Worth Knowing, Probably Not Quite Threadworthy 1/2

[SVPete]

KRAZEE-EYEZ KILLA TESTIFIES

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2026/01/the-krazee-eyez-killa-testifies.php

... Killa sat for a deposition conducted by the House Judiciary Committee on December 17.

Other aspects of the deposition have given rise to minor news stories, but I want to concentrate on just one point: Smith’s determination to send Trump to prison for his actions relating to the January 6 protest in Washington. I don’t think Trump covered himself in glory that day, but what did he do that was a crime? He said that he thought the election had been stolen. So what?

Q But the President’s statements that he believed the election was rife with
fraud, those certainly are statements that are protected by the First Amendment, correct?

A Absolutely not. If they are made to target a lawful government function and they are made with knowing falsity, no, they are not. That was my point about fraud not being protected by the First Amendment.

Q I mean, there is a long list of disputed elections, I mean, the election of 1800,
1960, year 2000, where candidates believed they were wronged by the — you know, because they lost. And there’s a long history of candidates speaking out about they believe there’s been fraud, there’s been other problems with the integrity of the election process. And I think you would agree that those types of statements are sort of at the core of the First Amendment rights of a Presidential candidate, right?

Spoiler alert, Smith was so fixated on getting Trump that he was re-splitting a re-split split hair.

[SVPete]

Jack Smith Admits Judges Not Told of GOP Phone Seizures

https://www.newsmax.com/us/jack-smith-gop-lawmakers-phone-records/2025/12/31/id/1240347/

Jack Smith admitted that judges were not told his team was seizing the phone records of Republican congressmen when asked to sign off on nondisclosure orders for associated subpoenas, according to a transcript of the ex-special counsel's deposition obtained by the New York Post on Wednesday.

Smith told members of the House Judiciary Committee in his testimony on Dec. 17 that keeping the subpoenas — which were part of the FBI's investigation into 2020 election interference — hidden was necessary to avoid a "grave risk of obstruction of justice."

Asked by a Judiciary Committee member whether judges who approved the subpoenas knew they were demanding that AT&T and Verizon hand over the call logs of lawmakers, Smith said, "I don't think we identified that, because I don't think that was department policy at the time."

Shamvestigators did not tell, and judges did not ask. How cozy!

[SVPete]

Scott Adams Shares Grim Health Update

https://dailycaller.com/2026/01/02/scott-adams-shares-grim-health-update/

“Dilbert” creator Scott Adams shared on Thursday that his radiologist gave him a dire prognosis during an episode of “Coffee with Scott Adams.”

Adams, who first announced his prostate cancer diagnosis during a May episode of his show, has recently dealt with complications like constipation and lower-body paralysis, which led to a brief hospitalization in December. He suggested on Thursday that January may be his final month of life.

Sad news.

[SVPete]

Black Gold Has Frustrated California Cultists Weeping in Their Chai Tea

https://hotair.com/tree-hugging-sister/2026/01/02/black-gold-has-frustrated-california-cultists-weeping-in-their-chair-tea-n3810428

Back in May, I told y'all about a Texas oil company that had rebuilt three oil platforms off the California coast, repaired and updated a previously blown-out oil pipeline, and was close to being able to pump that black gold back onshore for the first time in over a decade.
...
And it sure looked like another case of DOA as soon as the governor, the state, and the enviro-whackos got a load of what Sable had done and was in the middle of doing.
...
In October, at the same time that the Santa Barbara District Attorney filed felony criminal charges against the company for pollution, a judge in San Francisco sided with the cultists and issued an injunction against Sable, blocking the restart of the Santa Ynez pipeline.
...
Sable's entire business model is built around this pipeline-platform rejuvenation plan, so they weren't taking it sitting down, and now they also had a fossil fuel-friendly administration willing to go to bat for them. The company filed a counterlawsuit against the state, asking for $347M in damages due to the delays, and said as much, telling the state to suck a stone over the pipeline. Sure, it would have been nice to have it, and Sable thought California would benefit from the oil being brought in to what few refineries they had left.

But no skin off their noses if CA chose to act like a spoiled princess who found a pea under the mattress. They'd turn off the pipeline and transfer to oil tankers directly from the platform. See, the beauty of it is that California has a claim to the first three miles of ocean water offshore. The Sable platforms sit anywhere from five to ten miles offshore, conveniently, in federal waters.
...
In a remarkable turnabout, it seems an ocean fill-up won't be necessary afterall.
...

The Federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration just gave Sable Offshore Corp. a Christmas present: Sable can begin pumping oil from its three platforms off the coast of Santa Barbara, Calif., after a federal appeals court allowed the restart of a contested pipeline, Bloomberg Law reported.

“Environmental groups lost their bid at the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to stay enforcement of the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s emergency special permit for the Las Flores Pipeline System,”

My emphasis.