Ace: aceofspadeshq at gee mail.com
Buck: buck.throckmorton at protonmail.com
CBD: cbd at cutjibnewsletter.com
joe mannix: mannix2024 at proton.me
MisHum: petmorons at gee mail.com
J.J. Sefton: sefton at cutjibnewsletter.com
Chavez the Hugo 2020
Ibguy 2020
Rickl 2019
Joffen 2014
AoSHQ Writers Group
A site for members of the Horde to post their stories seeking beta readers, editing help, brainstorming, and story ideas. Also to share links to potential publishing outlets, writing help sites, and videos posting tips to get published.
Contact OrangeEnt for info: maildrop62 at proton dot me
THE MORNING RANT: Instacart Allowed Pricing Based on Who You Are Rather than What You’re Buying
—Buck Throckmorton
A subject I keep returning to is the management philosophy of financializing every aspect of a business’ operations, providing short term gain, but ultimately destroying equity and causing the erosion of customer loyalty. By treating employees as a pestilence and customers as prey, these corporate destructors provide ammunition to the enemies of free markets.
Instacart is the latest company to receive major blowback. In this case, it was for a despicable and discriminatory pricing tool it provided grocers. As documented by Consumer Reports, and then reported more broadly:
• Customers using Instacart to purchase groceries through major grocery chains (including Albertson’s, Target, Costco, Kroger, Safeway and others) were subject to “algorithmic pricing.”
• The same grocery item bought from the same store at the same time would have a different price depending on who the customer was, and how the algorithm gauged the customer’s price sensitivity.
• An experiment by Consumer Reports had online shoppers order identical baskets of groceries at the same time from the same store. The price of that basket of groceries varied from $114.34 to $123.93
This is significantly different from offering discounts to those enrolled in loyalty programs, or getting discounts for buying a bundle of products or in bulk. In those situations, all customers have access to the same pricing.
In a tweet, my Tennessee state representative, Michele Reneau, succinctly summed up just how offensive this Instacart initiative was, ”If the price depends on who you are instead of what you’re buying, that’s not capitalism.”
If the price depends on who you are instead of what you’re buying, that’s not capitalism. https://t.co/GkNrG3L4Bs
We are in a political battle against the siren song of socialism. It is imperative, therefore, that those in executive positions in corporate America stop engaging in amoral practices to mine the last possible dollar of revenue from customers. Doing so provides ammunition to the enemies of economic freedom.
The rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) will be assumed on January 1 by Somalia – a barely functional state that has exported thousands of “refugees” to the rest of the world, accompanied by crime waves and social distortions U.N. Watch executive director Hillel Neuer highlighted the absurdity of handing over the presidency of the Security Council to “the #1 Worst Country in the World on the failed state index last year.”
. . . “Somalia is a failed state that under 12 indicators was ranked the world’s worst on terrorism, corruption, inability to collect taxes, mass displacement, economic collapse, group grievance, brain drain, and chronic insecurity,” he continued.
I wonder if there is any connection to the Turtle Island Liberation Front that came to the fore in the waning days of last year. TO refresh your memory:
Multiple splinter cell members of the radical Turtle Island Liberation Front, which posts disturbing slogans such as “Death to America” on social media, were arrested last Friday for allegedly plotting a New Year’s Eve terror attack in the Los Angeles area. Turtle Island Liberation Front (TILF), a little-known “pro-Palestine, anti-law-enforcement, and anti-government” extremist group, has quietly been raising funds and resources to usher in a “revolutionary change in government.” “TILF also calls for the working class to rise up and fight back against capitalism,” an FBI affidavit noted. “Moreover, TILF advocates that liberalism and peaceful protest will be the downfall of those who believe it is enough, and that ‘direct action is the only way.’”
Just when you thought the Somali welfare fraud story couldn’t get any more ridiculous, allegations have emerged that Somalia’s Foreign Minister Abdisalam Abdi Ali and Somalia’s UN Ambassador Abukar Dahir Osman ran a company called Progressive Health Care Services Inc in Cincinatti, Ohio.
What America desperately needs is the ATBLF, the Anti-Turtle Bay Liberation Front!
Scores of Zohran Mamdani fans who braved freezing temperatures to celebrate the new mayor as he was publicly sworn into office Thursday were left disappointed by the bash the socialist pol had promised.
Around 10,000 supporters stood outside City Hall during the event — billed as an “Inauguration for a New Era Block Party” by Mamdani’s staff — crammed into several barricaded pens without access to bathrooms or any food concession stands.
The hilarity of this is just priceless!!! No food and no bathrooms in sub zero temperatures. Somewhere out in the great beyond Alexander Solzhenitsyn and Ivan Denisovich and the tortured souls that haunt the Gulag Archipelago are pointing their fingers and laughing their asses off at NYC's braindead schmucks.
To paraphrase a punchline from the radioactively non-PC yet funny book for those old enough to remember it, "Race Riots" the reason there was no tree bark lasagna on hand for the rubes was because the political prisoner with the recipe had died.
Ah yes, the glories of Socialism. Live it and Love it, all you young fools taken in by Bernie, Titty Caca Cortez and this lanky, swarthy Jew- and America-hating hunk of piss. Good and hard my ex fellow New Yorkers.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) said it succinctly on Wednesday, commenting on the news that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani intended to be sworn in on the Qur’an: “The enemy is inside the gates.” . . . At a cursory glance, swearing in on the Qur’an doesn’t seem to present any problems. ne primary reason, however, why many people object to American officials being sworn in on the Qur’an is because the Islamic holy book teaches values that are vastly different from American and Judeo-Christian values, particularly the necessity for Muslims to wage war against non-Muslims and subjugate them under the hegemony of Islamic law. . . Even more important for the concept of taking an oath to serve faithfully and honestly is the fact that the Qur’an sanctions lying to unbelievers under certain circumstances. The Qur’an teaches that deception is allowed: “Let not the believers take unbelievers for their friends in preference to believers. Whoever does that has no connection with Allah unless you are guarding yourselves against them, taking security.” (Qur'an 3:28). . . Of course, it is forbidden today, on pain of charges of “Islamophobia,” to discuss the actual contents of the Qur’an and their possible relevance to the question of officials being sworn in on the Qur’an. Still, it is jarring to think of American officials pledging to uphold the U.S. Constitution on a book that calls for warfare against non-Muslims and allows lying to them.
