In 2025, AI became officially unavoidable: It had been lurking in the background before, as early adapters experimented with it. But this year, companies invested more than $202 billion in AI, a 75% increase from $114 billion invested in 2024. Major tech companies fought bitterly over AI talent, offering astronomical pay packages.
There was a groundswell of demand for talent, and unsurprisingly this spread to the demand for AI, data science, and engineering jobs, which increased 28% compared to 2024, according to data provided to Fast Company by IT staffing company Mondo. The firm also provided data on the top five jobs that took off in 2025, which weve listed by volume of demand.
Some of the jobs are new to Mondos dataset. Others saw explosive growth in demand compared to 2024. But theyre all related to AI. Theres a spike in certain jobs growth every year, but as we wrap up 2025, its clear: This was the year of artificial intelligence.
And the technology isnt going anywhere. Neither are these jobs:
1. Data Engineer (18% growth)
An AI is only as strong as the data thats powering it. Accurate and reliable data is a must, and as the demand for AI increases, so does the demand for data engineers who can ensure models are fed the highest-quality data.
2. Analytics Engineer (25% growth)
Analytics engineers ensure that companies can make sense of the data they have and use it to provide actionable insights. They organize data so its easier to analyze, apply software engineering best practices to analytics code, and design and maintain data models. They also collaborate with other teams inside the organization to help turn these insights into better decisions.
3. AI Full-Stack Engineer (new)
AI full-stack engineers can create complete AI applications: They can build the front-end user experience, the back-end infrastructure that powers the application, and embed AI as needed. In a world where everyone wants to be on the AI bandwagon, AI full-stack engineers are the next generation of full- stack engineers.
4. AI Solutions Consultant (new)
One of the largest challenges companies deploying AI are facing is understanding where the tech can make a difference. AI solutions consultants serve as a bridge between business leaders and technical teams. They identify use cases for AI, evaluate which tools to employ, and weigh in on how AI should be implemented.
5. AI Business Insights Analyst: (new)
An AI business insights analyst pairs data analysis and insights from AI with the surrounding business context to help leaders understand how to shape their strategy in an ever-changing world.
The fastest-growing roles sit at the intersection of AI, data infrastructure, and business translation, reflecting employer demand for talent that can deploy, govern, and operationalize AI at scale, Mondo Stephanie Wernick Barker wrote in an email. Compared to 2024, employers are hiring fewer generalists and more hybrid specialists who combine technical depth with measurable business impact.
The biggest brands pour creativity into being instantly recognizable. A logo you can spot at 20 paces. A color palette that becomes cultural shorthand (think Oreo blue or Coca-Cola red).
That visual obsession runs through every corner of marketing. TV, social, out-of-home, retail, and packaging. Millions go into crafting imagery, with every frame revised until it perfectly reinforces the brand.
So, of course visuals matterthey always will matter.
But the best performing brands arent blinded by them. They understand that a cohesive sonic identity that spans campaigns and touchpoints ensures your brand is remembered long after someone closes their phone or walks away from the TV.
YOU CANT AFFORD TO TUNE OUT AUDIO
Too often, sound is an afterthought. Tracks are chosen on personal taste, or even whatever can still be licensed at the end of a strained budget.
But audio isnt decoration. Its not the garnish. It deserves the same rigor as visuals. Treating it as a last-minute flourish isnt a creative misstep, its a missed business opportunity.
Thats because sound is one of the fastest, most powerful emotional triggers we have. Attention research shows that audio advertising generates at least 50% higher active attention and brand lift than visual formats. A drum roll can build tension. A chord can pull you into nostalgia. A single synth line can do what a thousand highly polished frames cannot.
Leaving that kind of influence to chance limits effectiveness across channels. It also leads to global inconsistency, with local teams relying on instinct rather than strategy.
The fix is simple. Stop treating audio as a backing track. Bring it into the creative process from minute one.
