DECEMBER 23, 2025

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

 – Romans 15:13.

Yesterday I went to the dentist and just had a miserable experience. Nothing wrong with my teeth, but the hygienist and the dentist . . . I just did not care for them.

I recently had to change dentists, as my previous dentist retired. I went to him religiously, even when I lived in California, and other far-flung places. For 35 years I trotted across the river to Potomac, Maryland, and Dr. Heffelfinger took good care of me. But now? I need a new dentist. Again.

There is an old Seinfeld joke that a dentist is just a sadist, but with better magazines. That may make me an anti-dentite, but I do not care. It is true.

“We have been, and by the grace of God, we always will be, A CHRISTIAN NATION!   Christianity is America’s CREED. Across our history, our country’s major debates always centered how we could best please GOD.”

–Vice-President J.D. Vance, speaking at the Turning Point USA AmericaFest event in Arizona.

For decades now, the political and cultural elite have worked overtime to convince the country that faith is a private hobby at best, and a public nuisance at worst. We have been lectured that America is merely an economic zone, a collection of procedures, or a blank slate on which any ideology can be written.  According to the modern catechism, Christianity may be tolerated if it stays quiet, apologetic, and safely tucked away on Sunday mornings.

When Vice-President Vance said Christianity is America’s creed, he was not calling for a theocracy.  The Left will scream that anyway, because they always do.  He was stating a historical fact.  From the earliest colonial charters to the sermons preached during the Revolutionary War, from the abolitionist movement to the civil rights movement, Christianity has shaped the moral language of this nation.  Our greatest debates were never about whether God mattered, but about how best to honor Him.

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.  It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

–John Adams.

John Adams agrees with J.D. Vance. As do the other Founding Fathers.

If you listen to radio during your day, you may have heard commercials from our atheist friends at The Freedom From Religion Foundation. The advertisements claim that our Constitution’s 1st Amendment protects government from private religious influence, and requires a strong separation between Church and State. That is just so much blather.

The 1st claim is so historically ignorant as to be laughable. There is no “freedom from religion”. And the Constitution does not restrain individual behavior in any way. The Constitution is not intended to protect government from Americans; rather, the Constitution is intended to restrain government, and to protect Americans from government action. As Vice-President Vance observed, and Vice-President Adams before him, our system of government is properly suited only for a religious and moral people. From the beginning, Christians influenced government, at Jamestown, Plymouth, Philadelphia, at the Constitutional Convention, and in the administrations of Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, et al.

As for the 2nd claim, it is also historically ignorant, but it is sad. It is sad because so many Americans actually believe it. There are vast swaths of Americans who believe that the Constitution built a wall between Church and State. And it does no such thing.

The phrase “separation of Church and State” appears in no Founding documents. Rather, it is referenced only in a letter from then President Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury [Connecticut] Baptists, who were concerned about government meddling in their worship. President Jefferson sought to assure the Danbury Baptists that that could not happen under our Constitution. In other words, the Danbury Baptists freedom of religion was protected from government interference.

And do not confuse freedom of religion with freedom of worship. They are not the same thing. President Obama tried to redefine the 1st Amendment by using the phrase “freedom of worship”. In other words, President Obama wanted to assure Americans that they could go to Church and pray on Sundays, but please, keep your religion to yourselves on the other 6 days of the week. And that is wrong. An American can freely exercise his religion every day, all day, all year long. An American cannot be forced to compromise his religious beliefs by another with different beliefs, or no beliefs at all. And an American elected to Congress does not have to check his Faith at the Capitol door. The Founders expected that an American with Faith would bring that Faith to his work in government, and that that Faith would be reflected in his works.

All of this, and much more, is important. Americans need to relearn their civics, and reclaim their history, and their government. It will be a process–no doubt, a long one–but it can, and must, be done.

Inflation fell. Again. It is now below 3%, and moving lower. Leftists have now quit complaining about inflation, and are now warning of “deflation”. Because, . . Orange Man Bad.

Under China Joe, real incomes for a family of 4 fell by more than $3,000.00. In the 1st 10 months of the current Trump Administration, real incomes for a family of 4 rose by more than $1,300.00. WINNING!

The United States military seized 2 more Venezuelan oil tankers. MORE WINNING!

President Trump announced a special bonus for each member of our Armed Services, in celebration of our country’s 250th celebration. Each soldier, sailor, and pilot will receive $1,776.00.

ABC’s The View claims that President Trump is simply trying to bribe the military to back his “fascism”. Sigh.

Senate Democrats acted to block spending bills needed to fund the federal government in FY 2026. They are going to shut down the government next month. Again.

Senator Bernie Sanders (I. Vt.) single handedly blocked the passage of a bill designed to provide funding for research for children with cancers. Yep. Mr. “Single Payer”, who insists that government pay everyone’s medical care, has decided that if he cannot have his way on socialized medicine, then no research funding for children with cancer.

The Democrats do not care about other people. They hate you.

