As provided by law, without objection, the 119th Congress formally counted the votes of the Electoral College, and, at 1:35 p.m. Eastern, having received 312 electoral votes, Donald Trump was certified as the 47th President of the United States (and JD Vance was certified as vice president). Vice President Kamala Harris presided over the session — something that places her in a somewhat exclusive (albeit not enviable) club.

Less than a year before the end of World War II, then-U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau drew up a nightmarish plan to punish postwar Germany.

After the serial 1870-1871 Franco-Prussian War, World War I, and World War II—along with the failed Versailles peace treaty of 1919—the Allies in World War II wanted to ensure there would never again be an aggressive Germany powerful enough to invade its neighbors.

When the so-called Morgenthau Plan was leaked to the press in September 1944, at first it was widely praised. After all, it would supposedly render Germany incapable of ever starting another world war in Europe.

Morgenthau certainly envisioned a Carthaginian peace, designed to ensure a permanently deindustrialized, unarmed, and pastoral Germany. //

When the dying Nazi Party got wind of the plan, Adolf Hitler’s propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels had a field day. He screamed to Germans that they were all doomed to oblivion if they lost the war, even growing opponents of the Nazi Party.

Even many Americans were aghast at the plan.

Gen. George Marshall, the Army chief of staff, warned that its mere mention had galvanized German troops to fight to the end, increasing American casualties as they closed in on the German homeland.

Ex-President Herbert Hoover blasted the plan as inhumane. He feared mass starvation of the German people if they were reduced to a premodern, rural peasantry.

But once the victorious allies occupied a devastated Germany, witnessed its moonscape ruined by massive bombing and house-to-house fighting, and discovered that their “ally” Russia’s Josef Stalin was ruthless and hellbent on turning all of Europe communist, the Harry Truman administration backed off the plan.

There is a tragic footnote to the aborted horrors of the Morgenthau Plan. Currently, Germany is doing to itself almost everything Morgenthau once dreamed of.

Its green delusions have shut down far too many of its nuclear, coal, and gas electrical generation plants.

Erratic solar and wind “sustainable energy” means that power costs are four times higher than on average in the United States.

Once-dominant European giants Volkswagen, BMW, and Mercedes are now bleeding customers and profits. Their own government’s green and electric vehicle mandates ensure they will become globally uncompetitive.

The German economy actually shrank in 2023. And the diminished Ruhr can no longer save the German economy from its own utopian politicians.

The German military is all but disarmed and short thousands of recruits.

German industries do not produce enough ammunition, tanks, ships, and aircraft to equip even its diminished army, navy, and air force. //

After World War II, the Truman administration rejected the notion of a pastoral, deindustrialized, and insecure Germany as a cruel prescription for poverty, hunger, and depopulation.

But now the German people themselves voted for their own updated version of Morgenthau’s plan—as they willingly reduced factory hours, curtailed power and fuel supplies, and struggled with millions of illegal aliens and porous borders.

Germans accept that they have no military to speak of that could protect their insecure borders—without a United States-led NATO.

Eighty years ago, Germany’s former conquerors rejected wrecking the defeated nation as too harsh. But now Germany is willfully pastoralizing, disarming, deindustrializing—and destroying—itself.

Unplug the wheel>uninstall G-HUB>manually delete the logitech folder in C:\users{name}\AppData>run RegEdit>delete the Logitech folder in LOCAL MACHINE>restart>install G-HUB again>connect the wheel>calibrate.  //

Posted July 19, 2022

On 7/18/2022 at 3:28 PM, Ryansands6 said:
I finally got my wheel to somewhat work. I can now control the centering spring to were it is at a playable level but force feed back still doesn't work. I am using the Logitech G hub software and the only way I can get my wheel to connect to it is to open g hub with the wheel plugged in, then go into the windows settings and find the wheel under devices, then remove the device from the menu, then unplug the wheel and plug it back in and g hub will allow the wheel to connect. I did try to get help from the Logitech tech support and they were as useless as anything.

That sound exactly like registry/driver corruption to me. You should remove all traces of the logitech software before you connect your wheel again and let windows reinstall the drivers. //

Thank you very much.
I followed the steps you posted and my FFB and my leds are working OK again with every game. 🤟 //

I did exactly this cause i found a toturial on this but where u use the 2020 version, the 2020 version profiles for my wheel didn't even adapt to what i changed and now i did it again but this time i restarted my pc and then reinstalled it like you said and it works now! The LED and the FFB. Tbh ur a life safer dude!

