Early district reports crush media’s fears of GOP gerrymandering  Turns out it’s the Democrats who are doing most of the ‘gerrymandering’.

Long before embracing Trump’s false election claims, Rep. Scott Perry promoted groundless theories (Washington Post)

Conservative dark-money group bankrolled almost every major Republican effort in Colorado last year, tax docs show (Colorado Sun)

QAnon-Friendly Event Attendees Are Coming Down Sick—They Think It’s Anthrax (Newsweek)

Far-Right Group Fantasizes They’ve Been Attacked With Anthrax (Daily Beast) There is no right but the far-right.

US army veteran wore wire for FBI to expose KKK members (The Guardian)

Delusional: Hannah-Jones Complains Media Aren’t Biased Enough Against Republicans

Atlantic Writer: ‘Manchin Has Virtually Sealed the Planet’s Fate’

WORST OF 2021: The GOP Wants to Bring Back Jim Crow Award

Former Cop Scores Big Free Speech Win with U.K. Court of Appeal

Facebook Censors Catholic Group for Fighting Abuse of Christian Women

Facebook mistakenly auto-bans Merry Christmas message from Canadian MP

After weeks walking, Mexico migrant caravan splits up on buses headed north (Reuters) The photo op is over. Looks as if the Mexican government is facilitating this new invasion. Of course, nothing will be done about that.

Thousands of Haitians Have Been Admitted Into the U.S. This Week, Report Says

ABC Grills Biden on Covid ‘Failure’: ‘How Did You Get It Wrong?’

Biden EPA Mandates New Regulations To Force Electric Vehicle Transition

Biden Emerges as Progressive Government’s Mr. Bad Example

LIE OF THE YEAR: ‘I Will Shut Down The Virus’

Sen. Paul Details $52 Billion Federal “Waste” In Annual ‘Festivus Report’

The Obsession With the Black/White Wealth Gap Protects the Elites

The Daunte Wright NYT Readers Don’t Know!

Racial Differences in Time at Work Not Working

Chesa Boudin: We’re blaming the wrong things for San Francisco retail theft (SFGate)

Alarm as Texas quietly restarts controversial voting program (The Guardian)

Washington Post ripped after reporting on World War II soldier survey: ‘Your grandparents are canceled’

‘Greatest Generation’ survey on race, sex and combat during World War II runs counter to its wholesome image (Washington Post) I.e. they aren’t as Woke as the Post.

10 Illinois firefighters walk off job after man convicted of arson appointed new chief

5 in custody after congresswoman carjacked at FDR Park, vehicle located in Delaware

Democratic congresswoman who sponsored police ‘reform’ bill carjacked in crime-surging Philadelphia

WHO says vaccine booster programs will prolong Covid crisis: ‘No country can boost its way out of the pandemic’ (CNBC) TIME TO PANIC!

Fox News responds to Fauci’s call to fire network host

Air Force Allows Use Of Pronouns In Signatures

Democratic congresswoman carjacked in Philadelphia

ABC & NBC Ignore Carjacking of Congresswoman, CBS Gives Just 24 Seconds

UN Willing To Hire Taliban Guards To Protect Facilities To Tune Of $6 Million

Citing ‘Safety’ Concerns, China Tears Down Statue Commemorating Tiananmen Massacre Victims

FDA Used Incomplete Data To Justify Deregulation of Chemical Abortion Pills, Studies Show  Women who are willing to murder their children for convenience ought to be encouraged not to breed. Think of it as evolution in action.

Woke Corporations Ignore Human Rights Abuses, Lust For Chinese Profits

‘Good starts’ in the climate crisis aren’t cutting it (The Hill)

U.S. can get to 100% clean energy with wind, water, solar and zero nuclear, Stanford professor says

In Mexico, fertilizer used by farmers is fueling climate change (Washington Post)

At last I have good news on the climate crisis: all of us really can do something about it (The Guardian)

Discover Magazine Declares Victory Over Climate Deniers

Claim: Melting of the Antarctic ice sheet could cause multi-meter rise in sea levels by the end of the millennium  Looking forward to it … if it ever really happens.