HERES HOW TO FIND THE PERFECT FIT
Choosing music is more than scanning the charts. A trending track isnt automatically the right choice. To score effectiveness, you need to look past taste and into the science, assessing four dimensions:
1. Engagement: Will it capture and hold attention?
2. Fit: Does it complement the narrative and the visuals?
3. Surprise: Does it offer the unexpected?
4. Recall: Will it be remembered?
Take a well-known commercial track. Immediate recognition is a win. But over-familiarity can also blunt surprise, reducing impact. A better route might be a reimagined version: a cover that keeps the sentiment but feels new, distinctive, and more ownable. Often, its also more cost-effective.
Look at music through both a creative and an objective lens and you give your brand cultural relevance without compromising quality.
And the data backs this up. IPA research, created with MassiveMusic, shows that:
Highly memorable music makes your brand four times more effective at driving brand recall
Unexpected music makes ads five times more likely to drive brand fame
Highly fitting music makes consumers nearly seven times more willing to pay higher prices
Highly engaging music boosts ROI by around 32% on average, and the very best performers on engagement can double your return on marketing investment.
SOUND ISNT OPTIONAL ANYMORE
For years, music sat in the category of well know it when we hear it. That era is over. We can now quantify musical effectiveness with the same precision we apply to visuals, linking specific sonic choices to measurable gains in attention, salience, and commercial return. Its no longer guesswork.
In the attention economy, where differentiation is under threat, music can be the lever that cuts through the noise. From recall to emotion to willingness to pay, its impact is too broad to ignore.
Brands that embrace a scientific, strategic methodology for sound build sonic identities that are consistent, creative, and emotionally resonant.
And brands that dont? If your campaign budget is in the millions, youre effectively gambling six-figure returns by not testing your music. The uplift from a well-chosen track dwarfs the cost of getting it right.
Paul Langworthy is chief revenue officer at Songtradr.
Artificial intelligence is fundamentally reshaping countless industries; education is no exception. As AI tools rapidly enter classrooms, there are concerns about fair access, effective implementation, and the risk of widening the still persistent digital divide. Who are the players best positioned to guide this transition in a way that truly benefits every student?
I recently spoke with Alix Guerrier, CEO of DonorsChoose, an education nonprofit where teachers submit funding requests based on classroom needs. Ninety percent of public schools in America have teachers using DonorsChoose, which tackles funding gaps by focusing on the most granular level: individual teacher requests. Alix, a former math and science teacher, edtech founder, and nonprofit leader, shares why he believes listening to the front linesthe teachersis the most important strategic bet we can make to ensure AI fulfills its promise for all students.
Q: Your background as a public school teacher and startup founder is unique. How has that journey shaped your vision for DonorsChoose and its mission to resource every classroom?
Alix Guerrier: Im a proud product of the New Haven, Connecticut, public school system. I had a front-row seat to the resourcing challenges schools face, which inspired me to become a public school teacher. Despite funding constraints, teachers went above and beyond for their students, and I saw the potential of a grassroots approach that serves individual teachers, which I later brought to my startup.
DonorsChoose is unique because we maintain a laser-like focus on the needs of individual teachers and their students, while partnering with school, district, and state leaders. Together, we can learn from the grassroots innovation, then use those insights to shape broader policy and funding decisions, which we have been leaning into as an organization.
Q: DonorsChoose has an unrivaled view of teacher needs. What is your data currently telling you about changing trends in classroom requests?
Alix: We have access to a wealth of qualitative and quantitative data, because our model requires teachers to submit descriptions of the resources they need and how they plan to use them. Some requests remain the same year over year. For example, books were a primary request at our founding in 2000 and remain an important need today.
Instructional technology, however, has been a major category of change. Over the past 25 years, weve tracked the shift from older tech to smartboards and Chromebooks. And starting in 2020, we saw a dramatic, sustained change in the amount of instructional technology requested. While AI-specific requests are still a small category, they are rapidly growing. Last school year, we saw around 600 requests for AI learning tools and resources; that number is already 1,000+ this school year.
