DISPATCHES FROM THE RED ZONES: Idaho Bar Offers Free Beer to Help ICE Catch Illegals.

The Old State Saloon in Eagle made an announcement Saturday on social media that ignited a firestorm online, Fox News reported.

“ALERT: Anyone who helps ICE identify and ultimately deport an illegal from Idaho gets FREE BEER FOR ONE MONTH at Old State Saloon!” its post read:

When word of the deal spread online, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reacted with a gif of a dinosaur character dropping what appeared to be a beer can while it had a dumbfounded look on its face:

“If you’d like to claim your free beers, send a detailed email with any evidence, photos, videos, summary of events, dates, and times etc to: ,” the saloon wrote in a reply to its initial post.

The establishment later shared screenshots of what appeared to be messages from people taking up the challenge:

In a subsequent post early Sunday, the saloon, which is owned by Mark Fitzpatrick, announced another beer giveaway.

“For the month of December it’s ‘Merry Snitchmas’ at Old State Saloon: Manly American Mondays — all American Citizen males who support ICE get one free beer! Ladies’ ‘I’m Telling’ Tuesdays — BOGO for American woman willing to tell ICE about any illegals, to get them deported. Wednesday: American heterosexual couples get 10% off their entire bill. Get married and make American babies, if at all possible!” the post read.

Beer: Helping people get married and make American babies since 1776!

RICHARD FERNANDEZ: The Hollow Man.

People are at once the greatest treasure and the greatest bane. Who hasn’t watched the movie where sadistic convicts take the guards hostage with makeshift knives and threaten to kill them one by one unless their demands are met? Or the scenario where a cab driver refuses to drive all the way into a high crime area and drops his passenger off in a dimly lit street, leaving him to walk the rest of the way past a group of youths hanging menacingly out in an alleyway? Or perhaps we’ve heard of the pizza delivery employee hesitating to take a food order to a neighborhood that even the police avoid, leaving some elderly person without food because he can’t walk to the nearest store because of the gangs?

Drama is about good versus evil. The dilemma in each case is that people can be either the source of sentient evil or all that morally matters in the world; the ultimate good and the ultimate bad, depending on their choice. That’s a common view in many modern ethical systems—especially in humanism and most versions of utilitarianism or rights-based theories. Man was at the center of things for all recorded history. But if we could send robots into the mix, then humanity’s position could change.

Read the whole thing.

WHOSE COUNTRY IS IT, ANYWAY?

THE NEW SPACE RACE: China’s Shijian spacecraft separate after pioneering geosynchronous orbit refueling tests.

China’s experimental Shijian-21 and Shijian-25 satellites have separated in geosynchronous orbit after being docked for months conducting apparent low-profile on-orbit refueling tests.

Shijian-21 and Shijian-25 performed rendezvous and proximity operations during the first half of the year before apparently docking in late June or early July, when the pair became virtually indistinguishable when viewed from the ground, likely marking the start of planned refueling tests, according to independent satellite-tracking analyses. The docked pair then later performed fuel-intensive orbital plane change maneuvers, reducing their orbital inclination.

Optical ground observations Nov. 29 made by S2a systems, a Swiss company which develops and operates customized systems for optical space surveillance worldwide, reveal that the two satellites have now separated in geosynchronous orbit, close to the geostationary belt (GEO) at 35,786 km above Earth’s equator. The orbits of the pair are inclined by 4.6 degrees with respect to GEO.

The separation could mark a successful conclusion to a world-first refueling operation in GEO.

Beijing appears to be working very hard at making their space systems robust.

#JOURNALISM:

NO SURPRISE: Apple AI chief steps down following Siri setbacks.

Apple AI chief John Giannandrea is stepping down from his position, according to an announcement on Monday. The change comes as Apple struggles to get its AI-powered Siri back on track after delaying its launch earlier this year.

Now, Amar Subramanya will serve as Apple’s vice president of AI. Subramanya spent 16 years at Google before joining Microsoft’s AI division as the corporate VP of AI in July. While at Apple, Subramanya will oversee the development of the company’s AI models, machine learning research, as well as AI safety and evaluation.

Embarrassing but overdue.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Dems Really Should Break Their Addiction to Voting for Scumbags. “Here’s the thing, though — unless Walz ends up in a federal penitentiary, his political career isn’t going to take a hit. The Dems in Minnesota have been electing this corrupt moron to office for 20 years now. Because Democrats love entrenched corruptocrats, Walz is running for his third term as governor.”

HMM: Hong Kong Contractors Used Unsafe Netting at Fire Site, Officials Say.

Hong Kong officials said on Monday that contractors at the ill-fated housing estate where a fire killed more than 150 people had blanketed buildings with substandard scaffolding netting, and then tried to conceal the unsafe material.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption said that after a summer typhoon, some of the scaffolding netting used at the Wang Fuk Court housing estate in northern Hong Kong was replaced with cheaper material that did not meet fire-safety standards.

To fool inspectors, netting that met the standards was installed at the base of the scaffolding, where samples are usually taken.

The findings emerged as the death toll from Wednesday’s blaze rose to 151, with the police still combing the towers for bodies and evidence of identification. More than 40 people were still missing. The work of locating and identifying remains would take another three weeks, officials said.

For what it’s worth, I had GPT perform a deep search for similarly deadly corruption before the CCP clamped down on Hong Kong, and it came up with nothing.

GENTLEMEN, YOU CAN’T FIGHT HERE, THIS IS THE DEPARTMENT OF WAR ROOM!

L’ÉTAT, C’EST TOUT LE MONDE:

Previously:

Decline is a choice.

THEY’RE NOT SENDING THEIR BEST FOR THE #RESISTANCE: