Category Archives: Uncategorized

Is Trump foreign policy different in any measurable way from George W. Bush’s? From Eric Peters at ericpetersautos.com:

Col. Doug Macgregor was talking with Andrew Napolitano the other day – the day after Trump channeled his inner Chimp and “regime changed” Venezuela on behalf of (among others) his big business buddies in the oil and other natural resources extraction businesses – when he mentioned what RFK, Jr. said to a crowd at a Trump rally back in 2024. It is worth remembering:

Don’t you want a president, Kennedy asked, who will “end the grip of the neocons?”

By which he meant the Israel Firsters who pretend to be “conservative” so long as it advances the interests of Israel.

These IF’ers used to be (overtly) Trotskyite Leftists when the Cold War was still being fought but had to pretend to support the American side in that Cold War because the Soviet side was providing aid to Israel’s opponents in the Middle East, especially Egypt during the Nasser era. How to stymie that? By infiltrating the American government – posing as staunch opponents of the Soviet Union!

Voila, “neoconservatism” was born.

These “neocons” – the Kristols, the Podhoretzes, the Wurmsers and Feiths, along with the Kagans, Nulands, Chertoffs and Boltons and Cheneys – acquired operative control of “conservatism” about 26 years ago, when their chosen goy, George W. Bush ascended to the presidency in the very sketchy 2000 election, which everyone has forgotten. 

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A tax revolt is long overdue. From Paul Dragu at lewrockwell.com:

With only a few days left as a member of Congress, North Georgia’s fiery representative is encouraging Americans not to pay their taxes this year.

“Almost every Trump voter I see on X is so fed up they are planning a 2026 tax revolt,” Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene said in a social media post on Wednesday. “And rightfully so!”

Greene’s recent ire appears to have been triggered by the hottest domestic news item at the time, the Somali day care scam in Minnesota. A 23-year-old YouTuber named Nick Shirley decided to commit a vigilante act of journalism by visiting day care centers run by Somali immigrants. His poking about revealed that many “day care centers” had no children there. One of those centers even managed to advertise its fraudulent business with incorrect spelling.

Shirley’s reporting has faced scrutiny, some of it legitimate, but the basis of his allegations is very credible. Somali scams are legitimate. The state of Minnesota has documentation proving that many day care centers have been out of compliance for years. Moreover, the Justice Department was investigating the larger Somali day care scam before Shirley’s video went viral.

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The “ordinary” people are much smarter than the elite think, especially when it comes to their own health. From Roger Bate at The Brownstone Institute via zerohedge.com:

The Washington Post recently published a detailed investigation showing that childhood vaccination rates across the United States are falling sharply, particularly for measles. Fewer counties now meet the 95 percent coverage level commonly associated with herd immunity, and millions of children attend schools in communities below that threshold. 

On the basics, it’s true that routine childhood measles shots are among the most effective measures for keeping that particular infection at bay. Butthe Post’s analysis fails where it matters most: it cannot explain why trust has collapsed so broadly, so persistently, and so rationally for many ordinary people.

Instead, readers are offered a familiar diagnosis. Distrust of authorities. Political polarization. Misinformation. Backlash against mandates. All of this is curiously detached from responsibility. The article describes the consequences of distrust without confronting its causes.

That omission is not accidental. It reflects a broader unwillingness among elite media and public health institutions to reckon honestly with Covid-era failures. And without that reckoning, efforts to restore vaccine confidence are unlikely to succeed.

This is not an argument against vaccines. It is an argument about credibility.

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There’s one way to keep your country from being regime changed by the U.S. or anyone else. From Tyler Durden at zerohedge.com:

North Korea announced that it had successfully carried out a test of a hypersonic missile on Sunday – coming within 24 hours following the Trump-ordered US military raid on Caracas to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

According to a statement released by North Korean state media, “A sub-unit under a major firing strike group of the Korean People’s Army conducted a missile launching drill on January 4.” The timing is unmistakably meant as a signal and warning to Washington, and to America’s staunchest allies in the region.

The statement continued, “The drill was conducted as part of the operational evaluation of the sustainability, effectiveness, and operation of the DPRK’s war deterrent while evaluating the readiness of the hypersonic weapon system, verifying and confirming its capability for fulfilling mission and developing the missile soldiers’ firing capability.”

