2025-12-18

Horseshit

• Drivers struggle to multitask when using dashboard touch screens, study finds

• Guaranteed basic income report shows positive results in Fresno

• Marshall Islands launches universal basic income scheme offering cryptocurrency

• Photographer finds thousands of dinosaur footprints near Italian Olympic venue

• There's a Wasp Nest in the Living Room. On Purpose

• Is Cognitive Dissonance Actually a Thing?

• This publication, our country, or humanity entire? Are We Getting Stupider?

• Tiffany lamp coveted by Steve Jobs sells for $4.4M

• Flowing red blood surging in Persian Gulf sparks wild claims

  A shocking scene unfolded in the Middle East when the waters of the Persian Gulf turned blood red, just as biblical prophecies of Judgment Day had foretold. Viral videos from Iran's Hormuz Island on Tuesday captured the moment when pouring rain along the coast turned a deep reddish hue, flowing over cliffs, flooding into the ocean, and transforming the seawater as well.

Epstein

• Jeffrey Epstein-linked accounts transferred funds to Noam Chomsky

• The Economics of Jeffrey Epstein

• Senators Press FBI over Failure to Investigate Epstein's Lawyer and Accountant

• DOJ Epstein files are required to be made public by Friday; Democrats say there are more.

Obit

• Robert Samuelson, Award-Winning Economics Columnist, Dies at 79

• Norman Podhoretz, 1930-2025

  • Norman Podhoretz, contentious and influential neo-conservative, has died

• Gil Gerard, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century Star, Dies at 82

  • Gil Gerard, Star of 'Buck Rogers,' Dies at 82

Musk

• California judge rules that Tesla engaged in deceptive marketing for Autopilot

  • Tesla engaged in deceptive marketing for Autopilot and Full Self-Driving, judge

• 'Twitter never left:' X sues Operation Bluebird for trademark infringement

• After years of resisting it, SpaceX now plans to go public

• Tesla reports another Robotaxi crash

Electric / Self Driving cars

• Ford Learns a Brutal EV Lesson: The car maker takes a $19.5 billion write-down on its electric-vehicle business.

  • Ford Has Steered Its Former EV Truck and Plant Plans in to a Ditch

  That brings us to yesterday’s news. Let’s start with the plant. Those battery facilities will be repurposed to build “Energy Storage Systems,” and more than 1,600 people will lose their jobs in the transition, even though Ford is promising that some 2,100 jobs will be added back to the plant once its overhaul is complete. (These changes mean that the U.S. government will be modifying the $9.63 billion loan it awarded Ford and SK to support the joint venture.) The bigger news for Blue Oval is that the not-yet-opened plant will be retooled to build gas-powered trucks. This pivot is expected to cost Ford $19.5 billion and push Blue Oval’s opening date to sometime in 2029, a full four years later than originally planned.

  • My favorite story about the Blue Oval thing was how they cleared the land: they posted ads for "free dirt - you move" on craigslist and tried to get it done for free, as the first pass.

Robot uprising / Humanioid Helpers

• The guy inventing a $1000 human-ish robot

Religion / Tribal / Culture War and Re-Segregation

• San Diego school district teaches young kids 28 sexual orientations, 9 gender identities: report

  An entire page responds to criticisms that schools are subverting the wishes of religious parents by teaching about "the gay lifestyle," in scare quotes. "No LGBTQIA person ever stated that they CHOSE to be LGBTQIA ... They simply ARE," the page claims, echoing a suburban Boston district's rationale for exposing young children to various forms of families. Using a rationale rejected by the Supreme Court's Mahmoud precedent against a suburban D.C. district's no-exceptions LGBTQ curriculum, SDUSD claims it can expose children to such mature and disputed concepts because it's "not trying to change the religious beliefs or ideologies of any person" but rather "to change how we respond to the most vulnerable populations that we serve."

Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts

• Essay cheating at universities an 'open secret'

• Coursera to combine with Udemy

• Brown University president reveals why emergency siren didn't go off during shooting: ‘That’s not a system we would ever use'

Info Rental / ShowBiz / Advertising

• Apple blocks dev from all accounts after he tries to redeem bad gift card

• TikTok unlawfully tracks your shopping habits – and your use of dating apps

• From pr0n to playlists and paperclips, trio of breaches spills data of millions

• LG TV users baffled by unremovable Microsoft Copilot installation

• Is Mozilla trying hard to kill itself?

