Quick Hits

—Ace

A liberal grand jury has refused to indict Big Tish James for her obvious, blatant mortgage fraud.

A leftwing judge dismissed the first indictment, claiming that the prosecutor was illegally appointed.

Another prosecutor brought the charges to a new grand jury.

Now that the left has made Big Tish a cause celebré, they're determined that she should go unpunished.

A federal grand jury in Virginia refused Thursday to bring charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James, shutting down -- at least for now -- the Justice Department's revived attempt to prosecute her over mortgage fraud allegations. According to sources familiar with the closed-door proceedings, prosecutors empaneled a new jury to review revised charges, only to have them tossed a second time.

James, 67, had previously been hit with two felony counts for alleged bank fraud and submitting false statements tied to a six-figure loan she secured in 2020 to buy a second home in Norfolk. She has repeatedly dismissed the accusations as political and baseless. In a Thursday statement, James thanked the jurors, adding she was "humbled by the support I have received from across the country" and would continue "standing up for the rule of law and the people of New York."

The first indictment -- returned Oct. 9 in Alexandria -- never got off the ground. On Nov. 24, U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie threw it out entirely, ruling that acting U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan was improperly appointed and had "no lawful authority" to bring charges in the first place. The decision blindsided DOJ leadership, prompting Attorney General Pam Bondi to announce that the department would pursue "all available legal action, including an immediate appeal." Bondi also vowed to challenge separate lying-to-Congress and obstruction counts against former FBI Director James Comey, which prosecutors have six months to revise or refile.

That six-month window applies here as well. Because the judge dismissed James's case without prejudice, prosecutors could return with yet another indictment -- though Thursday's outcome makes that path steeper. Abbe Lowell, the high-profile Democrat attorney representing James, told CNN the decision "should be the end of this case," claiming that continued pursuit after a judge's ruling and a grand jury's rejection would be a "shocking assault on the rule of law and a devastating blow to the integrity of our justice system."

Note that no one is reporting the grand jury is liberal. I make this assertion based on the fact that it sits in one of the most liberal areas of the country -- northern coastal Virginia, where all the leftwing federal bureaucrats live, the reason that former Confederate state Virginia is now as blue as Brian Stelter's withered balls -- and that they rejected a slam-dunk indictment. Only a political jury nullification can explain this.

In better legal news, an appeals court has reversed a Lowly Lawless District Court judge who blocked Trump's firing of an "independent" board member, claiming the Executive cannot fire Executive branch employees. By 2-1, the three judge appeals panel asserted that yes, the Executive, get this, has power over the employees of the Executive Branch.

The Supreme Court will probably finally overrule the bad decision in the Humprhey's Executor case that claimed the President cannot fire his subordinates. The Supreme Court has largely hollowed that ruling out by finding exceptions her and exceptions there; they may now take the necessary step of just wiping this bad precedent off the books.

Warner Bros. has been up for sale for a while. Skydance/Paramount tried to buy it, but their offer was rejected.

Now Netflix has bought Warner Bros., further consolodating the media into a few left-wing hands.

Netflix @netflix

4h

Today, Netflix announced our acquisition of Warner Bros. Together, we'll define the next century of storytelling, creating an extraordinary entertainment offering for audiences everywhere.

On Black Friday, there was an offer for 12 months of HBO Max for $3/month. I said "what the heck" and signed up, mostly for the very big library of older movies that HBO offers. Those are all (or mostly) Warner Bros. movies. I wonder if this deal will wind up taking those older movies off of HBO's servers to save them for Netflix.

Amusing... but Warner Bros. was already doing this. In their very unnecessary Harry Potter remake series -- commissioned purely to exploit Warner Bros' existing IP and get Warner/Discovery a little bit closer to solvent -- they already announced that Hermoine and Snape would be black.

Under pressure from the FCC, AT&T says it's abandoning illegal DEI race discrimination.

The move follows years of controversy, much of it fueled by revelations that AT&T's internal training materials pushed the notion that racism was a "uniquely white trait" and urged white employees to accept blame as part of a broader critical-race-theory framework. Those claims first surfaced in 2021 through documents obtained by researcher Christopher Rufo, who reported that the company's curriculum told white staffers they "are the problem." The backlash never fully subsided -- and with Carr signaling that companies seeking key FCC licenses would need to demonstrate they are not running discriminatory programs, the pressure point became impossible for AT&T to ignore.

In a letter sent Monday to Carr, AT&T Senior Executive Vice President and General Counsel David McAtee said the company has overhauled its employment and business practices "to ensure compliance with all applicable laws," emphasizing that the changes would be substantive, not cosmetic. According to AT&T, that means no hiring quotas, no supplier-contract quotas, no race-based training, and no positions devoted to policing identity-based metrics. DEI courses have been stripped from employee requirements, and the company says it will not resurrect them.

We'll see if they just continue the illegal race and sex discrimination under a different name.

Eric S. Raymond
@esrtweet

I'm coining a term today: "bludgeonspeak".

Bludgeonspeak is the use of invented terminology, or historical terminology that has been hijacked and corrupted, and then emptied of all meaning except as an attempt at moral blackmail.

Here are some notable bludgeonspeak items in 2025: "racist", "fascist", "homophobe", "transphobe", "islamophobe", "far-right". Also, the term "genocide" might not be quite there yet, but it's being pushed in that direction pretty hard.

Some bludgeonspeak terms, like "fascist" and "racist" and "genocide", used to have substantive meanings which have been destroyed by persistent abuse. It may be appropriate to recognize and use those meanings if you are reading or writing or speaking about history.

Others, like "homophobe", "transphobe", and "islamophobe", were bludgeonspeak from birth. There are no circumstances in which these have substantive meaning, and it is unwise to treat them as though they do.

The only way to win is not to play. When somebody throws bludgeonspeak at you, call it out. State that you will not be controlled by their language, and you refuse to be assigned to a category you reject.

The key thing that people who employ bludgeonspeak don't want you to grasp is that these words only have the power over you that you allow them.

Once a term has been generally recognized as bludgeonspeak, it not only loses its power as direct moral blackmail, it can no longer be used as a social attack.

So: learn to recognize bludgeonspeak. Shut down the people who use it by refusing to give it power. And educate other people about this manipulation tactic, so that they too can reject it.

You can prevent semantic manipulation. All it takes is the will to do so.

