Noteworthy News

[Paraselene]

Rob Reiner was an unwavering LGBTQ+ ally – here’s everything he did for the queer community

https://www.thepinknews.com/2025/12/15/r...-equality/

[Angrboda]

Many Europeans mistakenly think most immigrants are illegal, poll shows

Pluralities or majorities of between 44% and 60% of respondents polled in a survey by YouGov in Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and Spain said they thought “many” or “somewhat” more migrants were staying illegally than legally.

Estimates of people staying illegally in European countries are significantly lower than official figures for the foreign-born population. A 2023 study, for example, found that only 21% of immigrants in France had at one point been “undocumented”.

In Poland, the only central European country surveyed, the public was divided, with 36% believing there were more illegal than legal migrants in the country against 28% who believed the opposite, and 22% who thought the proportions were the same.

[Fake Messiah]

Why are Chinese billionaires using US surrogates to build mega-families?

Over the past decade, an increasing number of affluent Chinese individuals — some of them billionaires — have turned to American surrogacy arrangements to build families of unprecedented size, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has reported.

In extreme cases, these efforts have gone beyond personal parenthood and into ambitions that may aid in establishing an entire dynasty.

Xu Bo, a videogame executive based in China. Xu did not appear in person and instead joined the proceedings remotely, communicating through an interpreter, reportedly told the judge that his long-term goal was to have around 20 children born in the US, primarily boys, whom he believed would one day assume leadership of his business operations.

Several of these children, people familiar with the matter told WSJ, were being cared for by nannies in Irvine, California, while awaiting documentation to travel to China. Xu acknowledged that he had not met them, explaining that work obligations had kept him occupied.

Xu Bo’s case is not an isolated one.

Within China’s elite circles, a growing number of individuals are using overseas surrogacy to pursue family sizes that would be impossible — both legally and logistically — within China.

Xu has publicly embraced this identity. He refers to himself as “China’s first father,” and his company has claimed on social media that he has more than 100 children born through surrogacy in the United States.

He is also widely known in China as a vocal critic of feminism.

Other wealthy Chinese figures have pursued similarly controversial paths. Wang Huiwu, president and CEO of Sichuan-based XJ International Holdings, is said by people close to his education company to have fathered 10 girls via US surrogacy arrangements.

Wang reportedly recruited egg donors from diverse professional backgrounds, including fashion models, a finance PhD holder and a musician. The cost of each egg donation was said to range between $6,000 and $7,500.

Those close to Wang said he preferred daughters and hoped they would eventually marry influential global figures.

The ability of wealthy Chinese clients to commission large numbers of children abroad has been enabled by a highly developed transnational fertility industry.

In the US, particularly in states such as California, surrogacy laws permit international intended parents to work with American surrogate carriers.

https://www.firstpost.com/explainers/chi...1.html/amp

[Paraselene]

Gen Z would rather cut Social Security benefits for current retirees than pay higher taxes to save the program

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/gen-z-...bt8w%3D%3D

[Fireball]

Gen Z would rather cut Social Security benefits for current retirees than pay higher taxes to save the program

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/gen-z-...bt8w%3D%3D

Even though I'm in the affected category, I don't blame them one bit. In fact, I started collecting Social Security benefits at age 62 when I retired. Both because I didn't know what my longevity would be, and when the program would run out of money. I have investments, but I mostly use Social Security for my income. Call me stingy, but I paid into it for 40+ years. It appears that employers these days only match some percentage of an employee's contributions to a 401(k) plan. I had one, but I also had a retirement (pension) account funded by my employer. Companies are more shareholder-focused now, and bedamned to the employees.

[Angrboda]

Much of this year’s tax law was dedicated to maintaining a set of tax cuts Republicans passed in 2017, but a few additional cuts will be unusually visible next year. That includes Mr. Trump’s campaign promises not to tax tips and overtime, which retroactively took effect at the start of 2025.

The Internal Revenue Service did not update its withholding tables this year to reflect the changes, meaning that tax cuts will show up when Americans file their taxes. As a result, many Americans will receive larger-than-normal tax refunds in early 2026, rather than having marginally less tax withheld from their paychecks throughout the year.

Roughly two-thirds of individual filers receive a tax refund. On Tuesday, Mr. Bessent told Fox Business that there would be “substantial refunds to working American households in the first quarter.”

Don Schneider, deputy head of policy at Piper Sandler, an investment bank, estimated that the size of the average refund, which was $3,052 in 2025 for individuals, could increase by roughly $665 next year.

The biggest benefits will be concentrated among the relatively small populations that Mr. Trump targeted for the new tax breaks. Less than 3 percent of households are expected to benefit from the new tax break for tips, for example, and even the increase to the standard deduction for seniors, a much broader population, will go to an estimated 13 percent.

The most generous new tax cut next year will go to people who take the bumped-up state and local tax deduction, largely a group of wealthy people who live in predominantly blue states, according to Mr. Schneider’s analysis. Some tax cuts will be widely available but relatively small.

Trump Dangles Cash Payments to Buoy Voters’ Views of the Economy

[Paraselene]

A woman who allegedly pushed razor blades into loaves of bread at two Biloxi, Mississippi, Walmart stores was arrested on Tuesday.

Camille Benson, 33, of Texas, has been charged with attempted mayhem.

https://abcnews.go.com/amp/Business/wire...-128467933

[Paraselene]

Teachers will be given training to spot and tackle misogyny in the classroom, while high-risk pupils could be sent on behavioural courses as part of the government's long-awaited strategy to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) in the next decade.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9qednjzwv1o.amp

[Mister Agenda]

A more civilized country than the one in which I currently reside, I'm afraid.

[The Grand Nudger]

Gen Z would rather cut Social Security benefits for current retirees than pay higher taxes to save the program

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/gen-z-...bt8w%3D%3D

Even though I'm in the affected category, I don't blame them one bit. In fact, I started collecting Social Security benefits at age 62 when I retired. Both because I didn't know what my longevity would be, and when the program would run out of money. I have investments, but I mostly use Social Security for my income. Call me stingy, but I paid into it for 40+ years. It appears that employers these days only match some percentage of an employee's contributions to a 401(k) plan. I had one, but I also had a retirement (pension) account funded by my employer. Companies are more shareholder-focused now, and bedamned to the employees.

That's the trick, yeah, convincing people that the system will run out of money and they will be suckers for having paid in and gotten nothing out.  The truth is that it won't run out of money.  That's a big part of why the nuts selling this lie to the american public keep trying to actively kill the thing, because they know perfectly well it won't die on it's own.