Tuesday, January 6, 2026

CES 2026: Govee Ceiling Light Ultra

 
Image and headline:  Tech Radar, 1/5/2026

David Nield reports:
Govee has shown up at CES 2026, with some brand new smart lights in tow. The pick of the bunch as far as we're concerned is the Ceiling Light Ultra, and you may be able to guess where in the room it goes based on the name. Yes, that's right, you fix it to the ceiling. 
That positioning means it can cast an ambient aura of illumination all across the space it's fitted into, and with a choice of more than 20 color presets as well as extra customization controls, there's lots you can do with this. It also offers a decent 5,000 lumens brightness.

Related posts:
January 2026

December 2025
Descent S1 Buoy.  (12/30)
Birdfy Bath Pro.  (12/30)

August-November 2025
Sony Bravia 10.  (8/11)

Back pages:
CES 2025 (series)
CES 2024 (series)
CES 2023 (series)

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CES 2026: JBL Soundgear Clips

 
Image and headline:  Tech Radar, 1/5/2026

David Nield reports:
There are plenty of earbuds and headphones on show at CES 2026, but the JBL Soundgear Clips have caught our eyes – or ears? As the name suggests, they're the first JBL earbuds to use the clip-on design, and they come in a variety of bold colors like purple and copper. 
We haven't used them yet, but we do know that they offer up to 32 hours of playback time on a single battery charge (if you include the case), and that they offer IP54 water and dust resistance. As for pricing, they're expected to set you back $149.95 (about £110 / AU$225).
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WHAT??!! January 6th insurrectionists expect a pity party? SHEESH!

 
Headline:  New York Times, 1/5/2026

Alan Feuer and Dan Barry report on the January 6th crybaby insurrectionists:
In the five years since the Capitol was stormed, no new facts have emerged to undermine the basic findings of congressional and Justice Department investigators that many of the rioters acted in the misguided belief, pushed relentlessly by Mr. Trump, that he had been robbed of victory in 2020 — and that in attacking the Capitol they not only injured about 140 police officers but also struck at a cornerstone of American democracy: the peaceful transfer of presidential power. 
Even so, Mr. Trump has long maintained that the rioters endured horrible, even illegal, mistreatment during their prosecutions. And yet if that is true, some pardoned rioters are now asking, then why haven’t their persecutors been thrown in jail? 
And if the rioters are mrtyrs to a righteous cause, as the president and his allies have often said, then why haven’t they been made whole through financial reparations? 


Related posts:
2025
Conservative candidate for Wisconsin Supreme Court served as Scott Walker's Attorney General and thinks Trump's pardons of January 6th insurrectionists are just fine and dandy.  (1/28)
No one gave a more inane response to First Felon Donald Trumps January 6th pardons than dumb, dumber and dumbest Alabama senator Tommy Tuberville.  (1/22)
Totally ineffectual U.S. Senator Ron Johnson cowers and caves. It's another clown show!  (1/22)

2024
Hillary Clinton was right all along, as demonstrated by this despicable MAGA behavior on January 6, 2021.  (10/31)
Day 1218 of GOP election denier hysteria (Trump Big Lie Clown Show Circus, January 6th insurrectionist edition).  (2/29)
Meet Tayler Rahm, Minnesota GOP January 6th insurrectionist running for Congress.  (2/20)
Day 1195 of GOP election denier hysteria (Trump Big Lie Clown Show Circus, January 6 MAGA insurrectionist edition).  (2/6)  
MAGA Team Drool buys into January 6th conspiracy theory.  (1/5)

2023
Day 1135 of GOP election denial hysteria (Trump Big Lie Clown Show Circus, January 6 insurrectionist edition).  (12/6)
Meet January 6th felon, grandpa, and Kool-Aid aficionado Matt Loganbill.  (10/20)

2022
January 6, 2021, GOP shows off its 'soft on crime' side.  (10/9)

Congressional "sofr on crime" series

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Trump tariffs depress factory employment



Nathan Owens reports:
U.S. manufacturing activity decreased to its lowest point of 2025 last month, affected by continued tariff uncertainty and weak demand, according to the Institute for Supply Management’s latest Purchasing Managers’ Index. 
ISM’s index registered 47.9% in December, down 0.3 percentage points compared with November. A PMI index below 50% shows an industry in contraction. 
Despite improvements in three of the four main demand areas — including new orders, backlog of orders and new export orders — the indexes continued to be in contraction as they have been for months. Meanwhile, production slipped 0.4 percentage points, but was in expansion for the second month in a row.

Related posts:
U.S. economic divide reflected in car sales.  (1/6/2026)

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U.S. economic divide reflected in car sales




Headline:  New York Times, 1/5/2026

The auto industry has evaded a slump largely because affluent Americans with well-paying jobs and robust savings have continued to buy new cars at a decent clip. And they are more than making up for the cars that lower-income Americans are no longer buying. 
Families with a household income of $150,000 a year or more now buy 43 percent of the new cars sold in the country, up from one-third of all cars sold in 2019 before the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Cox Automotive, a research firm. By comparison, households with incomes less than $75,000 are buying about a quarter of vehicles sold, down from more than a third in 2019.
  
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As if Trump’s trade wars and tariffs don’t inflict enough pain in American farmers

 
Headline:  Wisconsin Public Radio, 1/5/2026

Frank Morris reports for Harvest Public Media:
The Trump administration’s push to deport millions of people living in the U.S. without legal status is about to surge. Washington will pump an extra $170 billion into Immigration Customs Enforcement, or ICE, and the Border Patrol between now and September 2029. 
With a massive budget behind the effort, the goal is to ramp up deportations to at least 1 million immigrants a year. That poses a huge threat to immigrant-dependent industries, like agriculture, which has been dealing with an acute labor shortage. 
Brandon Raso grows blueberries in New Jersey. Ideally, he would hire 600 workers to harvest the delicate fruit, but this year he could fill only a third of the positions.

