Bookmarks 2025-12-27T18:41:28.492Z
by Owen Kibel
26 min read
Bookmarks for 2025-12-27T18:41:28.492Z
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Site: X (formerly Twitter)
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How Putin Got His Preferred U.S. Envoy: Come Alone, No CIA - WSJ Added: Dec 27, 2025
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Site: X (formerly Twitter)
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Site: X (formerly Twitter)
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Violin Concerto in G Minor, Op. 10 No. 6: I. Allegro ma poco - YouTube Music Added: Dec 27, 2025
Violin Concerto in G Minor, Op. 10 No. 6: I. Allegro ma poco - YouTube Music
Site: YouTube Music
Provided to YouTube by Warner Classics Violin Concerto in G Minor, Op. 10 No. 6: I. Allegro ma poco · Jaap Schröder Leclair: Violin Concertos ℗ 1978 Warne...
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Cathedral Organ and Baroque Cello - YouTube Music
Site: YouTube Music
Find me on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/64aXQgmQVmHweH5I3VejGv If you'd like to use this track in your video, film, or video game project, pleas...
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Site: X (formerly Twitter)
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Astronomers find unexpected cluster of objects in the Kuiper Belt - Earth.com Added: Dec 27, 2025
Astronomers find an unexpected compact cluster at the edge of the solar system
Site: Earth.com
The newly identified cluster of Kuiper Belt objects lies about 4 billion miles from the Sun, offering fresh clues about how the outer solar system formed and evolved.
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Experts explore new mushroom which causes fairytale-like hallucinations | Hacker News
Added: Dec 27, 2025Experts explore new mushroom which causes fairytale-like hallucinations | Hacker News
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Experts Explore New Mushroom Which Causes Fairytale-Like Hallucinations | Natural History Museum of Utah
Added: Dec 27, 2025Experts Explore New Mushroom Which Causes Fairytale-Like Hallucinations
Site: Natural History Museum of Utah
Between traditional folklore and modern biology, the wild forest floor and the sterile scientific laboratory, lies the story of the lilliputian mushroom.
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‘We are the free world now’ — Europe declares war on free speech in the US Added: Dec 27, 2025
‘We are the free world now’ — Europe declares war on free speech in the US
Site: The Hill
This move against European officials is a good start.
"We are the free world now." Those words from Raphael Glucksmann, a French socialist member of the European Parliament, captured the pearl-clutching outrage of Europeans after the Trump administration did what no prior administration has ever done — stand up to Europe to defend the freedom of speech. This week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio barred five figures closely associated with European censorship efforts from traveling to the U.S. This includes Thierry Breton, the former European Union commissioner responsible for digital policy. In a post on X, Rubio declared that the U.S. "will no longer tolerate these egregious acts of extraterritorial censorship” and will target "leading figures of the global censorship-industrial complex from entering the United States.” Breton achieved infamy as one of the architects of the massive EU censorship system, which is now being globalized. Armed with the notorious Digital Service Act, Breton and others threatened American companies and officials that they would have to yield to European standards of free speech. After Breton learned that Musk was planning to interview Trump before the last presidential election, he even warned the X owner that he would be “monitored” and potentially subject to EU fines. Socialist Glucksmann is now irate at "this scandalous sanction against Thierry Breton." "We are Europeans," he declared. "We must defend our laws, our principles, our interests.” In other words, this is a war over whether Europe or the U.S. Constitution will dictate the scope of free speech for American companies and citizens. Breton and his colleagues are finally being treated as what they are: a clear and present danger to the “indispensable right" that defines all Americans. The EU has been enlisted by anti-free speech figures in the U.S. to force companies like X and Facebook to restore censorship of Americans. After Musk bought Twitter with a pledge to restore free-speech protections, Hillary Clinton called upon European officials to force him to censor under Europe's Digital Services Act. Nina Jankowicz, the former head of Biden’s infamous Disinformation Governance Board, appeared before the European Parliament. She called upon the 27 EU countries to fight against the U.S., which she described as a global threat. The E.U. enthusiastically took up the challenge. This year, I spoke in Berlin at the World Forum, which boosted the slogan, “A New World Order with European Values.” Bill and Hillary Clinton and other Americans cheered on the European efforts. The Digital Services Act bars speech that is viewed as “disinformation” or “incitement.” When it was passed over the condemnations of many of us in the free speech community, European Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager celebrated by declaring that it is “not a slogan anymore — that what is illegal offline should also be seen and dealt with as illegal online. Now