In 1862, Dakota Sioux Indians went on a mass murder spree, butchering more than 600 innocent whites, mostly women and children at New Ulm, Minnesota.

The Indians murdered babies, beating their brains out and nailing them to trees. They tortured children. They engaged in gang rape of women on a mass scale. Their rampage was enabled by the fact that many Minnesota men were away, fighting in the Civil War.

That slaughter was the worst massacre by either whites or Indians from 1492 to the present. On a per capita basis, it was five times the carnage of September 11.

If the narrative sounds familiar, it should. What the Dakota did in 1862 was remarkably similar to what Gazans did on October 7. And the reaction, too, was similar.

Argentina's new president, Javier Milei, has unleashed a slew of new deregulations on the Argentinian public, doing exactly what he promised the public during his election campaign.  For giving Argentina less government not more, the Left is hysterically denouncing him as a “dictator.”

From this report: Argentina: Javier Milei Signs Executive Order Weakening or Ending 350 Socialist Policies.  And yeah, it’s a lot of stuff.  The edict was put into effect late last week (12/21).  What happened: Food prices dropped 15% overnight.

Milei was like a mad anarcho-capitalist all right, just as he calls himself, running wild through the prison of Argentina's economy and opening every last cage to let the prisoners out, everybody out, all at once.

The Argentine Left can’t stand it.  It’s glorious - and instructive - fun to watch.

We should remember the now modern proverb of Nixon-era economic advisor Herb Stein to the effect that what cannot go on (without destroying the nation), simply will not go on.

In some sense, the country for recent years has been cruising on the fumes from prior and likely better wiser generations and institutions. In 2024, the tab for our current apathy, toxic politics, and incompetence will come due.

So next year we will likely see the climax to a number of current dangerous ideas, events, and forces, which finally will either overwhelm us or be addressed and remedied. We live in a Neronian age but can recover if we first understand how we got here and the nature of the suicide we are committing.

Then we can answer: What then do the campaign and election of 2024 foreordain?

[This is a useful nutshell history of Taiwan since WWII, helpful in understanding its tussle with Chicom China.]

The problem of identity is the most important issue in Taiwanese politics, occupying the center stage for both presidential campaigns and cross-strait relations. In recent years, there has been a notable decline in Chinese identification in Taiwan.

This decline is the result of the People’s Republic of China (PRC)’s monopolization of Chinese identity since the 1970s. Beijing’s goal is to use Chinese nationalism and cultural appeal to draw Taiwan closer to the mainland. However, it backfires by pushing Taiwan away; Taiwanese people are searching for an alternative identity to demonstrate their difference with the PRC.

Here’s how that evolved.

The abject narcissism of the insular Left is startling. They apparently believe the American public is amnesiac enough to forget what leftists once did, now that they’re doing the utter opposite.

And they assume we are to discount their hypocrisy and self-absorption simply because they self-identify as erudite and moral and assume their opponents are irredeemable and deplorable.

Apparently, for example, we have never appreciated the supposedly unnecessary and cruel encumbrance on a president when his son is indicted.  So, we are told that a son’s legal exposure is an unfair weight on a president.

Have we again forgotten the subpoenaed Trump children, much less the four weaponized indictments of Trump himself? Does anyone wish to compare the drug-addicted, prostitute-hiring, gun-losing, pornographic-photo-taking, shake-down grifting of Hunter with the conduct of the five Trump children?

At the COP28 climate summit in Dubai this December, the climate change world was waiting with bated breath for a final document that would declare war on fossil fuels.

The 70,000 delegates at the United Nations-sponsored event in the oil-rich nation of the United Arab Emirates hoped for a radical turning point where countries might agree to the “phase-out” of the production and consumption of oil, gas, and coal by mid-century.

For much of the conference, the debate was centered on whether to use the term “phase-out” or “phase-down” to describe the pace of the process to keep world temperature increase frozen at 1.5 degrees Celsius. Either term would put energy companies on notice that their days are numbered.

The climate-change movement has been waiting for this strong commitment since 1995. However, delegates were horrified to learn that the final draft document consisted of a watered-down agreement that did not mention fossil fuels and recommended actions that “could” be taken to reduce carbon footprints. There was no sense of urgency, drastic action plans, or concrete timelines.

Yep, it happened again:

Why is Donald Trump so resilient?  Here’s a clue – its source goes back centuries.

As 2023 draws to a close, the ex-president is on track to win the Republican nomination and beat Joe Biden come November.

If the election were today, Trump would get his second term.

