Joel Kotkin.

intervention. Warning about how an oligarchy of “extreme wealth, power and influence” risked the basic rights of every citizen, he even suggested it could threaten American democracy itself. Given how late Biden’s intervention came, to say nothing of his typically stumbling delivery, it’s tempting to dismiss his comments as the rantings of a tired old man.

In truth, though, I think the speech matters. For in its populist appeal to Main Street over Wall Street, it reflects the revival of something we haven’t seen in years: class politics. Rather than appealing to racial subgroups, or sex or gender identity, Biden instead spoke, however fleetingly, to those many millions of Americans who care more about their paychecks than the colour of their skin.

Nor, of course, is the 46th president alone. Increasingly, both main parties realise that to win at the ballot box, they must appeal to the middle- and working classes, as proven by Trump’s roughly 10-point lead among those two-thirds of Americans without a college degree. Yet, if that speaks vividly to radical shifts across US socioeconomic makeup, it remains unclear if politicians on either side of the aisle are truly willing to back blue-collar workers — especially when the oligarchs continue to have such a grip over them all.

Does a ‘foreign power’ threaten the Panama Canal? Here’s what you need to know (CNN)

What Trump Really Wants in Panama (Americas Quarterly)

Trump’s Trash Defense Secretary Is Ready to Go to War With U.S. Allies (The New Republic)

A deeply tan RFK Jr. is a picture of American health (Washington Poop)

When RFK Jr. was presented with the science on vaccines he said needed to see, he dismissed it (Associated Press) Just like a Democrat (which he is)!

Trump health secretary nominee RFK Jr survives heated hearings ahead of crucial confirmation votes (Fox News)

Republican committee chairman ‘struggling’ with RFK Jr. nomination (CNN)

Trump Admin Canceling Funding To NGOs Involved In Illegal Immigration, Noem Says

US judge blocks Trump administration from transferring transgender inmate (Nate Raymond/Reuters)

California Dems Abruptly Nix Vote on Newsom Plan To ‘Trump-Proof’ State, Avoiding Public Debate Over Funding That Protects Illegals With Felony Convictions

Paramount in Settlement Talks With Trump Over ’60 Minutes’ Lawsuit (New York Times)

Why Does the NYT Continue To Print Front Page Lies About RFK Jr.?  That’s what they do.

Pentagon scrubs Biden-era abortion travel policy (Ellen Mitchell/The Hill)

Musk’s Twitter Takeover Offers Trump a Blueprint (New York Times)

Several senior FBI leaders told to leave agency or be fired, people familiar say (Washington Post)

Government Tech Workers Forced to Defend Projects to Random Elon Musk Bros (Wired)  The horror!!

Trump Raised Millions From Crypto Firms for His Inauguration (Bill Allison/Bloomberg)  The Narrative Media, of course, would prefer to have the taxpayers cover it–for a Democrat.

MSNBC’s Beinart Hopes Trump Is Tried at The Hague for ‘Great War Crimes’

Census Bureau Director Robert Santos is resigning, making way for Trump’s pick (Hansi Lo Wang/NPR)

It’s Been Just 11 Days, But 100,000 Have Already Signed Petition to ‘Impeach Trump Again’ (Eloise Goldsmith/Common Dreams)  Is that all? Surely there are more leftists in the U.S.

A new era of government censorship has dawned (Catherine Rampell/Washington Post)  To the Washington Poop, censorship is what Republicans do to Democrats; what Democrats do to Republicans doesn’t qualify.

The Art of the Kneel – If a settlement deal is inked with Donald Trump, Shari Redstone … (Oliver Darcy/Status)

‘Without Evidence’! Media Knock Trump Mention of DEI Hiring at Post-Crash Presser

Democrats refuse to vote on Trump budget pick: ‘So clearly unfit for office’ (Alice Herman/The Guardian)

FAA Report on D.C. Plane Crash Is Out–and It’s an Indictment of Trump (Hafiz Rashid/New Republic)

Playbook: Trump’s narrative shift (Zack Stanton/Politico)

DCA crash puts Trump’s appalling unfitness on full display (Aaron Rupar/Public Notice) Look up ‘rupar’ in the Urban Dictionary.

Is There Anything Trump Won’t Blame on DEI? (Jonathan Chait/The Atlantic)  Is there anything that Jonathan Chait won’t blame on Trump?

Senior U.S. official to exit after rift with Musk allies over payment system (Washington Post)

Boxed Up: A Portrait of an Immigrant Community Living Under Threat of Deportation (ProPublica) Wring those hands! Jerk those tears!

Trump, Facing Two Crises in His Second Week, Spreads the Blame Around (Wall Street Journal)

Hey, where’s that Trump-proofing money already? (Politico)

What the data says about Trump’s DEI air crash claims (Axios)

How Trump Could Defy the Constitution – or Find a Loophole – and Seize a Third Term (James Romoser/Politico)  No, he can’t. This is bullshit.

How the World Is Reeling From Trump’s Aid Freeze (New York Times)  Without U.S. taxpayers, the world will starve!

ProPublica’s Coverage of Donald Trump’s Appointments – and How They Could Reshape Federal Agencies (ProPublica)

Trump is About to Step on Putin’s Trap (Washington Monthly)

A career official tried to undo Trump’s purge at USAID. He was then purged, too. (John Hudson/Washington Post)  You mess with the bull, you get the horns every time.

Trump and Allies Default to Racist Explanation of Deadly Air Collision (Miles Klee/Rolling Stone)

Trump and the Collapse of the Old Order (Peggy Noonan/Wall Street Journal)

From Anguish to Aggression: Trump Goes on Offense After Midair Collision (Peter Baker/New York Times)

People with intellectual disabilities do lots of jobs – but they don’t direct air traffic (Joseph Shapiro/NPR)  They do, however, spend your money. Look at Chuck Schumer and Elizabeth Warren.

Trump Administration Shocks Senior F.B.I. Ranks by Moving to Replace Them (New York Times)

Chuck Todd exiting NBC News after nearly 20 years as Trump starts second term (Jay Stahl/USA Today)  And another one bites the dust. (He’s Gone for Good: The Worst of NBC’s Chuck Todd)

Pentagon shocked by Trump’s order to house migrants in Guantanamo Bay (Politico)

Trump said he hadn’t read Project 2025 – but most of his early executive actions overlap with its proposals (CNN)  That’s because they were pretty obvious common sense policies.

Federal employees told to remove pronouns from email signatures by end of day (ABC News)

Independent regulators in ‘real danger’ after Trump firings, say ex-NLRB chairs (Michael Sainato/The Guardian)

Defense agency bans Black History Month and other ‘special observances’ (NBC News)

MAGA’s revenge of the mediocre: Trump’s war on federal workers targets the meritorious (Amanda Marcotte/Salon)  Amanda Marcotte loses her shit.

