Good morning! Welcome! Today is Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026. Today, strangely enough, is referred to on my calendar as "National Fruitcake Toss Day." (Insert laughable comment about Congresscritter Rosa DeLauro here).
Today in history:
1642: Charles I attacks parliament. Someone told him it was nothing to lose his head over.
1725: Ben Franklin arrives in London.
1780: Morristown, New Jersey is hit with a snowstorm, putting General George Washington's force into a deep freeze.
1847: Samuel Colt sells his first revolver pistol to the United States government.
1863: Four-wheeled roller skates are patented.
1865: The New York Stock Exchange opens its first permanent headquarters at 10-12 Broad Street, near Wall Street, in New York City.
1893: U.S. President Grover Cleveland grants amnesty to Mormon polygamists.
1896: Following the Mormon abandonment of sanctioned polygamy, Utah is admitted as the 45th U.S. state.
1925: The first broadcast of "Barn Dance Show" (WBAP - Fort Worth, Texas).
1935: Bob Hope is first heard on network radio.
1951: Korean War: Chinese forces recapture Seoul.
1965: LBJ announces the "Great Society."
1968: Leo Fender sells Fender Guitars for $13 million to CBS.
1983: Eurythmics release their breakthrough second studio album Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This). (Interesting side note about that: listen to the recording; Dave Stewart, the week before the track was laid down, went into a guitar shop planning on buying a couple. He ended up leaving with keyboards instead... ones that they made that recording with. And that tinkling noise while Annie sings "hold your head up"? Milk bottles.)
Birthdays today include: Sir Isaac Newton; Louis Braille, who invented a writing method for the blind; Isaac Pittman, who invented shorthand writing for the speedy; Leroy Grumman, an industrialist whose name is on aircraft and delivery trucks to this day; Al "Jazzbo" Collins, American DJ (I actually met him once in the 70's); Matt Frewer, of Max Headroom fame.
* * *
I usually steer away from making these kind of predictions publicly, having a hit rate of around 60% in the past. But for some reason, this time my attitude is "What the Bleep, let's go for it." So, buckle up, kids. Keep your hands and feet inside the car until the ride stops. Here we go, with no value attached to the order, just as they occur to me.
First (and this seems timely given the removal of Maduro yesterday): The US and China will swap influence, with China… swapping Venezuela for Taiwan. Venezuela is already pretty much a done deal; I’m guessing that China will take action against a more or less independent Taiwan by this time next year. This will cause some concerns here in the U.S. about the chip makers in Taiwan.
Second: Gas prices here in the States will drop dramatically by this time next year, as Venezuelan oil comes online again.
Third: Iran, which has been in a strategic partnership with Maduro on Venezuelan oil and other matters, will undoubtedly be the next domino in the chain following Venezuela’s regime change. Maduro’s Venezuela was pretty much the last friend Iran had on the planet outside of Cuba, Russia and China.
(By the way, if you ever wanted proof of the American left being on the end of the strings that the Chinese Communists are pulling, you’ve got it, with their mindless protests against our actions in Venezuela. I predicted the left would be defending Maduro , the drug lord, and I was correct.)
Fourth: Watch for Cuba to be the next to go, for the same reasons. Who is left to support them?
Fifth: Either Pam Bondi changes her tactics on a lot of what she’s supposedly been chasing, or she gets replaced, if she’s not got major players in the deep state in handcuffs by q2 of this year.
Sixth: Ilhan Omar will be denaturalized and deported by this time next year. On the same plane with her will be many other Somalis, having been uncovered in the fraud investigations going on currently.
Sixth: Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer will be gone from Number 10, and Labour will be crippled as a result of the tussle going on between the king and Starmer (of which the American press has said little).
Seventh: (Ironic given number 6): The king will either step down or will pass on, given his recent health issues.
Eighth: The American economy will surpass the expectations of the “experts,” both because Trump's domestic policies were the right ones, but also because of the cheaper oil supplies, which historically have always been a force for economic growth and stability.
Ninth: Interest rates will be dropping as a result of #8. As a direct consequence, housing prices will fall, and what's left of the auto industry will recover.
Tenth: With Iran either crippled or regime-changed, and no longer able to feed weapons and money to Hamas, Gaza will no longer be a hot spot, which in turn puts Trump in the running for the Nobel Peace Prize.(Aside: I wish he'd not take the prize until someone explains how it was given to Barack Obama, who did nothing to earn it, making it worthless.)
Eleventh: Most companies will move away from "work from home" models.
Twelfth: NASA sends a probe to Saturn’s moon, Titan.
Thirteenth: Over half of online content will be AI-generated by year's end. Anyone who has been skimming YouTube of late will not be surprised by this.
Fourteenth: The band Rush will return to the stage with its new drummer in tow. They're adding tour dates. Probably get an album out of it, too.
Fifteenth: Canada dive into the chip wars, with results depending on how deeply China jumps in. (See number one).
Sixteenth: With AI doing so much in the way of programming these days, computer science degrees will end up being pretty much useless.
Seventeenth: Countries across the European Union and Canada as well will be each building their military as they've not done in years.... after years of Trump's badgering them about not carrying their own weight.
Eighteenth: Political news on your social media feeds will be fake more often.... it's already started, with AI providing the means.
Nineteenth: Education here in America will begin focusing on the practical. With English lit degree holders unable to pay their student loans, market forces will be refocused on skills needed to actually hold high paying jobs.
Twentieth: Given recent events, parents will become more selective about daycare facilities.
We will revisit this next year.
Thought for the day: “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston S. Churchill
I'll see you tomorrow. Go Bills!
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