One More Post on 2025 Media

First up we have the Friday Night Tights panel take on the media (they cover more than movies) of year: THE BEST & WORST OF 2025 – Friday Night Tights ROUNDUP. This is the usual crew from FNT plus The Critical Drinker.

Chris Gore and Alan Ng of Film Threat are two film critics I generally trust. They cover a lot of independent movies, as that is what Film Threat was formed (decades ago) to cover. I don't always agree with their recommendations, and they don't always agree with each other.

But then the difference of opinion makes a horse race.

They published their best and worst films of 2025:

First their best movies of the year. I will make a point of watching the ones I have not seen.

• CHRIS GORE'S BEST MOVIES OF 2025 | Film Threat Livecast
• ALAN NG'S BEST MOVIES OF 2025 | Film Threat Livecast

And there were a lot of bad movies last year, without even touching on streaming/TV

• CHRIS GORE'S WORST MOVIES OF 2025 | Film Threat Livecast
• ALAN NG'S WORST MOVIES OF 2025| Film Threat Livecast

In some cases they have artistic reasoning behind the films they like, in other cases, they just thought a film was fun. And while Alan liked James Gunn's Superman, Chris has it listed as one of the 10 worst movies of the year.

The videos are of slightly different lengths, but mostly under 15 minutes each, so that together they are less than one hour of viewing.

The Hollywood DEI Bill Has Come Due

What happens when "representation" explodes over everything? You end up with "entertainment" that is propaganda, and that will appeal to no one. Case in point highlighted by this article from Marvin Montanaro at That Park Place: LGBTQ Content Appears in Nearly Half of Netflix Kids’ Shows, New Study Finds

Now I know some of that bill has already been collected in the economy as a whole. Anheuser-Busch lost a sizeable portion of its market share in the world of beer beer. Jaguar shot themselves in the head with their woke rebrand. Any number of Game Studios (Ubisoft comes to mind) have paid a price, as has the Xbox division of Microsoft. The American comic book industry all but died a few years back sacrificing itself to woke. But this is a post primarily about Hollywood.

A new report examining LGBTQ representation in Netflix children’s programming concludes that a substantial share of the platform’s kid-rated content now includes same-sex or gender themes—prompting renewed scrutiny of age ratings and parental expectations.

41% of "family friendly" (as identified BY Netflix) content contains LGBTQ themes, including 21% of programming aimed at preschoolers.

I wonder how much of Netflix programming includes Christian, or faith themes, where they don't lampoon the faith, that is. Do they have any shows that show a classic, nuclear family with a father who isn't an idiot? (Fathers portrayed as idiots have been fashionable in Hollywood since Archie Bunker and All in the Family.) Or are they excluding that portion of the population?

So is this inclusion, or exclusion, or both?

Now, so far, this hasn't hit Netflix as hard as it has every other streaming service.

This is the Midnight's Edge video The Great DEI Reckoning: Billions Lost, Xbox Buried, & Disney's Activist Problem

Case in point, our good friend Marvin Montanaro over at That Park Place wrote a piece about studies which found that nearly half of Netflix shows aimed at kids, even preschool kids, included LGBTQ themes. Again, that is not representation. That is not reflecting what the world looks like. That is wild and extreme over

Andre's video is just over 10 minutes.

Maybe They Could Have Been Better Parents

Grief I understand, but this isn't that. Couple Charged With Threatening Armed Citizen Who Shot Their Son in Self-Defense

As usual, the relatives of dead people don't like self-defense.

As Bearing Arms reported last week, a shooting on the campus of Kentucky State University earlier this month wasn't an act of aggression, but a case of self-defense. A grand jury declined to issue any charges against Jacob Bard, who shot and killed a 19-year-old and wounded another as a violent mob attacked him and his family as they were trying to move Bard's son out of a KSU dormitory.

Ahead of the grand jury's decision, Bard's attorneys released a statement detailing their client's version of events, as well as laying out the threats that Bard and his family have received since the shooting.

The threats are coming from the dead-guy's parents.

The threats are serious enough that the sons of the guy doing the shooting have been moved to "a non-disclosed location for their safety."

Click thru for the details, including the mainstream medias refusal to report completely on the threats.

Hat tip to MaddMedic at Freedom Is Just Another Word…

He Effed Around and Found Out.
Now apparently his dumbass parents want to give it a go!

I miss civilization.

Anheuser-Busch Shutting California Brewery

What happens when a state is completely in the grips of the high-taxing Left? Businesses leave.

This is Inspector Dave's video Governor Of California PANICS After Budweiser Brewery LEAVES California!

