WELL, GOOD: Public universities across the country ban CCP-influenced TikTok.

WELL…: Biden White House Repeatedly Entertained TikTok Lobbyists.

NO. WELL, MAYBE A STRAIGHT DEMOCRAT. Mayor Pete’s planes, trains and automobiles: Biden’s transportation secretary is terrible at his job. Would a straight man get away with it?

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Karine Jean-Pierre’s Last Brain Cell Has Left the Building. “Hell hath no ridiculousness like a 21st century Democrat trying to expiate white guilt.”

K-12 IMPLOSION UPDATE: Of course: Three high schools in Loudoun County also failed to notify students of their Merit Awards.

You want to live in an area with the “best” public schools, but nowadays those schools are so woke that they sabotage your kids’ college chances in the name of “equity.” And then, even if those schools get your kid into a prestigious college, employers won’t want to know about it, also in the name of equity? And diversity consultants say to hire people without degrees anyway to promote diversity.

What a strange game. The only way to win is not to play.

WHO COULD HAVE SEEN THIS COMING: NYC mayor cites slower economic growth spurred by high office vacancy, cost of migrant crisis and health care, in budget address.

MASSIVE RESISTANCE: Illinois’ “Assault Weapons” Ban. “Some Sheriffs have said they will not comply, dozens and dozens, somewhere around 70 at last count.”

THIS IS CNN: Biden’s whirlwind final days as vice president had aides scrambling to close his White House office. “Partly to wrap up his policy portfolios, partly to tout his accomplishments, and partly to occupy himself following the death of his son a year earlier, Biden thrust himself into work in a final sprint to mark what then appeared to be the end of a four-decade run at the highest levels of government.”

CNN assigned no fewer than four “reporters” to blame Biden’s work ethic and his harried staff for his little classified documents problem.

CHANGE: More Americans identify as Republicans than Democrats.. They only polled living Americans, though, not voting Americans.

HEINLEIN’S CRAZY YEARS (CONT’D): Hysterical U.S. Transgenders Liken Themselves to Holocaust Victims, Plan to Seek Refuge Abroad.

BUT OF COURSE: DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene Bemoans Rising Housing Costs While Profiting From Rent Hikes.

‘IN IT FOR HERSELF:’ Former Katie Porter Staffer Says California Dem’s Senate Run Motivated by ‘Fame’ and ‘Power.’

A former staff member for California congresswoman Katie Porter says that she believes the Democratic darling, who announced a 2024 run for Senate this week, is increasingly driven not by a desire to serve her constituents but by a desire to grow her own fame and power.

Sasha Georgiades, a Navy veteran who worked for two years as a Wounded Warrior fellow in Porter’s office, started calling out her former boss in late December, accusing Porter in media interviews and on social media of lashing out at her for her Covid-19 diagnosis and of running a toxic office where staff members are regularly screamed at and belittled.

In an interview with National Review after Porter announced her Senate run on Tuesday, Georgiades doubled down on her accusations and questioned Porter’s motives. She said she doesn’t believe Porter is “in it for the people anymore,” and is instead “in it for herself.”

“I think she likes the attention. I think she likes being a well-known name, and being a Democratic sweetheart,” Georgiades said. “I think the fame and the power, with anybody, can turn somebody in a direction that they may not have been before. I think it’s becoming less and less about her actually helping, and more and more about her ego.”

Georgiades has it all wrong. For Porter, it’s all about rounding up the Joker, and returning him to Arkham Asylum.

MISINFORMATION: In Emails to White House, Facebook Admits Suppressing ‘Often-True Content’ on COVID-19 Vaccines.

YEAH, THEY NEVER WANT TO ABOLISH THE GASLIGHTS: Now that the gas stove debate is over it’s time for the media gaslighting.

AT AMAZON, New Year Sale. #CommissionEarned

SALENA ZITO: Who in America is bowling alone? “Putnam argued that America’s social fabric — that glue of reliance and aspiration that formed communities in this country since Alexis de Tocqueville observed it with awe — had frayed significantly. . . . However, Putnam wasn’t 100% right, either. In places such as Somerset, in a region still shrinking in population because of the loss of industry, residents are feeling less stuck than they were five years ago. This is a bit of a reversal from the earlier sentiments that they needed to leave in order to be successful. Now, they look more favorably on the idea of staying and building a community.”