This must hurt: Because Trump pardoned a pair of J6 non-insurrectionists, they're entitled to have the money they paid for restitution and fines given back to them.

The judge forced to order their restoration of funds is the corrupt, highly-impeachable rogue Judge Boasberg.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg has ordered that a couple pardoned by President Trump for their convictions regarding the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot be refunded their restitution payments and fines, reversing his earlier decision.

On Wednesday, Boasberg ruled that because of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals decision, Cynthia Ballenger and her husband, Christopher Price, are to be refunded the $570 each in restitution payments and other fees paid as a part of their convictions, Fox News reported.

DOJ Sues Six Democrat-Controlled States to Force Them to Clean Up Their Dirty Fraudulent Voting Rolls

—Ace

The DOJ is suing six Democrat-controlled states for refusing to turn over their voter registration rolls for checking for fraud.

Gee I wonder why they're refusing. I was informed, for example, that 2020 featured the most secure and honest vote in history.

The Justice Department has sued six Democrat-led states for refusing to provide their voter registration rolls.

The department announced Tuesday that it filed all six lawsuits against Delaware, Maryland, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

"Accurate voter rolls are the cornerstone of fair and free elections, and too many states have fallen into a pattern of noncompliance with basic voter roll maintenance," Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement. "The Department of Justice will continue filing proactive election integrity litigation until states comply with basic election safeguards."

...

"Our federal elections laws ensure every American citizen may vote freely and fairly," Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the DOJ's Civil Rights Division said.

"States that continue to defy federal voting laws interfere with our mission of ensuring that Americans have accurate voter lists as they go to the polls, that every vote counts equally, and that all voters have confidence in election results. At this Department of Justice, we will not stand for this open defiance of federal civil rights laws."

John Solomon says the actual number of Democrat states being forced to clean up their voter rolls is 26. I suppose that twenty agreed to do so when demanded, and six refused, necessitating the suit.

He says this will have big implications for 2026.

We Absolutely Must Defund the "Universities"

—Ace

A trans professor -- we're already off to a great start -- failed a student for disagreeing with him that trans women are women (snap!)

A freshman at the University of Oklahoma says she was punished in the classroom not for poor writing or missed instructions, but for quoting Scripture -- and now the school is scrambling to contain the fallout.

On Sunday, officials in Norman confirmed they had placed a graduate instructor on administrative leave after 19-year-old Samantha Fulnecky filed a complaint alleging she was failed on an essay because she cited the Bible to defend traditional gender roles. The instructor, identified in university records as Mel Curth -- a biological male who identifies as a woman -- gave her zero out of 25 points on a psychology assignment that asked students to respond to an article about how society perceives gender.

Fulnecky told The Oklahoman that she argued gender isn't a social invention at all, but part of God's design. She quoted Genesis directly: "God says that it is not good for man to be alone, so He created a helper for man (which is a woman)." She even went deeper into the Hebrew, explaining that ezer kenegdo doesn't mean a subordinate assistant but "helper equal to," a description the Bible also uses for God Himself. In her view, rejecting the concept of gender erases moral truth: "Eliminating gender in our society would be detrimental, as it pulls us farther from God's original plan for humans."

Curth reportedly dismissed her analysis outright, insisting she failed because she didn't use "empirical evidence" and labeling parts of her faith-based argument "offensive." Fulnecky pushed back, noting the prompt never required empirical sourcing and that university policy explicitly protects religious expression. "To be what I think is clearly discriminated against for my beliefs and using freedom of speech, and especially for my religious beliefs, I think that's just absurd," she told the paper.

The university appeared to sense the legal danger immediately. In a Sunday post on X, OU said it "takes seriously concerns involving First Amendment rights, certainly including religious freedoms," and stressed that once Fulnecky complained, the school "acted swiftly to address the matter." Officials said she was contacted the same day they received her letter and that a formal grade-appeal process "resulted in steps to ensure no academic harm to the student." The school also confirmed that its discrimination review process -- the one specifically designed for cases involving alleged violations of religious liberty -- "has been activated."

Most notably, OU announced that Curth had been pulled from the classroom pending the outcome of the investigation and replaced by a full-time professor to "ensure fairness."

90% of college dummies believe that "words can be violence."

Which then leads to the conclusion favored by Marxists: And you can use actual violence to stop "word violence."

Nine out of ten undergraduate students think that "words can be violence" at least "somewhat," according to a new Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression survey.

The poll also showed that ideological gaps between left-leaning and right-leaning students are widening.

When respondents were asked how much the statement "words can be violence" describes their thoughts, 47 percent answered with "completely" or "mostly." Twenty-eight percent said it describes their thoughts "somewhat," and 15 percent said "slightly."

Additionally, around 59 percent of students said "silence is violence" describes their views at least "somewhat," though only 28 percent said it describes their thoughts "completely" or "mostly."

"When people start thinking that words can be violence, violence becomes an acceptable response to words," FIRE Chief Research Advisor Sean Stevens said in a news release following the poll.

"Even after the murder of Charlie Kirk at a speaking event, college students think that someone's words can be a threat. This is antithetical to a free and open society, where words are the best alternative to political violence," Stevens said.

The poll also showed that moderate and conservative students have grown less supportive of disruptive or violent tactics to stop campus speakers, while liberal students' support for those tactics has stayed the same or risen slightly compared to the spring.

At the same time, moderate and conservative students have become more open to allowing controversial speakers, while liberal students have maintained or increased their opposition to those speakers.

Not coincidentally, Americans now understand that paying for a four year degree in Transgender Studies -- and all colleges now teach is Transgender Studies of various flavors, like Science Transgender Studies, Law Transgender Studies, Math Transgender Studies, etc. -- is an "expensive scam."

Ilhan "Omar" Nur, Immigration Fraudster and America's Sweetheart, Just So Happeened to Have Ties with the Somali Pirates Behind the Biggest Theft of Taxpayer Funds in American History

—Ace

Throw her in jail, then deport her.

US Rep. Ilhan Omar's close ties to the $1 billion welfare scam in her Minnesota congressional district are being uncovered.

Omar (D-Minn.) held parties at one of the key restaurants named in the fraud, knew one of its now-convicted owners, and one of her own staffers has also been convicted -- both for stealing millions.

Ilhan Omar, the far-left "Squad" congresswoman, has been eerily silent on the billion-dollar welfare fraud scheme that was centered in her Minnesota district.
Omar even introduced the bill that led to $250 million in fraud. Yet she claims to have been completely unaware of it.

