January 20, 2026

January 19, 2026

OPEN THREAD: There are those who believe that life here began out there, far across the universe, with tribes of humans who may have been the forefathers of the Egyptians, or the Toltecs, or the Mayans. Some believe that there may yet be brothers of man who even now fight to get into the Open Thread, somewhere beyond the Blogosphere.

Posted at 9:30 pm by Ed Driscoll

DON LEMON DIGS THE HOLE EVEN DEEPER WITH VILE COMMENTS ABOUT PARISHIONERS IN MN CHURCH INCIDENT:

[If] you’re Don Lemon, this would probably be the time not to continue to dig the hole deeper.

However, it’s Don Lemon, so naturally, he decided to open his mouth and make things worse. He appeared on the podcast “I’ve Had It” with Jennifer Welch. He claimed that he didn’t know they would be going to a church. But he also smeared the parishioners of the church.

And there’s a certain degree of entitlement. I think people who are, you know, in the religious groups like that, it’s not the type of Christianity that I practice, but I think that they’re entitled and that that entitlement comes from a supremacy, white supremacy, and they think that this country was built for them, that it is a Christian country, when actually we left England because we wanted religious freedom. It’s religious freedom, but only if you’re a Christian and only if you’re a white male, pretty much.”

Entitled? Yes, they’re entitled to be able to worship in peace, and not have agitators come storming into their church telling them how to be a Christian. Shutting down a church service isn’t very “Christian.” How dare the parishioners think they should not have to put up with this?

Then, Lemon smears them as white supremacists? How despicable is this?

It’s a rather multicultural white supremacy, apparently:

Posted at 9:14 pm by Ed Driscoll

OLD AND BUSTED: Anarchy in the UK.

The New Hotness? Culture Jamming in the UK! Two Tier Keir Has a Problem Called ‘Waifu Amelia’ and It Is Screamingly Funny.

What makes it even more stunning to watch as Amelia explodes in popularity is where she originated.

Waifu Amelia is the British government’s own creation and has been around for a couple of years.

The purple-haired pistol was a bit player in a nanny-state online game/novel called ‘Pathways‘ created by the government for ‘youths’ in an effort to teach them about right-wing extremism and thereby warn them off.

…Amelia is a supporting character in the U.K. government-funded educational visual novel Pathways, a game developed by Shout Out UK to teach the youth about extremism and radicalization. In the game, Amelia is depicted as a far-right anti-immigration activist with purple hair, a pink dress, a purple sweater and a goth or e-girl appearance, who tries persuading the protagonist to join her cause.

Amelia was meant to be ‘the far-right, anti-immigration bad girl’ who tries to sway tender and impressionable Charlie to her wrong side of the tracks.

In 2023, Shout Out UK, a company focused on spreading media literacy, political literacy and more via their training programs, released the visual novel “interactive learning package,” Pathways.[1][2] The game was funded by Prevent, a program of the British government’s Home Office.

In the game, players take on the role of a character named Charlie in six different scenarios dealing with online or in-person radicalization.

Scenario two features the character Amelia, a far-right, purple-haired goth girl with anti-immigration views who tries to recruit Charlie into joining anti-immigration groups and protesting against immigration.

As one Reddit user said:

Answer: uk government made a flash based game aimed at preventing college kids from being radicalised into the far-right. But the game plays like it’s for a 5 year old with learning disabilities, and the characters and actions are so ridiculous and out of touch with the real world, that everyone from both sides of the political spectrum is memeing the sh** out of it.

Amelia is supposed to be the “evil” character that leads your mentally disabled character into ThE WrOnG ChOiCeS.

Talk about a spectacular backfire.

The game also treats doing your own research as a negative.

What was also pretty creepy and only reinforced the appeal of Amelia’s forbidden but altogether understandable sentiments was what the British government had the game’s developers doing – monitoring for responses from those 11 to 18 year olds who were playing for ‘incorrect’ answers, which could lead to possible referrals to state extremist intervention programs.