Yet he’s charged with crimes that run a gamut from election interference to mishandling classified information.  He’s under gag orders and lost a $5 million civil suit this year.

Why don’t voters care — or if they do, why are they rewarding Trump, not punishing him?

A hint can be found in the work of a great historian who died last week at age 99, J.G.A. Pocock.

In the calculus of blame, whites are the new Jews.

Racebaiting superstar Ibram X. Kendi made this clear when he remarked on a panel recently that white people—globally—have failed to “reckon with how much their own personal identity is shaped by constructions of whiteness.” He went on to explain how “that construction of whiteness prevents white people from connecting to humanity.”

The discourse about “whiteness” comes in whole-cloth from the rhetoric of classical antisemitism. Ever wonder why Kendi-style racial debate sounds so familiar? You just have to substitute “white” for “Jew” and it all falls into place.

Antisemitism still exists, of course, but it is the sharp and narrow end of the anti-whiteness spear. The realignment of Leftist animosity has brought all struggle under the banner of anti-whiteness, or as Ibram X. Kendi would probably put it offstage, “Get Whitey.”

On the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leader’s Meeting in San Francisco last month, Chinese leader Xi Jinping told U.S. President Joe Biden that Taiwan is the “biggest”  and “most dangerous issue” between the United States and China.

In response, Biden asserted the U.S. commitment to defending “Indo-Pacific allies.” Should the U.S. worry about an impending invasion in the Taiwan Strait?

In contrast to the constant bombardment of warnings on Taiwan’s perilous future, the Biden-Xi summit, and evolving China-Taiwan-U.S. dynamics suggest a slim probability of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan in the short-term. While China’s long-term intention for Taiwan remains unchanged, there are reasons to believe that peace will hold in the Taiwan Strait, for now. Here are the reasons why.

It is “Trump Will Destroy Democracy” season again. And predictably the Left has gone hysterical, after experiencing a trifecta of frightening 2024 news.

One, current polls in the primaries and in a general election for now show that Trump would win.

Two, unequivocal evidence is mounting that the Bidens are one of the most corrupt political families in American presidential history.

Three, Joe Biden’s cognitive decline and feebleness have reached a point where he is one fall, one bad cold, or one long brain-freeze away from incapacity. He clearly is not running the country.

Truth is, the Left has shown itself to be grotesquely dictatorial for years now – let’s itemize what they’ve done.

[The Caucasus Mountains run east to west from the Caspian to Black Seas.  The peoples of the North Caucasus (north of the east-west watershed) have been fighting for the freedom from Russian imperial conquest since 1800.  For historical background, please consider reading about the great warrior leader of the Caucasus’ struggle in the 19th century, Shamil.  He remains a legendary hero to this day. The Caucasus soldiers fighting in Ukraine against Russia’s occupation call themselves the Imam Shamil Battalion.]

Russia’s war against Ukraine has significantly altered the geopolitical terrain of Eastern Europe, and its repercussions have extended into the North Caucasus.

One of the most notable consequences has been the reawakening of aspirations for independence among the dozens of ethnic groups that populate the region. On November 7 and 8, a major milestone was reached when the Congress of the Peoples of the North Caucasus convened in the European Parliament (Caucasusfree.com, November 9; YouTube, December 7).

Circassian, Chechen, Dagestani, and Ingush pro-independence representatives gathered to discuss their shared goal of independence from Russia. With most of Moscow’s attention fixated on the war, these movements have gained traction in recent months and will likely build on that momentum as the fighting in Ukraine rages on.

Have you heard about Joe Biden’s historic presidency? Or about the historic accomplishments of Joe Biden’s first term?

I have. Repeatedly. I force myself to watch “Morning Joe” on MSNBC, Jake Tapper on CNN, and Jonathan Karl on ABC, so I’m well-informed about the thinking of left-wing elites and their game plan for keeping Donald Trump out of office.

Apparently, part of the plan is to convince the American public that Joe Biden has been a great president, mostly when you weren’t looking.

In a sense, this is the political equivalent of the recent cleanup of San Francisco by California Gov. Gavin Newsom to make the dangerous and dirty city look better for the arrival of the Chinese Communist leader Xi Jinping.

But here’s the real explanation for why the media thinks that Joe Biden is a great president and the rest of us think he is an addlepated place keeper.

According to reports from Chinese media in late November, Beijing has refused to invest in the construction of the Power of Siberia-2 natural gas pipeline, proposing instead that Moscow fully cover the multibillion-dollar project. China also insists on substantial discounts for Russian gas, demonstrating strong “bargaining power” in negotiations with the Kremlin (South China Morning Post, November 24).

