There was a 100% cloud cover this morning. And it was a full moon, the wolf moon, but we saw nothing of it.Write about whatever you want in the comments.
It was a theme day on the blog today. Did you notice?
January 3, 2026
Sunrise — 7:04, 7:20.
There was a 100% cloud cover this morning. And it was a full moon, the wolf moon, but we saw nothing of it.
"The Monroe Doctrine is a big deal, but we’ve superseded it by a lot. They now call it the Donroe Doctrine."
“The Monroe Doctrine is a big deal, but we’ve superseded it by a lot. They now call it the Donroe Doctrine.”
— Josh Rainer (@JoshRainerGold) January 3, 2026
He’s always on 😂 pic.twitter.com/78P3MnrLFv
Mamdani's notion of "collectivism" as "warmth" finds its way into the WaPo editorial about Venezuela.
I'm reading "Trump’s bold capture of Maduro was a victory for America. What’s next?" by The Editorial Board of The Washington Post. That's the front page headline. Inside it's "Justice in Venezuela/The next challenge is setting the country up for long-term success."
The editorial ends: "For years, Maduro was a symbol of the false warmth of Latin American collectivism. Now he should spend the rest of his life in a humane American prison. His downfall is good news."
That can't be unrelated to Mamdani's recent assertion: "We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism."
Look for more "collectivism" as "warmth" rhetoric. I'm not making a new tag for that. Not yet. I'm sticking with the tags "socialism" and "hotness." How absurd is that?
Anyway, the WaPo editors seem rather positive about Trump's action in Venezuela. The mood at The New York Times is different: "Trump’s Attack on Venezuela Is Illegal and Unwise." It ends:
"[Maduro] was trying to get into [his safe room], but he got bum-rushed so fast that he didn’t get into that.... I watched it literally like I was watching a television show."
"And if you would have seen the speed, the violence, you know, they say that, the speed, the violence, they used that term, it was just an amazing thing, an amazing job that these people did — nobody else could have done anything like it."
Maduro ≈ Noriega.
🚨Nicolas Maduro should’ve studied history before waving a sword at President Trump.
— Rep. Carlos A. Gimenez (@RepCarlos) January 3, 2026
January 3, 1990 we captured Panama’s narcotrafficking dictator Manuel Noriega.
January 3, 2026 we captured #Venezuela’s narcoterrorist dictator Nicolas Maduro. pic.twitter.com/rjUTTRs8xw
"Let's celebrate without leaving our homes! Listen to the joy of a country that can already caress freedom. #venezuelalibre"
Grok's fact check: "The video in @cristiancrespoj's post shows people in Caracas apartment buildings celebrating with fireworks, cheers, and shouts of joy at dusk/night — exactly the kind of spontaneous, from-the-balconies reaction that exploded across social media and news reports right after the U.S. operation.... No credible reporting suggests the video is old, staged, or from unrelated events (e.g., past protests or unrelated fireworks). It aligns with the timeline and widespread reports of street/apartment-level jubilation following the news of the capture.This is a genuinely historic (and highly controversial) moment — the first direct U.S. military capture of a sitting Latin American head of state since the 1989 Panama invasion — so the celebratory footage is consistent with what was happening."¡A celebrar sin salir de las casas! Escuchen la alegría de un país que ya puede acariciar la libertad. #venezuelalibre pic.twitter.com/SY6v3de70a
— Cristian Crespo F. 🇨🇺 (@cristiancrespoj) January 3, 2026
And, according to Grok, Cristian Crespo is "a Latin American human rights activist."
"The United States of America has successfully carried out a large scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the Country. "
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) January 3, 2026
AND: From the live updates at the NYT:Just got off the phone with @SecRubio
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) January 3, 2026
He informed me that Nicolás Maduro has been arrested by U.S. personnel to stand trial on criminal charges in the United States, and that the kinetic action we saw tonight was deployed to protect and defend those executing the arrest warrant… https://t.co/lXCxhPoKSZ
January 2, 2026
"The 20 best things Trump did in 2025/The accomplishments of a stunning year can’t be captured in just 10 items."
Marc A. Thiessen itemizes the good, over at The Washington Post. That's a gift link, so you can see if you agree with the ranking and with the characterization of these things as good. You might want to read some of the comments, which can't believe what an awful idiot Thiessen is.
"Then I just stopped listening to everybody, and everybody stopped talking to me. I was getting very little feedback."
"I began to perceive that my real interest was light. The reason for painting glass was to totally focus on light, and the glass held the light.... "
Said Janet Fish, quoted in "Janet Fish, Painter of Luminous Still Lifes, Dies at 87/From her student days, she stubbornly refused to follow popular artistic trends. Instead, she spent decades exploring the effects of light on glass" (NYT)(gift links, because there are some pretty cool photos of Fish's paintings).
"In the eyes of just about everyone at Yale, Ms. Fish later recalled, she was just 'this girl who’s painting flowers.' Upon arriving in New York in 1965, she continued to follow her own path. 'I just stuck to my work,' she said. 'And one thing led to another.'"
"Ow!"
🚨🇩🇪 Meanwhile in Cologne, Germany
— Concerned Citizen (@BGatesIsaPyscho) January 1, 2026
German Streamer Kunshikitty sets out with the intention of showing that Women can walk safely through the streets that are occupied by new foreign Men
Ends up being attacked twice live on stream ‼️ pic.twitter.com/OU9uDmIXJD
ADDED: To be fair to the men in this video: Their identity was appropriated for use in an influencer's video. Maybe they didn't want to be used like that. Even if the woman — Kunshikitty — thought she was doing them a favor by eliciting video showing how good these men are, they might not want her framing and characterizations and use for clicks. I have no idea how good or bad they are, but I can understand resentment of the intrusion of influencers.
"Now, let's kick off the second half of the Rose Bowl"/"I got chills right now"/"I just got a red, white, and boner"/"I think I got a little freedom erection."
The things they say on ESPN:
This was the greatest two minutes of televised college sports commentary ESPN has showed since June!
— Noah Bieniek (Bee-Nick) (@NoahB77_) January 2, 2026
pic.twitter.com/VHGYgBEraf
"America sending a message to the world" — if the world watched the Rose Bowl — "We got a B2 and you don't."
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