There goes Zuckerberg

WSJ: "Mark Zuckerberg Is the Latest California Billionaire to Buy a Florida Home - Local real-estate agents say the newly completed mansion on Miami’s Indian Creek will likely fetch between $150 million and $200 million"

Great job, Gavin Newsom:

With Zuck’s move to Florida, California’s total taxable wealth from billionaires has plummeted to well under $1T from over $2T just a few weeks ago. 

The loss of this tax revenue was totally avoidable but is now forever. All because Gavin Newsom stood motionless as this stupidly written bill, from a fringe union and a handful of socialist academics with an axe to grind, meandered its way into the public conversation without any action from him and freaked everyone out. 

These were all people that were paying 13%+ in state income tax every year WITH NO COMPLAINTS UNTIL A FEW WEEKS AGO.

And now, for the rest of time, the lost tax revenues from these folks will have to be paid for by the middle class because they are the only group left in California large enough that you can tax to fill the hole. 

The wealth tax idea was always stupid because, as I like to say, it's coming into your house and taking the Picasso off the wall.  People understand the concept of taxing income but a wealth tax is an entirely different animal.

Intolerant crybullies

Yahoo: "Bill Maher and Adam Carolla Bash ‘Exclusionary’ Liberals for Sticking to ‘Groupthink’: ‘They’re Not That Bright!’"

Bill Maher and Adam Carolla took turns verbally whacking liberals for being closed-minded and unintelligent bullies who want nothing to do with Americans who do not share their “woke” political opinions.

“They are very exclusionary,” Maher said on the Monday episode of his Club Random podcast. “They really just don’t want to breathe the same air if you’re not exactly with the groupthink — while they’re not that bright!”

I regularly punish myself by watching Kaitlin Bennett on Liberty Hangout interviewing anti-ICE automatons who collapse at the slightest pressure.

They want Bluesky-style exclusion IRL.

Political earthquake in Japan

Ace: "Japan's "Ultra-Right-Wing" Extremist PM Wins a Shockingly Large Victory By Running on Promise to Seriously Restrict Immigration to the Island Nation."

Super Bowl Sunday

So, obviously, the Patriots are going to win.

I'll say 23-16.

So now we're going to ruin the Olympics

Washington Post: "Representing the red, white and blue is complicated for some Olympians - “Just because I’m wearing the flag doesn’t mean I represent everything that’s going on in the U.S.,” says freestyle skier Hunter Hess."

They're going to Colin Kaepernick the Olympics and ruin it Hollywood-style.  We just can't have nice things anymore.

Extra - Here we go: "Team USA skiers spark Olympic boycott calls after saying they have ‘mixed emotions’ about representing America." 

CNN commits an act of journalism

Red State: "Watch: Liberal Media Nails Mayor Frey With an Inconvenient Question About Turning Over Illegal Aliens."

Democrats are always stunned when they're asked a tough question by the mainstream media, like it's a form of betrayal. 

Dow 50,000

Fox Business: "Dow closes above 50,000 for first time."

Democrats hardest hit.

Don't light this candle

Space.com: "NASA fuels up giant Artemis 2 moon rocket. Yes, it's a little leaky. So is it ready to fly?"

Nope: "NASA Moves Artemis II Launch To March."

I believe I mentioned this before but I briefly worked as a project engineer on the Orion program and it was - by far - the worst job I've ever had.  Whatever excitement of "working for NASA" was washed away in a sclerotic bureaucracy that throttled any real progress.  There were regular newsletters circulated that heralded how NASA programs were spread over every state in the Union which should tell you what you need to know: this is a jobs program, not a space program.

The SLS/Orion program is still dependent upon Space Shuttle technology from over 40 years ago.  Why?  Because some Congressman didn't want to see a NASA subcontractor in his/her district lose that sweet federal money.  This is all part of the grift along with the endless delays.  There are never any consequences for delay so why not keep your job going?  These programs achieve a kind of half-life behavior where progress slows the closer you get to the finish line.