No wonder there is such an affinity between Democrat/Leftists and Muslims. They're the Cerberus of Chang and Eng Bunkers of Rosy Grier/Ray Milland Incredible Two-Headed Transplants.
Have a great weekend.
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
. . . Somalia – a barely functional state that has exported thousands of “refugees” to the rest of the world, accompanied by crime waves and social distortions. Somalia Assumes Rotating Presidency of U.N. Security Council (Because of course! - jjs)
City workers should call a hotline to the Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition (PIRC) when ICE appears, demand that the agency present judicial warrants for access to buildings and send documentation of any ICE incident to the city attorney, the memo says. “PIRC will activate MigraWatch volunteers to investigate and confirm reports of ICE,” reads the document, which is labeled an “Employee Guide” for interacting with immigration authorities. EXCLUSIVE: Portland Memo Tells City Officials To Record ICE Agents, Call ‘MigraWatch’ Activists For Help
Texas’s new immigration‑enforcement law hit the state like a shockwave this morning, wiping out any remaining sanctuary‑style defiance by ordering every county sheriff to partner with ICE formally. The mandatory 287(g) crackdown is designed to hard‑wire deportation cooperation into every jail from the Panhandle to the Rio Grande. No More Sanctuary Texas Sheriffs: Mandatory ICE Partnership in Sweeping State Law Begins Today
Based on a detailed analysis from the Austin Daily Herald and the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, the new paid leave rules are thoroughly socialistic, offering higher monetary amounts for paid leave of workers who make lower incomes. Not only that, but employers will be required to provide nearly five months of leave to certain employees, an anti-free market, impractical, and utterly unjust standard. No doubt many small businesses will have to close their doors on this plan. Minnesota’s Ridiculous Paid Leave Rule Takes Effect; Critics Say Illegal Aliens Will Benefit
At a cursory glance, swearing in on the Qur’an doesn’t seem to present any problems. ne primary reason, however, why many people object to American officials being sworn in on the Qur’an is because the Islamic holy book teaches values that are vastly different from American and Judeo-Christian values, particularly the necessity for Muslims to wage war against non-Muslims and subjugate them under the hegemony of Islamic law. . . Even more important for the concept of taking an oath to serve faithfully and honestly is the fact that the Qur’an sanctions lying to unbelievers under certain circumstances. The Qur’an teaches that deception is allowed: “Let not the believers take unbelievers for their friends in preference to believers. Whoever does that has no connection with Allah unless you are guarding yourselves against them, taking security.” (Qur’an 3:28). . . Of course, it is forbidden today, on pain of charges of “Islamophobia,” to discuss the actual contents of the Qur’an and their possible relevance to the question of officials being sworn in on the Qur’an. Still, it is jarring to think of American officials pledging to uphold the U.S. Constitution on a book that calls for warfare against non-Muslims and allows lying to them. Does It Matter Which Book an Official Is Sworn In On?
J-6 FBI/PELOSI FALSE FLAG "RIOT" & AFTERMATH,
The former special counsel sat down for an over eight-hour deposition with the House Judiciary Committee on December 17, 2025, and when the transcript was released to the public on Wednesday, it contained a stunning admission. It turns out that the former special counsel admitted under oath that Cassidy Hutchinson, the committee's star witness, relied on secondhand hearsay instead of firsthand evidence when she testified about Trump's conduct after the 2020 election. Smith said if he were acting as a defense attorney and Hutchinson were called as a witness, "the first thing" he would do would be to seek to exclude portions of her testimony. Jack Smith Just Blew Up His Entire January 6 Case
THE ECONOMY, STUPID
If you’re a California worker, you will have fewer opportunities as employers cut jobs to meet the cost of California’s default. If you’re a California employer, you should be on the phone to either your state assembly member or state senator to remedy this injustice. Or you could call a couple of people named Abbott and DeSantis. How deadbeat Gavin Newsom put Cali businesses on the hook for his bills
FIRST AMENDMENT ISSUES, CENSORSHIP, FAKE NEWS, MEDIA, BIG BROTHER TECH
Media will cover the Somali Medicare and Medicaid fraud, the daycare fraud, the foodservice fraud, maybe even the Somali vote fraud. They will cover it when they are forced to, when it becomes so overwhelming that they can’t bury it anymore. Somali Corruption and the Mainstream Media
Campus censorship hit record highs in 2025, proving the threat to free speech in higher education isn’t ideological—it’s a growing culture of intolerance enabled by timid leadership. Push for Censorship on Campus Hit Record Levels in 2025
With history, polling, and the economy pulling in opposite directions, the 2026 midterms may hinge on whether voters feel rising affordability pain or see strong growth—and which mood prevails. Setting Up the 2026 Midterms
The Republican-led Congress set several records in 2025, though not all of them were achievements lawmakers would be keen to celebrate. With fewer than 40 bills signed into law as of Dec. 22, the House and Senate posted the lowest legislative output in the first year of a new presidency in modern history, Congress Breaks Record For Doing The Least (IIRC they voted to give themselves pay raises, nein? - jjs)
Membership is expected to promote cross-border trade and investment, and the Bulgarian government pressed for years to get in. Yet polls show the changeover is taking place against a background of widespread skepticism among ordinary people. Bulgaria Becomes Latest to Join Euro Currency Union Despite Public Opposition
“The Church’s crime has been to oppose the terms of Pashinyan’s diplomacy. . .The deal represents a major erosion of Armenia’s defensive position.” The Price of Westernization in Armenia
School enrollment in South Korea dwindled by nearly 5 million students during the same time period, according to the Korea Times, indicating that the school shutdowns are directly related to South Korea’s status as the world’s least fertile country. South Korea Loses over 4,000 Schools in a Generation to Birth Rate Collapse
HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE
“Thank you to the 18 governors who are leading the charge on SNAP reform to restore the health of Americans—especially our kids. Their courageous leadership is exactly what we need to Make America Healthy Again,” Kennedy said in December. “We cannot continue a system that forces taxpayers to fund programs that make people sick and then pay a second time to treat the illnesses those very programs help create.” 5 States Cut SNAP Benefits for Unhealthy Food as Part of ‘MAHA’ Agenda
ACTUAL SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY
Dominating this revolution in 2025 in every way possible however were two entities, one a private American company and the second a communist nation attempting to imitate capitalism. The former is SpaceX, accomplishing more in this single year than whole nations and even the whole globe had managed in any year since the launch of Sputnik. The latter is China, which in 2025 became a true space power, its achievements matching and even exceeding anything done by either the U.S. or the Soviet Union for most of the space age. The global launch industry in 2025: The real space race is between SpaceX and China
CULTURE WARS, NATIONAL SUICIDE
Whether your tradition leads you to join a Catholic Mass honoring the Mother of God on the Eighth Day of Christmas or not, it may still be fitting to pause and reflect on her indispensable role in the story of the Incarnation today. And if she’s still with you, consider reaching out to your own mother today. Honoring Christ’s Mother on the Eighth Day of Christmas.
ALSO: The Morning Report cross-posts at CutJibNewsletter.com usually within an hour or so of posting here, if you want to continue the conversation all day.
OpenAI is betting big on audio AI, and it's not just about making ChatGPT sound better. According to new reporting from The Information, the company has unified several engineering, product, and research teams over the past two months to overhaul its audio models, all in preparation for an audio-first personal device expected to launch in about a year.
This is going to sink without a trace and I am here for it.
It's not just the tech giants placing this bet. A motley crew of startups has emerged with the same conviction, albeit with varying degrees of success. The makers of the Humane AI Pin burned through hundreds of millions before their screenless wearable became a cautionary tale.
OpenAI's effort is going to burn through far more money and achieve the same results, which is to say none whatsoever.
We already have phones. They already do everything these AI devices do, and more, and if we don't want to look at the screen, we can just not look at the screen.
But there's a reason video killed the radio star.
At least Tech Crunch has an early entry in its "Dumbest Things in Tech in 2026" roundup.
OpenAI and the unlamented Humane pin are not alone in this folly. There's billions of dollars chasing this lack of ideas.
The one place where I see possibility is AI glasses. You can integrate a camera and a speaker and a microphone and a tiny display. Your hands are free to do whatever. There are problems, yes, but also real value.
It has 16 cores running at 1.9GHz, 10 AI cores each able to perform 4096 multiple-and-add operations per clock cycle, and 48GB or 96GB of RAM. Do not expect this one to be cheap.
They have also announced - at least in China - the Orange Pi AI Studio Pro which runs two of these boards linked together. Price not listed for that one either.
The hack here was the leaking of secure boot keys for the hardware, which means that owners can now jailbreak their PlayStation. Sony can release new hardware that can't be jailbroken - and probably will - but it can't do anything about the 85 million consoles already sold.
Nvidia will announced no consumer products at all, AMD will announce only relabels of existing products, and Intel will announce Panther lake, which is not a bad product unless you need more than four full-speed cores because that's all it has. (And all three versions of Panther Lake announced involve major tradeoffs even with that limit stipulated.)
Though the biggest question here is why anybody would bother.
I think I bought too many computers. The parts I need for Froppy just shipped, and I've run out of names for all the others.
On the other hand, I'm now thoroughly covered in case I start having hardware failures in the older systems, and I can re-use all the old RAM and SSDs in newer motherboards. And I didn't pay hyper-inflated prices for any of it.
Musical Interlude
Song is Konya wa Hurricane from the anime Bubblegum Crisis. Anime is... Oh. You guessed.
One of the best opening sequences to anything ever. Apart from the great soundtrack, it introduces us to all the major characters without telling you that they are the major characters, and to the premise of the series without saying a word. There are a couple of minutes of establishing shots before the song starts, but I chose this clip precisely because it has those.
Disclaimer: Burning touch? We have pills for that now.
America turns 250 this year. Check out this cool video from "America250".
The next chapter of our American story starts now.
250 years of rising, remembering, and turning toward one another to embrace our part in history.
As we begin this once-in-a-generation year, take a moment to reflect on who we are—and who we want to be. Happy 2026. Happy… pic.twitter.com/fUj2twHZDB
Can you imagine what kind of alternate universe video would have been made if Kamala was POTUS?
***
CBS News says they're totally gonna be better now
"On too many stories, the press has missed the story. Because we've taken into account the perspective of advocates and not the average American. Or we put too much weight in the analysis of academics or elites, and not enough on you."
Jan 1, 1980: The Far Side by Gary Larson was first published in the San Francisco Chronicle #80s Ran in syndication until January 1, 1995 pic.twitter.com/HaAfSi2DEk
Chicago O’Hare International Airport, one of the busiest travel hubs in the world, made headlines this week after U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials confiscated several illegal and disturbing items from an arriving passenger’s luggage—including monkey meat.
The traveler, arriving from the Democratic Republic of Congo, was stopped during a routine inspection at O’Hare. Upon examination of their luggage, officers discovered over 11 pounds of pest-infested beans, 17 pounds of unidentifiable plant material, and approximately 4 pounds of dried monkey meat, which was later classified as non-human primate meat. In addition to the monkey meat, authorities also seized what they described as mummified small primates.