What has been most surprising is the primary AI use case emerging from our data. We expected to see requests centered on student productivity or teacher planning, and those exist. But the majority are focused on addressing diverse student needs. Teachers are using AI to generate real-time translation tools for multilingual language learners, or to rapidly adapt a lesson plan for students with disabilities. We are seeing teachers leverage AI to hyper-personalize learning.
Q: How can we ensure that AI funding doesnt exacerbate existing challenges, like the digital divide?
Alix: Resource equity is explicitly woven into DonorsChoose DNA. Its our goal that every student in every community has access to a great education regardless of a schools resources. This year, over 80% of funding directed through DonorsChoose went to projects in historically under-resourced schools. Moreover, our work to close the digital resource gap felt by these schools must include AI learning tools.
Access to the hardware is only part of the equation. We know that the vast majority of teachers97%, according to a survey we conducteddont feel they have the necessary training to successfully implement AI in the classroom. Educators have a hunger and readiness to incorporate AI learning tools, but theres a clear gap in preparedness. This points to our biggest strategic bet: The sector-wide conversation about the future of AI in K-12 education must be driven by what teachers know about the actual needs of their kids.
Q: If you had a single message for those designing the next wave of AI tools and the policymakers making education funding decisions, what would it be?
Alix: Stay forcefully focused on the needs and experiences of students.
In education, as in other fields, new technologies are often first adopted by individuals on the groundthe teachers running micro-experiments every day in their classrooms. Their collective wisdom about what works and enables a better learning outcome is an invaluable dataset. If we, as a sector, choose to be guided by those use casesthe ways teachers are actually succeeding, like using AI to personalize learning for a non-native English speakerwe can effectively scale.
The technologies that truly support student learning and growth are those that are human-centered, supporting a learners exploration and creativity. By staying anchored to the individual learner, we ensure the immense power of AI is directed toward the highest and best usemaking a meaningful difference in the life of every child.
Q: Looking ahead 10 years, what is the most important role you hope DonorsChoose played in ensuring this AI revolution was accessible, effective, and human-centered?
Alix: I hope we will have been the critical platform that elevated the teacher’s voice to the forefront of the AI conversation. We want to be the connective tissue that translates the thousands of successful, human-centered AI experiments happening in classrooms across the country into actionable insights for the entire system.
We have an opportunity now to steer the ship. We know more than ever before about how students learn and what they need to thrive, and we have the technology to make dramatic improvements. Our role at DonorsChoose is to use our unique access to the grassroots to keep the entire sectorthe companies, the foundations, the policy leadersfocused on the human impact, not just the technical promise. We are equipped to do amazing things, but we just have to decide to do so. And Im optimistic that we will.
Celia Jones is global chief marketing officer of FINN Partners.
The U.S. auto safety regulator said on Wednesday it has opened a defect investigation into Tesla Model 3 compact sedans over concerns that emergency door release controls may not be easily accessible or clearly identifiable in an emergency.
The Office of Defects Investigation said the probe covers an estimated 179,071 model year 2022 vehicles.
The investigation was opened on December 23 after the agency received a defect petition alleging that the vehicles’ mechanical door release is hidden, unlabeled, and not intuitive to locate during emergencies.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The company’s vehicles rely primarily on electronic door latches, which open via buttons rather than traditional mechanical handles.
While Tesla includes a manual door release for use in emergencies or power failures, experts have long argued that the mechanical releases are not consistently visible, labeled, or intuitive, particularly for rear-seat passengers.
Last month, Tesla was sued over a fiery Wisconsin crash that killed all five occupants of a Model S, who were allegedly trapped inside because of a design flaw that prevented them from opening the luxury sedan’s doors.
The automaker has also been sued by families of two college students killed in a Cybertruck crash last year in November in a San Francisco suburb, after allegedly being locked in the burning vehicle because of its door handle design.
The opening of a defect petition does not mean a recall will be issued, but it marks the first step in a regulatory review process that could lead to further action if safety-related defects are confirmed.
The auto regulator, NHTSA, said in September it had opened a preliminary evaluation into about 174,290 Model Y cars over reports of electronic door handles becoming inoperative.