"[Rep. Omar] knew who these people were. People she personally knew were making tens of millions of dollars in this program," claimed Bill Glahn, a policy fellow with the Minnesota-based Center of the American Experiment, to The Post.

"She had been inside the [Safari] facility on numerous occasions and couldn't put 2 and 2 together? Either she's terminally naive, or knew and didn't care," Glahn added.

Around $250 million was handed out by the Minnesota government to provide meals to schoolchildren during the pandemic from 2020 onward.

Instead, it was pocketed by corrupt business owners, including Salim Ahmed Said. He's the co-owner of Safari Restaurant, where Omar held her 2018 congressional victory party.

Said was found guilty in August of stealing over $12 million for serving 3.9 million "phantom" meals during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He blew much of the money on a $2 million Minneapolis mansion and a $9,000-a-month shopping habit at Nordstrom, according to prosecutors.

Said ran a fake food site called Advance Youth Athletic Development, where he falsely claimed to serve 5,000 meals a day -- and pocketed $3.2 million from the food program.

Omar has not been directly linked to the scandal, according to prosecutorial documents. Her office did not respond to a request for comment from The Post.

The free meals were made possible by the 2020 MEALS Act, which was introduced by Omar and passed with bipartisan support.

Most of the money in Minneapolis was funneled through the now-defunct nonprofit Feeding Our Future.

It allowed both nonprofits and for-profit businesses to be reimbursed with taxpayer money for feeding kids by dramatically loosening oversight, waiving site inspections, and allowing bulk take-home food, with almost no verification.

...

In 2021, when Minnesota's Department of Education (MDE) flagged that organization for irregularities and "serious deficiencies" such as incomplete audits, a top aide to Omar, deputy district director Ali Isse, came rushing to their defense, in a newly resurfaced video.

He spoke at a gala praising the "vital work" of Feeding Our Families and blasted state agencies for asking too many questions.

"I'm tired of the MDE thing. How many more do we have to fight against?" the top Omar associate, who has not been indicted or directly linked to the fraud, said during the impassioned speech.

He also blamed the unwanted attention from authorities on racism and rallied the "community" to stick together. Isse did not immediately return The Post's request for comment.

Plot twist. Are you as surprised as I am?

Select your answer below:

"After Obama's staffer blame criticism of the Somali pirates and raiders on racism, I am...

A) "less surprised than Ace"

B) "more surprised than Ace"

C) "equally surprised as Ace"

D) "The Joe Bloggs Answer"

Whistleblowers have claimed the fear of being called racist meant government officials were reluctant to prosecute the scheme to its full extent early on.

It's almost as if killers, rapists, and thieves use the "Muh Racism" accusation to continue committing heinous crimes without punishment.

...

A different Omar campaign official, a Democratic activist named Guhaad Hashi Said, pleaded guilty in August to running a fake food site called Advance Youth Athletic Development, where he falsely claimed to serve 5,000 meals a day and pocketed $3.2 million out of the food program.

Said worked on Omar's 2018 and 2020 campaigns as an "enforcer" who oversaw aggressive voter mobilization in the Somali community, according to local Alphanews.org.

Somali immigrant Mukhtar Shariff was one of the 78 people to be convicted to date.

...

Omar and Said frequently attended events together. Numerous Facebook photos apparently shared by Said show him with Omar, including a smiling selfie together.

"This is a clan-based society, everybody knows everybody else and it's only open to those folks in that clan," Gaither said of the Somali immigrants.

Others receiving fraudulent money from the charity scam were donors to Omar's campaign.

A few months ago we learned that Ilhan "Omar" Nur's net worth had absolutely skyrocketed in the past few years.

C3 @C_3C_3

Dec 2

Ilhan Omar's net worth...

1995: Arrives in America in with 0 wealth.
2020: -$65K
2021: $65K
2022: $115K
2023: $205K
2024: $30 million

Evil America and the white man must not be that bad.

29 years in America and Ilhan is now worth $30 million dollars.

What a scam.

She claims her wealth came from her "husband's" company or investments or some obvious bullshit like that. Given the timing of her explosion in wealth, let's just say I suspect a different source.

This isn't just an idle speculation. Somali pirates have "donated" -- paid in bribery -- $50,000+ to Democrat politicians for protection, and that's just the money reported in FEC filings.

The Media Doesn't Know the Politics of the J5 Bomber, But They Can Say Defnitively That Brian Cole, Jr. is "A White Man"

—Ace

The FBI traced electronic credit card purchases to find the J5 Bomber.

As you know, credit card receipts first started being kept by banks and vendors earlier this year -- I think it was late August -- so obviously Christopher Wray's Straight Shooters couldn't have taken this very obvious investigatory step.

The FBI carefully analyzed the Jan. 6 pipe bomber suspect's credit card purchases to isolate the components allegedly used to manufacture the two bombs, the newly filed criminal complaint obtained by Just the News shows.

The complaint, filed secretly on Wednesday, provides a detailed account of how the FBI identified and tracked the prime suspect in the case. It shows the FBI relied on a bank checking account and six different credit cards associated with suspect Brian Cole Jr. to the break in the case.

Notably, Cole appears to have compiled some of the materials the FBI alleges he used to construct the bombs long before the 2020 presidential election, the results of which preceded the Capitol riot which took place on Jan. 6, 2021, the same day the pipe bombs were discovered at the Democratic and Republican National Committees. The pipe bombs allegedly place the night before.

"During 2019 and 2020, COLE purchased multiple items consistent with the components that were used to manufacture the pipe bombs placed at the RNC and DNC. COLE used the Accounts to purchase these items from physical retail locations in northern Virginia," wrote an FBI special agent in the affidavit submitted to the court.

According to the charging document, Cole appears to have purchased "six galvanized pipes" matching those used in the pipe bombs on or about June 1, June 8, and November 16, 2020 at two different Home Depot locations in Northern Virginia. Cole also allegedly purchased "a mix of both black and galvanized end caps" on or about October 22, 2019, and March 10, June 20, July 8, and November 16, 2020.

The timers identified in the FBI laboratory analysis of the pipe bombs were allegedly purchased by Cole in June 2020 from a Walmart in northern Virginia.

Who could have imagined that a case about timer-detonated pipe bombs would be cracked by searching credit card purchases of pipes and timers? I award Christopher Wray the Straight Shooter Hypercompetent Professional Medal.

