted fraudsters allegedly spent some of the millions of taxpayer dollars stolen by people associated with a nonprofit called Feeding Our Future, which was meant to help feed vulnerable children during the pandemic.

Investigators say fraudulent payouts to the Feeding Our Future program alone were estimated at $250 million, making it the nation’s costliest COVID-era aid scam.

Walz, a Democrat, previously agreed with an estimate from First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson that fraud across all programs, including the Feeding Our Future scheme, which is not a DHS-administered program, could total $1 billion.

Vast amounts of money that was supposed to go toward feeding needy children ended up in the pockets of fraudsters instead.

And apparently they spent that money on vehicles, homes and other luxuries…

Luxury cars, private villas and overseas wire transfers: CBS News obtained dozens of files and photos that reveal how Minnesota fraudsters blew through hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars as part of one of the biggest COVID-era fraud schemes.

The files document a spending spree in which defendants, many of Somali descent, took taxpayer money meant to feed hungry children and used it to buy cars, property and jewelry. Videos show them popping champagne at an opulent Maldives resort. In a text message, one defendant boasts: “You are gonna be the richest 25 year old InshaAllah [God willing].”

Remember, this was just one nonprofit entity.

Fraud has been discovered at countless others as well.

Overall, prosecutors are telling us that the total amount of fraud that they have uncovered in Minnesota now comes to a grand total of 9 billion dollars…

Monday’s DHS visits come amid what prosecutors allege is a $9 billion COVID-era fraud scandal in Minnesota. Gov. Tim Walz and other state officials have disputed that figure and defended their handling of the crisis.

There are 14 specific Medicaid-funded programs in Minnesota currently under federal investigation, although child care isn’t one of them.

9 billion dollars in just one state!

Just think about that.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has announced that 98 individuals involved in the fraud in Minnesota have been arrested so far…

@NickShirleyyy’s work has helped show Americans the scale of fraud in Tim Walz’s Minnesota.

@TheJusticeDept has been investigating this for months. So far, we have charged 98 individuals – 85 of Somali descent – and more than 60 have been found guilty in court.

We have more prosecutions coming…BUCKLE UP, LAWMAKERS!

But what about all of the other states?

An investigative journalist has discovered that rampant daycare fraud is also happening in Ohio.

And apparently fraudsters in Ohio are raking in massive amounts of cash by engaging in a widespread “home health” scam…

Ohio attorney Mehek Cooke CONFIRMS MASSIVE fraud in Ohio, another hotbed for Somalis

They run fake “home health” and bill $250,000 PER YEAR, per FAMILY, when no work is actually being done

She says it also happens in PENNSYLVANIA

“Audit America. Audit Ohio now. And I’m pushing for that in every single state!”

“The state will, as long as the doctor has approved it, continue to pay you. It could be for 10 hours, 12 hours, up to 24 when it’s critical care.”

“So you could sit at home without caring for an elderly parent who really doesn’t need it, make about $75,000 to $90,000 a year. Now you add two parents, that’s $180,000. Now you add your in-laws $250,000.”

We all knew that the level of fraud in the system was off the charts.

Now we are finally starting to get some of the details.

According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, over 5 billion dollars in federal rental assistance was sent to ineligible recipients last year alone…

A new report from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development has found that more than $5 billion in federal rental assistance during fiscal year 2024 went to potentially ineligible recipients, including nearly 30,000 deceased individuals and thousands of non-citizens, according to MSN and the NY Post.

The audit, conducted by HUD’s Office of the Chief Financial Officer, reviewed nearly $50 billion in housing aid and identified $5.8 billion — about 11% — as “questionable.” More than 200,000 tenants were flagged, including 29,715 listed as deceased, 9,472 non-citizens, and 165,393 households receiving payments above local eligibility limits, particularly in large metro areas such as New Orleans. Officials said suspicious payments appeared nationwide, with heavy concentrations in New York, California and Washington, DC.

“A massive abuse of taxpayer dollars not only occurred under President Biden’s watch, but was effectively incentivized by his administration’s failure to implement strong financial controls resulting in billions worth of potential improper payments,” HUD Secretary Scott Turner said. “HUD will continue investigating the shocking results and will take appropriate action to hold bad actors accountable.”

U.S. taxpayers are being ripped off over and over again.

It is truly a national disgrace.

If we make enough of a stink about it, and if enough people start going to prison, hopefully we will start to see real change.

Enough is enough.

We are 38 trillion dollars in debt, and we simply cannot afford to keep sending billions of dollars to the hordes of lawless predators that are eagerly taking advantage of the rest of us.

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.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

2025 has truly been a historic year. No matter which side of the fence that you are on, nobody can deny that we have witnessed seismic political changes over the last 12 months. Meanwhile, the AI revolution is transforming our lives in ways that we don’t even understand. But despite all of our advanced technology, we can’t stop the endless barrage of natural disasters that has been pummeling us in 2025, and hunger continues to spread all over the globe. Of course war has been a major theme from the very beginning of the year to the very end of the year. Humanity has been facing one major crisis after another, and people are steadily getting angrier and more frustrated.

