I’m still not sure which Knives Out film I like the most, but I think I feel pretty confident in saying the Louise phone call from Wake Up Dead Man is my favorite scene in the whole trilogy

Juliet Stevenson: "The situation in Gaza for mothers and babies and children is imaginably brutal"

Juliet Stevenson: "There are 4 fully equipped mobile maternity clinics waiting to cross the border.. they're not allowed across... the Israeli govt has blocked [them].. we have to stop selling arms to Israel, we have to stop supporting that regime" Well said.

I ALWAYS SUSPECTED THIS

The Salyut factory in downtown Moscow, which produces components for Russia’s aircraft industry, burnt last night. It is only 4 km from the Kremlin.

Up to 10,000 people gathered for a vigil after ICE killed Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis on January 7, 2026 - short video from the vigil site. Story is developing.

After ICE agent shoots, kills person in Minneapolis, activists in New Orleans take to the streets Hours after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis, activists from the New Orleans Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression gallered protesters…

“I’m still here. Still listening. Still your friend,” ChatGPT told Adam Raine. The 16-year-old died weeks later. His parents sued OpenAI, saying the chatbot’s humanlike responses helped him plan his death. OpenAI denies responsibility.

BREAKING: X’s chatbot Grok isn’t just making AI porn deepfakes, it’s now making Nazi AI porn deepfakes, undressing women and showing them wearing “swastika bikinis”. Many of these women are Jewish, including a recently deceased Holocaust survivor.

Global shocks in Venezuela and Iran are sparking debate in Central Asia as analysts warn lower oil prices could hit Kazakhstan’s economy hard https://ow.ly/XyV650XSzof #Kazakhstan #OilMarkets #Geopolitics #CentralAsia #OilPriceImpact #VenezuelaCrisis #IranSanctions

Writing this I had to look through Grok's mentions. Earlier I counted around 8 requests PER MINUTE featuring "bikini" and "her". Thousands of women and girls stripped each day. I found users stripping dozens of women per hour, from female celebrities to gym selfies. www.thetimes.com/uk/technolog...

amazing how the entire machine can pivot within 24 hours. no need to slowly upsell the argument; just issue new marching orders

Here's the Reuters report mentioned above, from @ajvicens.bsky.social and @raphae.li:

An undersea telecoms cable was damaged in the Baltic Sea on Friday and Latvian investigators on Sunday boarded a ship in connection with the incident. www.reuters.com/business/medi...

Interesting

Comment: A single data center can consume up to 5 million gallons of drinking water per day – sufficient to supply thousands of households or farms. In the Phoenix area of the US alone. buff.ly/hVtJxp4

finally, we're living through precedented times

What’s Happening in Venezuela? Start Here: https://www.caracaschronicles.com/2026/01/03/whats-happening-in-venezuela-start-here/

Ukraine's medics are incredible ... you can help them via the Hospitallers who are registered as a charity in the UK .. www.hospitallers.org.uk

This is how Bernie still can win №3 #pleasestartactuallydoingsomething

Kazakh Spanish film La Tregua moves from San Sebastian to cinemas and Netflix telling a powerful Kazakhstan linked story of repression dialogue and humanity https://timesca.com/kazakh-spanish-film-la-trequa-to-premiere-on-netflix/ #Kazakhstan #Film #Netflix #Culture #History #LaTreguaFilm

One OB-GYN has already noted “more pre-term births, more hypertension complications, and more postpartum depression.”

The worst men on the planet built rape machines.

Lots of newborn elephant seal pups on the beach! They struggle to nurse, but succeed well enough. Another pregnant female comes ashore in the background. Beautiful day after the storm, extremely low tide. Tomorrow at 8 am the tide will be one of the higher of the year, a King Tide. 🦭🦊 #MarineMammal

Poor Gävle Goat. Blown over this year, at least it wasn't fire...

This Brazilian woman hates AI

#ShareGoodNewsToo Even if few things that work on mice transfer directly to humans, this is a huge step in us understanding the mechanism and will help enable the next leaps in research. We’re close! We’re close!

UN experts, doctors and activists warn that jailed Palestine Action hunger strikers in the UK are facing escalating health crises and an increasing risk of death amid ongoing repression of pro-Palestine political prisoners.

Under the relative calm of a so-called ceasefire, Civil Defense crews in Gaza are undertaking the monumental feat of recovering thousands of bodies still trapped under the rubble.

The Gaza Strip is renowned in Palestine for its bright red and delicious strawberries. Once a major agricultural export, Gaza's fields of "red gold" have been decimated by Israel's genocide. mondoweiss.net/2025/12/isra...

The space segment of the Russian early-warning system is not in good shape. Only one satellite appears to be operational. The image shows mean motion of Cosmos-2563, launched in November 2022. Links to posts below 1/2

FYI: 4 of the 7 people discussed in this video are named in either the official Epstein files released by Congress or verified investigative reporting on his Silicon Valley connections. Make of that what you will. See you all in 2026! youtu.be/IJZL0-1KpWc?...

[also via Bronx Zoo]

[via Bronx Zoo]

Happy Boxing Day from sand cat Nala! 📦 📷: Zookeeper Taylor T

From our Gaza correspondent: "When I speak to friends and family in Gaza, it is impossible to have a conversation without talking about loss: loss of our homes, our livelihoods, and our loved ones." mondoweiss.net/2025/12/pale...

The original Heated Rivalry

Kazakhstan’s Tazy greyhound is more than a hunting dog it’s a national treasure now facing modern risks as tradition meets sport and commercialization https://ow.ly/SjeH50XO5zB #Kazakhstan #TazyGreyhound #KazakhstanDogs #TazyDogs #Dogs

In 2023 I became obsessed with videos of dads in cargo shortswaiting in parking lots during Taylor Swift's Eras Tour. So when she came to town, I grabbed a camera and headed down to talk to them. I thought it'd be funny. It turned out to be something else entirely.

via The New Yorker, Ellis Rosen cartoon

looking for a last minute gift at williams sonoma

1/ The big news this morning is in Moscow where a very senior Russian officer has been eliminated. The car of Major General Fanil Savarov was blown up in the Russian capital around 7am this morning. The FSB is working on the theory Ukraine may have been involved! #StopRussia

2/ Lt-Gen Fanil Sarvarov was in charge of all military training for the army. He instantly becomes one of the four most senior officers to have been killed since Putin's decision to launch a full invasion of Ukraine almost 4 years ago.

3/ Russia has already admitted the death of Lieutenant General Sarvarov after initially saying he had suffered mutiple shrapnel wounds. Sarvarov was driving a modest 12 year old Kia Sorrento whe the IED exploded in the parking area of an apartment block in Moscow.

4/4 Final video on the car bomb murder of the Russian General is this official one released by the State this morning. It shows the crime scene as investigations get underway. Sarvarov is only the 4th Russia Lieutenant General to be killed since February 2022.

Although this one is probably a Ukraine Special Forces operation, it's worth pointing out there is a long list of executions carried out by Russia on their own men. Indeed, today is the funeral of call sign "Spaniard" - compared by some to Prigozhin. As Astra reports, he was gunned down in Crimea.

In English we know it as “Carol of the Bells,” but the melody arises from a Ukrainian folk tradition of songs welcoming the new year and summoning the forces of nature to meet human labor and bring prosperity. Do listen. I wrote about the history here: snyder.substack.com/p/o-generous...

A new report from researchers at the Yale School of Public Health warns that the U.S. government’s abrupt cancellation of funding for mRNA vaccine research could have devastating health and economic consequences for the nation.