December 18, 2025
The Morning Rant: Inflation!
But even better than moderating inflation is this little nugget of pure golden deliciousness!
And weren't we told by our betters that tariffs are inflationary? You know, those 26-year-old "journalists" who took one economics class in college and never attended because it was at 8:00AM and they were usually still high! The "journalists" and pundits confidently claimed that a one-time increase in the wholesale price of tariffed products would continue to push their prices up indefinitely. Of course no modern country has ever shifted revenue to tariffs so quickly, and the data simply aren't there to make anything more than a wild-assed-guess! But they did it anyway, and it looks like they were just a little bit off in their predictions. Nobody knows whether a tariff-based economy will function as well as President Trump has proclaimed, but the early indications are good, and the naysayers are being proven incorrect. Revenue from the tariffs is robust, which is also proving the President correct. Last night's presidential address is an excellent start to the administration's focus on communicated to the American people what the President is doing to address inflation, employment, the return of manufacturing to America, the vanishing possibility of home ownership for many young Americans, and other economic challenges that we face. I hope he keeps hammering home his efforts to redirect our economy toward Americans, and away from illegals, and the leeches of Europe. It is long past time! [Crossposted at CutJibNewsletter and X/Twitter]. If you folks who are on X/Twitter would follow us it would be much appreciated!
Price pressures may be cooling across the economy, with the 12‑month inflation rate slowing sharply in November. The annual inflation rate eased to 2.7 percent last month—the lowest level since July—from 3 percent in September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Economists had penciled in a reading of 3.1 percent. The core consumer price index (CPI), which excludes volatile energy and food prices due to their noisy signals, also cooled to 2.6 percent from 3 percent in September. This represented the lowest reading since March 2021.
But even better than moderating inflation is this little nugget of pure golden deliciousness!
Tariff-sensitive items were little changed over the past 12 months. The apparel index is up 0.2 percent year over year, while the new-vehicle index has risen 0.6 percent over the 12 months ending in November. Additionally, on an annualized basis, appliances have increased by 0.5 percent, smartphones have declined by 9.4 percent, and footwear has dipped by 0.1 percent.
And weren't we told by our betters that tariffs are inflationary? You know, those 26-year-old "journalists" who took one economics class in college and never attended because it was at 8:00AM and they were usually still high! The "journalists" and pundits confidently claimed that a one-time increase in the wholesale price of tariffed products would continue to push their prices up indefinitely. Of course no modern country has ever shifted revenue to tariffs so quickly, and the data simply aren't there to make anything more than a wild-assed-guess! But they did it anyway, and it looks like they were just a little bit off in their predictions. Nobody knows whether a tariff-based economy will function as well as President Trump has proclaimed, but the early indications are good, and the naysayers are being proven incorrect. Revenue from the tariffs is robust, which is also proving the President correct. Last night's presidential address is an excellent start to the administration's focus on communicated to the American people what the President is doing to address inflation, employment, the return of manufacturing to America, the vanishing possibility of home ownership for many young Americans, and other economic challenges that we face. I hope he keeps hammering home his efforts to redirect our economy toward Americans, and away from illegals, and the leeches of Europe. It is long past time! [Crossposted at CutJibNewsletter and X/Twitter]. If you folks who are on X/Twitter would follow us it would be much appreciated!
Posted by: CBD at 11:00 AM | Comments (287) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Mid-Morning Art Thread
Lev Lagorio
Lev Lagorio
Posted by: CBD at 09:30 AM | Comments (233) | Trackbacks (Suck)
The Morning Report — 12/18/25
Elsewhere in the news, we have two separate shootings on two of the nation's top campuses, Brown University and at MIT.
At Brown, two students were slain, one of them was evidently a prominent conservative on campus. And that the Providence RI PD cannot or will not confirm that the shooter shouted that popular phrase that all the hep cats digHold that Tiger! Allah Akbar it means that he probably did and so as not to offend the delicate sensibilities and cause "backlash!" they have kept it dark.
Meanwhile up in the Boston area, an MIT professor was shot and killed in his home. He taught nuclear science and engineering.
Are these incidents all connected somehow. Given the assassination of Charlie Kirk and several failed attempts on President Trump as well as the violent rhetoric and actual violence and acts of terrorism by the Left cheered on and encouraged by the Democrat propagandist media and the Democrats themselves not just in the Trump era but virtually throughout our history. Well anything is possible, and maybe the MIT Professor had links to Academia's bête noire The State of Israel or was targeted by the Chi-Coms or other foreign state actors? Meh, just spit-ballin' here. Don't cost nuthin'. . . And then of course, in the wake of the Islamic butchery against Jews celebrating Chanukah in Australia, this happened just the other night in the most Jewish neighborhood of America's and perhaps the world's most Jewish city outside of Israel itself.
Meh, professor, in the immortal words of Nick Lowe, "You've got to be cruel to be kind!"
Have a good day. And lastly, a quick shout-out and a huge thank you for your continued support in hitting our tip jar. It truly is appreciated more than you can know.
Good morning kids. First we have reports of wildfires with near hurricane force winds spreading in the high plains. Prayers for the safety of all of those affected as well as for the firefighting crews and first responders who will hopefully be able to get the situation under control as rapidly as possible.
Elsewhere in the news, we have two separate shootings on two of the nation's top campuses, Brown University and at MIT.
