Wally Award: Funniest Headline of the Year

Time for one more award as we close out the year. The coveted Wally for Funniest Headline of the Year goes to the wretches at Yahoo! News who came up with this one.  

Writes itself, doesn't it? The actual headline by BBC News science reporter Alicia Curry [or her editor! Ed.] was "Blue Origin astronaut reveals depression after 'tsunami of harassment'", but there's nothing funny about that... right, ladies?

Walt's predictions for 2026

Ready for New Year 2026? You'll go to bed tonight, and when you wake up in the morning (DV) everything will be new, improved and wonderful! Well... not everything.

That politicians will still be lying to us in 2026 is a prediction Walt can make with absolutely certainty of being correct. That some of those politicians will be assisted by the (((controlled media))) is another. And that there will be a deluge of AI-generated fake news is yet another.

Should we go beyond that? Why not just rest on our laurels? At the end of 2025 Walt predicted that at least two of Demented Joe Biden, Justin "Blackface" Trudeau, and Francis the Pope of the New World Order would be out of office by the end of the year. We hit the trifecta on that one, 3 for 3, lifetime pct .987. 

Sadly, the successors to Trudeau and Francis have proved to be little better than their predecessors. Marx Carney and Pope Leo XIV are almost as liberal as their predecessors, and still leading their constituents down the path to One World and social, political and financial ruin. About POTUS, we can say only that his first year has been a disappointment.

A few things seem likely to happen in 2026 so we might as well list our fears, viz.:

* The AI bubble will not burst, but will start to deflate. (That's not a bad thing.)

* There will be some kind of deal to end (or suspend?) Russia's war against Ukraine. The Ukraine will get screwed. See "Selling out Ukraine to appease Putin would be a huge mistake", WWW 28/12/25. 

* Attendance at mainstream Catholic churches will continue to fall freely as the Church gets gayer and gayer. Catholics who keep the Faith will turn in even greater numbers to chapels run by Traditional Latin Mass groups such as the FFSP and SSPX.

* "Trump tariffs" will be overturned by SCOTUS. President Trump will promise new and improved tariffs which will make Americans 1000% richer than they are now, if they vote Republican.

* The mid-term shit-hammer will fall hard on the Republicans, as Ukrainian-Americans and disaffected conservatives will stay home in drove.

* Venezuelan President Maduros will be out of office by this time next year.

* The mayors of at least two American cities will, without pushing from Washington, call on their police forces (and possibly the National Guard!) to tear down the verminous encampments and clean up the streets of their shit-hole cities.

* The world will not be a better place on 31 December 2026 than it is today. We can only hope and pray it will be not much worse.

Walt, that's enough gloom and doom for one day. Please don't write anything more until next year! Ed.

OK. Happy New Year anyway. Walt

From the Babylon Bee: too good not to repost in full

Walz Announces $8 Billion Grant To Somali Company 

To Investigate Fraud

ST. PAUL, MN — In response to growing allegations of fraud tied to Minnesota's Somali community, Governor Tim Walz announced he had awarded an $8 billion grant to a Somali company to find the perpetrators.

"I'm sparing no expense to find those responsible," Governor Walz announced. "That's why I'm consulting with a Somali private detective agency. They know when to run a mean pick-six. They also run a nifty daycare center."

To date, approximately $18 billion has been lost to fraud in Minnesota through fake social service programs run by Somalis, some of whom may be in the country illegally. Walz hopes to get to the bottom of the scandal with a lucrative grant to the newly formed Osman Farah Private Eye Detective Agency for Finding Welfare Fraud 

"Look at me. Look at me. I am the detective now," said Detective Osman Farah.

Democrats praised Walz for rising above politics to get to the bottom of the fraud case. "Well, I'm convinced," said Minnesota Congressional Representative Ilhan Omar. "Nothing to see here. As usual, America is the real villain."

Previously, Republicans questioned Walz's leadership throughout the Somali daycare fraud scandal, even going so far as to suggest he's involved. Now, however, they're certain he's just mentally handicapped and unable to run an elaborate money laundering scheme himself.

"We should probably have him arrested, but honestly, this is all so entertaining," House Speaker Mike Johnson said as he ate a bag of popcorn while watching the news. "Ha, they just found another billion. Hilarious."

At publishing time, Somali detectives announced they were close to cracking the case and just needed another $8 billion in funds to be sure.

Note from Ed.: The Babylon Bee wins, for the umpteenth year in a row, the coveted Wally Award for Best Satirical Website. If you decide to subscribe, tell `em Walt sent ya!

Search for MH370 on again, still looking in the wrong place

Today, the second-last day of 2025, a private company called Ocean Infinity is renewing its search for the remains of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, which vanished from air-traffic radar 39 minutes after departing Kuala Lumpur for Beijing. 

The pilot's last radio call to Kuala Lumpur – "Good night, Malaysian Three Seven Zero" – was the last communication before the aircraft crossed into Vietnamese airspace and failed to check in with controllers there. Minutes later, the plane's transponder, which broadcasts its location, shut down. Military radar showed the jet turn back over the Andaman Sea, and satellite data suggested it continued flying for hours, possibly until it ran out of fuel, before crashing into a remote section of the southern Indian Ocean.

More than a decade of searching has so far turned up almost nothing, except a few small fragments washed ashore along the coast of Africa and on islands in the Indian Ocean. No bodies or large pieces of wreckage have ever been recovered. 

The lack of information and facts has spawned theories ranging from a hijacking to cabin depressurisation or power failure. There was no distress call, ransom demand, evidence of technical failure or severe weather. Malaysian investigators in 2018 cleared the passengers and crew, but did not rule out "unlawful interference". 

