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

Rob Reiner's murder is getting ready to fade from the news, as is seems settled that his son, Nick, will be charged with the horrific knife murder of Rob and his wife. From BI, Nick Reiner, son of Hollywood director Rob Reiner, will be charged with first-degree murder in his parents' deaths. Interestingly, the NYT reports Rob Reiner Is Said to Have Argued With His Son Nick at Conan O’Brien’s Holiday Party the night before, which all but guarantees that any trial will be graced with far too many celebrity appearances. Althouse attempts to torture Trump's comeback to his previous statement on Reiner, Challenged on his statement about Rob Reiner, Trump explained, "Well, I wasn't a fan of his at all.... I was not a fan of Rob Reiner at all, in any way, shape, or form."

Meanwhile, up in Rhode Island at Brown University, we seem no closer to a resolution and the situation is beginning to smell of a mixture of incompetence and misdirection. NYPo, Cops release very grainy new video of suspected Brown shooter — as they hunt for new leads. Fusilli Spock @awstar11 "I'm no police investigator but this guy's body shape looks absolutely nothing like the poor schmuck they picked up the other day. Shocking that they even arrested that guy." Quote TV News Now @TVNewsNow "FOX NEWS ALERT: Police issue surveillance video of NEW lead in Brown University shooting." Sundance at CTH, Brown University Shooter Still at Large – Open Discussion Thread "Everything about the Brown University shooting doesn’t make sense through the ordinary prism. However, if political ramifications in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s targeted assassination are overlaid against the Brown University murders, then a certain context might reconcile some of the issues. {GO DEEP} Was Ella Cook targeted in a similarly motivated fashion to the murder of Charlie Kirk?" At Da Caller, Brown University’s ‘Targeted’ Murder Blossoms Into Mysterious Mess "It took way too long to figure out why Ella Cook was even in the room when she was shot and killed." Ace cites Mark Halperin: I'm Hearing, But Can't Confirm, That the Family of Ella Cook -- Murdered by the Brown University Terrorist -- Has Been Informed That She Was the Target In the Attack. William A. Jacobson @wajacobson, "Most people don’t truly understand how difficult it is for conservative students on campuses like Brown (and Cornell). It takes great inner strength to stand up to the social and social media pressures to conform, and those pressures come not only from other students, but from faculty and administrators as well. At Cornell I see how brave and prepared these students need to be, because their viewpoints are questioned and attacked relentlessly and they are always outnumbered. It is particularly difficult for religious Christian students. I didn’t know Ella Cook because I was not at Brown, but I know students like Ella Cook. My heartfelt condolences to her family.

PJM's Matt Margolis thinks Authorities May Be Covering up a Key Detail About the Brown University Shooting, "Social media has been flooded with reports that the gunman yelled "Allahu Akbar.” That's not a minor detail." Social media is full of garbage, but who knows, it could be true. Matt Vespa at TownHall, Brown University Was Asked About Why Some Web Pages Are Being Scrubbed. The Answer Was a Disaster. End Wokeness @EndWokeness, "Umm, why did @BrownUniversity just scrub its entire website of Mustapha Kharbouch (Free Palestine, LGBTQ activist)?" VodkaPundit at Insty says NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG. Catturd ™ @catturd2, "This is the biggest (pile of shit) show I’ve ever seen. Quote Jack Posobiec @JackPosobiec "Longtime source in Rhode Island tells me Providence Police are indeed looking into the student whose online presence was scrubbed today. Higher-ups want it close hold. Said that Brown U runs Providence, and Brown president is anti-police."