At Brown, two students were slain, one of them was evidently a prominent conservative on campus. And that the Providence RI PD cannot or will not confirm that the shooter shouted that popular phrase that all the hep cats dig
Meanwhile up in the Boston area, an MIT professor was shot and killed in his home. He taught nuclear science and engineering.
Are these incidents all connected somehow. Given the assassination of Charlie Kirk and several failed attempts on President Trump as well as the violent rhetoric and actual violence and acts of terrorism by the Left cheered on and encouraged by the Democrat propagandist media and the Democrats themselves not just in the Trump era but virtually throughout our history. Well anything is possible, and maybe the MIT Professor had links to Academia's bête noire The State of Israel or was targeted by the Chi-Coms or other foreign state actors? Meh, just spit-ballin' here. Don't cost nuthin'. . . And then of course, in the wake of the Islamic butchery against Jews celebrating Chanukah in Australia, this happened just the other night in the most Jewish neighborhood of America's and perhaps the world's most Jewish city outside of Israel itself.
A Jewish New Yorker described Tuesday how he was stabbed just centimeters from his heart by a hateful sicko — who made a chilling promise before lunging at him on a Brooklyn street. “I’m going to kill a Jew today,” the knife-wielding goon seethed before launching the antisemitic attack, said victim Elias Rosner, 35, in an interview with The Post on Wednesday. Rosner, a member of the Lubavitch Hasidic community in Crown Heights, had just left the temple on Tuesday afternoon when he came across the still-at-large attacker spewing antisemitic slurs. “I was waiting in a crowd of Jewish people and this guy started spouting stuff,” Rosner recalled. “I’m going to kill Jewish people, I’m going to kill a Jew today, I don’t give a f–k … We wouldn’t be in this mess if the Holocaust had happened,” the unhinged man ranted, according to Rosner.If the neighborhood of "Crown Heights" sounds somewhat familiar to some of you, it was the scene of a car accident back in 1991 involving a young black child who was hit by a car being driven by a Hassidic man. Sadly with tensions already (historically) running high between the long-standing Hassidic community and their black neighbors, Al Sharpton was on the scene faster than you can say "White Interlopers and Diamond Merchants" and a near full scale race riot and pogrom broke out resulting in the beating death, at the hands of a mob of black youths of one Yankel Rosenbaum, an orthodox Jewish student who was visiting the US from, of all places Australia!! For three straight days and nights Jewish homes and shops were attacked, and two weeks later, another man was killed by the mobs, who wasn't even Jewish but mistaken for one, having been in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Crown Heights pogrom and the sheer ineptitude of then mayor David Dinkins in allowing it to happen by handcuffing law enforcement, ultimately led to his ouster two years later and the temporary reprieve of the Big Apple from doom with the glory years of Rudy Giuliani. Yet, here we are 34 years on and the city has decided that a Muslim Communist is what NYC needs. Quite a few of Australia's Jews have decided that the land down under will send them six feet under so they have decided that enough is enough after witnessing Bondi Beach.
The man “looked very serious” — but Rosner refused to cower in the face of the ugly threats, he said. “I guess I was the one guy that had the bravery to look him in the eye,” he said. “So, he was waiting. He set a trap up for me a block ahead. He came around the corner and it just started happening.” Rosner was stabbed once in the chest, at the corner of Kingston Avenue and Lincoln Place around 4 p.m., by the madman, police said, adding the NYPD was investigating the attack as an antisemitic hate crime — on the third night of the Hanukkah Jewish holiday. The Brooklynite only narrowly escaped with his life — miraculously saved by his sweater, he said.. . Rosner said the attack was part of the uptick in antisemitic sentiment following Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, with the anti-Jewish hate trickling down to Big Apple neighborhoods, including on college campuses and in the subways.
The attack has left Sydney’s Jewish community shaken, with some members now considering emigrating to Israel. Chavi, a 27-year-old mother who was at the event with her baby, described using her body as a shield to protect her child during the attack. “I love Australia, I was born here, and I know [Israel] is in the Middle East… but we were just sitting ducks here,” she told the Sydney Morning Herald.And yet New York and far too many of its Jews by birth only just shoved a thermonuclear enema up its collective keister. But you better not complain!
British authorities sentenced a Dorset man to 18 months in jail for inciting hate and violence on X in the heated aftermath of the 2024 Southport stabbings that left three children dead and another 10 people injured. . . There's no denying the nasty nature of Yarwood's posts, sent to X before the identity of the killer — 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana — was known, but was widely misreported to have been a Muslim immigrant. Rudakubana was born in Cardiff, but his parents were evangelical immigrants from Rwanda. . . Even a veteran of intemperate tweets like myself would never post anything like Yarwood did, but still, 33 views? This guy barely incited more racial hatred than Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh in all three Lethal Weapon movies combined. See, that's funny because one is black and the other is white and they're basically family and race hardly comes up. I miss movies like those.But oh no, President Trump said nasty things about Rob Reiner. As CBD and I discussed on the latest episode of the podcast, linked here and in the sidebar and posted on the usual outlets listed below, there are far more crucial things the President can and should be communicating to the American people than his personal animus towards the late Mr. Reiner. In any case as VIctor Davis Hanson notes, we are (are we?) in danger of heading towards a new dark age.
Contemporary Americans do not believe that our current civilization could self-destruct a third time in the West, followed by an impoverished and brutal Dark Age. But what caused these prior returns to tribalism and loss of science, technology, and the rule of law? Historians cite several causes of societal collapse—and today they are hauntingly familiar.Like people, societies age. Complacency sets in.