Somehow, we're all supposed to be concerned about the mass exodus of "seasoned government lawyers and FBI agents" who engaged in lawfare against President Trump and members of his 2017-2021 team. They could have learned a valuable life lesson by watching the HBO series "The Wire" before engaging in political warfare against the once and future president.

[You come at the king, you best not miss]

The more people who resign, the less drama will take place, and more slots can be filled with people who just want to do their jobs and have no interest in eliminating political figures or engaging in a soft coup against the White House.

FreeBSD: Setup SoftEther and configure Offshore 100% Logless VPN server (Windows 10 as clients)

What does it tell us that the outgoing president believes simply meeting "more world leaders than any one of you" gives him credibility? It tells us that Washington is riddled with meaningless credentialism, whereby politicians are granted "expertise" simply by virtue of existing.

Biden has been around for a long time. Thus, in his mind, and the minds of many Democrats and the national press, he must know what he's talking about. Is that true, though? That's rhetorical because we all know it's not true. Biden is perhaps the worst foreign policy mind in American history when you consider the length of his tenure within the federal government. //

Credentialism has destroyed the federal government. It has turned it into a jobs program for mediocrities who leech off of taxpayers for decades at a time, never having to deliver anything positive for the American people. Joe Biden is the epitome of that culture, and it is somewhat poetic that he'll be leaving Washington as a disgrace.

A daring Israeli commando raid deep into Bashar Assad's Syria in early September not only destroyed an Iranian factory producing missiles for Hezbollah to shoot into Israel, it may have been a test of a concept that puts all of Iran's nuclear facilities at risk.

On the night of September 8-9, a 120-man unit of elite Israeli Air Force Shaldag commandos in CH-53 attacked the underground factory in the Masyaf area of Syria, west of Hama, using a combination of landing and fast roping.

This is a video of US Marines fast roping from the same type of helicopter used in the Israeli operation. //

So why the big media rollout on a raid that happened three months ago? I think the first reason is to impress the locals with Israeli military capabilities. This media event, in addition to the happenings on the ground, goes a long way toward undoing any damage to the psychological dominance Israel has established over its enemies since 1948 by the October 7. 2023 massacre of Israeli civilians. The second reason is to send a message to the Iranians that you can't dig a facility deep enough to get away from the IDF if they want you.

The attack at Masyaf looked a lot like a rehearsal for an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. In the aftermath of the rout of Assad's forces and the fall of the Ba'athist regime, Israel carried out a punishing campaign of air attacks on Syrian radar, fighter bases, and air defense sites. So much so that it is fair to say that Syria is incapable of knowing who is using its airspace, much less contesting that usage; see Israel Bombs Syria's Military Capability and Infrastructure Flat to Send a Message to Iran.

While Operation EAGLE CLAW, the attempted rescue of US hostages held by Iran in April 1980, was a humiliation of American arms, the same basic plan is imminently viable to take out Iran's nuclear weapons research and production facilities. The destruction of Syrian air defenses and early warning systems means a relatively large Israeli force could seize a foothold within helicopter range of the target area and, under the cover of airstrikes, penetrate Iranian nuclear facilities and destroy them.

And we can never ignore that third possible reason. Given the obvious inferences from the Masyaf raid, the Iranians may very well react by reinforcing their nuclear facilities and, in the process, reveal nuclear sites that were previously unknown.

The sudden desire to destroy trees for solar panels comes as the state risks failing to meet its own climate goal of 100% “clean” energy by 2040. If it doesn’t increase its development of so-called renewable energy, it won’t meet its arbitrary timeframe.

The 420 acres about to be bulldozed are part of 4,000 acres of public land that will be flattened to try and meet the 2040 deadline. //

Public land, even - meaning, presumably, land that is held by the state government in trust, as it were, for the people of the state of Michigan. Land that would otherwise be available for a variety of recreational uses, as most public land is.

Now, though, it will be destroyed in favor of solar panels that will take up an enormous amount of space to produce far less energy than a nuclear power plant would generate with a much, much smaller footprint.

