The Morning Sixpack - December 29, 2026

Trump pushes “near” Ukraine deal, China encircles Taiwan, DOJ expands terror powers, FBI HQ uprooted, Acosta questioned, and a bomb cyclone bears down.

Trump and Zelenskyy Talk Peace in Florida—but Proof of Progress Remains Elusive

The photo-op glow in Florida couldn’t hide the fact that neither Trump nor Zelenskyy offered real evidence that their “almost done” peace plan is actually close.

Both men emerged from their meeting projecting upbeat vibes, but optimism isn’t a substitute for detail. Trump declared the sides “maybe very close,” while Zelenskyy confidently tossed out “90% complete,” yet the two biggest obstacles—the fate of the Donbas and the Russian-held nuclear plant—remain exactly where negotiators left them: unresolved and radioactive.

Zelenskyy insisted that “a lot can be decided before the New Year,” though Russia’s weekend barrage of missile strikes tells a very different story about Moscow’s appetite for détente. As usual, battlefield reality is doing its best to spoil the press-friendly narrative.

The 20-point peace plan, revised for weeks by US and Ukrainian teams, appears stuck where all diplomatic fantasies go to die: on territorial concessions no leader wants to own. Ukraine won’t surrender Donbas; Putin won’t give up the plant. No handshake at Mar-a-Lago changes that math.

Still, the theater matters. Trump gets to claim momentum; Zelenskyy gets to show willingness. But until the Kremlin signals something more than fresh strikes, talk of being “very close” is just that—talk.

Source: Semafor

Editor: Trump saying we’re “maybe very close” to peace while missiles rain down is the diplomatic equivalent of declaring victory because the weather looks nice. Call me when the breakthroughs happen somewhere other than in press quotes.

China’s “Justice Mission 2025” Encircles Taiwan as Beijing Edges Closer to Normalizing Invasion Drills

China’s latest live-fire spectacle around Taiwan looks less like training and more like rehearsal—because it is.

Beijing rolled out troops, warships, fighter jets, artillery, and propaganda posters for its “Justice Mission 2025” exercises, encircling Taiwan from the north and southwest while simulating blockades of the island’s major ports. Taiwan scrambled forces, posted U.S.-made HIMARS on social media like a polite reminder of consequences, and rushed to reroute air traffic around a “temporary danger zone” China carved into Taipei’s airspace.

A senior Taiwanese security official said Chinese vessels and aircraft were “deliberately closing in” on Taiwan’s contiguous zone—24 nautical miles off its coast—blurring the line between drills and dress rehearsal. Analysts have warned for years that Beijing’s strategy is simple: turn war games into the new normal so that one day, switching from practice to invasion gives the U.S. and its allies almost no warning.

China insists this is a “serious warning to ‘Taiwan Independence’ separatist forces and external interference forces,” a line delivered with all the theatrical menace of a villain who really wants you to know he brought props. Meanwhile, Taiwan condemned the drills and kept its forces on high alert for rapid-response maneuvers designed for the exact moment Beijing decides today’s exercise becomes tomorrow’s invasion.

The PLA even pumped out posters—“Shields of Justice: Smashing Illusions” and “Arrows of Justice: Control and Denial”—complete with target graphics on Taiwanese locations and a cameo by Beijing’s civilian armada that could double as an amphibious assault fleet. Subtle, this is not. As one Taiwanese designer put it: “We are who we are; they are who they are.”

Despite the noise, Taiwan’s stock market hit a record high because, frankly, no one can panic every single time Beijing rattles sabers. “I think these drills are just meant to scare us,” a Taipei teacher said, summing up the island’s collective shrug. Still, after the U.S. approved $11.1 billion in arms sales and Japan signaled it might intervene in a conflict, China seems eager to remind everyone who it thinks is boss in the region.

Source: Reuters

Editor: Somewhere in Beijing, someone genuinely believes that posting an Avengers-style movie poster about “smashing illusions” will make 23 million people suddenly forget they don’t want to be ruled by the CCP. Inspirational strategy, if your target audience is 12-year-olds.