The Fairfield, California Anheuser-Busch brewery has been open for 49 years. They officially announced in early December that they would be closing. The company said it was about modernizing operations. Others had a differing view.

Mayor Katherine Moy called California's business environment a hostile dictatorship.

The video is 12 minutes long.

This was after they closed a Bay Area distribution center in 2022.

Here is a representative news article. Anheuser-Busch closes Fairfield Budweiser plant

The country’s largest beer company is closing its last Bay Area brewing facility. Anheuser-Busch announced Thursday [11 December] morning it’s shutting down operations at its Fairfield plant early next year.

Is anyone shocked.

I looked at a couple of articles on this closure, and although most of the articles do note that Anheuser-Busch owns the Bud Light brand, no mention was made of the marketing disaster visited upon the company a couple of years back.

Fairfield, California is in the North Bay section of The San Francisco Bay Area. It is about a 30 mile drive north of Walnut Creek, or about a 35 mile drive north-northeast of Berkeley. It is about 45 miles from Sacramento.

Now it is true that Americans are drinking less beer than a few years ago, and even the craft beer industry is in decline. I'm not sure why that is, if Boomers and Gen X are drinking less, and I wouldn't be surprised if Gen Z is drinking much less than other generations. But the statement about California's business climate seems to ring true, at least to me.

EV Depreciation Is a Problem

While this entire article is interesting, I will focus only on part 4. I went back to gas after driving electric - here's what I learned

Nothing prepared me for how quickly my EV lost value. The average price of a 1- to 5-year-old used EV fell 31.8% over 12 months, equating to a value loss of $14,418, according to iSeeCars data. My trade-in offer confirmed this brutal reality.

Tesla owners found their 2023 Model Ys worth 42% less than what they paid two years ago, while a Ford F-150 truck bought the same year depreciated just 20%.

The rest of the article covers issues like:

• Public charging infrastructure is not available
• Range anxiety
• Higher incidental costs - like insurance - and batter replacement
• long road trips become a problem

Click thru for all of that, and what it felt like to go back to a gas vehicle.

Hat tip to MGUY Australia and his video Why you should KEEP your COMBUSTION car for as LONG as possible

Saturday Roundup of Link Roundups - 3 January

The Right Way starts us off with Top of the News

NH Dems react to rumors of plans for ICE processing facility in Merrimack - The Boston Herald
Brigitte Bardot : Mambo Italiano - Evi. L Bloggerlady

The Glibertarians - First Friday of 2026 Afternoon Links

And when they’re not carded?
Really, the white government is the real evil in this.
Safe, legal, and rare.

Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 01.02.26

Vox Popoli: The Lesson of Scott Adams, Taiwan > Okinawa, The Hallmark of Bad Writing, Replacement 3.0, and Welcome to 2026
According To Hoyt: Spit Out The Black Pill

EBL - How The Swiss Fire In Crans-Montana Took Hold

Terrible. If this is true, it seems very similar to the bar fire tragedy in Rhode Island. Foam insulation catching on fire.
NY Post: 47 confirmed dead in Swiss resort fire

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 2 January 2026: Early Entries Edition

The European Space Agency got hacked. (Bleeping Computer)
Though the biggest question here is why anybody would bother.

Lawrence Person's BattleSwarm Blog - LinkSwarm for January 2, 2026

Moreover, it’s obvious that the fraudulent child care facilities were always fraudulent, and yet the checks kept coming.
He then supplied a list of 29 code violations just from May of 2022.

Flopping Aces - The Week in Radicalism, 01/02/2025 – More from The Nation!

Bernie Sanders Says a Mamdani Win Can Transform American Politics
Not American politics, but they’re definitely leading the Dems off the deep end

Gates of Vienna - News Feed 1/2/2026

DOJ Demands Minnesota Voter Records
The Department of Justice on Friday sent a letter to Minnesota’s secretary of state demanding records related to the state’s voter registration practices

Small Dead Animals - New Year’s Eve On Turtle Island

Conman Carney’s Canada: Property rights. Five shocking cases. Truth and Reconciliation.
Stories You Won’t Find At Carney’s CBC: Long live Somaliland. The Hare and the Duster. Unsung heroes. A Kenyan sex chatbot. Five Christian converts.

A View from the Beach - Flotsam and Jetsam - Zohran Sworn in as NYC Hizzoner

Nick Arama at RedState reports Tim Walz Throws Tantrum After Daycare Funding Spigot Is Shut Off, Gets Epic Ratio in Return. At Twitchy, Scott Jennings Drops Receipts on Hosts Denying Tim Walz Linked Fraud Probes to 'White Supremacy'.