Germany Burning More Coal, Renewable Energy Share Falling

130 Groups Ask CFTC To Shut Down “Dystopian” Water Futures Market

Britain’s hubristic green commissars can’t see the wood for the trees  Matt Ridley. ‘I can vouch that five days of living in the cold and dark when the nights are more than twice as long as the days does not half remind you of the value of reliable electricity, diesel cars (how else do you charge a phone?) and gas stoves to cook on – all three of which are about to be banned by the eco-commissars.’

Read it.

Suck on it, TSA!

Read it.

Red-necked falconry. Who could ask for anything more?

Read it.

Why is socialism growing more powerful in the United States? Because it directly benefits the gentry class: those running the country and those supporting them. This includes not just the political elite, but also the upper-middle-class, credentialed workers who work white-collar jobs – management and technology. The folks who can work remotely and get all their wants and needs delivered to their door.

…

Some might say I am nuts. The upper-middle class is the group in the highest tax brackets – the ones on which the burden of paying for government falls upon the most heavily. The working class and poor pay little to no income tax. Except part of that burden is s sleight-of-hand illusion. The top 10% of income earners have many ways of sheltering their income from taxes, which are often entered into the tax code in the interest of “fairness.” (An example is the recent attempt to remove ceilings on SALT tax deductions,) But more than that, those high tax rates are how they maintain their position in society. We do not have wealth taxes. Those who “have theirs” do not get what they do have taxed. They only get taxed on their income. As do their potential competitors.

Those potential competitors are the ones to whom high marginal tax rates are targeted. These are the Horatio Algers of American society. Those that arrive in this country penniless and through hard work, intelligent choices, and a little luck, build a business and amass wealth. But making money takes capital. High tax rates slow the accumulation of capital. Until capital grows to a critical mass, it is difficult to take the risks associated with starting a business unless you are willing to gamble everything on a low-odds effort. High tax rates ensure most of those who could potentially enter the top ten percent age out by the time they get there.

As I have been saying for years.

Read it.

More than you ever wanted to know about adhesive tape.

• What is Adhesive Tape?
• A Brief History of Tape
• How Adhesive Tape is Made
• What Makes Tape Stick
• Advantages of Pressure Sensitive Tape
• Why Tape Is Better Than Glue
• Choosing the Right Tape
• What Conditions Make Tape Fail?
• How To Test Tape
• How To Understand An Adhesive Tape Spec Sheet
• What is Adhesion Value, Exactly?
• Tensile Force vs. Shear Force
• Release Liners: What Are They and Why Do You Need Them?
• Why Adhesive Tape is a Universal Tool

Read it.

To combat desertification – a worldwide problem caused by, among other things, over-farming, mining, and climate change – Mazyar Etehadi from the Dubai Institute of Design and Innovation has proposed a small autonomous robot that is intended to live full-time in the desert planting trees.

A graduation project from Mazyar Etehadi, the “A’seedbot” is a small autonomous robot that inhabits the desert to cultivate its landscape.

David Friedman.

Tesla has been working for years on self-driving cars. A simpler project with a smaller but still significant market would be a self-driving wheelchair. The idea occurred to me talking with a woman whose husband suffered a serious stroke a few years ago, leaving him with a functional mind but imperfect control over his body. A motorized wheelchair would let him move around, but his vision is too unreliable to make that safe. If he could just tell his wheelchair to take him to the home office, or the dining room, or …

Read it.

A recently published paper explains how “concept creep” in the field of psychology has reshaped many aspects of modern society.

Whine, little snowflake/Quiver, quiver….

Read it.

The Genetic Lottery is not the only book published this summer to tackle controversial topics in biology.

…

Ask the average person whether intelligence is encoded in DNA and they’ll most likely say that yes, to some extent it is. As Harden points out, it is interesting that academics — some of the people most likely to be beneficiaries of an unequal distribution of genetic propensity to learn — are the ones most likely to deny that inequality. People dislike being asked to “check their privilege”. This must be especially true when that “privilege” is something that has attracted praise since earliest childhood, and something one has built one’s identity around.

Read it.

Apple’s AirTags are again making headlines for being involved in a stalking incident. According to a report from local news outlet WGRZ, officers from the West Seneca Police Department in New York are warning that AirTags have been involved in a pair of alleged stalking cases over the last month…

In the first instance, which occurred last month, a woman went to the West Seneca Police Department after her iPhone presented a notification about an AirTag found moving with her. In this situation, officers found an AirTag “under the bumper of the woman’s vehicle.”