MATT MARGOLIS: This Detail May Prove That Biden Mishandled Classified Documents. “Based on this timeline, it seems likely that the classified documents that were found in Biden’s office at the Penn Biden Center may have originally been a part of the cache found in his garage.”

MATT TAIBBI: America Needs Truth and Reconciliation on Russiagate: The #TwitterFiles offer just the latest reasons why, but it’s long been obvious that unwinding the Big Lie would be a key first step on this country’s road to healing.

Russian bots and trolls were blamed by virtually every major news organization in the country for amplifying the hashtag #ReleaseTheMemo. The files contain a mass of emails from executives blowing up this ridiculous story, once and for all.

The #ReleaseTheMemo scandal was one of the more shameful episodes in the recent history of our media, but taken seriously by all but one or two mainstream editors at the time. All citing the same dubious source — the Hamilton 68 “dashboard” trumpeted by former FBI counterintelligence official and current MSNBC contributor Clint Watts — they insisted Russians deployed Twitter bot-armies to whip up cyber-support for Republican congressmann Devin Nunes. Nunes had just released a classified memo alleging Democrats and the FBI used the infamous paid oppositional research dossier of ex-spy Christopher Steele to obtain secret FISA surveillance authority on Trump-connected figures like Carter Page, amid other improprieties.

We now know Twitter internally found no evidence, as in zero, that Russians were anywhere near this story.

“I just reviewed the accounts that posted the first 50 tweets with #releasethememo,” wrote a piqued Trust and Safety chief Yoel Roth, in all other respects as loyal a Democratic partisan as can be imagined. “None of them show any signs of affiliation to Russia.”

“These hashtags are organic,” said a second.

“Not seeing it,” said a third.

This is a constant theme in the files. In addition to revelations about FBI censorship, shadow-banning, Pentagon use of fake accounts, and suppression of true information about issues like Covid-19, the Twitter emails regularly expose the wide delta between what we were told about foreign threats, and what a major platform seeing the raw data knew. (In this case, for instance, the #ReleaseTheMemo hashtag reportedly originated with @TracyBeanz, the clearly American editor of UncoverDC). Even within the heavily partisan culture at Twitter, the regular “Russia, Russia, Russia” claims by politicians and media in self-serving pursuit of headlines caused eyes to roll.

“Members,” said one Twitter executive, “look foolish if they cry ‘Russia’ every time something happens on social media.”

We have a lot of problems in this country, and there are serious arguments to be had between blue and red about all sorts of issues, from immigration to the wealth gap to abortion and race. But the country is currently paralyzed by distrust of media that runs so deep that it prevents real dialogue, and that situation can’t be resolved until the corporate press swallows its pride and admits the clock has finally run out on its seven years of loony Russia conspiracies.

It’s over, you nitwits. It’s time to stow the Mueller votive candles, cop to the coverage pileup created by years of errors, and start the reconciliation process.

We need truth. And we need reconciliation. But we also need accountability, and that means more than just mealy-mouthed apologies. It means consequences.

FROM JASON FUESTING:  Foreign Shores.

#CommissionEarned

Eric’s escape from Solitude quickly turns into a desperate attempt to leave Protectorate space altogether. Where can they go that takes them beyond the reach of the Protectorate’s State Security Bureau? They have only one chance to find out and it’s too late to turn back. Eric and his crew will visit exotic, distant locales, meet new people, and kill them. Enemies both old and new will try to stop them every step of the way while newfound friends help from the shadows. Freedom has never been closer, but neither has the SSB.

THE POLICE DOESN’T PROTECT PEOPLE FROM CRIMINALS, IT PROTECTS CRIMINALS FROM POLICE:  And So It Begins…

GOOD!  US Navy veteran Taylor Dudley released from Russian custody.

WALK!  OR YOU COULD DO THE HOKEY-POKEY AND TURN YOURSELF ABOUT:  Sitting is bad for your health, but offsetting the impact is easy: study.

ALL MINTRUE EFFORTS ARE WORRISOME:  Real concerns over New Jersey’s latest “misinformation” effort.

ABOUT TIME:  The GOP House majority gets with the program.

THE SWAMP WILL HAVE TO BE DREDGED:  The modern American blacklist culture is wide and deep, and will require a lot of dredging to clear.

THEY’RE COMING IN WITH ROLLERS AND BUCKETS OF WHITEWASH:  Garland Appoints Special Counsel For Biden Documents.