Power of Siberia-2 is pivotal for Russia in mitigating the losses incurred after Gazprom’s withdrawal from the European market. As Western sanctions have weakened Moscow’s geopolitical leverage with its energy resources, Beijing has capitalized on the situation to increase energy flows to China at cheaper prices.

Most economists argue that Moscow cannot fully compensate for the losses resulting from limited access to European markets. They also point out that the gas supplies currently flowing through the Power of Siberia-1 pipeline are already being sold to China at almost half the price of rates for the European Union and Turkey

Something eerie, something creepy, is happening in the world—and now in America as well. The dark mood is brought on by elite universities, the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion industry, and massive immigration from illiberal nations and anti-Enlightenment societies.

At Hillcrest High School in Queens, New York, hundreds of students rioted on news that a single teacher in her private social media account had expressed support for Israel.

Waving Palestinian flags, and screaming violent threats, the student mob rioted, destroyed school property, sought the teacher out and tried to crash into her classroom—before she was saved from violence by other teachers and an eventual police arrival.

Hundreds of such incidents are now occurring on a daily basis—as the country is leaving its Weimar phase and heading at warp speed into normalizing Jew-hatred and worse.  What explains the collective madness?

Here is the best-kept secret about U.S. military aid to Ukraine: Most of the money is being spent here in the United States.

That’s right: Funds that lawmakers approve to arm Ukraine are not going directly to Ukraine but are being used stateside to build new weapons or to replace weapons sent to Kyiv from U.S. stockpiles.

Of the $68 billion in military and related assistance Congress has approved since Russia invaded Ukraine, almost 90 percent is going to Americans, one analysis found.

At a time when both major parties are competing to win working-class votes and strengthen the U.S. manufacturing base, our military aid to Ukraine does exactly that — it is providing a major cash infusion into factories across the country that directly benefits American workers.

With less than one year to go until Election Day, the polls show that we are beating Joe Biden by wide margins both nationally and in the battleground states—and young people are a major part of the reason why.

A recent NBC News poll found that we are leading Biden 46 percent to 42 percent nationally among voters ages 18 to 34—a clear sign that young Americans are rejecting Joe Biden's reign of failure, incompetence, and corruption.

Sadly, many younger Americans are putting their lives on hold because they think the Biden economy leaves them no choice. Sadly, many younger Americans are putting their lives on hold because they think the Biden economy leaves them no choice.

Under Joe Biden, we are a nation in decline and rapidly losing the American Dream.

When I take the oath of office as the 47th President of the United States, I will rapidly rebuild the greatest economy in the history of the world so that young people can thrive and prosper.  Here’s how.

All too often, one hears claims that, in the long run, Russia will win over Ukraine because it has a much larger economy and population. Historically, that is a flawed conclusion. Historical precedence suggests that Ukraine is more likely to win, so let’s take a look at the reasons why.

Motivation

This is the most important factor in a war. Ukrainians know why they are fighting. They are defending their nation's existence. If they stop fighting, Ukraine will cease to exist as an independent state.

Russians, by contrast, don't really know why they are fighting. Most seem to fight for fear of being killed by their own, while their families are supposed to be richly paid if they die.

Other reasons are…

For Israel, it had to be good news to learn that Geert Wilders, the supposedly wild and crazy Dutch version of Donald Trump, came in with a huge parliamentary victory in the Netherlands and now may become the country's next prime minister.

That's because Wilders is a ferocious advocate and ally for Israel.  He’s got company.  All of the proto-Trump leaders now emerging in the world today are indeed nationalists, America-firsters, or fill-in-the native country first, make one's country its best, in spirit.

How is it every nationalist out there emerging in public life can all be so pro-Israel?  There couldn’t be a better reason.

[2023 is the 90th anniversary of one of history’s greatest acts of evil.  The definitive book to read is Robert Conquest’s The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine.]

People across Ukraine and around the world are lighting candles this month in memory of the millions of Ukrainians killed in the artificial famine engineered by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin’s regime in the 1930s.

Known to history as the Holodomor, this man-made famine remained hidden in the Soviet shadows for decades.

In recent years, a growing number of countries have finally recognized the famine as an act of genocide against the Ukrainian nation, but despite this growing international awareness, many have yet to grasp the chilling continuity between Stalin’s attempt to erase Ukraine and the genocidal objectives of today’s Russian invasion.

