JOEL KOTKIN: Goodbye to Davos — and good riddance: The world envisioned by the WEF has collapsed.

WE NEED A COMPLETE AND TOTAL SHUTDOWN OF THE AVIATION INDUSTRY UNTIL WE CAN FIGURE OUT JUST WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON THERE:

Shot: Thursday night, a Boeing 747-8 airliner CAUGHT FIRE leaving Miami and someone got it on video.

—Not the Bee, yesterday.

Chaser: American Airlines flight attendant on plane to Boston allegedly filmed 14-year-old girl in bathroom.

An American Airlines flight attendant has been arrested for allegedly trying to secretly record a 14-year-old girl using the aircraft’s bathroom on a flight to Boston, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The 37-year-old man, Estes Carter Thompson III, of Charlotte, N.C., is also accused of having recordings of four other girl passengers using aircraft lavatories from previous flights.

The FBI arrested Thompson in Virginia on Thursday.

“The deeply disturbing conduct alleged here is something no parent or child should ever have to worry about when they travel,” Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy said in a statement. “Mr. Thompson allegedly used his position to prey on and surreptitiously record innocent children, including unaccompanied minors, while in a vulnerable state aboard flights he was working.

“Everyone – especially children – should feel safe and secure as airline passengers, and parents should feel comfortable traveling with their children,” Levy added. “Protecting children is a paramount priority for this office and we will aggressively investigate and hold accountable people who victimize children.”

Thompson was charged with one count of attempted sexual exploitation of children and one count of possession of child pornography depicting a prepubescent minor.

Thompson will remain in custody pending his initial appearance in the Western District of Virginia. He will appear in federal court in Boston at a later date.

—The Boston Herald, Thursday.

Hangover: John Kerry Defends His Private Jet Travels.

—The Washington Free Beacon, Wednesday.

I GUESS THE TRANS SWIMSUIT COVER DIDN’T PULL IN THE AUDIENCE THEY’D HOPED FOR: Sports Illustrated publisher misses payment, will lay off staff.

CONGRATULATIONS TO DENTON SALLE ON WINNING THE HELICON AWARD FOR IN THE HALL OF ETERNAL MUSIC: the 2024 Helicon Award Winners.

TAKE NO COUNSEL OF YOUR FEARS:  What comes After Fear.

PART OF THE HUBRIS OF THE LEFT IS NEVER TAKING IN ACCOUNT THAT THE EARTH HAS PROCESSES HUMANS HAVE NO INFLUENCE ON:  Iceland’s Recent Volcanic Eruption Shows Reawakened Long-Dormant Fault Line.

REALLY? WHAT ABOUT HUNTER?  Biden’s DOJ seeks 6 months jail term Peter Navarro after conviction for defying Congressional subpoena.

I QUESTION THE CONCEPT OF GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS:  Milwaukee Public Schools issues ‘best practices’ on how to ‘dismantle whiteness’ in classrooms.

TO NO ONE’S SURPRISE:  Border Crisis: Denver Hospital System Might Collapse Due to Influx of Illegal Immigrants.

OH, IT’S MUCH TOO LATE FOR THAT!  JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon Cautions Biden, Dems About Demonizing Trump, MAGA Voters.

THE ECONOMY’S BOOMING, JUST AS JOE!  San Francisco mall loses fifth store in a month as occupancy plunges to just 25%.

More: Home sales in 2023 were worst since 1995 as high mortgage rates slammed market.

More?  Career coaches expecting 2024 layoff wave: Here’s what you should do.

Do you still need more?  Ford cutting F-150 Lightning truck production on weak demand.

More?  Macy’s slashing over 2K jobs, closing five stores amid pressure to go private.

Bidenomics – a term that means “the wheels come off.”

I REMEMBER WHEN THEY COVERED SPORTS:  Sports Illustrated’s entire staff told they are getting laid off.

THE ROT STARTS AT THE TOP, IN BRITAIN AND HERE:  Red Sea strife reveals our defense disarray.

IF ONLY THAT WERE THE EXTENT OF THEIR USEFUL IDIOCY:  Governments and media – the useful idiots for Hamas.

WELL, THEY CAN GO P*SS UP A SPACE ELEVATOR:  More academics demand that space activity be controlled and regulated, by them.

THESE PEOPLE ALSO JUST NEED TO STOP SEEING BLACKFACE EVERYWHERE:  Today’s blacklisted American: Parents sue school and principal for punishing their son for being a football fan.

THE FBI NEEDS TO STOP: Inside The FBI-Tainted Whitmer ‘Kidnap Plot’ You’ve Heard Almost Nothing About.

A PHILOSOPHY THAT MUST STOP CONTRADICTORY OPINIONS, CAN’T SURVIVE:  Corrupt Media Use ‘Misinformation’ Smears To Fuel Democrats’ ‘Get Trump’ Lawfare Campaign.

Nor does it deserve to.

AND IT’S UP TO US TO MAKE IT LEAVE BACK OUT THAT DOOR AND FAST:  ‘Their’ Democracy: Tyranny Comes to the US.

WE DON’T HAVE NEARLY ENOUGH LAMP POSTS: Survey: Two-Thirds Of Elites Say There’s Too Much Freedom In America.

SHOCKED, SHOCKED SHOCKED:   Ballots Cast Without Proof Of Citizenship ‘Exploded’ After Lawfare Crippled Arizona Election Laws.

And tell me, how much did this have to do with the left’s desire to weld the border wide open?

MR., WE NEED US OUR VERY OWN JAVIER:  Argentina’s Milei rips into the ‘bloody abortion agenda’ to shocked crowd at Davos.

Ripping into the anti-human agenda of the DARVOS Lizardery.

AND ABOUT THAT CLOSING SPEECH FROM BRIAHNA JOY ON THE HILL’S RISING: On Wednesday I was on the Hill’s Rising with Briahna Joy Gray and Robby Soave.

Briahna claimed that colleges may graduate many people who think of themselves as “liberal” but are actually economically conservative. That doesn’t strike me as accurate.  According to a study by Nate Honeycutt (discussed here) about 40% of professors identified themselves as either Marxist, socialist, activist, or radical, and about 56% of graduate students self-described that way. If Briahna has noticed that fewer older people in the real world lean to the left economically, that is likely because many of us — even those like me who think of themselves as left of center — grew up when Marxist-Leninist countries were collapsing (like the Soviet Union) or had to at least partially embrace free markets (like China). My own experience was made even more vivid by living in Eastern Europe in the ‘90s and getting to talk directly to people who survived the Soviet system. If Briahna has noticed that many elite college grads are more economically “conservative,” which generally means more libertarian, that might be because there is evidence that higher IQ people tend to be more libertarian/classically liberal.

A MIXTURE OF THE DISPENSIBLE AND THE CONTEMPTIBLE FOR THE MOST PART: What Do College Administrators Do?

OPEN THREAD: Enjoy yourselves.