Don Surber - Reviewing the ‘year in review’ stories

Finally, the Babylon Bee’s most popular story this year was “After Losing Access To TikTok, Zoomers Frantically Ask Grandparents How To Use Facebook.”

Cafe Hayek - Some Links

GMU Econ alum Nikolai Wenzel isn’t optimistic about the near-term fate of Gotham.
Arnold Kling has an idea for a “Trump Derangement Index.”

J.J. Sefton at Ace of Spades HQ - The Morning Report — 12/31/25

Carlson and Owens have become leading Western apologists for Islam.
The Masks Are Off

Maggie's Farm - Friday morning links

There Is Much More To The Immigration Issue Than Just The GDP Effect
New CBS anchor pledges neutrality at a network defined by bias

Doug Ross - Larwyn’s Linx: the servant becomes the master

• Trump Admin Freezes All Childcare Payments To Minnesota As Somali Daycare Scandal Goes Viral - ZH
• Laughable Criticism of Nick Shirley - David Strom

Anonymous Conservative - News Briefs – 01/02/2026

Chuck Schumer: “Our ultimate goal is to get a path to citizenship for all 11 million or however many undocumented there are here.”
I had not heard this:

I leave you with Your mid-week memes from Wirecutter, Midweek Memes from Granite Grok, Quick Hits Of Wisdom, Knowledge And Snark #3269 from 90 Miles from Tyranny, and Wow! I Guess It's Skipism Wednesday Already ~ PM from Woodsterman.

U.S. Attacks Venezuela, Captures Maduro

The US Military invaded Venezuela, and Captured Maduro in about 3 hours this morning. Or maybe it started before midnight, but however you look at it, it didn't take very long.

Several people - most people? - have been writing something about this. Here is The Other McCain as a first step. BREAKING: U.S. Strikes Venezuela UPDATE: Maduro Captured, Trump Says

Wow. The regime is over in Venezuela.

The man is dedicated to journalism. Either that or he is just one of those insane morning people, because he was posting this stuff at 5 AM.

Went to bed early Friday, woke up at 3 a.m. and checked my phone to discover that the U.S. military is striking Venezuela:

OK, so I have been known to check my phone in the middle of the night.

Go read his post. He has a complete - as much as possible due to "Fog of War" - timeline.

William Teach at Pirate's Cove has US Captures Maduro In Overnight Operation

In which he asks how the Democrats will respond.

Now we await the moonbats to go moonbat over this. Oh, and this

There is also a bit of speculation on "next steps."

There are more blog posts, and social media is, of course, on fire.

As the legacy media and left-wing politicians condemn the arrest of Maduro, this is how ALL of Venezuela feels… pic.twitter.com/uA7GkXO3WR

— Inevitable West (@Inevitablewest) January 3, 2026

Self-Defense Is Legal in Pennsylvania

Though it took the DA quite a while to reach that conclusion. 'Use of force was justified' Johnstown shooting ruled self defense, no charges filed

More specifically, Neugebauer added that Tillman exited one of the Solomon Homes buildings, encountered the other man, presented a weapon and fired said weapon in the direction of the man. The man never presented a weapon of any kind.

In response, a bystander got out of their vehicle and used deadly force in defense of the other man by firing their weapon at, and ultimately striking, Tillman, according to Neugebauer.

Johnstown, Pennsylvania is about a 70 mile drive east of Pittsburgh.

It is hard to say why this took so long, except that District Attorneys in general, and even more so in Blue States, don't like self-defense. I suppose they may have been waiting on final reports from somewhere.

The Post Office Spent $3 Billion on EVs and Has Nothing to Show For It

Well, almost nothing to show for it. USPS spent $3B on electric trucks and barely delivered results

The tl:dr version of the story. The USPS spent $3 billion dollars and has 612 electric trucks. That overstates the problem, a bit, because they weren't going for 100% electric vehicles. They also purchased some E-Transit vans from Ford, but quite of few of those are sitting idle around the country.

And of course they couldn't just go an purchase a known vehicle, like the E-Transit, or a Chevy van. No, this is the US government, and so the USPS decided that they needed custom vehicles designed and built by Oshkosh. (A company that makes Fire Engines, but mostly they make trucks for the US military.)

As usual, it comes down to charging. Even in places where EVs might make sense, charging infrastructure is not in place. Another case of where bureaucrats make decisions about engineering with no engineering knowledge. "What could possibly go wrong?"

Even where vehicles exist, the supporting infrastructure has lagged. Internal and external critics have pointed out that the infrastructure for new EV delivery vehicles simply did not exist at many postal facilities, and that older buildings needed to be retrofitted for EV charging before large numbers of trucks could be assigned there.

