SOMEBODY NEEDS TO FILE SOME LAWSUITS: Hollywood Elites Bankrolling Environmentalist Group Disrupting Events Across the US, Tax Forms Show: Climate Defiance took credit for Biden’s attacks on oil and gas projects.

COLD WAR II: Finland Boards Russian Shadow Fleet Tanker After Subsea Cables Go Offline.

Finland’s police and border patrol have boarded the Eagle S oil tanker, which is part of Russia’s shadow fleet while investigating the cause of an interruption of subsea power and data cables linking Finland with Estonia, Finnish police said on Thursday.

The tanker, Eagle S, was traveling in the Baltic Sea under the flag of the Cook Islands and was fully loaded with unleaded gasoline, the Finnish police and other authorities said at a news conference, as carried by Bloomberg.

The Eagle S was spotted to be missing its anchor and it could have been this missing anchor that has caused the damage to the subsea cable links.

The Estlink-2 power link went offline on Wednesday afternoon. By early Thursday afternoon investigations were ongoing in both Finland and Estonia on the cause of the damage.

Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna on Thursday discussed the incidents involving submarine infrastructure with Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen, Tsahkna said in a statement.

“Damage to critical submarine infrastructure has become so frequent that it is difficult to believe this is accidental or merely poor seamanship. We must understand that damage to submarine infrastructure has become more systematic and thus must be regarded as attacks against our vital structures,” the Estonian foreign minister said.

“Can’t rule out deliberate damage to the cable,” Tsahkna posted on X.

More:

UPDATE!

EAGLE S, vessel suspected of causing cable damage is at anchor in Finnish territorial waters.

A no-fly zone has been imposed on the area.

Finnish police and the Border Guard have boarded the ship, investigations are ongoing.

THIS is how you do these things! 💪🇫🇮

— Tomi 🇺🇦🇫🇮 (@TallbarFIN) December 26, 2024

And here’s a thread I found interesting on the Finnish Border Guard guys who got the job done.

Only tangentially related but still amusing: Sanctioned Russian LNG Cargo Ends Across-the-World Trip Without Finding Buyer. “After the journey from Europe to Russia’s Far East, Pioneer was spotted in December offloading the cargo in a Russian floating storage unit near Kamchatka, according to the vessel-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg.”

LIGHTNING DEAL: AUXITO Car Vacuum Cleaner – Portable Handheld Vacuum Cleaner. #CommissionEarned

REPUBLICANS NEED TO PRAISE HIM A LOT SO DEMOCRATS WON’T LISTEN: Fetterman Emerging as the Dem ‘How to Handle Trump’ Voice of Choice.

IT’S (D)IFFERENT WHEN THEY DO IT: The Left Is Pushing Congress for an Insurrection on Jan. 6, 2025.

Remember how Democrats were outraged — Outraged! — that some Republicans objected to the counting of the Electoral College votes back in 2021 over concerns that voter fraud tipped the election results to Joe Biden in key battleground states? The very idea of disputing the election results was seen as blasphemy and anti-democratic.

Yet the left is once again pushing for Congress to block Donald Trump from taking office, despite his overwhelming victory in 2024.

Evan Davis, the former editor-in-chief of the Columbia Law Review, and David Schulte, the former editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal, argue in a joint column in The Hill that Congress not only has the power to block Trump from taking office but should.

Insurrection, straight up.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: How China’s satellite megaprojects are challenging Elon Musk’s Starlink.

FROM SARAH A. HOYT AND ON SALE FOR 99c:  Darkship Revenge (Darkship Thieves Book 5).

The World Can’t Be Made Safe….

But it doesn’t mean Athena Hera Sinistra isn’t ready to try. Flying back to Earth Orbit from her asteroid home, leaving behind unresolved questions and turmoil, Athena becomes a new mother in orbit.

As is perhaps fitting, her daughter is born during battle with an unknown foe.

A battle that ends with Kit – Athena’s husband – missing, and Athena’s ship damaged.

So Athena names her daughter Eris, and goes to war.

What follows is a non-stop fight by a very angry mother, who wishes to make the world(s) safe for her newborn daughter, and other children too.

