December

Funny how time flies when you're having funnn... (right..) We're back and December had a blizzard of political issues. From hiking rates on insurance, talks of military action on Greenland, boat strikes on Venezuela, the CDC no longer recommending vaccinations, ICE invading Minneapolis and more - We have a lot to cover!

• Health Care rates spiking

  After a failed vote in the house, the tax credits that have helped reduced the cost of health insurance for Affordable Care Act enrollees has expired. The tax credits were given in 2021 during the pandemic and were extended till 2026. With the opposing party in power, these credits were struck down when voting occured in the house. "Democrats forced a 43-day government shutdown over the issue. Moderate Republicans called for a solution to save their 2026 political aspirations. President Donald Trump floated a way out, only to back off after conservative backlash." (PBS)

  "On average, the more than 20 million subsidized enrollees in the Affordable Care Act program are seeing their premium costs rise by 114% in 2026, according to an analysis by the health care research nonprofit KFF.

  Those surging prices come alongside an overall increase in health costs in the U.S., which are further driving up out-of-pocket costs in many plans"... "Last year, after Republicans cut more than $1 trillion in federal health care and food assistance with Trump's big tax and spending cuts bill, Democrats repeatedly called for the subsidies to be extended. But while some Republicans in power acknowledged the issue needed to be addressed, they refused to put it to a vote until late in the year.

  In December, the Senate rejected two partisan health care bills — a Democratic pitch to extend the subsidies for three more years and a Republican alternative that would instead provide Americans with health savings accounts." - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/health-subsidies-expire-launching-millions-of-americans-into-2026-with-steep-insurance-hikes

• CDC no longer recommending key vaccines

  Even amid an unprecedented rise in Measles cases with 2,280 in 2025, and 1,024 in 2026, the CDC has scaled back several vaccinations. "The federal government has drastically scaled back the number of recommended childhood immunizations, sidelining six routine vaccines that have safeguarded millions from serious diseases, long-term disability, and death..."Just three of the six immunizations the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it will no longer routinely recommend — against hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and rotavirus — have prevented nearly 2 million hospitalizations and more than 90,000 deaths in the past 30 year"

- The vaccines that are no longer recommended are:

• RSV - "causing tens of thousands of hospitalizations and hundreds of deaths a year."

  
  

• Hepatitis A - has led to a more than 90% drop in the disease since 1996. with a total of 1,648 cases and 85 deaths reported in 2023.

  
  

• Hepatitis B - vaccination resulted in a 99% decline in reported cases of acute hepatitis B among children and teens. Liver cancer among American children has also plummeted as a result of universal childhood vaccination.

  
  

• Rotavirus - Before administration of the current rotavirus vaccines began in 2006, about 70,000 young children were hospitalized and 50 died every year from the virus. Sean O'Leary - a pediatrician at the University of Colorado. "It was a miserable disease that we hardly see anymore."

  
  

• Meningococcal vaccines - About 600 to 1,000 cases of meningococcal disease are reported in the U.S. each year, but it kills more than 10% of those it sickens, and 1 in 5 survivors have permanent disabilities.

  
  

• Flu & Covid- The two respiratory viruses have each killed hundreds of children in recent years — though both tend to be much more severe in older adults.

• - https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2026/01/09/nx-s1-5671750/cdc-childhood-vaccines-universal-recommendation-rotavirus-hepatitis

Talks of invading Greenland

• In other weird news... Trump wants Greenland to be apart of the United States for "national security" purposes! "We need Greenland for national security, not for minerals ... If you take a look at Greenland, you look up and down the coast, you have Russian and Chinese ships all over the place. We need it for national security. We have to have it," Trump told reporters" (Reuters 2025).

  - This stirred up a whirlwind of trouble, as Greenlands allies has stepped up to the plate to defend them. "Out of nowhere, there is now a special U.S. presidential representative, who, according to himself, is tasked with taking over Greenland. This is, of course, completely unacceptable," - The Danish foreign minister said. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-announces-louisiana-governor-greenland-special-envoy-2025-12-22/

Minneapolis Takeover

• In Minneapolis, the largest immigration operation ever was conducted. Over 2,000 federal agents were sent to the city. There were reports of people being assulted, snatched off the street, beaten, and stopped in traffic.

  "Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, criticized the federal enforcement surge as "a war that's being waged against Minnesota."

  "You're seeing that we have a ridiculous surge of apparently 2,000 people not coordinating with us, that are for a show of cameras," Walz told reporters in Minneapolis on Tuesday, a day after announcing he was ending his campaign for a third term.

  WATCH: Fraud scandals and Trump's rhetoric escalate fears in Minnesota's Somali community

  Many residents were already on edge. The Trump administration has singled out the area's Somali community, the largest in the U.S. Last month, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara criticized federal agents for using "questionable methods" following a confrontation between agents and protesters." - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/2000-federal-agents-sent-to-minneapolis-area-to-carry-out-largest-immigration-operation-ever-ice-says