Happy New Year. Everyone needs a break from the news. I am sticking with you. I don't always agree, but it is better for my brain to listen to what you have to say. Stay true to your convictions about real journalism. Give my regards to Walter.
I have a bold prediction for 2026: it will be just like 2025, only stupider.
Also, Matt, can you get me tickets to the July 4 MMA fight on the White House lawn? It's time for America to settle its differences the old-fashioned way: inside the octagon! Vance v Newsom for the title of Boy Emperor.
Was thinking the same today when I saw an article about how the race for 2028 is heating up, with Newsom, Cruz, JD, Harris. It can only get worse. I'd like to try and be more optimistic, but good god how can the leaders of the dem party think they can win the WH back with Newsom or Harris. Like a the broken record that I am, without the loss of an honest nonpartisan news media this would never be possible. The Dems cannot win if voters are told the truth, so that is where the struggle will be, how to get the truth out and counter the constant propaganda from the legacy news media. The information battle will be ramping up exponentially, with increasing assistance from AI
Unfortunately, the AI gremlins are mostly leftwing. I test their replies every so often, and these robotic creatures are very saucy. They come at you with a super dose of self-righteousness, just like the Democrats themselves.
If it's any consolation, we've smacked down hard any early frontrunners over the last decade or so of elections. Who could have forseen Bernie? Or Trump? Remember Harris was the early frontrunner in '20, and never even made it to the primaries.
She was never going to run. Ever. She got a lot of shit that she didn't deserve when she was in the WH. That was wishful thinking by Democrats because she was the only one that most people liked. I used to like her myself when she was first lady. But afterwards, when she had money and a real estate portfolio the rest of us could only dream of, she became a world class whiner. I wish she'd just go away.
I’m pretty pleased with all major political developments in 2025. The prior cabbage head and its shenanigans were way past the due date.
If you’d like a fun 2025 month-by-month breakdown of all of administration 47 victories (+ all the meltdown’s by those opposed) have a read of last two days of Coffee & Covid. Jeff Childers brings all the receipts and it tastes much better than rotten kimchi.
Now, if we can only get an on-record vote from every member of Congress in 2026 to repeal/eliminate the 53-year old silent, Senate filibuster. Make Reading the New York City Phone Book Great Again.
Relevant to Matt's thesis about the weird world we live in, and his observation that we're a few hours in, and no super-weird shit has yet occurred . . .
. . . one year ago today, we had some dude run over people on the streets of New Orleans, and another guy blow up a Cybertruck in front of Trump Tower in Vegas.
And the stories that emerged that day made NO SENSE whatsoever . . . and both incidents long ago faded into the morass of twitter wars, real wars, cold wars, imaginary wars, and endless wars.
1) If MAGA fails, the United States will be the nation of the anti-Christ. Think about it. The USA has greatest military power on earth and if it is placed in the hands of the haters of Jews and Christians, how do think we end up?
2) There are elements in American society that aren't just messed up. They are devoted to being evil. If MAGA fails, the end is near.
3) Call me crazy, call me Ishmael. If you cannot perceive the mystical implications of the evil path some would have us walk, you most likely cannot be helped.
Too bad so many think the Jews are unfairly running stuff. In reality, allying with and listening to the Jews is the best way to derail the evil of Islam. They get it.
We may not have the greatest military power on earth.
China has more naval ships than we do and their ships are much newer. Their nuclear arsenal is probably kept up to date too.
They have 20X the ship building capacity that we have.
Their bridge building is symbolic of their surpassing us. We haven't built a single substantial suspension bridge since the Verrazano in 1965 (our longest suspension bridge). China has since built 13 suspension bridges longer than the Verrazano with another 13 under construction.
I'm glad we are trying to restore some of industries. Finally.
When manufacturing went from the West to China, I thought it was one of the worst decisions that could have been made. The West lost the jobs, and at the same time helped to build the prosperity and military of a Communist nation.
Bad idea. They can turn around and use it all against us.
Quite a few of my friends and old college buddies are in defense and/or defense contracting and they've been saying if we ever go to war with China it won't go well for us.