As Glenn has written, “I’m so old, I remember when ‘culture jamming’ was a leftist thing.” Mating it up with AI digital animation and video manipulation technology is also a potentially scary preview of where personally-created videos and a lot more could be headed soon. Last year I wrote, “2013’s Her: Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson Go Twenty Minutes Into the Future of AI.” These Amelia videos show what happens when the AI voice is given a 2D form:

Posted at 8:30 pm by Ed Driscoll

TO BOLDLY GO WHERE GARY LARSON HAS GONE BEFORE: Outstanding in her field: cow recorded using tool for first time.

Cows are not usually credited with thinking on the hoof. They eat, they chew, they stand in fields performing an activity that may look like contemplation but is generally written off as digestion.

They are not typically thought to plan, let alone solve problems. A new study suggests we may have underestimated them.

The research describes what experts claim is the first documented case of flexible, multi-purpose tool use in cattle, observed in a cow named Veronika.

Veronika is a Swiss brown cow kept not for milk or meat but as a pet by Witgar Wiegele, an organic farmer and baker in Austria. More than a decade ago he noticed her using a long-handled brush, holding it in her mouth to scratch awkward parts of her body.

When video footage of this behaviour reached Alice Auersperg, a cognitive biologist at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, it struck her as unusual, largely because Veronika used the brush in different ways to scratch different parts of her body.

“It was immediately clear that this was not accidental,” Auersperg said. “This was a meaningful example of tool use in a species that is rarely considered from a cognitive perspective.”

Yes, the European mind cannot comprehend the notion of cows using tools. But we Americans have been wrestling with the notion of cow tools since 1982, when an early edition of Gary Larson’s classic “Far Side” cartoon appeared in hundreds of local newspapers:

In his 1989 anthology, The Prehistory of the Far Side, Larson wrote:

The “Cow tools” episode is one that will probably haunt me for the rest of my life. A week after it was published back in 1982, I wanted to crawl into a hole somewhere and die.

Cows, as some Far Side readers know, are a favorite subject of mine. I’ve always found them to be the quintessentially absurd animal for situations even more absurd. Even the name “cow,” to me, is intrinsically funny.

And so one day I started thinking back on an anthropology course I had in college and how we learned that man used to be defined as “the only animal that made and shaped tools.” Unfortunately, researchers discovered that certain primates and even some bird species did the same thing—so the definition had to be extended somewhat to avoid awkward situations such as someone hiring a crew of chimpanzees to remodel their kitchen.

Inevitably, I began thinking about cows, and what if they, too, were discovered as toolmakers. What would they make? Primitive tools are always, well, primitive-looking—appearing rather nondescript to the lay person. So, it seemed to me, whatever a cow would make would have to be even a couple notches further down the “skill-o-meter.”

I imagined, and subsequently drew, a cow standing next to her workbench, proudly displaying her handiwork (hoofwork?). The “cow tools” were to be just meaningless artifacts—only the cow or a cowthropologist is supposed to know what they’re used for.

The first mistake I made was in thinking this was funny. The second was making one of the tools resemble a crude handsaw—which made already confused people decide that their only hope in understanding the cartoon meant deciphering what the other tools were as well. Of course, they didn’t have a chance in hell.

But, for the first time, “Cow tools” awakened me to the fact that my profession was not just an isolated exercise in the corner of my apartment. The day after its release, my phone began to ring with inquiries from reporters and radio stations from regions in the country where The Far Side was published. Everyone, it seemed, wanted to know what in the world this cartoon meant! My syndicate was equally bombarded, and I was ultimately asked to write a press release explaining “Cow tools.” Someone sent me the front page of one newspaper which, down in one corner, ran the tease, “Cow Tools: What does it mean? (See pg. B14.)” I was mortified.