Sorry to disappoint you, but the article contains no mention of greasy, grimy gopher guts.
***
Need to pick up a bleated Christmas gift for someone?
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
Madison Cornbread -- government name, Cassidy Hutchinson -- was the low-level sorority sister aide who decided to become a Democrat superstar influencer by peddling a lot of nonsense about what other people supposedly said to her about Trump violently seizing the steering wheel of the presidential limo (from the back seat!) in order to wrest the controls away from the driver and go to the Capitol so he could lead the insurrection.
All of her "testimony" was nonsense along the lines of "and then Bill told me something to the effect of" or "and then John told me something to the effect of."
She was very proud of the "to the effect of" phrase. She thought it made her sound smaaaaaht.
Jack Smith now says that all of her testimony was something to the effect of bullshit nonsense hearsay, and all, by the way, denied by the people she claimed she had heard it from, and that's why he never even considered calling her as a witness.
. This brings us back, then, to the strange case of "Madison Cornbread." She became the "star witness" of that Star Chamber charade because she was willing to share mere gossip -- "so-and-so told me that Trump said this" -- in particular claiming that Trump had attempted to physically overpower his limousine driver to force him to drive to the Capitol. Actual witnesses immediately contradicted this testimony, but of course the J6 committee never presented these contradicting witnesses, allowing Cassidy Hutchinson's dubious testimony to become the defining narrative.
Naturally, Simon & Schuster gave her a fat advance to write a book, a six-figure payoff for her service to the anti-Trump cause.
Of course, another six-figure media payoff. And Republicans continue to permit this.
And now, more than three years after her 15 minutes of fame, we get this ironic coda:
The House Select January 6th Committee's "star" Cassidy Hutchinson provided "secondhand hearsay" about the 2021 Capitol riot and wasn't considered as a witness in the election interference case brought against President Trump, according to former special counsel Jack Smith.
Smith told the House Judiciary Committee in a closed-door deposition on Dec. 17 that Hutchinson -- who testified at the Jan. 6 select panel's made-for-TV hearings in June 2022 -- "certainly" wouldn't have made a "powerful" witness because she couldn't provide "firsthand" testimony.
"My recollection with Ms. Hutchinson, at least one of the issues was a number of the things that she gave evidence on were secondhand hearsay, were things that she had heard from other people," the ex-Trump prosecutor testified to the Judiciary lawmakers and staff, the deposition's transcript shows.
Game. Set. Match.
Here we have the special counsel who got the assignment to put Donald Trump in prison over the 2020 election dispute saying, under oath, that Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony was just gossip. Any first-year law student has to know that hearsay is inadmissable as evidence in a legal proceeding, and Jack Smith couldn't go to court with that stuff.
Thanks to The Patriarch Tree.
I'm not working today, just some open threads and then a Cafe, but I thought you'd like an update on Madison Cornbread.
What are your plans? I've got a good one. I haven't been to a restaurant in at least a month but I'm going out for steak. Specifically, a tomahawk ribeye.
As was the case with this Amy Vermin Jackson hack-in-black who illegally blocked his Constitutional authority as Chief executive from running this CFPB politburo (itself a completely anti-Constitunal entity as we discussed yesterday). God bless the President he still has faith that an utterly corrupt institution and those who belong to it that are at the heart of the corruption will act honorably and play by the rules and not act as partisan anti-American internal enemies of the people in advancing their goal to take him down and take America down. That has always been his Achilles heel. He cannot or will not distinguish mere rivals from mortal enemies in the figurative and literal sense.
In 2025 there were two assassination attempts on the President and a possible third that was linked to the regime in Tehran. On top of that of course was the assassination of Charlie Kirk, a leading light and voice of American political and societal revival who more than anyone in recent memory was able to reach and steer the youth of this nation away from the siren song of Leftism. For that direct threat to the multi-generational assault on this nation and society by those who continue to seek our destruction and/or subjugation, Kirk had to be taken down. Regardless, TPUSA and its mission continue. How many young people has the late Charlie Kirk inspired or otherwise enlightened and set on the straight and narrow, as President Trump is fond of saying, we'll just have to wait and see.
Of course the fallout over the Somali immigrant sacking and looting of the Minnesota and quite likely state treasuries of Ohio and quite a few other blue and sadly red states as well will be the top story as we head into 2026. While the Leftist controlled propaganda machine will do all it can to embargo and bury the truth or otherwise completely distort it as a Trump Hitlerite white supremacist assault on the African Somali immigrant community whose presence on our soil is a blessing and gift from Heaven instead of at least two of the 10 plagues of Passover/Exodus fame.
YouTuber Nick Shirley said on “PBD Podcast” on Wednesday that people have been telling him he will be assassinated like Turning Point USA (TPUSA) founder Charlie Kirk after his viral video on alleged Somali fraud.
Shirley’s Friday video showed him finding that multiple supposed Minnesota Somali-run daycare centers, including one that reportedly obtained $4 million in taxpayer funds, lacked children. On the podcast, Shirley detailed threats he has received, along with how his family has been affected. (RELATED: Corporate Media Outlets Turn Blind Eye To Somali Fraud Scandal)
Considering the players involved, no not just the low-level hoods but the top echelons of the Minnesota and quite likely national Democrat Party as well as Al Shabab ISIS and other terrorist organizations operating in Somalia and elsewhere, do you really think they're going to let someone get away with putting them out of business? Minnesota is likely the tip of the iceberg as it probably goes way beyond Minnesota and the Somali community but other immigrant groups and native -born fraudsters.
The top legal reporter for Politico.com apparently suggested Tuesday a person can be legally shot for asking questions at the doorsteps of businesses.
Just look to the hell that Project Veritas' James O'Keefe (whose name I just couldn't remember for the life of me when we spoke of this on the podcast) has been put through over the years for his incredible exposés of Leftist graft.
