Before the Christmas season leave us, I would be remiss not to republish Ann Coulter’s annual column about Kwanzaa. Kwanzaa is a thing with our “betters”. Among normal people, not so much. Because it is fake. Phony. And stupid.

Ann’s annual take on Kwanzaa is both informative and humorous. I have always liked Ann, even when she was just another D.C. lawyer, having not yet launched herself into a career as a pundit. There are not a lot of funny or clever D.C. lawyers. Funny and clever D.C. lawyers could hold their conventions in a phone booth. That is, if there were phone booths anymore. But Ann was (is) one of them.

Please enjoy.

HAPPY KWANZAA!  THE HOLIDAY BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE FBI.

By:         Ann Coulter (January 1, 2026).

Now that my triumph over Kwanzaa is nearly complete, I’m continuing the tradition of writing about it this time of year merely to dance on its grave.

According to Google N-gram, book mentions of “Kwanzaa” got off to a roaring start around 1980 — or about a dozen years after it was invented out of whole cloth — soared in usage over the next decade, but then began a precipitous decline in 2000 — coincidentally, the year of my first annual Kwanzaa column.

There appears to be only person left who still pretends to celebrate Kwanzaa: Kamala Harris. She loves it so much, she observed the festival before it was even invented!

The completely made-up holiday was concocted in 1966, by Ron Karenga, aka Dr. Maulana Karenga, founder of “United Slaves,” the violent nationalist rival to the Black Panthers. He was also an FBI stooge.

Liberals have become so mesmerized by multicultural gibberish that they have forgotten the real history of Kwanzaa and Karenga’s United Slaves.

In what was ultimately a foolish gambit, during the madness of the ’60s, the FBI encouraged the most extreme black nationalist organizations in order to discredit and split the left. The more preposterous the group, the better. (It’s the same function #BlackLivesMatter serves today.)

By that criterion, Karenga’s United Slaves was perfect.

Despite modern perceptions that blend all the black activists of the ’60s, the Black Panthers did not hate whites. Although some of their most high-profile leaders were drug dealers and murderers, they did not seek armed revolution.

Those were the precepts of Karenga’s United Slaves. The United Slaves were proto-fascists, walking around in dashikis, gunning down Black Panthers and adopting invented “African” names. (I will not be shooting any Black Panthers this week because I am Kwanzaa-reform, and we are not that observant.)

It’s as if David Duke invented a holiday called “Anglika,” which he based on the philosophy of “Mein Kampf” — and clueless public schoolteachers began celebrating the made-up, racist holiday.

In the category of the-gentleman-doth-protest-too-much, back in the ’70s, Karenga was quick to criticize Nigerian newspapers that claimed certain American black radicals were CIA operatives.

Now we know the truth: The FBI fueled the bloody rivalry between the Panthers and United Slaves. In the annals of the American ’60s, Karenga was the Father Gapon, stooge of the czarist police. Whether

Karenga was a willing FBI dupe or just a dupe remains unclear.

In one barbarous outburst, Karenga’s United Slaves shot two Black Panthers to death on the UCLA campus, Al “Bunchy” Carter and John Huggins. Karenga himself served time, a useful stepping-stone for his current position as the chair of the Africana Studies Department at California State University at Long Beach.

The esteemed Cal State professor’s invented holiday is a nutty blend of schmaltzy ’60s rhetoric, black racism and Marxism. The seven principles of Kwanzaa are identical to those of the Symbionese Liberation Army, another invention of The Worst Generation.

In 1974, Patty Hearst, kidnap victim-cum-SLA revolutionary, famously posed next to the banner of her alleged captors, a seven-headed cobra. Each snakehead stood for one of the SLA’s revolutionary principles: Umoja, Kujichagulia, Ujima, Ujamaa, Nia, Kuumba and Imani. These are the exact same seven “principles” of Kwanzaa.

When Karenga was asked to distinguish Kawaida, the philosophy underlying Kwanzaa, from “classical Marxism,” he essentially said that, under Kawaida, we also hate whites. (And here’s something interesting: Kawaida, Kwanzaa and Kuumba are also the only three Kardashian sisters not to have their own shows on the E! network.)

While taking the “best of early Chinese and Cuban socialism” (mass murder or the seizure of private property?), Karenga said Kawaida practitioners believe one’s racial identity “determines life conditions, life chances and self-understanding.”