…

In the second instance this week, a different woman received the same notification on her iPhone. She then went to the police department, but officers were unable to locate an AirTag.

Steve Sailer.

When white people pretend to belong to a Fashionable Minority, ‘Native American’ is a favorite because it’s easy to do.

Read it.

A former Princeton historian is suing the Ivy League school, accusing officials of urging him to study in Iran in the wake of the nuclear deal and then leaving him to “rot” in a notorious torture prison after he was arrested on bogus espionage charges.

Xiyue Wang alleges Princeton sent him to Iran to study for his doctorate in early 2016 but did little to help free him after his arrest months later on charges of spying for the United States. Wang was arrested in Iran on Aug. 7, 2016, and sentenced to 10 years in the regime’s Evin Prison, where Iran holds its political prisoners. He was freed in December 2019 in a prisoner exchange with the United States.

Read it.

“I got a lotta problems with you people, and now you’re going to hear about it!”
-Frank Costanza, Seinfeld

On December 23, we’re pulling out the ol’ aluminum pole to celebrate Festivus, a holiday made up by a TV sitcom. In that spirit, we have once again gathered a list of TV grievances to air as well as a feat of strength and a few Festivus miracles. Join us as we recount all the ways Hollywood has disappointed us this past year.

Read it.

The conflict between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas goes back decades. But earlier this year, an 11-day conflict between the two brought the eyes of the world back to the Middle East, where Hamas has resorted to using children in its campaign to destroy Israel.

“Hamas uses human shields on a regular basis,” terrorism expert Jonathan Schanzer says. “They actually send kids to the border fence with Israel and militants hide behind them.”

Read it.

So, you got a cold. It happens around this time every year, to almost everyone. You got the sniffles, your head is a little foggy, you have an occasional sneeze, there’s some persistent phlegm lingering in the back of your throat. It’s mildly annoying, and you’re reminded this is bound to happen at least once every winter, and life goes on as normal but with a few more tissues in your pocket. Give it three days, a week max. Maybe you take some over-the-counter medicine, have chicken soup for lunch, sleep next to a humidifier. Upon greeting friends or coworkers, you politely decline a handshake or hug. “Sorry, I’ve got a cold,” you tell them — and they appreciate your consideration. “Oh, I just got over that,” one might say, “something’s going around.” No one panics, no one cares, you’re still invited to the party, you can still go to dinner, you still go to the office.

That’s Omicron. To date, one person in the US has died with Omicron, and, note, that’s with Omicron, not from. “With” not “from” is how the germ fetishists in media, government and medicine came up with that apocalyptic number of 800,000 Covid-19 deaths in the US, reached this month. That number means nothing to anyone who’s been following the science, and is critical of the news. We knew back in 2020 that Covid-19 was about as lethal as a particularly nasty strain of flu, albeit this one was made by the Chinese in a lab, and the actual death toll was probably around 100,000, also on par with a very bad flu season.

Read it.

While Austria is cracking down on the unvaxed, illegal migrants continue to pour across the country’s borders. In contrast to ethnic Austrians, the invaders don’t need to show vaccine passports in order to gain access to their host country’s goodies.

Democrats riled by Spanish-language radio attacks on Kamala Harris (Politico)

Pelosi interrupted by heckler who shouted, ‘Let’s go, Brandon’

CBS Avoids Criticism of Biden Testing Flop

FLOP: CNN’s New Poll Shows It Failed to Spin Economic Coverage in Biden’s Favor

Biden Admin Ignores Law To Sanction Hamas and Hezbollah for Civilian Shield Use, Lawmakers Say

Biden Admin Extends Moratorium On Student Loan Payments Through May 1

Biden doesn’t follow the science, he cherry picks it But you knew that.

San Francisco’s far-left DA criticizes mayor’s proposed crime crackdown

From Packing To Sacking, Democrats Pledge Politics “By Any Means Necessary”

Sen. Cotton: Recall, Remove, & Replace Every Last Soros Prosecutor

“Our Industry Is Collapsing”: California Pot Companies Beg Newsom To Stop Taxing Them Into Insolvency

What’s Driving Media Becoming Woke? Money

Illinois High-Speed Rail Goes 55.7 MPH!