By Akash Sriram, Reuters
It may be a very Merry Christmas for one lucky Powerball winner. The Christmas Eve Powerball jackpot is accumulating like a snowball tumbling down an epic sledding hill. The total is now so large, it’s a number rarely attainable even for high-stakes gamblers.
The prize has continued to grow after five drawings worth at least $1 billion went unclaimed with no ticket matching all six numbers. According to the Powerball website, that makes the current prize of around $1.7 billion the fourth-largest in Powerball history. It’s also the longest the game has ever gone without a winner.
Much like the holidays, Powerball is a game that brings people together to dream big and hope for a brighter future, said Matt Strawn, Powerball product group chair and Iowa Lottery CEO. We hope this growing jackpot inspires excitement and joy and, most importantly, good will to all. A portion of every ticket helps support programs and services that benefit local communities.
The next drawing takes place on Christmas Eve at 10:59 p.m. EST. And while it’s rare, a winner could claim the grand prize this very night. It happened once before, on December 24, 2011. Historically, Christmas Day has been a bit merrier for Powerball players, with four winners over the years having claimed the jackpot on December 25in 1996, 2002, 2010, and 2013.
Not quite a billionaire
Still, even if a lucky Powerball player’s Christmas wish came true (and what a wish!), that doesn’t mean they’ll have $1.7 billion in the bank when its all said and done. According to Powerball, after federal taxes the lump-sum prize will have an estimated cash value of $781.3 million.
But that’s before state taxeswhich vary widely across the countrycome into play. Some states take a hefty portion of lottery winnings: In Maryland, the tax rate is 9.5%; in New York, its 8.82%; while New Jersey takes 8%. Washington, D.C., imposes the highest tax on lottery prizes: a whopping 10.75%.
On the other end of the spectrum, a winner in Arizona would have to turn over just 2.5% of the prize to the state. Indiana and Louisiana take 3% and North Dakota takes 3.9%. A handful of locations won’t take a dime of the winnings. If you live in California, South Dakota, Washington, New Hampshire, Texas, Wyoming, Tennessee, or Puerto Rico, the jackpot is yours to keep after federal taxes are imposed.
Therefore, after all the taxes are sliced off the top, the final takeaway could range from $492,261,980 for locations with no state tax down to $408,272,230 for Washington, D.C.
While no one has walked away with the grand prize just yet, nine tickets in the most recent drawing matched five numbers, earning $1 million prizes: one each in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Wisconsin, and two in New York. That drawing produced 28 tickets eligible for $100,000 in winnings, and more than 100 tickets worth $50,000. Hardly a Dollar Store stocking stuffer!
The S&P 500 hit a record high on Wednesday, with broad gains across sectors supporting the main indexes during a shortened Christmas Eve session.
The benchmark S&P 500 touched an intraday record high of 6,921.42 points, surpassing its previous peak in October, as investors continued to bet on more interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve next year following mixed economic data.
The U.S. economy grew at its fastest pace in two years in the third quarter, government data showed on Tuesday, after the release was delayed by a 43-day federal shutdown. Worsening consumer confidence in December and a flat reading on November factory production, however, tempered the outlook.
Data on December 24 showed new applications for U.S. jobless benefits unexpectedly fell last week.
“Despite ongoing seasonal volatility, initial jobless claims remain in ranges consistent with relatively steady labor market conditions and don’t change our outlook for the labor market or Fed policy,” said Nancy Vanden Houten, lead economist at Oxford Economics.
Trading volumes were thin, with U.S. stock markets set to close at 1 p.m. ET (1800 GMT) on Wednesday. The markets will remain shut on Thursday for Christmas.
Micron Technology jumped 4% to scale a record high, extending its rally after issuing a strong forecast last week. Bank stocks were also among the top boosts to the S&P 500, with financials rising 0.4% to a new peak.