  • Mozilla's new CEO: Firefox will become an "AI browser"

  • No AI* Here – A Response to Mozilla's Next Chapter

• Google exposes Windows 11 security flaw after Microsoft fails to patch it

• Texas Sues TV Makers for Taking Screenshots of What People Watch

• Nvidia plans heavy cuts to GPU supply in early 2026

  • Nvidia Plans to Reduce RTX 50 Production by Up to 40% in Early 2026

• What could’ve been Google’s worst year turned into one of its best

• Jimmy Wales trusts the process

• GitHub is going to start charging you for using your own hardware

  • GitHub to postpone the announced billing change for self-hosted GitHub Actions

  • GitHub postponing the announced billing change to GitHub Actions

• The Oscars Moving to YouTube Beginning in 2029, Will Stream Free Worldwide

• Meta pauses third-party headset program

• Parents of sextortion victim sue Meta for alleged wrongful death

• Pornhub extorted after hackers steal Premium member activity data

• Cisco says Chinese hackers are exploiting its customers with a new zero-day

AI Will (Save | Destroy) The World

• AI romance blooms as Japanese woman weds virtual partner of her dreams

• Nvidia bulks up open source offerings with an acquisition and new open AI models

• AI is creating more jobs so far

• Spooked by AI and Layoffs, White-Collar Workers See Their Security Slip Away

• Hollywood Unites to Fight for Future with Launch of Creators Coalition on AI

• SK hynix and Nvidia formalize joint SSD development to boost AI inference

• Humans are now the minority online

• Amazon in talks to invest in OpenAI, source says

  • OpenAI in talks with Amazon about investment that could exceed $10B

  • OpenAI in Talks to Raise $10B, Adopt Amazon's AI Chips

• Oracle's Rent Is Too Darn High

• Oracle's $10B Michigan data centre in limbo after Blue Owl funding talks stall

• The race for an AI Jesus is on

• Senators count the shady ways data centers pass energy costs on to Americans

• The Entry-Level Hiring Process Is Breaking Down

• AI's real superpower: consuming, not creating

• Google works to erode Nvidia's software advantage with Meta's help

• Billionaire real estate developer is waving a red flag over data centers

• Bursting AI bubble may be EU's "secret weapon" in clash with Trump, expert says

• NOAA deploys new generation of AI-driven global weather models

Space / Boomy Zoomers / UFO

• Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS makes its closest approach to Earth on Dec. 19

• Uranus and Neptune might be rock giants, not ice giants, researchers say

• Crash clock says satellites in orbit are three days from disaster

Crypto con games

• FTX insider Caroline Ellison has been moved out of prison

Economicon / Business / Finance

• Korea Zinc to build rare earths processing facility in Tennessee

• Heating Costs Expected to Rise 9.2% This Winter

• iRobot's Cofounder Colin Angle Weighs in on Company's Bankruptcy

  • What happened to iRobot can happen to anyone

• FBI investigates founder accused of using VC money to pay for house and wedding

• Jared Kushner's firm exits takeover battle for Warner Bros Discovery

• Warner Bros. Discovery recommends investors reject Paramount’s hostile takeover bid.

  • Warner Doesn't Trust Paramount

• Jobs report reveals cooling labor market and ‘uneven economy,’ analyst says

• FTC claimed Walmart got unfair pricing advantages from PepsiCo

• FTC probes Instacart's AI pricing tool, source says; shares drop

• Boom Supersonic raises $300M to build natural gas turbines for data centers

Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making

• Mike Johnson says House will not vote on ObamaCare subsidy extension

  Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said there will not be an amendment vote on extending expiring ObamaCare enhanced subsidies as part of a House Republican health care bill this week, in a move that is infuriating moderate Republicans who had been pushing to go on the record about the subsidies.

• Judge: Louisiana law requiring age verification on social media unconstitutional

• A pretty penny: Last US cents sell for $16.7M

  Pennies from the final minted set of the coin sold for over $16.76 million at auction Thursday, according to Stack’s Bowers Galleries in California. The auction house sold 232 sets of three coins each featuring a 2025 penny from the Philadelphia Mint, a 24-karat gold penny from the Philadelphia Mint and a 2025-D penny from the Denver Mint, according to a press release. Each of the coins was embossed with the omega symbol “Ω” marking the final run of the coin first minted in 1793, ostensibly why 232 lots were sold, per Stack’s Bowers Galleries. Each trio of coins sold for an average lot value of over $72,000, and the final set, No. 232, sold for $800,000, as it included the very last circulating pennies from Philadelphia and Denver and the final gold omega penny.