In the first year or two of drawing The Far Side, I always believed my career perpetually hung by a thread. And this time I was convinced it had been finally severed. Ironically, when the dust had finally settled and as a result of all the “noise” it made, “Cow tools” became more of a boost to The Far Side than anything else.

So, in summary, I drew a really weird, obtuse cartoon that no one understood and wasn’t funny and therefore I went on to even greater success and recognition.

Yeah—I like this country.

Heh, indeed.

Posted at 8:14 pm by Ed Driscoll

FUNNY/NOT FUNNY:

Every church should have armed security.

Posted at 7:48 pm by Glenn Reynolds

HISTORY LOVES IRONY:

Posted at 6:44 pm by Glenn Reynolds

ANYTHING FOR LIKES:

Jammie Wearing Fool added, “Prostitutes have more dignity.”

But as Heinlein noted, a good prostitute delivers value. Don Lemon, not so much.

Posted at 5:30 pm by Stephen Green

OUCH: Stellantis stock off 43% as Jeep maker turns five, executes turnaround.

Filosa is executing a sales turnaround plan for the automaker and is particularly focused on its Jeep and Ram brands regaining U.S. market share following yearslong sales declines.

“The strategy that we have in front of us is a strong one and will lead us to growth if we execute well,” he told reporters Wednesday during the Detroit Auto Show. “So, I believe it’s a year of execution.”

Filosa did not rule out the possibility of regionally refocusing or shrinking the company’s vast portfolio of brands that also includes Italian nameplates Fiat and Alfa Romeo, which have not performed well domestically.

He said he believes the company should “stay together” following some speculation, including from Tavares, that it would be better to sell off assets or brands.

As a lifelong Jeep fan — the first “cool” car I remember riding around in was a late-’60s CJ-5 — I wish them well in turning things around.

Posted at 4:50 pm by Stephen Green

KEIR STARMER WANNABE?

Introduce her to the Streisand Effect.

UPDATE: Okay, the above is in error. It was Miami Beach, not Miami: Miami Beach police chief defends detectives’ visit to activist over Facebook post about mayor.

“Given the real, ongoing national and international concerns surrounding antisemitic attacks and recent rhetoric that has led to violence against political figures,” Jones wrote that he “directed two of his detectives to initiate a brief, voluntary conversation regarding certain inflammatory, potentially inciteful false remarks made by a resident to ensure there was no immediate threat to the elected official or the broader community that might emerge as a result of the post.”

He went on to write that “the interaction was handled professionally and at no time did the mayor or any other official direct me to take action.”

The statement comes after Raquel Pacheco, a Miami Beach political activist and veteran who previously ran for city commission and a Democratic state Senate candidate, said Miami Beach detectives arrived at her home.

“He said, ‘We are here to talk to you about a Facebook comment’ and I said – ‘What? Is this really happening?” Pacheco told Local 10 News.

Pacheco had commented on a Facebook post by Meiner, who is Jewish, in which he described Miami Beach as “a safe haven for everyone,” contrasting it with New York City, which he said was “intentionally removing protections” for and “promoting boycotts” of Israeli and Jewish businesses.

Pacheco responded to the post by writing, “The guy who consistently calls for the death of all Palestinians, tried to shut down a theater for showing a movie that hurt his feelings, and REFUSES to stand up for the LGBTQ community in any way (even leaves the room when they vote on related matters) wants you to know that you’re all welcome here,” followed by three clown emojis.

She recorded the brief exchange with the detective who spoke with her about the post. In the video, Pacheco is heard asking, “Am I being charged with a crime?” and “So you are here to investigate a statement I allegedly made on Facebook?”

Okay, she’s a lefty loon but sending police to people’s houses over social media posts still reeks of Keir Starmer’s Britain. (Updated and bumped).

Posted at 4:40 pm by Glenn Reynolds

I CAN SEE THAT:

But the competition isn’t over yet:

Posted at 2:48 pm by Glenn Reynolds