I don't like jumping on a conspiracy theory but I'm beginning to actually wonder if Biden and Wray deliberately tanked this investigation.

People on X are making claims about the bomber that I don't see being reported by the media yet. But given the media's credibility, I'm provisionally trusting X posters.

Benny Johnson @bennyjohnson

14h

The January 6th pipe bomber terrorist was...

- a young black guy
- radical anti-Trump activist
- sued Trump & ICE & DHS
- extreme racial justice advocate
- works at his family bail bonds company that frees criminal aliens from ICE custody

Yeah, this explains exactly why the FBI & DOJ could not "find" this guy for 4 years. The Biden FBI had mountains of evidence against Brian Cole. Receipts, cell data, license plate, photos and videos of the crime. They knew exactly who did it!

But Brian's profile destroys their entire 'MAGA white supremacist insurrection bomber' narrative in one blow.

The FBI didn't "fail" to catch him.

Leftists protected their own.

This is the biggest FBI cover-up scandal in history. What a nightmare...

@C_3 C_3

The J6 Pipe Bomber Brian Cole Jr comes from a far Left BLM family whose father sued the Trump Administration and wanted the Biden Administration to address "racism".

He had the same attorney as Trayvon Martin.

Does Chris Wray not arresting him make sense now?

Julie Kelly points out that the bomber bought the pipes for the pipe bombs, surprise, during the peak of the George Floyd Mostly Peaceful Riots. Months and months before he planted them in January. Suggesting he might have wanted to bomb targets during the riots.

Jake Tapper immediately pronounced Brian Cole, Jr., known for playing "Urkel" on Family Matters, guilty of the worst crime: Tapper claimed Cole was "a white man."

CNN anchor Jake Tapper was ripped by critics Thursday after he wrongly referred to accused DC pipe-bomber Brian Cole Jr. as "a white man."

Tapper made the cringeworthy gaffe while discussing the arrest of Cole, who is black, during his opening segment on "The Lead."

His "white man" comment came at 5:01 p.m., around the time CNN was the first outlet to publish a photo of Cole's face that originated from the suspect's mother's Instagram account.

Cole's father is also black and once enlisted the services of Ben Crump, an attorney best known for his racial discrimination cases.

Viewers were stunned by Tapper's misrepresentation of the alleged pipe bomber.

"You can't make this stuff up," conservative pundit Benny Johnson wrote on X.

"Jake is sharp as a tack. Nothing gets past him. Dude's elite!" another deadpanned.

"Its impossible that he does not know what he is doing," one user speculated.

Conservative influencer Nick Sorter accused CNN of pushing "anti-white rhetoric."

But others were more understanding.

"Not a fan of Jake, but the guys name is Brian -- that may be a top 3 white name. So understandable mistake," one user joked.

"Clearly he never looked at the graphics. Probably just read a script," another suggested.

THE MORNING RANT: I’m Missing Classic Christmas Hymns at Church Christmas Concerts

—Buck Throckmorton

One of the seasonal treats I have always enjoyed is Christmas performances put on by choirs and orchestras, be they schoolchildren singing at the mall, or a church’s big annual Christmas concert, or a highly trained college troupe. At the risk of sounding too “Bah, humbug,” my enthusiasm for attending these performances is waning. It’s not because I no longer like the traditional Christmas standards, it’s because I miss those old Christmas standards.

While I don’t mind that choir directors want to “challenge” the audience with some new or unfamiliar Christmas tunes, I am annoyed that some of the shows I’ve attended in recent years have been virtually devoid of any familiar tunes. Even worse, some of the unfamiliar music is truly awful.

The big, local, Protestant church in my town has a beautiful tradition of putting on a Christmas show that the whole community is welcome to attend. It features an orchestra and three choirs (adult, youth, and children.) It has been a source of civic pride for many years, and my wife and I never miss it. But I may skip it this year, because if I want to hear what I consider “Christmas music” I might do better streaming a Christmas channel at home.

I’m not even saying that the show should only be songs like “Joy to the World” or “The First Noel.” I’d be thrilled to occasionally hear “Once in Royal David’s City” or some such. And if the choir director wants to challenge the audience, perhaps instead of doing some awkward patois to a Christmas calypso, the choir could perform the “Coventry Carol” with an explanation of Herod’s wrath upon hearing of the newborn king.

Back a decade ago, the performance I’m referencing included about 20 songs, of which about ten were very well-known Christmas hymns (“O Come All Ye Faithful” “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear,” etc), five lesser-known but recognizable songs (e.g. “Bring a Torch,” “Infant Holy, Infant Lowly” ) and five completely unknown songs, several of which deserved to become better known. That was a good mix, and I enjoyed being exposed to a few new-to-me songs.

But I’d guess that last year’s show included approximately 18 unknown songs, including several “folk songs” from developing countries. The only familiar tune before the finale was one sing-along medley of favorites such as “The First Noel.” The finale was a beautiful arrangement of the Hallelujah Chorus, which was much appreciated by the crowd hungering for a familiar melody.

Among the most awkward moments were the children’s choir singing a song no one in the building had ever heard before. If there was an actual melody, it was not discernible. All that needed to be done was to let the children sing “Away in a Manger” like thousands of other children’s choirs have done before. The kids would know the tune, as would everyone in the crowd, and the parents would beam with pride watching their kids singing that beloved song.

In that same show, the youth choir tried to phonetically sing in Latin to a song no one had ever heard before, which was also difficult to watch, and difficult to listen to. Please, just let them sing “Do You Hear What I Hear.” They’ll enjoy it more, and the audience will appreciate a simple song sung well.

There is so much beautiful Christmas music out there. Having that music performed live by talented singers and musicians is a gift from the performers to the audience. That is all that is expected.

I suppose it’s sort of like attending the touring show of a prominent band or musician. The audience loves the famous hits, performed the way they have always been played, and that is what the audience has shown up to see. Being introduced to some new stuff is expected and appreciated, but there is an obligation by the performer to play the greatest hits.

Let’s keep the great canon of Christmas music alive, and let’s hear those songs performed with the dignity and reverence they deserve!

