If the Soviet Union hadn’t been an existential threat, there wouldn’t be any NATO installations there.

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The entertainment sector has been at the core of the woke movement over the course of the last ten years, integrating Critical Race Theory, feminism, gay and trans propaganda, climate change hysteria, anti-gun rights messaging and pro-socialist rhetoric into their content at breakneck speed. There has always been progressive politics in movies and TV, but this new social justice takeover was a highly coordinated tidal wave; a Blitzkrieg of hard-left ideology into every possible media space.

One group of consumers noticed the threat very early on – Gamers picked up on the leftist subversion of their hobby almost immediately in 2013. They would go on to launch “Gamergate” in 2014, a movement to expose the feminist hijacking of games journalism and the hobby at large. They were punished for their foresight, accused of “misogyny”, “bigotry”, “racism” and even terrorism, but they were correct. There was indeed a far-left agenda to dominate the gaming world and extort companies into adopting social justice propaganda.

The plan succeeded spectacularly. Most corporations eventually folded and instituted DEI programs outright. Gaming developers were some of the worst perpetrators and their products quickly became replete with woke indoctrination. The one thing they didn’t count on, though, was a consumer revolt.

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President Donald Trump on Thursday directed the Federal Aviation Administration to assess safety standards, including evaluating hiring practices, in the wake of the midair collision over Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday night.

The presidential memorandum comes after Trump suggested the military helicopter that crashed into an American Airlines regional jet may have been due in part to the FAA’s diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

All 67 people aboard the two aircraft were killed.

“President Trump swiftly signed a memorandum directing an immediate assessment of the Federal Aviation Administration to ensure the federal government is maintaining the highest personnel and policy aviation-safety standards,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.

UPDATE: December FAA Report Cites “Urgent Need To Modernize Air Traffic Systems” I remember Newt Gingrich, at that time the new Speaker of the House, pointing out on television how far behind in technology the FAA was — and that was thirty years ago.

UPDATE: On MSNBC, Former Biden FAA Boss Doesn’t Dispute Trump’s Hiring Claims

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Homeschool families in Virginia celebrated a victory Thursday after the Virginia state Senate backed away from a bill that threatened religious exemptions for homeschoolers.

SB 1031 sought to get rid of an exemption that permits families in the state to homeschool their children because of their religious convictions. After initially voting to pass the bill, the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee acted on a motion to reconsider and voted 13-2 to pass by indefinitely on the bill, meaning the bill will not go to the Senate floor unless the committee takes the bill up again.

This comes after Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, said he would veto the bill in a statement to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

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Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been undermined by repeated leaks of his comments and policy changes since agreeing to dismantle the censorship regime at Meta. That’s not a coincidence.

Zuckerberg announced on Jan. 7 that his platforms would cut ties with pro-censorship fact-checkers, allow free speech on “topics like immigration and gender,” and make other changes to reduce censorship on the platform. Since that announcement, Meta employees have repeatedly leaked Zuckerberg’s internal communications to the media.

Among the leaked content are announcements of additional changes to dismantle woke elements on Meta platforms and even Meta’s plans to step away from discriminatory diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

Why tariffs on Mexico and Canada could drive up grocery costs, in 3 charts (CNN)

Trump builds a tariff wall (Axios)

Trump sketches unprecedented plan for sweeping tariffs (Washington Poop)

What Trump’s Trade War Would Mean, in Nine Charts (Council on Foreign Relations)

Why the Panama Canal matters (Washington Poop)

Does a ‘foreign power’ threaten the Panama Canal? Here’s what you need to know (CNN) Come get yer Narrative, right here.

Why the US is claiming China’s presence violates the Panama neutrality treaty (Reuters Canada)

Yes, really, it’s going to be called the Gulf of America (Washington Poop)

Mexican president says she sent letter to Google contesting Gulf of Mexico name change (CNN)

Chevron calls Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America in earnings release after Trump order (CNBC)

Google Maps users in U.S. will see Gulf of Mexico renamed Gulf of America and Denali changed to Mount McKinley (CBS) Yet another reason not to use Google Maps.

Trump administration purges websites across federal health agencies (NPR)  Trump obviously learned a lot from his first term.

Tennessee GOP passes immigration law to criminalize elected officials’ votes (Melissa Brown/The Tennessean)

Trump and Elon Musk Just Pulled Off Another Purge–and It’s a Scary One (Greg Sargent/New Republic)  Greg Sargent loses his shit.

Trump administration directs 70% cut to internal OPM staffing, programs (Drew Friedman/Federal News Network)

Democrat-Controlled Trade Tribunal Rules Against Menthol Vape-Maker, Contravening Trump’s Opposition to Menthol Bans

Contrarians, Assemble: Chuck Todd’s Exit From NBC Fuels Speculation of Resistance ‘Dream Team’

Trump putting ‘pause’ on most US government websites, source says (Reuters)

Interim U.S. attorney fires more than 2 dozen Jan. 6 prosecutors in D.C. (Spencer Hsu/Washington Post)

Elon Musk is reportedly taking control of the inner workings of US government agencies (Sean O’Kane/TechCrunch)

Agencies asked to scrub federal government websites to remove diversity-related content (CBS News)

Trump administration forces out multiple senior FBI officials (NBC News)

Brett Kavanaugh has very bad news for Donald Trump (Ian Millhiser/Vox)

A Red-Alert for Democracy: The Patel FBI Purge Begins (Garrett M. Graff/Doomsday Scenario)

Some federal websites temporarily go dark after order to comply with Trump DEI directive (NBC News)

These Clowns are Economic Illiterates (Joan Westenberg/The Index)  Just like Krugman!

Elon Musk’s Friends Have Infiltrated Another Government Agency (Wired) Dunh dunh DUNHHHHH….

Trump officials make plans to revoke legal status of migrants welcomed under Biden (Camilo Montoya-Galvez/CBS News)  Which is why people voted for Trump. Duh.

Elon’s Twitter Destruction Playbook Hits The US Government, And It’s Even More Dangerous (Mike Masnick/Techdirt)

FBI Agents Are Stunned by the Scale of the Expected Trump Purge (Shane Harris/The Atlantic)  Which is why people voted for Trump. Duh.

Trump says he opened California’s water. Local officials say he nearly flooded them. (Politico)

Acting on Trump’s order, federal officials opened up two California dams (Los Angeles Times)

The Situation: Kash Patel’s “Odor of Mendacity” (Benjamin Wittes/Default)

Second judge to block Trump’s spending freeze says the policy is likely unconstitutional (Politico)

DOJ fires dozens of prosecutors who handled Jan. 6 cases (Politico)

Top DOJ Official Resigns After Attempted Reassignment

Trump is wreaking havoc at USAID. Is the goal to shut it down? (Politico)

CDC Data Are Disappearing (Katherine J. Wu/The Atlantic)

Who Can Stop Elon’s ‘Team’ Wilding Its Way Through the Federal Government? (Josh Marshall/Talking Points Memo)

Federal Judge Orders White House to Keep Money Flowing to 22 States (Mattathias Schwartz/New York Times)

Federal Bureaucrats Ordered to Remove Pronouns From Email Signatures

Trump Approval Rating Looks Fragile at Start of Second Term (Ed Kilgore/New York Magazine)

Public health information pulled offline in response to Trump orders (Sophie Gardner/Politico)

Trump sketches unprecedented plan for sweeping tariffs (Washington Post)  I guess they never heard of Smoot-Harley.

Trump’s Funding Freeze May Be on Hold, but Overall Goal Remains Popular, Poll Finds

Trump’s fierce attacks on DEI reflect a longtime GOP focus (Washington Post)

Journos Attack Trump & Musk as Fascist Nazis, Toss Bouquets to Biden

The RFK Jr. Op-Ed the Los Angeles Times Didn’t Want You to Read (Eric Reinhart/New Republic)

Trump’s disregard for US constitution ‘a blitzkrieg on the law’, legal experts say (Steven Greenhouse/The Guardian)

NYT, NBC, NPR, Politico Evicted From Pentagon Press Offices In Favor Of Trump-Friendly Outlets

Trump fires the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Josh Boak/Associated Press)

Chopra removed from consumer bureau post (Katy O’Donnell/Politico)

Trump prepares to revoke legal status for many migrants who arrived under Biden (Priscilla Alvarez/CNN)

Trump Officials Release Water in California That Experts Say Will Serve Little Use (New York Times)

‘There will be many casualties’: Panama girds for war as Rubio opens talks (Ben Schreckinger/Politico)  Tell it to Noriega.

The GOP’s Unreliable Cutter-in-chief (Rachael Bade/Politico)

Trump’s revenge agenda has shocked officials who ‘didn’t think it was going to be this bad’, insiders say (Robert Tait/The Guardian)

Crazy Liberal Podcaster Says Trump’s Inauguration Speech Was an Impeachable Offense

Trump Raises New Threat to Sanctuary Cities: Blocking Transportation Dollars (Emily Badger/New York Times)

Musk’s Junta Establishes Him as Head of Government (Garrett M. Graff/Doomsday Scenario)

The high-stakes question Trump’s nominees curiously won’t answer (Aaron Blake/Washington Post)

Trump’s MAGA machine mobilizes to boost Gabbard (Axios)  MAGA is the New Nigger.

Behind the Curtain: Purges, punishments, payback (Axios)

Trump’s Overhaul Of The Federal Bureaucracy Backed By Recent Survey Research

Air Traffic Control Offices Are in Chaos in Trump’s New Administration (Rolling Stone)

Oh Shut Up, You Ken Doll: Pontificating Actor Upset Trump Won’t Make His Taxes Go Up

The tragic air collision revealed Trump’s rancid, irredeemable character once again (Sidney Blumenthal/The Guardian)  Sid Vicious crawls out from under his rock again.

Trump says he ordered precision military strike against senior ISIS planner (Brett Samuels/The Hill)

Red states love Trump–and mooching off the federal funds he wants to cut (Kos/Daily Kos)

Michael Rapaport: I Was Duped by Fake Elon Musk Nazi Salute

“It’s Like A Switch Was Flipped”: Border Encounters Plummet 94% Under Trump

Trump fires head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CNN)

Health Programs Shutter Around the World After Trump Pauses Foreign Aid (Stephanie Nolen/New York Times)  We are the friends of health everywhere but the guardians only of our own.

Rubio embarks on mission impossible: Retake the Panama Canal (John Hudson/Washington Post)

Gov. Newsom Served Recall Papers Following LA Fire Outrage

Trump: Venezuela Agrees to Accept Illegals From US

Trump to send Venezuelans back to Maduro’s repressive state (Washington Post)

‘Trantifa’ Insurrectionist Who Went To D.C. To Kill GOP Leaders Was Inspired By Luigi Mangione

Can the President Dissolve USAID by Executive Order? (Tess Bridgeman/Just Security)

Senior FBI official forcefully resisted Trump administration firings (NBC News)

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The monetary black hole that is the MTA apparently hasn’t figured out a way to secure its property, despite what appears to be an incessant, neverending need for additional cash.

That’s because the NYPD is now searching for six suspects who allegedly stole an R train from a Brooklyn storage yard and took it for a joyride, traveling down the tracks.

The incident occurred around 10 p.m. Saturday near the 71st Avenue station in Forest Hills, Queens, according to Fox 5.

Fox reported that the suspects operated the train and vandalized its camera by marking the glass panels. No arrests or injuries have been reported. Their identities and whereabouts after leaving the train remain unknown.

Read it.

Researchers at the University of Queensland have discovered the first henipavirus detected in North America.

Dr. Rhys Parry from the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences confirmed the presence of Camp Hill virus in shrews in Alabama, USA.

“Henipaviruses have caused serious disease and death in people and animals in other regions,” Dr Parry said

“One of the most dangerous is the Hendra virus, which was first detected in Brisbane, Australia, and has a fatality rate of 70 percent.

“Another example is Nipah virus which has recorded fatality rates between 40 and 75 per cent in outbreaks in Southeast Asia, including in Malaysia and Bangladesh.