EPA workers receive emails warning their employment could be terminated (CNN)  Terminate the whole damned agency. The EPA is one of the reasons that Dick Nixon will burn in Hell for all eternity.

IDIOCY: NYT Buries Data on Federal Waste in Screed Against Trump’s Spending Freeze

USDA ordered to scrub climate change from websites (Politico)

ICE Enforcement Official Tapped to Lead Unaccompanied Migrant Children Office, Triggering Alarms (ProPublica)

FBI agents who worked on January 6 and Trump investigations are expected to be fired Friday (CNN)

A Wannabe Authoritarian Hard At Work (The Bulwark)

Scoop: Sanders probing Trump’s purge of labor officials (Stephen Neukam/Axios)

Head of FBI Washington Field Office is forced out in Trump administration purge (NBC News)

Sunny Hostin Blames Trump and His Voters for Fatal DC Airliner Collision  Of course she does.

“People Will Die”: The Trump Administration Said It Lifted Its Ban on Lifesaving Humanitarian Aid. That’s Not True. (ProPublica)

We’ve Now Learned the Three Principles of Trumpism, and They’re Ugly (Michael Tomasky/New Republic)

Navy Already Rejecting Transgender Recruits After Trump Order

WATCH: Hakeem Jeffries Vows To Fight Trump Agenda ‘in the Streets’

150,000 Koreans in U.S. subject to Trump’s deportation order: Report (Lee Soo-Jung/Korea Joongang Daily)

EXCLUSIVE: Trump Bans Intel Officials Who Pushed Russian Disinfo Hoax From Federal Buildings (The Daily Wire)

Read it.

The DOJ had authorized the DEA to confiscate the assets of travelers who “consented” to be searched. The only criterion was suspicion of criminal activity.

The agents would take cash without proof of wrongdoing, and might never charge their victims of any crime. The confiscated money would go into the DEA’s Asset Forfeiture Fund, and could then be spent by federal law enforcement.

Informants providing intelligence to the DEA would often share a portion of the “take.” The intelligence could be based on suspicious activity such as last-minute bookings, or one-way tickets.

I’ve been hearing about this nefarious activity for years, but the program was suspended without any headlines that I’ve seen.

ZMan’s weekly podcast. Highly recommended.

One of the things that you see with people who arrive on this side of the great divide is they often go through a crash course learning all the stuff that was excluded from their education and political understanding. Condensing that down into easily digestible bits is probably a good project for someone, given that we are seeing millions turn up on the edge of the great divide, looking for a lift over to this side.

That really is something to savor. Trump gave a presser after the chopper collided with the passenger jet in Washington and he put the blame on diversity. It is not the first time he has said something like this since he was inaugurated, but it is still shocking to hear a public official say what had been prohibited a year ago. This administration is saying things that got you booted from Twitter before Musk.

This is why the corporate takeover model works. Every company has a culture, and that culture is reinforced by management. Inevitably when new owners come in it means changes to the culture. To outsiders it does not seem that important, but to the people inside it is shocking. Our political system is being overhauled in the equivalent of a hostile takeover, like greenmailing. Instead, it is orangemailing.

Quillette.

In my reading of Othello, I will demonstrate how an understanding of the cognitive mechanisms underlying male intrasexual competition can inform our analysis of character and motivation. We will see that studies in evolutionary psychology provide evidence against the argument that race is of central importance to the character of Othello. Instead, an argument will be made that Othello and Iago represent dramatic extremes of two enduring behaviours whose conflicts over millions of years have shaped much of humanity’s theory of mind and moral emotions to the present day.

Go to Amazon and search for Dr. David Buss.

Read it.

I’ve reported on the Danish-Swedish activist Rasmus Paludan many times in this space over the past ten years or so. Mr. Paludan became notorious for his Koran-burnings and other blasphemous actions, both in Denmark and Sweden, which prompted Muslim culture-enrichers in both countries to riot, burn cars, attack police, and engage in other strategies routinely used by the Religion of Peace.

Mr. Paludan has also been sentenced to four months in prison for saying insulting things about culture-enrichers. He is in the process of appealing the conviction.

Vlad Tepes interviewed Rasmus Paludan today to discuss yesterday’s assassination of Salwan Momika. As a matter of interest, Mr. Paludan has organized a commemorative event for Mr. Momika, which will take place in just a few hours. It involves a gathering in front of a mosque in Copenhagen, and then a procession to two other mosques. One hopes the security for the event is sufficient to allow him to live through it.

Read it.

Salwan Momika is (or was) an Iraqi-Swedish activist who got himself into significant trouble by burning and otherwise desecrating Korans. Last night Mr. Momika was assassinated on the balcony of his apartment in Södertälje.

Back in 2023 I reported several times … on the activities of Salwan Momika, and the resulting rioting and destruction by enraged Muslim mobs.

UPDATE: Quran-Burning Activist Shot Dead In Sweden

Read it.

Late Wednesday night, Columbia University’s leading anti-Israel group, Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), shared a video of its latest act of anarchy. At Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), toilets were clogged with cement. A Columbia Business School building, meanwhile, was soaked with red paint.

Columbia quickly released a statement calling the acts of vandalism “unacceptable and abhorrent,” adding that such acts “will not be tolerated at Columbia.” Just months before, however, Columbia’s student radicals met within the walls of a recognized student organization to train each other on all things anarchy. Included among the suggested readings was a manual written for “aspiring revolutionaries” that outlined the sewage cementing and graffiti soaking tactics used on Wednesday. And the student organization that played host appears to be in good standing with the school.

The apparently premeditated nature of the attack suggests Columbia could have impeded it by cracking down on the event’s attendees and its host, Alpha Delta Phi (ADP), a literary society. While the ADP house is controlled by an outside organization and technically off campus—it sits between several other houses and dorms that Columbia owns—Columbia recognizes ADP as a student organization, according to its website, and provides it with services like WiFi, Ph.D. student Alon Levin told the Washington Free Beacon.

New York Post.

The murder of a US Border Patrol agent near the Canadian border appears to be linked to a radical leftist trans militant cult accused of killings across the country.

Around a week before the Jan. 20 attack, federal law enforcement had been surveilling German national Felix “Ophelia” Bauckholt and University of Washington student Teresa “Milo” Consuelo Youngblut.

Staff at a Lyndonville, Vermont, motel alerted authorities about seeing the duo with a firearm and black tactical clothing.

Read it.

You knew this was coming. California’s Democrat legislators presented a bill Monday to allow insurers and homeowners impacted by the Los Angeles fires to sue oil companies for their losses. Senate Bill 222 aims to blame the fires on climate change caused by fossil fuels and make the oil companies bankroll the state’s underfunded insurance plan.