On that note, here are a few old classics that I’d love to hear performed live by a choir and orchestra:

Mid-Morning Art Thread

—CBD

Watering Horses
Anton Mauve

The Morning Report — 12/5/25

—J.J. Sefton

Good morning kids. The big story that broke yesterday was the arrest of a suspect in the placing of pipe bombs at RNC headquarters on 1/6/21. The whole thing would be a Roman farce were we not dealing with a stolen national election and then the attempt to squelch any and all efforts to legally, non-violently protest the certification of that election and then the attempts by the thieves to use it as a pretext to persecute the victims, that is Donald Trump and the American people in the ensuing years.

As some have said, and as time has gone by I have come to agree with them, that Donald Trump and the American people being swindled (and that is way too mild a term) in 2020 in the long term hight have a salutary effect on the body politic political discourse and the trajectory of our society and nation going forward. Certainly the RE-re-election of Trump in 2024 and his subsequent policy successes, and concomitant exposure of the Democrat-Left's insanity in both their policy positions and knee-jerk reflexive Trump Derangement as well as open acts of brazen political terrorism since then will go a long way in putting the American republic back on track. Of course the growing embrace and promotion of Socialism by both the Democrat establishment and most alarmingly larger and larger segments of the population, especially the younger generations, flies in the face of all that.

With the arrest, more than four years after the fact, And by none other than an FBI under the Aegis of the man who supposedly fomented a riot in Washington DC that was more violent than the Civil War, Pearl Harbor and 9/11 combined, the Democrat Left is already losing its collective mind, what there is of it, over this arrest. Right off the bat, despite the fact that the suspect looks like the DNA of Eddie Murphy's Bowfinger, Todd Bridges and Barack Obama got co-mingled in Bette Midler's gay bath house hot tub and the result was an ectogenetically created Democrat terrorist or FBI stooge hired by Pelosi and Comey as part of their J-6 Reichstag Weenie-Roast "Trump Insurrection" plot. And yet Fake Tapper called him white. As a bonus his alleged parents are big time Democrat donors. Oopsie! (somewhere in hell Josef Goebbels and Baghdad Bob must be laughing their ass off at this stooge)

The arrest of Brian Cole Jr. on Thursday in connection with the J6 pipe bombing incident is a huge story. But make no mistake, this story is about to be memory-holed by the mainstream media… and fast. . . “Today's arrest happened because the Trump Administration has made this case a priority. The total lack of movement on this case in our nation's capital undermined the public trust of our enforcement agencies,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said Thursday. “This cold case languished for four years until Director Patel and Deputy Director Bongino came to the FBI. The FBI, along with US Attorney Pirro and all of our prosecutors, have worked tirelessly for months sifting through evidence that had been sitting at the FBI with the Biden Junta for four long years.

That storyline is a nightmare for Democrats. For years, the Biden team presided over a Justice Department that had endless resources to track down grandmas in MAGA hats using cell phone data, yet somehow could not close in on the one figure whose actions were used to paint January 6 as an organized terror plot. It’s almost as if they figured out who it was and deliberately chose not to pursue him. But, here’s the big reason that this case will be memory-holed faster than you can say 1984: Brian Cole is black and a leftist. . . Cole did not just happen to lean left. He worked for a bail bond operation run by his father that specialized in freeing illegal immigrants from ICE facilities and even sued Trump’s Department of Homeland Security over immigration policy. Weeks before he allegedly planted the pipe bombs, a court ruled against the family’s company in that lawsuit targeting the Trump administration. . .Later in 2021, Cole’s father appeared at a press event with left-wing attorney Benjamin Crump, angrily criticizing anti-black racism and urging the Biden Justice Department to investigate a Tennessee prosecutor who had expressed concerns about bail bonding practices. They portrayed themselves as victims of systemic bias while also working to weaken enforcement against illegal immigrants, using all the usual leftist buzzwords. This is the environment the alleged bomber emerged from—and the media really wished you never knew that, and will do everything they can to make this story go away.

Funny, just as the Biden-imported Afghan terrorist shooter story as well as the Tim Walz Somali immigrant community billion dollar-plus fraud story is breaking as well as the ongoing illegal alien crime wave as well as the ongoing indigenous American inner city crime wave at the behest and intentional malfeasance of primarily Soros-backed pro crime DAs and politicians continues to decimate and terrorize the citizenry, ironically enough of blue cities and states and Democrat constituencies.

Whatever one thinks about the legitimacy of the 2020 election, the events of 1/6/21 in and around the Capitol were completely staged and or distorted by the Democrats with the aiding and abetting of local law enforcement and elements, including top leadership of our national intelligence and law enforcement agencies. We know for a fact that there were numerous, perhaps at least a couple of dozen FBI plants among the "violent protesters" that roamed the halls of the Capitol as Congress was convening to vote on the Electoral College results. And lest we forget that none of them forced their way in, but were allowed into the building by Capitol PD and in most instances were even escorted around the building by them. There was no rioting or violent except for the brutal murder of two unarmed women, Ashli Babbitt and Roseanne Boyland by the hands of Capitol PD officers, Michael Byrd gunning down Babbitt in cold blood, and others as yet to the best of my knowledge unidentified who beat and stomped Boyland to death.

And all this was used by Malig-Nancy Pelosi who as Speaker of the House had direct control over the Capitol PD and who prior to 1/6 refused President Trump's request to reinforce them iwht National Guard troops to prevent the violence that she fomented while now shedding crocodile tears over.

Elsewhere, there are a couple of other things happening that I think are worthy of mention that breaking events such as the aforementioned are overtaking. The other day President Trump and the Lee Zeldin directed EPA ditched Joey Sponge-Brain Shits-Pants disastrous luddite CAFE standards

As the White House correctly put it, “The Biden standards would have compelled widespread shifts to EVs that American consumers did not ask for, accompanied by significant cost-of-living increases. Since EVs are so expensive to build, automakers must sell them at a loss and make up the difference by significantly raising the sticker price of gas cars.”

As a refresher, the CAFE standards came into being during the 1970s energy crisis – a crisis itself caused by inept government regulations. The standards require the fleet of cars sold by a manufacturer to meet government-dictated average fuel-economy targets, or face hefty annual fines. . .

. . . From the beginning, these standards were a disaster, forcing automakers to radically downsize their fleet, which research showed cost thousands of lives because, all things being equal, smaller, lighter cars are less safe than larger ones.
They also resulted in cars being stripped of anything that added weight – including spare tires –dreary designs that only a socialist could love, and stuffed with hated features such as the “start-stop” system.
But the administration’s move, while welcome, isn’t as big a deal as it might seem. After all, the best solution would be to jettison CAFE standards entirely, not ratchet them up more slowly. The justification for these standards – an energy crisis – is long gone, and the government simply has no business dictating what kind of cars, or how many of each kind, automakers must sell.

