QUEEN: What Nicki Minaj Just Said About Trump and Vance May Surprise You.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Can the Dark Ages Return? History suggests civilizations fall when complacency, debt, and tribalism replace unity, discipline, and reform—prompting fears the West may be nearing a familiar decline.

GOODER AND HARDER, CALIFORNIA:

California is the Fraud Capital of America:

$32 billion in unemployment fraud
$24 billion in homeless funds "lost"
$18 billion on nonexistent bullet train
$650 million on scrapped 911 system.

A scathing report from the State Auditor just identified 8 separate state agencies as…

— Kevin Kiley (@KevinKileyCA) December 21, 2025

That ought to disqualify Newsom for higher office, but of course, Dems don’t play that way.

LIMITED TIME DEAL: Levi’s Men’s 501 Original Fit Jeans (Also Available in Big & Tall). #CommissionEarned

HAPPY NEW YEAR: Trump touts low Christmas season gasoline prices, and analysts say they should hold into 2026.

According to AAA, the average gasoline price in the U.S. was at $2.88 per gallon on Friday. According to the live price on GasBuddy, which uses crowdsourcing data, American motorists were paying an average $2.87 per gallon on Friday morning.

These are the cheapest gasoline prices consumers have seen in December since 2020, AAA reported. GasBuddy predicts gasoline prices will hit around $2.79 per gallon on Christmas Day.

David Blackmon, author of the “Energy Absurdities” Substack and an analyst with more than 40 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, told Just the News that the low prices are a function of global crude oil prices, over which the president doesn’t have a lot of control. However, he said, the Trump administration’s friendlier regulatory environment is contributing to the boon for consumers.

The regulatory climate matters bigly, Mr. Blackmon: New study recommends loosening California oil regulations to avoid skyrocketing fuel prices.

THE FIRST THING WE DO, LET’S REPLACE ALL THE LAWYERS: AI Will Kill All the Lawyers.

‘Last week we did an experiment, a kind of simulation. We took a real, recent and important case – a complex civil court appeal which I wrote, and it took me a day and a half. We redacted all identifying details, for anonymity and confidentiality, and we fed the same case to Grok Heavy AI. And then we asked it to do what I did. After some prompting, the end result was…’ He shakes his head. ‘Spectacular. Actually staggering. It did it in 30 seconds, and it was much better than mine. And remember, I am very good at this.’

He sits back, wry yet resigned. ‘It was at the level of a truly great KC. The best possible legal document. And all done in seconds for pennies. How can any of us compete? We can’t.’

My experience has been that technological revolutions — even the real ones — don’t soak in as fast as enthusiasts predict. But Robert Reich’s advice to join the “symbolic analysts” is looking likely to be, well, as good as all Robert Reich’s other advice. See also, “learn to code.”

Related: AI won’t kill all the lawyers: Labor markets are complex systems and AI is mere technology. “AI is not Dick the Butcher. It isn’t trying to clear the path for tyranny. It’s a productivity shock. Productivity shocks don’t usually abolish a domain; they unwind rents and concentrate power.”

PUT THAT WAY, HONESTLY IT MAKES IT SOUND SLIGHTLY LESS WORSE: The Minnesota Fraud Scandal Is So Much Worse When You Put It This Way. “The amount of money that’s been stolen is larger than the entire GDP of Somalia.”

NGOS SHOULD BE BANNED:

🇺🇸 $14 TRILLION NGO EMPIRE: TAX EXEMPT, VOTER PROOF

An essay citing Federal Reserve Financial Accounts says U.S. NGOs held $14.12 trillion in assets as of Q2 2025, which is bigger than the combined 2025 GDP of Japan, Germany, and India by roughly 5%.

If your brain just tried to… pic.twitter.com/dNtCZppTHe

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) December 18, 2025

ON SUNDAYS I RUN A PROMO POST FOR (MOSTLY) INDY AUTHORS:  Book Promo And Vignettes By Luke, Mary Catelli and ‘Nother Mike.

There is also a fun vignette challenge that has launched a hundred novels.

YOU REALLY HAVE TO READ THIS!  Messenger and Curse.

THEY’RE JUST CHECKING IN ON WHAT NEW TRICKS THE MONKEYS ARE UP TO:  Pilot reports ‘silver cannister’ UFO feet from his plane during ‘creepy’ air traffic control call: ‘Good luck with the aliens’.

THE HUMAN ORGANISM IS HIGHLY COMPLEX BUT WE CAN FIX IT WITH THIS ONE SIMPLE TRICK:  Puberty blocking is an act of neurological vandalism.

APPARENTLY THERE IS SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH WHEN THE US TAXPAYER PAYS FOR IT:  Two Romanian Nationals Indicted in Oregon SNAP Fraud Scheme Allegedly Stealing Over $160,000.

THOSE TRICKSY JEWS, THAT’S NOT HOW FOREIGN AID IS SUPPOSED TO WORK!  Report: America Gets $48B Return on $3.8B Israel Spending.

HE’S BEEN DOING A LOT OF SCHOOLING FOR SOMEBODY WHO ISN’T A MEMBER OF A TEACHERS’ UNION:   Scott Jennings Schools Libs on the Trump-Kennedy Center and the Epstein Files on CNN.

Well, maybe that’s why….

THERE ISN’T ENOUGH COVER UP TO KEEP THIS UNDER WRAPS:  Walz And Lapdog MN Media Cover Up $9 Billion Somali Fraud.

MUCH SHOCKED. VERY SURPRISED. WOW. WOW. WOW: As though this weren’t par for the course:  Elite Massachusetts boarding school rocked by teacher scandal and institutional cover-up allegations. Former Miss Hall’s School history teacher allegedly groomed students while leadership failed to act.

I DON’T KNOW WHAT CELIA DID RIGHT: But all my fans who read her advance snippets are jumping up and down waiting for this to drop:  The Hallmark-Style Flannel Romance.

AND THE NEW CAUSE IS JUST AS IRRATIONAL AND STUPID:  There is a big play to make AI the next outrage topic for the Left. Does this headline sound familiar? “everything is sexist, everything is racist, everything is homophobic, and you have to point it all out to everyone all the time.” That was the Sarkeesian attack that changed the entire AAA game industry and created a billion dollar tech industry consultancy focused on DEI. Now that DEI is dried up and viewed as toxic, they need a new cause.

And for the XCANCELLED.