The move is a predictable response by the one-party state’s leaders seeking to deflect from their own gross mismanagement of the city and state, which is the real cause of the disaster. They destroyed the home insurance market by driving out insurance companies through onerous price controls. As a result, the state is on the hook for billions in damages covered by its “FAIR Plan” insurance, established as coverage of last resort for homeowners. The bill proposes that the oil companies serve as the backstop for the FAIR Plan.

Leaders bowing to environmentalists also created the conditions for huge wildfires by failing to properly manage the forests through basic brush clearance and controlled fires that are standard in other states.

Additionally, through shear gross negligence, firefighters ran out of water because city officials allowed the Pacific Palisades’ 117-million-gallon reservoir, built to fight fires, to sit empty for almost a year awaiting a minor, $130,000 repair.

And they cut the LA Fire Department budget, leaving the city with the same number of firefighters and fire stations it had in 1960. Quite incredible, since it is these same leaders who are constantly warning us that alleged “climate change” will cause a lot more fires.

Associated Press, a Voice of the Crust.

What was once the world’s largest solar power plant of its type appears headed for closure just 11 years after opening, under pressure from cheaper green energy sources. Meanwhile, environmentalists continue to blame the Mojave Desert plant for killing thousands of birds and tortoises.

The Ivanpah solar power plant formally opened in 2014 on roughly 5 square miles of federal land near the California-Nevada border. Though it was hailed at the time as a breakthrough moment for clean energy, its power has been struggling to compete with cheaper solar technologies.

Pacific Gas & Electric said in a statement it had agreed with owners — including NRG Energy Inc. — to terminate its contracts with the Ivanpah plant. If approved by regulators, the deal would lead to closing two of the plant’s three units starting in 2026. The contracts were expected to run through 2039.

Read it.

Sweden is considering transferring convicted criminals to foreign prisons as a response to its escalating crime crisis. A government-commissioned investigation, launched in December 2023, concluded that there are no legal barriers preventing Sweden from leasing prison spaces abroad. Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer announced the findings on Wednesday, emphasising that negotiations with potential host countries are already underway.

The proposal follows a surge in violent crime, particularly linked to gang activity, which has pushed Sweden’s prisons to capacity. The number of prison sentences issued in 2023 increased by 25% compared to the previous year, with a total of nearly 200,000 months of incarceration. By 2033, Swedish authorities estimate they will need 27,000 prison beds—more than double the current 11,000.

Sweden’s crime crisis has been exacerbated by gang-related bombings and shootings, fueled by a significant migration influx in recent years, which have left police and the judiciary overwhelmed. The first month of 2025 alone has seen 30 bombings, largely attributed to gang extortion activities.

Gothamist.

New York lawmakers are considering a new measure to speed up repairs at fire-damaged apartment buildings by forcing some landlords to pay the rent for displaced tenants.

The legislation introduced by state Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris on Wednesday would apply to property owners found at fault for a fire or other disaster that made their tenants homeless. It would also guarantee tenants can return to their apartments once the city deem them safe, unless they chose to move elsewhere.

Gianaris cited a Tuesday report from Gothamist detailing the yearslong waits many tenants face before they are finally able to return to their apartments following fires. If a landlord refuses to pay for tenants’ temporary housing, the legislation requires the city to cover the costs and then recover the money from the owner.

Gianaris said he hoped the measure would give landlords a “kick in the rear” to expedite renovations.

I predict that they will find ways around it, and it will not do what it is intended to do.

I also predict that, like most government do-goodism, it will wind up hurting the people it is designed to help.

Reuters, a Voice of the Crust.

A decades-old U.S. government ban on federally licensed firearms dealers selling handguns to adults under the age of 21 is unconstitutional, a U.S. appeals court held on Thursday, citing recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings expanding gun rights

The ruling, opens new tab by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals marked the first time a federal appeals court has held that the prohibition violated the right to keep and bear arms enshrined in the U.S. Csonstitution’s Second Amendment.

The appeals court had previously upheld that same ban in 2012. But that was before the 6-3 conservative majority U.S. Supreme Court handed down a landmark ruling in 2022 that established a new test for assessing modern firearms laws.

In New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, the Supreme Court held that modern gun restrictions were required to be “consistent with this nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.”

The federal ban on sales to people under 21 was first adopted by Congress in 1968 as part of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act.

Read it.

Another win for the Green New Deal.

New York Times, a Voice of the Crust.

The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission has waded into the politicized debate over NPR and PBS, ordering up an investigation that he said could be relevant in lawmakers’ decision about whether to continue funding the public news organizations.

Brendan Carr, the chairman, said in a letter to NPR and PBS on Wednesday that the inquiry would focus on whether the news organizations’ member stations violated government rules by recognizing financial sponsors on the air.

Mr. Carr said that NPR and PBS stations operate as noncommercial broadcast organizations, but that they may be airing “announcements that cross the line into prohibited commercial advertisements.”

“To the extent that these taxpayer dollars are being used to support a for-profit endeavor or an entity that is airing commercial advertisements,” Mr. Carr wrote, “then that would further undermine any case for continuing to fund NPR and PBS with taxpayer dollars.”

Note: No mention of ideological bias. Just focusing on those nasty smelly slimy ‘for profit’ connections.

UPDATE: FCC Chair Brendan Carr Opens Up Probe of NPR/PBS Advertising, or ‘Underwriting’

Politico, a Voice of the Crust.

She obviously misses the good old days in East Germany.

She just couldn’t stay silent.

Angela Merkel — three years after stepping down as chancellor — lit a fire under Germany’s election campaign by choosing now to finally speak up.

And it was to criticize her own side.

In publicly chastizing the leader of the party that she spearheaded for more than two decades, and barely three weeks before voters go to the polls, Merkel faces questions over whether her intervention will end up doing the very thing she warned against: boosting support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).

For Politico, there is no right but the far-right.

Read it.

Last month the de facto leader of Syria, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani (aka Ahmad al-Sharaa), told Al Arabiya TV that it would take up to four years in hold new elections after Assad was ousted and fled the country on Dec. 8. This obviously undemocratic pronouncement was met with silence among Western leaders, who had long supported the anti-Assad ‘revolution’ and regime change efforts.

In a ‘victory’ speech given Wednesday night, Jolani declared himself president of Syria, claiming that this would be for an unspecified transitional period. “We announce the appointment of Commander Ahmad al-Sharaa as head of state during the transitional period. He will assume the duties of the president of the Syrian Arab Republic and represent the country in international forums,” a statement said.

You can tell he’s different from Assad because he has a hairy face and Assad doesn’t.

“The president is authorized to form a temporary legislative council for the transitional phase, which will carry out its duties until a permanent constitution is enacted and put into effect,” the announcement added.