The global economy, and more importantly, the entire world as we know it, is about to undergo a seismic shift toward freedom. Here is why I believe this to be, how it will happen, and why I think this week may have marked step one of a long journey in the right direction.

By now you know that Javier Milei, an outspoken and eccentric libertarian, has won Argentina's presidency after promising to aggressively tackle inflation, shutter the country’s central bank, end woke culture and significantly reduce government.

Most important and least mentioned this week is that under the wild exterior, Milei has it where it counts: he has two masters degrees and has “been a professor of macroeconomics, economics of growth, microeconomics, and mathematics for economists” with specializations in economic growth.

In other words, the “bold” financial ideas aren’t just bluster. Beyond Milei’s outspoken demeanor and explosive personality, something far more meaningful is taking place under the surface. Argentina is the first of many dominoes that will fall, leading the world toward a new “Great Reset”—one that prioritizes liberty and freedom instead of big governments and collectivism.

In a historic turn, China’s rise as an economic superpower is reversing. The biggest global story of the past half century may be over.

After stagnating under Mao Zedong in the 1960s and 70s, China opened to the world in the 1980s — and took off in subsequent decades. Its share of the global economy rose nearly tenfold from below 2 per cent in 1990 to 18.4 per cent in 2021. No nation had ever risen so far, so fast.

Then the reversal began. China’s decline could reorder the world. Since the 1990s, the country’s share of global GDP grew mainly at the expense of Europe and Japan, which have seen their shares hold more or less steady over the past two years. The gap left by China has been filled mainly by the US and by other emerging nations.

To put this in perspective, the world economy is expected to grow by $8tn in 2022 and 2023 to $105tn. China will account for none of that gain, the US will account for 45 per cent, and other emerging nations for 50 per cent.

[Another excellent piece by VDH – with one major flaw.  Of all his suggested solutions, the most necessary is missing: the complete total abolishment of the unconstitutional federal Department of Education.]

It took the widely reported, repellent, and exempt wave of anti-Semitism and violent pro-Hamas protestors harassing Jews, finally to convince Americans that their own hallmark universities are illiberal centers of mediocrity and intolerance—and increasingly unsafe.

Of course, Americans had long known that something had gone wrong at their colleges. They had increasingly encountered college graduates who were poorly educated in basic skills and lacked general knowledge—and yet highly politicized, and intolerant of different views and opinions. Ignorant but arrogant is a sad way to start an adult life.

How can we fix this?

When Louisiana’s Mike Johnson was pulled from obscurity and elected House speaker last month, many conservatives were cautiously optimistic that the man with the self-professed biblical “worldview” and somewhat solid voting record would be the fighter they’ve needed to halt Democrats’ Marxist takeover of society.

Unfortunately, it didn’t take long to discover that Johnson is just as weak-kneed as his Republican predecessors.

On Tuesday afternoon, Johnson and House Republicans surrendered to Democrats yet again on a major government spending fight. Rather than stand strong and fight for conservative priorities, Johnson agreed to another continuing resolution, or CR, to keep the federal government funded through the beginning of next year.

Unsurprisingly, the proposal does nothing to address key issues plaguing the nation, such as the Biden-manufactured crisis at the U.S. southern border, and maintains already-high spending levels.

A Funeral Speech for Putin?

A trickle of whispers has become a firehose of rumors as Kremlin watchers spot multiple signs that Putin may have died, or that he may do so very soon.

“Let me comment like this: Something very strange is going on in the Kremlin,” says distinguished Russia expert Anders Aslund in describing Putin’s alleged death.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s health has been a contentious point of speculation as his public appearances routinely trigger rumors of cancer, Parkinsons, bathing in deer antler blood, or simply having a steroids habit developed from his obsession with body-building.

Unlike earlier times, the recent rumors about the 71-year-old having died, something which the Kremlin denies, comes in tandem with several other signs that some Russia-watchers believe may be a configuration in the tea leaves indicating a political change is afoot in Moscow.

One of the key reasons leftwing anti-Semites have been so effective at galvanizing campus hatred of Israel, and by association of Jews in general, is their careful effort to brand themselves DEI victims whiles tarring Jews with the empty white supremacy slur.

Accordingly, Jews and Israel now supposedly enjoy toxic white privilege. They are libeled as veritable white supremacists illegitimately in the Middle East to colonize “Palestine,” and as European imperialists picking up the mantle of the earlier 19th century British and French—as if a prior 400 years of Ottoman imperialism in the Middle East never occurred.

