IT MIGHT SHOCK YOU, BUT WE’RE NOT IN FACT IN A MOVIE:  The Locust Horde of Zombies.

REVEALING THE STRINGS:  Biden migrants proposal proves US border crisis could end tomorrow.

IT’S THE PRICE OF OPERATING IN HAMASTAN:  Gaza hospital chief admits to being Hamas commander, using clinic as military base.

MAKE THE BEHIND THE CURTAIN OPERATOR FAMOUS, BOYS AND GIRLS:   Meet Lawyer Michael Dreeben, The Man Behind Three Major Anti-Trump Operations.

WHY WOULD THEY FEAR THEIR BOUGHT ‘N’ PAID FOR POLITICIAN?  China stepped up election meddling in midterms, didn’t fear Biden: report.

WHITE HOUSE GAS LIGHT IS ON:  Biden ‘feels so much younger’ than 81 as wife, aides reportedly warn him to slow down: ‘His own worst enemy’.

SETTING A LOW BAR:  Koch group spends $70 million on Nikki Haley, hopes for ‘second or third’ in Iowa.

ELECTION FRAUD IN DEMOCRAT PRIMARIES IS A PROSECUTABLE OFFENSE?  Queens man forged absentee ballots in Democratic primary as part of voter fraud scheme: DA.

THEY GAGGED HIM FOR HIS PROTECTION:  NYPD accused of forcing son of Elie Wiesel to put away Israeli flag during confrontation with anti-Israel protesters.

CONGRESS SURVEILS EXECUTIVE BRANCH, EXECUTIVE BRANCH HAS NO BUSINESS SURVEILLING CONGRESS:  House Judiciary Committee subpoenas AG Garland over DOJ’s attempted surveillance of Congress.

PER PROPUBLICA:  Biden’s Cozy Relations With Bank Industry.

AND THE REST (AND SOME OF THESE TOO) WORK FOR VARIOUS FOREIGN ORGANIZATIONS, INCLUDING THE CARTELS:  Study: 59% of non-citizen migrants use welfare.

JOE WAS “THE SENATOR FROM MBNA”:  Impeachment witness says Biden’s brother paid him from predatory loans or money bilked from seniors.

MANDATING EQUALITY OF RESULTS IS ALWAYS INJUSTICE:  Another example of why ‘equity’ is evil.

OPEN THREAD: Tuesday’s groovy.

IT’S JUST SYMBOLIC, BUT DARN: SpaceX to just miss goal of 100 Falcon launches in 2023. “Despite missing the goal, the company’s launch cadence has been a significant achievement compared both to its past activity as well as global competitors. SpaceX launches increased by more than 50% from 2022 and are triple what it performed in 2021. SpaceX accounts for nearly half of the 209 orbital launch attempts so far in 2023, 200 of which were successful. . . . mong American companies, SpaceX has performed more the nine times as many launches this year as the second most active company, Rocket Lab, which recently flew its tenth Electron rocket of 2023. SpaceX expects to continue increasing its launch cadence into 2024.”

LET ME JUST GET OUT AHEAD OF THE STORY AND SAY THAT JUDGE PRESKA DID NOT COMMIT SUICIDE NEXT YEAR:  Judge Orders Release of Names of Over 175 of Jeffrey Epstein’s ‘High-Profile Associates.’

FLOSS! A connection between gum disease and Alzheimer’s?

TODAYS JUDICIARY:

The Colorado Supreme Court has issued an unsigned opinion disqualifying Trump from the ballot: "The sum of these parts is this: President Trump is disqualified from holding the office of President under Section Three; because he is disqualified."…https://t.co/Ilwl4e8Wli

— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) December 19, 2023

UPDATE: Matt Taibbi: “This is a major escalation of the lawfare phenomenon that’s zoomed from simmer to boil in the seven short years since Trump was first elected in 2016. The glee of #Resistance dolts like Robert Reich and Dean Obeidallah at this decision shows that this was a move dreamed up at the very center of the bubble-within-a-bubble-within-a-bubble that is the blob of the modern Democratic Party.”

THAT’S NICE, BUT PUTTING SOMETHING IN ORBIT WOULD BE NICER: Blue Origin completes 24th launch of New Shepard suborbital rocket.

ALIENS: Mysterious New Signals Detected by SETI: Unlocking the Strange Puzzle of Fast Radio Bursts.

DNC-MSM PIVOTS ON CUSP OF ELECTION YEAR: Media, Suddenly: Say, Did You Know Biden Is Old, Unpopular, and Corrupt?

WITH DNC IN MIND, CITY BANS CARRYING URINE, FECES: California prepares to transform sewage into pure drinking water under new rules.

California is set to adopt regulations that will allow for sewage to be extensively treated, transformed into pure drinking water and delivered directly to people’s taps.

The regulations are expected to be approved Tuesday by the State Water Resources Control Board, enabling water suppliers to begin building advanced treatment plants that will turn wastewater into a source of clean drinking water.

The new rules represent a major milestone in California’s efforts to stretch supplies by recycling more of the water that flows down drains.

“We’re creating a new source of supply that we were previously discharging or thinking of as waste,” said Heather Cooley, director of research at the Pacific Institute, a water think tank in Oakland. “As we look to make our communities more resilient to drought, to climate change, this is really going to be an important part of that solution.”

Flashback: California regulator rejects desalination plant despite historic drought.

(Classical reference in headline.)

A QUARTER BILLION DOLLARS, 1,500 ACRES, AND AN UNDERGROUND SURVIVAL BUNKER: What the Hell Is Going on with Zuckerberg’s Hawaii Supervillain Lair?

FLASHBACK: How Colleges Silence Eccentrics.