Recent gains in U.S. stocks have spurred hopes of a “Santa Claus rally,” a seasonal phenomenon where the S&P 500 posts gains in the last five trading days of the year and the first two in January, according to Stock Trader’s Almanac.
That period began on December 24 and would run through January 5.
At 10:36 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 167.50 points, or 0.35%, to 48,610.95. The S&P 500 gained 10.24 points, or 0.15%, to 6,920.24, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 2.48 points, or 0.01%, to 23,558.35.
U.S. equities have swung sharply this year as tariff-related headlines, concerns about high valuations in technology and AI companies, and rapidly shifting interest-rate expectations boosted volatility.
Wall Street’s “fear gauge” was hovering near its lowest since December 2024.
Still, the bull market, which began in October 2022, stayed intact as optimism around AI, rate cuts, and a resilient economy supported sentiment, with all three main indexes set for their third straight yearly gain.
In the year ahead, global markets will be closely watch potential successors to Fed Chair Jerome Powell, after President Donald Trump said on Tuesday anyone who disagrees with him would “never be the Fed chairman.”
Nike climbed 4.7% after Apple CEO Tim Cook, the sportswear giant’s lead independent director, bought about $3 million worth of shares.
Intel fell 1.6% following a report that said Nvidia has halted tests to manufacture on Intel’s 18A chipmaking node after initial tests.
Dynavax Technologies surged 38.5% after French drugmaker Sanofi said it would buy the U.S. vaccines company for around $2.2 billion.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.69-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.33-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 11 new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 43 new highs and 117 new lows.
By Sruthi Shankar and Shashwat Chauhan, Reuters
The European Union, France, and Germany condemned U.S. visa bans on five Europeans combating online hate and disinformation on Wednesday, after President Donald Trump‘s administration took its latest swipe at long-standing allies across the Atlantic.
Washington imposed visa bans on Tuesday on five European citizens, including French former EU commissioner Thierry Breton. It accuses them of working to censor freedom of speech or unfairly target U.S. tech giants with burdensome regulation.
The bans mark a fresh escalation against Europe, a region Washington argues is fast becoming irrelevant due to its weak defences, inability to tackle immigration, needless red tape, and “censorship” of far-right and nationalist voices to keep them from power.
Europeans forces to rethink Transatlantic ties
They come just weeks after a U.S. National Security Strategy document warned Europe faced “civilizational erasure” and must course-correct if it is to remain a reliable U.S. ally.
That documentand other comments by senior Trump officials, including a bombshell February speech by Vice President JD Vance in Munichhave upended postwar assumptions about Europe’s close relationship with its strongest ally, and concentrated minds across European capitals on the urgent need to diversify away from reliance on U.S. technology and defence.
In Brussels, Paris, and Berlin, senior officials condemned the U.S. bans and defended Europe’s right to legislate on how foreign companies operate locally.
A European Commission spokesperson said it “strongly condemns the U.S. decision”, adding: “Freedom of expression is a fundamental right in Europe and a shared core value with the United States across the democratic world.”
The spokesperson said the EU would seek answers from Washington, but said it could “respond swiftly and decisively” against the “unjustified measures”.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who has been travelling across France to warn about the dangers that disinformation poses to democracy, said he had spoken with Breton and thanked him for his work.
“We will not give up, and we will protect Europe’s independence and the freedom of Europeans,” Macron said on X.
DSA angers DC
Breton, a former French finance minister and the European commissioner for the internal market from 2019 to 2024, was one of the architects of the EU’s Digital Services Act.
A landmark piece of legislation, the DSA aims to make the internet safer by compelling tech giants to do more to tackle illegal content, including hate speech and child sexual abuse material.
But the DSA has riled the Trump administration, which accuses the EU of placing “undue” restrictions on freedom of expression in its efforts to combat hateful speech, misinformation, and disinformation. It also argues that the DSA unfairly targets U.S. tech giants and U.S. citizens.
Trump officials were particularly upset earlier this month when Brussels sanctioned Elon Musk’s X platform, fining it 120 million euros for breaching online content rules. Musk and Breton have often sparred online over EU tech regulation, with Musk referring to him as the “tyrant of Europe”.
