What's the Opposite of Diversity?

University. In particular, Yale seems to have a problem with diversity of thought. From The College Fix we get the following. Zero Republican professors found across 27 academic departments at Yale: research

Out of the 1,335 faculty members reviewed, only 30 were identified as Republican, while 1,099 were identified as Democrats, revealing a stark imbalance in political affiliation among the Ivy League institution’s educators.

“Yale remains an ideologically monolithic campus with an intellectual orthodoxy that makes expressing even mainstream alternative viewpoints challenging,” Lauren Noble, Buckley Institute founder and executive director, told The College Fix.

40% of students self-censor, because diversity of thought is not permitted on that campus.

Is anyone shocked? (Hat tip to Maggie's Farm.)

Chicago's Continuing Downward Spiral

From Chicago Contrarian we get an update of Chicago finances. Chicago Mayor’s Progressive Budget Fantasy

As I type this, Chicago still does not have a budget for the coming year, though of course that can change at any time. Mayor Brandon Johnson has been fighting for a "head tax," a tax on every employee of every business with 100 or more employees, payable every month. Even the Democratic governor of Illinois, not so affectionately known as Fatso, doesn't think it is a good idea.

The balance of the mayor’s budget will remain largely intact, including almost 20 tax and fee increases that are not tied to the taxpayers’ income bracket. This includes the regressive increase to the Cloud Tax that will increase the nation-leading 11 percent tax on computer use and services to 14 percent. This will further solidify Chicago’s standing as the highest taxed city in the highest taxed state in the nation.

Add high and increasing taxes, to high crime, and it is little wonder that people and businesses are fleeing the city. And while crime in Chicago is somewhat lower than it was during the lockdowns, or during the Summer of Love, it is still high.

Unfortunately, while many City Council members have become emboldened to tackle the mayor on single issues like his proposed property tax increase last year and this year’s Head Tax proposal, they have neither the access to the information nor the analytical expertise to undertake the needed comprehensive review of city spending despite the [Ernst & Young] road map.

So Chicago will continue on its course of financial collapse.

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

This isn't really appropriate for a Monday afternoon slot in Metal for Mondays, but since I make the rules... And Tarja is one of my favorite Heavy Metal singers.

I scheduled this for today early in the holiday season, because I'm fairly sure the Christmas Spirit will be beaten out of me long before the end of December gets here. Commercialism sucks. I hope the rest of you have luck keep the spirit of the holiday going.

This song is "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" by Tarja from her 2017 album From Spirits and Ghosts (Score for a Dark Christmas).

Self-Defense Is Legal in Missouri

But then I thought it was. Officials release details in Erik Spencer shooting, witnesses support self-defense claim

Jefferson City is the capital of Missouri. It is about 100 miles west of St. Louis, though the driving distance is about 125 miles.

Throughout the investigation, law enforcement interviewed 14 independent witnesses about the shooting. Wilde said witness testimonies were consistent.

Scrivner told law enforcement he had shot Spencer while intervening in a domestic assault involving Spencer and Spencer's girlfriend.

Erik Spencer was in the middle of a "domestic dispute" with his girlfriend. She was just trying to get into her car and leave.

Spencer Scrivner retrieved a gun from his car and intervened. Erik Spencer threatened to shoot Scrivner, and made to reach for his waistband. He had no gun. He was shot once in the chest.

"Missouri's self-defense laws are some of the strongest in the county, and right, wrong or indifferent we are bound by the laws passed by our legislature. It does not mean we stand up here today to condone the shooter's actions," [Cole County Prosecutor Locke] Thompson said.

Because prosecutors HATE self-defense. This clearly would be better if Eric Spencer had been permitted to continue his domestic dispute. Or something.

Of course, all Eric Spencer had to do was NOT threaten the man with the gun, and walk away. (Hat tip to Concealed Nation.)

Electric Vehicles Were Always a Bubble

Command economies NEVER work. They fail spectacularly when the commands revolve around power generation and vehicle production, and the politicians issuing those commands have absolutely no understanding of the physics and engineering of power generation, or electric vehicle production.

Let's start with a story from The Manhattan Contrarian. The Electric Vehicle Collapse: Wow, That Was Quick!

It is always wise to vote against central planning. And electric vehicles were mostly a creation of central planning.

