HOW LEFTIST NARRATIVES WORK:

So when the rich kid who went to a $40K a year high school and hung out in Hawaii (allegedly) executes the University of Iowa graduate who worked his ass off for 25 years, the elites are really getting what they deserve, huh?

— Alex Berenson (@AlexBerenson) December 10, 2024

MICHAEL CAPUTO ON MATT TAIBBI’S SUBSTACK: It would be a crime to abandon investigations into Russiagate, both because it’s ongoing and because of the cost to those of us who were victims of it. “Kash Patel, President Trump’s pick to lead the Federal Bureau of Investigation, is the man we need. Like the President elect, he has seen this abuse up close. They are uniquely qualified. Make no mistake, when we all chose politics as a profession, we knew it was bloodsport. But none of us expected the personal toll that impacted not just careers, but health and families — especially our children.”

Identify the perpetrators and lock them up.

BRAD THOMPSON: Rethinking the American Revolution. “The war between Great Britain and her American colonies ended unofficially with the Battle of Yorktown on October 19, 1781, and it ended officially on September 3, 1783, with the signing of the Treaty of Paris. The American Revolution was, by contrast, much broader in scope, scale, duration, influence, and meaning than the Revolutionary War.”

OPEN THREAD: Tuesday’s groovy.

ADMIRAL BYNG TO THE WHITE COURTESY PHONE — UH, NEVER MIND: We Need to Ritually Sacrifice a Squish GOP Senator to Encourage the Others.

WELL, MAKE IT MARCH, WE’RE MINUS ON MINUTES: Blue Origin says first New Glenn launch still scheduled for 2024.

DON’T WORRY, THE NEXT ELECTION ISN’T FOR FOUR YEARS: A Single Mutation Could Bring Bird Flu a Critical Step Closer to a New Pandemic.

THAT WASN’T ME, IT WAS THE COUCH: New Research Reveals That Your Couch Could Be Emitting Toxic Vapors.

IS THERE ANYTHING IT CAN’T DO? Keto diet might increase effectiveness of certain cancer treatment.

E.V.: 2025 Lucid Gravity First Drive: Goes Over 400 Miles and Feels Awesome Doing So: Lucid’s first SUV seems like a worthy sequel to the Air sedan—but will it sell? The 450 mile range, however, is “estimated.” I’d like to see some real-world performance reports.

SAY A PRAYER FOR TAXPROF PAUL CARON AND HIS STUDENTS: Franklin Fire in Malibu erupts near Pepperdine University, prompting evacuations.

MY LATEST SUBSTACK ESSAY: 2024: A Damn Close-Run Thing.

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RULES ARE FOR THE LITTLE PEOPLE: House Staffer Caught Up In Mags For Me, But Not For Thee Arrest.

CONUNDRUM: Obesity rates are down. Is that because of weight-loss drugs?

AT LEAST WE CAN’T BE DETECTED THAT WAY: A technosignature that could detect an extraterrestrial civilization’s reliance on nuclear fusion.

I BELIEVE IT: Industry-funded study suggests coffee really is the fountain of youth.

EPIDEMIC OF LONELINESS: Loneliness widespread among U.S. residents ages 50 to 80, poll shows.

ALMOST PLAUSIBLE:

But only almost. We know Biden can’t give a coherent speech anymore.

VIDEO: How Javier Milei Transformed Argentina in One Year. “Javier Milei was sworn in one year ago, on December 10th, 2023. In his first year as President of Argentina, he has successfully implemented several libertarian policies, and given us a glimpse at what libertarian leadership looks like. Here are his top 5 accomplishments of 2024.”

Video and much more at the link.

PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE: Vanderbilt to end ‘inherently exclusionary’ honors program. “Vanderbilt University recently announced plans to phase out its College Scholars Honors Program, replacing it with a new one that is more inclusive and ‘accessible to all students.'”

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, DEFICIT SPENDING EDITION: USC financial disclosures show the university spent $158 million more than what the university earned.

WIN BY LOSING: Trump can fire anybody he wants, thanks to Sean Spicer. “Thanks in part to a court fight former Trump White House spokesman Sean Spicer lost over his firing by Biden from a three-year term to the Board of Visitors to the United States Naval Academy, the incoming president will have the legal backing to dump any of Biden’s over 4,000 appointments who try to stick around. . . . Spicer said that is exactly what he hoped the courts would do because he wanted to help a future Trump presidency fire Biden’s picks without having its hands tied.”

ANALYSIS: TRUE. Lefty Logic Lures Loonies. It’s meant to. Leftism is weaponized neurosis. “Reading all of these pieces I’m seeing a story that goes something like this: Depressed, neurotic people (especially single women) are more likely to support Democrats. Democrats support policies and messaging that produce more depressed, neurotic people, especially single women. Now maybe this is an accident, but maybe it isn’t.”

THE ENEMY WITHIN: ‘Death to Jews’: Inside the Home of 2 SJP Leaders at George Mason University, Police Find Guns, Ammo, and Terrorist Flags.

Related: Anti-Israel Radicals Throw Urine-Filled Mason Jars Through University of Michigan Regent’s Window: ‘This is the third time that I—and now my family—have been the target of these Klan-like tactics,’ Jewish Regent Jordan Acker wrote.

IT’S COMING BACK, THANKS TO ELON AND THE DONALD: Virginia Postrel: The Lost Glamour of the Future.

Leftists were crushed by what Normal Mailer called the “Revenge of the Squares.” While they yammered about changing the world, the guys at NASA with the flattops and pocket protectors went and actually did it.