Here's hoping and praying that 2026 sees legions of Charlie Kirks and Nick Shirleys coming forward. Again, as we bemoaned on the podcast President Trump can't be expected to drain the swamp, the size and depth of every ocean on the planet, all by himself. And here's hoping that the prognostications about our youth drifting and even rushing headlong to embrace socialism are somehow off base and missing something that would indicate otherwise. I have the greatest respect and admiration for our dear friend Jim Lakely at heartland.org but every time we talk to him about his polling, vis a vis the aforementioned I want to slit my wrists.
Other than that, could the Mullahs in Iran at long last finally be on the ropes and perhaps dangling a la the Ceaucescus from ropes on a Tehran lamp post. We've seen this picture before and sadly the protests fizzled and more accurately were brutally crushed by the IRGC. And lest we forget back in 2009 Barack Obama refused to support the Persian people and threw his full throated support behind the Mullahs with pallets of cash to help the build their nukes and export Islamic terrorism around the globe.
If Iran can be liberated after more than 45 years of ISlamo tyranny, what a blessing for their people and indeed for the world as a whole since they are the #1 with a bullet biggest state sponsor of global terrorism.
Have a great day And here's wishing all of you a very happy healthy and prosperous 2026.
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.
Shirley’s Friday video showed him finding that multiple supposed Minnesota Somali-run daycare centers, including one that reportedly obtained $4 million in taxpayer funds, lacked children. On the podcast, Shirley detailed threats he has received, along with how his family has been affected. (RELATED: Corporate Media Outlets Turn Blind Eye To Somali Fraud Scandal) Nick Shirley Says People Telling Him He’ll Be ‘Kirked’ After Viral Somali Fraud Video
Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, a Somali-born naturalized U.S. citizen, used some of his ill-gotten gains to buy property throughout the Twin Cities and Kentucky before the DOJ prosecuted him for using the nonprofit Feeding Our Future to defraud the government of $300 million in COVID-19 relief meant for hungry children, leading to a 28-year prison sentence in August. There are at least 1,687 people of Somali descent living in Kentucky. Somali Fraudster In Minnesota Had Sights Set On New State To Loot
. . .one called the Finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit Act and the other called the Miccosukee Reserved Area Amendments Act. . . “Enough is enough,” the press release from the White House added. “My Administration is committed to preventing American taxpayers from funding expensive and unreliable policies. Ending the massive cost of taxpayer handouts and restoring fiscal sanity is vital to economic growth and the fiscal health of the Nation.” Trump Uses Veto for First Two Times in Second Term
Yet another tax on the wealthy will drive more job creators and economy movers from the state. California’s ‘Get Out Now’ Tax
CRIME & PUNISHMENT, NON-DOSTOYEVSKY
(Democrat Baltimore Mayor Brandon) Scott’s post was in response to a Monday analysis by The Baltimore Banner that found “killings could reach a 48-year low” of fewer than 150 murders in the city. The analysis followed Baltimore City State’s Attorney Ivan Bates cracking down on crime since taking office in 2023. (RELATED: Baltimore Bloodbath: City Sees 4 Homicides And A Quadruple Shooting In First Weekend Of May) Baltimore Democrats Finally Abandoned Criminal Justice Reform — Now They Boast A Decades-Low Homicide Rate
FIRST AMENDMENT ISSUES, CENSORSHIP, FAKE NEWS, MEDIA, BIG BROTHER TECH
According to data from the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) at the Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium (via Our World in Data), through October 2025, the world saw about 4,500 deaths related to extreme weather events. Despite climate panic, fewer people died from extreme weather in 2025
SECOND AMENDMENT
Every country needs to respect and restore the natural rights of its citizens to keep and bear arms. Globalize the Second Amendment
AMERICA AND THE WORLD IMPRISONED: CHINESE+Fauci-created CORONAVIRUS FICTIONS AND FACTS
The 34-year-old Queens state assemblyman was sworn in as the 112th mayor by New York Attorney General Letitia James below City Hall in the abandoned old subway stop. (they and all like them should only be entombed in it for eternity - jjs) Democratische socialist Zohran Mamdani sworn in on Quran as NYC’s 112th mayor
Even folks on the left, where Rapaport most definitely belongs, are sick and tired of radical extremists and socialists. Is common sense finally making a comeback in 2026? Are people beginning to realize that while socialism looks fantastic on paper in ideal scenarios, it fails in real life? I hope so. The rest of us have seen this coming for a long time. (I know him peripherally from my time in show biz and despite his being a lowlife gavone, he seems to be waking up and I find his anti-left broadsides quite refreshing and necessary - jjs) Rapaport Launches Mayoral Bid, Declares War on ‘Zohran the Moron’
Iran’s clerical regime closed out 2025 with what an Iranian opposition coalition described as an unprecedented surge of state killings — as the group’s president-elect warned the mass hangings amount to “a crime against humanity” and a desperate bid for “survival” by a system that fears an “explosive society.” Iran Executed 2,200+ in 2025: Bloodiest Year Under Khamenei as Regime Faces Unrest
Speaking from Greenwich, Mr Farage lamented the disastrous state of the country in 2025, from the economic stagnation, inflation, soaring debt, rising social degeneracy and crime, to the increasingly authoritarian speech restrictions on average Britons. Farage: 2026 Will Mark the Start of the ‘Last Chance’ Battle to Save Britain
At the center of the social machinery, which has ultimately transformed modern society into a state of abundance, stands the entrepreneur. Germany Declares War on Entrepreneurs
In 2025, war didn’t arrive with tanks or missiles—it arrived by email, exploiting fear, stealing billions, and proving that America’s digital defenses are now a core measure of national strength. 2025 Proved That The Next War Will Start With a Click
ACTUAL SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY
Archeologists have found a Neanderthal campsite from 400,000 years ago that shows strong evidence of the ability to make fire. . . Previously, the earliest known evidence of the ability to make fire had been dated from 50,000 years ago, and was done by homo sapiens, not Neanderthals. Archeologists find what they think is evidence of fire-making by early Neanderthals
FEMINAZISM, TRANSGENDER PSYCHOSIS, HOMOSEXUALIZATION, WAR ON MASCULINITY/NORMALCY
President Donald Trump and the Supreme Court have demolished the lawsuit strategy pushed by pro-gender advocates, says Chase Strangio, the self-claimed “transgender” chief at the ACLU group. Gender activists must now hide within progressive political campaigns to advance their revolutionary goals, says Strangio, who is a woman masquerading as a man. ACLU’s ‘Transgender’ Chief Admits 2025 Defeat, Urges Stealth Strategy
ALSO: The Morning Report cross-posts at CutJibNewsletter.com usually within an hour or so of posting here, if you want to continue the conversation all day.