Breton, the most high-profile individual targeted, wrote on X: “Is McCarthy’s witch hunt back?”
Germany says bans on activists ‘unacceptable’
The bans also targeted Imran Ahmed, the British CEO of the U.S.-based Center for Countering Digital Hate; Anna-Lena von Hodenberg and Josephine Ballon of the German non-profit HateAid; and Clare Melford, co-founder of the Global Disinformation Index, according to U.S. Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers.
Germany’s justice ministry said the two German activists had the government’s “support and solidarity” and the visa bans on them were unacceptable, adding that HateAid supported people affected by unlawful digital hate speech.
“Anyone who describes this as censorship is misrepresenting our constitutional system,” it said in a statement. “The rules by which we want to live in the digital space in Germany and in Europe are not decided in Washington.”
Britain said it was committed to upholding the right to free speech.
“While every country has the right to set its own visa rules, we support the laws and institutions which are working to keep the internet free from the most harmful content,” a British government spokesperson said in a statement.
A Global Disinformation Index spokesperson called the visa bans “an authoritarian attack on free speech and an egregious act of government censorship.”
“The Trump Administration is, once again, using the full weight of the federal government to intimidate, censor, and silence voices they disagree with,” they said. “Their actions today are immoral, unlawful, and un-American.”
Breton is not the first French person to be sanctioned by the Trump administration.
In August, Washington sanctioned French judge Nicolas Yann Guillou, who sits on the International Criminal Court, for the tribunal’s targeting of Israeli leaders and a past decision to investigate U.S. officials.
Sudip Kar-Gupta, Gabriel Stargardter, Sarah Marsh, and Sam Tabahriti, Reuters
In many states, you can get kicked out of your home if the local government thinks someone else will generate more tax revenue.
The Takings Clause is a part of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, and it says that if the government wants to take away someone’s private property, they have to do it in a way that’s fair. Most of us grew up hearing adults say that life isnt fair. And theyre rightit isnt. Neither is an authority forcing you to give up your property for whatever they think is fair.
Courts have said the government can take your property if it’s for something that benefits the public, like building a road or a park. As if that couldnt go wrong.
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How did we get here?!
In the years leading up to the American Revolution, the British government had a policy of taking land from private citizens and giving it to favored individuals or companies for economic development. This practice, known as eminent domain or expropriation, was a major source of frustration for colonists, who were aghast at the violation of their property rights.
The Proclamation of 1763 forbade American colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains, because British officials might move to the colonies and want some land. This policy prevented colonists from using the land for farming or hunting, and was one of the factors that contributed to the war for independence.
The overreach by a central authority was fresh in Americans minds when the Virginia Declaration of Rights was adopted in 1776. Its one of this countrys earliest documents to recognize the importance of property rights. The Declaration said “all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which . . . the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.
Property rights are essential to individual liberty and should be protected by the government, but there was always a fanbase for central power. During the debates at the Constitutional Convention in 1787, there was significant discussion about the need to protect private property rights. James Madison argued that without such protections, the government could seize property at will, which would be a threat to individual liberty. Madison proposed a protection of property rights, which eventually became the Fifth Amendment.
This was only a decade after Americans experienced the widespread abuse of eminent domain that some of their new leaders were saying ackshully, taking your property by force is for the greater good.
In the early 19th century, the Supreme Court ruled that private property could only be taken for public use and with just compensation. This principle was reaffirmed in several cases, including Pumpelly v. Green Bay Co. (1872) and Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Co. v. City of Chicago (1897).
Later decisions expanded on this idea, such as the landmark case of Kelo v. City of New London in 2005, which held that the government could take private property for economic development purposes.
Kelo v. The Man
In 2005, the Supreme Court ruled the government could use its power to take Susette Kelos private property for economic development purposes, even though her property was not blighted or in disrepair. The city where she lived wanted Pfizer to have her property along with a bunch of other properties, because Pfizer would generate more tax revenue than a lowly nurse and other working class households.
