It’s been a hell of a week! Want to know what I think about what’s happening? Read on…
What Else Happened Last Week?
* The S&P 500 completed one of its best three-year runs ever, rising around 80% from the start of 2023 through Dec. 31, 2025.
Wall Street thinks the party is just getting started, but few expect the good times to keep rolling indefinitely.
* Trump threatened to intervene if Iran cracks down violently on ongoing protests, putting pressure on Tehran as it tries to contain discontent with its economy.
* Gavin Newsom’s wealth tax dilemma: “Wealth taxes are going nowhere in California,” he has insisted. Not so fast. A wealth tax may be going to voters this November.
Read more here.
Minnesota Scams, Big Medicine, and Media Showdowns
* Our Taxes Support Somalian Scams?
This woman is making a point that has been coming up since Musk tried to get government waste under control with DOGE, but has accelerated since the Somali scams in Minnesota have become national news. Some Americans are wondering whether they should stop paying taxes and start scamming for a living, like the Somalis do.
* The Unholy Marriage of Big Insurance and Big Medicine
Josh Hawley is looking into a national scam that is probably more than 10 times what is being perpetrated by the Somali community in Minnesota.
* Piers Morgan Talks About Tommy Robinson with Jordan Peterson
This is a very good depiction of the embarrassment one must feel watching a pretentious public nitwit discussing a nuanced topic with a genuine intellectual. (Notice how kindly Peterson treats Morgan here.)
What do you know about sewing?
I didn’t expect to do well on this quiz and I didn’t, getting only 12 out of 20.
1976: Andy Kaufman Lip-Syncs “Old MacDonald”
With Audience Volunteers
Hard to believe this was 50 years ago. After working in small comedy clubs in the early 1970s, Kaufman gained national attention in 1975 with an appearance on SNL. He would go on to play Latka Gravas on the TV series Taxi from 1978 to 1984, when he died of lung cancer at only 35.
Some called him an anti-comedian because of his proclivity towards rudeness, which is displayed here. But equally evident is the absurd genius of this idea.