I hope and pray I'm wrong, but I fear this Artemis launch will result in cataclysm.

That's why they're hiding the voter rolls

Federalist: "Democrats Hate The SAVE Act Because They Want Illegals To Vote." 

The Washington Post committed suicide

Washington Examiner: "Don't cry for the Washington Post, it helped destroy media."

Over the past decade, the Post has been one of the leading culprits in the collapse of public trust in journalism. The once-venerable outlet has spent the past ten years participating in virtually every dishonest partisan operation of the Left’s enemies, including giving legitimacy to the Brett Kavanaugh group rape accusations, delegitimizing the Hunter Biden laptop story, spreading the Gaza “genocide” lie, covering up Joe Biden’s cognitive decline, sliming the Covington children, and countless others. You could write a book listing the Post pieces that were so biased as to be basically fictional.

The Washington Post has been coasting on the fumes of Watergate for almost 50 years and forgot what real journalism looked like.

Supreme impartiality

Miranda Devine in the NY Post: "Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson removed any shred of impartiality by applauding anti-ICE speeches at the Grammys" 

She was at the Grammys for a spoken-word nomination, which is fitting since she never shuts up.

It's all been downhill since that smarmy slogan

"Democracy dies in darkness." - "Downfall: Washington Post Lays Off 300 Staffers, Shuttering Sports Section and Gutting Foreign Desk as Once-Mighty Publisher Bleeds Subscribers and Money"

With the benefit of hindsight, it looks like the beginning of the end for the Washington Post was when they decided not to endorse Kamala Harris in 2024.  The #Resistance Leftists went wild and the paper lost a ton of subscriptions.  Very slightly moderating the paper's political bias?  Sacrilege! 

Just so we know who the real victim is

Twitchy: "Mayor Zohran Mamdani Visits Man Who Charged Cops With Knife, Consoles Him."

You'll rarely see a more clear-cut case of a guy begging to get shot.  It must be great to be a cop in NYC right now.

The People's Republic is emptying out

Jeff Jacoby in the Boston Globe: "Massachusetts keeps losing residents. That’s a choice. - When tens of thousands of people leave year after year, they’re answering a question with their feet."

For years, Massachusetts boosters have insisted that quality-of-life rankings tell the real story. But those are stated preferences. The census data, the moving vans, the shuttered facilities — those are revealed preferences, and they measure what people actually choose when forced to weigh costs against benefits. Policy makers can dismiss those choices as anomalies or distractions. But revealed preferences accumulate, and over time they deliver a verdict that becomes impossible to spin away. Massachusetts can either reckon with why so many residents and businesses keep leaving — or wait until the exodus makes the decision for them.

IIRC in a recent review of out-migration patterns the top 10 states were all deep blue with the exception of Louisiana.

No way will this stop with the billionaires

Reason: "'Billionaire' Tax is a Bait-and-Switch To Gouge the Middle Class" - "Supporters of a "billionaire tax"—an idea being pushed both nationally and in California—claim it will impact only those who can "easily afford it." In fact, it's a Trojan horse. The next step will be to come after middle-class retirement funds and middle-class homes."

Absolutely true, just like the federal income tax was only aimed at the "rich."  What's funny (to me) about the "one time" billionaires tax is that nobody believes it will be a one-off tax.  Everybody believes California will blow the cash on boondoggles like high-speed rail and then come back again.  Then when the "rich" can't be dinged any further, it's time to hit the middle class.

For the children.

Another dilatory tactic

The Corner: "The Iranians Aren’t Acting as Though They Want to Negotiate."

We've seen this movie before: the Iranians pretend they want to negotiate then they change conditions and terms in a bid to buy time.  Even if they sign a treaty, it's not worth the paper it's written on.