Our world is changing at a pace that is absolutely breathtaking.  If you always wanted to live in “interesting” times, you have certainly gotten your wish.  The following are 30 numbers from 2025 that are almost too crazy to believe…

#1 As 1999 began, a Gallup survey found that 70 percent of Americans were satisfied with how things were going in the United States.  As 2025 ends, only 24 percent of Americans are satisfied with how things are going in the United States.

#2 In 1980, the fact that the U.S. national debt had reached a trillion dollars was a really big deal.  But now our national debt has surpassed the 38 trillion dollar mark and there is seemingly no end in sight.

#3 Globally, the total amount of debt in the world has reached an almost unbelievable total of 337 trillion dollars.

#4 In 2025, more than half of all of the nations on the entire planet were either directly involved in military conflict or were funding it.

#5 At the start of 2025, you could purchase an ounce of silver for about 30 dollars.  As 2025 ends, an ounce of silver will cost you more than 70 dollars.

#6 Crypto investors lost about $800,000,000,000 during the month of November alone.

#7 After all this time, the Department of Justice is claiming that they have just “discovered” a million more Epstein documents.

#8 In 2025, researchers in the United States and South Korea developed a version of the bird flu that has a 100 percent death rate in mammals.

#9 According to the latest National Customer Rage Survey, 77 percent of U.S. consumers say that they have had a product or service problem within the last 12 months.  That is a brand new all-time record high.

#10 Earlier this year, we witnessed 494 earthquakes of magnitude 5.0 or greater within a 30 day period.  That was about 4 times as many earthquakes of magnitude 5.0 or greater than we normally experience in a typical month.

#11 Globally, natural disasters caused a total of $120,000,000,000 in economic damage in 2025.

#12 The number of Americans that are dealing with food insecurity has almost doubled since 2021.

#13 The United Nations is warning that nearly 10 percent of the entire population of the globe is now going to bed hungry each night.

#14 Approximately 1.2 million foreign students are currently attending colleges and universities in the United States.  How many U.S. students have been denied admission in order to make room for those students at our best schools?

#15 In 2019, you could get a cheeseburger at McDonald’s for a dollar.  Today, the average price of a cheeseburger at McDonald’s is $3.15.

#16 Since 2019, the annual income needed to afford a median-priced home in rural U.S. counties has more than doubled.

#17 According to a survey that was conducted by PNC Bank, 67 percent of U.S. workers are now living paycheck to paycheck.

#18 Investopedia has determined that it now takes approximately 5 million dollars to live the American Dream over the course of a lifetime.

#19 One study discovered that approximately 42 percent of Americans that belong to Generation Z have been diagnosed with “anxiety, depression, ADHD, PTSD” or some other mental health condition.

#20 One recent survey found that 70 percent of U.S. adults are currently taking at least one pharmaceutical drug, and nearly a quarter of U.S. adults are currently taking at least four pharmaceutical drugs.

#21 According to the CDC, an American now dies by suicide every 11 minutes.

#22 Approximately 20 percent of high school students in the United States have had a relationship with an AI chatbot.

#23 One recent survey found that almost two-thirds of all church leaders that prepare sermons “use AI tools in their sermon writing process”.

#24 Well over 50 percent of the global population lives in a nation where Christians are being violently persecuted.

#25 U.S. farmers are facing the worst economic downturn that they have experienced in at least 50 years.

#26 The size of the U.S. cattle herd has dropped to the lowest level in about 75 years.

#27 According to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, U.S. employers have announced a grand total of almost 1.2 million job cuts in 2025.

#28 The McKinsey Global Institute is warning that approximately 40 percent of all U.S. workers could potentially be replaced by AI.

#29 In more than 50 percent of the nations on the entire planet, the total fertility rate is now below replacement level.

#30 A recent YouGov survey discovered that nearly half of the U.S. population believes that a nuclear war is likely within the next 10 years.

The pace of global events has accelerated significantly over the past year.

It really does feel like we are building up to some sort of a crescendo.

We are living at a time of a “perfect storm”, and we just keep getting hammered by one crisis after another.

As a result, much of the population has become numb to it all.

Never before in human history have we been subjected to such an emotional overload.

When you are being pulled in so many directions emotionally, it can be really easy to give in to the temptation to go numb.

But I would encourage my readers not to do that.

It is when times are the darkest that light is needed the most.

As things get even darker in 2026, choose to be a light to those around you.

All of human history has been building up to this time, and we get to be here for it.

There is nowhere else that I would rather be than right here, and there is no other time that I would have rather lived than right now.

Don’t let all of the chaos that is going on all around us get you down.

You were born for such a time as this, and now is the time to become everything that you were created to be.

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.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.