BRAVO: NASA’s Parker Solar Probe phones home after surviving historic close sun flyby. It’s alive! “The spacecraft is programmed to send home a more detailed status update on New Year’s Day, Jan. 1. It’s only then that scientists will know whether the spacecraft indeed collected the expected observations of the sun from the flyby, Michael Buckley, a spokesperson at JHUAPL, which oversees the Parker Solar Probe mission, told Space.com in an email. ‘This gives the team a better picture of overall spacecraft and subsystem/instrument health, including whether Parker’s data recorders are full.'”

THERE’S DOUBLING DOWN ON STUPID AND THEN THERE’S HOWEVER MANY TIMES THIS IS: You Won’t Believe Who Jen Psaki Thinks the Future of the Democratic Party Is. “Psaki believes the Democrats missed a ‘big opportunity’ by passing over Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) in favor of Rep. Gerry Connolly for the top spot on the House Oversight Committee.”

HMM:

https://t.co/L3MRKr1f1s OK, so what does she know that we don't? Last time I checked, Denmark was a NATO member, and she's the Prime Minister. That would be like Biden stocking up on canned goods. Anybody worried about this? Does the rest of NATO feel the same way?

— John Bulkeley (@bulkeley_john) December 27, 2024

You’d think the PM would already be prepared.

MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT: Yeah, We’re Going to Lose World War III to China (Part II) “Communist China celebrated party founder Mao Zedung’s birth earlier this week by debuting new weapons systems meant to drive the United States out of the Pacific — platforms that are barely on our drawing boards.”

DECLINE IS A CHOICE:

"Prime" rental space available in Uptown Minneapolis.
Not only will you have Urban Camping in front of your store, but there will also be no parking due to the designated bus lanes that will bring even more Urban Campers to your block.

Winning. pic.twitter.com/ArYTo548UF

— CrimeWatchMpls (@CrimeWatchMpls) December 26, 2024

On the plus side, at least it isn’t burning.

RICHARD FERNANDEZ: Is Vivek Ramaswamy’s Unpleasant Advice What We Need to Hear? “The exhortations of Vivek Ramaswamy would have been familiar to many a 19th-century British ‘public school’ — meaning private school — boy. It would have been preached in every pulpit and rostrum. To tweet it would have been commonplace. One of the accusations against white privilege is that it ‘normalizes’ an obsession with achievement and expansion — per ardua ad astra to the classically educated — hence impelling conquest in contrast to the more communitarian, more easygoing human culture of the global South. Progressives have been trying to purge the West of this impulse ever since the end of WW2 because an unhealthy fascination with success is the foundation of white supremacy.”

DECOUPLING: ASML Exits, China Screwed. “Western nations have an advanced, highly interconnected semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem that China doesn’t have the technical expertise to replicate. In particular, China has nothing like ASML’s extreme ultraviolet lithography machines (AKA a ‘stepper’) necessary to build the most advanced chips with the smallest feature geometries.”

Fascinating details at the link, but this one about the lithography machines China does have stood out: “Maintenance and upgrades for these machines are now completely restricted. In other words, starting next year these state-of-the-art [not quite – LP] lithography machines could become little more than scrap. To make matters worse, even repairs for older equipment are off the table.”

SCOTT PINSKER: A Tale of Two Russian Missile Attacks: Why Trump Should Follow the Reagan Example. “The loss of life was tragic, but the aftermath was an undeniable PR victory for the West: The contrast between good and evil was obvious.”

BIDEN’S PARTING GIFTS: DOE natural gas analysis draws disbelief from Republicans, industry.

The future of U.S. liquified natural gas exports remains complicated as the incoming Trump administration will have to contend with a recent Department of Energy analysis now open for public comment.

The study offers a justification for the Biden administration’s indefinite pause on new LNG export sites back in January, claiming that increasing LNG exports would not only increase greenhouse gas and methane emissions but also inflict economic damage.

The results could hinder Trump’s plan to approve new LNG natural gas export terminals, part of his goal to reestablish American energy independence.

While the analysis admits that increasing LNG exports would generate revenue and create jobs across the natural gas supply chain, it simultaneously holds that the average American household would face 30% higher gas prices.

Without citing specific data, Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said the projected price increase is due to “the increasing domestic price of the natural gas itself, increases in electricity prices (natural gas being a key input in many U.S. power markets), and the increased costs for consumers from the pass-through of higher costs to U.S. manufacturers.”

The Texas Oil & Gas Association refutes this claim, citing federally-produced energy data. Other industry reports also refute Biden administration claims, The Center Square previously reported.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., condemned the rushed Biden administration study as a “politically motivated” move meant to “hamstring” the energy goals of the incoming administration.