The statement further confirmed the cancellation of Syria’s 2012 constitution and the dissolution of the former government’s parliament, the army, as well as security agencies, state SANA noted. Additionally all armed factions which previously fought Assad and the Syrian army have been declared dissolved and will be integrated into state institutions.

Western mainstream media spent years whitewashing the hardline Islamist-led regime change war, as it was also backed by US intelligence, NATO allies, and the Gulf states. Al-Qaeda linked militants were presented all along as somehow being enlightened Jeffersonian Democrats.

Imagine how peaceful the world would be if the Religion of Peace didn’t exist.

Read it.

Hamas’s stage-managed release of Israeli hostages on Thursday was nearly derailed by an angry mob of thousands of Gazans.

In the third round of hostage releases by Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group released Agam Berger, a 20-year-old Israeli soldier, in a bizarre ceremony. Hours later, Hamas released Israeli civilians Arbel Yehoud, 29, and Gadi Moses, 80, and five Thai nationals into a crowd of Gazans who pushed and screamed at the hostages.

Israeli leaders condemned the chaotic handover, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling it “shocking” and “additional proof of the inconceivable brutality of the Hamas terrorist organization.” In protest, Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz briefly threatened to delay the scheduled release of 110 Palestinian prisoners on Thursday before announcing an agreement had been reached with the ceasefire’s mediators “ensuring the safe return of our hostages” going forward, according to statements by the prime minister’s office.

The behavior of the Gazan mob is the latest reminder of the depth of support for anti-Israel terrorism in Palestinian society.

UPDATE: Israel Outraged At Hostage Release Scenes: 8 Freed Amid Mayhem & Mobs In Gaza

Akin to Count Dracula summoning his wolves and telling Jonathan Harker, “Sure, you’re free to leave any time. Have a nice trip.”

Read it.

Note: No distinction admitted between legal immigrants and illegal immigrants.

Launched in 2022, Acacia Center argues that “no immigrant should be detained” and that electronic surveillance to track illegal aliens “must be abolished.” According to the center, “the use of local law enforcement for immigration purposes … must be dismantled.”

It maintains that the immigration detention and deportation system is “intentionally designed to exploit, exclude, criminalize, detain and deport” people deemed to be “undeserving of inclusion in our national fabric, particularly Black and brown people.”

That puts it squarely at odds with the Trump administration, which has pledged to increase deportations of illegal aliens dramatically. The administration has threatened to pull federal funds from sanctuary cities and states that prohibit local law enforcement from cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. Trump has ordered federal agencies to shut down the kinds of diversity, equity, and inclusion policies pushed by the Acacia Center.

Long on ‘must’, short on ‘why’.

Read it.

If you’re counting up the advantages of the Green New Deal, don’t forget this one.

UPDATE: Burning Eyes, Breathing Problems, And Rashes: Residents Claim California’s Lithium Battery Fire Made Them Sick. Officials Deny the Health Risks.

“We can’t tell people that!” — every government employee, every day

Read it.

The latest National Report Card from the National Assessment of Educational Progress paints an abysmal picture of education across the U.S.

The report card is published every two years and assesses the average reading and math scores for fourth and eighth graders. The report showed significant declines for students when it was published in 2022, but the decline was somewhat expected in the wake of school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic. But the assessment completed in 2024 and published Wednesday show little to no improvement in students’ math and reading proficiency.

UPDATE: Denver schools under investigation over all-gender bathroom (The Hill)

UPDATE: US Dept Of Education Investigating All-Gender Restroom At Denver High School

Read it.

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

Read it.

Rebecca Jordan-Young, a gender studies professor at Barnard College, is a member of the school’s Faculty for Justice in Palestine chapter. Last spring, she volunteered to serve as a “protest marshal,” part of a group of faculty members and staff who helped student radicals secure the perimeter of their illegal encampment and stood by as those students stormed a Columbia University campus building, photos obtained by the Washington Free Beacon show. Now, she will lead the Barnard Center for Research on Women.

Barnard named Jordan-Young the center’s interim director on Friday. The role opened up after Premilla Nadasen, a Barnard history professor, resigned last month, citing her discontent with stricter campus event rules and “surveillance cameras” implemented in the wake of the illegal encampments that roiled Barnard and Columbia.

Jordan-Young’s appointment ensures that another ally of anti-Israel students will lead the center, which was established in 1971 to “assure that women can live and work in dignity, autonomy, and equality.” It has since expanded its scope to encompass a wider array of social justice projects, including the “gay liberation movement,” the “histories of racism, slavery, and colonialism” in the field of botany, and the “intersections of social reproduction, racial capitalism, care, the state, and liberatory social change.”

Read it.

The skies over Washington D.C., where an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided with a passenger airliner Wednesday night, killing 67, is the most tightly controlled and surveilled airspace open to civilian air traffic in the United States. As such, it can be a hazardous place to be airborne, particularly at night, when bedrock principles of good airmanship can fall by the wayside and helicopter and air traffic control personnel can get overwhelmed, current and former military helicopter pilots told TWZ Thursday.

The collision killed the three soldiers aboard the UH-60 helicopter, as well as 64 aboard the PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet, which was on its final approach to Ronald Reagan National Airport shortly before 9 p.m. when the accident occurred over the Potomac River.

It happened as the inbound airliner from Wichita, Kansas, made its visual approach to Reagan’s Runway 33. The PSA flight was operating as Flight 5342 for American Airlines. Go here to read our ongoing coverage of the tragedy.

Multiple investigations have been launched into the incident. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, echoing President Donald Trump, said Thursday that “there was some sort of elevation issue” with the Fort Belvoir, Virginia, based Black Hawk that the Army was investigating.

Trump plans to build mass detention camp for deportees at Guantánamo Bay (Washington Poop)

Military OKs Use of Colo. Base for Detaining Illegals (NewsMax)

Federal workforce reeling over Trump’s ‘buyout’ offer (Politico) America’s CEO.

Transcript: Trump’s Chaos Strategy Is Already Blowing Up in His Face (The New Republic)

Fact check: $50 million for condoms in Gaza? Five big reasons to be skeptical Trump’s story is true (CNN)  No such skepticism was ever shown to a Biden or a Harris statement.

FACT FOCUS: No evidence that $50 million was designated by the US to buy condoms for Hamas  (Associated Press) I’m glad they have nothing more important to cover.

What we know about Trump’s claim that the U.S. planned to spend $50 million on condoms for Gaza (CBS News)

Exclusive: USDA inspector general escorted out of her office after defying White House (Reuters)

Elon Musk Foe Escorted Out of Fed Office After Refusing to Resign (The Daily Beast)

USDA Inspector General Who Refused to Leave Post Escorted From Office by Security (Gizmodo)

Trump offering federal workers buyouts with about 8 months’ pay in effort to shrink government (Associated Press)

Advice from a financial planner for concerned federal workers (WTOP News)

Trump’s incentive for federal workers to resign sows doubt (Axios)

‘Not a buyout’: Attorneys and unions urge federal workers not to resign (NPR)

Survey: Most feds say OPM’s resignation offer too uncertain to accept (Federal News Network) I’ll bet you didn’t know that there was such a thing as a Federal News Network.

