Meanwhile, they're cheering in Venezuela

Powerful article from a professor at Simon Bolivar University in Caracas: "This Is What Venezuelans Really Want."

For most Venezuelans, life has become an exercise in struggle in an economy of scraps and favors, making do with a patchwork of informal jobs and relationships that can never quite fill the void left by the corruption and inefficiency of the government. For years, this is what our authoritarianism has looked like: not autocratic socialism, but the worst kind of primitive capitalism.

In Venezuela, we have long faced a brutal paradox: an absent yet omnipotent state. It is everywhere and nowhere. It has failed to provide the essential services that once, under President Hugo Chávez, justified its monstrous growth and revolutionary ambitions — water, electricity, health care, education. Our society has been orphaned, ground down to its most basic capacities. The government has been reduced to a mere apparatus for securing its own continuity. 

It has been reported that the United States had sources in the Presidential palace telling us exactly where Maduro would be at the time of the raid.  The Venezuelans gave him up easy.

Follow the money

PJ Media: "Now We Know Why Democrats Are Defending Somali Fraud."

They need to be asked if they'll return these campaign contributions. 

Extra - Powerline: "It is widely rumored that national Democrats are trying to force Tim Walz out of the 2026 Minnesota governor’s race."  Interesting. 

Maduro captured in Venezuela

Fox News: "Trump confirms US strike in Venezuela, says President Nicolas Maduro has been 'captured' - Trump said a 'large-scale strike' took place early Saturday morning against Venezuela and Maduro, who was captured and flown out of the country"

It seems like the U.S. military swooped in with zero resistance and spirited Maduro away.  I'm not sure of the legality of this operation but it seems to mirror Noriega in Panama back in 1989.

Pouncing and seizing

Washington Post: "Tim Walz was a Democratic hopeful. Now, he’s a Republican punching bag. - The Minnesota governor is seeking a third term amid a welfare probe in his state that has sparked unwanted national attention."

Every time, man, every time.  The story can't just be about the fraud; it has to be about Republicans noticing. 

Left-wingers in a nutshell

Legal Insurrection: "San Francisco Mayor Signs Reparations Bill, Admits There’s No Money to Pay Them - “We are not allocating money to this fund — with a historic $1 billion budget deficit, we are going to spend our money on making the city safer and cleaner”

Dude's gonna break the Internet

Fox News: "Nick Shirley says legacy media will ‘go insane’ when he posts part two of his Minnesota fraud reporting."

My prediction: he's going to show a lineup of Minnesota public officials embarrassing themselves.

The Final Boss of class warfare

This is my favorite story right now.  LA Times: "Billionaire tax proposal sparks soul-searching for Californians."

This is the ultimate story of "other people's money."  California already has an extremely progressive income tax structure:

The state budget in California is already largely dependent on income taxes paid by its highest earners. Because of that, revenues are prone to volatility, hinging on capital gains from investments, bonuses to executives and windfalls from new stock offerings, and are notoriously difficult for the state to predict.

But in blue states, it's never enough.  So with income taxes maxed out, it's time to think outside the box and go for a wealth tax.  The legality and morality of a wealth tax is beside the point; California needs cash! 

The billionaires in California are waking up to the fact that they're not welcome there:

An increasing number of companies and investors have decided it isn’t worth the hassle to be in the state and are taking their companies and their homes to other states with lower taxes and less regulation.

“I promise you this will be the final straw,” Jessie Powell, co-founder of the Bay Area-based crypto exchange platform Kraken, wrote on X. “Billionaires will take with them all of their spending, hobbies, philanthropy and jobs.”

Although the article questions whether the referendum will get the necessary signatures and pass in a general election, I think it's a foregone conclusion.  There's nothing that people love more than having other people pay for things.  Do it, California.

Recommendation for 2026: invest in Texas commercial real estate.

Related - Ignorant of history, California has never heard of the David Tepper effect. 

Both their viewers are outraged

Twitchy: "MAGA OBSESSION! PROPAGANDA! PANIC! MS NOW Sets Its Strategy for Covering Up Minnesota Somali Fraud."

ICYMI, MS-NOW's ratings have plummeted by 27% since last year.  It's almost like nobody believes what they report.

Media review

Federalist: "Here Are The 10 Biggest Media Hoaxes Of 2025." 

I'll take things that never happened for $200, Alex

Minnesota Star Tribune story:

A lawyer who represents one of the operators of Minnesota Best Childcare Center in Minneapolis, which was featured in the 43-minute video, said his Somali clients have received hundreds of death threats since the video went viral late late last week.

She got her book deal

Ace: "Democrat Hitman Jack Smith Admits: I Never Called Madison Cornbread to Testify Because Her Testimony Was Nothing But Second- or Third-Hand Gossip and Hearsay." 

Why 2026 is going to be a good year for conservatives

Hear me out.  I know the midterm elections tend to trend against the party in the White House, but I think there's reason for hope in 2026.

Republicans are considered the party that is friendly to business while Democrats are largely regarded as the party in favor of larger government.  In 2008 the Great Recession triggered by the housing crisis put Republicans on the defense as the fraud and rapacity of the subprime lending market was exposed.  This opened the door for Obama's rise and (briefly) a filibuster-proof majority in Congress.  Business had failed and the Republicans needed to suffer and they did.

The Biden Administration leaned hard into Big Government with profligate spending that triggered record-high inflation.  But the more immediate backlash against Big Government is the evidence of Medicaid (and other) fraud in Minnesota which is surely the tip of the iceberg. 

Americans are generous but one thing they will not abide: being turned into suckers.  Watch the video of the girl below; she gets it.  Once the trust in the government is gone, the party that champions the government is going to suffer the consequences.  Also: calling opponents of fraud "racist" or "Islamophobes" or supporting "white supremacy" is not going to work.  We're done with that.

Great rant.

I think many are starting to feel this way.

You go girl! pic.twitter.com/Gro3sQW7Uw

— QE Infinity (@StealthQE4) December 31, 2025

Killing the golden goose

Washington Post editorial: "California will miss billionaires when they’re gone - Larry Page and Peter Thiel adjusted residencies before yearend in case a wealth tax passes." 

Happy New Year, everyone!

See you in 2026.

The Jussie Smollett-ing has begun

NY Post: "Minn. Somali-run day care bizarrely reports all their important documents about child care were stolen in mysterious break-in."

He said the alleged prowler stole “important documentation” including children’s enrollment information, employee documentation and checkbooks.

What are the odds that the prowler stole nothing of value but did take the very documentation needed for a federal audit?

Somebody - correctly - predicted that these daycares would be hit with fake "hate crimes" like rocks through the windows and there would be zero CCTV evidence.  Accurate. 

They write the same story every year

Associated Press: "A rough year for journalists in 2025, with a little hope for things to turn around."

If you think there might be some self-reflection in the mainstream media about its obvious bias and America's plummeting trust in its mission, you'd be wrong.  If, however, you imagined this piece might chew over the enduring trauma of one reporter being called "piggy" by Trump, you win a cigar.

This story pops up every year and it always seeks to paint these clowns as glorious revolutionaries, printing out their "truth" on hand-cranked mimeographs.  Or coloring their faces blue, a la William Wallace, and screaming "press freedom!"

This made me chuckle, emphasis added:

Long angry about a perceived bias against conservatives on PBS and NPR newscasts, Trump and his allies in Congress successfully cut funding for public broadcasting as a whole.

Keep it up.  You'll all be working for Bari Weiss and Nick Shirley soon.

We're over the target

Twitchy: "Republicans pounce! The Hill 'Zeroes In' on the REAL Problem in Minnesota (Take One Guess)."

There we go again, noticing stuff. 

The math isn't adding up

Newsbusters: "New York Magazine Already Fearing Mamdani Could Flop as Mayor."

Seems like some of these questions should have been asked during the campaign. 