it is a real thing. Democracy’s back.” It is indeed a "real thing." In my forthcoming book, Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution, I discuss the challenges facing our republic in the 21st century, including the EU and its transnational governance model. Many on the left are supporting the erosion of national laws and values in favor of standards set by global experts and elites. This cadre of American enablers has been increasingly vocal in Europe. Notably, late-night ABC host Jimmy Kimmel delivered a Christmas Eve address in Great Britain denouncing the U.S. as a global threat. He declared that “from a fascism perspective, this has been a really great year. Tyranny is booming over here." It was crushingly ironic. Many of us have been writing for years about how free speech has been eviscerated in the United Kingdom, where people are being prosecuted for "toxic ideologies" and an ever-lengthening list of unacceptable political viewpoints. Justice Amy Coney Barrett issued a warning this week about the collapse of free speech in the United Kingdom. Yet that is where a comedian, who is paid millions and attacks Trump nightly, went to complain about the threat to free speech in the U.S. Both Vice President JD Vance and Secretary Rubio have delivered major speeches warning the EU about its effort to export censorship systems, particularly targeting American citizens and companies. After years of encouragement and enabling from the Obama and Biden administrations, the U.S. government is finally in this fight. That is why Europe is up in arms, denouncing the move to bar these officials as an attack on its own sovereignty. In other words, an effort to defend our own free speech values is a threat to the proclaimed "New World Order with European Values.” In reality, I do not like travel bans. I prefer that these figures come to this country and face free-speech advocates. Yet despite our calls for Congress to get into this fight, it has done nothing due to opposition from Democratic members. We cannot wait as the EU weaponizes and globalizes censorship. Glucksmann is right about one thing. This is a fight over who today can be rightfully called the "free world." In the U.S., we continue to cling to the quaint notion that the free world should be based on ... well, freedom. Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. He is the author of the forthcoming “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution” on the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution.
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Joe Rogan mocks President Trump ripping Biden and Obama in White House plaques | New York Post Added: Dec 27, 2025
Joe Rogan mocks Trump’s ‘crazy’ Biden and Obama White House plaques
Site: New York Post
Joe Rogan called President Donald Trump crazy for calling out former presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama by laying out plaques criticizing their time in the Oval Office.
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**Why Gavin Newsom would crush JD Vance in 2028 **
Site: The Hill
Donald Trump’s brand is losing credibility, and Gavin Newsom’s Hollywood-grade instincts make him a formidable opponent for Vice President JD Vance, who is being groomed for 2028 and mu…
Donald Trump began as an event. Then he became a movement. For millions of Americans, he felt electric — an unfiltered rebuke to a political class that had grown smug, stale and self-serving. He spoke plainly. He fought openly. He seemed, for a time, genuinely fearless. Whatever his flaws, Trump inspired loyalty because he appeared to break the spell of managed decline. That spell returned, briefly. In his second term, Trump no longer feels insurgent. He feels iterative. The shock has worn off. The grievances have multiplied. The promises sound recycled. Approval ratings have plummeted. The man who once bent the news cycle to his will now seems trapped inside it, reacting more than commanding. What once looked like momentum now looks like maintenance. And this matters, because Trump is no longer just a candidate. He is a brand. And that brand is bleeding credibility. The Republican Party now wears Trump the way a carpet wears an oil spill. You can scrub, you can deodorize, you can rearrange the furniture, but the stain remains. Any successor must answer not only for Trump’s achievements, but also for the exhaustion he leaves behind. Vice President JD Vance, already being groomed for 2028, is intelligent and articulate. He is also trapped. The vice presidency is not a launchpad but a holding pattern. It teaches you to circle power, not to command it. It teaches you to justify choices you didn’t make, absorb fallout you didn’t cause, and speak softly while someone else throws punches. Vance’s deeper problem isn’t competence. It’s chemistry. He didn’t create MAGA, and he never could have. That movement required instinct, appetite and raw political gravity. It required Trump. Trump is a political wrecking ball. He is manic, magnetic, unavoidable. Vance operates differently. He explains power, contextualizes it and rationalizes it. He never generates it. That worked when Trump was rising. It’s far less useful when Trump is declining. As Trump’s numbers slide, Vance becomes the lightning rod. He must honor Trump without imitating him, defend the record without taking responsibility for its failures, while pitching calm from inside the storm. It’s ballet in work boots. Vance is many things, but he was never meant to lead the dance Which brings us to the probable