Flotsam and Jetsam - Dilbert Creator Dies, Clintons Refuse Epstein Testimony

Tuesday afternoon, the time of the week all the work gets done, to quote another cartoonist. It was a very newsy day. First, comes word that Scott Adams, creator of the comic strip Dilbert, which poked fun at corporate hierarchies and their denizens, controversialist and podcaster, died from prostate cancer. IIRC, Scott Adams publicly announced his fatal diagnosis when it was Joe Biden had advanced prostate cancer. At the time he said he didn't expect to make it through summer, so at least he beat that. 

Althouse, Goodbye to Scott Adams., "He shared his dying with us right up to the end. We knew he was going, and now, suddenly he's gone. I received the news through my son John, who's put up this post at Facebook that provides a gift link to the Washington Post obituary, which has a headline that I don't like, "Scott Adams, ‘Dilbert’ creator who poked fun at bad bosses, dies at 68/His three-panel comic strip was once published in more than 2,000 newspapers. Publishers cut ties with Mr. Adams after he made racist comments on a YouTube live stream." From the obituary: "His former wife Shelly Miles announced his death in a live stream Tuesday morning, reading a statement she said Mr. Adams had prepared before his death. 'I had an amazing life,' the statement said in part. 'I gave it everything I had.'"" Also, "Many of my Christian friends have asked me to find Jesus before I go. I’m not a believer, but I have to admit the risk-reward calculation..." ""... for doing so looks so attractive to me. So here I go. I accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and look forward to spending an eternity with Him. The part about me not being a believer should be quite quickly resolved; if I wake up in heaven, I won’t need any more convincing than that. I hope I’m still qualified for entry." Wrote Scott Adams, just before dying." At PJM, Cathy Salgado reports Trump Pays Tribute to Scott Adams: ‘Great Influencer’. Hat Hair's Capt. Ed has a Flashback to When Scott Adams Explained Trump, Persuasion, and 'Loserthink'. Ann Coulter @AnnCoulter, "From Scott Adams NYT obit:" (see above). VodkaPundit at Insty, HOWEVER MUCH YOU DESPISE THE MEDIA…: Phil Labonte @philthatremains, "you do not hate them enough." At Ace, Scott Adams, Humorist and Rebel, Dies at Age 68 After Long Fight with Prostate Cancer, "He's gone to the great Corporate Meeting in the sky."

From ET, US Annual Inflation Holds Steady at 2.7 Percent to Finish 2025. Capt. Ed, Affordability Win? Inflation Stays Level at 2.7%, Beats Expectations (Again). Dmitri Bolt at TownHall, The December Inflation Report Is Here, and It's Good News. From the Center Square, Bipartisan bill to cap annual deficits at 3% could curb debt growth. From Breitbart, The Fed Chairman’s Theatrical Martyrdom. 

VodkaPundit at Insty, Will There Still Be an Iran the Day After Tomorrow? Capt. Ed, NEW: Iran Death Toll at 3,000; US Orders Citizens Out; UPDATE: Trump: 'Help Is On the Way'. From NYPo, Iranian protesters are showing courage in the face of tyranny — but Israel-obsessed liberals don’t seem to care. Spiked thinks The courage of Iran’s women puts woke Westerners to shame. "The keffiyeh-clad class is utterly indifferent to this genuine struggle for liberty against Islamist oppression." From Lawrence Person's BattleSwarm Blog, “President Trump Has Joined The Revolution.” Vic Nava at NYPo, Trump threatens ‘very strong action’ against Iran if regime hangs protesters. Dave Strom at Hat Hair finds it Unbelievable: Nora O'Donnell Suggests That Reza Pahlavi Is Responsible for Iranians Dying in Protests.

Matt Vespa at TownHall has some news About That Sonic Boom Weapon We Reportedly Deployed During Trump's Venezuela Raid... Dave Strom, NYT Is Right About 'Perfidy,' But They Are the Ones Committing It. Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1, "Breaking NYT: The Pentagon used a secret aircraft painted to look like a civilian plane in its first boat attack, according to officials briefed on the matter. The laws of armed conflict forbid combatants from feigning civilian status. That is a war crime called "perfidy."" Barry Latzer at Da Fed shows History Supports Trump’s Operation To Take Down Maduro. PJM's Sarah Anderson on Marco Rubio, For the Cuban Regime, He's a Supervillain — But in the U.S. He’s the Quarterback.

From Calgary City News, Calgarians gather to sign Alberta independence petition as data suggests sovereignty support is growing. Eric CIAramella’s Dirty Whistle @TheAndersPaul, "Wow. I did not know that." At Am Con, Trump is Reviving ‘Spheres of Influence.’ That’s a Good Thing "The age-old framework is a welcome alternative to liberal internationalism." Insty at his NYPo gig notes Trump has cut the technocratic Gordian Knot — and elites hate it.

Matt Margolis hears No Charges Are Expected Against ICE Agent Whom Renee Good Attacked. JD Vance @JDVance, "This is an extremely important point: you're only seeing chaotic ICE raids in blue sanctuary cities where local officials are fighting against federal law enforcement. The chaos is created by "leaders" who would rather promote rioting in their streets than follow the law," Quote Inez Stepman @InezFeltscher, "A point that isn’t hammered hard enough by ICE and admin spox imo is that these dangerous raids - in more ways than one - happen BECAUSE of sanctuary city/state policies. In red states following our immigration laws, most of these people are getting picked up at the courthouse or jail." From Lawrence Person's BattleSwarm Blog, Hey Anti-ICE Morons: “Texas Is Not Minnesota.”

Beege Welborn at Hat Hair hears Anti-ICE Types Enjoy Their Alternate Reality Heroics Until They're Not MORE, CBS EDIT BUSTED. Dave Strom explains How the Propaganda Is Done. DataRepublican (small r) @DataRepublican, "Found a master list of protests from Richard Stallman, of all people. Over 1,500 in total. Many are candlelight vigils, but still. Many of them are scheduled well in advance with repeating sessions. They plan on keeping this up infinitely." ℕ@Shaysite1786, "Feels like this is the No Kings operation transforming seamlessly into a No ICE operation. All the same management and systems and people; just printing new signs." Tyler O'Neil at Da Signal, Who’s Funding the Aggressive Anti-ICE Tactics Used by Activists Like Renee Nicole Good? Guess. At Reddit, She admits it. Robby Starbuck @robbystarbuck, "When you see lunatics screaming at ICE or just acting insane about a far left cause, I want you to remember that they’re signing up to be election workers on Election Day. Does anyone really think they won’t cheat? If so, you’re an idiot. We must prioritize election integrity." Luke @LukeTaylorUSA, "Pause for a moment and notice something.. Look at this video from the perspective of “layers” Layer 1: you have frontline agitators who physically encroach but do nothing else aside from yell & hurl vulgarity Layer 2: Behind layer1 you have those I call grapplers. They will swoop in and shove or pull on an agent then fall back behind layer1. . . " On Reddit, Greg Gutfeld just dropped a MAJOR TRUTH NUKE on every leftist defending anti-ICE agitators and terrorists. “YOU are living a LIE!” Ace, Left-Wing Mentally-Ill Revolutionary LARPers Don't Know That Law Enforcement Officers Load Their Guns With Real Bullets, "They think this is all a Marvel movie." Blake Neff @BlakeSNeff, "A "whistleblower" just released the personal information of thousands of ICE and CBP personnel, and this Daily Beast ghoul is gloating about it. They're obviously not doing this to get agents fired. They're doing it to get them killed." Dave Strom has A Modest Proposal for Mayor Frey and Governor Walz "Wouldn't it make sense to keep the confrontations to a minimum by handing over the criminal aliens Minnesota currently holds in its custody? Renee Good died defending those 470 criminal illegal aliens that Mayor Frey and Governor Walz released into the community. And, since they are holding over 1300 more, handing them over would reduce the chances of a confrontation going badly." 

Teri Christoph at RedState, Harmeet Dhillon Refutes Claim That Lefty DOJ Lawyers Rage-Quit Over Handling of ICE Shooting (Updated) From Twitchy, Media Spins Mass Exodus Over ICE Shooting—Shipwreckedcrew Drops the Truth: It's All About Breonna Taylor. Shipwreckedcrew @shipwreckedcrew, "Let me tell you the real reason why the four prosecutors in Civil Rights Criminal Section resigned. It has to do with the death of Breonna Taylor. Louisville PD Officer Brett Hankison was retried after a jury in his first federal trial ended 11-1 for acquittal. These four individuals were part of the leadership team that agitated to retry him. . . " It's a bit long, but read it. We're well rid of them.

Hen Mazzig @HenMazzig, "According to the New York Times, Ilhan Omar is the face of the Somali refugee community that fled civil war. This despite the fact that her father was a high ranking officer in the Somali military as it carried out a genocide against the Isaaq people from the Somaliland region. He didn’t flee to the United States as a persecuted refugee, but as a war criminal running from accountability for his crimes. But I suppose that context wasn’t deemed newsworthy enough by the esteemed editors at the NYT." Ace notes Trump Ends "Temporary" Protected Status for Thousands of Somali Pirate Nomads, "Good. BTW, most Somalis are, unfortunately, citizens by now. This doesn't affect them. But... that's no reason for blackpilling. Change almost never comes with one magic silver bullet. It comes from a lot of small changes sustained over time." From Da Mail, Somalis plunge to bottom of America's favorability rankings after fraud scandal as poll reveals immigrant group voters like most. David Bernstein @ProfDBernstein, "One of the most bizarre things about Hamas is that it states explicitly that it's an Islamist movement aiming to replace Israel with an Islamist state, and the Western left insists that it's just a "resistance" movement dedicated to the Palestinian cause fighting "occupation.""

Matt Margolis, CNN Drops a Truth Bomb on the Left’s Legal Efforts Against ICE. A Larry video at Hat Hair, CNN Pours Cold Water on Pathetic Anti-ICE Lawsuit. Dave Strom cites Jonathan Turley: Keith Ellison's Lawsuit Makes Us All Dumber. 