• Senate Passes Defense Bill as Lawmakers Scramble to Fix D.C. Airport Provision

• Dan Bongino announces he's QUIT FBI to return to popular talk show

  FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino confirmed on Wednesday that he has resigned his position. In a statement announcing his departure, Bongino noted that he would 'be leaving his position with the FBI in January.' 'I want to thank President Trump, AG Bondi, and Director Patel for the opportunity to serve with purpose. Most importantly, I want to thank you, my fellow Americans, for the privilege to serve you,' Bongino continued.

Trump

• Trump weighs order to loosen federal marijuana restrictions

  • Trump expected to sign order to reclassify cannabis

• Trump’s order designates illicit fentanyl as ‘weapon of mass destruction.’

• BBC plans to fight Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit | Fox News

• Trump to Meet Plane Carrying Bodies of National Guard Soldiers Killed in Syria

• Billionaire Jared Isaacman, confirmed as NASA chief

  • US Senate confirms private astronaut, Musk ally Jared Isaacman as NASA chief

• Miriam Adelson pledges $250 million for a third Trump term at White House party

• Trump to deliver prime-time address to the nation tonight

  • Tucker claims Trump will declare war on Venezuela tonight address to nation

  Tucker Carlson has claimed that Donald Trump will announce war with Venezuela during a televised address to the nation tonight. 'Members of Congress were briefed yesterday that a war is coming and it'll be announced in the address to the nation tonight at 9 o'clock (2am UK time) by the president,' Carlson told the Judge Napolitano podcast on Wednesday. However, Carlson added multiple caveats: 'Who knows, by the way, if that will actually happen? I don't know. And I never want to overstate what I know, which is pretty limited in general.'

Democrats

• Hillary Clinton’s own Russia scandal: FBI memos detail how Uranium One probe thwarted

  Federal investigators believed there was significant evidence worth pursuing related to possible criminality involving the Clinton Foundation and the State Department’s approval of the sale of Uranium One to Russian state-owned interests, but delays by the Justice Department and FBI led the inquiry to whither and die because of statute of limitations issues.

Left Angst

• White House Does Damage Control After Susie Wiles Criticizes Trump, Top Officials in Candid Interviews

  • White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles Felt ‘Blindsided’ by Vanity Fair Article

  • Susie Wiles, Criticizes Bondi and Vance in Candid Interviews

• Trump moves to dismantle major US climate research center (NCAR) in Colorado

  • National Center for Atmospheric Research to Be Dismantled

• What Will Happen If the Right Wins Absolutely?

  Right-wing power centers will compete until one group consolidates enough power to achieve its full agenda. When that occurs, the other groups get what they get. For example, when Bush-Cheney held power, Money and Neocons did well, but White Restorationists lost.

• Trump's attacks on science may ruin his AI moonshot

• Trump’s Ugly Ballroom Project Somehow Gets Even More Expensive

• Jack Smith makes his case against Trump in closed-door deposition

• Trump's economic approval at new low. And, Congress set to let ACA subsidies expire

• Two MAGA Stars Tapped to Replace Charlie Kirk on His Program

• Republicans push mail-in voting for the midterms in defiance of Trump

• Amid talk of a brain drain, some scientists leave U.S. behind

• FCC chair suggests agency isn't independent, word cut from mission statement

• Inside the Trump Administration's Man-Made Hunger Crisis

• American Academy of Pediatrics loses HHS funding after criticizing RFK Jr.

• Trump Administration Aims to Strip More Foreign-Born Americans of Citizenship

Law Breaking / Police / Internal Security

• An MIT professor was shot at home. Authorities say no suspect is in custody

  • MIT nuclear scientist killed at home

  • What MIT Physicist Nuno Loureiro Was Working on Before Fatal Shooting - Newsweek

• What is Turtle Island Liberation Front, the extremist anti-government group whose offshoot planned a NYE terror attack.

  • Planned New Orleans Attack Thwarted

  Plans to “carry out an attack” in New Orleans were thwarted after an ex-Marine was arrested while on the way to the Louisiana city with guns and body armor in the car, according to court documents obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press. Micah James Legnon, 28, was charged with threats in interstate commerce. Federal authorities said they had been surveilling Legnon due to ties to an extremist anti-capitalist and anti-government group. Four members of the group were arrested Friday in the Mojave Desert, east of Los Angeles, as they were rehearsing a foiled plot to set off bombs in Southern California on New Year’s Eve, authorities said.