Schumer, Who Accused Trump of Russian Collusion, is Getting Paid by Putin

Princeton Took Millions From CCP-Linked School, Think Tank Head

NYT Gives Oxygen to FAKE NEWS About ‘Officers on Horseback Using Reins as Whips’

Ontario Court Declares the Ontario Math Proficiency Test Unconstitutional  I’ll bet you didn’t know that a math test could be unconstitutional.

California Dems Sip Champagne, Violate State Mask Mandate While Celebrating Successful Gerrymander

Political Party That Encouraged People To Commit Crimes Surprised At All The People Committing Crimes  Babylon Bee.

Ethical? NY Times Columnist Tom Friedman Gushes Over Groups That He’s Funding

Buying Influence: How China manipulates Facebook and Twitter

Escape From LA: More Container Business Flees To East Coast  Government regulations + Union cronyism = No Christmas for you.

China propaganda arm broadcasts in D.C.

Un-Woke: John Cleese Ends BBC Interview Over ‘Dishonesty, Deception, Tone’

How Activist Teachers Recruit Kids

CNN’s S.E. Cupp ‘Nauseous’ Over Trump’s 1/6 Plans, Doubts the GOP Will ‘See Jesus’  Everyone who works at CNN will eventually see Jesus, but I don’t think that they will enjoy the experience.

Millions of Angry, Armed Americans Stand Ready to Seize Power If Trump Loses in 2024 (Newsweek)

Trump’s relocation of the Bureau of Land Management was part of a familiar Republican playbook (The Hill)

The hidden, ugly truth behind Joe Manchin’s stance on BBB’s climate provisions (Washington Post)

Five big questions about Trump and the riot (BBC)

Donald Trump Supporters Targeted the Capitol: ‘Bring Guns. It’s Now or Never’ (Newsweek) And yet none of them did. The only person shot was Ashlii Babbett. How to they explain that? They don’t even try.

Trump’s GOP Has Five Simple Tricks for Promoting Antisemitism (Daily Beast)

Does Marjorie Taylor Greene Own Stock in Three Vaccine Manufacturers? (Newsweek)

American “Super Rich” Feel “Immense Relief” As ‘BBB’ Tax Hikes Are Canceled

NBC: GOP/Manchin Are Starving Children by Tanking Build Back Better

“If You Could Die Of Irony, She Would Be Dead”: Musk Slams Liz Warren And Woke Culture In Epic Babylon Bee Interview

Shareholders doubt Apple’s civil rights stance, call for investigatio

To the MSM, John McCain Was a Maverick. Joe Manchin Is an Obstacle. 

Wokeism Ended His Father’s Teaching Career. Now, This Teacher Has a Warning for Other Educators.

Woke Matrix Scriptwriters Complain About The Phrase ‘Red Pilled’ Being “Kidnapped By Right Wingers”

Joy Reid RAGES Over ‘Maserati Joe’ Manchin Opposing BBB Since He Hates ‘The Poors’

On Kim Foxx’s tenure is the indelible stain of the Smollett case.

Jussie Smollett Special Prosecutor’s Report: Kim Foxx Shouldn’t Be Charged, But Her Office Exhibited ‘Substantial Abuses of Discretion and Operational Failures’ Nobody gets fired, nobody goes to jail.

Chicago Mayor Lightfoot asks federal government for help fighting city’s crime BRAAAAAAAINS!

Top DeSantis official embraced critical race theory in dissertation (Politico) So what?

Founder of Black Girls Code has been ousted as head of the nonprofit

Swing District Dem Calls Opposition to Critical Race Theory a ‘Racist Dog Whistle’  Remember: If you hear the ‘dog-whistle’, then you’re the dog.

Special Prosecutor: Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx Lied To The Public In Smollett Case But, because she’s a Magic Negro, she won’t be fired and she won’t go to jail.

UBC bans non-minority candidates from applying for tenure-track quantum position

EXCLUSIVE: Parents Accuse Virginia School District of Teaching Students to ‘Discriminate Based on Race’

The Land Where Angela Davis Is Queen  Angela Davis ought to have been hanged right next to Jane Fonda.