“The discovery of a henipavirus in North America is highly significant, as it suggests these viruses may be more globally distributed than previously thought.”

OH NOES WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE….

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Boston University’s much-maligned Center for Antiracist Research will be shut down this coming summer as its founder, Ibram X. Kendi, prepares to jump ship to Howard University.

Kendi had high hopes for his Center for Antiracist Research, saying the $50 million project would “solve seemingly intractable problems of racial inequality and injustice” when he launched the initiative at the height of the “defund the police” movement in 2020. But the center produced hardly any research five years into the project, and Boston University now says it wants nothing more to do with it when its charter expires on June 30.

Kendi’s center was hamstrung by allegations of financial malfeasance under his watch. By 2023, financial contributions to the center had largely dried up as it produced only two original pieces of research and had long since stopped collecting information for its “Racial Data Lab,” which Kendi claimed years earlier would “give us the ability to see the hotspots of racial inequity in real time in this country,” the Washington Free Beacon reported. A Boston University audit ultimately cleared the center of any illegality in the misuse of its $50 million endowment. In September 2023, the think tank slashed a third of its workforce in a restructuring effort that Kendi said would ensure its viability for decades to come.

Another race grifter bites the dust….

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First Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg dined with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago following the presidential election. Then, he appointed UFC CEO Dana White (Trump’s friend) to the company’s board, dismantled its woke fact-checking system, and now is reportedly mulling over relocating Meta’s legal residence from Delaware to Texas—a state that has positioned itself as a pro-business alternative to heavily-regulated blue states run by the radical left.

Wall Street Journal report reveals that Meta has been discussing a potential move to reincorporate outside of Delaware. Sources familiar with the matter said Texas had been heavily considered for the company’s new legal domicile but noted there would be no changes to its corporate headquarters in Menlo Park, California.

But tomorrow may rain, so I’ll follow the sun….

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The Treasury Department withdrew the United States from a global climate alliance that was launched to push the financial sector to adopt green mandates.

The so-called Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening the Financial System was originally created to pressure banks and financial institutions to meet sweeping global climate targets, many of which have been set during United Nations summits. The Treasury Department said late Thursday that the alliance’s mission doesn’t align with the Trump administration’s “priorities to grow the U.S. economy and American jobs.”

The announcement is part of the Trump administration’s move to exit what it considers to be harmful global climate agreements. And it is the latest signal to the international community that the United States under Trump’s leadership will seek to prioritize domestic energy production over commitments to bolster green energy and fight global warming.

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Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach appeared Thursday on Fox Business to discuss concerns regarding the diversity, equity, and inclusion hiring practices in the aviation industry.

An American Airlines passenger plane collided with a military helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday evening, resulting in fatalities for everyone involved. During an appearance on “The Bottom Line,” Kobach said DEI hiring increased operational errors in the air that resulted in hundreds of incidents.

“It’s too early to know if the air traffic controllers made any mistakes,” Kobach said.

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MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart told candidates seeking to chair the Democratic National Committee they “passed” when they blamed “racism and misogyny” for former Vice President Kamala Harris’ defeat in the 2024 election.

President-elect Donald Trump secured the 270 electoral votes necessary to win the presidency early in the morning of Nov. 6, 2024, fueled by increased support from black and Hispanic voters compared to his previous campaigns. Capehart asked for a show of hands among the contenders when he asked the question during a forum in a video clip posted on X late Thursday.

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Former US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg has reportedly removed the pronouns “he/him” from his X profile, which he had prominently displayed during President Biden’s first term. This comes a day after a US Army Black Hawk helicopter collided with American Eagle Flight 5342, operated by PSA Airlines, over the Potomac River, resulting in the deaths of 64 passengers on the plane and three crew members on the helicopter, for a total of 67 fatalities.

X user Colin Wright reported on Thursday night that Buttigieg “has quietly removed his gender pronouns (he/him) from his ? and other social media profiles”

“Gender ideology is absolutely toxic. Expect more Dems to start quietly distancing themselves from it,” Wright added.