Federal-Worker Buyouts May Make Government As Broken As X (Ed Kilgore/New York Magazine)

Another judge is preparing to block Trump’s spending freeze, despite White House cleanup (Politico)

Call of Snooty: Virtue-Signaling WashPost Investigates If Musk ‘Cheats at Video Games’!

Trump says he will send migrants to Guantanamo Bay (Kevin Breuninger/CNBC)

Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions (Just Security)

Meta Settles ‘Facebook Ban’ Suit With Trump, Offers Weak Guidance As Earnings Hit Late

Whistleblower: Multiple FBI Agents Called In Sick With ‘Blue Flu’ To Avoid Helping ICE Round-Up Criminal Illegals In Chicago

Senate confirms Lee Zeldin to lead EPA as Trump vows to cut climate rules (CBS News)

Trump to Sign Order to Use Guantanamo Bay to House Migrants (Wall Street Journal)  Biden let so many terrorists go free that it has plenty of room.

Are Sh*tposting Fed Workers With ‘TDS’ On Reddit In Violation Of Hatch Act?

Trump to Detain Violent Illegal Immigrants at Guantanamo Bay

‘Bureaucrats are Still Hiding’: How Is ATF Implementing Trump’s Executive Order on DEI?  Badly, I suspect.

The Trump White House Wants A Court Challenge Over Frozen Funds (Paul Blumenthal/HuffPost)

Trump accuses Fed, Powell of creating inflation on heels of rate decision (Kevin Breuninger/CNBC)

Brazil seeking funds for Venezuelan migrant program after Trump freezes US aid (Reuters)

Declassified CIA Guide to Sabotaging Fascism Is Suddenly Viral (Jason Koebler/404 Media)

It Makes Sense That the Left Fears Kash Patel

Who Are the Nonprofits That Sued to Block Trump’s Federal Funding Freeze?

Mark Kelly: Trump’s immigration raids are a ‘photo op’ to ‘intimidate people’ (Andrew Howard/Politico)

The Most Alarming Moments From RFK Jr.’s Confirmation Hearing (Rolling Stone)

I Just Got Trump’s “Buyout” Offer at My Job. Let Me Tell You How That’s Going. (Denise Cana/Slate)

RFK Jr. Accidentally Reveals Trump’s Plan on Abortion (Jessica Valenti/Abortion, Every Day)

New Trump Executive Order Bans Critical Race Theory, Gender Ideology in Public Education

As Establishment Warms to Trump, Elite Law Firm Takes On His Appeal (Jonah E. Bromwich/New York Times)

Noem defends DHS decision to revoke protections for Venezuelans (Ali Bianco/Politico)

Inside the Chaotic Rollout of Trump’s Federal Funding Freeze (New York Times)

Trump Is “Dangerous” & Racist To Keep Men Out Of Women’s Prisons, Professor Says

Beware the “Deferred Resignation” Offer: A Legally Dubious Proposal for Federal Employees (Suzanne Summerlin/Just Security)

The Attack on Trans Rights Won’t End There (Adam Serwer/The Atlantic)

Elon Musk rose to the top of video game charts. Now he has confessed to cheating. (Drew Harwell/Washington Post)

4 things to know from RFK Jr.’s confirmation hearing: from the Politics Desk (NBC News)

Trump’s Tech Donors Have Big Plans For Greenland (Lois Parshley/The Lever)

The lawyers are getting louder – and they’re getting results (Dan Froomkin/Heads Up News)

Latino Media MAD Trump Won’t Trans the Kids

Now That Trump Is President, Journalists Can Finally Admit the Harris Campaign Was a Total Disaster

Elon Musk Looks to Stick a Fork in Federal Government Workers (Scott Pilutik/Slate)

RFK Jr. tries (again) to distance himself from the anti-vaccine movement (Brandy Zadrozny/NBC News)

Pentagon agency pauses celebrations for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Black History Month and more (Tara Copp/Associated Press)

What would RFK Jr. mean to HHS? (NPR)

Bipartisan lawmakers reintroduce bill to repeal ‘global gag rule’ on abortion reinstated by Trump (Ailia Zehra/The Hill)

The Logoff: The government purge, explained (Patrick Reis/Vox)

Kash Patel Sold Children’s Books Inscribed with “WWG1WGA” QAnon Slogan (J.D. Wolf/MeidasTouch News)

Trump threatens funding for schools that accommodate transgender children (Sareen Habeshian/Axios)

An immigrant faces deportation after a routine traffic stop in Texas, sparking more fear (Alejandro Serrano/The Texas Tribune)

Trump’s Retribution Continues With Removal of General Milley’s Security Detail (New York Times)

5 takeaways from RFK Jr.’s first Senate hearing (Niall Stanage/The Hill)

Democrats leave ’emergency’ meeting vowing ‘street fight’ in response to Trump actions (Mike Lillis/The Hill)

Inside 45 hours of chaos: The brief life and quick death of Trump’s federal spending freeze (CNN)

MSNBC Helps Advise Illegal Aliens How to Avoid ICE Arrest

Trump’s Firings Could Bring Court Cases That Expand His Power (Charlie Savage/New York Times)

To Pay for Trump Tax Cuts, House GOP Floats Plan to Slash Benefits for the Poor and Working Class (ProPublica)

The Elon-ification of the federal government (Dave Lawler/Axios)

Maureen Dowd on Trump the Narcissist, Act II (New York Times)

FAA Chief Quit on Jan. 20 After Elon Musk Told Him to Resign (Hugh Dougherty/The Daily Beast)

The Law Is Not Fully Trump’s Yet (Deborah Pearlstein/New York Times)

Trump “defends women” by terrorizing them (Liz Dye/Public Notice)

Trump begins term with historically low approval rating (Morgan Chalfant/Semafor)

Trump unleashed chaos by freezing and unfreezing $3tn in federal grants and loans. Why? (Robert Reich/The Guardian)  Not that Robert Reich would know.

In Tense Call, Governors Push Schumer to Fight Harder Against Trump (Reid J. Epstein/New York Times)

Despite media reports, Trump has not offered federal employees a “buyout” (Judd Legum/Popular Information)

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez lays out battle plan against ‘shockingly dim’ Trump White House (Brad Reed/Raw Story)  Pretty rich, Occasional-Cortex calling somebody else ‘dim’.

Bleach Enthusiast, Antisemitic Conspiracist Among Stars of Anti-Vaxxer Event To Be Held at Trump Hotel (David Gilbert/Wired)

Sick Leftists Blame Trump For Plane/Chopper Collision

Trump Gutted Key Aviation Safety Committee Before D.C. Plane Crash (Hafiz Rashid/New Republic)

Ogles: ‘Did DEI play a role’ in fatal DC plane crash? (Cheyanne M. Daniels/The Hill)

People on Kash Patel’s so-called ‘enemies list’ taking drastic steps for protection before his potential FBI takeover (CNN)

Trump Kicks Congress to the Curb, With Little Protest From Republicans (Carl Hulse/New York Times)

Trump’s mission: Discrimination and destruction (Chris Geidner/Law Dork)

Trump and Musk Are Trying to Purge Veterans From the Government (Michael Embrich/Rolling Stone)

Trump’s Plane Crash Response Is as Cheap as You’d Expect (Benjamin Parker/The Bulwark)

ZMan casts aspersions

The confirmation hearings for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Secretary of Health and Human Services were yesterday and they offered some interesting insights into how the world has changed over the last few years. In many respects, it was a blast from the past, with the more ridiculous performers dusting off their old routines. Elizabeth Warren, for example, did her angry chicken dance in the hallway after she did her raging old crone routine in the committee room.

Warren and the other senators who took the opportunity to make fools of themselves for the cameras during the hearing were a reminder not only that things have changed, but why they have changed. Warren’s act was just an act. It was clear at certain points that she did not understand the words she was reading from her script, but it was clear she practiced delivering them with the correct angry face. If her handlers had required it, she would have accused Kennedy of colluding with Bigfoot.

That is one reason why we are here. The public, at some point over the last few years, began to turn on this sort of performative politics. According to recent polling, the Democratic Party has its lowest approval rating ever. Meanwhile Trump is enjoying his highest approval ratings. The reason for that is Trump, whatever you may think of him, is a candid and sincere form of politics. People like Elizabeth Warren are just paid performers who will say anything for a buck.

The Chattering Classes apparently think that ‘theory’ is a synonym for ‘hoax’. A ‘conspiracy theory’ is not ipso facto false; it’s merely a theory, which may be proved or disproved by application of the relevant facts. ‘Conspiracy’ is a real thing, as witness the fact that people go to jail for it.

Read it.

The idea of historical inevitability has transfixed philosophers, theologians, and politicians for millennia. From the Apostles awaiting the second coming of Christ to the Marxists who looked forward to the collapse of capitalism and the dictatorship of the proletariat, the conviction that the future is already written has an intoxicating allure. In his 1945 book The Open Society and Its Enemies, the philosopher Karl Popper described this belief as “historicism” and argued that it is among the most destructive concepts humanity has ever devised.

Popper is well worth reading.

Victor Davis Hanson.

Mexican nationals, likely cartel members, recently crossed the border and shot and wounded an American hiker. Did they assume that Joe Biden was still president, and so it was still a veritable open season on Americans without consequences?

Mexico also recently balked at allowing a U.S. transport plane to land, returning its own nationals apprehended as illegal aliens.

Was its attitude that Alejandro Mayorkas was still Homeland Security Secretary and thus working with Mexico to ensure that millions of illegal aliens could stay in the U.S. indefinitely?

After four years of Biden’s appeasement, Mexico seems to assume that it has a sovereign right to encourage the flight of millions of its own impoverished citizens illegally into the U.S. and further assumes that it can fast-track millions of Latin Americans through its territory and across our border.

Read it.

A day after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott demanded criminal and civil investigations into the Irving Independent School District, an administrator resigned Wednesday amid the uproar over his comments about circumventing a state law regarding transgender athletes.

Read it.

We recently spotlighted how Walmart remained America’s “price discount juggernaut” retailer amid an ongoing value war with other supermarket retail chains. The latest high-frequency data indicates that consumers are increasingly trading down as the inflation storm triggered under the Biden-Harris regime continued to strain household finances in the early days of the Trump-Vance administration.

Thank you, Joe Biden.

Read it.

Democrats in Congress like Representatives Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and Maxine Waters, D-Calif., are criticizing President Donald Trump’s firing of 17 inspectors general, including in the departments of State, Transportation, Labor, Interior, Energy, and Commerce, claiming that doing so “without due cause is antithetical to good government.”

There is a very strong argument to be made that those inspectors general failed to do their jobs during the past four years. Their failures provide Trump with all of the “due cause” he needs.

Just two examples suffice: their failure to investigate the misbehavior of their departments in attempting to interfere in the 2022 and 2024 federal elections and in using government resources to violate the First Amendment rights of American citizens and censor their opinions and social media accounts.

New York Times, a Voice of the Crust.

As Mark Zuckerberg and other tech titans have embraced President Trump and muffled internal dissent at their companies, their mostly left-leaning employees have objected with subtle acts of defiance.

Read it.

Suzanne Bowdey is editorial director and senior writer at The Washington Stand.
It’s a shrinking club, but there are still headstrong CEOs who refuse to bend to the anti-woke winds. None have grabbed more headlines than Costco, the big box holdout who’s clinging to diversity, equity, and inclusion while a stampede of businesses run the other way. After voting down a shareholder resolution last Thursday to return to neutral, the heat is on. And if consumers won’t change the company’s mind, maybe 19 state attorneys general will.

In a surprise move, a coalition of red state law enforcers wrote to the wholesaler, warning that under the new Trump administration and the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, these extreme identity politics would no longer be tolerated.

“Although Costco’s motto is ‘do the right thing,’” the AGs point out, “it appears the company is doing the wrong thing — clinging to DEI policies that courts and businesses have rejected as illegal. Costco should treat every person equally and based on their merit, rather than based on divisive and discriminatory DEI practices. That reflects President Trump’s executive order encouraging the Private Sector to End Illegal DEI discrimination and Preferences.”

Read it.

I guess even climate activists like Sigourney Weaver aren’t safe from the green mob.

Read it.

Ah, California lawmakers are at it again, pushing the boundaries of legal absurdity with a bill that would allow victims of natural disasters to sue oil companies for damages. Yes, you read that correctly—wildfire victims could now take ExxonMobil to court as if hurricanes and forest fires suddenly started appearing the moment someone filled up their SUV?.

Read it.

In a huge development which significantly raises the stakes for any future potential Trump-backed negotiations related to seeking ceasefire in the Ukraine war, President Vladimir Putin has said that he won’t negotiate with Ukraine so long as President Volodymyr Zelensky is in power, and on the other side of talks.

“If he wants to take part in negotiations, I will select such people, it’s not an issue. The question is about the final signing of the documents,” Putin said in a state broadcast TV interview on Tuesday. He argued that because of canceled elections Zelensky’s legitimacy has expired, and this means he “does not have the right to sign anything.”

Read it.

When the Trump administration unveiled a 90-day freeze of foreign aid aimed at ensuring the funding is “consistent with U.S. foreign policy under the America First agenda,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio allowed career staffers to submit waivers for projects they felt were aligned with that agenda. Those staffers went on to submit some 200 waivers for programs that would have cost taxpayers $1.2 billion this week alone, including some that pertained to “environmental justice” and “LGBTQI+ Inclusive Development.”

The Rubio-led State Department rejected all of them, sources familiar with the process told the Washington Free Beacon.

The situation reflects the severe disconnect between career and political staffers at the State Department and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which the State Department oversees. It also previews the implications of the ongoing legal fight surrounding the Trump administration’s plans to freeze scores of federal grants.

Read it.

“A previous version of this article referred to Samidoun as an activist network that supports Palestinian prisoners,” the Post wrote in a “clarification” note. “However, it failed to note that the United States says the group is an international fundraiser for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which Washington has placed under sanctions.”

The piece still refers to Samidoun as “a group supporting Palestinian prisoners” but now includes its status as “a fundraiser for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which is under U.S. sanctions.” The Post also removed a link to a Samidoun blog titled, “90 Palestinian prisoners liberated by the Resistance on the first day of the Flood of the Free,” which included photos featuring Hamas flags and the late terrorist leader Yahya Sinwar.

Read it.

The U.S. State Department has issued the highest-level travel warning for some Mexican towns next to the U.S.–Mexico border due to elevated risks over kidnappings, gun battles, and improvised explosives devices (IEDs).

A bulletin released by the U.S. Embassy and Consulates in Mexico said a “Level 4: Do Not Travel” advisory has been issued for parts of Tamaulipas state. It cites Reynosa, Rio Bravo, Valle Hermoso, and San Fernando, where IEDs have been found. The area borders the Rio Grande Valley in Texas.

The warning also confirmed that officials are “aware of increasingly frequent gun battles occurring in and around Reynosa in the late night and early morning hours.”

“An IED destroyed a Government of Mexico (Conagua) official vehicle in Rio Bravo and injured its occupant on January 23,” the statement said. As a result, U.S. government officials were ordered to avoid travel near Rio Bravo and Reynosa outside of daytime and to stay away from dirt roads across Tamaulipas state, which shares a lengthy border with southern Texas.

NJ Attorney General joins suit to stop Trump’s federal grant freeze (NPR) Gotta keep the gravy train on track.

Trump’s grant gambit threatens to wreck the goldilocks economy he inherited (CNN) The Narrative Media, of course, are fully invested in the proglodyte belief that the health of the economy is totally dependent on government spending, especially Federal government spending. Normal people understand that Trump didn’t ‘inherit a goldilocks economy’, he inherited a train wreck, and picking up that pieces of the Biden-Harris disaster is going to take hard choices and drastic action.

RFK’s dueling personas take center stage (Axios) Apparently Kennedy is the New Musk. They haven’t called him a Nazi yet, but it’s coming.

‘He’ll go down’: RFK Jr. nomination won’t pass Senate, O’Reilly says (The Hill) Does anybody pay any attention to Bill O’Reilly any more?  I guess Carl Bernstein was unavailable.

Trump’s funding freeze awakens the “Resistance” (Axios) ‘Awakens’? I was under the impression that they were already awake.

US politics live: Trump’s attempt to freeze federal funding will have ‘devastating impact’, non-profits say (The Guardian) No doubt. ‘Non-profits’ don’t make any money, so they depend on ‘funding’, and the golden BB for ‘funding’ is the government.

LGBT Groups Silent About Scott Bessent’s Historic Confirmation  It’s not enough to be a pervert, you have to be a Politically Correct pervert.

Leftists’ Crocodile Tears Over Trump Are Falling Flat

Trump’s Order on Transgender Troops Will Likely Ban Their Service, Again (New York Times)

Trump barrels through guardrails, daring courts and Congress to stop him (Kyle Cheney/Politico)  Just like a Democrat!

Some Trump voters are skeptical of his opening moves to embrace fellow billionaires (Associated Press)

U.S. Halt to Foreign Aid Cripples Programs Worldwide (New York Times)

Trump Fired E.E.O.C. Commissioners in Late-Night Purge (New York Times)  The NYT is rather late to the party; that was yesterday’s outrage. Guys, try to keep up.

Coast Guard Ordered to Reinstate Members Discharged Over Vaccine

Trump administration may pull money from TSA, Coast Guard to help ICE afford costly deportations (Julia Ainsley/NBC News)

‘Insane’: Legal experts blast Trump’s ‘unbelievable’ new firings as ‘attack on the EEOC’ (Daniel Hampton/Raw Story)

STAT+: Private emails show RFK Jr. making false claims about Covid-19 shots, linking vaccines to autism (STAT)

Trump is holding hospitals ‘hostage’ in brazen ‘power grab’: AOC (Erik De La Garza/Raw Story) Just like a Democrat!

‘Biden’s Book Ban Hoax’: Department of Education claims book bans are a ‘hoax’ and dismisses all complaints (Rachel Ulatowski/The Mary Sue)

Trump Budget Pick Vought: 2020 Election Was Rigged  I agree.

‘A 5 Alarm F-ing Fire’: Trump’s Federal Funding Freeze Is Jolting Some Dems Into Fight Mode (Jennifer Bendery/HuffPost)  Because before, you know, they were fast asleep.

Trump expected to sign executive order prioritizing federal funding for school choice programs (Kathryn Watson/CBS News)

‘We stand with you’: SF leaders rally for immigrant community after ICE agents spotted downtown (Amber Lee/KTVU-TV)

Compelling Mass Civil Servant Resignations Will Create Chaos (Don Moynihan/Can We Still Govern?)

The Media Lose Their Minds Over Federal Funding Freeze

The Example That Trump Made Out Of Colombia Will Reverberate Across The World  Yup. New sheriff in town.

NY attorney general sues Trump administration as state gets locked out of Medicaid

Jewish nonprofits say Trump’s federal funding freeze would threaten social services and security programs

It’s Political vs. Career Staffers in Battle Over Foreign Aid Freeze

Trump’s ‘Flood the Zone’ Strategy Leaves Opponents Gasping in Outrage (Luke Broadwater/New York Times)

New Trump memo claims authority to ignore Congress (Popular Information)  Just like a Democrat!

Trump’s chaos governance failed once. He’s trying it again. (David R. Lurie/Public Notice)  Just like a Democrat!