Meh, professor, in the immortal words of Nick Lowe, "You've got to be cruel to be kind!"
Have a good day. And lastly, a quick shout-out and a huge thank you for your continued support in hitting our tip jar. It truly is appreciated more than you can know.
- ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY LINKS
- Rapidly spreading wildfires have triggered evacuations in South Dakota and Wyoming, fueled by hurricane-force winds from a widespread storm system affecting the entire country.According to the FOX Forecast Center, wind gusts reaching as high as 70 mph have been recorded in the Pennington County region of South Dakota, driving the rapid expansion of the wildfire.
South Dakota, Wyoming See Evacuations Due To Wildfires Erupting From Hurricane-Force Winds - Victor Davis Hanson: History suggests civilizations fall when complacency, debt, and tribalism replace unity, discipline, and reform—prompting fears the West may be nearing a familiar decline.
Can the Dark Ages Return?
Posted by: J.J. Sefton at 07:15 AM | Comments (344) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Daily Tech News 18 December 2025
Top Story
- Micron says the memory shortage will get worse before it gets better, and also that it won't get better if they have anything to say about it. (Tom's Hardware)
Micron has two factories under construction in Idaho due to come on line in 2027, and another planned in New York to be operational in 2030.
Even with those three new factories churning out chips they only expect to meet half to two thirds of demand.
In the meantime, though, the company posted a revenue increase of 57% over last year, so they don't really care about you and your money, as indicated by them shutting down their Crucial consumer brand after nearly 30 years.
- And the second of my two new mini-PCs arrived today. I set up the first one last night - just plugged it in, turned it on, lied and told Windows I didn't have internet, and it works. It's pretty fast too, with none of the lag I get with my laptop.
Partly because the CPU is nearly twice as fast as the one in my laptop, partly because it's a clean install of Windows and doesn't have about 200 different applications installed yet. I'll fix that.
It really does have 64GB of RAM. 64GB of Crucial RAM, apparently, which is now a collectors item.
It's available for sale now on Minisforum's US store, but the price is about 70% higher than in Australia even after a 20% discount, so it's no bargain.
Update: Unnamed computer #2 is plugged in and working.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM | Comments (114) | Trackbacks (Suck)
December 17, 2025
Wednesday Overnight Open Thread - December 17, 2025 [North Pole Rex]
Good evening Horde. The time has come for mid-week shenanigans of the post-cafe overnight variety.
Welcome to the Wednesday night ONT which means another edition of random overnight fun and games. Pull up a chair and sit a spell. Good will offerings of amusing puns are happily accepted. Pants are optional. Be nice to your fellow commenters and AoS contributors. Santa knows who is naughty and who is nice.Posted by: Open Blogger at 10:00 PM | Comments (237) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Trump Speech Thread
I've been advising Trump to deliver a speech to the public, focused on the economy, for a while now.
Glad he's doing it.President Trump is set to address the nation in prime time Wednesday night, using a nationally televised speech to highlight major accomplishments over his first year back in office while offering a preview of the policy fights ahead as his administration presses deeper into America's "Golden Age." The address is scheduled for 9 p.m. Eastern, live from the White House. Trump announced the speech himself Tuesday in a post on Truth Social, writing, "My Fellow Americans: I will be giving an ADDRESS TO THE NATION tomorrow night, LIVE FROM THE WHITE HOUSE, at 9 P.M. EST." He added, "It has been a great year for our Country, and THE BEST IS YET TO COME!"
Posted by: Ace at 08:53 PM | Comments (291) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Nature Lovers Cafe
Half of my days are now spent thinking, "This better not be AI." I think it is AI. I am sharing it so that you know my pain. Allegedly, not AI, just done with mirrors. Whip-like sledgehammer. I'm a leaf, see This little owl is such a little tough guy it hurts my heart. Self defense dog. Airport K9 dog has a Zoomie break. skwrrlz
She takes the "step on a crack break your mother's back" rule very seriously.
Half of my days are now spent thinking, "This better not be AI." I think it is AI. I am sharing it so that you know my pain. Allegedly, not AI, just done with mirrors. Whip-like sledgehammer. I'm a leaf, see This little owl is such a little tough guy it hurts my heart. Self defense dog. Airport K9 dog has a Zoomie break. skwrrlz
She takes the "step on a crack break your mother's back" rule very seriously.
Posted by: Ace at 07:18 PM | Comments (262) | Trackbacks (Suck)
After Months of Rumors and Speculation, Dan Bongino Announces He's Leaving the FBI
Dan BonginoTrump says he wants to go back to his show. I figure that's probably right. He had a great job. He did a turn of service. He figures he's done enough and it's time to go back to his permanent job. And he might have decided he doesn't like the constant denigration and the claims he's covering up for Epstein and now for the innocent patsy Tyler Robinson, and has decided, "Enough of this bullshit." Working for less money than you're used to is one thing, seeing your reputation permanently damaged by conspiracy-addled blowhards is another thing.
@FBIDDBongino 31m I will be leaving my position with the FBI in January.
I want to thank President Trump, AG Bondi, and Director Patel for the opportunity to serve with purpose.
Most importantly, I want to thank you, my fellow Americans, for the privilege to serve you.
God bless America, and all those who defend Her.
Posted by: Ace at 06:20 PM | Comments (235) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Shock: Somali Scammer Caught Perpetrating Another Somali Scam
The moment that Tom Homan announced he was investigating Ilhan "Omar" Nur's lifetime of defrauding the US immigration system, she suddenly had an outrage to "bitch" about, as Trump said.