Well, yeah.

LESS GOVERNMENT, BETTER RESULTS: Female Murder Rate Plummets in Milei’s Argentina and You’ll Never Guess Why.

EXTEND THE TAX CUTS, CUT THE SPENDING, SLASH THE RED TAPE:

Trump’s economic team has a major problem on its hands.

The Fed is unable to balance inflation, rising mortgage rates & a stagnant economy. It needs to lower borrowing costs while simultaneously reducing inflation.

It can’t do both.

Rate cuts are supposed to make borrowing… https://t.co/98XlUANZGC

— Adrian Norman (@AdrianNormanDC) December 26, 2024

The Biden Cabal… Obama shadow presidency… whatever you want to call it… they really did a number on us.

THIS YOU CALL A WONDERFUL LIFE? Amazon Cuts Key Scene from ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ Just as We’re About to Emerge from Pottersville. “Apparently, the whole thing was over a copyright issue with that scene in the 1946 film, but it’s also worth noting in this connection that America is poised to emerge from its own Pottersville, the four years of the Biden-Harris regime.”

SUSTAINABILITY: National debt grew by $2.5 trillion in 2024; projected to rise.

As 2025 approaches, America’s fiscal health is in serious trouble with a ballooning federal debt exceeding 100% of the GDP. [It’s the publically held debt that just exceeded GDP. Total debt is nearly 25% higher than GDP. -Steve]

It’s projected to get even worse.

A year ago, the U.S. national debt amounted to more than $33.8 trillion, according to Senate Republican Joint Economic Committee data. As of Dec. 24, 2024, the debt has climbed to nearly $36.3 trillion, a $2.5 trillion increase within the past 12 months.

If the average daily rate of debt growth over the past three years continues, the gross national debt will reach $37 trillion within 5 months, $39.2 trillion in 2026, and $40.95 trillion in 2027, according to the most recent Congressional Budget Office 10-year forecast.

Economist Romina Boccia, director of Budget and Entitlement Policy at the Cato Institute, told The Center Square that the “excessively high, and growing unsustainably fast” national debt has “real implications” for the future of the country.

Boccia referenced how the high levels of debt caused by federal spending have depressed economic growth, particularly over the past four years, leading to decreases in take-home pay, job opportunities and entrepreneurship.

Spending cuts, deregulation, and growth are the only way out. Trump promised all three, and his ability to deliver will go far in determining his legacy.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Dems Are in Disarray — Here’s Hoping They Stay That Way. “Not only did the Dems wreck the economy, they were in full-throated denial about having done so. Their flying monkeys in the mainstream media ran interference for them, essentially telling voters who expressed concerns about the economy that they were idiots.”

DEEP STATE UPDATE:

Brownstone Institute has been tracking a little-known federal agency for years. It is part of the Department of Homeland Security created after 9-11. It is called the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency or CISA. It was created in 2018 out of a 2017 executive order…

— Jeffrey A Tucker (@jeffreyatucker) December 25, 2024

More:

It was a mandate to secure American digital infrastructure against foreign attack and infiltration.

And yet during the Covid year, it assumed three huge jobs. It was the agency responsible for dividing the workforce between essential and nonessential. It led the way on censorship efforts. And it handled election security for 2020 and 2022, which, if you understand the implications of that, should make you spit out your coffee upon learning.

More than any other agency, it became the operationally relevant government during this period. It was the agency that worked through third parties and packet-switching networking to take down your Facebook group. It worked through all kinds of intermediaries to keep a lid on Twitter. It managed LinkedIn, Instagram, and most of the other mainstream platforms in a way that made you feel like your opinions were too crazy to see the light of day.

The most astonishing court document just came out. It was unearthed in the course of litigation undertaken by America First Legal. It has no redaction. It is a reverse chronicle of most of what they did from February 2020 until last year. It is 500 pages long. The version available now takes an age to download, so we shrunk it and put it on fast view so you can see the entire thing.

Tucker’s full writeup is here.

IT LOOKED PRETTY BAD: That Russian Airliner Shoot-Down Was Even Worse Than It Looked.

COLD WAR II: Finland Boards Russian Shadow Fleet Tanker After Subsea Cables Go Offline.

Finland’s police and border patrol have boarded the Eagle S oil tanker, which is part of Russia’s shadow fleet while investigating the cause of an interruption of subsea power and data cables linking Finland with Estonia, Finnish police said on Thursday.