The Laffer curve wins again

Washington Post editorial: "Little to gain by raising taxes on the rich - New research shows the current top federal income tax rate is close to revenue-maximizing."

The study cited found that a top tax rate between 30% and 45% would generate about the same revenue over the long term and above 45% would reduce revenues.

And yet I am not stunned

Nor a little surprised: "Stunning number of California voters back wealth tax but admit it will kill jobs: poll."

No kidding: people want free money?  You could knock me over with a wrecking ball.

Extra - Powerline: "The adage holds that if you rob Peter to pay Paul, you can always count on the support of Paul." 

Melania Derangement Syndrome

Sasha Stone: "The Critics Embarass Themselves With Their Melania "Reviews"."

Paragraph 19

LA Times: "‘Finally, a renter’s market’: L.A. rent prices drop to four-year low."  After telling us it's a classic economic case of supply and demand, we get this tidbit buried way down in the article:

In addition to supply and demand, Luna credits a few factors for the changing market. Last year, communities targeted by immigration officers, such as Long Beach and East L.A., saw a jump in vacancies.

Oh.  Must be a coincidence.

Extra - All of mainstream media is baffled by cause-and-effect:

"Time to move on to your next fake martyr"

Jim Treacher on Don Lemon: "Don Lemon Arrested for Breaking the Law"

The only people whose First Amendment rights have been infringed here are the congregants at the church Don Lemon invaded. He was part of the planning, he trespassed and refused to leave, and he called those churchgoers “white supremacists.” To make matters worse, he’s even profiting from his crimes. And we know everything he did because he was stupid enough to record it the whole time.

Don Lemon’s desperation for relevance is not a pass to break the law. A microphone is not a shield against the consequences of his actions.

If you disagree, why don’t you give us your home address so we can do the same to you?

No? Well, why do you hate journalism?

Next time, try this stunt at a mosque Donny.

Extra - NY Post: "Activist Don Lemon is not the journalism hill for the liberal media to die on."

Welcome to Sarah Lawrence

The tolerant Left at it again: "The Left Eating Its Own: Ezra Klein Shut Down at Sarah Lawrence College for Being a Nazi." 

But good intentions

Twitchy: "'Warmth of Collectivism' Fails: 10 Dead After Mamdani Orders End to Homeless Encampment Removals." 

That's (D)ifferent

Bruce Springsteen: man of principle.

Lemon squeezed

NY Post: "Ex-CNN host Don Lemon arrested for Minnesota church invasion." 

I don't know how people live in California

Red State: "From Pilot to Policy: California’s Quiet March Toward a Vehicle Mileage Tax."

There's a reason why California is expected to lose four Congressional seats in the 2030 census.

Don't know much about history

Dan McLaughlin: "Read a history book, Tim Walz"

If Walz knew his history, he’d see clearly that he’s not Abe Lincoln in this scenario, he’s Francis Pickens, the South Carolina governor who led the first state out of the Union and precipitated the crisis by demanding that federal authorities evacuate his state. Pickens and his supporters and allies, much like Walz and Frey and theirs, cited John Brown’s raid in order to insist that they were not the ones firing the first shot. Major Robert Anderson, like Tom Homan and Greg Bovino today, was left besieged by an infuriated and radicalized state.

...

But then as now, it came down to the fact that they couldn’t tolerate a Republican president controlling the executive branch and enforcing the same laws in their state that applied throughout the nation.

The axiom that the federal government controls federal immigration enforcement was re-affirmed by the Biden administration when they tore down barbed wire set up by Texas at the southern border.

That news isn't fit to print

The Corner: "The New York Times Edited and Buried Video of Pretti’s Earlier Confrontation with Federal Agents."

Journalists reporting on an event have an obligation to provide their readers with as many facts as they can muster and communicate. The Times has once again shown itself, through the sin of omission, to be more interested in narrative than in the truth. Despicable.

I don't think the hive mind at the Times thinks it is biased; instead it simply decides something is "not newsworthy" and the collective conscious is wiped clean. 

Regime change?

I'm skeptical. PJ Media: "The Iranian Regime Is in Worse Shape Than Previously Thought." 

I saw it live

PJ Media: "40 Years Ago Today, the Space Shuttle 'Challenger' Exploded 73 Seconds After Liftoff."

I was a senior in high school (yes I'm old) and my physics teacher gathered us in the school library to watch the space shuttle launch.  At first I didn't know what was going on but the jittery camera angles searching the sky coupled with the uneven commentary from NASA control revealed that something was very wrong.

I can't remember the rest of the day.  I think there was a general announcement to the student body.

One other thing I remember from the aftermath: some engineers were testifying in front of a select science committee on the flexibility of the solid-rocket booster O-rings in cold weather.  On the committee was famed scientist Richard Feynman who simply took one of the O-rings, dumped it into an ice water pitcher on the committee table, and then applied a clamp.  The O-ring was not flexible under those conditions, disproving in real time the testimony of the engineers present.

Debunked it right in front of the guy:

People without jobs are going on strike

Twitchy: "Liberal Alerts Us to Nationwide General Strike on Friday, Like Last Friday's."

Remember how the economy was driven to its knees last week?  Neither do I.

Couldn't make it a month

New York mayoral candidate Mamdani: "Free stuff for everybody!"

New York mayor Mamdani: "Never mind.  We're broke." 

This makes no sense

And it only diminishes the nomination process.  NY Post: "NFL world completely taken aback by Bill Belichick failing to make Hall of Fame: ‘WTF’."

In other news, our long sports drought is over:

Incentives matter

Yahoo Finance: "Before California, France tried a wealth tax. Macron repealed it after rich people fled the country instead of paying." 

This headline makes me so happy

Ace: "Stephen Colbert's Ratings Hit New All-Time Low

Update: Washington Post Braces for a FIFTY PERCENT Cut in Jobs."

I think these "comedy" shows and newspapers should talk about Trump more.

The theater kids are out in force

OMG, the drama in this Boston Globe opinion piece: "ICE brought fear to Minneapolis. Now we are standing up for ourselves."

After ICE agent Jonathan Ross killed Renee Good, 37, a poet and mother of three, my son called me at work. ICE had been at his high school, and he didn’t feel safe walking home. He didn’t feel safe walking in his own neighborhood. And this was before Saturday’s killing by federal agents of Alex Pretti, a US citizen. My son, who was born in Minnesota, checks to see whether ICE agents are in the neighborhood before leaving school. He can go to his friends’ houses but must stay inside. His friends recently asked him to go sledding, but he declined because federal agents can be anywhere.

This is child abuse.  Grow up.

Mobocracy in Minnesota

I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.  Jonathan Turley: "Mobocracy: Democratic Politicians Compete in Race to the Bottom Over ICE Shooting."

At this point, it may not matter. Only the mob matters.  Minneapolis Brian O’Hara explained: “even if there is an investigation that ultimately proves that at the time of the shooting it was legally justified, I don’t think that even matters at this point, because there just- there is so much outrage and concern around what is happening in the city.”

Walz has demonstrated politics of the lowest kind, stoking anger as citizens and officers alike are injured. Walz is pledging to go to court to stop further operations—a lawsuit that would be another frivolous filing. Previously, the state, including Attorney General Keith Ellison, filed to prevent the federal government from increasing forces to investigate fraud and immigration violations.

Walz, Maye, and others are following a long line of demagogues who sought to use social unrest to advance their political careers. For Walz, sending people into the streets has the benefit of not having them at home watching and reading about the growing fraud scandal in his state.

It is not a defense of democracy, but mobocracy in Minnesota.

I had no idea there was a "people are upset" loophole to enforcing the law.  This is not merely non-compliance with the enforcement of federal law - this is obstruction with Minnesota government officials urging their pawns to "put their bodies on the line."  