Or as we know it today, “Lesson plan for K-12 students.” (Except in Florida, thanks to miracle governor DeSantis.)

Kwanzaa emerged not from Africa, but from the FBI’s COINTELPRO. It is a holiday celebrated exclusively by idiot white liberals. Black Americans celebrate Christmas.

Sing to “Jingle Bells”:

Kwanzaa bells, dashikis sell
Whitey has to pay;
Burning, shooting, oh what fun
On this made-up holiday!

GFK

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

–Isaiah 9:6.

Earlier in December 2025, I re-published an article by Professor John Yoo on the subject of birthright citizenship. Professor Yoo thinks–wrongly, I submit–that the children of illegal aliens are U.S. citizens if born in the United States. In other words, if a Mexican woman crosses the Rio Grande illegally, and gives birth in Texas, then her child is a citizen. It makes no sense.

Below is an opposing–and correct–viewpoint from constitutional scholar and Heritage Foundation Senior Fellow Hans von Spakovsky. Please enjoy.

Birthright citizenship supporters get the law wrong by ignoring obvious evidence

Legislative intent and early State Department decisions denied citizenship to children of temporary residents

Despite what some legal scholars are claiming, the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment does not extend citizenship to children born in the United States whose parents are illegal aliens, or for that matter, lawful aliens such as tourists or foreign diplomats.   

That includes our good friend, professor John Yoo. On Dec. 10, he published an op-ed insisting that arguments for a more limited interpretation of the citizenship clause must “disregard the plain text of the Constitution, the weight of the historical evidence from the time of the 14th Amendment’s ratification and more than 140 years of unbroken government practice and judicial interpretation.”    

Supporters of birthright citizenship ignore the contrary evidence that shows their interpretation is wrong. The language in the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment says “all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof” are citizens.    

Yet Yoo and others claim anyone born in the U.S. is a citizen, no matter the legal status of their parents. They dismiss any contrary position as a modern reinvention promulgated by a few outlier academics at the Claremont Institute. But there are many other scholars who have added their voices to a growing body of scholarship that runs counter to that preferred interpretation.

In recent years, we, as well as other respected legal scholars like professors Kurt Lash, Ilan Wurman, Randy Barnett and Samuel Estreicher, have produced substantive research that significantly undermines the birthright citizen claim.    

Supporters cite the 18th-century English jurist William Blackstone regarding the common-law rule on citizenship. But they omit any mention of prominent American jurist Joseph Story, who wrote in his 1834 legal treatise that one “reasonable qualification” on the common law rule would be to exclude the U.S.-born children of aliens who are only temporarily present in the country.    

Also, glaringly absent from most analyses is the Civil Rights Act of 1866, in which Congress first defined the limits on birthright citizenship and which served as the basis for the 14th Amendment. That statute made citizens only of persons born in the United States and “not subject to any foreign power.”

Sen. Lyman Trumbull — a principal author of the act’s citizenship clause and a sponsor of the 14th Amendment — explained that Congress intentionally crafted this language to exclude the U.S.-born children of parents who owed the nation only a qualified and temporary allegiance under the common law rule. That applies to all children born of alien parents who owe their primary and permanent political allegiance to their native land, not the U.S.    

True, the 14th Amendment employs different language. The legislative history, however, makes it clear that the change wasn’t to abrogate the Civil Rights Act, but to more adequately exclude Native Americans who were not considered U.S. citizens even though they were born in America until the passage of the Indian Citizenship Act in 1924. Why? Because, said the Supreme Court in 1884 in Elk v. Wilkins, they owed their “immediate allegiance” to their tribal governments, not the United States.   

As Sen. Reverdy Johnson, another sponsor of the 14th Amendment explained, Congress understood that “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” constitutionalized precisely the same principles of citizenship found in the Civil Rights Act: “All that this amendment provides is, that all persons born in the United States and not subject to some foreign power … shall be considered as citizens of the United States.”

Moreover, Congress re-enacted the Civil Rights Act verbatim in 1870, and for 70 years, both courts and scholars understood that the two definitions were consistent and complementary. Yoo never mentions this history.    

Also not mentioned are any of the influential stalwarts of American legal commentary who, in the decades following ratification, interpreted the citizenship clause’s jurisdictional language in a manner now dismissed as “misreading” the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereof.” Perhaps, famed jurist Thomas Cooley got it wrong when he explained that phrase “meant that full and complete jurisdiction to which citizens generally are subject, and not any qualified and partial jurisdiction, such as may consist with allegiance to some other government.” But this would seem worthy of substantive rebuttal rather than silence.  

