Lobster..

 

Police are investigating a potential heist after $400,000 worth of live lobsters was stolen from a truck transporting the seafood to Costco locations in Illinois and Minnesota.

The shipment was picked up in Taunton, Mass., but never arrived at its final destination, according to Dylan Rexing, CEO of Rexing Companies.

The possible theft follows a seafood shipment incident earlier this month, where items were stolen from the same Massachusetts facility.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) has flagged the issue to law enforcement agencies and freight carriers nationwide.

Cargo theft is a growing concern for the U.S. transportation system, costing the economy billions annually. These crimes involve opportunistic ‘straight thefts’ of trailers, containers, and loads at truck stops or multimodal distribution hubs and highly coordinated operations conducted by organized criminal networks.

Brigitte..

 

Brigitte Bardot, the French 1960s sex symbol who became one of the greatest screen sirens of the 20th century and later a militant animal rights activist and far-right supporter, has died. She was 91.

Bardot died Sunday at her home in southern France, according to Bruno Jacquelin, of the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the protection of animals.

Bardot became an international celebrity as a sexualized teen bride in the 1956 movie “And God Created Woman.” Directed by then husband Roger Vadim, it triggered a scandal with scenes of the long-legged beauty dancing on tables naked.

At the height of a cinema career that spanned more than two dozen films and three marriages, Bardot came to symbolize a nation bursting out of bourgeois respectability. Her tousled, blond hair, voluptuous figure and pouty irreverence made her one of France’s best-known stars, even as she struggled with depression.

Such was her widespread appeal that in 1969 her features were chosen to be the model for “Marianne,” the national emblem of France and the official Gallic seal. Bardot’s face appeared on statues, postage stamps and coins.

″We are mourning a legend,″⁣ French President Emmanuel Macron said in an X post.

Oh, Snap..

 

A former U.S. Department of Agriculture employee will spend nearly two years in prison for her insider role in a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program food assistance fraud scheme that bilked the government out of more than $66 million. 
“Arlasa Davis exploited her role as a government employee to enrich herself while undermining a program designed to help New York families in need,” said Sean Buckley, deputy U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.  

Court documents stated Davis worked in the USDA’s division responsible for detecting and stopping SNAP fraud. Davis used her access to steal EBT license numbers. The group used these numbers to conduct the fraudulent SNAP transactions, according to court filings.

Davis would take photos of handwritten lists of valid license numbers and send them to her co-conspirators. They would then use the stolen credentials to obtain EBT terminals for unapproved businesses, including smoke shops and other retailers not authorized to accept SNAP benefits.

Also charged in the scheme was Michael Kehoe, Mohamad Nawafleh, Omar Alrawashdeh, Gamal Obaid and Emad Alrawashdeh. Prosecutors said Kehoe, no apparent relation to Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe, was the ringleader of the group.

Worry..

 

New..

 

Democrats have finally settled on a new slogan.

Number..

 

Storming..

 

GDP..

 

The latest estimate for the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the third quarter of 2025 was an annual growth rate of 4.3%. This was the initial estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) on December 23, 2025, and it exceeded economists' forecasts of around 3.3%    

The acceleration in real GDP primarily reflected increases in consumer spending, exports, and government spending. Consumer spending grew at an annual rate of 3.5% in the third quarter, up from 2.5% in the prior quarter                                                      

 The 4.3% growth rate in the third quarter was an acceleration from the 3.8% growth rate recorded in the second quarter of 2025. It marked the strongest growth rate in two years.

Tail-wind.

The federal budget gap narrowed more sharply than forecasters anticipated in November, offering a rare piece of good news in a fiscal landscape still dominated by red ink. 

The monthly shortfall came in lower than a year earlier, signaling that revenue growth and shifting payment schedules are starting to bend the curve, even as long term pressures from interest costs and entitlement programs remain firmly in place.

 Deficits are not on autopilot, even in an era of high debt and aging demographics. Policy choices, the timing of outlays, and the strength of the broader economy all shape the monthly numbers, and November’s results show how quickly the trajectory can change when those forces briefly align.

The headline figure that grabbed attention was the federal government’s November budget gap of $173 billion, a level that undershot many private expectations. It is still a very large monthly shortfall, but in the context of recent years, a smaller than expected deficit counts as a modest fiscal tailwind rather than a fresh warning siren.

Deal .