Archive for 2026
January 13, 2026
THE BIG DEAL ISN’T THE APP, BUT THAT IT WENT VIRAL: Are You Dead?: The viral Chinese app for young people living alone.
A new bleak-sounding app has taken China by storm.
Named Are You Dead? the concept is simple. You need to check in with it every two days – clicking a large button – to confirm that you are alive. If not, it will get in touch with your appointed emergency contact and inform them that you may be in trouble.
It was launched in May last year to not much fanfare but attention around it has exploded in recent weeks with many young people, who live alone in Chinese cities, downloading it in droves.
This has propelled it to become the most downloaded paid app in the country.
According to research institutions, there may be up to 200 million one-person households in China by 2030, Chinese state media outlet Global Times reports.
Sad.
WELL:
Germany's foreign minister – The Islamic Republic has lost all legitimacy, saying the Iranian government does not have support from its people. We will use all measures available to us against this regime, including sanctions.
🇮🇷🇩🇪‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️
— WW3 Monitor (@WW3_Monitor) January 13, 2026
KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Minnesota Is Not Well — Ilhan Omar Edition. “I think we can agree that there is an inherent sleaze factor associated with all Congressional Democrats. Ethical concerns regarding some of Omar’s past (Wedding bells!) have arisen, too. One doesn’t need to overdose on imagination to believe that a massive scandal in Minnesota involving recently-arrived Somalis might, just might, get back to Omar at some point.”
PEOPLE ARE NOTICING:
— S (@kingslanding_18) January 13, 2026
I LOVE HOW LEFTISTS FORGET EVERYTHING OBAMA DID:
He literally sent IRS goons to conservatives homes. https://t.co/dWavzcuZqF
— EducatëdHillbilly™ (@RobProvince) January 13, 2026
UPDATE: Related:
Democrats hate when law enforcement arrests immigrants for being here illegally
But they loved when law enforcement arrested ordinary Americans for not wearing masks
Let's be clear
Democrats do not hate law enforcement or authoritarianism
They hate ordinary Americans pic.twitter.com/IfrBZhAtS7
— Kevin Bass (@kevinnbass) January 12, 2026
WHAT ARE THEY DOING THESE DAYS AT THE FBI?
It’s worth noting that a small and adequately funded task force could easily identify, track, monitor, and ultimately disrupt or interdict the networks behind these paid protests.
Anyone who has spent time in Special Operations understands that it would not take some massive…
— Green Beret Nap Time (@GBNT1952) January 13, 2026
Exit question from the above tweet: “So, that begs the question: if our leaders could easily stop it… why haven’t they?”
Speaking of which:
This simply doesn’t happen without it being allowed to happen.
And it simply isn’t allowed to happen unless it’s in exchange for something massive.
Something like an entire state’s electoral votes. https://t.co/2s617AqvP1
— Oilfield Rando (@Oilfield_Rando) January 12, 2026
SHARKS GOTTA SWIM, BATS GOTTA FLY: California Restricts Free Speech.
California’s far-left Supreme Court has ordered restrictions on the speech and expressive conduct of California’s lawyers “at all times,” including during their unrelated business activities, political endeavors and personal lives.
Just before Christmas, the even more radical California State Bar imperiously advised the state’s 200,000 lawyers “Read it, declare it, mean it.” That ominous warning introduced the California Supreme Court’s Orwellian Rule 9.7 which requires every lawyer to attest that: “As an officer of the court, I will strive to conduct myself at all times with dignity, courtesy and integrity.” The license of any lawyer who fails or refuses to acquiesce will be invalidated, and any lawyer who violates the oath is subject to “appropriate fees and penalties” to be set by the Bar.
For a nanosecond, that’s an appealing concept. But, under the First Amendment, no instrumentality of government may condition an individual’s livelihood on complying with its view of “dignity” or “courtesy,” in their political or personal endeavors. Invalidating the licenses of non-compliant lawyers also violates procedural due process under the Fifth and 14th Amendments. Tying the oath to meaningless pap about a lawyer being an “officer of the court” exposes the premeditated overreach.
As a threshold problem, even in traditional usage, “strive,” “dignity” and “courtesy” are so vague that no lawyer could know what is required, violating substantive due process.
What a mess.
IF YOU AGREE WITH 1990s BILL CLINTON ON CRIME OR IMMIGRATION NOW, YOU ARE “FAR RIGHT.”
1995. Presidential Radio Address.
Clinton: It does not matter if they have committed crimes while here. They came here illegally. That's a crime. They have to go.
In 1995 the entire country agreed with this. It was common sense. Now Democrats call this fascism and hate speech. pic.twitter.com/1YetyEnpXQ
— MAZE (@mazemoore) January 13, 2026
I THINK IT WAS HENRY KISSINGER WHO SAID AN IRANIAN MODERATE IS ONE WHO IS RELOADING:
Incredible WSJ headline:
"Iran moderates also support mass slaughter"
Almost as if they aren't moderate and never were. Legacy media is trash and you should all lose your jobs. pic.twitter.com/GizdNoMAGE
— 𝐍𝐢𝐨𝐡 𝐁𝐞𝐫𝐠 ✡︎ 🇮🇷 (@NiohBerg) January 13, 2026
But:
From Tehran this weekend 🔥 pic.twitter.com/gDZXrkFNKp
— 𝐍𝐢𝐨𝐡 𝐁𝐞𝐫𝐠 ✡︎ 🇮🇷 (@NiohBerg) January 13, 2026
CDR SALAMANDER: Iran, Persia, and All That Jazz.