As soon as the push (incentives) were removed, that artificially created demand evaporated.

This is the MGUY Australia video The EV bubble finally BURSTS

Apple Punishes a Guy for Being a Victim. Sort of.

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony brings a "horror story" from Apple. Daily News Stuff 19 December 2025: 12 Days Of Rechristmas Edition

People wonder why I don't like Apple. This is a particularly horrible example, but it is not isolated.

Do you think all of your photos, contacts, emails, etc. are safe because Apple is in control of everything? Don't trip over anything, not even something completely outside of your control.

The unfortunately named Paris Buttfield-Addison bought a $500 Apple gift card at a major Australian brick-and-mortar outlet.

Turns out the card had already been redeemed, and when he tried to redeem it, it was rejected.

The outlet agreed to provide a replacement gift card, so all was well.

Then Apple terminated his account and bricked all of his devices. (Hey.Paris)

   My Apple ID, which I have held for around 25 years (it was originally a username, before they had to be email addresses; it’s from the iTools era), has been permanently disabled. This isn't just an email address; it is my core digital identity. It holds terabytes of family photos, my entire message history, and is the key to syncing my work across the ecosystem.

   I effectively have over $30,000 worth of previously-active "bricked" hardware. My iPhone, iPad, Watch, and Macs cannot sync, update, or function properly. I have lost access to thousands of dollars in purchased software and media.

You might be thinking at this point that this guy is an idiot for giving a single company complete control over his personal and work life in this way.

You would be correct.

That's nice collection of tech gadgets you have there. Be a shame if anything happened to them.

The next story at the Daily Tech News (first link at top) is how Apple is not a computer company, it is a protection racket. It is a completely different story.

If you have stuff that is important to you, documents, family photos, your unfinished novel, whatever, you should have 3 copies of it, in different places, not under the control of one company.

On the 2020 Election ...

From the Other McCain - ‘Yes, We Stole the Election. Oopsie.’

Do you believe the the democratic process?

Five years after the election — when it is too late to rectify the crime, and never mind all the injury inflicted on those branded “election deniers” for protesting this fraud — we learn the truth.

We have laws for a reason. But it is increasingly clear that the Democrats don't believe in the law. Not election law. Not the law against stealing. They want to rule the chaos, or so it seems to me.

Click thru for the details.

Zachary Levi on Hollywood’s Decline and His Plans to Build a New Studio

This is the Nerdrotic Daily video ZACHARY LEVI BREAKS IT DOWN – Hollywood’s Decline, Wyldwood Studios & AI Slop. It is a one hour (or so) excerpt from the 19 December episode of Friday Night Tights.

Zachary Levi was one of the few Hollywood types to endorse Trump, and while he doesn't agree with everything Trump is doing, he recognized the lesser of two train wrecks. He has paid a price for that.

While the last 20 minutes or so, are question and answer, they are edited to include his long answers to some of the more serious questions. And his last statement shows he is a decent human being.

If you're interested in the entire episode of Friday Night Tights, you can find it at this link: Hollywood's DOOMSDAY! WB FIRESALE! - Friday Night Tights 385 w Zachary Levi. It is 4 hours and 10 minutes, so no, I have not seen it all.

A Sunday Afternoon Musical Interlude

Today we get a beautiful and peaceful, musical interlude from Miguel Gonzalez. Sunday Repose

Click thru for "Arcangelo" by Thijs van Leer. It is adaptation of "Gigue From Sonata Op. 5 No. 9" by Arcangelo Corelli, which was first published 1 January, 1700.

A gigue is a baroque dance that evolved from the English jig, and was eventually included in more formal musical offerings. (So ends the music history lesson for the day.)

UPDATE: I should have said that "Arcangelo" is from the 1979 album Introspection 4. I should also have mentioned that Thijs van Leer was the keyboardist, vocalist, and flutist for the rock band Focus.

Self-Defense in the San Francisco Bay Area

It seems that self-defense may be legal in California. No charges in shooting death of 20-year-old Richmond man

And this police department and DA have moved at warp speed, considering it is a blue state.

Contra Costa County prosecutors won’t be filing charges in the fatal shooting of a 20-year-old Richmond man, saying the person who shot him Nov. 8 did so in self-defense, Richmond police announced Friday.