When people began asking about her immigration fraud and marrying her fucking gay brother, she claimed her son had been pulled over by ICE and almost kidnapped in an attempt to intimidate her!!!Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons is flatly rejecting Rep. Ilhan Omar's claim that ICE agents pulled over her son after a routine trip to Target, calling the allegation baseless and unsupported by any agency record. Omar, a Minnesota Democrat and longtime critic of federal immigration enforcement, said in a recent interview that her son was stopped by ICE and released only after producing his passport. When the interviewer pressed her on the unusual detail that her son allegedly had a passport on him while shopping, Omar doubled down on the story. Lyons, however, told Fox News Digital that ICE has "absolutely zero record" of any officers or agents stopping Omar's son. He said it "speaks volumes" that the congresswoman is making the accusation without evidence and suggested the claim is part of a broader effort to vilify ICE as the Trump administration ramps up deportations. Omar's office has refused to retreat. Spokeswoman Jacklyn Rogers said the congresswoman is standing by her account, alleging that Omar's son and others were racially profiled and forced to prove their citizenship. Rogers accused ICE of operating as a "rogue agency" and claimed it routinely fails to maintain accurate records, adding that Omar's office would welcome the chance to review any documentation ICE says it has. The dispute comes as Omar continues to defend Somali migrants in Minnesota amid a series of massive fraud cases tied to state and federal aid programs. One of the most prominent cases involves Feeding Our Future, a Minneapolis-area nonprofit run by Somali migrants that prosecutors say siphoned roughly $250 million from child nutrition programs.And speaking of this Somali whore marrying her gay brother: "Yes, Ilhan Omar married her brother."
I'm talking about Omar's marriage to her brother, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi. Trump may have garbled the specifics, but he got the upshot of the story right. Omar's family brought Elmi over from London around 2002 to try to extract him from a gay lifestyle, and that is the context in which the congresswoman tied the knot with him.Miranda Divine previously reported that a highly-incurious FBI refused to investigate this crime and let the, get this, statute of limitations run.
... A reader had directed me to a post on a message board called SomaliSpot, which has since been removed from the Internet. It asserted that Omar had married her husband, Ahmed Hirsi--the father of her children--in 2002, but that she had then married her brother, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, in 2009. Her campaign website advertised Hirsi as her husband and made no mention of Elmi. I checked out the SomaliSpot story online through the Minnesota Official Marriage System. Inputting Omar's name, I found that the two marriages cited in the SomaliSpot post checked out as indicated. The site reflected Omar's 2002 marriage to her advertised husband, Ahmed Aden (later Ahmed Hirsi), and her 2009 marriage to Ahmed Nur Said Elmi identified in the SomaliSpot post as Omar's brother. As it turned out, Omar and Hirsi had only applied for a marriage license in 2002 but never followed through with a legal marriage. Citing the SomaliSpot post and online marriage information, I contacted Omar's campaign and got a response from criminal defense attorney Jean Brandl. I had seen her in court representing one of the six Somali defendants who pleaded guilty in the 2016 ISIS terrorism case. The attorney's message was a classic nonresponse response that called me a bigot and said I should direct further questions to her rather than the campaign spokesman I had called. She seemed to think she could scare me off. When I directed my further questions to her as she had instructed, she ignored me. I wrote about all this on Power Line. My post slowly generated a huge controversy that the Minnesota Star Tribune eventually covered. I got a call from then-Star Tribune reporter Patrick Coolican, who told me that he was writing the story and that the campaign denied that Elmi is Omar's brother. I asked, "Who do they say he is?" He responded: "They won't tell me." ...
Their story proves beyond a reasonable doubt that Omar married her brother for some fraudulent purpose. Coolican and Montemayor all but begged Omar for an interview and access to her family to discuss the issue. She repaid them with the same kind of treatment I had received in 2016. These left-wing reporters for a left-wing newspaper begged Omar for a response, but they got the same one I had in 2016. They were bigots, too. "Whether by colluding with right-wing outlets to go after Muslim elected officials or hounding family members, legitimate media outlets have a responsibility not to fan the flames of hate," her spokesman told the paper. "Continuing to do so is not only demeaning to Ilhan, but to her entire family." Between 2016 and 2019, reporters including Preya Samsundar at Minnesota's Alpha News and David Steinberg at PJ Media also added a trove of information supporting the proposition that Omar had married her brother in 2009. In 2019, I published Steinberg's illustrated summary, "Tying up loose threads in the curious case," on Power Line. It lays out in meticulous detail what several Somali sources relayed both to him and to me, as well as social media posts that make it clear Elmi is Omar's brother. Omar entered the United States in 1995 as a fraudulent member of the Omar family, which was granted asylum in the United States and settled in Arlington, Va., along with her sister Sahra and her father Nur Said. The rest of Omar's genetic family, the Elmi family--a sister, Leila, and Mohamed and Ahmed--was granted asylum in the United Kingdom. Social media posts throughout the years show Omar and her siblings in both the United States and the United Kingdom referring to each other, and to their father, as such. It is not difficult to track.