The homeowners in the affected area argued that this was an improper use of eminent domain, but the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the city, claiming the taking was permissible because it was part of a comprehensive redevelopment plan to create jobs and increase tax revenue.
Some states were angered enough to pass laws limiting the use of eminent domain.
Pfizer didnt even end up building what they promised, and the land ended up being sold for people not named Susette Kelo to live on Susette Kelos old property.
Why do I vent about this?
Because I want you to wrestle with the idea that eminent domaintaking property by forceis a power move. I want you to feel something between discomfort and rage when you hear about people being forced to let a road widening take over their front yard, or being forced to move out of their home to make way for some corporation.
Weve gotten to a place in modern culture where the press equates property rights and right wing extremist, sending a not-so-subtle message to readers or viewers that you dont want to side with those people. But property rights arent a right/left or red/blue issue. My most left-wing friend should be a staunch property rights advocate to hold big corporate power at bay.
The British Empire was hardly a left-wing operative, taking what they wanted when they wanted in the 1700s. And the City of New London was definitely not pushing a working-class agenda as it kicked out homeowners to make way for Big Pharma in the early 2000s.
If you shrug at a government having the power to take stuff just because, then all your other rights and protections are up for grabs.
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Bruce Springsteen said it best: “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town.”
While the rest of us are wrapping up work, Santa Claus is in the midst of his busiest day of the year, flying across the globe, distributing wrapped-up Christmas gifts to hundreds of million of kids.
Want to know where Santa is, and when he’s coming to your town?
For real-time tracking of Santa and his reindeer, NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, is providing a live feed all day on Christmas Eve, Wednesday, December 24, which started with Santa’s departure from the North Pole this morning at 6 a.m. ET.
Eager kidsand let’s face it, just-as-excited adultscan “see” where Santa is from moment to moment (at the time of this writing: Russia) over at NORADs website by clicking on View Santas route on a 2D map and Santa’s big red hat.
At last look, Santa hit some snow over Russia on his way down to the Indian Ocean, and has been delivering a lot of packages: 2,026,550,394 to be exact, at last glance at the gift tracker in the upper right corner.
What is Santa’s route?
NORAD has been tracking Santa’s route for the past 70 years, which traditionally takes him from the North Pole, down the International Date Line to the Pacific Ocean, through the South Pacific, New Zealand, and Australia. Then, he typically heads west through Asia, Africa, and Europe, before crossing the Atlantic Ocean to Canada, then here to the U.S., before heading south to Mexico, Central America, then South America.
However, keep in mind that due to weather, Santa’s route can change.
How to track Santa on social media
In addition to NORAD’s live map, the Command center is also posting updates on the NORAD Tracks Santa app, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and X; and precocious kids everywhere can speak to Santa by calling 1-877-HI-NORAD (1-877-446-6723).
A pro-Russian hacking group claimed responsibility for a major cyberattack that halted package deliveries by France’s national postal service just days before Christmas, prosecutors said Wednesday.After the claim by the cybercrime group known as Noname057, French intelligence agency DGSI took over the investigation into the hacking attack, the Paris prosecutor’s office said in a statement to The Associated Press.The group has been accused of other cyberattacks in Europe, including around a NATO summit in the Netherlands and French government sites. It was the target of a big European police operation earlier this year.Central computer systems at French national postal service La Poste were knocked offline Monday in a distributed denial of service, or DDoS, cyberattack that still wasn’t fully resolved by Wednesday morning, the company said.Postal workers couldn’t track package deliveries, and online payments at the company’s banking arm were also disrupted. It was a major blow to La Poste, which delivered 2.6 billion packages last year and employs more than 200,000 people, during the busiest season of the year.France and other European allies of Ukraine allege that Russia is waging a campaign of “hybrid warfare” to sow division in Western societies and undermine their support for Ukraine. The AP has tracked more than 145 incidents including sabotage, assassinations, cyberattacks, disinformation and other hostile acts that are increasingly draining police resources.
Associated Press
