LOL, EXPERTS:
On French TV, a so-called expert gave viewers a quick geography lesson. Greenland, he said with more certainty than warranted, is closer to Europe than to the U.S.
The map had to be stretched so far that Iceland ended up south of Spain. pic.twitter.com/Bq6nsMUWSF
— blingsabato (@blingsabato) January 20, 2026
I thought it was Americans who didn’t know geography, but this “expert” sure seems to think his European viewers are ignorant.
HOW DO YOU SAY “NO MORE ANCHOR BABIES” IN MANDARIN?
I have verified the shocking findings of @peterschweizer regarding Chinese childbirth tourism and its future impact to US democracy, it is absolutely true! Even in Houston there are at least TEN Chinese birth centers (月子中心), and they are all in operation. How many are in NYC,… https://t.co/cBuvl15s7i pic.twitter.com/w7mEyIobe5
— Bin Xie (@bxieus) January 22, 2026
THE NEW SPACE RACE: The first commercial space station, Haven-1, is now undergoing assembly for launch.
The sprawling International Space Station is due to be decommissioned less than five years from now, and the US space agency has yet to formally publish rules and requirements for the follow-on stations being designed and developed by several different private companies.
Although there are expected to be multiple bidders in “phase two” of NASA’s commercial space station program, there are at present four main contenders: Voyager Technologies, Axiom Space, Blue Origin, and Vast Space. At some point later this year, the space agency is expected to select one, or more likely two, of these companies for larger contracts that will support their efforts to build their stations.
To get a sense of the overall landscape as the competition heats up, Ars recently interviewed Voyager chief executive Dylan Taylor about his company’s plans for a private station, Starlab. Today we are publishing an interview with Max Haot, the chief executive of Vast. The company is furthest along in terms of development, choosing to build a smaller, interim space station, Haven-1, capable of short-duration stays. Eventually, NASA wants facilities capable of continuous habitation, but it is not clear whether that will be a requirement starting in 2030.
Until today, Haven-1 had a public launch date of mid-2026. However, as Haot explained in our interview, that launch date is no longer tenable.
Much more at the link.
WELL-PLACED PROFANITY: James Woods Slams Don Lemon in Profanity-Laced Rebuke Over Church Protest Coverage.
STAY WARM, AND STAY OFF THE ROADS IF YOU CAN: Maps show where winter storm threatens to bring heavy snow, brutal cold this weekend.
This will make temperatures drop well below average for this time of year and even bring record-breaking temperatures to some locations. Frostbite can occur in as little as 5-10 minutes if exposed to this dangerous cold. Wind chill temperatures are forecast to feel like 40-50 degrees below zero in some places across the northern U.S.
Ice is expected to accumulate along the southern side of the storm’s track, but considering its slow movement, the amount of accumulation is expected to be between two-tenths of an inch to up to half an inch. Impacts of this magnitude can bring down power lines. With the harsh cold in place, power outages can lead to lack of indoor heating, crippling communities.
Possible snowfall amounts are fluctuating as the forecast models continue to come together. Up to 5-10 inches of snowfall is already expected across the southern Plains as the system takes shape over the region on Friday into Saturday.
Looks like a nasty one. The best time to get prepared was before winter, but the next best time is right now, before the weather hits.
KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Greenland or Bust! “A purchase of Greenland would be legitimate, of course, but Dems don’t know that because they don’t read real history books. They’re not aware of how a lot of this continent became part of the United States. I live in a city that was part of the Gadsden Purchase of 1854. As far as I know, there were no radical loons back then who were bent out of shape because President Franklin Pierce made a land deal.”
CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: Appeals court upholds most of Maryland ban on weapons in schools, parks, other public places.
A federal appeals court Tuesday upheld Maryland’s law banning guns in a wide range of public settings, from school grounds and government buildings to parks, sports venues and areas within 1,000 feet of a public demonstration.
A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that most of the dozen places identified in Maryland law fall under the U.S. Supreme Court’s definition of “sensitive places,” where government has the authority to restrict the Second Amendment right to bear arms.
The only area where the appeals court said the sensitive places exception did not apply was in “private property held open to the public,” where the law prohibits guns without specific permission from the property owner. That restriction is unconstitutionally broad, Circuit Judge Robert L. Gregory wrote for the court.
“Maryland’s rule would effectively declare most public places ‘gun-free zones,” Gregory wrote. “But that likely stretches the sensitive places doctrine too far.”
Maybe those places would be less sensitive with more guns.
IT’S MY THURSDAY ESSAY FOR VIP SUBSCRIBERS: Did Trump Lose It Over Greenland?
Well, wasn’t that an entertaining few days we just had over…
…Greenland?
Really?
Really.
On Monday and Tuesday, it looked like President Donald Trump was going to take us to war with our own NATO allies, or at least destroy the eight-decade-old alliance while Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping rubbed their hands together with glee.
All over a bunch of rock and ice that neither China nor Russia could ever hope to seize.
At least, that’s how more than a few pants-wetting you-know-whos told it.
I could share a few of the more panic-mongering X posts with you, all from names you’d recognize, but it’s nothing but same stuff/different issue yet again. Last week, Trump was going to send the 3rd Armored Division to occupy Minneapolis. The week before that, he was going to sell Venezuela’s oil at below-market rates to Trump Station franchises along the Acela AMTRAK line he wants to tear up and replace with a superhighway that doesn’t allow electric vehicles.