FBI Director Kash Patel Says Hoover Building Will Close for Good as Headquarters Shift Sparks Legal and Political Blowback

Kash Patel’s declaration that the FBI’s Hoover Building will be “shut down permanently” is the most definitive burial yet of a relocation plan Washington has been arguing about for two decades.

Patel announced that the bureau will abandon its long-debated Maryland move and instead pack into the former USAID space inside the Ronald Reagan Building—an office reshuffle made possible only because the Trump administration dismantled USAID earlier this year. He framed the decision as overdue modernization: “After more than 20 years of failed attempts… we accomplished what no one else could,” he wrote, adding that resources now go to “defending the homeland… and protecting national security.”

Maryland lawmakers, unsurprisingly, are livid. They argue Congress had already locked in Maryland as the destination, allocated the money, and expected the FBI to honor the multi-year bidding process. Their message: You can’t just shrug off congressional directives because a different administration would prefer a shorter commute.

The state isn’t just complaining—it’s suing. Maryland alleges the Trump administration improperly diverted $555 million after deciding to abandon the chosen sites entirely, a move the lawsuit says “flouted Congress’s explicit direction.” If the courts agree, this could become yet another test of how far executive agencies can stretch statutory intent before snapping it.

Patel, meanwhile, is selling the shift as cost-effective and security-minded, but critics note that a headquarters inside the District raises the same concerns that pushed planners toward Maryland in the first place. The administration insists those concerns are overblown; Maryland insists the administration is making it up as it goes.

The only constant? The decades-long saga of “the next FBI headquarters” remains a master class in bureaucratic drift—except now, there’s a demolition order taped to the Hoover Building’s front door.

Source: The Hill

Editor: Only in Washington could a 20-year fight over a new building end with everyone cramming into someone else’s old office like musical chairs for federal agencies. At this point, the Hoover Building deserves a retirement party just for surviving the paperwork.

Epstein Survivors’ Lawyer Says Alex Acosta Must Answer for the 2007 Non-Prosecution Deal

A lawyer for Jeffrey Epstein’s survivors is urging investigators to zero in on Alex Acosta, arguing the former U.S. attorney engineered the deal that let Epstein walk when federal prosecutors were ready to lock him up.

Jack Scarola told CNN that his clients named names—none of which appear in the newly released Justice Department files—and said the real scandal is still buried. According to Scarola, federal prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida drafted a 60-count indictment in 2007, backed by an 82-page prosecution memo, detailing Epstein’s serial abuse of minors. “Had that federal indictment been filed and prosecuted,” he said, “there is no doubt that Jeffrey Epstein would have been convicted back in 2007.”

Instead, Epstein got a sweetheart plea in state court, served just 13 months—most of it on a tailor-made “work release”—and allegedly continued abusing minors during that period. Scarola argued that the public has yet to see the indictment, the memo, or the internal DOJ communications that would reveal who killed the case and why.

And he didn’t mince words about Acosta. Scarola said the former U.S. attorney, later tapped as Trump’s labor secretary, had “direct communications” with Epstein’s defense lawyers “under very unusual circumstances.” Those discussions, he insists, should be in the Epstein files—assuming the government stops shielding them.

This isn’t just Scarola’s crusade. House Oversight Chairman James Comer said last fall that the committee needed to determine “who dropped the ball”—Acosta, the FBI, local prosecutors, or DOJ brass. Victims have demanded that answer for nearly two decades while officials keep pointing fingers in circles.

In other words: until those documents see daylight, the Epstein accountability project is still unfinished, and the most important chapter remains sealed inside DOJ’s vault.

Source: MSN

Editor: Hard to believe, but apparently everyone involved in the original Epstein case wants credit for asking “tough questions” now—just not for answering the ones that matter. Funny how 60 counts can disappear when the right people pick up the phone.

‘Bomb Cyclone’ Threatens Millions as Blizzard Conditions Sweep the Northern U.S.