BINGO that last sentence. It's all about the freedom to choose. Beyond the insanity of EVs, the enviro commies were making war on SUV's for the same bullshit reasons of saving the planet because fossil fuels were evil. Forgetting all that, what the communists want is to take away your freedom of movement period, regardless of what kind of vehicle you may or may not be allowed to drive, or what they will or will not allow to be manufactured. Freedom of movement as where and when you want is freedom of choice.

Bravo President Trump. Of course should God-Forbid another Democrat let alone possibly a hardcore Maoist ever assume power again, all this could and likely will go away and once again
again we'd be subject to the whims of DIck Nixon's worst crime — creating the EPA.

Funny I seem to remember way back when when Obama crowed that Bin Laden is dead and that GM is alive. But in order to supposedly resuscitate GM he committed an act of robbery so brazen as to beggar the imagination: Robbing GM's stockholders!
Correction, per commenter r hennigantx, he robbed the first-in-line bondholders!! Meh, he did it to bail out the UAW right before the 2012 election.

On that note, we had this story that broke the other day which although has a happy ending, falls way short in what the Left crows about "restorative Justice!" And I use that term sarcastically, but justice is still a long way off:

The Obama administration introduced many Americans to the character of his Chicago-style politics -- cronyism, favoritism, and corruption.

And though there's been a political change of course, the awful consequences of that for some workers linger.
One of them is elderly Vietnam War veteran Ed Bambas, who's now 88, working at the Meijer grocery chain in Brighton, Michigan, trying to get by without a pension, having lost his in Barack Obama's multi-billion-dollar GM and Chrysler bailouts, which were all about favoritism for union members at the expense of everyone else.

He was recently seen on social media answering questions from an 'influencer' about his dire condition -- a very old man forced to work retail without any retirement benefits despite years of work for Delphi, a GM-affiliated company that went down in the automobile-industry meltdown around the start of Obama's first term.
He got his pension pulled as the taxpayers shelled out $80 billion for GM and Chrysler. He also lost medical coverage and most of his life insurance, at a time when his wife was in the hospital. He sold his house to pay her medical bills and was left with nothing.

He may be in for a happier ending, now that the influencer, Samuel Weidenhofer, has raised a $1.5 million pension for him, from small-dollar donations, mostly little guys who see this problem resonating. (Bill Ackman, who may be the well-regarded hedge fund manager, is listed as the top donor at $10,000.) . . .
. . . It's good for him, given that he had an unusual run of cruelly bad luck. . . But the obvious question is how many more out there are like him?
Based on what I found, there were about 20,000 of them, and treated just as badly as Bambas was.
In a stunning example of favoritism, the United Auto Workers union members got their pensions topped up to the max by the taxpayers based on the Obama administration's illegal interference  -- and anyone who wasn't in the union, such as the workers at Delphi, got stiffed, despite all of them working for the same automobile behemoth.

And of course, the Left is gunning for Hegseth because he's effective as a military leader, restoring sanity to our military, the last bastion of Americanism that the Left has tried to tear down, and declare him a war criminal in order to protect their Communist drug running allies in central and South America. If Hegseth can weather these storms and continue to succeed in helping smash Narco and perhaps Islamo-terrorists while restoring pride in our military as the massive gains in recruitment have indicated, then he burnishes his credentials as a potential GOP presidential candidate if not in 2028 then perhaps '32 or '36! We should live so long (and see it happen!)

Have a great weekend.

And lastly, a quick shout-out and 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
• Trump's move could result in the rebirth of the once great American car.
  By Gutting CAFE, Trump Can Make Autos Beautiful Again
  
• Pete Hegseth is facing a calculated smear campaign because he threatens the entrenched establishment reshaping America’s military into something weaker and more political.
  The War on Pete Hegseth
  
• Victor Davis Hanson: If Gen Z is not found soon, the result for everyone will not be pretty.
  Can the ‘Lost Generation’ Be Found?

Daily Tech News 5 December 2025

—Pixy Misa

• As expected, AMD has announced price increases for its Radeon graphics cards. Starting today, the cost to board partners of the parts (GPU chip and GDDR6 RAM) will increased by $10. (Tom's Hardware)
  
  For 8GB cards. For 16GB cards the cost rises by $20.
  
  Given the craziness going on right now, that is not a lot.
  
  There may be more increases coming, but for now at least, no reason to panic.
  
  
  

Thursday Overnight Open Thread - December 4, 2025 [Doof]

—Open Blogger

The Thursday ONT has arrived. Have you? How's your holiday shopping going? Still plenty of time to get something great for your favorite ONT COB.

By the way, today is National Sock Day. Around here that is important to The Paolo, Amy Schumer, BEN ROETHLISBERGER, and Mary Cloggenstein from Battleboro. Also very important to our ONT friend, Miklos. What other prominent socks did I miss? Also, this would be a good night to try on some new socks. What ya got??

Nim-Bull Cafe

—Ace

Another pic from Kristen Mae Photography

Camel enjoys his first snowfall.

Cat begs for just a little food.

Any martial art you can do from a seated position is my kind of martial art. Well, it's my kind, and Steven Seagal's kind.

Kick a deer, and get a butt back.

K9 dog recognizes a suspect: his first partner.

A K9 dog gets his retirement order.

Baby and dog have a play.

Mrs. Tiger wants some cuddling.

Cat combines some bare-minimum affection with stretching, to save time and effort.

Elephants eat wood? I feel like I should have known that.

Flirty big cats.

Repeatedly posted but nice: a service dog enjoys a slide.

Supreme Court Okays Texas' Redistricting Map

—Ace

Thank goodness.

California just amended its constitution to permit Gavin Newsom to redraw that state's map for maximum partisan advantage. Meanwhile, left-wing judges insist that Republicans aren't allowed to do the same, Because Racist.

The Supreme Court "took note" of California's similar manuever and decided, by 6 to 3, that no, it's not (D)ifferent when (D)emocrats do it any longer.

The Supreme Court said Thursday that Texas can use its new gerrymandered House map in the upcoming midterm elections, likely yielding as many as five additional seats for Republicans in the battle for control of the House.