And at the lovely, but somewhat over rated Bondi Beach, David Burge @iowahawkblog, "it's a perfect Category 5 storm of public official ineptitude." Quote New York Post @nypost, "Bondi Beach hero helped disarm terrorist before police mistakenly shot him: report" At the Free Bacon, Police ‘Froze’ As Terrorists Massacred Jews on Bondi Beach, Eyewitness Accounts and Videos Suggest. "New South Wales police commissioner Mal Lanyon said police did ‘a fantastic job’." Fantastic should be reserved for a case where the shooters didn't have 20 minutes to kill 13 people. Dan Greenfield at Front Page, Australian Gun Control: Chanukah Muslim Terrorist Got 6 Weapons Despite ISIS Ties. "The problem isn't gun control. It's Islam control." The Beeb, Police investigating Bondi gunmen's trip to Philippines month before shooting "It has previously been reported that they visited the Philippines to receive "military-style training."" Shooting News Week says Reality Bites: US Homicide Rates Fell as Much As Australia’s, But Without the Radical Gun Confiscation. Stephen L. Miller @redsteeze, "They actually did the "motive unknown" meme." Quote Curtis Houck @CurtisHouck, "ABC's Faith Abubey, on Monday's 'Good Morning America,' in Sydney, Australia: "As for the suspect, authorities say one of the them was a licensed gun owner with six firearms, but they have not yet revealed a motive." Robin Roberts: "We will find it out ahead."" The Babylon Bee @TheBabylonBee, "Groundbreaking New Study Finds Islamophobia May Be Partially Caused By Muslims Killing People All The Time."

Frog forgets, gives scorpion another lift. James Lynch at Da Caller, White House Does Damage Control After Susie Wiles Criticizes Trump, Top Officials in Candid Interviews to Vanity Fair. Althouse likes her some NYT spin, "Over the course of 11 interviews, Ms. Wiles offered pungent assessments of the president and his team: Mr. Trump 'has an alcoholic’s personality.' Vice President JD Vance has 'been a conspiracy theorist...'" "'... for a decade' and his conversion from Trump critic to ally was based not on principle but was 'sort of political' because he was running for Senate. Elon Musk is 'an avowed ketamine' user and 'an odd, odd duck,' whose actions were not always 'rational' and left her 'aghast.' Russell T. Vought, the budget director, is 'a right-wing absolute zealot.' And Attorney General Pam Bondi 'completely whiffed' in handling the Epstein files." From "Trump’s Top Aide Acknowledges ‘Score Settling’ Behind Prosecutions/In interviews with Vanity Fair, Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, said Trump 'has an alcoholic’s personality,' called JD Vance a 'conspiracy theorist' and concluded that Pam Bondi 'completely whiffed' the early handling of the Epstein files" (NYT)(gift link).." I'll give them the Pam Bondi one. Sundance, Bannon 2.0 – Another Trump Chief of Staff Creates Another Hot Mess and JD Vance Gives Strong Defense of Susie Wiles. "Sometime I am a conspiracy theorist, but I only believe in theories that are true," with some great examples.

The Great Victor Davis Hanson at Am Great, It’s Affordability, Stupid? "Trump’s critics cry “affordability,” but voters remember who sparked the price surge—and who’s now trying to clean it up." Amy Curtis at TownHall reports The November Jobs Numbers Are Here, and It's Good News for American Workers "Last month, we reported that the September jobs numbers exceeded expectations, and since September the private sector has gained 121,000 jobs. Meanwhile, the government has lost 168,000 jobs." News Wax, Citi Sets 2026 S&P 500 Target at 7,700. Breitbart calls it the Trump Effect: Christmas Day Gas Prices Expected to Drop to Lowest Level in 5 Years. At Da Blaze, 'Rents will come down' — but not in sanctuary cities: Loan agent chronicles homes apparently abandoned by illegal aliens. Da Caller, Trump Admin Unleashes ‘Strike Force’ Taking Sledgehammer To Costly Biden-Era Regulations At ET, Hassett Says If He’s Fed Chair, Trump’s Advice Won’t Influence Central Bank’s Policy "‘In the end, the job of the Fed is to be independent and to work with the group of people that are on the Board of Governors.’ Kevin Hassett said." So then, it's not going to be Hassett?