Pyongyang framed it as a nuclear preparedness test, though thankfully there was no actual live test of a nuclear warhead, which hasn’t happened in some time.

The missile test was overseen by Kim Jong-un, who said, “To be honest, our such activity is clearly aimed at gradually putting the nuclear war deterrent on a highly developed basis.”

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There are plenty of things that need to be fixed. From Michael Snyder at themostimportantnews.com:

After years of heading in the wrong direction, nobody can deny that the United States is facing overwhelming problems. So why don’t we focus on fixing those problems first? The truth is that we can’t do everything because our resources are very limited. U.S. households are more than 18 trillion dollars in debt, and the federal government is more than 38 trillion dollars in debt. Even though we have literally stolen trillions upon trillions of dollars from future generations, our major cities are rapidly decaying, our infrastructure is crumbling, corruption is rampant, the middle class is shrinking, most of the population is struggling to even afford the basics each month, mass layoffs are happening all over the nation, our streets are teeming with hordes of drug addicts and homeless people, large numbers of Americans are selling images of themselves online just to make ends meet, and millions of others are living in their vehicles.

So why don’t we use what limited resources we have to fix our own problems?

If you don’t understand the point that I am trying to make, just go take a stroll through downtown Seattle.

The new mayor has decided that it will be her policy to allow people to openly do drugs in the streets…

Seattle’s new ultra-woke mayor has triggered chaos by ordering police not to arrest people doing drugs on the streets of the city plagued by crime and homelessness.

Democratic socialist Katie Wilson, 43, was sworn in as the city’s 58th mayor on Friday.

The progressive politician who co-founded the Transit Riders Union has already taken steps that concerned residents and law enforcement officials say will destroy Seattle.

The president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild, Mike Solan, is warning that this will make the lawlessness in the streets of Seattle even worse…

‘We’ve all seen how our streets can be filled with death, decay, blight and crime when ideology like this infects our city, Solan continued in his statement.

‘Now with this resurrected insane direction, death, destruction and more human suffering will be supercharged.’

Lawmakers and residents have reacted to this news in horror, as the city already has a raging homelessness epidemic that they believe this lax drug policy will only amplify.

Once upon a time, Seattle was one of the most beautiful cities on the entire planet.

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From real science to “The Science” over the course of twenty years. From Anthony Watts at wattsupwiththat.com:

In November 2006, when I launched Watts Up With That?, the idea was simple enough: look at the data, check the instruments, and ask whether the conclusions being drawn actually followed from the evidence. It was never intended as a career in heresy. It was, at the time, a fairly normal scientific impulse steeped in curiosity.

Nearly twenty years later, that impulse requires a helmet.

As WUWT approaches its twentieth anniversary in 2026, it’s worth reflecting on how climate change went from being a hypothesis—one among many competing explanations for observed changes—to a full-fledged belief system, complete with sacred texts (IPCC reports), approved language, and the occasional excommunication.

The climate, meanwhile, has been far less dramatic.

2006–2008: When Thermometers Were Still Just Thermometers

Back in the mid-2000s, climate science still resembled…well, science. There were disagreements. There were debates. People argued about cloud feedbacks, solar influences, ocean cycles, and the reliability of historical temperature records without being accused of crimes against humanity.

Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth arrived in 2006 like a traveling roadshow of impending doom. Polar bears were stranded, seas were rising, and hurricanes were apparently lining up in formation. It was slick, emotional, and heavy on graphs that only went in one direction.

At the same time, a curious thing was happening on the ground. Actual thermometers—those stubbornly analog devices—were being placed next to heat sources, asphalt, and buildings. So WUWT did something radical: we took pictures.

This turned out to be surprisingly controversial, heretical even.

Apparently, photographing a thermometer next to an air conditioning exhaust was not “constructive engagement.” Who knew?

2009: Climategate—The Sound of Trust Hitting the Floor

Then came Climategate.

The emails were not hacked in the Hollywood sense; they were released, read, and promptly explained away. What they showed was not a grand conspiracy, but something far more human: groupthink, defensiveness, and an alarming willingness to manage perception instead of data.

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Obviously Russia, China, and Cuba are not happy with what happened in Venezuela. What they will do about it remains to be seen. From Andrew Korybko at korybko.substack.com:

Cuba might be coerced into subordinating itself to the US, the cascading consequences of other major BRI partners being intimidated into following Venezuela’s example could compel changes to China’s development strategy, and some of Venezuela’s Soviet/Russian arsenal might be sent to Ukraine.