...

By an apparent 6-3 vote, the justices granted an emergency request from Texas officials to block a lower court ruling that

The court's high ruling also took note of recent Democrat-led redistricting in California, signaling that the justices may not be inclined to interfere with those efforts or similar drives in other states.

I think this means the Supreme Court will finally overturn the leftwing-judge-made "law" that states are required to use racial criteria to maximize minority "representation."

A Refugee Group Was Repeatedly Warned That the Killer of the National Guardswoman Was "Spiraling" Into "Mania," But No Official Action Seems to Have Been Taken

—Ace

A refugee group was repeatedly warned that the National Guardsmen assassin was "spiraling" into mental illness but apparently no law enforcement or immigration courts were alerted.

A leading national refugee agency was warned multiple times that the Afghan terror suspect accused of murdering one National Guard member and critically injuring another was spiraling into mania and mental illness beginning in 2023, according to a bombshell email leak.

Despite this, and an alleged failure to maintain his mandated contact with state social services, he still managed to win asylum in April of this year.

Rahmanullah Lakanwal's behavior was so disturbing that a local community advocate reached out to a refugee organization for help, according to emails to the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) seen by the Associated Press.

"Rahmanullah has not been functional as a person, father, and provider since March of last year [2023]. He quit his job that month, and his behavior has changed greatly," the community member wrote in January 2024.

The community member said he feared that Lakanwal had become suicidal.

...

He was brought to the US in 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome, moving to Bellingham, Washington, with his wife and their five young sons.

But he reportedly struggled to assimilate, failed to hold down a steady job or commit to learning English, according to the emails.

Alternating between "periods of dark isolation and reckless travel," Lakanwal sometimes spent weeks in his "darkened room, not speaking to anyone, not even his wife or older kids," the person wrote.

During these "manic episodes," he would reportedly "take off in the family car, and drive nonstop," the email outlined, leaving for up to two weeks at a time on his own, driving as far as Chicago or Arizona.

Lakanwal also failed to stay in contact with the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) as was mandated by the terms of his entry into the US, except for "interim" weeks where he would "do the right things," according to the emails.

And I guess Washington State didn't alert anyone, either.

He was so depressed that the community member feared he would harm himself, according to the emails.

When his wife would leave him with the kids for a week while she traveled to visit relatives, his children would go to school unwashed and in dirty clothes without having eaten well, according to the person.

The children's school raised concerns about his behavior, and the family even faced eviction at one point in 2023 after months of not paying rent.

In response to two emails, the USCRI tried to visit Lakanwal and his family in Bellingham in March 2024, according to the author of the emails.

After they received no updates, they believed that Lakanwal had refused assistance.

It's unclear whether the community member or USCRI reported the mental distress to immigration authorities or law enforcement.

Trump announced another step to control immigration: work permits will only be issued for 18 months at a time, instead of the five years they're currently issued for.

That means that fraudsters will have to interact with government officials more often, and hopefully more fraud will be discovered and more badly-behaving "asylum seekers" will be kicked out.

The Trump administration is dramatically scaling back the timeframe in which asylum seekers and other foreign nationals can have valid work permits in the U.S.

Work permits issued to foreign nationals who’ve applied for asylum or other humanitarian programs will only be valid for 18 months rather than five years, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on Thursday. The decision marks the latest action by the agency tasked with managing the country’s immigration system, since two National Guard members were ambushed by an Afghan man shortly before Thanksgiving.

Palate Cleanser: Melania Trump Shows Off Her Very Beautiful (and Classy) Christmas Decorations

—Ace

Very nice.

Another of Biden's "Fully Vetted" Afghan Heroes Arrested for Terrorism

—Ace

so heroic you guys

such allies

ICE on Wednesday arrested yet another Afghan migrant brought into the country under former President Biden's troubled "Operation Allies Welcome" -- this time a man Homeland Security officials say was tied directly to ISIS-K.

Agents took Jaan Shah Safi into custody just outside Washington, marking the latest example of a resettlement effort critics warned from the start would import national-security threats into American communities. Safi arrived in Philadelphia on September 8, 2021, during the Biden administration's massive Afghan airlift, a rush job that moved nearly 190,000 people into the U.S. with barely any vetting.

According to ICE, Safi provided support to ISIS-K and the Islamic State's Iraq network, and even supplied weapons to his father, a militia commander back in Afghanistan. After entering the U.S., he filed for Temporary Protected Status -- a request that fell apart when DHS Secretary Kristi Noem ended TPS for Afghans, exposing how many people the Biden team had waved through without knowing who they were.

"Today, our heroic ICE officers arrested Jaan Shah Safi, a terrorist who provided material support to ISIS-K," Noem said, blasting Biden's resettlement operation as "disastrous" and pointing out that Safi was picked up only miles from where National Guard members Sarah Beckstrom and Andrew Wolfe were ambushed days earlier. That attack, carried out by Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, left Beckstrom dead and Wolfe in critical condition -- yet another case tied directly to Biden's program.

The pattern hasn't stopped. On November 25, authorities in Fort Worth arrested Mohammad Dawood Alokozay after he allegedly posted a TikTok video hinting at a terror plot. Like Safi and Lakanwal, Alokozay entered the United States because of Operation Allies Welcome.

Bondi, Pirro, Bongino Crow About J5 Bomber Arrest, Note That Biden Allowed the Case to "Languish"

—Ace

A lot of celebrating from the beleaguered DOJ leadership.

...

Federal agents swarmed the Woodbridge, Va., home of 30-year-old Brian Cole Jr. following the break in the case that has vexed and embarrassed the FBI for nearly five years.

"You're not going to walk into our capital city, put down two explosive devices and walk off into the sunset," bureau Deputy Director Dan Bongino, who has made the case a priority since taking office in March, told reporters at an afternoon news conference. "Not gonna happen.

"We were gonna track this person to the end of the earth. There was no way he was getting away."

Authorities did not publicly indicate any motive for the crime, with one high-placed FBI source rejecting earlier claims that Cole may have had "anarchist" leanings.

That's just one FBI source "rejecting" that. We'll see.

There were also "sources" that denied that Tyler Robinson was a gay furry.

"He's very antisocial. Very," a woman who said she had lived in the neighborhood since 1991 told The Post of Cole. "He keeps to himself."

"He has a dog that he loves," she added. "He walks every day, twice a day, to 7-Eleven with his dog and he wears his headphones."