Authorities have said someone deliberately severed communications and diverted the plane, but can't say anything about who the "someone" may have been. Walt has followed this story from the beginning, and has his own theory about the "unlawful interference". To see all of our posts, enter "MH370" in the search window. We'll come back to one of those posts in a moment.

The search for the remains of MH370 has already become the most expensive in aviation history, but after more than a decade, very little information has surfaced. [Careful! Ed.] Previous investigations have been conducted in a blaze of publicity, but little has been said about the latest expedition.

A spokesthingy for Ocean Infinity said only, "With the support of the Malaysian government, we are resuming the search for the missing aircraft MH370. Due to the important and sensitive nature of this search, formal communications will come through the Malaysian government." They did, however, release this map, showing the new area to be searched.

The latest search team will have to deal with not only the lack of clarity about where the aircraft went down, but also the rugged ocean floor. According to Simon Maskell, professor of autonomous systems [Wut dat? Ed.] at Liverpool University and a former scientific adviser to Ocean Infinity "The ocean floor is a very complicated environment to navigate around. It’s not just flat. You’ve got huge mountains, ridges and chasms – and you’ve got to look everywhere." He added, "You can have the greatest technology in the world, but if you look in the wrong place, it's not going to help you."

Indeed! The new search area appears to be 1000s of miles away from places where debris has been found, such as the southeastern coast of Madagascar, where a debris hunter named Blaine Gibson found five (5) pieces back in 2016. See "Investigators not interested in picking up more MH370 debris", WWW 12/9/16.

Two of the fragments appeared to show burn marks, which, if confirmed as such, would be the first time such marks have been found. The presence of burn marks would suggest that a disastrous fire would be the proximate cause of the plane's fall into the Indian Ocean. 

Another small piece was found in the same area. Two more turned up on the northeastern beaches of Antsiraka and Riake. Pictures of all five fragments have the "honeycomb" material found in other MH370 debris.

Time for another look at Walt's diagram of the currents prevalent in the Indian Ocean, posted on 31/7/15 in "Current thinking on MH370".

We're putting this up for the third time to underscore Walt's theory that the Australian and other "experts" who have allegedly been searching for the remains of the ill-fated flight have been looking in the wrong place! You'll see Madagascar sandwiched in between the Aquinas and Moçambique currents, at the western edge of the Indian Ocean. The "authorities" have insisted that the plane went down in the previous search area off the western coast of Australia.

Why would they do that? Let me suggest (again) that it's deliberate misdirection, to keep us from asking questions about the involvement of the US millitary, which maintains a huge base on the British island of Diego Garcia, For more, see "MH370: 5 pieces now, all in 'the wrong place'", WWW 12/5/16.

If they really wanted to get at the truth, you'd think the Australians and/or Malaysians would hie themselves off to Réunion, Madagascar, Moçambique and South Africa, where bits and pieces of the missing aircraft have been located. But noooo. Mr Gibson -- a lawyer from Seattle -- was the only one who went there to investigate.

What information do the Malaysian authorities and/or Ocean Infinity have (we'd like to know) that leads them to have another look in the "new" area not that far to the west of their first search site, but quite far from where the only physical clues so far recovered were found? And now that the Republicans are in charge of the War Department, has anyone asked them to shed some light on the greatest aviation mystery since the disappearance of Amelia Earhart? Well???

Thought for the Octave of Christmas

VIDEO: Selling out Ukraine to appease Putin would be a huge mistake - Howard G. Buffett tells Diane Francis why

Do you remember this scene? The photo was taken on 30 September 1938.

That's the Right Honourable Neville Chamberlain, Prime Minister of Great Britain at the time, holding aloft a scrap of paper signed by himself and Adolf Hitler, which he (Chamberlain)  said guaranteed "peace in our time."

Today, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, went to Mar-a-Lago to see President Trump, much as Mr Chamberlain went to see Herr Hitler. Not that the US of A was threatening Ukraine... not out loud, anyway. But it is clear to all that the Leader of the Free WorldTM intends to make "peace" (and so win the coveted Wally Prize for Peace) by giving Putin at least part of what he wants. What Mr Zelenskyy wanted to know is just how badly his country is going to be screwed.

Giving Putin anything in return for a promise of dubious value would represent a hyuge mistake... in fact, a defeat. So says Howard G. Buffett, philanthropist and CEO of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, who last month received .the Peterson Literary Fund's 2025 Journey for Truth Award. 

In this video, Mr Buffett is interviewed by Diane Francis, columnist for Canada's National Post and contributor to The Kyiv Post. The conversation focuses on Mr Buffett's humanitarian work in Ukraine and his contribution to rebuilding Ukraine. The discussion deals with the impact of Russia's war on food security, war crimes, demining efforts, and the intentional destruction of Ukrainian culture and identity. It underscores the importance of supporting Ukraine and why Ukraine's victory matters. 

Walt wonders if President Trump has seen this. If so, did he say, "Howard who?" Would the message have resonated louder in the President's alleged brain if it had been delivered by Mr Buffett's father? 

Howard Graham Buffett is the middle son of... wait for it... Warren Buffett. He was recently named non-executive chairman of Berkshire Hathaway. If anyone knows the right and smart way to counter Russia's war of aggression, I'd say it would be Mr Buffett... not POTUS, who appears not to have heard or understood what happened less than a year after Mr Chamberlain brought back his little scrap of paper.

Seen today on Blazing Cat Fur