About five million desktop PCs. If you were wondering where all the RAM went, that's where.
I recently lamented the lack of affordable PCIe switches for versions faster than 3.0. But there are affordable PCIe 4.0 switches readily available because there is one on every current motherboard - its the chipset.
Since Javice became a JPMorgan executive after the bank bought her student finance company, Frank, before finding that she had created millions of nonexistent user accounts to inflate the company's value, JPMorgan is contractually obliged to pay for her defence.
Javice has taken that to what seem to be her usual levels, hiring two additional legal firms that billed a combined $360,000 per day during her six week trial.
Javice was convicted and sentenced to seven years in jail for fraud, but is currently out of jail pending appeal, which JPMorgan is also required to pay for.
Next looming shortage: Diodes. (CNBC) (archive site)
The Netherlands seized commodity semiconductor maker Nexperia, which produces low-end chips and discrete components for the embedded market, and which had been bought by China, after the US raised the very obvious security concerns.
These parts are widely used in, well, everything. Home appliances, cars, and, yes, computers. They were manufactured in Europe and then shipped to China in bulk for packaging before being re-exported, and now China is just not re-exporting anything.
A pretty expensive camera, but a good one. $2799 for the camera alone, but offered alongside is a $470 45mm f/1.2 lens, which is a remarkable price for such a fast lens.
I don't have all the answers. I am just a dinosaur with a small brain and short arms. I am no theologian or scientist. I still struggle to figure out which threads on the blog require pants.
Two common threads unify all living things across history: life and death.
We barely understand either. It is not for a lack of trying.
Was the universe created or did it emerge from a Bing Bang? If a divine creator, what does "created in the image of God" mean? If a bang, what existed before and what caused the bang?
A monkey hitting random typewriter key for an infinite amount of time could type the complete works of William Shakespeare, but where did the monkey come from? At some point, randomness fails to explain life.
What is the essential "spark" that gives life to raw ingredients?
With life, we can observe the result post-spark. We can argue about the boundaries of "consciousness" and "sentience" and single cell organisms, but at least we can observe and discuss and draw reasonable guesses about life and what makes it different from a pet rock.
Death is different.
Once someone is gone, we can't get answers from them about what happened and where they are and what it is like. We don't know what to expect.
Fear of the unknown is an essential human condition. The fear permeates much of our daily life. We don't like unpleasant surprises with bad outcomes. We are afraid of the dark. We are generally a risk averse species.
Death is the ultimate unknown and humans have sought answers for eons.
The Egyptian "Book of the Dead" is a collection of spells, prayers, and incantations written on papyrus scrolls and placed in tombs to guide the deceased's soul through the perilous journey of the underworld to achieve a blessed afterlife.
Hindu reincarnation envisions an eternal loop of birth, death, and rebirth. Karma determines the future path of the soul based on actions in previous lives.
Christian traditions focus on the promise of eternal life beyond our mortal existence.
Faith means taking a risk to believe something we do not know based on what we think we know.
As much as Christian theology revolves around the resurrection story, where did Jesus go for three days after he was crucified? The Apostles Creed says he "descended to the dead." Did he "preach to the spirits in prison?" Did he liberate Old Testament souls that believed before he existed? Did he take a few days of R&R after a busy few weeks at the office? (We will leave a discussion of purgatory for another time.)
I dunno but a lot of people have spent at lot of time, energy and money trying to communicate with the great beyond. We have questions. We want to know what to expect. We want to know loved ones are OK. We are infinitely intrigued by anything we do not understand. We are afraid of the dark.
And yet, a day will arrive for each of us whether we understand it or not.
But we remember those whose days have come. Even if we don't understand everything about how their earthly existence, we still mourn.
We mourn because we miss them. We mourn because we appreciate them. We mourn for unrealized promise. Not every story is a happy story. In some cases, we recall the carnage they caused and mourn what might have been.
We mourn, in part, for ourselves because we know that we will follow someday.
On this New Year's Eve, we look back and remember those among the Horde and those adjacent to the Horde who are no longer among the living. Prayers for all who mourn and who continue to come to terms with loss that does not go away. Prayers for mothers that struggle with the loss of a child before having a chance to breathe a first breath outside the womb. We also pray for those who are left to pick up the emotional and temporal pieces.
We also offer prayers of strength and peace for those confronting their own mortality. May God grant you continual comfort and strength and may you feel the love and support from your Horde family. Please continue to let the Horde know if anything can be done to help.
We remember the caregivers who are angels sent to comfort the afflicted and rarely signed up for the role. There is often nobody else to say thank you or provide relief when you are the last line of defense. Please continue to let the Horde know if anything can be done to help.
On this New Year's Eve, we also look ahead. A flip of the calendar is cosmically arbitrary, but carries the symbolism of rebirth and the promise of new beginnings. If you are in the Northern Hemisphere, the turn of the new year also moves a step further through the darkness of winter towards the promise of spring.
We do not have to be afraid of the dark. As John says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." There is hope in the light.