A fast-strengthening winter system is poised to slam the northern tier of the country, setting up a dangerous mix of blizzards, whiteouts, and Arctic cold for millions.

The National Weather Service has placed more than eight million people under winter storm warnings and nearly two million under blizzard warnings as a powerful cyclone barrels from Montana to Maine. Forecasters say warm air is about to collide with an advancing Arctic front—classic bomb-cyclone material—rapidly deepening the low-pressure system and unleashing days of disruptive weather across the Midwest and Great Lakes.

Snowfall totals of 6–12 inches are expected from east-central Minnesota through northern Wisconsin into Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, with winds reaching 40–65 mph near Lake Superior. That combination means near-zero visibility, widespread drifting, and the kind of power outages that test every municipal emergency plan. Marquette’s mayor insists the city is ready, praising its public works teams as “true professionals,” but even seasoned Yoopers know a blizzard is something you manage, not control.

Minnesota is bracing for up to 10 inches in the Twin Cities, where travel could become life-threatening early Monday. Meanwhile, the storm is dragging frigid temperatures deep into the country: Montanans may see wind chills near -15°F, and even Dallas will plunge from the 80s into the 40s overnight—a meteorological mood swing if there ever was one.

The Northeast is set for its own complications, with freezing rain threatening slick roads from northern New York to New England. In New York City, leftover snow will refreeze as colder air settles in, turning sidewalks into unwanted pop-up ice rinks.

Source: NPR

Editor: Meteorologists call it bombogenesis; the rest of us call it “cancel your plans and locate the shovel.” And honestly, when Dallas is dropping 40 degrees overnight, it’s time to admit the weather is just showing off.

DOJ Issues Sweeping Directive to Target “Domestic Terrorism” Networks—With a Strikingly Broad Definition

The attorney general’s new memo turns NSPM-7 into marching orders for federal law enforcement, and its scope is wide enough to rope in half the political spectrum if officials feel so inclined.

In an unusually expansive interpretation of domestic terrorism, the Justice Department is ordering prosecutors and law enforcement agencies to aggressively pursue individuals and networks tied to what it frames as organized political violence—a category the memo repeatedly links to Antifa-aligned groups, left-wing ideologies, and activists who oppose immigration enforcement or espouse “radical gender ideology.” The memo claims these ideologies animate a surge in assassinations, attacks on law enforcement, and coordinated intimidation campaigns.

The guidance instructs the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Forces to treat everything from doxing and rioting to interference with federal employees as potential terrorism cases. It also directs investigators to “map the full network” of participants, organizers, and funders, using the full battery of statutes—RICO, material support for terrorism, seditious conspiracy, firearms offenses, and a grab bag of fraud charges—to prosecute “the most serious, readily provable offenses.”

Perhaps the most consequential element is backward-looking: agencies are ordered to review five years of closed investigations for Antifa-related intelligence, revisit past protest activity, and identify organizers and financial sponsors. This is paired with a mandate for the FBI to create a list of domestic terrorist organizations and deliver updates every 30 days. There’s also a push for new intelligence bulletins, expanded tip lines, and even cash rewards for information on group leaders.

The memo includes a boilerplate disclaimer that First Amendment–protected activity cannot be used as the basis for opening investigations—fair enough, but its own examples blur that line, often equating political viewpoints with violent extremism. When the memo claims recent violence springs from “hostility towards traditional views on family, religion, and morality,” it openly edges into policing ideology, not just criminal conduct.

State and local agencies are told to expect new federal grant programs geared toward combating domestic terrorism, potentially reshaping local policing priorities. In effect, the administration is building a national architecture for monitoring and dismantling left-aligned activist networks under the banner of counterterrorism—an approach guaranteed to inflame an already polarized political climate.

Source: Reason.com

Editor: If you’ve ever wondered what happens when counterterrorism authorities get cross-wired with a culture-war enemies list, wonder no more. This memo reads like someone tried to legislate vibes—specifically, the vibes they don’t like—and wrapped it in national security language. A dangerous mix when the government holds all the badges.