Your tax dollars at work. (Hat tip to MGUY Australia.)

Jack Ass Ginger

Another song courtesy of WXRT's Saturday Morning Flashback. In the middle of December, they were revisiting 1991. Not a bad year for music.

This song is "Jack Ass Ginger" by Poi Dog Pondering" from their 1992 album Volvo Volvo, though it was released as a single in 1991.

Friday Links - 2 January

Robert Spencer at PJ Media starts us off with Minnesotans Complained to RINO Congressman Years Ago About Somalis. This Is the Response They Got.

The Daily Caller reported Monday that back in July 2015, Emmer hosted a town hall event in St. Cloud. Before a packed house in a local bar and grill, one of Emmer’s besieged constituents told the globalist RINO that most of the attendees were there in order to “find out how you feel about assimilation of immigrants.”

The College Fix - Columbia professor who blocked Jewish student during encampments given promotion. (Did you doubt that Columbia was antisemitic?)

A scholar at Columbia University who is shown in a video blocking a student from accessing a portion of campus during an anti-Israel protest has been given a promotion, prompting some criticism.

Meep at STUMP - Top 5 Mortality with Meep Posts of 2025: Ranking, Politics, and a Celeb

In 2025, I published 148 posts here at STUMP. As with last year (I’ll link at the bottom), I’ll list the top 5 Mortality with Meep and top 5 non-mortality posts, but as I did only 5 podcast episodes this year, I won’t be ranking those this year.

Impro Guns - Digicam boxy brrrt. (Click thru for photo)

Likely chambered in .380 acp with a safety / potential fire selector.

William Teach at Pirate's Cove - WP Super Upset Over ICE’s At Large Arrests

We’ve already seen several hyper-left wing judges attempt to rule that immigration enforcement cannot arrest illegal aliens in courthouses, schools, daycare centers (they weren’t), churches, and so many other “sensitive” place. How soon till some wacko judge says ICE cannot arrest illegals in the streets?

Again from Meep - Top 5 STUMP Posts for 2025: Social Security, Pensions and LOTS OF CHICAGO!

The Chicago Pension Sweeteners for the police and fire plans came up a few times during the year, and they will be coming up again in 2026, as I will likely be trying to figure out how likely the plans will run out of assets/strain the Chicago budgets in years to come.

Kostas Moros at Shooting News Weekly - Tyranny Surcharge: Let’s Add Up How Much More Californians Pay to Exercise Their Gun Rights

As a bit of a sneak preview of an upcoming amicus brief I’m working on for the Second Amendment Foundation, let’s take a look at how much more it costs to buy a handgun in California compared to most of the rest of the country using a Walther PDP compact pistol as an example.

Sydney Watson - Netflix is censoring criticism of *THAT* scene...

I will never stop being surprised by how easily censorship takes place these days.

Chicago Boyz - Derek Chauvin Appeal

Derek Chauvin recently filed for a new trial, with a 71-page memorandum detailing false testimony, withheld evidence, and expert manipulation that the jury never saw.

Texans Are Still Armed

Bad guys are still not getting the memo about that. Texarkana homeowner fatally shoots burglary suspect during confrontation | KTBS

Police say the homeowner confronted two people allegedly attempting to break into a vehicle.

During the encounter, one of the suspects was shot and later died at a local hospital.

The homeowner was not arrested, because this happened in Texarkana, Texas, not New York City.

Texarkana is on the Texas/Arkansas state line. It is about a 180 mile drive east of Dallas, or about a 75 mile drive north of Shreveport, Louisiana.

The Castle Doctrine in Texas allows you to use reasonable, even deadly force, to protect your home, vehicle, or business from unlawful entry, but it has limits: you must be lawfully present, reasonably believe deadly force is necessary to prevent serious harm or felony, and you can't be the aggressor or engaged in criminal activity.

The investigation is ongoing.

Free Speech Must Be Destroyed in the Name of Multiculturalism

From the London Telegraph: Free speech will have to go to preserve multiculturalism: One Australian politician has said the quiet part out loud

Multiculturalism is the new religion of the Left. You will not be allowed to say anything heretical about it. Like the fact that it is failing miserably.

It’s not often the Premier of New South Wales says something that changes the political debate in the UK and elsewhere, but so it is this week. Following the awful carnage on Bondi Beach, NSW Premier Chris Minns gave a press conference about new legal restrictions on speech, and said this:

“I acknowledge that we don’t have the same free speech rules that they have in the United States and I make no apologies for that, we have got a responsibility to knit together our community, that comes from different races and religions.”

