THEY FIGHT: Democrats recruit candidates to run in every 2026 race in Texas.

The party is running 104 candidates to fill every congressional and state legislative seat, along with every statewide judicial and state Board of Education race, the Texas Tribune reported. Strategists speaking with the outlet said the move, which will see Democrats use resources in hopeless races, will have an upstream effect by pushing turnout in areas where top-level candidates usually cannot reach.

“Even the most relentless statewide candidate is never going to talk to every voter that they need to,” Texas Majority PAC Director Katherine Fischer told the outlet. “We need a network of talented, compelling Democratic communicators across the state to clearly communicate the message that Republican leadership has failed us, and that Texans should consider voting differently this cycle and in the future.”

The effort will also force Republicans to stretch their resources across the state.

The GOP should do the same in Dem strongholds, if for no other reason than to show Democrats a living, breathing, non-Nazi Republican to dispel the propaganda.

Longterm, the downstream effects could prove useful.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Trump Hails 2025 Successes, but I’m Just Here for the Trolling. “I mean, I didn’t think that he could top the “official portrait” of the autopen, but Trump never ceases to surprise. The leftmedia hacks have been triggered and it’s beautiful to see. After what they put Trump through during the aforementioned Biden slog, I don’t think he can be too harsh to them. The harshness is all true, of course. His High Holiness the Lightbringer Barack Obama and Joe Biden have long been overdue for some honest assessments of their useless presidencies.”

IT’S SCHEDULED FOR 11 AM ET TODAY: Watch Blue Origin launch 1st wheelchair user to space today.

YOU DON’T HAVE TO SELL ME ON IT, I’M ALREADY IN FAVOR: Ilhan Omar claims Trump travel ban is ‘cruel’ and ‘inhumane,’ says he has ‘creepy obsession’ with Somalians.

Omar appeared on CNN, where she discussed the travel ban in an interview with Wolf Blitzer and argued that the policy separates families. Groups of Somalians in Minnesota have been discovered to have been engaging in fraud by taking money for to provide government services that they never delivered. In some cases there have been kickbacks to others in the community who allowed those non-profit groups to claim they were providing benefits to those persons.

“The biggest worry of the new executive order is that it does separate families,” she claimed. “It doesn’t create an exception for US citizens to have their family members be able to come visit and celebrate milestones with them, so this is a very cruel, inhumane immigration policy that he is putting in place.”

Here’s another thing she recently said: DHS says Rep. Omar’s son was not pulled over by ICE, despite claims.

DISPATCHES FROM THE LOST GENERATION:

I was there, in the 2010s, when they stopped hiring white guys. I worked for a big media company in the big city. Terrible pay, but fun to hang out with creative types all day. Everyone was white.

One day one of us wrote a snarkier headline than our usual fare. The piece… pic.twitter.com/FJLThKk0gR

— Dudley Newright (@NewRightPoast) December 17, 2025

The (very) lengthy tweet concludes with a reference to the above photo

I remember visiting a media company around 2015 that was very “hot” at the time, and the news floor was a sea of very young and hip-looking faces, mostly women and POC. Every once in a while a Steve Ballmer-looking guy in pleated khakis would emerge grinning from a corner office for a coffee refill. He’d peer out over the open-plan desks and hear fingers busily tapping on Macbooks. I sometimes wonder if that guy was smiling because he took pride in being a force for change, or if he was just waiting out the clock, and thinking about that lakehouse on Zillow.

***

My favorite memory from this era is this picture of a dozen white women, which was tweeted out in 2016 with the caption: Notice anything about this Huffington Post editors meeting?” Some poor girl thought this was going to be an iconic image of a bold new media era, where finally women would have a voice, only for it to be roundly ridiculed across dozens of thinkpieces for not including enough POC.”

Read the whole thing.

(Classical reference in headline.)

ILYA SHAPIRO: The End of the Beginning. “I’m not tired of winning in the courts.”

BOB HOPE AND JOHNNY CARSON LEFT THE BUILDING A LONG TIME AGO: John Nolte: Failing Oscars Demoted to YouTube.

Starting in 2029, the irrelevant Oscars will have its annual irrelevant Academy Awards show broadcast on — lol — YouTube.

To dwindling ratings and cultural relevance, the Oscars have been broadcast on ABC since 1976. The final broadcast will occur in 2028, which also happens to be the 100^thanniversary of the award ceremony.

Between 1974 and 2019, right before the Woke Era really took off, the Oscar telecast ensured incredible ratings and served as a national cultural event. At least 30 million, and sometimes as many as 50 million viewers, tuned it. Since 2021, the ratings have remained in the teens as Hollywood became more and more insulated, their movies got progressively worse, and the overall telecast became openly hostile and even mean-spirited towards Normal People.

So now the Oscars will stream on YouTube, where anyone who wants to can watch them for free online, at least through the end of the deal in 2033.

“We are thrilled to enter into a multifaceted global partnership with YouTube to be the future home of the Oscars and our year-round Academy programming,” Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Lynette Howell Taylor said in a statement published by People. “The Academy is an international organization, and this partnership will allow us to expand access to the work of the Academy to the largest worldwide audience possible — which will be beneficial for our Academy members and the film community.”

“The Oscars are one of our essential cultural institutions, honoring excellence in storytelling and artistry,” said YouTube CEO Neal Mohan. “Partnering with the Academy to bring this celebration of art and entertainment to viewers all over the world will inspire a new generation of creativity and film lovers while staying true to the Oscars’ storied legacy.”

According to various reports, the Disney Grooming Syndicate, which owns ABC, is happy to be rid of a ratings albatross that wasn’t worth the annual license fee, which was around $100 million per telecast.