opponent. Gavin Newsom has Hollywood-grade instincts. He was made to perform. And in modern presidential politics, performance beats conviction nine times out of ten. Newsom looks presidential in the way actors look heroic — before they’ve done anything heroic at all. He understands the camera. He understands posture, pacing, pause. He knows when to feign outrage, when to smirk, when to lean forward and lower his voice. He takes up space effortlessly. Voters register this long before they process policy. Newsom also understands the media ecosystem. He baits Trump just enough to stay centered while Trump does the shouting. Attention is power. Trump still generates enormous amounts of it. Newsom siphons a clean stream without getting soaked. It’s clinical. Almost elegant. And voters are tired. They are not asking for vision. They aren’t even asking for inspiration. They are asking for calm. After years of absolute mayhem, many Americans would settle for someone who appears mentally competent, speaks clearly, and doesn’t turn every week into a national blood-pressure test. The bar has sunk to the floor. Basic decency now passes for leadership. Newsom clears it without breaking stride. Presidential elections are not policy seminars. They are endurance contests between narratives. Newsom’s writes itself: professionalism versus pandemonium, control versus chaos, smooth talk versus perpetual turbulence. It doesn’t matter whether the story is fair. It only matters whether it feels coherent. Newsom delivers coherence on cue. The Californian never seems hesitant. Confidence covers flaws the way makeup covers bruises. Vance, by 2028, would arrive already black-and-blue. Looking elsewhere does not save Republicans. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has reinvented himself so many times he now feels like a reboot no one requested. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), though not hardcore MAGA, remains about as galvanizing as a hotel evacuation diagram — technically useful, emotionally inert. None of them escape the oil spill. Trump didn’t merely reshape the Republican Party. He saturated it. Every future nominee must explain not only who they are, but why voters should endure four more years of Trump-adjacent absurdity. That is a brutal starting position. This is not an argument that Newsom would govern well. Instead, it’s an argument that he would campaign with cold efficiency. Elections reward fluency, not depth. Optics, not insight. Inevitability, not introspection. Newsom looks inevitable. Vance looks encumbered. In a head-to-head race, Newsom wouldn’t need to prove his credentials. He would only need to convince voters that Vance represents the aftershock of a political earthquake they are desperate to forget. On that front, the race is over before it starts. John Mac Ghlionn is a writer and researcher who explores culture, society and the impact of technology on daily life.
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Scientists Discover New Forms of Life Inside Human Bodies That Don't Match Anything Biology Has Classified
Added: Dec 27, 2025Scientists Discover New Forms of Life Inside Human Bodies That Don't Match Anything Biology Has Classified
Site: The Daily Galaxy - Great Discoveries Channel
Scientists have uncovered a hidden class of RNA structures deep inside the human microbiome, completely unlike anything seen before.
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Israeli scientists say tiny organisms can revamp their own RNA to survive extreme heat | The Times of Israel
Added: Dec 27, 2025Israeli scientists say tiny organisms can revamp their own RNA to survive extreme heat | The Times of Israel
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DNA Says You’re ‘British’ or ‘Viking’? Science Says Your Ancestry Test Might Be Misleading
Added: Dec 27, 2025DNA Says You’re ‘British’ or ‘Viking’? Science Says Your Ancestry Test Might Be Misleading
Site: Indian Defence Review
Genetic ancestry tests claim to trace your roots and connect you with ancient peoples—but experts say the science doesn’t back up the hype.
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Sightings of bright blue cosmic monster flashes continue to confound astronomers
Site: Earth.com
A record-bright LFBOT exposes violent encounters between black holes and stars, helping astronomers understand extreme black hole systems.
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Bill Maher Issues Blunt Takedown of Former Fox News Host Tucker Carlson Added: Dec 27, 2025
Bill Maher Issues Blunt Takedown of Former Fox News Host Tucker Carlson
Site: TV Insider
The 'Real Time With Bill Maher' host shared his theory about the fired journalist.
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Bill Maher on Viral Ana Kasparian-Israel Blowup, “Dangerous” Tucker Carlson & Trump’s Biggest Wins - YouTube Added: Dec 27, 2025
Bill Maher on Viral Ana Kasparian-Israel Blowup, “Dangerous” Tucker Carlson & Trump’s Biggest Wins
Site: YouTube
Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/3DmLpLiBill Maher joins The Free Press’s Maya Sulkin for a wide-ranging conversation...
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Trump says it would be 'smart' for Maduro to back down | Fox News Added: Dec 27, 2025
Trump says it would be 'smart' for Maduro to back down | Fox News
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Why Bill Maher And Larry David Are No Longer Friends Added: Dec 27, 2025
Bill Maher Addressed His Falling Out With Larry David And Why It Happened
Site: BuzzFeed
OK then.