EXCLUSIVE: EPA Focused on Gender, Ethnic Diversity to Fill ‘Purged’ Advisory Posts

Nuclear power has no business case and could make climate change worse (The Hill)

Nuclear energy’s second chance: Climate crisis is driving revival in interest (WRAL TechWire)

Vikings may have fled Greenland to escape rising seas

Florida Is Locking In Its Own Demise (Gizmodo)

Global destruction isn’t funny, but when it comes to the climate crisis, it might have to be (Boston Globe)

When Fossil Fuels Run Out, What Then? (It’s 2060) (2019)

Professor: UK Companies Hiding CO2 Emissions with “Carbon Colonialism”

The real reason the right hates Anthony Fauci (Washington Post) Well, he’s a crook and a liar. Isn’t that enough?

‘It is embarrassing’: CDC struggles to track Covid cases as Omicron looms (Politico)

‘Enormous’: Secret Service reveals scope of Covid-19 fraud (CNN)

Secret Service: Nearly $100B stolen in pandemic relief funds (Associated Press)

Omicron Variant Surges Across North Texas But Hospitalizations Remain Flat

Bill Gates: Omicron Will Be The “Worst Surge We Have Seen So Far”

Judge Blocks Biden’s COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate For Federal Contractors In 10 States.

Fauci calls for firing of Jesse Watters

Omicronmania

NBC’s Holt Wants Us to ‘Dial Back’ Life ‘On All Fronts’ Citing Omicron

Ebenezer Joy Reid: ‘God Bless Biden’ Because Fox News Is Going to MURDER You!

Austria Hiring People To “Hunt Down Vaccine Refusers”  Time to leave.

EU Sets 9-Month Expiration Date For Vaccine Passports

WHO’s Tedros Warns Holiday Gatherings Could Result In COVID Surge, Urges People To Cancel Events

Omicron, Ontario and Lying With Statistics

Absurd New COVID Rules Fine People For Going To Work, But They Can Go To The Pub  “A gramme is better than a damn.” — Brave New World

Airline CEO Calls For Unvaccinated “Idiots” To Be Ostracised From Society

Amazon Limits Sales Of COVID Home Tests To 10 Per Person

US Army Developing World’s First “Universal” COVID Vaccine As Original Jabs Await Final Approval  I think it involves a bayonet.

COVID-19 Madness Resurges Worldwide With Draconian Measures

The Big Government COVID-19 Lie

South Africa Sees New Cases Plunge As Omicron Wave Peaks  Coming soon: A New Variant that will extend the State of Emergency so that the ruling class can sit on you some more.

South Africa’s omicron coronavirus outbreak subsides as fast as it grew  Who gets to tell Sleepy Joe?

New Data Show Omicron Hospital Risk Significantly Lower Than Delta, FDA Approves Pfizer COVID Pill

“Your Time Is Up”: Chicago Mayor Threatens Unvaccinated With Draconian Measures  BRAAAAAAAINS!

FDA Releases More Data On “Adverse Reactions” To Pfizer Vaccine

Read it.

In Michigan, the state’s civil rights agency said proposed maps of legislative districts “do not measure up to the requirements of the law.” In Pennsylvania, Republican lawmakers complained about an “extreme partisan gerrymander.” And in Virginia, incumbents and potential challengers scrambled to work with proposed district maps.

In theory, new bureaucracies to draw up maps for congressional and legislative districts were supposed to save democracy from politics and block the practice of gerrymandering.

But this month has seen controversies on multiple fronts regarding the independent redistricting commissions involved.

Saw that comin’.

“California’s independent redistricting commission yields more disproportionate representation than most states,” Watson told The Daily Signal. “California Democratic Party-aligned advocacy groups lobbied the commission.”

Similarly, redistricting commissions in Arizona and Michigan have been “besieged by shadowy pressure campaigns,” The New York Times reported.

The Times noted a string of problems in other states that use a redistricting commission even as New York’s Democrat-controlled state Legislature was expected to ignore its advisory committee, just as Utah’s Republican Legislature did.

Ohio’s Republican-controlled Legislature overrode the independent commission with primary responsibility for redistricting.

My, what a surprise. Aren’t you surprised? I’m sure surprised.