The tanker, Eagle S, was traveling in the Baltic Sea under the flag of the Cook Islands and was fully loaded with unleaded gasoline, the Finnish police and other authorities said at a news conference, as carried by Bloomberg.

The Eagle S was spotted to be missing its anchor and it could have been this missing anchor that has caused the damage to the subsea cable links.

The Estlink-2 power link went offline on Wednesday afternoon. By early Thursday afternoon investigations were ongoing in both Finland and Estonia on the cause of the damage.

Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna on Thursday discussed the incidents involving submarine infrastructure with Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen, Tsahkna said in a statement.

“Damage to critical submarine infrastructure has become so frequent that it is difficult to believe this is accidental or merely poor seamanship. We must understand that damage to submarine infrastructure has become more systematic and thus must be regarded as attacks against our vital structures,” the Estonian foreign minister said.

“Can’t rule out deliberate damage to the cable,” Tsahkna posted on X.

More:

UPDATE!

EAGLE S, vessel suspected of causing cable damage is at anchor in Finnish territorial waters.

A no-fly zone has been imposed on the area.

Finnish police and the Border Guard have boarded the ship, investigations are ongoing.

THIS is how you do these things! 💪🇫🇮

— Tomi 🇺🇦🇫🇮 (@TallbarFIN) December 26, 2024

And here’s a thread I found interesting on the Finnish Border Guard guys who got the job done.

Only tangentially related but still amusing: Sanctioned Russian LNG Cargo Ends Across-the-World Trip Without Finding Buyer. “After the journey from Europe to Russia’s Far East, Pioneer was spotted in December offloading the cargo in a Russian floating storage unit near Kamchatka, according to the vessel-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg.”

IT’S (D)IFFERENT WHEN THEY DO IT: The Left Is Pushing Congress for an Insurrection on Jan. 6, 2025.

Remember how Democrats were outraged — Outraged! — that some Republicans objected to the counting of the Electoral College votes back in 2021 over concerns that voter fraud tipped the election results to Joe Biden in key battleground states? The very idea of disputing the election results was seen as blasphemy and anti-democratic.

Yet the left is once again pushing for Congress to block Donald Trump from taking office, despite his overwhelming victory in 2024.

Evan Davis, the former editor-in-chief of the Columbia Law Review, and David Schulte, the former editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal, argue in a joint column in The Hill that Congress not only has the power to block Trump from taking office but should.

Insurrection, straight up.

IT’S NOT THE ACCIDENT, IT’S THE COVER-UP: That Russian Airliner Shoot-Down Was Even Worse Than It Looked.

FER CRYIN’ OUT LOUD: Another US Navy Jet Narrowly Missed ‘Friendly Fire’ Over Red Sea.

CHRISTIAN TOTO: Late-Night TV Has a Luigi Mangione Problem. “If this had happened once or even twice it could be written off. Three times? On three different hard-Left showcases? Writing it off would be a mistake.”

WELL, IT’S TRUE: A ‘Stench of Loser’ Hangs Over the Dems, Says Top Fundraiser Who Quit the Party.

BUT THE NARRATIVE!

Antarctic sea ice extent is 17% higher today than it was in 1979. Ice doesn't lie, but climate scientists do.https://t.co/jEmTvGVPdghttps://t.co/cj0675DQBt pic.twitter.com/ivUCtobivp

— Tony Heller (@TonyClimate) December 25, 2024

Increased ice formation is a sign of… something bad that we did, I’m sure.

NICE FAKE NEWS NETWORK YOU’VE GOT THERE, IT WOULD BE A SHAME IF ANYTHING WERE TO HAPPEN TO IT: Trump’s New FCC Chief Just Read the Riot Act to Disney’s Bob Iger.

COMMIES GOTTA COMMIE: Sweeping Vietnam internet law comes into force.

New Vietnamese internet rules requiring Facebook and TikTok to verify user identities and hand over data to authorities came into force on Wednesday, in what critics say is the latest attack on freedom of expression.

Under “Decree 147”, all tech giants operating in Vietnam must verify users’ accounts via their phone numbers or Vietnamese identification numbers and store that information alongside their full name and date of birth.

They must provide that data to authorities on request and remove any content the government regards as “illegal” within 24 hours.

The new rules came into force on Wednesday, state media VNExpress said.

All social media sites had been given 90 days to provide data on “the total number of regular visits from Vietnam” and the number of regular users per month to authorities, the website said.

“Decree 147 will be used to publicly suppress those with different viewpoints,” said activist Dang Thi Hue, who writes about politics and social issues on her Facebook account, which has 28,000 followers.

Lefties would love to be able to do the same in this country.