Only hours after Minnesota GOP operative Anton Lazarro posted online DNA evidence that allegedly shows Rep. Ilhan Omar was once married to her brother, the FBI busted him. The test results stated there is a 99.999998 percent chance that Omar and her second husband, Ahmed Elmi, now her ex-husband, are siblings, according to an analysis by British company Endeavor DNA Laboratories. But before Lazarro could share the results with the media, he was arrested Thursday on underage sex-trafficking charges and jailed pending a court hearing Monday. His website, IlhanOmarDNA.com, containing the DNA test results, was online briefly before it was taken down Wednesday. Lazarro and a group of conservative donors had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on three continents hiring private investigators to track down Elmi Omar's ex-husband in the UK and procure his DNA from a drinking straw. Omar's DNA, Lazarro's website claimed, was extracted from saliva on a cigarette butt she was photographed smoking. Omar previously has denied Elmi is her brother, calling the claim "absolutely false," "absurd" and "offensive." Special Agent Joy Hess, from the FBI's Twin Cities field office, which investigated allegations that Omar married her brother Elmi to get around US immigration laws, says the "statute of limitations" had run out on the case. In a recorded conversation with an associate of Lazarro, posted on his website Wednesday, Hess also said the FBI could not pursue the case because Omar's ex-husband Elmi had moved overseas. "The statute of limitations is over," she said. "According to the US Attorney's office The Statute of Limitations is not something we can overcome in that matter ... The individual in question left the country so there's nothing to [do]."Lot of that going round.
Posted by: Ace at 05:20 PM | Comments (217) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Brown University Releases Blurry Photos of Second Person Seen "in Proximity" of Actual Suspect
This could very well be a complete rando who was a stranger to the chubby shooter.
Asking for information about this likely rando shows how lost and desperate the Brown crew is. I guess maybe this guy could have had a better look at the obese terrorist, but... he would still have seen Chubbs McMurder wearing a mask, something the left has normalized and even sacralized. Now most criminals wear masks. It used to be illegal to wear a mask in public, now it's a sacrament.The Providence Police Department has widened its search to include a person who was “in proximity” to the at-large Brown University gunman who murdered two students and wounded seven others on Saturday. “Investigators are asking for the public’s help in identifying and speaking to the individual shown in these photos who was in proximity of the person of interest,” the Rhode Island department wrote on X alongside several photos. “Anyone with information is urged to contact the tip line at 401-272-3121.” The individual featured in the newly released grainy surveillance camera captures is wearing a blue jacket with a green hood, dark pants and is holding what appears to be a light-colored satchel slung over their right shoulder. It appears to be the same person spotted in surveillance footage previously released by FBI Boston, which also shows the unidentified suspect walking down a suburban Providence street less than two hours before the shooting.So did something about the killer alarm him? Did he see a gun? I don't know. I guess it's possible he's even a confederate but unless I'm reading this wrong they were never seen speaking together or interacting.
In the footage, the suspect appears to look to his right and spot the backpack-wearing individual before breaking into a sprint down a side street at 2:16 p.m. Dec. 13.
Posted by: Ace at 04:20 PM | Comments (266) | Trackbacks (Suck)
"Big Fani" Willis Takes the Stand in State Inquiry Into Her Corrupt Persecution of Trump
The Georgia Senate is probing irregularities and possible corruption in the "Big Fani" Willis persecution of Trump and various Trump supporters and their lawyers.
One aspect they're probing is whether "Big Fani" ran the investigation for her personal benefit, paying a huge and hugely inappropriate salary to her secret boyfriend Darrius "Sweetdick" Honeycum, Esq., who then used those taxpayer funds to take "Big Fani" around the world on luxury trips. When asked about this, Big Fani did something that will SHOOK you. (Yes, I said "shook," it's a young people thing, you don't understand me or my generation. Six-seven!) Big Fani, get this, covered up her embezzlement and self-dealing by playing -- brace yourselves for incoming Shook -- the race card.Posted by: Ace at 03:20 PM | Comments (284) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Trump Announces Total Blockade On All Sanctioned Venezuelan Oil Tankers; Demands Venezuela Return "All Lands, Oil, and all other Assets they previously stole from us"
Note that only some of Venezuela's tankers have been sanctioned for carrying banned Iranian oil. So this is not a blockade of all of their oil tankers. It is nevertheless an escalation. The Walls, CNN might say, are Closing In on Maduro. Related: Gas is now under $2.75 per gallon in 23 states. The price of gas is now at a five year low -- it had previously been at a four year low. Now it's at its lowest level not just since covid, but since Trump's pre-covid final year of term one.
Note that only some of Venezuela's tankers have been sanctioned for carrying banned Iranian oil. So this is not a blockade of all of their oil tankers. It is nevertheless an escalation. The Walls, CNN might say, are Closing In on Maduro. Related: Gas is now under $2.75 per gallon in 23 states. The price of gas is now at a five year low -- it had previously been at a four year low. Now it's at its lowest level not just since covid, but since Trump's pre-covid final year of term one.