Richmond is in the east Bay Area, being about 10 miles north of Oakland, California.

On Friday, police revealed new details, saying Hammond pulled out a gun after a person brandished a gun at him inside the store. Hammond then exited and fired multiple shots, hitting a second person who was entering the store.

That person returned fire, fatally wounding Hammond, police said. They left the scene and sought treatment for their wounds at a local hospital.

Self-defense is a human right, and it may even be your legal right in California.

They Had to Become Fascists to Stop the Fascists

They can't even hear how tone deaf they are. From Tyler O'Neil at The Daily Signal: The Orwellian Excuse the Congressional Black Caucus Gave for Trying to Block My Congressional Testimony

When the Congressional Black Caucus and 260 left-leaning organizations sent letters trying to prevent me from testifying before Congress, they claimed to be opposing efforts to “undermine civil institutions” and to prevent the use of “government power to silence people.”

His crime? He was criticizing the Southern Poverty Law Center for targeting conservatives, such as the time the SPLC got the FBI to investigate Traditional Catholics.

To the Left it is simple. If you oppose anything and anyone that they like, you are evil and must be silenced. That they don't see that as fascist behavior is a testament to the low quality of education in this country.

The details are every bit as insane as you think they would be.

The Police State Required for Nationwide Gun Confiscation

And it would be a police state. The Reality of Nationwide Gun Control - by Holly MathNerd

If you think the lesson of what happened there is that we need nationwide gun control, I want to persuade you of something uncomfortable but important: you really don’t want that.

I promise that you don’t, and if you keep reading, I think I can explain why.

Click thru for the insanity.

Hat tip to Eric S. Raymond on X and to Sarah Hoyt at Instanpundit.

Joe Biden on The War on Drugs

It's funny how the Democrats' take on the War on Drugs has changed pver the years.

In 1989 George Bush addressed the nation on new steps he was taking in the war on drugs. Immediately afterward Biden addressed the nation.

He said Bush's plan was not strong enough and called for more prosecutors, cops, and border security. He even wanted to bomb the cartels. pic.twitter.com/ttkTVy6sJ1

— MAZE (@mazemoore) January 20, 2024

Saturday Roundup of Link Roundups - 20 December

Wombat-socho is first with In The Mailbox: 12.17.25 (Afternoon Edition)

Dana Loesch: Chick-Fil-A Caves On DEI
Don Surber: Why I Am Defending Trump,

Animal Magnetism - Animal’s Hump Day News

Wait, what?
No shit, Sherlock.

The Right Way - Top of the News

Chicago is descending into Thunderdome - Viking Pundit
The Grooming Gangs Issue is Destroying the Liberal Regime - Richard the Fourth (video) - Theo Spark

A View from the Beach - Flotsam and Jetsam - Reiner Charged in Reiner Murder, Brown Shootings Stays Unsolved, The Scene in Sydney Curdles the Blood

GAO finds serious abuses in Obamacare exchanges, "Remember when Americans were told that the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare) would lower health care costs and that if you liked your doctor, you could keep her?

EBL - Who is Brown University's Mustapha Karbouch?

Instapundit: Identified about tweleve hours ago...
Legal Insurrection: Lack of information...

Again from Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 12.17.25 (Evening Edition)

Victory Girls: Mamdani Math Does Not Add Up, Trump Response To Reiner Murders Was Unnecessary And Awful, and Bondi Beach Was Not a Surprise – It Was Permission
Watts Up With That: Environmental Groups Urge Congress to Ban Data Centers

Flopping Aces - The Week in Radical Leftism, 12/18/2025 – Back to The Washington Post!

Democrats lambaste Noem, demand she resign at combative congressional hearing
Yep, they’re angry that our Secretary of Homeland Security is cleaning up the mess of her predecessor and is protecting America.

Small Dead Animals - Wednesday On Turtle Island

The Democratic Party’s America: He’s Spartacus. Anti-Israel school materials.
Stories You Won’t Find At Carney’s CBC: Heroic Muslims. One day, one newspaper. France is a no-go zone. Paul Joseph Watson – What really happened at Bondi Beach.