Also, glaringly absent from most analyses is the Civil Rights Act of 1866 in which Congress first defined the limits on birthright citizenship and which served as the basis for the 14th Amendment. 

In the same vein, Yoo insists that his view is consistent with “more than 140 years of unbroken government practice.” This is curious, given early executive branch decisions denying citizenship claims on behalf of U.S.-born children based on their parents’ immigration status.

In the 1885 case of Richard Greisser, his German father and Swiss mother never became permanent U.S. residents and returned to Germany with the toddler. Secretary of State Thomas Bayard concluded that Greisser had been born “subject to a foreign power” and not “subject to the jurisdiction of the United States,” despite having been literally born on U.S. soil. Similarly, in Mary Devereaux’s 1890 case, the Department of Justice determined that because Devereaux was ultimately denied entry to the United States, her U.S.-born daughter was not an American citizen, either.  

And we should not neglect to mention the famous Slaughter-House cases of 1873 in which the Supreme Court said this qualifying phrase was intended to exclude “children of ministers, consuls, and citizens or subjects of foreign States born within the United States.”

Perhaps five justices will agree with the modern misinterpretation of the citizenship clause that supporters are urging. But to do that, they will have to ignore the historical evidence on the proper application of the citizenship clause, which does not render those born of parents who are illegally in this country citizens of the United States.  

GFK

“Christmas is a together sort of holiday.”

— Winnie the Pooh.

Yesterday we had our annual New Year’s get together. Good friends, good food and drink, and, of course, football. We had the traditional New Year’s fare, but with a twist. At Holland’s request we enjoyed a more modern version. There was ham (how do you modernize ham?) with biscuits, black eye pea hummus, and a collard greens slaw. Everything was delicious. It was a nice change. It was delicious. But I cannot imagine explaining to my Father that we were having black eye pea hummus (as opposed to black eye peas). His first question would have been, what is hummus? His second question would have been, why are we eating hummus? And there would have been a third question; could Holland make me another drink?

My Father always had a good time. On holidays, doubly so. He was very celebratory.

GOOD MORNING DRU! It is going to be another great MAGA year!

GOOD MORNING JOHN Minnium! Golf Digest did write a very nice article about you!

Golf Digest wrote about John’s annual “Year In Review”, where he outlines his golf game and experiences throughout the previous year. The magazine was rightly impressed by with publication. Since John is now retired, I imagine that his “Year In Review” will get even better. Let’s hope his golf game cooperates!

We continue to look back at 2025, and list below several wonderful things that happened last year. While much work remains to be done to clean up China Joe’s mess, these things are a great improvement, and deserve celebrating:

Christmas is still a big deal: The birth of Jesus and his message of redemption and eternal life have inspired billions of people all over the world. People in the United States, even non-Christians, seemed this time around to feel freer to express seasonal joy and to wish one another a “Merry Christmas” without fear of offense.

The White House is doing great things: President Trump has been reversing hundreds of bad policies put into place by his predecessor and appointing judges who respect the Constitution.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris is nowhere near the Oval Office: Had she won, she would have been a leftist Grinch, wreaking havoc on hardworking citizens. Makes one shudder to think about it. Brrrrr.

The transgender overreach is getting major pushback: In Europe and America, people are waking to the reality that subjecting sexually confused kids to dangerous drugs, hormones and surgeries is child abuse at its worst. This should still be a major issue for Republicans because Democrats support the madness in every way, including allowing biological males to compete in girls’ sports. Make them own it.

America’s border is secure: From millions of illegal aliens crossing each year under the Biden administration, the torrent has slowed to a trickle. The Border Patrol reported zero “catch-and-releases” into the U.S. for at least nine consecutive months.

Military recruitment is way up: The Pentagon reports the best performance in 15 years, with all active-duty branches meeting or exceeding goals, as Secretary of War Pete Hegseth restores the “warrior” culture.

A tragedy with a silver lining: After Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk was killed on a Utah college campus on Sept. 10, Turning Point USA has experienced explosive growth. Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, has impressed the world with her poise, courage and determination. At TPUSA’s AmericaFest 2025 in Phoenix, she said, “More than 140,000 people have submitted requests to join . . .  bringing the membership to over 1 million people across 4,000 chapters.” Even rapper Nicki Minaj has come out as a closet conservative.