I do not have all the answers. But if you pass from this life and end up in Pittsburgh, please let me know. I have questions.
Here endeth the message.
*****
Those among the Horde and those Horde Adjacent who died in calendar 2025 are listed below. Apologies for any that were missed or any errors but please comment to remedy. Thanks much to MisHum and Annie's Stew for maintaining The Classical Saturday Morning Coffee Break and Prayer Revival Posts.
This is still a New Year's Eve open thread so opine as you wish. Club ONT is open and has an open bar. JQ is pouring drinks for all. The jukebox has been restocked and is free. Food and party favors are available as well. Please do not wear the lampshades.
*****
pookysgirl (daughter)
Schnorflepuppy (wife)
AmericanKestrel (family member)
smelltheglove (aunt)
AllHailEris (mother)
Pug Mahon (mother)
SpeakingOf (father)
John (Witchdoktor)
Blanco Basura (foster daughter)
BurtTC (mother)
axeman (mother)
rickb223 (wife)
onehoursober (wife)
The Rev (brother)
Screaming in Digital (mother)
Jim Sunk New Dawn
Ciampino
Jay Guevara
Robert (mother)
Sock Monkey (brother)
Alberta Oil Peon (cousin)
Skip (uncle)
Farmer (father)
Dark Litigator (college friend)
Auspex (sister)
John the River (girlfriend)
Jimmy Doolittle (dad)
NaCly Dog (wife)
thefritz (friend Jeff)
jewells45
Sock Monkey (brother in law)
dantesed (brother)
KT (mother)
Stateless (uncle)
Unknown Drip Under Pressure (mother)
Justin Pinochet Castraeu (brother)
Weird Dave (sister)
vmom (sister)
BurtTC (son)
Skip (uncle)
Stateless (mother)
San Franpsycho (Rose, mother of kindergarten buddy)
Rhennigantx (friend Tim)
*****
These people are not Horde or Horde adjacent, but departed in 2025:
Lou Gerstner, Jr.
Brigitte Bardot
Ira "Ike" Schab
Greg Biffle
Norman Podhoretz
Rob Reiner
Frank Gehry
Fuzzy Zoeller
Paul Tagliabue
James Watson
Dick Cheney
June Lockhart
David Ball
Ace Frehley
Diane Keaton
Sister Jean
Chris Dreja
Jane Goodall
Robert Redford
Charlie Kirk
Rick Davies
Giorgio Armani
Ron Turcotte
Humpy Wheeler
Terence Stamp
Bobby Whitlock
Jim Lovell
Loni Anderson
Walker Evans
Ryne Sandberg
Tom Lehrer
Chuck Mangione
George Kooymans
Hulk Hogan
Ozzy Osbourne
Malcolm-Jamal Warner
Felix Baumgartner
David Gergen
Jimmy Swaggart
D. Wayne Lukas
Dave Parker
Lalo Schifrin
Bobby Sherman
Mick Ralphs
Fred Smith
Brian Wilson
Frederick Forsyth
Sly Stone
Loretta Switt
George Wendt
David Souter
Ruth Buzzi
Jochen Mass
Roy Thomas Baker
David Horowitz
Pope Francis
Jay North
Val Kilmer
Mia Love
Eddie Jordan
Richard Chamberlain
George Foreman
Gene Hackman
Roberta Flack
Al Trautwig
Dick Button
Marianne Faithful
Bob Uecker
David Lynch
Alan Green
Bill McCartney
Peter Yarrow
*****
*****
Note: The final Calvin and Hobbes comic strip was published 30 years ago today.
Cheers to the New Year! On behalf of myself and The Grateful, we wish everyone a Happy New Year and a magnificent 2026!
Minnesota Policy Allows Voters to "Vouch" for Up to Eight Unregistered People (Who Don't Show Proof of Citizenship, Of Course) to Allow Them to Vote Through Same-Day Registration
A controversial Minnesota election policy that allows a single registered voter to "vouch" for up to eight people seeking same-day registration is under fire amid the state's massive fraud scandal tied to the Somali community there.
Under Minnesota law, the registered voter must go with the person or people they are vouching for to the polling place and sign an oath verifying their address, according to the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State.
"A registered voter from your precinct can go with you to the polling place to sign an oath confirming your address. This is known as 'vouching.' A registered voter can vouch for up to eight voters," the website reads.
Those being vouched for still must provide at least one form of identity verification, which includes a valid Minnesota driver's license or learner's permit, a "receipt" for them, or a tribal identification card that includes a photo and signature, according to the rules.
Vouching is then used to verify a potential voter's residence in the precinct.
As long as the prospective voter can prove they live in the state, proof of ID can include a driver's license or learner's permit from any of the 50 states, a passport, an expired ID, military ID, or high school or college ID.
However, critics have noted that Gov. Tim Walz's 2023 "Driver's Licenses for All" bill allows people to obtain licenses regardless of immigration status. Licenses carry no marking indicating citizenship, despite being regularly used to register to vote.
"It was made for fraud," Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, declared in on X.
US Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) said he believes his SAVE Act (Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility) could throw a wrench into Minnesota's policy.
Under the bill, which passed in the House but has stalled in the Senate, voters would be required to provide proof of citizenship to cast their ballots in federal elections.
It would establish criminal penalties for election officials who register applicants who have not provided such documentation.
This unbelievable clip drops the red-pill nuke on the Somali fraud scam!
She lays it out cold: "You can't afford another kid because childcare is so expensive - but Somali fraudsters got millions of your taxpayer dollars for child care centers that don’t exist."
Jeffrey Epstein wasn't just a frequent visitor to Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The club was also sending spa employees--usually young women--to Epstein's nearby mansion for massages, manicures and other spa services, according to former Mar-a-Lago and Epstein employees. ...
