January 4, 2026

January 3, 2026

JOHN LUCAS: American Credibility Restored (Again). “The undeniable and unmatched military competence, combined with the maintenance of no-leak operational security, resulted in ZERO U.S. fatalities and ZERO aircraft lost. . . . The contrast between Trump’s decisive action and the empty words, inaction, and incompetence of prior Administrations was inescapable.”

Posted at 11:37 pm by Glenn Reynolds

OPEN THREAD: Party on.

Posted at 9:30 pm by Glenn Reynolds

“WE’RE IN JEN RUBIN’S WORLD:”

UPDATE:

 

Posted at 9:14 pm by Ed Driscoll

TIM GRAHAM: Who Can’t Handle the Truth? Crabby Clooney Rants Bari Weiss Is ‘Dismantling’ the Bias of CBS News.

[George] Clooney has energetically pushed the leftist myth of CBS News standing up against McCarthyism under Edward R. Murrow, and constantly comparing that hackneyed leftist crusade to the present day, and who cares if the Soviet Union actually infiltrated the country with spies after World War II? Who cares about The Truth again? Not Clooney. He’s naturally pissed at Bari Weiss for daring to move CBS one inch toward the center.

“Bari Weiss is dismantling CBS News as we speak,” Clooney says. “I’m worried about how we inform ourselves and how we’re going to discern reality without a functioning press.”

For her part, Weiss handled Clooney by inviting him in, sending Variety this statement: “Bonjour, Mr. Clooney! Big fan of your work. It sounds like you’d like to learn more about ours. This is an open invitation to visit The CBS Broadcast Center, where I’m spending the holidays working to relaunch the Evening News with my colleagues. Tune in January 5.”

To the Clooneys, a “functioning press” means going Full Jim Acosta all the time. It’s in the pose and in the lunge at The Right-Wing Enemy, not in the facts. Clooney thinks the Glory Days at CBS apparently include Dan Rather’s Fake News about George W. Bush’s National Guard record, not to mention Rather screaming at his father about Iran-Contra. But he let Robert Redford embarrass himself with the Fake News Movie on that front. 

Why does George Clooney have such a virulent case of Bari Derangement Syndrome? As they say in Clooney’s newly adopted nation, perhaps it’s a case of cherchez la femme:

Posted at 8:44 pm by Ed Driscoll

ONE DOUBTS THE VENEZUELAN SOLDIERY IS HIGHLY MOTIVATED.

UPDATE: Heh.

Posted at 8:34 pm by Glenn Reynolds

LOL, PETE BUTTIGIEG:

UPDATE: Troll level, near Trumpian.

Heh.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Heh again.

Posted at 8:12 pm by Glenn Reynolds

INJECTING RANDOM SUBSTANCES INTO YOUR BODY MIGHT HAVE CONSEQUENCES? GO FIGURE. Tattoos Affect Your Immune System in Ways We’re Only Beginning to Understand. “Tattoos are generally considered safe, but growing scientific evidence suggests tattoo inks are not biologically inert. The key question is no longer whether tattoos introduce foreign substances into the body, but how toxic those substances might be and what that means for long-term health.”

Given how many tatted-up people are walking around, any impacts must be minor, subtle, or long-term.

Posted at 8:00 pm by Glenn Reynolds

JOURNALISM:

Posted at 6:00 pm by Glenn Reynolds

COMRADE MAMDANI SLAMS TRUMP’S ILLEGAL MADURO ARREST ON BEHALF OF NYC VENEZUELANS. (WHO WANTS TO TELL HIM?)

 

Exit questions about that “briefing:”

Mamdani is governing in the media capital of America, so he will have a very loud microphone; the Democrats will position him as a shadow president based upon how well things go in Fun City under his regime. But as Noah Rothman wrote shortly before Mamdani’s election, the right will be happy to let him broadcast at full blast as well:

If Zohran Mamdani is elected mayor of New York City, Republicans plan to highlight that fact in their midterm campaigns against Democratic lawmakers nationwide.

That entirely unremarkable observation is the subject of an item in Axios in which the GOP is accused of plotting to “weaponize” New York City Democrats’ voting preferences, which, we should observe, consists entirely of noticing them.

For years, says reporter Kate Santaliz in her scandalized dispatch, the GOP has made former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi into a “bogeywoman.” Her capacity to “rile up the base” was unrivaled. But with her diminished role, “GOP strategists are testing new symbols of the party’s left, and hope Mamdani will fill that void.”

Based upon the past couple of days – and much of 2025, that’s looking like a pretty safe bet.

Posted at 5:40 pm by Ed Driscoll

DISAPPOINTING: Our Yearlong Review Mazda CX-70 Has Left Us. We Are Not Sad. “I’m not going to sugarcoat it: After a year behind the wheel, the Mazda CX-70 wasn’t what I expected at the beginning of its loan. It ended up being one of the worst long-term vehicles I’ve chaperoned during my time at MotorTrend.”

Ouch.

Posted at 5:00 pm by Glenn Reynolds

HAHA, YOU DON’T TUG ON MEME-SUPERMAN’S CAPE:

Posted at 4:38 pm by Glenn Reynolds

PAST PERFORMANCE DOES NOT GUARANTEE FUTURE RESULTS:

Besides, I don’t see what people are so upset about.

Posted at 4:35 pm by Stephen Green