The kids are learing

NY Post: "Misspelled Minnesota day care Quality ‘Learing’ trucks in children after viral fraud video: ‘Never seen kids go in there until today’." 

Who could have done this stabbing on the Paris Metro?

I'll give you three guesses and the first two don't count: "Illegal African migrant with deportation order suspected in Paris Metro mass stabbing."

He was imprisoned last year for - wait for it! - sexual assault.  But then he was released in July with a deportation order and - you'll never believe it! - he didn't leave. 

The tolerant French are getting sick of this merde:

Unsurprisingly, there is widespread appetite in France for a reform of the status quo. A survey taken earlier this year found that nearly nine in ten French voters would support a system in which those issued with deportation orders were remanded in jail until they are removed from the country.

That is a step in the right direction.

This is a new one

PJ Media: "Illegal Aliens Busted for $14 Million Gift Card Fraud."

These Latvians would steal unactivated gift cards, steal the ID on the back, then reseal the card and return it to the store kiosk.  When somebody activates the cards with funds, they would track it online using the security ID and then drain the funds before the card could be used. 

Today's lesson: check gift card packaging before buying.

Switching off the BBC

Echoes of American late night television here: "The BBC’s Christmas collapse is nothing short of catastrophic."

What makes this failure more serious is that it comes after years in which the BBC has insulated itself from almost every form of accountability. Complaints about bias are filtered through systems designed to reject them. Regulators defer to process rather than outcome. Governments hesitate to frame vital reform. Critics are marginalised. The one judgement that cannot be procedurally neutralised is audience behaviour.

And that judgement is now devastating. People are not marching in protest, though millions are refusing to pay the licence fee. They are doing something far more damaging. They are ignoring the BBC, even at the moment when it is trying hardest to matter.

We had the same problem in America with NPR and PBS, paying for something we didn't want.  Had.

In which I say something nice about a Democrat

The incoming governor of Virginia Abigail Spanberger has an article on Fox News: "I’m the new Virginia governor and affordability is what everyone needs - New administration plans to address housing, healthcare and energy to boost economic competitiveness."

This piece is remarkably straightforward, clear-eyed, and absent the partisan rancor that seems to attend every one of these political statements.  She says a kind word for Governor Glenn Youngkin and only mentions Trump a single time (I checked) and the context was she's "ready to work with anyone" that would help Virginia.

Kudos.

He's a sad, sorry man

Sasha Stone: "No Jimmy Kimmel, You Didn't "Win" - Except in your own mind." 

The mainstream media avoided this story

Fox News: "Walz slammed in wake of viral video that raises daycare funding questions: 'Needs to be held accountable' - YouTuber's video shows seemingly inactive Minneapolis center that allegedly received $4M in state funding."

The video (below) follows independent YouTuber Nick Shirley doing the kind of work the mainstream media used to do.  But the MSM is beholden to the narrative of anti-racism, open immigration, and protecting Democrats/demonizing Trump at all costs.  This story was first broken by City Journal, scooping all the major "news" sources, and Nick Shirley takes up the baton.  His video is both shocking and at times mordantly funny as he visits a series of Somali-run daycare centers in Minnesota, all the time asking "where are the children?"

Spoiler alert: not a single kid was found,

Extra - Twitchy: "Minnesota Star Tribune's Year in Review Ignores Massive Fraud Scandal: Protecting Dems at All Costs" 

It's Harrison Bergeron IRL

Post Millennial: "Mamdani's new lesbian FDNY fire chief never worked as a firefighter - "There are some young LGBTQ members that maybe don’t see this as a possibility for them and I want them to know that there’s nothing that can stop them from finding success."

Sometimes I wonder what year we'll just start handing out certificates saying "you're a surgeon!"

This soy boy wants attention

Townhall: "Adam Kinzinger Took Revenge on CBS Over 60 Minutes Drama. There's Just One Problem."

This stunt reeks of low testosterone and bad journalism. 

What happened to Australia, part 2

Twitchy: "Premier of New South Wales Says They Don't Have Free Speech Like America Because of Multiculturalism."