The Glibertarians - Friday Morning Links

Haitians Allegedly Bilked Taxpayers Out Of Millions In SNAP Scam
Indicted Defendant In Somali Fraud Scandal Still Getting Millions From Minnesota, Says GOP Lawmaker

Wombat-socho again - In The Mailbox: 12.19.25 (Morning Edition)

CDR Salamander: Diversity Thursday
Dana Loesch: Trump’s Bad Texas Endorsement

Lawrence Person's BattleSwarm Blog - LinkSwarm For December 19, 2025

Minnesota Democrats did nothing about the vast Somali fraud going on because they benefited from it.
More: They lied to the state government lied to the Feds about it as well.

Vlad Tepes - James Woods joins the Counter-Jihad and MUCH MORE: Links for December 18, 2025

2. In the Tweet above, James Woods retweets an account called Casey Babb who we are unaware of till tonight. But independently, someone sent me this Tweet from the same account:

Gates of Vienna - News Feed 12/18/2025

Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini has won his case at the Italian Supreme Court regarding accusations of kidnapping migrants, which could have resulted in a long prison sentence.

Once more from Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 12.19.25 (Evening Edition)

Dana Loesch: The Brown University Shooter Is Dead
Don Surber: Assimilate or go home

Cafe Hayek - Some Links

Phil Gramm and John Early make clear that “something is profoundly wrong with the U.S. welfare system—a problem that runs far deeper and is more dangerous than the shocking fraud in Minnesota that has been making headlines.”

Maggie's Farm - Friday morning links

This AI Keeps Getting Dumb and Dumber, and I've Got the Receipts
The Electric Vehicle Collapse: Wow, That Was Quick!

J.J. Sefton at Ace of Spades HQ - The Morning Report — 12/17/25

Democracy dies when citizens demand benefits instead of freedom.
Democracy’s Great Temptation

Doug Ross - Larwyn’s Linx: Trump Halts Diversity Green Card Lottery After Brown, MIT Shootings Trace To Non-Citizen

• Do Not Look Away on This One - CTH
• Providence-area Radio Host Asks Brown University About Their Intentional Disabling of CCTV Systems - CTH

Anonymous Conservative - News Briefs – 12/17/2025

Dan Bongino’s Staff Has Quit, His Office Is Empty And He Is Set To Officially Resign Within The Next 48 Hours. Maybe. Or it is fake news. Either way, the conspiracy had to wargame full control of the FBI, so I was never thinking the FBI would save us.

I leave you with Wednesday's memes from Wirecutter, Quick Hits Of Wisdom, Knowledge And Snark #3230 from 90 Miles from Tyranny, Midweek Memes from Granite Grok, and Friday Memes … from MaddMedic.

If You Break Into Homes...

You will eventually meet an armed homeowner. Homeowner says intruder shot, killed after entering Las Vegas house. This is more true in a state like Nevada.

Dispatchers received a 911 call from a homeowner who said he had shot an intruder. The homeowner, identified only as a man in his 30s, said the individual, identified as a man in his late 40s. came over uninvited and unannounced, investigators said.

After a fight the homeowner shot the intruder, who died at local hospital.

The two guys apparently knew one another, so this is another example of people you know, being a threat. The gun-hating part of the Left is always on about how if you own a gun you are more likely to shoot someone you know, than a complete stranger. That statistic may be changing as civilization collapses, but typically people you know are more likely to be a problem. Disgruntled employees, ex-partners turned stalker, the creepy guy at your favorite coffee shop, and more are people you know.

Police did not arrest the homeowner, because this didn't happen in a Blue State.

Fake Racism in Montana

When there isn't enough actual racism to meet the needs of the Left, they create some fake racism. 18-Month Sentence for Anti-Asian/Anti-Gay Threats Sent by Montana State Univ. Chinese Culture Club President

Is there racism in this country? Yes. But it would seem that there is not enough for the needs to the Left. At least there wasn't enough anti-Asian hate for needs of Rex Wu, president of the Chinese Culture Club at Montana State University. He was convicted of creating some harassing emails.

And since at least one person's name was smeared by this, as being a racist, there were more consequences.

The incident has led to a defamation lawsuit against Wu, in which Wu has defaulted, by not defending it. According to the Complaint, Wu and a fellow MSU Chinese Culture Club member (Lin) "weaponized false racism accusations to achieve their political goals" (recall that this is of course just the plaintiffs' side of the story, and that Lin isn't a defendant in the case and therefore hasn't filed anything with her side of the story).