Related posts:
2025
In Mark Zuckerberg's despicable bubble world, "civic content' is synonymous with 'nativism' and 'transphobia'.  (1/8)

2024

2023

2022

2021

2018

2017

2016

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Dear spineless Louisiana GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy M.D., You could have stopped this nonsense a year ago. Shame on you! Best, Retiring Guy

 
Dr. Bill is chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP). He voted to confirm RFKjr as secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He values his personal political survival over public health.

Headline:  The Hill, 1/5/2026

Joseph Choi reports on the disaster that the hapless Dr. Bill unleased on the U.S. health care system:
Cassidy, a physician and longtime proponent of vaccinations, said this move will “make America sicker.” 
“As a doctor who treated patients for decades, my top priority is protecting children and families. Multiple children have died or were hospitalized from measles, and South Carolina continues to face a growing outbreak. Two children have died in my state from whooping cough. All of this was preventable with safe and effective vaccines,” Cassidy wrote on the social media platform X. 
“The vaccine schedule IS NOT A MANDATE. It’s a recommendation giving parents the power. Changing the pediatric vaccine schedule based on no scientific input on safety risks and little transparency will cause unnecessary fear for patients and doctors, and will make America sicker,” he added.
A year later, he has still not taken responsibility for his actions.


Related posts:
January 2026

November-December 2025

August--October 2025

June-July 2025

But wait, there's more!!
March 2025
Chapter 1.  (3/10)   Censored
Chapter 2.  (3/10)
Chapter 3.  (3/10)
Chapter 4.  (3/11)
Chapter 5.  (3/12)
Chapter 6.  (3/12)
Chapter 7.  (3/13)
Chapter 8.  (3/14)
Chapter 9.  (3/14)
Chapter 10.  (3/14)
Chapter 11.  (3/14)
Chapter 12.  (3/14)
Chapter 13.  (3/15)
Chapter 14.  (3/18)
Chapter 15.  (3/19)
Chapter 16.  (3/19)
Chapter 17.  (3/21)
Chapter 18.  (3/22)
Chapter 19.  (3/26)
Chapter 20.  (3/28)
Chapter 21.  (3/29)
Chapter 22.  (3/30)

April 2025
Chapter 23.  (4/1/)
Chapter 24.  (4/2)

May 2025

June 2025
RFK Jr. Is systematically undermining vaccine science and endangering health while spineless Louisiana GOP U.S. senator Bill Cassidy M.D. dithers.  (6/27)

July 2025

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CES 2026: Lego smart bricks

 
Image and headline:  The Verge, 1/5/2026

Julia Goldin, The Lego Group’s top executive in charge of product and marketing, will not commit to anything that hasn’t already been announced. She will not promise that Lego’s new Smart Brick — touted as the company’s biggest invention since 1978 — is the future of Lego. She won’t say if any future sets will feature the tiny sensor-packed computer bricks, much less whether they’re core to attention-grabbing brand expansions like Lego Pokémon. 
 


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Kerala India reports 11 cases of bird flu in December 2025

 
Google Maps
Headline:  Devdiscourse, 1/5/2026
Kerala, India, witnessed 11 separate outbreaks of the highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu last month, according to the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH). This surge in avian influenza, commonly known as bird flu, has reinforced concerns among international governments and the poultry industry. 
The outbreaks, which resulted in the death of 54,100 birds, predominantly ducks, were reported by Indian authorities and officially confirmed by December 22. These incidents mark the first detected cases among poultry since May. 
The unfolding situation has raised fears of potential human transmission and disruptions in the poultry supply chain, which could lead to increased food prices globally, as history of similar outbreaks has shown.


December 1-15, 2025

November 15-30, 2025

November 1-15, 2025

October 2025

September 2025

April-August 2025

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GET ME REWRITE: Trump's nativism makes it "extremely difficult" for South Dakota dairy farmers to hire workers

 
Photo credit: Golden Dakota Farms
Headline:  South Dakota Searchlight, 1/5/2025

Joshua Haiar reports:
South Dakota’s dairy industry has grown rapidly over the past two decades, but an industry leader warned Monday that maintaining the momentum could depend partly on the number of workers allowed into the United States. 
During a Downtown Sioux Falls Rotary panel discussion focused on the state’s dairy industry, Tim den Dulk, a dairy farmer and processor, was asked if uncertainty around labor is a concern. The federal government has implemented stricter immigration enforcement during the current Trump administration. 
“We expect it to be extremely difficult to find employees, especially if we don’t allow more laborers in,” den Dulk said. 
The dairy industry in the state has been affected by immigration enforcement actions. Drumgoon Dairy, near Lake Norden, lost 38 of its 50 employees this summer after a federal Department of Homeland Security audit flagged workers for inaccurate, outdated or incomplete proof of U.S. citizenship or permission to work in the country.

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Holy Gestapo, Batman!!

 
Photo and headline:  Daily Beast, 1/6/2026

Tom Latchem reports:
Jessica Plichta, 22, said she was the only person arrested among roughly 200 demonstrators at an anti-war protest in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Saturday, hours after Nicolas Maduro was detained in Caracas by the U.S. military. 
In the broadcast footage, two officers could be seen approaching from behind as she wrapped her interview with WZZM, the city’s ABC affiliate, then escorted her away as she told them, “I am not resisting arrest.” Jessica Plichta looks surprised to be grabbed by police as she wrapped up her TV interview, complaining about Maduro's capture. 
WZZM said an officer cited “obstructing a roadway and failure to obey a lawful command,” and that Plichta had been charged with failure to obey a lawful command.
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