KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Mark Zuckerberg Has a Bad Case of Musk Envy. “I think that Zuckerberg’s pilgrimage up Mt. MAGA is motivated in no small part by being envious about the dizzying political heights that his fellow tech billionaire Elon Musk has risen to since he went all-in for President-elect Donald Trump last summer. It’s the kind of power that Zuckerberg probably thought he was buying from the Biden administration in 2021 by doing its bidding. The Biden people merely wanted him to be an obedient lapdog, however.”
Author Archive: Stephen Green
January 8, 2025
UH-HUH: Hamas stands by demand for end to Gaza war under hostage deal, as Trump deadline nears.
Hamas stood by its demand on Tuesday that Israel fully end its assault on Gaza under any deal to release hostages, and said U.S. President-elect Donald Trump was rash to say there would be “hell to pay” unless they go free by his Jan. 20 inauguration.
Officials from the Islamist group and Israel have been holding talks with Qatari and Egyptian mediators in the most intensive effort for months to reach a ceasefire in Gaza.
The outgoing U.S. administration has called for a final push for a deal before Joe Biden leaves office, and many in the region now view Trump’s inauguration as an unofficial deadline.
But with the clock ticking, both sides accuse the other of blocking a deal by adhering to conditions that torpedoed all previous peace efforts for more than a year.
Hamas says it will free its remaining hostages only if Israel agrees to end the war and withdraw all its troops from Gaza. Israel says it will not end the war until Hamas is dismantled and all hostages are free.
Losers don’t get to make demands.
This guy, on the other hand, is winning: Trump warns ‘all hell will break out’ if Gaza hostages not released by his inauguration.
NOT A VERY NICE GUY, ACTUALLY: Never Forget: Jimmy Carter Pardoned a Child Molester.
HMM: Egypt Prepares for Military Confrontation with Israel.
Despite facing substantial economic hardships, Egypt is in the midst of significant military spending. The Israeli defense establishment identifies military activity in central Sinai, including logistical preparations and the construction of cement obstacles aimed at blocking Israeli armored vehicles.
Political officials in Jerusalem have voiced concern over Egypt’s unprecedented military buildup, including the construction of tunnels and bridges over the Suez Canal. These developments, they warn, could facilitate the rapid deployment of Egyptian forces into the Sinai Peninsula and potentially across the border with Israel.
Also, despite IDF reports to the contrary, Egypt maintains more than a dozen deep tunnels connecting Rafah in the Gaza Strip and points deep in the Sinai Peninsula – which have not been demolished yet. The above, and many other military boosts are in clear violation of the restrictions outlined in the Camp David Accords and the subject of heated debates between Israeli and Egyptian security officials.
Hopefully, whatever is going on is being overhyped… but I wouldn’t count on it.
ROBERT SPENCER: Elizabeth Warren Finds One of Those Right-Wing Extremists the Biden Regime Has Been Warning Us About. “Warren sent a series of angry smoke signals to Hegseth, admonishing him for daring to express his Christian faith openly and trying to make him out to be one of those right-wing extremists we always hear so much about but so seldom see.”
January 7, 2025
I’M GLAD SOMEBODY’S ENJOYING IT: Adorable Pandas Play in the Snow As Winter Storm Hits the U.S.
I WANT TO BELIEVE: Former NASA Astronaut Puzzled by Metallic Orbs He Encountered While Flying.
Former NASA astronaut Leroy Chiao says he had a baffling encounter when he was flying his private four-seat airplane in 2023.
At an altitude of 9,000 feet over Houston, Texas, the former Space Shuttle commander had two “perfectly smooth” and “shiny” spheres, each roughly three feet in diameter, rip by him a mere 20 feet away. He first detailed the unusual encounter in an interview with NewsNation in December, and recently elaborated on the sighting in a follow-up with the New York Post — claims from a highly accomplished pilot and space traveler that add fuel to the fire of debates over unidentified objects in the skies.
“There was nothing around me other than the panhandle of Texas at nine thousand feet on this instrument flight plan and just suddenly these things appeared,” he told the publication.
“They came right at me,” he added.
Just open all the secret files and let the chips fall where they may.
I FINALLY FOUND THE TOXIC MASCULINITY THE LEFT IS ALWAYS GOING ON ABOUT:
This is a very important symptom of mass immigration: The gradual disappearance of women from crowded public spaces out of fear of harassment.
People don't talk enough about this.
— 𝗡𝗶𝗼𝗵 𝗕𝗲𝗿𝗴 ♛ ✡︎ (@NiohBerg) January 7, 2025
Toxic males, anyway.
“YOU WANT THE TRUTH? WE WON’T LET YOU HANDLE THE TRUTH!”
Berlin's mayor reportedly no longer wants to publish the first names of the "German perpetrators" from New Year's Eve.
The analysis shows: Of over 500 perpetrators, 410 have a migration background.pic.twitter.com/RoIV7ieQpW
— Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) January 7, 2025
What happened to “celebrate diversity?”
MAYBE CNN DOESN’T WANT THE COMPETITION:
CNN is currently in court at this moment over defamation and lying. pic.twitter.com/WxNmLV5lRh
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) January 7, 2025
THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN’: UFC Head, Trump Ally Dana White Joins Meta Board of Directors.
Dana White, CEO of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and ally of President-elect Donald Trump, has joined the board of directors for Meta, the parent company of Facebook.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the inclusion of Dana White in a Facebook post on Monday, hailing his work as an entrepreneur and business leader.