Matt Margolis yells Ding-Dong! The Obamacare Subsidies Are Dead! Roger Stark at JTN finds a Prescription for fraud? 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? How things have changed over the past 15 years. Health care costs continue to rise faster." PJM's Cathy Salgado sees Newsom Brags About Giving Illegals Healthcare. The Babylon Bee @TheBabylonBee, "Clarence The Angel Takes Gavin Newsom To Florida To Show Him What California Would Look Like If He'd Never Been Born." Amy Curtis thinks Speaker Mike Johnson Just Ended the Democrats' Lies About Taxpayer-Funded Healthcare for Illegals. That's doubtful. Sister Toldja at RedState hears Mike Johnson Drops a 'Told Ya So' on Dems, Media After Newsom's Admission About Healthcare for Illegals. News Wax admits ACA Enrollees Say Expiring Subsidies Will Hit Hard.

Cynical Publius @CynicalPublius, "Do you want to know why Republicans always lose, even when we're winning? "We're better than that." Democrats never think "We're better than that." They think "What can we do to win?" And then they win, taking advantage of our self-defeating, love of Marquess of Queensberry rules. I'm not saying we should lie, or cheat, or commit crimes. We ARE better than THAT. But when it comes to the daily information war, Democrats play no-holds-barred and if we want to preserve the nation and the Constitution: *****WE NEED TO DO THE SAME.***** So please throw away your fainting couches and clutching pearls, and realize we are in a war for survival." OTH, Dave Catron at Am Spec sees The Democrats Decide to Lose "They are determined to ignore good advice and cling to their smelly little orthodoxies." Mark Tapscott at Insty, COMMON SENSE COONS: The Delaware senator offers some hard-headed, reality-based advice to his fellow Democrats. Interesting that two Democrats from adjoining states are looming as significant voices of reason in their party. Obviously, there is much in the Coons analysis with which to disagree, but statements like this could be tremendously encouraging signs of an openness to a genuine policy debate about where the country is headed: “Democrats need to stop telling Americans how to be and what to feel and believe. Instead, we need to listen. Then we need to solve the problems they’ve shared with us. In the last few years, it’s not just our message that was wrong—it was some of our policies, too." Rep. Mary Miller @RepMaryMiller, "House Democrats introduced a resolution to force the U.S. military to stand down against designated terrorist organizations. If you need any more clarification on whose side they are on, look no further. https://congress.gov/119/bills/hcon." Jesse Singal at Singal Minded, Good News: Progressive Advocacy Groups Have Been Found Not Guilty By A Progressive Advocacy Group. Batya Ungar-Sargon @bungarsargon, "It can now be said!" Quote Timur Kuran @timurkuran "Now that Pelosi is retiring, the NYT starts connecting the dots (see below and full story). For decades, it looked the other way." VodkaPundit at PJM, Wait, Nancy Pelosi Just Said WHAT? "Just to make sure I understand you, [impeachment] should not be the agenda of Democrats for this last two years?"

At Breitbart, U.S Officials Say Washington Agreed to Give Ukraine Security Guarantees in Peace Talks. ET, Kyiv’s Top Negotiator Hails ‘Real Progress’ During 2nd Day of Peace Talks in Berlin "‘We hope we will reach an agreement that will bring us closer to peace by the end of the day,’ negotiator Rustem Umerov said."

John Kass is onto Little Mogadishu the Chicago Way. Jeff Charles at TownHall thinks This Trump Administration Official Just Demolished Tim Walz Over Fraud Scandals. Ace explains Secretary of Education Linda McMahon Blasts Tim Walz, Now Accusing Him of Turning a Blind Eye to Somalis Stealing Student Aid By Registering as "Ghost Students" Who Don't Attend School and Don't Even Exist "Last time it turned out that he was enabling mass fraud of welfare money by Somali pirates (and Democrat voters, legal or not), Walz claimed that if he had any fault, it was just of being too "generous" during covid. He wanted to protect people's health, you know. What's the excuse for allowing fraud on an industrial scale in student aid? Via Twitchy, McMahon explained the scam to the retard allowing it." At NYPo, HHS probes whether billions in taxpayer money sent to Minnesota fueled ‘illegal and mass migration.’ Mil.com reports a Minnesota Man Convicted of Faking Purple Heart, Defrauding VA Out of $146,287 and he's not even Somali.