Americans are heading into Christmas with a financial break at the pump that hasn't been seen in years, as gas prices are projected to hit their lowest Christmas Day average since 2020 -- the final full year of President Trump's first term. The White House credits Trump's renewed focus on domestic energy production and regulatory restraint for the drop, arguing the contrast with the Biden years could not be clearer. "Thanks to President Trump, gas prices have hit a five-year low and Christmas Day gas prices are projected to fall to the lowest level since 2020," White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told Breitbart News, adding that driving down energy costs for families and businesses will remain a top priority as the administration looks ahead to the new year. Data from GasBuddy suggests the relief will be tangible. The firm estimates Americans will save more than $500 million on fuel during Christmas week compared to last year alone, a meaningful reprieve after years of elevated prices that hammered household budgets. The historical comparison underscores the shift. On Christmas Day 2020, gas averaged about $2.26 per gallon nationwide while Trump was still in office. Just one year later, with Joe Biden less than a year into his presidency, that figure had jumped to roughly $3.26 per gallon. Prices stayed stubbornly above $3 on Christmas Day throughout Biden's term, averaging $3.05 in 2022 and $3.10 in 2023. Those holiday figures came against the backdrop of a broader energy shock under Biden, who presided over the highest gas prices in U.S. history during the inflation surge that followed his policy reversals on drilling, pipelines, and energy investment. On June 14, 2022, the national average for regular unleaded hit $5.016 per gallon, according to AAA -- a number that became emblematic of the administration's broader economic troubles. Industry analysts point to improving fundamentals now driving prices lower, but the White House is quick to frame those gains as policy-driven. GasBuddy head of petroleum analysis Patrick De Haan said refinery maintenance has wrapped up, supplies are increasing, and seasonal demand is down, all of which are keeping prices in check. "Provided there are no surprises, holiday travelers should see pump prices that come in a bit lower than last Christmas," De Haan said, adding that early indicators suggest lower prices could extend into next year as GasBuddy prepares to release its 2026 fuel outlook in January. For the Trump administration, the timing matters. Lower gas prices during the holidays serve as a highly visible reminder of how energy policy ripples through the broader economy -- and a direct contrast to the Biden-era spikes that voters still remember. As millions of Americans hit the road to see family, the message from the White House is simple: energy dominance isn't an abstraction. It shows up on the receipt at the gas station.
Posted by: Ace at 02:20 PM | Comments (479) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Axios: Kamala Harris Is Leaning Towards Running Again in 2028;
Unnamed Democrats Are Attacking Gavin Newsom to Deny Him His Coronation
Unnamed Democrats Are Attacking Gavin Newsom to Deny Him His Coronation
I'm a pessimist, so I never believe that the best possible outcome will come to pass just because I want it to. I never believed, for example, that Biden would wind up being the nominee in 2024, despite my intense desire that he be so.
But Kamala Harris is making me focus on what can be, unburdened by what has been. Maybe this dingbat ding-a-ling really will run again -- and maybe the most important cohort in the Democrat Party, black women, will give her the win. What, did you just fall out of the coconut tree?LOS ANGELES -- Kamala Harris isn't planning to go gentle into that good night. This week the former vice president made clear to potential 2028 rivals that she's working to keep another White House campaign viable. Why it matters: Despite worries from party leaders and donors that she can't win, Harris remains at or near the top of most 2028 Democratic primary polls. She also has strong support among Black voters -- the most critical voting bloc in most recent Democratic presidential primaries. Driving the news: After lying low the first part of this year and then embarking on a 2024-focused book tour, Harris made several moves this week that many Democrats see as the beginnings of a 2028 campaign. Her book tour expanded. Harris announced many more stops on her tour to promote "107 Days," her story of her short presidential campaign last year. Tour stops in early 2026 will include the historically critical primary state of South Carolina and cities with many Black voters, including Detroit, Jackson, Miss., Memphis, Tenn., and Montgomery, Ala. She appeared before the Democratic National Committee. Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, mingled with national party officials and state party chairs in Los Angeles this week during the DNC's winter meeting. At a reception Wednesday evening, DNC chair Ken Martin introduced Emhoff as the former second gentleman and quipped that he could be the future first gentleman, people who heard the remarks told Axios. Harris is rolling out new rhetoric. She railed against both parties and the status quo in a speech Friday to Democratic officials. Many in the room told Axios they were struck by how different Harris' remarks were from her Biden-defending message on the campaign trail last year. "Both parties have failed to hold the public's trust," Harris said. "Government is viewed as fundamentally unable to meet the needs of its people.... People are done with the status quo and they're ready to break things to force change." ... What they're saying: Harris spokesperson Kirsten Allen said Harris "will approach 2026 with the same commitment that anchored 2025 -- listening to the American people, reflecting where leadership has fallen short, and helping shape the path forward beyond this political moment." Allen added that includes "supporting efforts to win back Democratic majorities in the House and Senate."She'll be appearing on leftwing church elder Jimmy Kimmel's televangelist show next week. Meanwhile, unnamed Democrats -- though we know with 100% confidence they're supporters and employees of the likely candidates Pritizker, Bootyjudge, Harris, and even the Fiercely Heterosexual Spartacus Booker -- are planting disparaging information about Gavin Newsom in their allied press. They're even attacking him as... too left wing???!!?!
Gavin Newsom's Democratic rivals are plotting how to take down the early 2028 frontrunner, with a heavy emphasis on how unpopular his left-leaning views are outside deep-blue California. Driving the news: Our conversations with more than 20 Democratic operatives, including several working for 2028 hopefuls, reveal that they see the California governor as the guy to beat -- and a guy with a lot of personal baggage that's exploitable for a presidential primary. The consensus themes to expect in attacks on Newsom: The "too liberal, coastal elite" argument If primary voters prioritize electability, Newsom -- a former San Francisco mayor -- could be seen as a risky choice, the operatives say. ... The wealthy Getty family has been a key backer of Newsom's political and business career, leading some of his foes in California to call him a slick "Davos Democrat." 2. The scandals When he was San Francisco's mayor in early 2007, Newsom apologized for having an affair with his campaign manager's wife, who was also a subordinate in his mayoral office. ... During strict COVID lockdowns he imposed as governor, Newsom in November 2020 attended a birthday dinner for a lobbyist and adviser at the posh French Laundry in Napa. ... Zoom in: Some of Newsom's potential rivals and other Democratic leaders have begun going public with attacks. California Rep. Ro Khanna, referring to Newsom's former chief of staff recently being charged with corruption, said the aide's indictment is a "toxic stain" on the state.Kamala Harris: Tried and tested. Tanned, rested, and ready.