The spa occasionally provided house calls for members. Epstein wasn't a dues-paying member of the club, but Trump told staff to treat him like one, the employees said. Epstein had an account at the spa where his companion, Ghislaine Maxwell, booked appointments on his behalf.
They came to a halt in 2003, after an 18-year-old beautician returned to the club from a house call to Epstein and reported to managers that he had pressured her for sex, former employees said.
A manager sent Trump a fax relaying the employee's allegations and urged him to ban Epstein, some of the former employees said. Trump told the manager it was a good letter and said to kick him out.
Morrissey adds:
The WSJ notes that Mar-a-Lago aestheticians and spa workers had begun warning each other about Epstein previous to this incident. However, all of these employees were "typically licensed," which means they were adults. The young woman in this incident was 18 years old at the time it occurred. Furthermore, this appears to be the first time that the employees raised this concern all the way to Trump himself. As soon as Trump heard about it, he acted to cut off Epstein's access to Mar-a-Lago and stopped socializing with him at the same time.
Somali Pirate: Racist Thieves Broke Into Our Very Legitimate Day Care and Stole All the Enrollment and Employee Records That Would Prove This Is a Legitimate Business and Not a Pirate Plundering Operation
—Ace
Drat -- the racist thieves stole the very documents that would allow the pirates to clear their good piratical names!
Oh, and he slips it in that they tore off checks from the "day care's" checkbook, too. Not the whole checkbook, for some reason, but just certain checks.
So if you find any checks from the company going to pay for obviously-personal luxuries -- well, that must have been the racist thieves.
He also -- get this -- claims to be a victim of racism, you Racists.
A Somali-run day care in Minneapolis is claiming somebody broke in and stole "important documents" as the national spotlight shines on the unfolding multibillion-dollar fraud scandal involving Minnesota human services.
Nasrulah Mohamed, manager of Nakomis Day Care Center, told reporters that a suspect entered through the kitchen at the rear of the facility, damaging a wall and breaking into the building's office, sometime on Tuesday.
He said the alleged prowler stole "important documentation" including children's enrollment information, employee documentation and checkbooks.
Nasrulah Mohamed, manager of Nakomis Day Care Center, at a press conference with other individuals, one of whom holds a sign that reads "Racism Has NO Place in Childcare". ]
Absolute LOL.
Look at that uggo Karen holding her Racists Repent! sign.
Mohamed blamed last week's viral video by YouTuber Nick Shirley, in which he visited nearly a dozen day care facilities looking for evidence of fraud, for the incident.
"This is devastating news, and we don't know why this is targeting our Somali community as one video made by a specific individual made this all happen," he said, claiming they've received "hateful" and "threatening" messages over the last several days.
"This is frightening and exhausting," he said, calling Shirley's reporting "false."
Nakomis Day Care Center was not one of the facilities featured in Shirley's video, which has been viewed over 110 million times.
At least $1 billion in fraud has been uncovered by authorities in Minneapolis so far, including fraudulent food, housing and child care payments, with warnings from the US Attorney's Office that the true figure could be as high as $9 billion.
Ninety-two people have been arrested in connection with the scheme, 80 of whom are Somali immigrants.
On Tuesday night, the US Department of Health and Human Services announced it was freezing all child care payments to Minnesota -- which totaled $185 million in 2025 alone -- unless proof is provided that the payments are legitimate.
Somali daycare manager speaks to the media after his “business” was allegedly broken into, claims student enrollment and employee documentation was stolen.
“We talked to the maybe complicit government, the investigators who green-lit millions of tax dollars for daycares without kids, and the people who are benefiting from potential fraud, and they all said there’s nothing to see here,” Real Journalists™️ https://t.co/vRjY7NL6kq
CNN opens the segment by introducing Nick Shirley as someone who has posted anti-muslim and anti-immigrant content in the past and calls him a MAGA influencer. They also imply that Nick Shirley falsified his claims by going to the daycares during off-business hours. pic.twitter.com/w95M04X6OQ
Podcast: The Somali grift might be the biggest financial scandal in American history, will the Mullahs finally fall? CFPB gets a lifeline from a corrupt judge, Brigitte Bardot...RIP, and more!
This isn't Christmas Eve fare, and I thought about waiting until the 26th to post it, but supposedly an amateur detective has solved the Zodiac killer mystery. And the horrific Black Dahlia killing. He says it's the same person! I always thought of them as very far apart in time but I think Black Dahlia was mid-fifties (nope, 1947) mid and the Zodiac murders began in 1968 so it's possible it's the same killer.
The killer, if it's the same man, would have been in his 20s when he killed the Black Dahlia and his 40s when he did the Zodiac murders. Possible.
A little caveat: I saw someone snark on Reddit, "The Zodiac case gets solved more often than Wordle." There are a ton of coincidences here, supposedly, like a Zodiac cipher being solved by the name "Elizabeth." Elizabeth Short was the name of the so-called Black Dahlia.
If you don't know about the Black Dahlia, don't look it up. Just accept that it's grisly on the level of Jack the Ripper.
Yes, the named suspect resembles the police sketch of Zodiac.
Podcast: Will Ukraine be a flashpoint for a Korean conflict, Trump's intemperate Reiner comments, it's the economy stupid! the Monroe/Trump Doctrine, Bondi, Brown, MIT, and more!
Megyn Kelly finally calls out Candace Owens
Whoops, I meant she bravely attacks Sydney Sweeney for "bending the knee." (Sweeney put out a very empty PR statement saying "I'm against hate." Whoop-de-doo.)
Megyn Kelly claims she doesn't want to call people out on the right when asked about Candace Owens but then has no compunctions at all about calling people out on the right.
As long as they're not Candace Owens. Strangely, she seems blind and deaf to anything Candace Owens says. That's why this woman calls her "Megyn Keller."
She's now asking her pay-pigs in Pakistan how they think she should address the Candace Owens situation, and if they think this is really all about Israel and the Jews.