It is why the UK and Australia, and other places, are putting people in jail for expressing opinions, and in parts of Europe for citing crime statistics.

You will believe only what the state permits you to believe.

Western civilization was fun while it lasted.

The Credibility of Cassidy Hutchinson as a J6 Witness

From The Other McCain we get ‘Madison Cornbread’ Update

Cassidy Hutchinson was a "star witness" before the J6 committee hearings.

Turns out the "star witness" was giving a lot of hearsay testimony.

The real purpose of Nancy Pelosi’s J6 witch-hunt committee was to demonize anyone who raised doubts about Joe Biden’s 81 million votes, essentially making it a crime to suggest Democrats stole the election.

Click thru for details, commentary, and the origin of the "Madison Cornbread" sobriquet.

I love that word, "sobriquet," and The Other McCain's writing style. Most people would just use the word "nickname." I hope we get more of his writing this year.

Happy New Year

Worlds LARGEST firework set off over Japan.pic.twitter.com/1gGmpqj3Kf

— DramaAlert (@DramaAlert) January 1, 2026

Hollywood in 2025

People have different takes, and Critical Drinker took some time to highlight the good movies in 2025, such as F1: The Movie, but what sticks with me the most is the list of bad movies. There were quite a few in 2025

In particular the universal reaction to Snow White and the Seven CGI Abominations marked the low point of 2025. I think the Drinker said it best, when he gave the movie a lifetime Achievement Award for Biggest Lolcow Movie of the Year..

Let's begin with The Critical Drinker's video is The Best And Worst Of 2025 (20 minutes)

This is the Nerdrotic video Top 5 Hollywood DISASTERS of 2025. (35 minutes) And of course, since it is Nerdrotic, the "Top 5" include 6 movies that stank up the place last year.

Despot of Antrim was one of the first out of the gate, and I covered his take with The Horrible Movies of 2025

It seems to be the consensus that the movie theater is on its way out. People are not going to the theater. I think they could revive the theater experience if they went back to 90 minute movies, shown for a reasonable price. 3 hours is too long to sit in a theater. 3 hours needs to be in your own home, with a pause button, steps away from the fridge. 3 hour movies are also too long for dinner and a movie. That was the standard date for a couple of generations. These extra long movies make that impossible, or at least impractical.

More Self-Defense in California

It really is catching on. Woman shoots attacker in self-defense in Stockton, police say

When [police] arrived at the scene, they found a 41-year-old female victim who had been beaten up by the suspect, and then she shot him in self-defense.

He will live to face charges.

SPD reported that officers arrested [the bad guy] for torture, assault with a deadly weapon, and child abuse.

So first he got shot, and then he was arrested. I'm guessing that is not how he planned his afternoon.

This sounds like a domestic-violence attack to me, but that isn't specified anywhere in the article.

Self-defense is a human right. Good Guys 1, Bad Guys 0.

Is The Mainstream Media Hoping Nick Shirley Gets Killed?

He is doing what the MSM refuses to do. Namely, investigative journalism. Reporter launches thinly veiled threat against journalist Nick Shirley who exposed Somali daycare fraud * WorldNetDaily * by Harold Hutchison, Daily Caller News Foundation

Politico senior legal affairs reporter Josh Gerstein claimed in a Monday post on X that citizen journalists investigating Somali scammers could be shot under "stand your ground" laws, which some commenters viewed as a threat.

Well that proves 2 things. One is that Political senior legal affairs reporter has absolutely no clue what "Stand Your Ground" laws actually say, and the other is that he's a no-class hack.

Minnesota is not a "stand your ground" state, according to the United States Concealed Carry Association, but instead has imposed a "duty to retreat" before using force.

OK, 3 things. Gerstein also has shown his complete lack of ability to do a simple web search on Stand Your Ground laws.

Hat tip to MaddMedic at Freedom Is Just Another Word...

Because he is doing what your puppet master’s won’t allow you to do? Actual reporting?

The Minnesota Judges Who Side With Somali Fraud

Are we shocked? Liberals don't believe in Law and Order. They believe in identity politics and social justice, which has nothing to do with real Justice. Come meet the Minnesota judges who have dismissed and overturned recent Somali fraud cases | Not the Bee

Meet three AWFL (Affluent, white, female, liberal) Minnesota judges who are making headlines for the most predictable reasons imaginable.

These ladies have recently dismissed cases against Somali fraudsters in Minnesota, even overturning jury verdicts, allowing the immigrants stealing millions from Americans and Minnesotans to walk free.

Read the whole thing.