Extra - Hot Air: "Minneapolis Police Chief: Yes, the Mob Should Rule."  What a cuck.

More - I watched this video this morning and it's an excellent review of immigration law.  Bookmark it.

Democrats are going to shut down the government again

Townhall: "The Minnesota Shooting Involving Border Patrol Is Going to Lead to a Government Shutdown." 

Insurrection act

Townhall: "Armed Suspect Reportedly Shot and Killed During Struggle With Border Patrol." 

Hope you're happy, Tim Walz.

Can't sugarcoat it

The Wrap: "Washington Post Cancels On-Site Winter Olympics Coverage Ahead of Expected Layoffs - Managing Editor Kimi Yoshino says the decision to not send reporters to the Milano Cortina 2026 Games comes after assessing financial priorities for the year."

Flashback to one of my favorite moments:

“We are going to turn this thing around, but let’s not sugarcoat it: it needs turning around,” he said. “We are losing large amounts of money. Your audience is halved. People are not reading your stuff. I can’t sugarcoat it anymore.”

Democracy dies in cancelled subscriptions. 

She went to Vassar

Twitchy: "Some Things Never Change: Hanoi Jane Fonda Spreads Anti-American Propaganda With Stephen Colbert."

Unlike most insufferable Hollywood mooks, Jane Fonda was well-educated.  And yet still she can't resist just making stuff up and she goes on Colbert knowing there will be zero pushback.

"American citizens are being deported?"  Name one. 

The Reign of Terror in Northampton

Western Massachusetts update.  The Boston Globe has a story about the Soviet purge in the Leftist dystopia of Northampton: "The liberal Western Mass. city where the left is eating its young — and old."

When we were younger, my wife and I used to travel to NoHo regularly for the restaurants and art scene.  In the intervening years, the arts scene that used to attract top name stars has disappeared.  The restaurant scene still exists but it's nothing special (anymore) and way too expensive.  The sidewalks are dirty and full of beggars and the police won't do anything.

Now the purity tests and struggle sessions are in full swing because the Communists will not allow the slightest bit of deviation from the Party line.

Powerline on the church invaders

Powerline: "Guilty, guilty, guilty."  Now go get Don Lemon.

Update - Townhall: "Well, We Know Why Don Lemon Wasn't Charged in the Minneapolis Church Storming Incident." 

Do I have a radio?

Saw this story: "What Americans should stock up on to prepare for this weekend's massive winter storm" and one of the items listed was a battery-powered radio.

Gosh, do I still have a battery-powered radio anymore?  I used to have a camping radio with a crank on the side you would turn to charge up the battery but I don't know where it is.  Then I thought that so many electronics run off USB-recharging that batteries themselves are going out of style.

I know they're cheap and available at Walmart.  I should pick one up.

A stupid and futile gesture

Columbia Journalism Review: "The NPR and Colorado Stations That Took Trump to Court - “It isn’t just an affront to localism. It’s an attempt to reengineer thought.”

You can "reengineer thought" all you want, chief.  Just don't do it on my dime.

By Shepperd’s estimation, 6 to 8 percent of public radio stations will fail in the next three years—still fewer than the 15 percent he originally expected, since many stations have, in the wake of the funding cuts, experienced surges in philanthropic giving.

Oh, so you didn't need federal funding.

Only 6 to 8% NPR stations going out of business?

This is banana republic stuff

Twitchy: "Congressman's Defense of Bill Clinton During Contempt Hearing Contains ZERO Dem Self-Awareness."

These people, man.

Seeking affirmation

Hollywood in Toto: "Celebrities Can’t Stop Lying About Renee Good." - "Too often, artists cling to their ideological handcuffs to spread lies and make matters worse for the country at large. And no Legacy Media outlet will dare question them, let alone call them out." 

That's why they run to the safety of Kimmel and Colbert. 