“Dana is the President and CEO of UFC, and he has built it into one of the most valuable, fastest growing, and most popular sports enterprises in the world. I’ve admired him as an entrepreneur and his ability to build such a beloved brand,” noted Zuckerberg.
This would have been unimaginable in 2017, and it’s noteworthy how the “Literally Hitler!” narrative has collapsed since November.
In other Meta news — broken on X, naturally:
NOW – Zuckerberg: "We're going to get rid of fact-checkers and replace them with community notes, similar to X." pic.twitter.com/UtZxzCojpN
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) January 7, 2025
Also unimaginable just a short while ago.
THIS IS CNN: Jim Acosta Got Destroyed on CNN Over Jan. 6.
Or maybe this was CNN: CNN’s High-Profile Defamation Trial Is Underway—and Jurors Appear Open to 10-Figure Payout.
THE NEW SPACE RACE: China launches Shijian-25 satellite to test on-orbit refueling and mission extension technologies. “The mission will also be carefully followed by other space actors as the mission — especially if carried out with low levels of transparency — could be perceived as dual-purpose. While the mission may be focused on extending the lifetime of a civilian satellite, the capabilities could, for example, be used in the future to support military satellites through on-orbit servicing. The People’s Liberation Army is known to be working on the technology and training tools for on-orbit satellite refueling for both peacetime and wartime scenarios.”
I CAN’T WAIT TO NOT MISS HIM: Old Man Shouts at Cloud on Way Out of White House.
MAYBE REAL UBI HAS NEVER BEEN TRIED: UBI Hurts Recipients. “But mere historical failure has never deterred the radical left from pursuing their utopian schemes (‘And the burnt Fool’s bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire’), so they tried to test UBI, yet again, and the result, yet again, was discouraging failure.”
DANIEL MCCARTHY: Donald Trump’s Worldwide Election. “It’s almost as if Trump himself were on the ballot in other advanced democracies.”
SOME? McDonald’s is ending some of its DEI practices.
McDonald’s is the latest US corporation – and among the largest – to back off some of its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices, as a Supreme Court ruling against affirmative action and conservative backlash to those programs continues to lead businesses to reevaluate their diversity pledges.
The company in a statement Monday said it is sunsetting its specific diversity goals, including requiring its suppliers to commit to certain DEI targets. And it will stop participating in external surveys that measure corporate diversity.
McDonald’s is also changing the name of its diversity team to the Global Inclusion Team – a common practice for many other companies that have rolled back diversity pledges.
“This name change is more fitting for McDonald’s in light of our inclusion value and better aligns with this team’s work,” McDonald’s said in the statement.
McDonald’s would be wise to eliminate the team instead of renaming it — before it metastasizes and they go Full Jaguar.
BIDEN’S PARTING GIFTS: In its final days, the Biden administration announces new water-heater ban. “Under the policy, new non-condensing, natural gas-fired water heaters will be prohibited for sale starting in 2029 due to concerns about carbon-dioxide emissions. The policy comes during President Biden’s twilight days in the White House and was quietly announced without a press release.”
Previously: Schumer mocks GOP: ‘Nobody is taking away your gas stove.’
HE SHOULD GRANT THEM: J6ers Ask Trump for Pardons in DC as Election Is Certified.
GOOD ADVICE: ‘Give yourself a break’ is bad advice: Do difficult things!
Jake wonders why liberal arts colleges “center” their black students by “encouraging them to experience college as a source of ‘racial battle fatigue’.”
I envision kids watching the The Little Engine That Couldn’t on their phones: “I think I can’t. I think I can’t. It’s too hard. Climbing mountains is a vestige of white patriarchy! Look how brave I am for being able to say that I can’t! I thought I couldn’t!”
American culture treats “successful people like they somehow cheated to get there and poor people as if they’re noble by virtue of being poor,” writes John Hawkins, in another response to Vivek Ramaswamy’s “culture of mediocrity” critique.
Parents should be pushier, he writes. Kids aren’t “pieces of glass that will break if they’re pushed too hard.”
Kids usually live up to — or down to — expectations. “The soft bigotry of low expectations” was one of George W Bush’s few memorable (and correct) phrases and of course, the Left hated him for it.
STREAMLINE IT. AND CANCEL SLS WHILE YOU’RE AT IT: What Will NASA Look Like Under a Second Trump Administration?
SHE LEFT OUT “RUTHLESSLY YET CLUMSILY EXECUTED,” BUT, YEAH:
The problem with Trudeau’s government is not the name at the top of the ticket. The problem is bad ideas, strongly held.
The comprehensive failure of Justin Trudeau:https://t.co/HjAZuXENqy
— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) January 7, 2025
Trudeau won’t be missed but it remains to be seen whether Canadians can go MCGA.
DON’T BLOW IT:
We are about to experience something that’s never been done before
Republicans have only controlled the White House, Senate, and House for 10 years in the past century
And you know how many of those years included a 6-3 conservative Supreme Court plus a powerful MAGA media…
— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) January 5, 2025
As Elon Musk said, “It’s now or never.”
KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Canada’s Commie Soy Boy Trudeau Slithers Off to Ignominy. “The timing of Trudeau’s announcement is delicious. Democrats are already weeping and gnashing their teeth because Trump is about to be inaugurated. The proggie loons here in the United States were Trudeau’s biggest fan club, so his departure has got to be hitting them pretty hard. The Dems’ flying monkeys in the mainstream media did more to create and perpetuate the myth of Justin Trudeau the studly feminist than their counterparts up north.”