The House of Representatives voted to advance a healthcare reform bill that would address many of Obamacare’s flaws. Naturally all Democrats voted against it.

The House also voted to criminalize “gender affirming care” (i.e. genital mutilation surgery) for children. Naturally, all Democrats voted against it.

According to documents obtained by a Freedom Of Information Act request, the China Joe Administration opened a criminal investigation into Senator Kristen Sinema (D. Az.) immediately after she left the Democrat Party. Coincidence? Not a chance in Hell.

Former President Bill Clinton is outraged that with the release of the Epstein files, there are lewd photographs of him with young women. Maybe Mr. Clinton should have behaved better. At least, he might have implored his fellow Democrats to shut up about the release. Because in their zeal to embarrass Mr. Trump, they embarrassed Mr. Clinton.

Rhode Island has ever anti-gun law on the books known to man. It is also surrounded by States with severe gun ownership restrictions, such as Connecticut and Massachusetts. Nevertheless, Senator Christopher Murphy (D. Ct.) has placed the blame for the Brown University shooting squarely on the shoulders of . . . President Trump. But of course!

In Cook County, Illinois [Chicago], the State courts have adopted rules to prevent the possibility that any cross-dressing, mentally ill person (a/k/a “trans”), to wit:

force judges to identify themselves in the courtroom using “pronouns”;

mandate that judges minimize the use of people’s given, biologically appropriate names (aka “dead names”);

require apologies if anyone in the court is forced to use those names;

admonish lawyers who dare to use those names;

banish the phrase “ladies and gentlemen” and the honorifics of “Mr.” and “Mrs.”;

end references to homosexuality as a “lifestyle”;

ensure juries don’t hear salacious details about homosexual lifestyles (presumably even if relevant to a case) because that’s prejudicial; and,

refer to any mutilating chemical and surgical interventions in the quixotic quest for “gender affirmation” as “health care”.

That is pure insanity. I am so glad I do not practice law in Chicago.

New Jersey Democrats are pushing legislation to ban restaurants from using plastic utensils. Even more strangely, the legislation bans the provision of condiments to on-site diners. To go diners can get condiments, but only if they request them. These people are no fun. All they do is sit around and figure out how to pass laws to make the rest of us miserable.

Around Thanksgiving, Kimberly Byrd, head of the Mullins, South Carolina Beautification Committee, and her small team, decided to decorate the city’s new marketplace area for its first Christmas season “like a Hallmark movie,” hoping to draw more customers to the downtown area.  The Committee spent about two weeks placing decorations they paid for out of their own pockets, including a snowman, wreaths, lights, Santa Claus and a small 3-by-4-foot Nativity scene.  

Mullins Mayor Miko Pickett asking her to remove the Nativity scene, citing concerns about residents of other faiths and beliefs in the community, citing the “separation of Church and State”.  Kimberly Byrd and her Committee said “no”.  Because Christmas is not about Santa Claus, or Frosty the Snowman, or Hallmark movies.  Christmas is about the birth of Christ.  Thank you to Kimberly Byrd and her fellow citizens for reminding Mayor Pickett of that fact.

There was a massive power outage in San Francisco, California, darkening whole neighborhoods. One of the fallouts from the outage was that traffic signals went dark, and Waymo, the electric driverless automobile service, shut down. Which meant that the driverless cars stopped in the middle of intersections, travel lanes–wherever they were located. Passengers were stranded with no way home. Some passengers were trapped in their automobiles, because one of the features of electric vehicles is that without electricity, nothing works. Including the doors.

Foothills Unitarian Church in Fort Collins, Colorado held its annual “Drag Queen Christmas Spectacular”. According to advertisements, “magical Queers will slay their way to Bethlehem”. Sigh. Unitarians do not believe in God anyway. They are just another Leftist cult.

Congratulations to Scott Beardsley on being named the 10th President of The University of Virginia. He was chosen unanimously by the UVA Board of Visitors.

Readers may recall that Virginia Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger (D.) demanded that the Board of Visitors cease its search, and not name a new president until after she became Governor. Because Mrs. Spanberger wanted to name one of her Leftist toadies to the job. But the current Governor remains in office, and all the power of the office resides in him, and none in her. Good for the Board of Visitors for defying the arrogant Mrs. Spanberger. And good luck to President Beardsley. He will likely need it.

Beginning in 1926, Notre Dame has played the University of Southern California in football. The only exception was a couple of years in the depths of World War II. And next year will be another exception as Notre Dame has “paused” the rivalry so that it play BYU. Notice that Notre Dame is not pausing its series with Navy or Army (nothing wrong with these schools, but their programs are not on par with USC). No, Notre Dame is pausing its longtime series with a team that can actually beat it. Because Notre Dame is still acting out over its exclusion from the College Football Playoffs. Cry babies.

Congratulations to Washington State on beating Utah State, and winning the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. What else would you call a bowl game played on a blue turf field?

The NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs are moving from Missouri to Kansas. Kansas is building the Chiefs a new stadium.

GFK