"He seemed very quiet. He would never make eye contact. Almost like he just didn't see you," added a second neighbor, a man who noted that Cole would "wear shorts all winter long, and red Crocs."

...

Cole's arrest comes one month before the fifth anniversary of the melee that briefly delayed congressional confirmation of Joe Biden's 2020 election victory.

Surveillance footage showed a person carrying a backpack and wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt, mask, gloves, glasses, and a pair of Nike Air Max Speed Turf sneakers who planted what investigators called "viable explosive devices" at the headquarters of the two major parties on the night of Jan. 5, 2021.

Law enforcement officials, led by Attorney General Pam Bondi, stressed that there was "no new tip" or "no new witness" that led to Cole's arrest, with the AG crediting "good, diligent police work and prosecutorial work, working as a team along with the ATF, Capitol Police, the [DC] Metropolitan Police Department and of course, the FBI."

FBI Director Kash Patel strongly suggested that a new analysis of cell phone data helped lead investigators to Cole, telling reporters that investigators sifted through "three million lines of information ... you can think about the amount of cell phone data that has to be ingested and triangulated and dumped and received."

"When you develop evidence, you get a search warrant," he added. "When you get a search warrant, you get an address. When you get an address, you hit the house, and that's what we did."

That cell phone data was all available to Biden and Wray -- but they didn't sift through it.

Or... did they?

A neighbor said this guy had "unusually short legs" and a simple gait analysis would prove or disprove his culpability. So Gait Analysis re-enters the chat.

Bondi says the case "languished" under Biden.

I want a full investigation of the "investigation" that Biden and Wray did.

Cole's step-grandfather, Earl Donnette, told NBC News in a phone call that he spoke with the FBI about his step-grandson, but declined to comment further.

Bondi said the investigation into the attempted bombing "languished" for four years under former President Joe Biden's administration.

...
FBI Director Kash Patel credited the U.S. Capitol Police, the Metropolitan Police Department and U.S. Attorney for DC Jeanine Pirro for their work on the investigation.

...

Neither bomb detonated, but authorities say both were viable and dangerous.
DC pipe bomb suspect

Video footage released by the FBI showed the suspect placing the pipe bombs near the two headquarters more than 16 hours before law enforcement found them.

The suspect was seen wearing a gray hoodie, Nike Air Max Speed Turf sneakers, a mask, glasses and gloves, but Cole's identity had long been unknown.

Pam Bondi Announces Charges Against J6 Bomber Brian Cole, Jr., Says More Charges May Be Filed

—Ace

Side by side: Photo of J5 bomber vs. photo of Brian Cole Jr.

Charged with "use of an explosive device," 18 USC s. 844.

Feds Raid Home Linked to Suspected J6 Bomber, a Suspected "Anarchist"

—Ace

Whoops -- I was making myself lunch and then eating and never saw this story breaking. I only looked because a commenter said, "still no bomber story"?

I'm putting the Afghan terrorist story in draft while I try to catch up.

Collin Rugg @CollinRugg

NEW: The FBI has raided the home of 30-year-old Brian Cole Jr. of Woodbridge, Virginia, who was arrested in connection with planting pipe bombs before J6.

The arrest comes almost five years after the incident.

According to the New York Post, the suspect may have a background of possible "anarchist leanings."

Nick Sortor @nicksortor

🚨 BREAKING: The FBI has surrounded a home in Woodbridge, VA where alleged DC pipe bomber Brian Cole Jr., reportedly 33, was arrested this morning

Cole seemingly has very little online presence, and has been described as an "anarchist"

He's expected to be arraigned today.

Report: Executive Who Spearheaded Jaguar's Woke Genderbender Rebrand Fired, Escorted Out of Building by Security

—Ace

Think different you guys

Challenge everything you guys

Cut your genitals off you guys

In case you have managed to forget this Gender Apocalypse Meth Nightmare, here's your reminder:

The Morning Rant: Measures...Counter-Measures...Counter-Counter-Measures...

—CBD

People who think about the evolution of warfare have sleepless nights worrying about drones. Israel and Ukraine are ground-zero for drone warfare...and the pace of technological change is breathtaking! In a few short years we have gone from large drones flying high, armed with a single missile or a few cameras, to swarms of drones with small explosive devices that can overwhelm defenses and destroy multi-million dollar equipment for a few hundred dollars, and reconnaissance drones the size of a paperback that zip around the battlefield providing data in real time (Hello, Yahya Sinwar.)

Counter-measures arrived quickly, which is unsurprising, since the evolution of warfare occurs most quickly during war! But until very recently, those counter-measures were very expensive in comparison to the drones themselves, which are often just modified civilian drones...essentially toys for grownups. Using a $million missile to shoot down a $10,000 drone is a temporary answer, and one that is unsupportable in the long-term. And the smaller, cheaper drones are difficult because of their size, even if an army could field enough missiles.

But along comes Israel's arms industry with an obvious but technologically difficult response: Lasers!

Killing drones for cents: World's first 100 kW combat laser ready for deployment

Israel plans to deploy its first operational high-power laser air-defense system by the end of the year, marking a significant shift in how the country counters drones, rockets, and other aerial threats, the Defense Ministry said.

The system, known as Iron Beam, completed operational testing in September and will become the world’s first combat-ready laser interceptor.

The 100-kilowatt system is designed to destroy targets within seconds and at a fraction of the cost of traditional missile-based defenses.

Drones have the capacity to do tremendous damage to technologically superior forces. Imagine a swarm of drones launched from near our B-2, B-52, or F-35 bases. A few hundred thousand dollars worth of easily procured hardware could conceivably destroy many billions of dollars worth of our almost irreplaceable weaponry in a matter of moments. This isn't World War II, where factories could produce thousands of tanks or planes each year. It takes about 18 months to build an F-35. How many can we afford to lose?

While my personal preference is for a bunch of Midwestern goose hunters to be drafted into the armed forces for drone hunting duty, the future of laser defense is assured. Drones aren't going away, and must be considered an integral part of both offensive and defensive operations.

It won't be long before those airbases are surrounded by a multi-layered defense system that includes lasers to defend against drones. The question is: what comes next? Laser weapons for infantry, or tanks, or helicopters?

[Crossposted at CutJibNewsletter and X/Twitter]. If you folks who are on X/Twitter would follow us it would be much appreciated!