This is ridiculous. //

To sum that up, solar arrays require 38 times more land to produce the same amount of electricity as one modern fission plant. Wind is even worse, requiring 140 times the land to produce that same amount of electricity - enough to power about 775,000 typical homes. That doesn't even take into account the issues with reliability or the necessity of battery backups for times when the wind isn't blowing and the sun isn't shining. //

So, why do these "clean energy" goals never include nuclear power? Fission reactors are everything the climate scolds and "clean energy" types profess to want; modern reactors, including molten-salt and small modular reactors, are safe, efficient, and produce no carbon emissions. //

They are literally destroying the environment to protect the environment. //

ConservativeInMinnesota
an hour ago edited
This is another example of progressive greenwashing. This won’t help the environment, it won’t reduce carbon and it isn’t scalable. It also isn’t base power as it won’t work at night or as well depending on the weather. That means another power plant needs to be built o provide power when this doesn't.

Get real and start deploying nuclear energy. Stop buying Chinese solar panels (based on stolen US IP) and leave the trees alone. The real world pollution will be effectively nonexistent, there will be less carbon and we don’t have to give more money to the CCP. //

Quiverfull
22 minutes ago
The deer and the antelope do not play
In the middle of a gross solar array

So, we did a lot of good things. But all too often, Kristen, we talked about the mechanics of the legislation and the details of the legislation. And we really didn't show the kind of empathy and concern to average – or show enough of it – to average working families who didn't realize how much we had done and how much we care for them.

Ah, that’s it. We’re just too dumb to "realize" how good we had it. We should have ignored inflation, the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal, the Biden war on energy, the president calling Trump supporters “garbage,” the decline of the military, your assault on the Supreme Court—the list goes on and on—we should have looked past all that because there’s just so much good delivered by the Dems that we’re not capable of comprehending. //

No, Chuck, your team didn’t come out on the short end because you’re so wonderful. The Dems lost all three power centers because your policies are terrible. I encourage you, however, to keep doing the same thing and hoping that stupid Americans will one day realize that you’re awesome.

I think, however, that you’re finding out the hard way that that ship has sailed.

Prime Minister Mute Egede has said a development is “imminent”. //

President/President-elect Donald Trump’s tasked his pick for Ambassador to Denmark with persuading the Danes to sell us the resource-rich Arctic land.

Shortly afterward, a major power outage struck Greenland due to a downed transmission line.
The outage left the region dark during a period of with temperatures dropping below -27 degrees Fahrenheit (-33°C).

Now, Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Egede has called for independence from Denmark in his New Year’s speech, marking a significant shift in the rhetoric surrounding the Arctic island’s future.

Egede, a member of the pro-independence Community of the People (IA) party, emphasized that it is time for Greenland to take the next step and shape its own future.

Jeremiah Cota ✝️🇺🇸 @jeremiahcota
·
Good Morning.👋

The Arizona Republic @azcentral is calling the Bible that Congressman Hamadeh @AbrahamHamadeh sworn in on an "unconventional documents".

Unreal, the Bible is now considered an "unconventional documents" by the writers at the Arizona Republic.
11:36 AM · Jan 4, 2025

The "unconventional documents" were, in fact, the family Bible of the loved ones of Kayla Mueller, an Arizona humanitarian worker who was murdered by ISIS in 2015--something the Republic apparently is quick to wave away as unmentionable subject matter. //

A humanitarian worker from Arizona, Mueller was abducted by terrorists while leaving a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Aleppo, Syria, in 2013. She was held hostage for 18 months, when she was believed to be repeatedly tortured and raped by ISIS militants, including then-ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Mueller was killed in February 2015. //

As I take the oath of office, I am profoundly honored to fulfill my promise to the Muellers and the American people by being sworn into Congress using Kayla’s family Bible. It serves as a testament to her unwavering belief in light over darkness and freedom over oppression.

Elon Musk @elonmusk
·
A travesty that Biden is giving Soros the Medal of Freedom
Mario Nawfal @MarioNawfal
🚨🇺🇸ELON: GEORGE SOROS FUNDAMENTALLY HATES HUMANITY

“He's doing things that erode the fabric of civilization. You know, getting DAs elected who refuse to prosecute crime.”
Embedded video
7:32 AM · Jan 4, 2025 //

Searcher
6 hours ago
The unforgivable rewarding the insufferable.