This story cracks me up

Washington Post: "How tech billionaires spurred an exodus from California - The online campaign against a proposed billionaire tax was sparked by industry leaders that have long bashed San Francisco. It has consumed the tech world, and is driving some of the state’s richest residents to relocate."

Tax lawyers and advisers to California tech elites say clients began making hasty preparations in December, in part because of language in the proposal that would apply the tax retroactively to anyone who was a California resident on Jan. 1, 2026. (That language, tax lawyers said, is almost certain to be litigated.)

David Lesperance, a tax attorney, said that four of his clients, worth $600 billion collectively, have set relocation plans into motion — three to Florida and one to Texas. “Every one of my clients who ran the numbers [after Thanksgiving] came back immediately and said get me the hell out of here,” he said. “This is now a no-brainer.”

Hahaha - oh man.  Half a trillion dollars relocated to red states overnight.  Well, you're going to get your wish, California, of people over billionaires. 

Message received.

Always carry a knife

Hot Air: "Roving Bands of Leftist Brownshirts Attacking Random People in Minneapolis."

Where are the Minneapolis police?  Nowhere to be found as innocent people trying to live their own lives are harassed all over the city.  Always assume only you can defend yourself.

Related - PJ Media: "And Suddenly, about 100 Minneapolis cops disappeared." 

Sometimes the NYT reports things straight

New York Times: "Can ICE do that?"

How are the rules for ICE and Border Patrol officers different from those for local police? | Mike Bowman | Blue Bell, Pennsylvania

Shaila Dewan, who covers policing, writes:

Federal officers enforce federal laws, and local police officers enforce state and local laws. Federal officers may perform local law enforcement functions like traffic and crowd control only if state laws grant them that power (in Minnesota, for instance, they may do so only by request, and the state is not asking). But federal officers may take action against people who interfere with their operations or assault an officer. While the Border Patrol is chiefly responsible for borders and ports of entry, ICE officers enforce civil immigration laws within the country.

They don’t need warrants to apprehend people for violating those laws if they have probable cause to believe that the person is both deportable and a flight risk. They cannot enter a private space like a home without warrants but can and do go in with local officers who have them. They do not have to advise immigration detainees of their rights. Local police, on the other hand, may arrest someone on the spot if a crime has just occurred, but otherwise they need a warrant, granted by a court, to put someone in custody.

Emphasis added.  The same article notes that two-thirds of all the illegals detained by ICE have either a criminal record or have been charged with a crime but not yet convicted. 

The minority party was allowed in these hearings

Jonathan Turley: "Democrats Fight to Keep the Insurrection Myth Alive in the New J6 Committee." 

Don't be AWFL

Sasha Stone: "Confessions of a Recovering Liberal White Woman." - "Liberal white women in the past 20 years have lived the most privileged lives of almost anyone on the planet. But even having everything somehow wasn’t enough. They needed to still feel like Thelma and Louise, like they had no other choice but to scream in the faces of the ICE agents, no other choice but to resist, no other choice but to step on the gas." 

CNN is such a clown show

Townhall: "What a CNN Host Said About Tim Walz Left Scott Jenning's Truly Aghast."

This isn't the first time that Scott Jennings has been told something true is not true.  It's gotten to the point that Scott Jennings need to bring his own iPad on the show with preloaded videos proving his assertions.  "Yes, Tim Walz did say this and here's the video."

Scott Jennings just caught Abby Phillip in a bold-faced LIE on CNN — and he couldn’t believe she was denying the truth.

Watch till the end to see the proof.

As the panel freaked out over the DOJ probing Tim Walz and Jacob Frey for obstructing federal immigration operations,… pic.twitter.com/wNcvdUmNPb

— Overton (@overton_news) January 17, 2026

Corey Comperatore was unavailable for comment

Washington Post: "What’s to blame for political violence? Here’s what Americans say."

