December 29, 2025

HEH.

Posted at 8:49 am by Glenn Reynolds

GOOD AND HARD, TWIN CITIES: How It Started:

How It’s Going:

Posted at 8:35 am by Ed Driscoll

BEFORE OR AFTER THE PART WHERE ANYTHING FREE IS WORTH LESS THAN YOU PAID FOR IT? Free day care for all: What could go wrong?

New York could lower costs by lowering education requirements for preschool teachers and child-care workers, she writes. Expanding visas for au pairs and nannies would help too, but seems politically unlikely.

Of course, New York City could get a lot more home-based day care centers, which parents prefer for young children, by “scrapping the city’s rent-stabilization regime,” Wolfe writes. Letting market forces work “would free up 28 percent of the total housing stock (and 44 percent of all rentals!).” But don’t hold your breath.

New Mexico’s free child care program launched on Nov. 1, reports Eryn Mathewson for CNN. “Nearly all families, regardless of income or immigration status” are eligible for free home-based or center-based care for children from six weeks old to 13. (I was a free babysitter for my newborn brother was I was 13.)

Sixty-three percent of new enrollees come from middle-class or more affluent families.

The program’s estimated cost is $600 million, and some worry it will not be sustainable.

Much more at the link.

Posted at 8:34 am by Stephen Green

COMMUNISM SUCKS: She’d Never Seen That Much Food Before: A Hard Reality From a Farmers Market “I can’t explain to you what it feels like to come to a market and see such a variety of fruits, vegetables, meats, everything… Here you can buy whatever you need. People come here and buy what they’ll need for the whole week. The truth is, I don’t understand why my country, Cuba, goes through so much, when everywhere else in the world people have the right and can buy the basic necessities they need to live.”

Posted at 8:03 am by Stephen Green

NOT THE BABYLON BEE, PART DEUX: A new view of two critical days that set the stage for the devastating Palisades fire.

An hour after midnight Jan. 1, as a small brush fire blazed across Topanga State Park, a California State Parks employee texted the Los Angeles Fire Department’s heavy equipment supervisor to find out if they were sending in bulldozers.

“Heck no that area is full of endangered plants,” Capt. Richard Diede replied at 9:52 a.m, five hours after LAFD declared the fire contained.

“I would be a real idiot to ever put a dozer in that area,” he wrote. “I’m so trained.”

That’s the perfect epitaph for the Pacific Palisades.

Posted at 7:45 am by Ed Driscoll

DISPATCHES FROM THE BLUE ZONES: Even after near-record returns, California state retirement fund still $166B short.

After The Center Square’s investigation found CalPERS lost 71% of its $468 million investment in a clean energy and technology private equity fund, Assemblyman Carl DeMaio, R-San Diego, a government finance expert and former San Diego city councilman, requested an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice into the matter; DeMaio’s office reportedly is in ongoing discussions with the Department of Justice, which has confirmed receipt of the request but has previously declined comment to The Center Square on the matter.

In an interview with The Center Square,, DeMaio renewed his calls for greater transparency, more effective management and possible reform of the state’s pension system.

First, regarding CalPERS’ $282 million commitment to HongShan, a Chinese venture capital firm investigated for human rights abuses, DeMaio cautioned against future state investment in China, citing close cooperation between the Chinese Communist Party and corporations – more formally known as the nation’s military-civil fusion strategy.

“Why is CalPERS investing in the Chinese Communist Party? Let’s be very clear, this is not like it’s a private economy that they run there: the Chinese Communist Party is knee deep in almost every single investment that happens, every operation,” DeMaio said.

CalPERS’ investment in HongShan has posted a $7.7 million loss, as of the most recent filings reflecting March 31, 2025.

“High risk management with very little return — and every day that passes that there’s no return, taxpayers are responsible for the assumed rate of return every year, and it compounds,” continued DeMaio.

Does anyone really believe that Sacramento will ever make good on a 12-digit shortfall?

Certainly not while the sheep can flee before they get fleeced: A Wealth Tax Floated in California Has Billionaires Thinking of Leaving.

Posted at 7:32 am by Stephen Green

IT’S A REAL PUZZLE:

Posted at 7:30 am by Glenn Reynolds

NOT THE BABYLON BEE, PART ONE: Dispatches from the Somali Pirates, “Quality Learing Center” Division. Misspelled learning center, no children inside: Emmer presses Walz over Minnesota daycare tied to $4M. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer demands answers after viral video shows Quality ‘Learing’ Center with no activity:

Related:

Posted at 7:14 am by Ed Driscoll

CULTURE MATTERS:

Posted at 7:01 am by Glenn Reynolds

ICYMI: SOMALI PIRATES UPDATE:

I’m sure Walz himself would agree!

Fortunately for his job security, the DFL-MSM doesn’t care:

Neither does Jake Tapper, who is far more interested in tone policing Minnesota voters than reporting on Minnesota corruption:

Err, sorry. Tone policing Minnesota Republican voters. At CNN, “Civility feels like it misses the mark” when Democrats are protesting:

So why the crickets from the national DNC-MSM, when there’s a slam-dunk 60 Minutes-style story in Minnesota, only needing a cameraman, an interviewer, a rental car, and some door knocking?

We all know why:


Posted at 7:00 am by Glenn Reynolds