UPDATE: He’s Running: Pete Buttigieg Axes Pronouns on Social Media Amid Michigan Senate Speculation

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Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio asking him to investigate reports that a foreign aid agency pushed abortion on a black-majority country under the Biden administration.

The letter cites The Daily Signal’s Dec. 16 report that the Biden administration was pressuring Sierra Leone to pass an unpopular pro-abortion bill before Donald Trump took office.

It is common knowledge among nongovernmental organizations, or NGOs, in Sierra Leone that a U.S. foreign aid agency called the Millennium Challenge Corporation is threatening to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars from a U.S. agreement with Sierra Leone unless the West African country’s parliament passes the bill decriminalizing abortion, a former senior U.S. government official who has worked in the West African region told The Daily Signal. Millennium Challenge Corporation denies this.

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Democrats have never been more “aroused,” according to Chuck Schumer. We’ve certainly noticed a difference. At the moment, Democrats are passionately trying to figure out how Donald Trump used creeping fascism to crash a plane into the Potomac and whining theatrically about his failure to restore food prices to their pre-Biden levels since his swearing-in last week. They’re still upset about Trump’s popular plan to deport foreign criminals and other illegal immigrants. “I can’t wait until American women can’t get blueberries for their smoothies,” Democratic strategist Jenna Arnold actually said on CNN. In case you were wondering, yes, her voice sounds like an extreme parody of a liberal white Instagram mom letting loose after splitting a bottle of rosé with her bestie.

Arnold is also the author of the book Raising Our Hands: How White Women Can Stop Avoiding Hard Conversations, Start Accepting Responsibility, and Find Our Place on the New Frontlines (2020), which was courageous enough to land a spot on the Forbes list of “Anti-Racism Resources for White People.” She helped organize the pussy-hatted Women’s March in 2017 and was part of the successful campaign to persuade Joe Biden to declare the unratified Equal Rights Amendment to be part of the Constitution, which was both pointless and illegal. Arnold has two kids named Ever Alula and Atlas Oz. (We promise we’re not making this up.) She is active on Instagram, obviously, and posts content that is cringingly stereotypical of her race, gender, and ideology.

“Are you supportive of these onesies?” is a question that was actually asked (more like shouted) during RFK Jr.’s confirmation hearing when Democrats were pretending to be appalled by a Kennedy. Meanwhile, their former colleague, “Bullion Bob” Menendez, was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison for cartoonish corruption involving Egyptian meat tycoons and a secret stash of gold bars. Bakari Sellers, another Democratic strategist on CNN, was forced to apologize after he rushed to blame Trump for the deadly midair collision between a passenger jet and a military helicopter near Reagan National Airport. Sellers is the author of the courageous book The Moment: Thoughts on the Race Reckoning That Wasn’t and How We All Can Move Forward Now (2024) and is best known for being cited in the lawsuit CNN settled for millions of dollars after defaming a teenaged Trump supporter.

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The U.S. government has been wasting money in some of the most bizarre ways imaginable. Some of the examples that I am about to share with you are likely to make you feel sick. Wasting colossal piles of our tax dollars would be bad enough if we were running a balanced budget, but that is certainly not the case. We have been adding trillions of dollars to the national debt each year, and our federal government is now more than 36 trillion dollars in debt.

So the truth is that we have had to borrow the money that we have been recklessly wasting.

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DOJ Pride, an LGBTQ employee resource group at the Department of Justice, has shut down more than a week after President Donald Trump signed an executive order seeking to root out all diversity, equity and inclusion measures from the federal government.

The group “ceased to operate effective immediately,” the group’s board said in an email sent to members Tuesday evening.

“In this time of uncertainty and concern, we have taken the extraordinary measure of ceasing operations of DOJ Pride,” the message said. “We have made this decision in the interest and for the protection of all members.”

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Teach them how to learn, not what to learn.

That’s the key concept for classical education, which is enjoying a national resurgence, with Florida leading the way.

Classical education advocates hope their movement will expand from private religious and chartered learning institutions to struggling public schools.

Although What To Learn is important. It doesn’t much matter knowing how to learn if one doesn’t actually make the effort.