As now-privileged white victimizers, contemporary Jews are not seen as victims of the Holocaust, explaining the comfortable alliance between Islamist Holocaust deniers and the DEI crowd.

It was no accident that a racist BLM on news of the October 7 massacres quickly issued posters glorifying Hamas hang-gliding murderers.

Jews are now collateral damage from the damning of an entire group of people, namely white Americans and Europeans.

Do polls matter when Dems continue to win anyway?

In the aftermath of another disappointing election night for Republicans, questions need to be asked about supposedly non-partisan get-out-the-vote (GOTV) operations Democrats are using to ensure their low-propensity voters – and only their low-propensity voters – get to the polls.

On March 7, 2021, Executive Order on Promoting Access to Voting, President Biden instructed every federal agency to submit a plan to leverage their agency’s personnel and assets to help turn out the vote.

For example, agencies might use internal data to identify aid recipients who are not registered to vote, then use agency personnel to get them registered and ensure their ballot is cast and counted.

Anyone who criticizes GOTV efforts gets accused of wanting to suppress voting. But it’s not voting to which we should object – it’s the exclusive collection of ballots from Democratic voting blocks.  Especially since federal employees are explicitly prohibited by law from participating in political activities.

American University and College Presidents,

As President of Israel, I have spent the past month traveling among devastated Israeli communities, more than 1,400 grieving families, and the relatives of more than 240 hostages. I've been trying to comfort survivors of the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, a sadistic atrocity that included rape and torture.

And while doing so, I hear of Jewish students harassed at Harvard University. A Jewish student assaulted at Tulane, Jewish students locked in a library at the Cooper Union as a mob shouts outside, signs accusing Israel of genocide, swastikas painted on dorm-room doors, hateful and intimidating demonstrations - too many examples to list.

All of this is happening not on the fringes of society but in the very temples of scholarship, in halls meant to be beacons of humanism, progress and rigorous inquiry. And it is happening not in Europe a century ago, but in the United States in 2023.

Debate is welcome on any topic, including Israel's actions. But the events on campus are not debate but a defilement of the university and its principles.

How can anyone endorsing, excusing, or glorifying the Hama atrocities have a place in any college, or in the civilized world?

Since Russia invaded Ukraine for the second time in eight years, Russian troops have ravaged Ukraine’s cities, raped its women, and stolen its children. Russian missiles and Iranian drones strike Ukrainian cities daily, often hitting civilian targets. Russia is the aggressor. Ukraine is the victim.

For Americans who believe in respect for national borders, the primacy of national sovereignty, and the right to self-defense, support for Ukraine is natural. Ukrainians are not asking for, nor do they want, US troops to help them fight Russia. All they ask for is the resources required to give them a fighting chance.

Meanwhile, Russia is among America’s top geopolitical adversaries. As former Secretary of State and Hudson Distinguished Fellow Mike Pompeo said last week, a Russian victory “would be felt well beyond Ukraine’s borders, including by strengthening a Russia-China-Iran alliance that aims to weaken the US and our allies across the globe.”

As Congress debates additional support for Ukraine, detractors will spread false and misleading information. It is important to understand the facts.  Here are fourteen to be aware of.

On March 27, 2023, a woman named Audrey Hale entered The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, and slaughtered three nine-year-old children and three adults. It was only because police were nearby that she was stopped.

The woman, who claimed to be a so-called “trans man,” left behind a manifesto. However, while police departments and media outlets are usually quick to release statements from mass murderers, government officials in this Democrat-run city refused to do so in this case.

Steve Crowder, though, obtained the first three pages of the manifesto, which he released today. In addition to showing an obsessive level of preparation (this was no spur-of-the-moment killing), the manifesto shows that the killer was motivated by one of the left’s favorite mantras: “white privilege.”

So know we know why the woke establishment made this enormous effort to hide the manifesto.

There are 300 miles of Hamas tunnels underneath Gaza

As the war rages on, Gaza is getting destroyed, people are getting killed on both sides, and a resolution of the conflict seems as elusive as ever. On the contrary, the war is escalating and spreading to other theaters.  The main problem is the Hamas tunnels.

The massive spiderweb of 300 miles of tunnels boast an impressive level of engineering, constructed from reinforced concrete, divided into separate self-contained sections by steel doors, and reaching depths up to 100 feet. The tunnels are also equipped with modern ventilation systems powered by generators.

They were built under buildings, hospitals, schools, and other civilian projects. The terrorists currently hold more than 200 hostages somewhere in their tunnel maze.  With the tunnels, time is on Hamas’s side.

So, what is to be done? This: