Not a problem. Order a Quarter Pounder: The keto dweeb gets the meat, the vegetarian gets everything else, and have Uber Eats deliver it. Problem solved.

Read it.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is asking his state’s attorney general to investigate how a network of private organizations is colluding with the Biden administration to facilitate the worst border crisis in American history.

Like the European NGOs providing fake migrant ‘rescues’ in the Mediterranean.

Read it.

People in the “news business” are very upset that interest in their work is fading, and business isn’t booming. But in sharply divided times, the “news” too often sounds like it goes from one extreme to another. It comes across as either viciously negative or mawkishly positive. It feels less like information and more like propaganda.
On December 12, CBS Mornings gushed over filmm

ker Alexandra Pelosi, who’s made a series of political documentaries for HBO. But the latest is Pelosi in the House, a valentine to her mother and her career. This isn’t a first for HBO. Ten years ago, Rory Kennedy made a film about her mother Ethel, the widow of Robert F. Kennedy. At least, Ethel Kennedy didn’t have her own political legacy to promote. But these are more like home movies. What makes them interesting is daughters making films about their mothers.

CBS, like other supine publicists, touted Alexandra’s “extraordinary access,” which is actually quite ordinary for mother and daughter. She ridiculously claimed “I was never actually given permission” to film. CBS, like other soft-touch outlets, let Alexandra claim “I’m not a political person.” This is transparently false. You can’t make political documentaries and claim you’re not a political person.

UPDATE: Here Are The Worst Moments From Alexandra Pelosi’s HBO Doc On Her Mom

Ukraine Situation Report: Russia Relying On ‘Degraded’ Ammo Says Pentagon

Success! Air Force’s First Hypersonic Weapon Completes Full Test With Flying Colors

Army Has Newly Modified Vehicles For Impersonating Russian And French Types

U.S. sends first shipment of power gear to aid Ukraine (Reuters)

Grim winter takes hold in Ukraine: US and its NATO allies need to act before it’s too late (The Hill)

Group Behind 9/11 Gets Hands on Material to Make Nuclear Bomb—Report (Newsweek)

Ukraine Attacked ‘Wagner HQ’ Using US-Supplied Rockets: Report

No longer science & technology projects, high-energy laser weapons are now operational

The Black Market For Oil Is Booming  Markets work, even when you don’t want them to.

Zelenskyy: Putin’s Death Would End War  So would Zelensky’s, I suspect.

Ex-Marine Faces Charges Over Chinese Military Pilot Training

Read it.

Really, you just can’t make this shit up.

Read it.

We have the technology.

Join that to the ‘robot workers’ trend and eventually they won’t send paramedics, just a drone with a big box of bandages and directions to the nearest hospital. (Maybe with a 10%-off coupon.)

UPDATE: Find My lays out global anatomy of an iPhone theft  You won’t get your property back, and nobody will go to jail, but at least you get to watch an episode of Where In The World Is Fred’s iPhone.

The only photograph of Maxine Waters smiling.

Read it.

Anarchy gets a bad rap, mainly because the word sounds cool and gets used as a synonym for chaos, disorder and violence. A lot of people will laugh when you bring up the idea of anarchist leadership, or anarchist organizations. When you introduce yourself as an anarchist you often wind up needing to cover a fair amount of rhetorical ground just to convince people you’re not a violent maniac or an adult with the brain of a teenage skateboard punk from a Disney Channel Original movie.

There are a lot of different ways to ‘do’ anarchy, but the general goal is always the same: the dismantling of unjust hierarchies. Murray Bookchin was an American. The ideas that wound up shaping the system in Rojava were originally conceived because they were the system he thought could best take hold in the United States. Bookchin saw massive, dense urban areas making laws for rural mountain-dwellers hundreds of miles away. He saw small-town voters forcing their beliefs on cosmopolitan city-dwellers via legislation. The goal of Libertarian Municipalism was to break down these unfair hierarchies.

Is there such a thing? Read and find out.

Europe is simply switching gas dependency from Russia to U.S.-RIA cites Kremlin (Reuters)

Analysis Shows More Iranian-Made Drones in Strikes on Ukraine Infrastructure

Nato Chief Fears Ukraine Will Precipitate “Major War” Between West and Russia

Which Countries Believe WWIII Is Coming?

WINNING: Big Brother And The Invisibility Cloak

INFORMATION WARFARE: Russian Cyber War Fails In Ukraine

Fighting Rages in East Ukraine, West Eyes More Sanctions on Russia

Pentagon Gives Tacit Support For Ukrainian Drone Attacks Deep Inside Russia

Report: Russia Using Ukrainian-Made Missiles Against Ukraine

Zelensky Seen Sitting On Mall Santa’s Lap Asking For Another $50 Billion (Babylon Bee)

Israel Threatens to Bomb Beirut Airport if Iran Smuggles Weapons: Report  Unlike Democrats, the Israelis are not to be fucked with.

Ukraine Intelligence: Russian Military Loses 24 Tanks in a Single Day  Well, were did you see them last?

Read it.

One Negro: Check.

One woman: Check.

I guess they couldn’t find a Nonbinary Person of Color for their largesse. Pity.

A prison inmate … votes Republican? votes Democrat?

A convicted felon … votes Republican? votes Democrat?

A drug cartel minion … votes Republican? votes Democrat?

A drug dealer … votes Republican? votes Democrat?

A drug addict … votes Republican? votes Democrat?

A homeless ‘street person’ … votes Republican? votes Democrat?

A coyote human trafficker … votes Republican? votes Democrat?

A person with tattoos … votes Republican? votes Democrat?

A person with body piercings … votes Republican? votes Democrat?

A person with unnaturally colored hair … votes Republican? votes Democrat?

Someone who follows a daily horoscope … votes Republican? votes Democrat?

A Wiccan … votes Republican? votes Democrat?

A modern ‘pagan’ … votes Republican? votes Democrat?

A pedophile … vote Republican? votes Democrat?

Read it.

AT MOFFETT FIELD in Mountain View, Calif., Lighter Than Air (LTA) Research is floating a new approach to a technology that saw its rise and fall a century ago: airships. Although airships have long since been supplanted by planes, LTA, which was founded in 2015 by CEO Alan Weston, believes that through a combination of new materials, better construction techniques, and technological advancements, airships are poised to—not reclaim the skies, certainly—but find a new niche.

Although airships never died off entirely—the Goodyear blimps, familiar to sports fans, are proof of that—the industry was already in decline by 1937, the year of the Hindenburg disaster. By the end of World War II, airships couldn’t compete with the speed airplanes offered, and they required larger crews. Today, what airships still linger serve primarily for advertising and sightseeing.

LTA’s Pathfinder 1 carries bigger dreams than hovering over a sports stadium, however. The company sees a natural fit for airships in humanitarian and relief missions. Airships can stay aloft for long periods of time, in case ground conditions aren’t ideal, have a long range, and carry significant payloads, according to Carl Taussig, LTA’s chief technical officer.

Read it.

Engineers ought not to design products. Products need to be designed by users, or with users in close proximity to the design process–and never go to market without extensive User Acceptance Testing. “Looks cool” doesn’t square with “practical”, and practical is what drives sales.

I wish there were a mutual fund that tracked the Obesity Index. That would be an investment.

ZMan’s weekly podcast. Highly recommended.

Years ago I did a show on what it means to be on the dissident right, but it was long enough ago to revisit the topic. Back when I did the show, hardly anyone used the term so it was a different conversation than today, when lots of people use it. In fact, far too many people recklessly throw around the label. Just because you got booted from your Facebook group for using the N-word does not make you a dissident.

What you see is lots of people who used to claim the label alt-right having stopped using that now discredited term and picking up this new label. Their opinions have not changed and their understanding has not changed. They just needed a new label so they scanned around and found one that had not be ruined yet. In many cases, these people have no coherent politics at all, just grievances.

Read it.

Tell the truth: You didn’t miss them, did you?

Read it.

We treat those inside differently than we do those outside. This is necessary and good. The disaster at the southern border is an illustration of what happens when a community refuses to police its boundaries. A nation simply can’t exist without them. But neither can any human organization, whether it’s the family, a neighborhood, a corporation, or a school of thought. Knowing who’s “in” and who’s “out” is essential for allocating resources, building consensus, and organizing effectively to pursue goals.

At the same time, policing the wrong boundaries—or policing them too severely—can lead to paralysis and death. From the 1960s until the end of the Obama Administration, the borders of the conservative movement were very clearly understood. This was true even as, or perhaps in part because, the movement was growing more and more sclerotic. Trump played a key role in breaking up this ossified Republican establishment, but he wasn’t the initiator. The structure was already hollowing out, and Trump’s victory in the 2016 primaries only administered the final push.

The rain came down, the floods rushed in, the winds blew and beat against that house, and great was the fall of it. After the collapse, we didn’t simply aim to re-build. We set ourselves to the work of building a new movement—leaner, stronger, and custom-designed for the powerful new storms we face. Elements of the old guard have recognized the need for something new and brought their wisdom to bear on the new coalition. But many have “self-deported” or been replaced. The old priests of the commentariat—Boot, Kristol, French, etc.—have been cast, teeth gnashing, into the outer darkness, and a great diversity of new voices and ideas has risen to prominence.

In the last six years, we have made enormous progress. So much, in fact, that some are feeling the urge to begin marking our new borders and policing who is inside and outside. This is a natural impulse, and it is a task that will need to be done eventually—but in my view, it is too early to begin gatekeeping. There is still much building to be done, after all, and our progress to this point has been a product of a vigorous dialogue among a broad array of thinkers with divergent ideas and common interests. Nevertheless, we do need strategies that allow us to best allocate our resources. We need some criteria by which to evaluate where effective alliances can be made—a way to know the people with whom we can have a productive dialogue, and a way to know when we’re wasting our breath. I propose two criteria by which to make these determinations: honesty and sacrifice.

Trump at his worst is still better for the country than any Democrat at his (or her) best.

That’s all you really need to know.

Read it.

Yet another rich person’s toy.

Read it.

Since cities are the base of Democrat cronyism and corruption, which is in turn the foundation of their electoral power, they would appear to be in trouble.

ZMan jerks back the curtain.

The reason our elections are meaningless, of course, is that no human society ever subjects important things to democracy. The old joke about if voting mattered, they would not let us do it was funny because it is true. There is no correlation between public opinion and public policy. This study from 2014 went through 1800 issues and found no link between what the people told the politicians they wanted and what the politicians eventually did.

If nothing important is ever subjected to democracy and democracy never results in the public will manifesting in public policy, then why are people hooked on the act of voting and why is democracy an object of worship. Based on observation it appears there is no argument that can be made to convince the bulk of the people to end this absurd charade we call voting. Suggest a boycott of the process and the typical suburban peasant gives you a sermon about democracy.

Compounding this bizarre worship of democracy is that most modern people live a third of their lives as fascists. The self-employed person has almost disappeared from the labor market. Small business is following the self-employed into the abyss as big business dominates the marketplace. That means most people work in companies that operate along fascist principles. If half of your waking life is committed to fascism, how in the world has democracy become an object of worship?

Bipartisan Group Of US Senators Warns CCP Over Quelling Of Protests

Putin Cronies Resort to Begging on Live TV Over War Failures (Daily Beast)

EU Is Erecting Russian War Crimes Tribunal: “Russia Must Pay”  Good luck with that.

PROCUREMENT: Unique Russian Production Delays

ARTILLERY: Frankenmissile For Ukraine

The G7 Cap On Russian Oil Is A Subsidy To China

Russia Will Not Go Along With Oil Price Cap, Kremlin Confirms  My, what a surprise.

House GOP Drafting Bill Banning TikTok for Federal Employees

Airbases Deep Inside Russia Rocked By Explosions; New Wave Of Airstrikes Pummel Ukraine

Putin Unleashes Missiles Across Ukraine; Drones Hit Bases Deep Inside Russia

Read it.

Okay, just to prove I can be serious. I agree, there are a whole ton of things Republicans in office should be doing that they aren’t doing. But I’m sticking with the party because of what they don’t do.

Ukraine Situation Report: Kremlin Says Putin Will ‘Eventually’ Visit Donbas

Ukraine war: Zelensky calls West’s Russian oil cap ‘weak’ (BBC)

FBI director raises national security concerns about TikTok (Associated Press)

Estonia to buy US rocket artillery system in $200M deal (Associated Press)

Hungary Says It Will Veto EU-Ukraine 18 Billion Euro Aid Package

European Commission Recommends Freezing Funds for Hungary

Armor: Why BTGs Died In Ukraine

US Intel Chief Thinking ‘Optimistically’ for Ukraine Forces

OPEC+ Oil Producers Face Uncertainty Over Russian Sanctions

Iran Rejects UN Mission

Hypersonic Weapons

NATO Exists To Solve The Problems Created By NATO’s Existence

Zelensky Seeks To Ban Russian Orthodox Church In Ukraine

China Operating Illegal Police Stations Worldwide

We’re America’s most loyal ally in Syria. Don’t forget us. (Washington Post)

Ukraine Wheat Harvest Crushed Expectations: Satellite Analysis

Read it.

If you’re really using your computer, your desktop should almost never be visible. Your screen should be covered with information, with whatever data you’re working on. I can’t imagine why you’d willingly stare at a static background image– or even a background image covered with a sea of icons. Unless you consider your computer a really expensive digital picture frame, I suppose.

The desktop background, as I see it, is completely superfluous. My desktop “background” right now is plain black. And that doesn’t bother me in the least, because none of it is visible. I have browser windows and programs– the things I’m actually doing — covering all three monitors. When I’m using a computer, I make it my goal to never see the desktop background. Every time the desktop background is visible, that means I’m making poor use of my monitor pixels. Whenever the desktop background peeks through, I treat it like a reprimand.

A distinction too often ignored in real life.

Read it.