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Bill Maher Makes Bold Confession About Donald Trump's Best Political Move
Site: TV Insider
The 'Real Time With Bill Maher' host also issued a blunt message to those whose 'whole personality' is hating the POTUS.
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Site: X (formerly Twitter)
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In 1879 a scientist buried bottles filled with seeds. Every 20 years, one is dug up and studied. - Upworthy
Added: Dec 27, 2025In 1879 a scientist buried bottles filled with seeds. Every 20 years, one is dug up and studied.
Site: Upworthy
This incredibly long-running experiment will come to an end around 2100.
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Gad Saad on X: "I guess I won't be appearing on the @Timcast podcast any time soon, you know because my Jewish humour has offended this Noble Theologian." / X Added: Dec 27, 2025
Site: X (formerly Twitter)
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Site: X (formerly Twitter)
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Site: X (formerly Twitter)
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Site: X (formerly Twitter)
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Cue the Crickets | Jim Treacher | Substack Added: Dec 27, 2025
Cue the Crickets | Jim Treacher | Substack
This is mostly a podcast now. Deal with it. Click to read Cue the Crickets, by Jim Treacher, a Substack publication with thousands of subscribers.
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Site: X (formerly Twitter)
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Site: X (formerly Twitter)
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Site: X (formerly Twitter)
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In dulci jubilo - YouTube Music
Site: YouTube Music
Provided to YouTube by The Orchard Enterprises In dulci jubilo · Mignarda · Joseph Klug · Heinrich Suso In Dulci Jubilo: Ancient Music for Christmastide ℗...
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what confidence exists for the birth dates of Jesus Christ and Isaac Newton, and what are the days? - Google Search Added: Dec 27, 2025
Google Search
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Site: X (formerly Twitter)
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Site: X (formerly Twitter)
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Site: X (formerly Twitter)
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Site: X (formerly Twitter)
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Pange, Lingua Gloriosi - YouTube Music
Site: YouTube Music
Provided to YouTube by The Orchard Enterprises Pange, Lingua Gloriosi · Dan Gibson's Solitudes · Daniel May Illumination: Peaceful Gregorian Chants ℗ 2014...
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Site: X (formerly Twitter)
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Site: X (formerly Twitter)
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Site: X (formerly Twitter)
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Try Beige Rice: The Middle Path between White and Brown - Viet World Kitchen
Added: Dec 27, 2025Try Beige Rice: The Middle Path between White and Brown - Viet World Kitchen
Site: Viet World Kitchen
Raise your hand if you dislike brown rice and love white rice but know that white rice isn't the healthiest thing to eat all the time. If you did, we are members of the same club. I've tried to like brown rice but it's too heavy for most Asian foods and takes so long to […]
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3I/ATLAS is Hiding Behind a Veil of Dust | by Avi Loeb | Dec, 2025 | Medium Added: Dec 27, 2025
3I/ATLAS is Hiding Behind a Veil of Dust
Site: Medium
In my latest two essays, accessible here and here, I showed that the characteristic radius of dust particles in the anti-tail jet launched…
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The Optimal Architecture for Small Language Models Added: Dec 27, 2025
The Optimal Architecture for Small Language Models
A Blog post by Asankhaya Sharma on Hugging Face
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What Israel stands to gain from recognizing Somaliland | The Jerusalem Post
Added: Dec 27, 2025** What Israel stands to gain from recognizing Somaliland | The Jerusalem Post**
Site: The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com
Some may see it as creating a new era of international competition in the Horn of Africa - but the real issue is it may appear more of a strategic chessboard than it is.
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UN Security Council to convene emergency meeting on Israel's Somaliland recognition | The Times of Israel
Added: Dec 27, 2025
UN Security Council to convene emergency meeting on Israel's Somaliland recognition | The Times of Israel
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Somalia's Al-Shabaab vows to fight any Israeli use of Somaliland after recognition | The Times of Israel
Added: Dec 27, 2025
Somalia's Al-Shabaab vows to fight any Israeli use of Somaliland after recognition | The Times of Israel
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Dark skies over Jared Kushner's Gaza plan 'Project Sunrise' - Washington Times Added: Dec 27, 2025
Dark skies over Jared Kushner’s Gaza plan ‘Project Sunrise’
Site: The Washington Times
President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner has a plan to turn the Gaza Strip into a modern version of Gotham called “Project Sunrise” — and it’s highly likely to fail.
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Site: X (formerly Twitter)