It's also my family background- my dad was a guidance system engineer who designed software for the gyroscopes in missiles and rockets. He worked on the Cruise, Patriot, Tomahawk missiles and the Space Shuttle.
"China experiences significant structural disasters, often linked to rapid development, poor quality control, illegal construction, and geological instability, leading to collapses of buildings, bridges, and dams, such as the 2022 Changsha building collapse (shoddy work) and recent bridge failures due to landslides or design flaws, with major past events like the 1975 Banqiao Dam failure also causing massive loss of life, highlighting systemic issues."
We're all assuming we can still build bridges and battleships.
Fundamentals have gone out the window in so many of our industries.
I'm in construction and design and I've witnessed the decline in fundamentals.
For example, very few house framers know what a plumber's box is anymore or know how to make a basic bird's mouth cut on a rafter that will meet code. Very basic stuff.
It's symbolic of so many of the trades and design professionals.
Eliminating the draft ended the antiwar movement and silenced its leaders. Endless war was normalized and remains the norm.
You cannot appreciate how lopsided wealth is currently distributed unless you were a sentient being in the 60s, when the wealth curve was at its flattest.
Computer technology was benevolent, or at least was thought to be, until the Snowden/NSA revelations.
The 9/11 event, whether staged, managed, or (less likely) totally organic, was utilized to steal the 21st Century from its rightful beneficiaries in Generation X and the Millennials, by the ghouls and ghosts of the 20th.
Matt, this is first thing I have read/heard from you in a while (and I read and listen a lot) that reminds me why I pay for your Racket. If more thoughtfulness means less frequency, that’s a trade I’ll take. As hard as it is to take it seriously, I am convinced that what you mean to be about is serious and important work. Thank you.
Well, shoot, I appear to be an “elderly nostalgic” in your estimation, but I know a whole buttload more about foreign and domestic politics and economics than any of my college educated Gen X kids. Heck, even the one with a PhD couldn’t name more than 4 European countries or their capitals or their leaders. So don’t be bragging on Gen X please. I could list at least 40 very positive things that came about in 2025, and I eagerly anticipate a glorious 2026. Happy New Year.
Definitely not bragging on GenX. Apart from having fun and maybe making some decent movies, we haven't done much. It's sort of my point - part of the reason we're in this predicament is because we didn't do much.
Matt, I mentioned this once before. Years ago, you had written on the shift you observed in the former USSR leading up to the fall of Communism. What kind of shift? Can you put your finger on it? Might help pinpoint the most helpful attitudes to take these days.
According to Breakdown:1975 on Netflix, the '70s were the golden era of movies. (Being a Boomer, I tend to agree, though much of the editorial commentary made it hard to watch the show in its entirety.)
1939 was the best year for movies- Stagecoach, The Wizard of Oz, Gone With the Wind, Goodbye Mr. Chips, Withering Heights, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Of Mice and Men.....
Being so personally insulted by a perceived slight against your generation that you jump on here to toot your own horn whilst denigrating your own children is such a boomer thing to do.
It’s going to a fucking amazing 2026, Matt!!! Me, my husband and about 50 of our MAGA/Gay Redneck Bear buddies are going to wreak havoc on Palm Springs for White Party week! Thank you for fantastic reading in 2025, you’re a national treasure, Matt!! Happy New Year!!!
I am a boomer (August, 1957) and therefore a persistent object of contemporary cultural opprobrium, which I enjoy more than later generations likely imagine. As were all children of my generation, I was free range; I wasn’t coddled, driven to school, nor desired at home before sundown. I jumped off the roof with an umbrella in first grade. In second grade, I burned down our garden shed (containing a lawn mower and gasoline cans) when I ignited the lithium in my chemistry set and couldn’t put it out with the garden hose. My brother and I would hitch rides on freight trains in fourth grade to visit neighboring towns and return home in time for dinner. I played with liquid mercury in 5th grade, when even kids could get their hands on it (and sodium) despite the toxicity. I used a slide rule. Proper English and cursive handwriting wasn’t optional. When NASA produced Tang (a powdered citrus drink for astronauts), it was magic, like Fizzies, which few of your readers have ever heard of.