John Solomon and Jerry Dunleavy at JTN report FBI repeatedly warned DOJ didn't have probable cause to raid Trump home: 'Not been corroborated' "The bombshell emails show some inside the FBI were skeptical of the Biden DOJ's push to raid Trump's Florida resort home." Clandestine @WarClandestine, "Holy shit… The FBI admittedly never had probable cause to raid Mar-a-Lago, but the Biden DOJ essentially told the FBI to create/find some probable cause. Meaning the Biden White House and Garland weaponized the DOJ/FBI to go after Trump. Not a surprise, but now confirmed." Ace, Emails: FBI Agents Repeatedly Warned Biden's DOJ That There Was No Probable Cause for the Mar-a-Lago Raid. "Weird how we never heard warnings about the need for the DOJ to be independent of the president when Biden's thugs were raiding his rival's home." PJM's Stephen Kruiser says In a Perfect World, Merrick Garland Would Be Living in GITMO.

Also from John Solomon and Jerry Dunleavy at JTN New memos show how corruption probe into Clinton Foundation was killed: ‘We were told NO by FBI HQ’. "Drip, drip, drip: A newly-declassified timeline exposes how the FBI's investigation of the Clinton Foundation was hamstrung by DOJ leaders while the inquiry into Trump-Russia collusion hoax marched forward. This isn't the first tranche of evidence pointing to political interference." Ace, Federal Investigators Believed the Clintons May Have Committed a Crime in Taking Money from Russia and Then Approving the Sale of a Uranium Company to Russia, But the DOJ and FBI Let the Statute of Limitations Run. "That pattern keeps occurring, huh? Whoops, the statute of limitations ran out again. We just lost track of the dates!" News Wax hears Clintons Rejecting Calls to Testify Live in Epstein Hearings.

From Twitchy, Well, Well, WELL ... Newsom Has DAMNING Connection to 2 of the 5 'Turtle Liberation' Bombing Suspects. Tony Seruga @TonySeruga, "GPS—two of the five suspects (Audrey Carroll and Zachary Page) appear to have met with lesbian and Antifa sympathizer, Camille Zapata, whose full name is Camille Harper Zapata, based in Stockton, California on three occasions in two months. Zapata currently serves as the digital director for California Governor Gavin Newsom, a role she has held since around June 2024, leading a small team of three that handles graphic design, social media strategy, and rapid-response content across platforms like X (formerly Twitter), Threads, TikTok, and Bluesky. She is directly responsible for managing and overseeing Newsom's social media presence." Ryan King at NYPo, What is Turtle Island Liberation Front, the extremist anti-government group whose offshoot planned a NYE terror attack?

Bob Hoge at RedState says Wonders Will Never Cease — Federal Judge Declines to Block Trump Ballroom Construction. John Sexton at Hat Hair, Trump Gets a (Temporary) Win on HIs Ballroom Project and reports on Day Two of Judge Dugan's Trial. I predict jury nullification. MD Kittle at Da Fed reports Judge Rules Wisconsin Show Trial Against Trump Allies Will Go On. RVM sees Outrage as Obama Judge Declines More Prison Time for Disabled Woman’s Illegal Alien Rapist. Misrule of Law, MAGA Meets Sisyphus: Can Trump 2.0 Overcome Its Many Challenges? "I do not question the resolve of President Trump, but have serious concerns about Congress, the courts, and faint-hearted Republicans across the country."

Nick Ballasy at JTN hears More than 60% of security clearance data was 'not reliable,' GAO reveals as it urges intel changes "The report found that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence lacks accurate and complete clearance data from dozens of federal agencies." My own experiences with the clearance process have been laughable.

Cathy Salgado is pleased Trump Designates Illicit Fentanyl ‘Weapon of Mass Destruction’. 