Political violence in the United States has been rising for several years. Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and the violence led to five deaths. President Donald Trump faced two apparent assassination attempts during his 2024 campaign. And last year, Minnesota state legislator Melissa Hortman (D) and conservative activist Charlie Kirk were killed, while the house of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) was set ablaze.

Emphasis added.  Never change, Washington Post.  Democracy dies in darkness or something.

Jeffries just says stuff

PJ Media: "Hakeem Jeffries Just Crossed a Dangerous Line That Can’t Be Uncrossed."

I can't get worked up by Hakeem Jeffries.  I don't think he knows what he says half the time.  His depth of knowledge is proven to be as shallow as a puddle in a summertime parking lot whenever he's slightly challenged. 

He's the Karine Jean-Pierre of Congress.

An inconvenient series of wrong predictions

Outkick: "Twenty Years Later, 'An Inconvenient Truth' Has Been Thoroughly Debunked." 

Is this the way you want to go?

Because it's going to end badly for you.

Ace: "Minneapolis Mayor and Insurrectionist Jacob Frey Justifes Attacking ICE Agents, Saying Hitting Federal Agents With Shovels Is Just "Defending Our Neighbors"."

Frey does not share the values of his Republican constituents. Do they, then, have a justification for using violence against him?

The left never answers this question. Or rather, they avoid it by simply saying "that's different."

Not once have I seen Walz or Frey say something along the lines of "you may protest and document, but you may not interfere with lawful actions of federal agents enforcing federal law."  Instead, they just pour more kerosene on the fire.  Do you want the same chaos turned against you using the low bar of "I disagree with your policy?"  Because we can throw punches too.

Related - Hot Air: "When Resistance AWFLs Don't Realize Not Every State Thinks Their Tantrums Are Adorable." 

Stop me if you've heard this before

Boston Globe editorial: "Mitt Romney puts a spotlight on Social Security’s looming shortfall - Without changes, the retirement program won’t be able to pay the full benefits that have been promised to retirees."

This is the jillioneth opinion piece on Social Security I've read that advocates for the exact same solution: let somebody else pay for it.  It's always about raising the tax cap while means-testing benefits.  There is absolutely no understanding of the program or imagination for solutions other than taxing the rich.

New Nick Shirley video has dropped

 

We are all dumber for having listened to it

Jonathan Turley: "Minnesota Files Meritless Lawsuit to Stop Increase in Fraud Investigation and Immigration Enforcement." 

Do you miss them now, Ro Khanna?

Issues and Insights: "California Shows How To Lose $1 Trillion Without Even Trying."

It only took the threat of a wealth tax to drive half the billionaires in California to Texas and California.  Let's get that law passed and drive out the rest of them.

(Reference to title here.) 

Minnesota tries the heckler's veto

Prepare yourself for what might be the dumbest lawsuit in American history.

Yahoo News: "Minnesota and the Twin Cities sue the federal government to stop the immigration crackdown."

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota and its two largest cities sued the Trump administration Monday to try to stop an immigration enforcement surge that led to the fatal shooting of a Minneapolis woman by a federal officer and evoked outrage and protests across the country.

The state, joined by Minneapolis and St. Paul, said the Department of Homeland Security is violating the First Amendment and other constitutional protections. The lawsuit seeks a temporary restraining order to halt the enforcement action or limit the operation.

That's right: the basis for thwarting the federal enforcement of immigration laws is the First Amendment, which now necessarily extends to ramming your Honda Pilot into ICE agents.  These people are utter clowns. 

Extra - Powerline weighs in:

Still, one way or another, this case is doomed. Keith Ellison has been a do-nothing Attorney General who has been AWOL during the greatest state government fraud scandal of recent times. He knows that his re-election bid is in trouble, as he has a very strong opponent in my friend Ron Schutz. So he is trying to change the subject by running against President Trump, who is not popular in Minnesota. This case is 0% law, and 100% politics.

Speaking of fraud, another Nick Shirley video is dropping soon.