I’ll refrain from repeating my explanation of how ‘gerrymandering’ improves democracy rather than the opposite, and from pointing out that the only people who profit from ‘competitive districts’ are Narrative Media who can gin up attention from the ‘horse race’.

Read it.

The reason I prefer Google Maps to Apple Map is because Apple Maps is more difficult to use and doesn’t provide as much useful information.

Read it.

As we reported earlier this month, Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) San Francisco director Zahra Billoo recently gave a speech in which she outlined an enemies list for Palestinian advocates.

Her list included the vast majority of American Jewry, whom she dismissed as “polite Zionists,” including people with the Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish Federation, campus Hillel chapters and “Zionist synagogues.”

It’s a stunning expression of hate that, if it targeted any other minority group, would create a firestorm of controversy and generate national news.

But CAIR has yet to say a critical word about Billoo. To the contrary, it posted a statement expressing pride in “the courage she demonstrates in her civil rights work” and saying she is the victim: “we strongly condemn this online smear campaign against our sister and colleague, Zahra Billoo.”

Islam is as much an existential enemy of America as the Communist Party.

Paul Graham.

It may seem a hair-splitting distinction to point out that intelligence and its consequences are not identical, but it isn’t. There’s a big gap between them. Anyone who’s spent time around universities and research labs knows how big. There are a lot of genuinely smart people who don’t achieve very much.

I am often reminded that ‘intelligence and wisdom are separate rolls’. The world (and especially the government) are full of very smart yet very foolish people.

Read it.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, has introduced legislation that would game the nation’s regulatory system. Under her bill, regulations primarily would be based on studies that support expanding the regulatory power of government agencies.

Among many other troubling things, Jayapal’s bill would require agencies to publicly label studies and research submitted and developed by regulated entities—including property owners, farmers, truckers, and local governments—as having a conflict of interest.

It’s not clear how one’s own research reflects any conflicts of interest. Apparently, it’s a conflict when research conflicts with the agency’s interest.

Read it.

• Natural wood materials are processed into a HW with a 23-fold increase in hardness
• The HW can be processed into different shapes for various applications
• An HW table knife can be nearly 3 times sharper than most commercial table knives
• An HW nail can be as functional as a steel nail with comparable performance

Check it out.

This appears to be a great idea in VTOL aircraft. I wish them good fortune.

Read it.

It was a challenging task but an esteemed panel of NewsBusters editors led by MRC President L.Brent Bozell and MRC’s Vice President for Research and Publications Brent Baker boiled down all the biased outbursts from lefty hack hosts, anchors, reporters and pundits in 2021 and on December 15 announced The Chris Cuomo Memorial Award for Quote of the Year.

Of course, every year there is way too much bias for just one category. So Baker led a panel of NewsBusters editors to break down the Worst of 2021 into seven additional categories (The Damn Those Conservatives Award; The GOP Wants To Bring Back Jim Crow Award; The Joy of Hate Award for Joy Reid Rants; The Praising and Protecting Old Joe Award; The Media Heroes Award; The Craziest Analysis Award and the Celebrity Freak-Outs Award).

Scott Johnson at Power Line.

President Biden gave his speech (cough, cough) on what my friend Kevin Roche refers to as the the Moronic Variant yesterday. He read from the teleprompter in his accustomed style and even took a few questions at the conclusion of his remarks. The White House has posted a transcript under the heading “Remarks by President Biden on the Fight Against COVID-?19.”

Having attributed responsibility for the Covid deaths that occurred last year to President Trump — I thought that was insanely stupid, but that what he did — Biden is in a bad spot now. Deaths attributed to the epidemic this year are set to exceed deaths last year. He promised to stop the virus and he has failed. Now he’s blaming and shaming and talking. Lots of talking. It doesn’t all add up, but he has achieved a limited form of clarity.

Read it.

I am not making this up.

Read it.

There is less Boko Haram and ISWAP (Islamic State West Africa Province) activity in the north, particularly Borno state, where both Islamic terrorist groups were founded and thrived for several years. The two groups turned much of northern Borno into an economic wasteland, full of local self-defense groups, anti-terrorist vigilantes and a much more effective military. The Islamic terrorists have experienced heavy personnel losses because of a lack of new recruits while suffering higher losses from sickness and desertion. A combination of hunger, fewer places to loot and more danger from the security forces or armed civilians Boko Haram and its more radical spinoff ISWAP a less attractive career option for the many young Moslem men who are poor, unemployed, and angry.