Incidentally, it’s a good thing for all concerned that nobody is watching these days: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) is Breaking 1964 Civil Rights Act For Best Picture Nominations.

ROGER KIMBALL: Trump reels off 2025 achievements in White House address: He has accomplished more in 11 months than most presidents have achieved in eight years. “Really, what was Trump elected to do? Well, to seal the southern border. He has done that. To remove illegal immigrants from our country. He is well on the way to doing that, too. Trump was elected also to take on the whole DEI establishment. He certainly has done that. Then there are all the economic issues: energy, including the “green energy scam.” All of that is quickly becoming a vague memory scene in Al Gore’s rearview mirror. Above all, Trump was elected to restore confidence in and enthusiasm about the United States of America. That current of cultural self-confidence is absolutely central fulfilling the imperative of ‘Make America Great Again.'”

WHAT’S GOING ON WITH CHATGPT? This AI Keeps Getting Dumb and Dumber, and I’ve Got the Receipts.

JAMES PETHOKOUKIS: Two cheers for the ‘San Francisco Consensus’ on AI: The case for hoping AI breaks history, while planning as if it won’t.

LIMITED TIME DEAL: Leaf Blower, Electric Cordless Leaf Blower with 2 Batteries and Charger. #CommissionEarned

UNEXPECTEDLY: Woman recognized as ‘first black Briton’ by BBC was actually white.

A woman who was recognised as the “first black Briton” by the BBC was actually white, a new genetic study has shown.

In 2016, the series Black and British: A Forgotten History, suggested that the Roman skeleton of a woman found at Beachy Head was from sub-Saharan Africa.

A plaque was erected to commemorate her heritage, which was later removed when a study suggested the woman was more likely to be from Cyprus, with a Mediterranean complexion.

Now a new DNA analysis of the skeleton by scientists at the Natural History Museum has shown that the woman originated from southern England and was white, with blonde hair and light eyes.

Dr William Marsh, who carried out the genetic study, said, “By using state of the art DNA techniques we were able to resolve the origins of this individual. We show she carries genetic ancestry that is most similar to other individuals from the local population of Roman-era Britain.”

Why, it’s as if:

One of the reasons why I don't trust the scientific community is that a substantial number of them went along with the fantasy that the original Britons were black in a ham-fisted attempt to legitimize importing infinity African migrants https://t.co/q9HG4cMwrV

— Lauren Chen (@TheLaurenChen) December 17, 2025

No word yet if she shopped at the local Gap as well:

COLD WAR II: Trump and Xi Are Talking — But the U.S. and China Are Headed for an AI Collision.

To understand the rivalry, consider a recent announcement by the U.S. Justice Department: on November 20, it charged two Americans, and two Chinese nationals, with a conspiracy to illegally export about 400 high-performance graphics processing units (GPUs) to China. Federal law requires that a license be secured for export of these technologies, which can be used to develop and strengthen AI.

The co-conspirators didn’t have a license – and never even applied for one. In fact, they lied about the destination of the GPUs when shipping them. And for their services, they received a cool $3.89 million in wire transfers from China.

The backdrop to this smuggling scheme is Beijing having set a goal for China to be the world’s leader in AI by 2030. And it’s made considerable headway. “China is the global leader in AI research publications and is neck and neck with the United States on generative AI,” points out the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. It adds that China is “advancing rapidly in AI research and application, challenging the United States’ dominance in this critical field.”

Exit quote: “China is not abiding by the rules that are supposed to govern the global economy. And it’s using AI, says the Justice Department, to bolster its military, to test weapons of mass destruction, and to heighten surveillance.”

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: Hoo Boy: Fani Willis Has an Epic Meltdown When Grilled by GA Senate Committee About Trump Case.

GREAT MOMENTS IN MULTICULTURALISM:

🚨 Breaking: Australia's 🇦🇺 PM @AlboMP will not attend the funeral of any of the Jewish victims.

Apparently, attending the funeral of Jews murdered by Islamists may fuel Islamophobia.

— Dr. Eli David (@DrEliDavid) December 17, 2025

TREATING CANCER WITH A BAND-AID: Extending Obamacare Subsidies Won’t Fix a Broken System.

“RULE OF LAW.” Jack Smith Pummeled by Questions, Runs From Reporters When Arriving on Capitol Hill.

YES, THE SOUNDTRACK FOR NO MAN’S LAND STILL GOES ON: Blame my fans for putting the idea in my head, but did it have to be for the world’s second longest book?  Anyway, this song (Video) is about being Brothers in Arms and becoming an Amazing and weird Battle Band.

NO ONE SHOULD SIGN A CONTRACT LIKE THIS:  Want To See A Really BAD Contract?  There’s abuse, and then there’s stuff like this…

NOW DO COLORADO:  Fulton County: ‘We Don’t Dispute’ 315,000 Votes Lacking Poll Workers’ Signatures Were Counted In 2020.

IT’S NOT WITTY. IT’S NOT CLEVER. IT’S NOT STARTLING. AND IT’S NEVER WELL DONE:  I’m Tired of Misunderstood Villains. (Video.)

YOU DON’T HATE JOURNALISTS ENOUGH. IT MIGHT BE IMPOSSIBLE TO HATE THEM ENOUGH:  Funny, You Don’t Look Like a Mohamed.

THEY’LL SURRENDER TO REALITY ONLY INCH BY INCH AND UNDER PROTEST:  European Union Surrenders to Reality on 2035 Ban on Gas-Powered Cars.

YES:  The West’s Embrace Of Mass Third-World Migration Is Civilizational Suicide.

FASTER PLEASE!  Tennessee $7.4 Billion Smelter Deal Aims to Break China’s Grip on Critical Minerals.