• Sports reporter Christina Chambers, husband found dead in suspected murder-suicide

  A beloved sports reporter who left the airwaves to pursue teaching was found dead at her Alabama home alongside her husband in a suspected murder-suicide — with their 3-year-old son nearby. Christina Chambers, a former WBRC 6 sports reporter, and her husband, Johnny Rimes, were discovered at their family home in Hoover shortly after 9 a.m. Tuesday, WBRC confirmed. The couple’s 3-year-old son was also at the home, but he was unharmed, according to the Hoover Police Department.

• Four Days Later: Brown University Shooter Still At Large As Bizarre Anomalies Mount In Investigation | ZeroHedge

  Following the shooting, there have been multiple dead-end leads involving so-called "persons of interest." Local police have released blurry footage of one individual, while one of the most heavily surveilled schools in the nation reportedly had no interior footage. There has been no word from local police, investigators, or the school on how the shooter was able to enter the building, nor any indication of whether the attack was targeted.

External Security / Militaria / Diplomania

• U.S. Military Willing to Attack "Designated Terrorist Organizations" in America

• Negotiations over US-UK tech deal still live

• Trump expands travel ban and restrictions to include an additional 20 countries

• Trump Orders Venezuela Blockade, Demands Return of US Assets

  • Trump's clashes with Venezuela intensify as he orders oil tanker blockade

  • Venezuela's Navy Begins Escorting Ships as U.S. Threatens Blockade

World

• Why Japan's internet looks weird – unless you live here

• Luxembourg's digital ID monopoly down for 24h+, paralyzing national services

• Belarusian Secret Service spied on cell phones

• UK sex offenders may have to tell police about social media and dating accounts

• Analysing the surge in anti-migrant harassment and violence in Ireland

  In total, 70% of the incidents recorded by ISD were filmed by the person engaging in the abusive behaviour. Those engaging in this activity do so with perceived impunity; they often post their evidence online under their real name, apparently with little fear that they will face prosecution. Social media platforms are failing to take effective action against the promotion of content that clearly breaches their terms of service by inciting violence against refugees, asylum seekers and migrants.

  • They don't count the opposite behaviors: migrants behaving badly. Apparently thats acceptable and expected behavior.

• Shocking map of Britain that reveals the true scale of sex crimes

  Now the Daily Mail has compiled the most comprehensive study of such incidents yet attempted, combing the records of Crown and Magistrates' Courts around the UK to document the vast number who have committed sexual offences. Hailing from a multitude of nations, the 59 men we name today have shown contempt for British hospitality and values in the basest possible way. it demonstrates starkly that these offenders and their trail of misery are spread all around the country, with bigger cities and towns particularly bearing the brunt of their criminal behaviour.

• Italian ship stopped in France: had malware on board

• Why many Asian megacities are miserable places

• Ofcom fines image sharing site for non-compliance

• Apple in early talks to assemble and package iPhone chips in India

• EU Ban on RU War Propaganda Misfires: Blocks Social Media Giants and Pirate IPTV

• Fake video claiming 'coup in France' goes viral

• Canada reports the biggest population decline in recent memory

• Poland to start producing anti-personnel mines to lay along eastern border

• Sudan tops global humanitarian crisis watchlist for third year

Russia Bad / Ukraine War

• Putin Signs Law Confiscating 'Ownerless' Homes in Occupied Ukraine

China

• China Chipmaker MetaX Jumps 755% After Oversubscribed IPO

• China built its 'Manhattan Project' to rival the West in AI chips

Health / Medicine

• How common is Alzheimer's disease? Population-wide blood test holds surprises

Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda

• Nobel Prize–winning chemist dreams of making water from thin air

• 'Magical' galaxy frogs disappear after reports photographers destroy habitat

• Frog gut bacterium eliminates cancer tumors in mice with a single dose

• More information about the flooding in Western Washington. Water, Water, Everywhere!

• Global Coal Demand Is Stalling, IEA Says

• NOAA's Arctic report outlines how its winter's being 'redefined' - UPI.com

  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration unveiled Tuesday its annual Arctic Report Card painting a grim picture for the polar region as experts say winter's "whole concept" was reportedly being "redefined" amid its environmental breakdown. NOAA reported that from October 2024 to September this year the Arctic experienced its hottest year in 125 years. It marked the tenth straight year of record warmth.

  Although melting sea ice doesn't raise sea levels, the loss of land ice does. And as sea ice disappears, dark ocean water absorbs more heat and accelerates global warming.

• America's Largest Landowner Bets It Can Replace Met Coal with Pine Trees