My paternal grandfather barnstormed with Charles Lindbergh and flew the Spirit of St. Louis in the 1957 Jimmy Stewart movie as technical director. He taught me to fly in a de Havilland Gipsy Moth during 6th grade, My father commanded an Air Force Test squadron associated with the Corona Project before and after his tour in Vietnam, and I commanded a Marine Corps Harrier squadron, was the Operations Officer for the transfer of the Panama Canal in 1999, and now serve as VP of the largest privately-owned oil company in the U.S.
I frequently interview later generations (yours and subsequent) for positions in our company. I start every interview with a request for a three paragraph essay on any subject they desire with just a pen and paper. I sit there and watch. More than half cannot accomplish this with proper spelling, syntax, or punctuation. Some wish to believe the I am to blame, inasmuch as grammar is somehow racist. Fascinating.
For my technical personnel, I ask them to calculate the volumes of pipes of specified dimensions without a computer (or how they would go about doing so), among other rather basic competencies that are fundamental to our industry. Everything that I have described was high school knowledge in my generation.
This insight is parallel to my view of crypto currencies. Those of your generation (and junior), as much as I love you, are not ready for the lights to go out. They can go out FAR more readily than those normalized to the convenience of predictable grasp.
I don’t wish to impugn the dignity of others, but I don’t think that my generation’s critics know as much as they imagine. I understand Ohm’s law because I had industrial arts in high school that included “electric shop,” “foundry,” “welding,” “offset printing,” and “auto.” I took all those classes, as young people were expected to do in my generation (girls had “Home Economics.” Today, I have to help my “kid” neighbors to open their electric garage doors when there is a power outage (and then how to reconnect afterward).
I could go on for many more paragraphs and most will never reach this summary—who can blame them? Boomers are an excellent object of opprobrium, as were my strict (and intentionally un-protective) forefathers who wished for our lives to be better than their’s (Monkees: Another Pleasant Valley Sunday).
Liberty is about personal responsibility. When liberty is closely circumscribed, humans become less responsible. Human nature is predictable out to three decimal places. It is immutable, something that socialists refuse to internalize. Explaining humans to other humans is rather tiresome because self-awareness is a minority report.
I grew up attending Roman Catholic schools somewhat after that. We still had an hour of penmanship daily, and we attended Mass Mon., Wed., and Friday. Homework every night. We had to choose and read a library book each week, then write and present to the class a book report. And all of that was just for starters. After grade three it became far more serious.
My employees largely print their names as a signature. They are wonderful people, but our educational system have other priorities, primarily programming leftist, decadent “morality.”
I am grateful for your work, Matt. I appreciate your investigative work on subjects most journalists ignore or are told to ignore (or maybe they don't have the chops to do the work these days?). I depend on independent reporting and yours is a staple. Keep doing what you do best and I'll continue to $upport you. Happy New Year to you and all your readers - this community is one of the best, and I look forward to more stimulating conversations in this year's comment section.
Happy New Year Matt! Keep on rocking the truth.
Happy New Year. Everyone needs a break from the news. I am sticking with you. I don't always agree, but it is better for my brain to listen to what you have to say. Stay true to your convictions about real journalism. Give my regards to Walter.
I have a bold prediction for 2026: it will be just like 2025, only stupider.
Also, Matt, can you get me tickets to the July 4 MMA fight on the White House lawn? It's time for America to settle its differences the old-fashioned way: inside the octagon! Vance v Newsom for the title of Boy Emperor.
IDIOCRACY 2026—DON'T FIGHT THE FUTURE!
Oh, please not Newsom. He is a Justin Troodo twin, and that dark regime still has Canada gagging.
Was thinking the same today when I saw an article about how the race for 2028 is heating up, with Newsom, Cruz, JD, Harris. It can only get worse. I'd like to try and be more optimistic, but good god how can the leaders of the dem party think they can win the WH back with Newsom or Harris. Like a the broken record that I am, without the loss of an honest nonpartisan news media this would never be possible. The Dems cannot win if voters are told the truth, so that is where the struggle will be, how to get the truth out and counter the constant propaganda from the legacy news media. The information battle will be ramping up exponentially, with increasing assistance from AI
Unfortunately, the AI gremlins are mostly leftwing. I test their replies every so often, and these robotic creatures are very saucy. They come at you with a super dose of self-righteousness, just like the Democrats themselves.