Steve Sailer.

British prime minister Harold Macmillan supposedly replied to a question about what is the most important influence on his term of office with, “Events, dear boy, events.”

Biden isn’t that suave, but he would have some justification for blaming the Democrats’ tumble on a series of unfortunate events. But much of the ruling party’s growing unpopularity stems from inevitable outgrowths of their fundamental 21st-century political strategy of exacerbating divisiveness in the name of diversity.

Read it.

One of the far-too-often repeated statements made by urban, coastal elites is that one’s future cannot be found in the countryside. These city-centered Americans often believe that economic growth, jobs, and the nation’s future can only be found in big cities and that rural America remains a dead-end, brain-drained world with minimal opportunity.

The COVID-19 pandemic dispersed many Americans across the nation. And today, cities are not dominant in the hearts and minds of Americans whatsoever. In reality, not only are most Americans more interested in living in rural areas than in big cities, but many living in rural areas are quite optimistic about the future and still believe in the power of hard work.

Read it.

The systemic damage done to the world’s democracies during the COVID-19 pandemic was so great that it is tempting to imagine the hidden hand of powerful figures orchestrating the Great Reset. The horrifically costly NPIs were so obviously futile that there had to be deliberate organized malice at work to suppress the statistically obvious need to change policy.

There was indeed malice but not of Bond villain caliber. In reality, we put morons in charge and when their failures became evident, they and their moron-adjacent allies in media and academia doubled down and attacked and silenced dissidents. The Great Reset was perhaps merely a secondary infection.

Omicron is now the dominant strain of coronavirus in the US, according to the CDC (CNN)

Omicron sweeps across nation, now 73% of new US COVID cases (Associated Press)

A patient at a care facility was in cardiac arrest. Paramedics refused to enter, citing covid restrictions. (Washington Post)

Mask-wearing on planes may be here to stay, Fauci says (Washington Post) Yet another reason not to fly.

Almost 50 Republicans back Navy SEAL lawsuit over vaccine mandate (Politico)

Wave of closures for Chicago restaurants, bars amid COVID-19 spike puts industry on edge: ‘This was an absolute rug pull’ (Chicago Tribune)

MSNBC’s Heilemann Says Omicron Isn’t Biden’s Fault, Blamed Trump For Deaths  All Trump! All the time!

Vax Docs Earn Big Bucks

Death Of 26-Year-Old New Zealand Man Linked To Pfizer Vaccine

Stunning COVID Data From Denmark (But Not For The Reason You’ve Been Told)

Watch: German Health Minister Calls For Immediate Forced Vaccination Of Entire Population

Is The Omicron Surge Mostly Due To Massively Increased Testing?

Japanese Government Tells Citizens: “Don’t Discriminate Against The Unvaccinated”

Faking a Positive Covid Test

The Collins crock

Some Good Omicron News: Symptoms Remain Extremely Mild; UK Cases Peaking

The Slow Rollout of Rapid Tests

New York City Offers $100 Bribe To Get Booster Shots Before The New Year

Biden Has ‘Close Contact’ With COVID-19 Positive Staffer  We can hope.

FDA Prepared To Authorize Merck, Pfizer Pills Imminently

NY Governor Intends To Redefine “Fully Vaccinated” To Include Boosters

Kim Foxx misled public about Jussie Smollett case, report finds

Kim Foxx lied about contacts with Jussie Smollett’s sister, violated legal ethics, investigation finds

Cowardly NY Times Evades Awkward Fact of Black-on-Asian Hate Crimes

D.A. Chesa Boudin joins critics of Breed’s Tenderloin crackdown to protest plan

The most dangerous divide in America isn’t what you think (The Hill)

US ‘closer to civil war’ than most would like to believe, new book says (The Guardian) Guess which side has all the guns?

Manchin killing BBB likely saved US from economic ‘disaster,’ experts say

New report reveals more about so-called ‘Bay Area exodus’ (SFGate)

At least six CVS locations in San Francisco to close in January  And who could blame them?