When the adventure is over, it is just the start of another, where children will be rescued, old tyrants brought to justice, and freedom restored.
If it can be.

BUREAUCRATIC MINDSET AT WORK: IF THEY’RE ACCESSIBLE PRANKSTERS WILL USE THEM AND THEN THEY’LL NOT BE OF USE:   Public can’t access fire extinguishers in subway system — and MTA has no plans to change that after horrific murder of woman on F train.

SOMEHOW LEFTIST IDIOTS WILL BLAME THIS ON ISRAEL:   Humanitarian aid stacks up at Gaza border as relief organizations won’t deliver out of fear of Hamas, violent looters.

DANG CRITICS – WHY ARE THEY ALWAYS RIGHT?   Hochul signs NY law that will charge $75B to oil, gas and coal companies for climate change — but critics say customers will pick up tab.

BY THE ‘CHRISTMAS TRUCE’ OF 1914 VIRTUALLY ALL OF THE INITIAL BRITISH EXPEDITIONARY FORCE SENT TO FRANCE WAS HORS DE COMBAT:  The lost legions of Christmas 1914.

SOME GOOD CLIMATE NEWS:  New climate research debunks CO2’s ability to warm the atmosphere, even as other research shows CO2 greens the Earth.

A GOOD RECAP ON WHAT IS CURRENTLY KNOWN, AND WHAT IS NOT KNOWN,  BOUT THE AZERBAIJAN AIRLINES SHOOTDOWN  “SPECIAL AIRCRAFT INCIDENT”:   Did Russia Shoot down Azerbaijan Airlines Flight J2-8243?  [Video]

IT’S ONLY AN ACT OF REBELLION WHEN THE RIGHT DOES IT:  Libs Demand Congress Do Something That Was Considered an Act of Armed Rebellion Not So Long Ago.

MOST LEFTIST WESTERNERS BLITHELY WEAR THE SYMBOL OF A MOVEMENT WHO WOULD GLADLY MURDER THEM WITHOUT A SECOND THOUGHT:  The cult of the keffiyeh.

NATURE IS HEALING:  Migrants traversing Darien Gap plummet 40% as Panama cracks down on major route.

OH ARE WE SUPPOSED TO BE SCARED?  20 Big Cats at a Washington State Sanctuary Die of Bird Flu.

GOOD:  European Energy Firm Ordered to Remove 84 Wind Turbines from Osage Lands In Oklahoma.

OH, DEAR BOB:  Tufts University’s Latest Course is About ‘Transcestors’.

GOOD:  Israel Conducts Retaliatory Airstrikes in Yemen, Hits Houthi-Held Airports and Ports.

I’M NOT A MAGA NATIONALIST, I’M A LIBERTARIAN NATIONALIST. OTHER THAN THAT, I NORMALLY HAVE AT LEAST ONE QUIBBLE WITH SOMETHING ESR POSTS, BUT THIS ONE I ENDORSE 100%:  Today’s big beef is between tech-success maximizers like  @elonmusk  and MAGA nationalists who think the US job market is being flooded by low-skill immigrants because employers don’t want to pay competitive wages to Americans.

AND IF YOU DON’T HAVE TWITEX:  Here.

OPEN THREAD: Happy Boxing Day!

SOME PARTS OF THE 21ST CENTURY ARE TURNING OUT AS I’D HOPED: SpaceX’s big year: The new records and feats Elon Musk’s space company achieved in 2024.

EVERYONE BLAMES COLUMBUS FOR BRINGING DISEASE TO THE NEW WORLD, NOBODY BLAMES THE INDIANS FOR SYPHILIS: New Study Indicates That Syphilis Originated in the Americas Prior to the Arrival of Columbus.

THEN WHY HAVE PEOPLE BECOME SO MUCH MORE RISK-AVERSE SINCE IT BECAME COMMON? World’s Most Common Pain Relief Drug May Induce Risky Behavior. “Acetaminophen, also known as paracetamol and sold widely under the brand names Tylenol and Panadol, may also increase risk-taking, according to a study from 2020 that measured changes in people’s behavior when under the influence of the common over-the-counter medication.”