Plan your projects with the elegance
of a sloth on a sunny day.
Vikunja, the fluffy, open-source, self-hostable to-do app.

Self-Hosted, Open-Source, Unconventionally-Named Vehicle Maintenance Records and Fuel Mileage Tracker

The Common Charger Directive demands that a "USB-C receptacle" be equipped on "radio equipment" that is "equipped with a removable or embedded rechargeable battery" and "can be recharged via wired charging." If it has a battery and can be powered by up to 240 watts through a USB-C connection, it's generally subject to the EU's USB-C requirements. The directive applies to devices "placed on the market"—sent to a distributor or buyer—after December 28, even if they were initially designed and sold before that date.

Laptops get until April 2026 to comply, but most other things—phones, tablets, handheld gaming devices, computer accessories, and wireless headphones—will have to be powered by USB-C to be sold inside the EU from now on. //

In addition to simply demanding that a USB-C port be present, the Directive requires that anything with "fast charging"—pulling more than 5 volts, 3 amperes, or 15 watts—enable the USB Power Delivery (USB PD) standard. This should ensure that they properly negotiate charging rates with any charger with USB PD rather than require their own proprietary charging brick or adapter. //

The EU's celebratory post on X is heavy with replies from doubters, suggesting that mandating USB-C as "THE charger" could stifle companies innovating on other means of power delivery. Most of these critiques are addressed in the actual text of the law, because more powerful devices are exempted, secondary power plugs are allowed, and wireless largely gets a pass. "What about when USB-D arrives?" is something no person can really answer, though it seems a vague reason to avoid addressing the e-waste, fragmentation, and consumer confusion of the larger device charging ecosystem.

The troubled, terrorist-infested United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) is preparing to close its doors after a half-century of fomenting violence rather than economic development and peace in Israel and Israeli-administered territory. The decision was not made because of some sudden wave of guilt and shame sweeping the agency after the savagery of the October 7, 2023, attacks launched on Israeli civilians but because of new Israeli laws; see Israel to UNRWA: Get Out. The laws, passed on October 28, 2024, forbid UNRWA to operate within Israel and, more importantly, forbid any Israeli official from communicating with UNRWA. //

Even though UNRWA resolutely denied all evidence of its complicity in the October 7 attacks and how its funding had been used to turn Gaza into a warren of terrorist tunnels (UNRWA Spokesman Gives Insane CNN Interview Amidst Hostage Scandal), there was a moment of high irony when Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed on October 17. Both of his bodyguards were UNRWA employees; see WILD: Incredible Footage Shows Hamas Leader Yahya Sinwar Up-Close and Personal Just Before His Death.

Hold the Fort
16 hours ago
An apology given because an apology is demanded is not an apology.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan presented President Biden with options for a potential U.S. attack on Iran's nuclear facilities if the Iranians move towards a nuclear weapon before Jan. 20, in a meeting several weeks ago that remained secret until now, three sources with knowledge of the issue tell Axios. //

Biden and his national security team discussed various options and scenarios during the meeting, which took place roughly one month ago, but the president did not make any final decision, according to the sources. ///

This is supposed to be a message to Iran but I don't think it will have the impact it might have if this discussion were to take place in 3 weeks.

The Biden administration finalized climate regulations to ban most natural gas-powered instantaneous water heaters—a move that critics say will drive up costs for consumers.

The Department of Energy—which formally published the rules the day after Christmas—didn’t issue a press release announcing the action, a departure from past appliance regulations. The published rules say the regulations are expected to help the climate by curbing carbon dioxide emissions.

Overall, under the regulations, roughly 40 percent of the new tankless water heaters available in the United States today will be taken off the market by 2029. Experts and industry officials say that will force consumers to purchase either more expensive or less efficient water heater models. //

One industry analysis estimates that consumers will pay $450 more on average when purchasing new water heaters thanks to the regulations. And that will impact low-income and senior households, which are most reliant on the models targeted by the Department of Energy.

Today is J.R.R. Tolkien's birthday.

Tolkien penned some of our civilization's greatest works, but you may not know why he did — or how.

His stories are so enduringly real because he actually lived them... (thread) 🧵