This is a long and complicated post about a long and complicated series of events. Click thru for the details. They include how a bunch of emails were tied back to Wu.

Hat tip to Clayton Cramer: How Much Racism Remains in America?

I know it persists but articles like this involving anti-Asian racism invented by a gay Chinese-American activist suggests [that] demand exceeds supply.

'Zat You, Santa Claus?

Emmaline is a Nashville based, independent artist that I found in July, when someone (Miguel Gonzalez) was celebrating Christmas in July. Not something I usually am down with, but I always appreciate finding new artists, and Emmaline is a great singer.

This song is "'Zat You, Santa Claus?" by Emmaline. It is a cover of a song originally by Louis Armstrong. Emmaline released it just before Christmas last year, at the end of November.

Friday Links - 19 December

Jews Can Shoot Starts us off with a reaction to the Australian terror attack. Following Sydney massacre, US Jewish security groups reiterate guidelines

The Secure Community Network, the Community Security Initiative, and the Community Security Service — three leading Jewish community groups in the US — issue a set of recommendations.

Divemedic at Areo Ocho - Intel

Property rights are anathema to commies. They don’t want to work for it, but they want it. So they take it. At the end of the day, that is socialism and communism is- the theft of goods and services, wrapped up in a pretty bow.

Theo Spark - If you want a great Christmas listen to these guys....

This is the 'It's a Wonderful Life' in a Radio station.

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 16 November 2025: Stone Circuit Edition

LG has force-installed Microsoft Copilot on its smart TVs. (Tom's Hardware)

And you can't remove it.

Planning to buy Samsung instead? Same deal with their TVs and Google Gemini.

Massad Ayoob -WHO KNEW…?

I didn’t know that the great actor James Earl Jones was One Of Us…

…and had one HELL of a gun collection

SHTF Plan - Trump Files $10 billion Lawsuit Against BBC; Let It Burn

President Donald Trump has filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the British Broadcasting Corporation (“BBC”), alleging the broadcaster deceptively edited clips from his 6 January 2021 speech to make it appear he incited violence during the Capitol riot.

Irons in the Fire - This was a range day

One thing I need to look for is a better spotting scope. This one works fine on .30-caliber holes and larger, but at 200 it's damn near impossible for me to spot .22-caliber holes. Which I suspect means that one which will work for that is going to cost more than I may be willing/able to spend.

Legal Insurrection - Harvard Program Caught Trying To Hide Discriminatory Language After Complaint Filed By Equal Protection Project

On December 7, 2025, our Equal Protection Project filed a complaint and request for investigation with the U.S. Department of Justice regarding a paid internship run jointly with Harvard and AFSCME (the municipal workers union).

Miguel Gonzalez - You say that like it is a bad thing.

Once there are more people working for a federal paycheck than citizens in the private economy, they are no longer working for you, but you are working for them.

And to the idea of 271,000 less people in the federal payroll, I say this:

Jack Wylder at Monster Hunter Nation: Internet Zoologist Field Notes: TSCW

A common tactic used by dishonest bully assholes is to pretend that the internet is a real place, which functions on the same rules of civility as in real life conversations.

Doug Ross - Racism Under the Banner of DEI is Still Racism

A 2025 ResumeBuilder survey found that 31% of companies de-prioritize white males, with 10% openly avoiding them. This aligns with data showing white men making up only about 6% of recent U.S. hires, despite being a larger share of applicants.

Brown University Shooter Found Dead

From The Other McCain, an update on the 2 university shootings. Claudio Neves-Valente Identified as Brown University Gunman, Found Dead

Claudio Neves-Valente had been enrolled in the physics program at Brown University before leaving in 2003 without completing his doctorate. He also attended the same program at a university in Portugal as MIT physics Professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro. Loureiro was apparently murdered by Neves-Valente.

Whatever the motive turns out to be, it apparently had nothing to do with radicalism on the Brown University campus, which means that apologies are owed to the chubby Palestinian student whom many Internet sleuths had suspected as the gunman.

Click thru for details on how the police tracked down Claudio Neves-Valente.