‘FIRED FOR CAUSE’: Rand Paul Has Choice Words About Bureaucrats Who Refuse a Lawful Trump Order

Trump’s PEPFAR Shutdown is White Supremacy in Action (Joan Westenberg/The Index)

You’re So Vain, You Probably Think Kash Patel Hates You (Ashley Parker/The Atlantic)

“Trump is trying to collapse our economy”: War on “woke” revealed as a war on all Americans (Amanda Marcotte/Salon)

Trump’s White House Is Flooding the Zone With Legal Tests (Evan McMorris-Santoro/NOTUS)  Just like a Democrat!

Trump’s Spending Freeze Will Block Biden’s Leftist Legacy

Trump is already acting like a king (Zack Beauchamp/Vox) Just like a Democrat!

Democrats bite back against Trump’s purges and freezes (Axios)

Kimmel Tries and Fails To Dunk On Trump’s Missile Defense Plan

The Reason Why Donald Trump Shut Down His Government (Timothy Noah/New Republic)

EXCLUSIVE: Largest Teachers Union Held Webinar on Protecting ‘Undocumented’ Children from ICE

‘Written by children’: Critics slam New York Times’ glowing coverage of Trump official (Brad Reed/Raw Story)

The Trump White House has no idea what the Trump White House just did (Dana Milbank/Washington Post)  But Dana Milbank, Smartest Guy In Any Room, does.

DOJ Drops Push to Prosecute Trump Associates in Records Case (Zoe Tillman/Bloomberg)

Trump ordering review to identify, punish and deport antisemites – including students on visas (Steven Nelson/New York Post)

DOJ moves to drop prosecution of former Trump co-defendants in classified documents case (Politico)

How Trump is stretching laws to make the federal government more political (Lisa Rein/Washington Post)  Just like a Democrat!

Trump and Musk’s plan for a massive purge of the federal workforce, explained (Andrew Prokop/Vox)  Because you, normal person, are too stupid to figure it out for yourself.

The Human Cost of Frozen Funds (Jennifer Rubin/The Contrarian)  Jennifer Rubin loses her shit.

Trump Officials Revoke Biden’s Extension of Protections for Venezuelans (Hamed Aleaziz/New York Times)

Congressional Republicans Prefer Being a Doormat (William Kristol/The Bulwark)

NYC residents praise ICE raids after violent gang member captured (Fox News)

Even Jon Stewart Laughed At MSNBC’s Fascism Hysteria

Ted Cruz Leads Republican Charge to Defund Consumer-Protection Agency (Siobhan Hughes/Wall Street Journal)

White House rescinds Trump’s funding freeze after massive backlash (Zachary Basu/Axios)

Trump Hates the Constitution (David S. Cohen/Rolling Stone)

Senators Pause RFK Hearing To Announce This Next Round Of Questions Is Brought To You By Pfizer  (Babylon Bee)

Trump’s First Big Fiasco Triggers Stephen Miller’s Rage–Take Note Dems (Greg Sargent/New Republic)

Senate Democrats rip into RFK Jr. (Daniel Payne/Politico)

Trump, Musk join forces to bring stranded NASA astronauts back via SpaceX after Biden admin ‘abandoned’ them (Christina Shaw/Fox Business)

Trump Announces Plan To Make California A Part Of The U.S.  Babylon Bee)

Trump Plans to Use Guantanamo Military Prison for Migrants (Bloomberg)

Trump to build mass detention camp for deportees at Guantánamo Bay (Washington Post)

ZMan explains it all to you.

nothing like what his adversaries imagined. Despite the evidence that this version of Trump would be different, his antagonists inside and outside the regime were certain he was the guy they imagined. Therefore, his victory was a shock, but they were sure what worked the first time around would work again. The weird silence from regime outposts is due to having been wrong yet again.

This version of Trump is a very different thing from the original version. We are seeing this in the realm of foreign policy where Trump 2.0 has been executing a plan rather than doing battle with the hydra that is the foreign policy community. It turns out that his refusal to have any dealings with the foreign policy community as a candidate, and his decision not to use government resources for the transition, has provided him with the element of surprise upon taking office.

You see that with his initial appointments. Marco Rubio was an out of the blue pick for the State Department. It seems to have been a shock to Rubio as well. Pete Hegseth at the Pentagon is another bolt from the blue. In the case of Rubio, he is an easily controlled lieutenant running an agency in need of radical reform. Hegseth comes to the job with his own radical ideas about reforming the Pentagon. The semi-permanent staff at the top of both agencies are now in a crisis.

New York Times, a Voice of the Crust.

Party leaders disagree sharply on how to interpret the losses that gave Republicans complete control of the federal government, with some calling for a reinvention and others a wait-and-see.

‘It can’t be any fault in US, it must be some Sinister Opposing Force’s fault.’

Washington Poop.

Perhaps not in the eyes of ‘Columbian officials’. But they were in the U.S. illegally and ipso facto criminals. That’s why they were deported.

This pretense that being in the country illegally is Not Really Criminal (hence the preferred euphemism ‘undocumented’, as if they just left their documents in their other pants) is getting tiresome.

If it was grown in a lab, it isn’t meat, any more than a ‘gay marriage’ is a marriage.

Alex Tabarrok.

Antimicrobial resistance is a growing problem. Peptides, short sequences of amino acids, are nature’s first defense against bacteria. Research on antimicrobial peptides is promising but such research could be much more productive if combined with machine learning on big data. But collecting, collating and organizing big data is a public good and underprovided. Current peptide databases are small, inconsistent, incompatible with one another and they are biased against negative controls. Thus, there is scope for a million-peptide database modelled on something like Human Genome Project or ProteinDB.

Read it.

A French newspaper boss has been forced to quit after ‘liking’ posts on LinkedIn written by right-wing politicians like Sarah Knafo and Marion Maréchal. The thought police did their work: after being forced to self-criticise in Stalinist mode, he ended up resigning.

The alarm was raised by the investigative newspaper Mediapart, notorious for its left-wing activism. In an article, Mediapart ‘revealed’ that Philippe Carli, head of the Ebra press group, France’s leading regional daily press group, which manages large-circulation titles such as Le Progrès and Dernières Nouvelles d’Alsace, regularly liked posts on his LinkedIn account from Reconquête MEP Sarah Knafo, personalities from the Rassemblement National (RN), and reposted videos from the CNews news channel.

“The boss of Ebra cherishes the far-right,” concluded Mediapart, expressing its indignation. Philippe Carli, caught in the act of thoughtcrime, offered several explanations in an attempt to defend himself. First, he claimed that his LinkedIn account was managed by another person, with whom he said he was “very unhappy.” However, he then changed his tune and launched into a full-scale self-criticism. An article signed by him appeared on Sunday, January 26th in the nine regional titles published by his group by way of apology: “Yes, my hasty use of social media was clumsy. I’m sorry about that. This is not who I am as a man and as the head of an independent press group,” it read.

Read it.

If it has a purpose, it’s not to defend against a non-existent foe, but to ensure US patronage.