Young people are going back to church: In what it describes as a “historic reversal,” the Barna Group reports that young adults are now the most regular attendees among churched Christians. These include Gen Z and Millennials. Further, the decline in overall church attendance, which began stabilizing in 2020, shows no sign of diving again, with a possible revival underway.

The Supreme Court slapped down Planned Parenthood: In June, the court rejected its claim that South Carolina must fund it with tax dollars. Along those lines, the federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act defunded the abortion giant for at least a year.

The stock market continues to roar: The economy is showing vibrant growth. Inflation has been curbed, and the gross domestic product grew at an annualized rate of 4.3% in the third quarter, exceeding forecasts.

Gasoline prices have plummeted: Thanks to Mr. Trump’s renewed emphasis on America’s energy production, a gallon costs less than $3 in most places except, of course, California. This will ripple through the economy. The jury is out on his tariffs, but they have brought in an estimated $200 billion to the U.S. Treasury and inspired billions of dollars in new corporate investments in the U.S.

Venezuela is reeling: The socialist South American dictatorship may crash and take Havana’s with it. This would free two nations from totalitarian rule. The Wall Street Journal reported that Mr. Trump’s seizure of oil tankers is strangling already impoverished communist Cuba. At the least, Cuba’s leaders are less able to sow revolution in South and Central America. At best, both tyrannical governments will be overthrown, democratic republics will emerge, and millions who fled will get to return to their countries.

Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers relit the spirit of Babe Ruth: The impossibly good slugger/pitcher on the Dodgers is doing things not seen since the 1920s.

The Washington Post threw a hissy fit over the fact that the federal government recognized Christmas. Government websites and emails contained explicitly Christian messaging concerning Christmas, instead of references to, and images of, Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus, and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Also, there was no mention of Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. Hmmm. Note to the easily offended snowflakes at the Post: Hanukkah is over, and Kwanzaa is a fake “holiday”. Christmas is a Christian holiday, and is officially recognized by the United States federal government. Get over yourselves.

Trump/Kennedy Center President Ric Grenell announced that certain media outlets were actively soliciting and encouraging performers to boycott performing at the Center, and violate their contracts. The media outlets include The Washington Post, The New York Times, MS NOW, and CNN. Despicable. Trump Derangement Syndrome is running rampant through the Left.

An audit of the federal Housing and Urban Development Department reveals that under China Joe, billions of dollars were spent on rent payments for deceased people, and illegal aliens. Sigh. Why? Why is the federal government paying for anyone’s housing? Housing is not a federal concern. It is an individual problem!

The Trump Administration announced that all child care related payments to those in Minnesota have been halted, due to the rampant fraud. GREAT! But why are federal tax dollars going to child care expenses in any State? Child care is not a federal concern.

Senator Bernie Sanders (I. Vt.) wants to impose a federal moratorium on the construction of data centers, because of fears of Artificial Intelligence, and its possible effects on employment. Luddite! Is Bernie still trying to recover all those buggy whip manufacturing jobs lost to the automobile’s invention?

The federal government does not have the authority under the Constitution to impose Senator Sanders’s proposed moratorium. It just does not.

Zohran Mamdani (D.) is officially now New York City’s mayor. May God help those poor people.

Mr. Mamdani was sworn in at midnight, January 1. He placed his hand on a Koran (that is just so wrong), and took the oath of office. Ironically, the avowed communist’s swearing in ceremony took place inside an abandoned subway station that was built entirely with private sector money.

“You have immense powers as Governor of California, and your responsibility is to protect the most vulnerable in this state.  So if the president is going to send ICE agents to chase immigrants through the fields where they work, what I’m going to do is make sure that they take off their masks and show their faces, that they show their identification, and if they commit crimes, that they’re going to be charged with crimes.

If it’s falsely imprisoning people, if it’s kidnapping, if it’s assault, battery, they’re going to be held accountable.  I also think the governor has the ability to issue driver’s licenses to people in California.  If you’re going to wear a mask and not identify yourself, you’re not going to be eligible to drive a vehicle in California.  There’s a lot that you can do, but most importantly, you have to go on offense; otherwise, the most vulnerable in our community will always be on defense.”

–Fang Fang’s lover, Representative Eric Swalwell (D. Ca.), explaining how he will oppose ICE and the federal government’s deportation of illegal aliens if elected Governor.