Capt. Ed, Hmmmm: Clintons Vow to Stonewall Congress on Epstein Files. Matt Margolis, Bill and Hillary Clinton Defy Subpoena, Refuse to Testify in Epstein Probe. Ace, Bill Clinton Is a No-Show At Congressional Hearing on Jeffrey Epstein; Comer Vows Contempt of Congress Criminal Charges, "Steve Bannon went to jail for refusing to show up for testimony.." Dave Strom, Should People Who Dislike Trump Answer Subpoenas? Or Is That Only For Republicans? General Mike Flynn @GenFlynn, "Here’s my gut assessment of the Clintons blowing off Congress today. They hold so much information on everyone from judges to members of Congress to business executives to world leaders. I pray they’re held accountable, but trying to analyze why they were no shows today tells me they’re feeling pretty untouchable about now."

John Sexton, Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments on Trans Athletes. At Althouse, "Live Updates: Transgender Athletes Ask Supreme Court to Overturn State Bans." "I'll just make one observation, about something I was hearing for the first time, which is the idea that male-bodied persons who take puberty blockers might be disadvantaged in sports because they have larger bones but these bones are not powered by the strength and drive that the testosterone of puberty would have provided. By taking puberty blockers, they are choosing to go forward with underpowered bodies. That is, in this way, these children not only don't have an advantage if they play in girls' sports, they have a disadvantage!" Bullshit! Just because you can say it doesn't make it true. VodkaPundit at Insty sees BIDEN’S DEI SCOTUS HIRE IS AT IT AGAIN: Eric Daugherty @EricLDaugh, "BREAKING: DEI Justice Ketanji Jackson is DEFENDING men in women's sports with an utter word salad at the Supreme Court. "Is treating someone transgender, but does not have, because of the medical interventions and the things that have been done, who does not have, uh, the same, uh, threat to physical competition and safety and all the reasons the state puts forward - that's actually a different class, says this individual. So you're not treating the class the same. And how do you respond to that?" Idaho AG Hurst didn't even seem to understand what she asked, and instead responded to her second question that named specific precedent. SCOTUS Justice Gorsuch then stepped in." Insty, NOT THE SHARPEST KNIFE IN THE JUDICIAL DRAWER: Dan McLaughlin @baseballcrank, "You gotta be pretty bad as a Justice to get schooled this hard by a lawyer arguing in front of you." Matt Margolis, As Expected, Justice Jackson Humiliated Herself During Today’s Oral Arguments. Nick Arama at RedState hears KBJ Comes Up With a New Word in SCOTUS Trans Athletes Case That Has Everyone in Stitches. Daily Caller @DailyCaller, "Ketanji 'I'm Not a Biologist' Jackson: "For cisGINGER girls, they can play consistent with their gender identity. For transgender girls, they can't."From the Volokh Report, Steve Calabresi, Justice Barrett, Trump v. Slaughter, and Presidential Removal Power from 1989 to 2009. "Presidential non-acquiescence in Humphrey's Executor from 1989 to 2009."

John Sexton, Would-Be Trump Assassin Pleads Guilty to Murder. Joe Chalfant at TownHall, Minnesota House Moves to Impeach Tim Walz. Republicans. It won't stick. John Kass sees Democrats in the Cheeze Barrel with Walz. Ace cites Scott Bessent: 10% of US Government Spending Is Stolen Every Single Year "I mentioned this on Friday but it's getting more notice now."

Beege Welborn sees Mayor Commie Mamdani Is SO Mad He Momentarily Lost His Twinkle. Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @NYCMayor, "I am outraged to hear a New York City Council employee was detained in Nassau County by federal immigration officials at a routine immigration appointment. This is an assault on our democracy, on our city, and our values. I am calling for his immediate release and will continue to monitor the situation." "Visa overstay - oh, shocker - but the kind of guy who also had an assault charge and was ordered deported, but decided he'd hang around instead because what were the chances of getting booted out of the country?" Mamdani Watch @MamdaniWatch, Commentary account "Eric Adams TEARS into weird Zohran Mamdani fan harassing him: “I’m not mayor anymore. Go fuck yourself,”"

At the View from the Wing, Chase Sues Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot—$11,078 United Credit Card Debt, 17 Months Without a Payment. John Sexton hears Newsom: Don't Blame Me for the Wealth Tax Fiasco. John Sexton reports The Palisades Fire Cover Up Continues.

From Althouse, "Philosophy professor Martin Peterson was ordered to remove excerpts from Plato’s 'Symposium' that seemed to violate the new guidelines..." ""... passages about Diotima’s Ladder of Love and Aristophanes’ speech regarding split humans. Peterson was told the course would be reassigned to someone else if he didn’t delete the readings from his introductory philosophy syllabus. Peterson says his course does not 'advocate' for any ideology but teaches students how to structure and evaluate moral arguments." From "Plato falls victim to campus culture wars/Jettisoning the Greek philosopher hurts students who yearn to learn how to reason, argue and think" by the Editorial Board of The Washington Post. What's really going on here? Wasn't this some sort of "malicious compliance" move by opponents of restrictions on left-wing gender ideology?"

John Sexton reports Trans Liberation Activists Accused of Hacking Free Speech Union.