Scary, isn't it?
It is, Norma.
Garbage in, garbage out.
If it's any consolation, we've smacked down hard any early frontrunners over the last decade or so of elections. Who could have forseen Bernie? Or Trump? Remember Harris was the early frontrunner in '20, and never even made it to the primaries.
What....no Michele Obama in the running? Quel dommage 😁.
She was never going to run. Ever. She got a lot of shit that she didn't deserve when she was in the WH. That was wishful thinking by Democrats because she was the only one that most people liked. I used to like her myself when she was first lady. But afterwards, when she had money and a real estate portfolio the rest of us could only dream of, she became a world class whiner. I wish she'd just go away.
I have always wished that both she and her husband would just go away.
That's gonna be a short fight
My fear is that they might start making out..
🤮🤮
Now, there's a thought. An MMA face-off between Vance and Newsom. A person would almost stay awake to watch that event!
I’m pretty pleased with all major political developments in 2025. The prior cabbage head and its shenanigans were way past the due date.
If you’d like a fun 2025 month-by-month breakdown of all of administration 47 victories (+ all the meltdown’s by those opposed) have a read of last two days of Coffee & Covid. Jeff Childers brings all the receipts and it tastes much better than rotten kimchi.
Now, if we can only get an on-record vote from every member of Congress in 2026 to repeal/eliminate the 53-year old silent, Senate filibuster. Make Reading the New York City Phone Book Great Again.
I am so grateful for Matt, Walter, and the entire Racket team. Thank you for telling the truth. Happy new year to you all.
Second. G_d bless you boys for speaking your honest mind and doing the journalism that journalists refuse to do!
Happy new year. Thank you for being a real one and making me feel less crazy on a weekly basis!
Relevant to Matt's thesis about the weird world we live in, and his observation that we're a few hours in, and no super-weird shit has yet occurred . . .
. . . one year ago today, we had some dude run over people on the streets of New Orleans, and another guy blow up a Cybertruck in front of Trump Tower in Vegas.
And the stories that emerged that day made NO SENSE whatsoever . . . and both incidents long ago faded into the morass of twitter wars, real wars, cold wars, imaginary wars, and endless wars.
May '26 not completely rhyme with '25.
Here's my 2026 wet blanket.
1) If MAGA fails, the United States will be the nation of the anti-Christ. Think about it. The USA has greatest military power on earth and if it is placed in the hands of the haters of Jews and Christians, how do think we end up?
2) There are elements in American society that aren't just messed up. They are devoted to being evil. If MAGA fails, the end is near.
3) Call me crazy, call me Ishmael. If you cannot perceive the mystical implications of the evil path some would have us walk, you most likely cannot be helped.
Too bad so many think the Jews are unfairly running stuff. In reality, allying with and listening to the Jews is the best way to derail the evil of Islam. They get it.
Well put.
With the exception of maybe the Charlie Chaplin mustachioed looking sociopath, the Judeo-Christian combo has worked swimmingly up to this point. 🤷♂️
We may not have the greatest military power on earth.
China has more naval ships than we do and their ships are much newer. Their nuclear arsenal is probably kept up to date too.
They have 20X the ship building capacity that we have.
Their bridge building is symbolic of their surpassing us. We haven't built a single substantial suspension bridge since the Verrazano in 1965 (our longest suspension bridge). China has since built 13 suspension bridges longer than the Verrazano with another 13 under construction.
I'm glad we are trying to restore some of industries. Finally.
Just yesterday watched a video of a suspension bridge under construction in China collapse. Infrastructure built by bribed bureaucrats sucks.
This goes on to a lesser degree in Quebec too.
When manufacturing went from the West to China, I thought it was one of the worst decisions that could have been made. The West lost the jobs, and at the same time helped to build the prosperity and military of a Communist nation.
Bad idea. They can turn around and use it all against us.
perhaps i’m wrong but i expect our tech is more sophisticated and will vaporize all the china ships day one of any conflict.
i note that revelation suggests china will invade somewhere and be vaporized but i’m not certain.
Quite a few of my friends and old college buddies are in defense and/or defense contracting and they've been saying if we ever go to war with China it won't go well for us.
It's also my family background- my dad was a guidance system engineer who designed software for the gyroscopes in missiles and rockets. He worked on the Cruise, Patriot, Tomahawk missiles and the Space Shuttle.
China has had structural disasters, however.
"China experiences significant structural disasters, often linked to rapid development, poor quality control, illegal construction, and geological instability, leading to collapses of buildings, bridges, and dams, such as the 2022 Changsha building collapse (shoddy work) and recent bridge failures due to landslides or design flaws, with major past events like the 1975 Banqiao Dam failure also causing massive loss of life, highlighting systemic issues."
We're all assuming we can still build bridges and battleships.
Fundamentals have gone out the window in so many of our industries.
I'm in construction and design and I've witnessed the decline in fundamentals.
For example, very few house framers know what a plumber's box is anymore or know how to make a basic bird's mouth cut on a rafter that will meet code. Very basic stuff.
It's symbolic of so many of the trades and design professionals.
I suspect this is how civilizations ultimately fail when the wrong attitudes take hold ....bit by bit.
Eliminating the draft ended the antiwar movement and silenced its leaders. Endless war was normalized and remains the norm.
You cannot appreciate how lopsided wealth is currently distributed unless you were a sentient being in the 60s, when the wealth curve was at its flattest.
Computer technology was benevolent, or at least was thought to be, until the Snowden/NSA revelations.
The 9/11 event, whether staged, managed, or (less likely) totally organic, was utilized to steal the 21st Century from its rightful beneficiaries in Generation X and the Millennials, by the ghouls and ghosts of the 20th.
"The 9/11 event, whether staged, managed, or (less likely) totally organic, was utilized to steal the 21st Century . . ."
At its start, It was heralded as the American century, so we were told. I can think of other words like deconstruction of all that came before.
Right, like PNAC...
Matt, this is first thing I have read/heard from you in a while (and I read and listen a lot) that reminds me why I pay for your Racket. If more thoughtfulness means less frequency, that’s a trade I’ll take. As hard as it is to take it seriously, I am convinced that what you mean to be about is serious and important work. Thank you.
Pls keep on keeping on
Well, shoot, I appear to be an “elderly nostalgic” in your estimation, but I know a whole buttload more about foreign and domestic politics and economics than any of my college educated Gen X kids. Heck, even the one with a PhD couldn’t name more than 4 European countries or their capitals or their leaders. So don’t be bragging on Gen X please. I could list at least 40 very positive things that came about in 2025, and I eagerly anticipate a glorious 2026. Happy New Year.
Definitely not bragging on GenX. Apart from having fun and maybe making some decent movies, we haven't done much. It's sort of my point - part of the reason we're in this predicament is because we didn't do much.
C'mon, Matt. Not just movies and fun. We made lots of great music too!
Now I'll get back to slacking, slouching, scowling, and snarking. Carry on.
Matt, I mentioned this once before. Years ago, you had written on the shift you observed in the former USSR leading up to the fall of Communism. What kind of shift? Can you put your finger on it? Might help pinpoint the most helpful attitudes to take these days.
I understood that was what you meant.
According to Breakdown:1975 on Netflix, the '70s were the golden era of movies. (Being a Boomer, I tend to agree, though much of the editorial commentary made it hard to watch the show in its entirety.)
1939 was the best year for movies- Stagecoach, The Wizard of Oz, Gone With the Wind, Goodbye Mr. Chips, Withering Heights, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Of Mice and Men.....
Being so personally insulted by a perceived slight against your generation that you jump on here to toot your own horn whilst denigrating your own children is such a boomer thing to do.
It’s going to a fucking amazing 2026, Matt!!! Me, my husband and about 50 of our MAGA/Gay Redneck Bear buddies are going to wreak havoc on Palm Springs for White Party week! Thank you for fantastic reading in 2025, you’re a national treasure, Matt!! Happy New Year!!!
Happy New Year, Matt!