After ten-plus years, the hype just doesn’t seem worth it any longer.
Besides, you know the well-worn routine.
Much — much — more at the link.
Link was missing before — sorry! Fixed now.
YES, I VOTED FOR THIS, TOO: ICE Launches Maine Operation.
The action follows a similar operation in Minnesota and is focused on individuals with criminal histories, officials told The New York Times on Wednesday.
ICE Deputy Assistant Director Patricia Hyde said in a televised interview that approximately 1,400 people are being targeted in the state.
The Department of Homeland Security declined the Times’ request for comment on specific enforcement actions.
Maine has seen growth in its Somali population over the past two decades, particularly in Lewiston, as well as an influx of African asylum seekers during the Biden administration.
State officials claimed immigrants have helped address labor shortages in an aging, predominantly white state.
The phrasing makes it sound like being “predominantly white” is problematical, and I suppose for the state’s governing Democrats, it is.
WELL, THEY STILL HAVE THURSDAY AND FRIDAY TO GO: ‘The View’ Sinks to a New Low… and Then Another. “Once again, ABC proved it has no shame by not only airing this garbage but not correcting the record in any meaningful way.”
GOOD QUESTION: Why Do We Let Commie Chinese Pilots Train in America?
ADRIAN VERMEULE: The ‘Trial’ and Martyrdom of Louis XVI.
This is a previously published essay of mine in memoriam Louis XVI, which I plan to republish annually on January 21 — the day in 1793 when, as Pius VI put it, “[b]y a conspiracy of impious men, the most Christian king Louis XVI” was put to martyrdom. Americans have particular reason to hold his memory in reverence, as explained below.
On this day in 1793, Louis XVI was executed by guillotine in the Place de la Révolution, now the Place de la Concorde, in Paris. The United States might well never have come into existence without the massive aid, military and financial, provided by Louis’ government; and the budgetary strains incurred by that aid contributed rather directly to the calling of the Estates-General in 1789 and thus to the Revolution itself. Hence it is fitting for Americans to honor Louis’ end. What follows is a bibliographic essay in memoriam, presenting a set of sources, written in or translated into English, on the pseudo-trial of the King and his subsequent martyrdom.
Louis’ eloquent last will and testament is helpfully provided by Andrew Cusack. The King forgives his enemies (while rejecting the legitimacy of their actions), asks for the forgiveness of anyone he has offended, professes his Catholic faith, and exhorts his son that “should he have the misfortune of becoming king, to remember he owes himself wholly to the happiness of his fellow citizens.” It reveals a monarch sincerely devoted to his family, to the welfare of his realm, and to the Church.
That the trial of Louis was indeed a sham — a proceeding for which “one can find neither pretext nor means in any existing law,” as Louis put it in his testament — is not seriously contestable
Read the whole thing, and understand that the French Revolution is where modern leftism got its start.
YOU’VE BEEN WARNED, AMERICA:
Before you go writing off Virginia know this, Abigail Spanberger has been groomed to run for President(the new Hillary).
Being governor is just a stepping stone. So while everyone is distracted with Gavin she is the plan.
The VA Legislature will push crazy, radical stuff&she…
— Michelle Maxwell ™ (@MichelleMaxwell) January 21, 2026
Related (From Ed):
Spanberger just put KKK/Blackface Northam on the VMI Board of Visitors …
After she called him a bigot in 2019.
She's a joke.
A fraud and a liar https://t.co/Dtt98nc4hu pic.twitter.com/YXpAHSiox5— The🐰FOO (@PolitiBunny) January 21, 2026
AS IF ON CUE: Month after Bondi Hanukkah attack, Australian MPs pass stricter gun, hate crime laws. “On firearms, Australia will set up a national gun buyback scheme, tighten rules on imports of firearms and expand background checking for gun permits to allow input from intelligence services.”
IT’S FRAUD ALL THE WAY DOWN: Entitlement fraud costs taxpayers billions … or trillions, dwarfing Minnesota.
Since 2020, fraudsters have scammed at least $36 billion and as much as $3 trillion in tax money from federal entitlement programs, dwarfing the amount federal prosecutors claim was stolen in Minnesota’s federal food aid scandal known as Feeding Our Future, an investigation by The Center Square found.
The Center Square reviewed all the statements about entitlement fraud cases issued by the U.S. Department of Justice from 2020 to last year, which did not include many of the cases prosecuted by U.S. Attorney’s offices in the various districts and any state prosecutions.
Public safety net programs such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid lost billions of dollars to scams each year, according to a review of 2,500 DOJ statements, press releases, and fact sheets. The amount ranged from $2.7 billion in 2022 to $14.5 billion in 2025.
Fraud experts said, if anything, the $36 billion figure is too low.
I doubt $36 billion would cover just Sacramento since 2020.
Even at $3 trillion, you might want to take the “over.”
VICTORIA TAFT: Sorry to Break up Your Narrative About Renee Good, Lefties, but I’ve Got Some News. “If you look closely, however, the story is changing. The narrative about Good’s later-in-life lesbian ‘marriage’ is quickly evaporating, given an old Irish goodbye by the news media. That doesn’t mean the media have corrected the record, but they have begun to quietly make the inaccurate portrayal of her marital status disappear.”
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