Minnesota is a failed state

Full of failed leaders.  From Minnesota-based Powerline:

Rather than a blissful socialist utopia, Minnesota ended up with a looted treasury and near-constant social unrest. It would have ended no other way. Minnesota is a failed state under current ownership.

That would be Tim "Jazz Hands" Walz: "The ‘Affable’ Coach Walz Never Existed."

Also: "What’s the matter with Minnesota? - The state is at the epicenter of a self-serving and destructive revolution." 

One of them is Eric Swalwell

Washington Post: "Two congressmen watched an ICE shooting video. Only one is sure of what he saw."

The Post knows exactly what they're going to get with Swalwell.  Was Jasmine Crockett unavailable?

Extra context: "Minneapolis Is Not Even A Close Call --A Lawsplainer On Officer-Involved Shootings."

Fraud is everywhere

Unreported Truths: "Medicaid fraud and abuse are hitting unthinkable levels - In Indiana, spending on a single Medicaid program for behavioral therapy for autistic children rose 30-FOLD in six years; the state spends $75,000 per child per year." 

Minneapolis shooting

Andrew McCarthy on the Corner: "A Tragedy, but a Justified Use of Force." 

Extra - PJ Media: "The ICE Cop Video Is Out and Polite Society Now Demands Apologies From the Following Riot Fans."  Don't hold your breath. 

Silence is complicity

Hollywood in Toto: "Will Disney Ever Stand Up to ABC’s Chronic Liars? - 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' and 'The View' spew so much misinformation it hurts America"

Somebody opined that Kimmel is actively trying to get fired now. 

They would change their minds if capable

Townhall: "A Lot of Liberal Narratives About the ICE Shooting Just Got Obliterated With This New Video."

The Left is too invested in the martyr narrative. 

They are children

Real Clear Politics: "Law Cannot Be Held Hostage to Democrat Temper Tantrums." 

Voting with our U-Hauls

This list is amazing from "The Great Divorce Continues."

The rumor going around is that the 2030 census is going to be a political earthquake with electoral votes shifting firmly into the red column. 

NPR gonna NPR

Twitchy: "Classic NPR Bias: Why They Got Defunded – Framing a Driver Assaulting ICE As Just 'Sitting in Her Car'." 

Hey, at least I don't have to pay for it anymore.  NPR will follow the CPB soon enough.

Another Bryn Mawr kook

National Review: "Mamdani’s Commie Housing Official Is a Lunatic." 

Extra - Hot Air: "Crybully: Mamdani's Tenant Advocate Breaks Down When Confronted About Hypocrisy."  This was likely the first time in her coddled life that she was ever confronted on an issue.

The word "may" is doing some heavy lifting here

LA Times: "Tim Walz isn’t the only governor plagued by fraud. Newsom may be targeted next." 

Tap dancing and moonwalking

Twitchy: "Tapper Asks Mark Kelly What Soldiers Should’ve Done Since Dems Are Calling Trump’s Maduro Capture Illegal." 

Hey, kudos to Jake for asking a Democrat a tough question. 

A Venezuelan has thoughts

Damn, I mean, damn just watch this:

My guess was "some kind of coercion"

Townhall: "Seattle's Socialist Mayor Has a 'Solution' for the City's Empty Offices. Guess What It Is."

The answer is taxing vacant office buildings, which I think is a winner for me.

Good riddance

Wall Street Journal: "Nonprofit That Funded NPR and PBS to Dissolve After 58 Years - Board of directors votes to dissolve organization after elimination of federal funds."

This headline says it all

National Review: "Propped Up by the Legacy Press, Tim Walz Is Undone by Social Media."

Once again with feeling: if the mainstream media had done its job, we wouldn't be here.  The media's fecklessness was exposed by a kid with an IPhone camera.

It's Woodward and Bernstein on a state level, bringing down a governor, but without the credentials of Columbia Journalism School. 

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."