I am a boomer (August, 1957) and therefore a persistent object of contemporary cultural opprobrium, which I enjoy more than later generations likely imagine. As were all children of my generation, I was free range; I wasn’t coddled, driven to school, nor desired at home before sundown. I jumped off the roof with an umbrella in first grade. In second grade, I burned down our garden shed (containing a lawn mower and gasoline cans) when I ignited the lithium in my chemistry set and couldn’t put it out with the garden hose. My brother and I would hitch rides on freight trains in fourth grade to visit neighboring towns and return home in time for dinner. I played with liquid mercury in 5th grade, when even kids could get their hands on it (and sodium) despite the toxicity. I used a slide rule. Proper English and cursive handwriting wasn’t optional. When NASA produced Tang (a powdered citrus drink for astronauts), it was magic, like Fizzies, which few of your readers have ever heard of.
My paternal grandfather barnstormed with Charles Lindbergh and flew the Spirit of St. Louis in the 1957 Jimmy Stewart movie as technical director. He taught me to fly in a de Havilland Gipsy Moth during 6th grade, My father commanded an Air Force Test squadron associated with the Corona Project before and after his tour in Vietnam, and I commanded a Marine Corps Harrier squadron, was the Operations Officer for the transfer of the Panama Canal in 1999, and now serve as VP of the largest privately-owned oil company in the U.S.
I frequently interview later generations (yours and subsequent) for positions in our company. I start every interview with a request for a three paragraph essay on any subject they desire with just a pen and paper. I sit there and watch. More than half cannot accomplish this with proper spelling, syntax, or punctuation. Some wish to believe the I am to blame, inasmuch as grammar is somehow racist. Fascinating.
For my technical personnel, I ask them to calculate the volumes of pipes of specified dimensions without a computer (or how they would go about doing so), among other rather basic competencies that are fundamental to our industry. Everything that I have described was high school knowledge in my generation.
This insight is parallel to my view of crypto currencies. Those of your generation (and junior), as much as I love you, are not ready for the lights to go out. They can go out FAR more readily than those normalized to the convenience of predictable grasp.
I don’t wish to impugn the dignity of others, but I don’t think that my generation’s critics know as much as they imagine. I understand Ohm’s law because I had industrial arts in high school that included “electric shop,” “foundry,” “welding,” “offset printing,” and “auto.” I took all those classes, as young people were expected to do in my generation (girls had “Home Economics.” Today, I have to help my “kid” neighbors to open their electric garage doors when there is a power outage (and then how to reconnect afterward).
I could go on for many more paragraphs and most will never reach this summary—who can blame them? Boomers are an excellent object of opprobrium, as were my strict (and intentionally un-protective) forefathers who wished for our lives to be better than their’s (Monkees: Another Pleasant Valley Sunday).
Liberty is about personal responsibility. When liberty is closely circumscribed, humans become less responsible. Human nature is predictable out to three decimal places. It is immutable, something that socialists refuse to internalize. Explaining humans to other humans is rather tiresome because self-awareness is a minority report.
Semper Fi,
Cow
I grew up attending Roman Catholic schools somewhat after that. We still had an hour of penmanship daily, and we attended Mass Mon., Wed., and Friday. Homework every night. We had to choose and read a library book each week, then write and present to the class a book report. And all of that was just for starters. After grade three it became far more serious.
I hear you, David.
My employees largely print their names as a signature. They are wonderful people, but our educational system have other priorities, primarily programming leftist, decadent “morality.”
Cursive handwriting! Are children at school taught that anymore? Can they sign their names?
I am grateful for your work, Matt. I appreciate your investigative work on subjects most journalists ignore or are told to ignore (or maybe they don't have the chops to do the work these days?). I depend on independent reporting and yours is a staple. Keep doing what you do best and I'll continue to $upport you. Happy New Year to you and all your readers - this community is one of the best, and I look forward to more stimulating conversations in this year's comment section.
Happy New Year! Matt and Walter.
Yes, let's not forget Walter! America This Week my #1 podcast, by a wide margin.
Thank you for a wild 2025 Matt and agreed, let's make 2026 a great year. I think we already know it's going to be even wilder than the last one.