31 DEC 25 SITREP

1. Netflix Indoctrinates Kids With Stranger Things Wokeness

• Stranger Things is marketed to children and families and then uses that audience to introduce multiple gay characters, which critics frame as deliberate messaging rather than coincidence.
• The show presents itself as a depiction of middle America in the 1980s but is criticized for reshaping that era to align with modern political and LGBTQ priorities, a move described as outright historical revisionism.
• The corporate context is cited as central to this critique, including Susan Rice’s position on Netflix’s board and the company’s multimillion-dollar deals with Barack and Michelle Obama.
• Overall, the series is characterized as a product of Hollywood’s peak “wokeness” era, before the industry began pivoting away from this approach following significant fan backlash.

2. Jack Smith Says He Would Prosecute Trump Again, Claims Evidence Met Criminal Standard

• The House Judiciary Committee released a 255-page transcript and video of former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s deposition tied to the classified documents and January 6 investigations.
• Smith said his team developed evidence that Trump willfully retained highly classified documents after leaving office, stored them in unsecured Mar-a-Lago locations including a ballroom and bathroom, and attempted to obstruct justice.
• He insisted his prosecutorial decisions were politically neutral, said he would prosecute any former president under the same facts, and defended subpoenaed toll records as limited to call-routing data.
• Smith acknowledged juries ultimately determine guilt but maintained he believed the evidence met the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard, drawing scrutiny for unusually definitive language.

3. UK Prime Minister Backpedals After Antisemitic Posts Surface From Activist He Helped Bring to Britain

• UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer sought to distance himself from years of advocacy for Egyptian activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah after historic antisemitic social media posts resurfaced following El-Fattah’s release and arrival in the UK.
• Starmer and senior officials had previously praised El-Fattah’s pardon and British citizenship, but later condemned his past statements as “absolutely abhorrent” amid heightened sensitivity around antisemitism.
• Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper admitted the Foreign Office failed to brief ministers and MPs on the posts, calling it an unacceptable internal failure that left officials publicly advocating without full information.
• The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has been instructed to urgently review consular and human-rights case handling and report back to Parliament once procedural changes are implemented.

FINAL WORD

Taken together, these episodes reveal how media figures, prosecutors, and political leaders are increasingly willing to speak in maximalist terms without fully accounting for legal reality, institutional limits, or downstream consequences. In each case, authority was asserted first and clarified later, allowing critics to define the narrative and erode trust in the speaker’s role and judgment. The throughline is not ideology but institutional carelessness that predictably turns controversy into self-inflicted damage.