Center for Immigration Studies sees a GAO Report that Blasts DHS’s Handling of Biden ‘Humanitarian Parole’ Programs, "The Center warned that ‘Uniting for Ukraine’, CHNV Parole, and ‘family reunification’ were defective programs, but few realized how deeply flawed they were until now."

PJM's Bob Spencer says Oh, This Is Gonna Be Great: Trump Soon to File Massive Lawsuit Against BBC. From Althouse, "In a little while, you’ll be seeing I’m suing the BBC for putting words in my mouth. Literally, they put words in my mouth." ""They had me saying things that I never said coming out. I guess they used AI or something. So we’ll be bringing that lawsuit. A lot of people were asking, ‘When are you bringing that lawsuit?’ Even the media can’t believe that one. They actually put terrible words in my mouth having to do with January 6 that I didn’t say and the beautiful words that I said … talking about patriotism and all of the good things that I said, they didn’t say that but they put terrible words. They actually have me speaking with words that I never said and they got caught because I believe somebody at BBC said, 'This is so bad, it has to be reported.' That’s called fake news." Said Trump, yesterday, quoted in "Trump sues BBC for $10bn over ‘fake news’/The broadcaster has apologised for a misleading edit of the president’s speech before the Capitol riot, which Trump said put ‘terrible words in my mouth'" (London Times)." Ace, Trump Files Lawsuit Against BBC for Defamatory J6 Edit, "Another $10 billion lawsuit. The odds of winning in court, with a left-wing anti-American judge and left-wing anti-American, are zero, unfortunately." At RVM, New York Times Now Admits These ‘Conspiracy Theories’ Are True. Curtis Houck @CurtisHouck, "MORE OF THIS, PLEASE: Important comments from CBS News editor-in-chief @BariWeiss to colleague @VladDuthiersCBS about having conversations with those we disagree with, even if you may think someone is controversial and wrong..." Dave Strom, Liberals Are Bad at Math, Liars, or Both. Both.

From Campus Reform, University of Southern Maine pro-life group faced with harassment, including veiled threat referencing Kirk assassination. College Fix, MIT blames new endowment tax for decision to close multiple libraries.

At Compact, The Lost Generation. Megan McArdle @asymmetricinfo, "If this reporting is true true, Hollywood not only violeted CRA for years by discriminating against white men, but has been merrily telling the white men this, and writing it down in widely circulated emails in case they wanted to file a lawsuit. No words." Insty has a Driscolly post on it, THEY ARE EVIL AND SHOULD BE DESTROYED: Oilfield Rando @Oilfield_Rando, "White men deserve reparations for the past ten years." Quote vittorio @IterIntellectus, "insane article this is documented, systematic racism against an entire generation of white men, written down said out loud in hiring meetings. "we can't hire the best person", "we need diverse, not white guys" for a fucking decade what's insane is that it helped no one. not x.com/matthewschmitz…Show more"

Twitchy sees 'Target Karen' Tries to Harass Worker Over Charlie Kirk Shirt; the Response Is PERFECTION I Meme Therefore I Am @ImMeme0, "Meet Michelea Ponce. Ponce works for the @Enloe nonprofit health care system (most likely as a nurse) in California. She is an “anti-racism” activist who decided to post a video of herself chastising and calling a Target employee “fucking stupid,” accusing her of supporting a “racist” simply because the staffer was wearing Charlie Kirk’s “Freedom” shirt. Ponce could have politely addressed the issue with a store manager, but instead she chose to demonize the employee and shame her on the internet. Please HELP me return the FAVOR and blast her all over the place, because someone who works in healthcare, whose role is to support the well-being of people, is doing the opposite." PJM's Mike Cantrell JK Rowling Strikes Again, Rips LGBT Crowd After Rapist Targets Girls in Mixed Gender Changing Rooms. Hat Hair's Beege Welborn reports it was a Spicy Ride on a New York Subway Last Night for Young Jewish Men.

There's still more at the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 12.16.25 (Afternoon Edition), but that will have to do for now.