OPEN THREAD: Have a groovy Tuesday.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: China’s next moonshot: Chang’e 7 could search the lunar south pole for water this year.

WHAT ARE THE DEEP SEVENS UP TO NOW? A Mysterious Weak Spot in Earth’s Magnetic Field Has Grown Nearly Half the Size of Europe.

UPDATE: From the comments: “You know what else is a weak spot the size of Europe? Europe.”

GOOD, IT’S A TERRIBLE DEAL: House of Lords Slams the Brakes on Starmer’s Chagos Island Deal.

THIS WAS ALWAYS PLAUSIBLE: Jurassic Park Was Right: Mosquitoes Really Can Carry Libraries of Animal DNA.

JAMES PETHOKOUKIS: The most underrated trend of the 2020s: A quiet acceleration in US productivity is challenging the 2010s Great Stagnation narrative — even before AI fully reshapes American work.

LIFE IN THE 21ST CENTURY: Tested: The 2025 Porsche 911 Carrera S Is an Everyday Supercar.

THIS IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: Welp: NRA is Suing the NRA Foundation Over Use of its Intellectual Property.

PRACTICE: Pigs have been island hopping for 50,000 years.

MICROBIOME NEWS: Microbes may hold the key to brain evolution.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Our annual power ranking of US rocket companies has changes near the top and bottom. “It was not difficult to select the first-place company on this list.”

HMM: Medications may help the aging brain cope with surgery and memory impairment.

WE SELF-SABOTAGED. AND BY “SELF” I MEAN THE TOXIC SUPERSTRUCTURE OF USELESS LEFTIST INTELLECTUALS, BUREAUCRATS, AND MEDIA SABOTAGED US.

I used to think “we sacrificed the stars for this” was hyperbolic.

I’ve since come to realize it’s understated.

We haven’t just sacrificed the stars we’ve sacrificed everything.

— John Kulak Kramlich (@jkramlich) January 6, 2026

THIS:

It's also why European governments are desperately trying to censor the internet. https://t.co/Id5QdnsGod

— Graham Linehan (@Glinner) January 5, 2026

Across the West, ruling classes realize that if the normals figure out exactly what’s been done to them, they’ll be lucky just to hang.

It’s spreading, though:

Amy Reichert is California’s Nick Shirley…she’s been on a tear recently. https://t.co/dzpMSfdRuF

— Chamath Palihapitiya (@chamath) January 5, 2026

WELL, ESPECIALLY THE STUPID FACULTY ACTIVISM. WHICH TO BE FAIR, IS PRETTY MUCH THE ONLY KIND. Harvard president admits faculty activism is a problem. “Characteristic of ‘excellent teaching’ used to be not letting personal views influence class, Garber says.”

ONLY 5? 5 times student governments pushed leftist agendas.

IT’S SCAMS AND SCAMMERS ALL THE WAY DOWN:

OMG

Capitol police officer Michael Byrd who shot unarmed Ashli Babbitt on January 6th, reportedly has a taxpayer funded daycare in his home run by his wife…

Because of course he does… pic.twitter.com/QLKw885wUf

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) January 6, 2026

OFT EVIL WILL SHALL EVIL MAR:

Apparently, @HiltonHotels is terminating the franchise effective immediately. Credit to @nicksortor for his investigative work. https://t.co/DHjh30Dh9p

— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) January 6, 2026

DON SURBER: America feared again: President Trump IS the new world order now. “China, not able to save either Venezuela or Iran, does not look like a superpower this week.”

SCOTT JOHNSON: Bring in More Prosecutors: Finally Ending Minnesota’s ‘Never-Ending’ Somali Fraud Schemes Requires Reinforcements.

SETH BARRETT TILLMAN: A Theory About Trump and Greenland.

TO BE FAIR, HE WASN’T ON THEIR PAYROLL THEN:

FLASHBACK: 1989 JOE BIDEN would love what President Trump just did:

"Let's go after the drug lords where they LIVE! With an international strike force. NO safe haven for narco-terrorists."
pic.twitter.com/XlrSGiHnoZ

— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) January 5, 2026

JOHN LUCAS: Virginia’s Junior Senator Flaunts His Historical Ignorance: The Monroe Doctrine Put America First So the Dems Hate It. “In short, Venezuela was a massive money machine and power base for our enemies and a vehicle for continued efforts to attack U.S. interests. And we now see the same level of hysteria from Democrats about it that we saw when they lost their graft from USAID. . . . Like many of his colleagues, Kaine just makes stuff up because he is an unabashed partisan who does not give a fig for any honest evaluation of the policies and actions of this administration. Remember that when they say anything.”

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE:

It's insane that this is reality. Not an Onion article.

UCSD's remedial math course is too advanced for nearly 10% of incoming freshmen, who can't even do middle school math — like, anything above arithmetic with fractions.

So they had to create a remedial remedial course — a… https://t.co/0UdE0CLrXr pic.twitter.com/3diYg0bewF

— Justin Skycak (@justinskycak) January 4, 2026

THEY KNOW WHO THEY HATE, AND SO DO WE:

“Impoverish the white middle class” is fascinating because it shows the belief system isn’t about elevating historically disadvantaged groups, it’s something much weirder, and race-based. https://t.co/CihyeqJVKE

— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 5, 2026

They seem weirdly unafraid of sharing their intentions.