Posted by: Ace at 01:15 PM | Comments (428) | Trackbacks (Suck)
With Illegals Being Deported or Self-Deporting, Foreign Demand for Rental Properties Falls, and Rents Finally Start Falling as Well
I know commenters have been hammering the direct impact of open borders on rents.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the early evidence is in: President Trump's renewed border enforcement and mass deportation campaign is easing pressure on the housing market, delivering tangible relief for renters who were hammered during the Biden years. Speaking on Fox Business Channel, Bessent pointed to fresh rent data showing apartment prices fell 1.1 percent compared to a year ago and are now down 5.2 percent from their 2022 peak, when housing costs were surging nationwide. Bessent argued the decline isn't accidental, but the predictable result of reversing what he called years of "unfettered immigration" that flooded local housing markets and forced working Americans to compete for limited supply. Citing a recent Wharton School study, Bessent noted a near one-to-one relationship
between population growth and rent increases, saying the research found that "every one percent increase in population" translated into roughly a one percent rise in rents. "Rents are down," Bessent said, adding that the Biden administration refused to acknowledge how mass migration fueled the affordability crisis.
Posted by: Ace at 12:14 PM | Comments (351) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Wednesday Morning Rant
Hidden Costs
Last week, the New York Post ran an article on an obviously predatory activity with a major online grocery ordering platform - and managed to seriously miss the real point. The article is about a recent study of Instacart, which exposed wildly different pricing for the same items at the same stores at the same time, depending on who did the ordering. Per the study, prices varied by an average of 13% and as much as 23%. That's a huge range.
Too bad the Post misses the problem entirely in its coverage of the story and misinterprets the underlying issue. As the paper put it:
It's the latest example of so-called "dynamic pricing" -- the hated practice introduced more than a decade ago by Uber and Lyft, hiking prices for rides during rainstorms -- that is nickel-and-diming consumers, even as relentless inflation has sparked an affordability crisis.Not at all. These are entirely different things, and they should not be conflated.
Posted by: Joe Mannix at 11:00 AM | Comments (420) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Mid-Morning Art Thread
Aeneas Tells Dido the Misfortunes of the Trojan City
Pierre-Narcisse Guerin I once dated a lovely young lady named Dido!
Aeneas Tells Dido the Misfortunes of the Trojan City
Pierre-Narcisse Guerin I once dated a lovely young lady named Dido!
Posted by: CBD at 09:30 AM | Comments (379) | Trackbacks (Suck)
The Morning Report — 12/17/25
Yet with all this going on in the world, the greatest risk to America and of our way of life still remains the enemy within. Here are but two items from the links wherein greasy greaseball Gavin Newsom
and Nazi-afficionado and fanboi Graham Platner are primed and ready to seize vast tracts of land from the citizenry for the most heinous of politicized reasons. And where does this insanity begin? Kindergarten!
Unless and until we wrest control over the Education of our chlldren from the sick, twisted power-mad fiends, we as a nation and society are doomed. Well, there's batshit crazy and then there's the above. Have a good day. And lastly, a quick shout-out and a huge thank you for your continued support in hitting our tip jar. It truly is appreciated more than you can know.
Both Ukraine and Russia are churning through soldiers at an astounding rate, and the idea that America should provide some ironclad security in the event of another border clash is batshit crazy.I read that and then I remembered a link from yesterday which takes the expression "batshit crazy" to a whole new level.
Communist dictator Kim Jong-un of North Korea held a welcome back ceremony for soldiers serving in the battlefield of the Russian invasion of Ukraine this weekend, acknowledging a regiment believed to have been helping clear landmines in which at least nine soldiers died.So the Norks are clearing mines for Putin. And what would happen if suppose there was an encounter with US troops and a firefight broke out? Despite the armistice of 1953, the North Korean regimes under successive generations of the Kim dynasty still consider themselves in a state of war with the USA and have maintained their goal of retaking and absorbing South Korea. Yeah, batshit crazy but what if Ukraine somehow devolved into a second front of the ongoing Korean "conflict?" Considering the bizarre and often testy relationship between President Trump and "Rocket Man" Kim . . . again, batshit crazy indeed. Elsewhere in the world, we have an incident involving the USA and North Korea's prime ally:
A US special operations team in the Indian Ocean raided a ship headed to Iran from China last month and seized military-related articles, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing US officials. The cargo consisted of components potentially useful for Iran’s conventional weapons, one official said, adding the shipment had been destroyed. US forces boarded the ship several hundred miles off the coast of Sri Lanka, according to the newspaper, which added the vessel was later allowed to proceed….. The report cited an American official as saying US intelligence indicated the shipment was headed for Iranian companies known to be intermediaries for the country’s missile development efforts. The action was part of a campaign by the US Defense Department to cut off Iran’s covert arms supply networks….The Iran-China relationship is a cause for concern, but is also unpredictable, since according to analysts across the board, China does not want Iran to acquire nuclear weapons. The incident of American commandos raiding the ship that was heading from China to Iran was “part of a campaign by the US Defense Department to cut off Iran’s covert arms supply networks.”It should be noted that Iran and North Korea have also had and likely still have a very close relationship due to their mutual animosity and hatred of the USA and now more than ever with Trump as President. Over the years they have collaborated on both nuclear weapons and missile technology. Iran and China have made inroads in our own backyard, most especially in Venezuela first with Chavez and now Maduro, as well as some of the other Commie dictators in the region. It's why the recent elections in Chile and elsewhere installing more American aligned leaders and a rejection of the Leftists are most welcome and gratifying. The most welcome IMHO and vocal and strident reassertion by this President of the Monroe doctrine could not come at a more crucial time in geopolitics both in this hemisphere and with repercussions that go far beyond it. That said, given the nature of the players in Beijing, Pyongyang, Tehran and Caracas as well as Moscow the word RISK takes on a meaning well beyond that of a mere old time kids' board game.