ROGER SIMON: Time to Find Out Who’s Being Paid By Qatar.
With all that dough, you have to know you are a magnate for the second of the Seven Deadly Sins—Greed, and its partner, envy.
You can use this for all manner of purposes, political, cultural, economic, and religious.
In the process, you have on your side the widespread secularism of the West, from the USA and across Europe, actually just about anywhere, even among the most superficially religious.
In this, we have the example of Tucker Carlson, who allegedly adores and wants to buy a home in the country that is the greatest supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, whose intent has always been the destruction of all other religions but Islam. This would include the Christianity to which Carlson passionately swears his devotion. Could his faith all just be a masquerade for something more potent, as some have alleged with receipts?
As America’s Newspaper of Record “joked” yesterday:
Tucker Carlson Heads To Iran To Put Down Protests https://t.co/WuGJDYZmOO pic.twitter.com/pEO7Kumhzy
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) January 12, 2026
THE NEW YORK TIMES THINKS PERFECTLY ORDINARY CUTOFF SHORTS ARE “HOT PANTS.”
They literally know nothing, as Ben Rhodes observed.
FORTUNATELY, I’M NOT A MEMBER OF THE CALIFORNIA BAR: “California Restricts Free Speech.”
HMM:
Three peculiarities about Jerome Powell’s statement.
1. Powell is the one who decided to disclose the existence of the grand jury subpoena, not the government. The government is generally prohibited from discussing grand jury proceedings.
2. Contrary to Powell’s statement,… https://t.co/PDtQSc4vT9
— MetaLawMan (@MetaLawMan) January 12, 2026
SOMEBODY SET UP US THE BOMB: Author of ‘How Fascism Works’ Says Trump Is Leading an Unlawful Takeover of the Government.
I read the whole article.
I would so love to debate this highly educated imbecile.
Trump is the first "fascist" in world history whose singular governing principle is to reduce the size, scope and power of the branch of government he lawfully controls.
Worst "fascist" ever. https://t.co/mXURJu2f7z
— Cynical Publius (@CynicalPublius) January 12, 2026
“Trump is the first ‘fascist’ in world history whose singular governing principle is to reduce the size, scope and power” of government? Calvin Coolidge would like a word here.
Related: NSFW language alert:
This is the best roast of Liberals and ICE protesters I’ve ever heard. pic.twitter.com/ysBc4mXquh
— Don Keith (@RealDonKeith) January 11, 2026
LIMITED TIME DEAL: BISSELL Little Green Multi-Purpose Portable Carpet and Upholstery Cleaner. #CommissionEarned
IN ADDITION TO “HOW NOT TO BE SEEN,” THAT IS: What the Chinese learned from America’s raid on Venezuela.
To be sure, what happened Jan. 3 in Caracas was important to the Western Hemisphere. I don’t want to minimize the importance of knocking over a neighborhood bully in Venezuela, but the most important part of the story may be that the U.S. military, as it usually does, demonstrated that it is superior in weaponry and skill to any other force on the planet. Communist China’s weapons systems had a real-world test, and it was a disaster.
That has to be giving the crew in Beijing, which would like to be global bullies, nightmares.
The simple reality is that the communists in China have not been involved in a legitimate shooting war in 75 years. They have had no real way to test and improve their weapons under battlefield conditions. Every single one of their weapons systems is essentially undergoing a beta test the first time they are used in combat.
Anything that erodes Beijing’s confidence in its own weapons and soldiers and increases its sense of discomfort about invading Taiwan (or anywhere, really) is a good thing. In the big scheme of things, the attack in Caracas may have saved Taiwan and potentially the thousands (or millions) of lives that would have been lost in the course of a war in the Pacific.
Whatever else you might think of President Trump’s adventure in Venezuela, you should consider the very real possibility that it deterred or delayed the very worst impulses of the communists in Beijing.
“Peace through strength” requires the occasional demonstration.
HARSH BUT FAIR:
Now is a good time to remind you that Alec Baldwin (Billy’s brother) has killed more people by himself than all Trump supporters combined did on January 6th. https://t.co/f2g1Q8vNjP
— Gain of Fauci (@DschlopesIsBack) January 11, 2026
WHOOSH!: Elon Musk’s Grokipedia is growing really fast and will soon surpass Wikipedia in number of entries. It even has a “Gail Heriot” entry. As Descartes might have put it, “I am grokipediaed, therefore I am.” (A friend of mine reminded me of the Steve Martin telephone book scene in the Jerk.)
RABBI MICHAEL BARCLAY: Hollywood Leftists Invent a New Crime Against Humanity. “We now have an entirely new term coming out of the Hollywood left: medicide.'”
Every year, hunters ride into the cursed woods of Magnolia Manor chasing fortune.
Most never ride out. September Zamfir isn’t after treasure.He’s running from a past that hunts him harder than any monster, and walking straight into the one legend no blade has ever ended. But the beast is no mindless killer.
Behind silver fur and porcupine spines is Verity: a young woman chained to an ancient curse, guarding the only family she has left. When Sept offers the one thing no hunter ever has—help—she has to decide whether to trust the young man who sees through her claws… or condemn them both to the darkness that made her.
A dark, atmospheric tale of cursed bloodlines, impossible choices, and the thin line between monster and savior. For readers who crave beauty and terror in equal measure.