As America grapples with crime, the NY Times grapples with the grappling

California Rewards Deadbeats Once Again With $80K Cash Giveaway To Delinquent Homeowners

Hong Kong Voter Turnout Sinks To Record Low In First ‘Patriots Only’ Election

China’s US Enablers

Social Murder on Social Media

The Belgian government has removed ‘backdoor requirement’ from new law

Former NYT Writer Sues Twitter Over Censorship

CNN Tries to Pin Blame on American ‘Boomers’ for Labor Shortage

Americans Fled Blue States for Red States in Massive Numbers in 2021, Census Finds

Pelosi Disappointed We’ll Never Get To Find Out What Was In The Build Back Better Bill  Babylon Bee.

NASCAR driver Brandon Brown addresses anti-Biden ‘Let’s go, Brandon’ chant

“They’re Totally Confused”: Biden’s Vaccine Mandate Chaos Leaves Employers With “Whiplash”

Presidential Address Lasts Hours As Biden Keeps Trying To Say ‘Omicron’ Correctly Babylon Bee.

Manchin blasts WH staff for leaking ‘absolutely inexcusable’ things about him after rejecting BBB

Why are US rightwingers so angry? Because they know social change is coming (The Guardian) Seems reasonable to me.

CNN anchors Don Lemon and Brian Stelter speak at sentencing of Trump supporter who threatened journalists: ‘My family was in danger’ (NY Daily News) Whose turn is it to be the victim?

Dallas QAnon ‘Cult’ Is Now Drinking Terrifying Chemical Cocktail, Family Says (Daily Beast) And if you believe that one, they’ll tell you another one.

Bette Midler apologizes for Twitter ‘outburst’ calling West Virginia ‘poor, illiterate’: ‘I’m just seeing red’  And seeing Red is what she does best.

Steve Bannon Threatens to Take Over Entire U.S. ‘Election Apparatus’ (Daily Beast) And if you believe that one, they’ll tell you another one.

Claim: Senator Joe Manchin Fundamentally Misunderstands Climate Economics

Washington Post readership declines sharply now that Trump has left town  What a coincidence.

2021’s Top Dirty Dozen Fredo Moments from CNN’s Former Wise Guy

Nets Pile On Joe Manchin For Tanking Build Back Better

For Third Year, Committee to Protect Journalists Excludes Assange

CBS Asks if ‘Grown-Up’ Kamala Feels ‘Betrayed’ by Manchin

Biden boosts fuel-economy standards to fight climate change (AP) And help destroy the economy! A twofer!

How will our warming climate stabilize? Scientists look to the distant past (Ars Technica)

Why Nuclear Power Is Bad for Your Wallet and the Climate (Bloomberg Law)

Himalayan glaciers are melting at an extraordinary rate, research finds (CNBC)

Ice in the Himalayas Melting Fasting Than Ever (Daily Beast)

Power When You Need It? Not With Wind

How Pressure Systems Control The Climate Part 1 – Decline In Extreme Weather

Check it out.

Elon Musk’s fortune appears to be based on selling expensive cards to stupid people.

I wouldn’t be comfortable with that.

Read it.

According to a Fox 2 Detroit report, Nelson visited the Great Lakes Crossing shopping center in Auburn Hills, where he spent about two hours. After departing, he got a notification on his phone that informed him he was being tracked by an unknown AirTag.

Nelson was able to tap on the notification, and his iPhone provided him with the option to play a sound on the AirTag, which is one of the safety features that Apple has made available in addition to the tracking notifications. Following the sound the AirTag emitted, Nelson found it under the drain cap in the trunk of his car, which had required the thieves to unscrew the cap and place it inside.

I wonder if this is a marketing trick by Apple? If you’ve got an iPhone, it will notify you of this sort of thing; supposedly Android phones will do the same, but I’d hate to depend on that.

If this happened to me, the first place I’d drive to would be a police station. Fortunately, nobody ever wanted to steal a Hyundai, so I’m safe.

Read it.

Two narratives have emerged; first, that Democrats are about to ‘play hardball’ with Manchin – with ‘tough treatment’ from Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) and President Biden. And second, that Democrats in swing states are scrambling to do damage control ahead of next year’s midterm elections.

Manchin appears unfazed by any of it.