Nonetheless, in the global arena, the red-green alliance is growing stronger and expanding strategically, which isn’t good news for American interests.
Yet with all this going on in the world, the greatest risk to America and of our way of life still remains the enemy within. Here are but two items from the links wherein greasy greaseball Gavin Newsom
and Nazi-afficionado and fanboi Graham Platner are primed and ready to seize vast tracts of land from the citizenry for the most heinous of politicized reasons. And where does this insanity begin? Kindergarten!
Do you know what a “neopronoun” or a “xeopronoun” is?
The teachers’ unions want to make sure your little kids do. . .Got it?
No?
But our kids are being force-fed this garbage in America’s public schools.
The NEA touts over 3 million members, many of them teachers in our schools.
The union steeps the teachers in this leftist brain rot, and the teachers spread it at schools across the country.
It’s not just the gender bunk that was presented at the conference, either.
The NEA is not entirely sure this whole “America” thing is going to stick, so they refer to it as “what we know as the United States of America” and “What we now call the United States of America” in multiple slides.
Apparently xeopronouns are rock-solid but a 249-year-old country might just be a fad.
Also, sorry gay people, but “homosexual” is a no-no term now, according to the NEA. . . Also, sorry gay people, but “homosexual” is a no-no term now, according to the NEA.
Why?
Because “this term comes across as clinical and dog whistle-y.”
Well, yes, it sounds clinical because it’s a biological term and not a word made up by some TikTok influencer to describe the gender identity of the moment.
How can the NEA still be prioritizing this foolishness in the year 2025?
And why does an openly political special interest group continue to have so much sway over our kids?
Why? How much longer can groups like this, pushing a crazy agenda, have access to our kids and their schools?
Parents need to remain on guard from this asininity oozing into their kids’ classrooms.
Unless and until we wrest control over the Education of our chlldren from the sick, twisted power-mad fiends, we as a nation and society are doomed. Well, there's batshit crazy and then there's the above. Have a good day. And lastly, a quick shout-out and a huge thank you for your continued support in hitting our tip jar. It truly is appreciated more than you can know.
- ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY LINKS
- Iran desperately seeking out allies, shifts to China for support.
US Commandos Raid Ship Carrying Military Items to Iran From China - Karol Markowicz: Do you know what a “neopronoun” or a “xeopronoun” is? The teachers’ unions want to make sure your little kids do.
Teachers union pushes ‘neopronouns’ but claims name ‘America’ is a problem
Posted by: J.J. Sefton at 07:14 AM | Comments (295) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Daily Tech News 17 December 2025
Top Story
- Coupang - South Korea's equivalent to Amazon - got hacked. (WSJ) (archive site)
Initial disclosure indicated that 4500 customers were affected.
This number has since been updated to 34 million.
- Speaking of which, Midjourney is alemwjsl. (Aadill Pickle)
Me: That's someone typing the local name for Midjourney on a CJKV keyboard with the language accidentally set to English.
Article: Uh... Yes. Korean.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM | Comments (188) | Trackbacks (Suck)
December 16, 2025
Tuesday Overnight Open Thread - December 16, 2025 [Doof]
Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:55 PM | Comments (457) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Goat Lover Cafe
Buck Moon over Northumberland,
by Jim Scott Photography
Yield. Triple dog stare. Dog knows better than to screw around with the kitten when the mama's around. Hangry dogs need you to know it's feeding time. Duncanthrax's nightmare job. Cat thinks Christmas is all staged for him. When in reality, it's all for the alpacas. Dogs hate the media too and they must be right because they're very good boys. Kind of a rude Benny-Hill style sight gag. River otter, being evil. It's getting hard to find real content because people are now posting fake AI slop. It's getting annoying. China opens a new electricity plant. Charge by an adult rhino.
I hope this isn't AI slop.
Buck Moon over Northumberland,
by Jim Scott Photography
Yield. Triple dog stare. Dog knows better than to screw around with the kitten when the mama's around. Hangry dogs need you to know it's feeding time. Duncanthrax's nightmare job. Cat thinks Christmas is all staged for him. When in reality, it's all for the alpacas. Dogs hate the media too and they must be right because they're very good boys. Kind of a rude Benny-Hill style sight gag. River otter, being evil. It's getting hard to find real content because people are now posting fake AI slop. It's getting annoying. China opens a new electricity plant. Charge by an adult rhino.
I hope this isn't AI slop.
Posted by: Ace at 07:20 PM | Comments (314) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Processing 0.01, elapsed 0.096 seconds.
15 queries taking 0.0912 seconds, 25 records returned.
Page size 62 kb.
Powered by Minx 0.8 beta.