But amidst all the liberal revelry lies an uncomfortable, little-reported fact: Democrats lost the House popular vote by three points.

Remember the popular vote? The popular vote!

My goodness, Hillary Clinton still probably mutters about winning the popular vote in her sleep. The left has been in love with the popular vote since 2016, and it’s easy to see why: 2022 was the first time the Democrats lost the House popular vote since Hillary’s 2016 loss, when the GOP prevailed by one point. The Democrats won the House popular vote by three points in 2020 and by nearly nine points in 2018.

Welcome to Texas.

Read it.

The chief appeal of cashier-less tech is that one no longer needs to hire and pay cashiers.

Thank you, minimum wage!

Thank you, Union label!

Thank you, OSHA! (Thank you, Richard Nixon!)

Read it.

nitially, I started with the idea that climate was an attractive industry for “doomer” types, and I painted their motivations monolithically. I was searching for the one weird reason that was causing hordes of people to drop what they were doing and march, hypnotically, towards the same problem space.

What I found instead is that while the media still portrays climate as a simple question of beliefs, the climate field has long moved on to diversified solutions. Whether one believes in climate change is no longer the interesting question; now it’s “What do you think is the right approach?”

Pass through the asteroid belt of climate doomerism, and the universe expands into a rich panoply of different climate tribes. People who work in and around climate don’t all believe the same things. Instead, they inhabit a parallel, mirror world that looks a lot like the non-climate world. Just like in the regular world, there are factions, politics, and competing belief systems.

Read it.

I worked in ‘open offices’ a lot in tech, and hated every minute of it. In an ‘open office’, you are in involuntary participant in everybody else’s conversation. If you are doing intellectual work (like, say, programming or data modeling), concentration is impossible. Productivity falls through the floor. The money management saves is obvious; the loss of productivity is not; and so we all wind up living in a Dilbert cartoon.

China poses increasing threat in military space race, top U.S. general says

U.S. weighs sending 100-mile strike weapon to Ukraine (Reuters)

Size Of British Army To Hit 200-Year Low, Only Sufficient To “Stay At Home & Tootle Around” Warns SecDef

PROCUREMENT: Belarus And The Russian War Effort

North Korean ICBM launch detected using GPS

US bans Chinese telecoms imports – won’t even consider authorizing them  Finally waking up.

China Poses Increasing Threat in Military Space Race, US General Warns

20 NATO States “Pretty Tapped Out” After Weapons Transfers To Ukraine

Read it.

Since around 2013, wealthy Chinese nationals have shifted away from traditional birth tourism, whereby a pregnant Chinese woman comes to the United States with the intention of having her baby born here. Instead, they have increasingly relied on American surrogates to bear their children.

Hire an American breeder to cook your kid. Bada-boom bada-bing, your Chinese kid is an American citizen. Such a deal.

Producing a child in the United States has many perks. At birth, children gain and maintain full U.S. citizenship, birth certificates and social security numbers, access to education, and a path for their biological parents to receive a green card when the child turns 21. Some agencies promote themselves as a “cheaper alternative than an EB-5 visa,” which costs $500,000 plus scads of time and paperwork.

With birth tourism, a pregnant woman must obtain a visa, travel to the U.S. to give birth, and find an agency to house and help secure the necessary paperwork before returning to China. The process can take months.

Now, however, a Chinese couple or individual can simply work with a U.S. based agency to send their reproductive material (sperm, egg, or embryo) to an IVF lab and implant it in a hired surrogate to produce a viable pregnancy. All without ever leaving China.

And if you hire a black woman, it can probably claim BIPOC Privilege as well. (‘Here’s a picture of my mom and a certificate from the hospital where I was born.’) Is this a great country or what?

ZMan discusses some inconvenient truth.

Given the current trajectory, it is reasonable to think that in the not too distant future some alien race will be digging through the rubble of humanity trying to figure out what happened to this strange species. Just as modern archeologists dig through ruins of ancient societies, trying to figure out what happened, those aliens will be doing the same with earth. They will dig through whatever is left, things like buildings, tools and cemeteries, piecing together the story of man.

The thing they will not find among the decaying buildings, rusting vehicles and collapsed bridges will be piles of human rights. They will not open a door of some oddly preserved building and find a bunch of skeletons who had found shelter along with their sacred human rights. In fact, they will probably find no trace of human rights or any discussion of the concept. Given that most of our knowledge is now digital, these sorts of things will be impossible to detect.

The main reason for this is human rights do not exist. They are a thing that humans invented late in the history of mankind. People say that human rights are real and point to various authorities to support the claim, but rights are not real things. They exist only as a figment of our imagination, like the concept of lust. No other species has this concept so it is possible the aliens will not understand it either. It will be as alien to them as our entirely made up concept of human rights.