The US’ “special military operation” in Venezuela led to President Nicolas Maduro’s capture and his replacement with Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, after which this firebrand anti-US figure softened her rhetoric and proposed collaborating on a cooperation agenda. Her policy pivot followed Trump’s threat that “If she doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro.” Several days later, Trump announced that she agreed to turn over 30-50 million barrels of oil to the US.

Politico earlier reported that “U.S. officials have told Delcy Rodriguez that they want to see at least three moves from her: cracking down on drug flows; kicking out Iranian, Cuban and other operatives of countries or networks hostile to Washington; and stopping the sale of oil to U.S. adversaries”. Trump’s announcement aligns with the third demand and accordingly suggests that the US has established a degree of proxy control over Venezuela, which could lead to the other demands eventually being met.

Apart from the abovementioned, ABC News reported that they also now include “kick[ing] out China, Russia, Iran, and Cuba and sever[ing] economic ties” with them as well as “agree[ing] to partner exclusively with the U.S. on oil production and favor[ing] America when selling heavy crude oil”. Of these four, Venezuela’s ties with Iran are the most nebulous, and the only visible manifestation of their partnership is performative anti-American signaling. Iran therefore has the least to lose if this happens.

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h/t Western Rifle Shooters Association

Many are the reasons the EU wants to prolong Ukraine’s war with Russia, none of them honorable. From T.L. Davis at tldavis.substack.com:

The EU, so desperate to exert their dictatorial powers, to feel the exhilarating rush of adrenaline from smashing someone’s face with the butt of a rifle, has revealed itself. It is that rarest of all birds, both fascist and communist in its outlook on the world. Having been able to conquer most of Western Europe with a simple change in immigration policy it is heady with success, brazen and anxious to lead the entire world from a small office in Brussels.

The aggressive, hostile EU is like a drunk trolling a bar looking for a fight. It chose to make Ukraine its sidekick, someone already subject to Russian aggression, who could be sent out to make loud claims and kick the bullies in the knees, while the EU sat back, waiting for an opportunity to bring big brother into the fray. Big brother, in this case, is NATO.

The EU has no army. To liken it to the United States, it would be as if there were no American troops, but National Guard from every state and even some foreign guard units to throw at their enemies. The EU supports Ukraine and threaten every day to intervene in that conflict to help Ukraine, but the EU has no money, it has no troops. Their intent is to take funds from all of their member states and give that to Ukraine to help fight Russia. It’s like the IRS extracting taxes to give to Somalian day care centers (an issue that needs resolution here).

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Is annexing Greenland next for Trump? From Erkin Oncan at strategic-culture.su:

Greenland is poised to become the next hot topic after Venezuela in Washington’s new foreign policy based on “hard power.”

While the world was still talking about U.S. forces bombing Venezuela and the abduction of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores to be “tried,” U.S. President Donald Trump, without taking a breath, began listing America’s “other targets.”

In the hours when the repercussions of the Venezuela operation were still unfolding, Trump targeted Mexico and President Claudia Sheinbaum, claiming that the country was “run by cartels,” and said, “Something will have to be done.”

He attacked Colombian President Gustavo Petro by saying, “They have factories that produce cocaine, they produce cocaine and send it to the United States,” and claimed that Delcy Rodríguez, who took over Venezuela’s leadership after Maduro, could “pay a heavier price than Maduro” if she “does not do the right thing.”

Meanwhile, among Trump’s statements—which could in fact be described as “expected”—the most striking was that he once again put Greenland on the agenda.

What happened?

In fact, Trump was not the first person in the American public sphere to wedge Greenland into the Venezuela “victory.” The issue first surfaced through a post by Katie Miller—who is also the wife of Stephen Miller, Trump’s Deputy Policy and Homeland Security Advisor—showing Greenland wrapped in a U.S. flag, accompanied by the note “Soon.”

The reaction to Miller’s post was swift. Denmark’s Ambassador to Washington, Jesper Møller Sørensen, wrote on X:
“U.S. security is also the security of Greenland and Denmark. Greenland is also a NATO member. The Kingdom of Denmark and the United States work together to ensure security in the Arctic. We expect full respect for the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark.”

Trump, however, reopened the Greenland debate in an interview with The Atlantic magazine.

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