Someone really needs to explain the U.S. Constitution to Mr. Swalwell.  Because California has no power over federal law enforcement.

Auditors have revealed that California fraudulently spent $70 billion on welfare programs. California Democrat fraudsters make the Minnesota Democrat fraudsters look like pikers. Why steal $9 billion when you can steal $70 billion?

San Francisco, California enacted an ordinance into law that would pay up to $5 million per person in reparations to black people for slavery. Never mind that California was a “free State” that never had slavery.

In Richmond, California, a man was shot, while enjoying a short stack of pancakes in IHOP. Stay out of IHOP, Rocky! It is too dangerous!

Democrat led States such as Illinois, California, New York and others, are refusing to amend their tax codes to reflect the federal government’s forbearance of taxing tips and overtime wages. Because the greedy Democrats do not care about hard working Americans. We are only cash cows for them.

The Minnesota welfare fraud scandal perpetrated by Somalis and others continues to grow. A frustrated Tampon Tim (D.) took to the podium before a press conference, and promptly blamed “Republicans” and “white supremacists” for the scandal. Neither makes any sense. In Minnesota, Democrats control all of State government, and have for many, many years. And why would “white supremacists” give billions of dollars to Somali immigrants? Ridiculous!

That latter question was asked, and Tampon Tim responded that the “white supremacists” are driving the story to make him and the Somali immigrants look bad. Aaah! So, exposing rampant criminal fraud perpetrated by black foreigners is an element of “white supremacy”. Got it.

The mainstream media is covering for Tampon Tim and the Somalis. The Washington Post, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, MSNBC, and CNN are all insisting that the State government could not have known about the fraud, even though it has been going on since at least 2015. And really, have not the Somali immigrants suffered enough? Enough with the racism, xenophobia, and Islamophobia! What is a $9 billion + theft among “friends”?

And Minnesota is stealing more than just money. Under Minnesota law, a registered voter can “vouch” for up to 8 other persons who want to same day register and vote. No ID necessary. What could possibly go wrong?

Loyola University [Maryland] is renaming its English Department. The school administration explained that the word “English” is too “Eurocentric” and “imperialistic”. Sigh.

How about Loyola renaming its English Department the “Ebonics Department”. Would that be sufficiently inclusive?

The federal government is suing the Commonwealth of Virginia over a Democrat enacted law that provides in-State tuition to illegal aliens attending public universities and colleges. That is a good start. But why are illegal aliens able to enroll in Virginia public universities and colleges? What about the term “illegal alien” do Democrats not understand?

Charlottesville, Virginia managed a successful license plate recognition program for over 1 year. The program helped law enforcement locate and arrest many violent criminals. But now Charlottesville is shutting the program down, due to city officials’ fear that the program might be used to aid ICE agents in locating illegal aliens. Sigh.

South Carolina is the most popular State for Americans to relocate. How ’bout that?

Black eye peas, greens, and cornbread are longstanding Southern traditions on any New Year’s table. For years, Cracker Barrel not only served black eye peas on New Year’s Day, the peas were complimentary. But not this year. Cracker Barrel is serving no black eye peas, complimentary or for pay. WHAT? A Cracker Barrel spokesman explained that the company was trying to balance between its regional Southern roots, and being a national restaurant chain. Sigh. It was regional Southern food that made Cracker Barrel. Chasing a “national” identity is a fool’s errand, and a sure way to bankruptcy. Get your act together, Cracker Barrel!

Protests continue to sweep across Iran. Demonstrators are chanting “Death to Khamenei!” The ayatollahs are vowing violent retribution against those who oppose the regime. There will be violence. Hopefully the opposition wins the struggle. The Iranian people have been oppressed for far too long.

Former U. S. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R. Co.) has died at age 92. R. I. P.

Former Winchester, Virginia Commonwealth’s Attorney Paul Thomson (W&L ’77A, ’83L) has died at age 71. R. I. P.

GFK

“The very purpose of Christ’s coming into the world was that he might offer up his life as a sacrifice for the sins of men.  He came to die.  This is the heart of Christmas.”

— Reverend Billy Graham.

English and Holland finally returned last evening. Dudley and I were thrilled. They had a wonderful time in South Carolina with Gram and Rufe. That was nice. But it is so much nicer having them home. All is right in the world again.

On their way home, English and Holland stopped at Buc-ee’s South of Harrisonburg. They braved the crowds so that Holland could share the experience of a Texas sized convenience store with her Mother. They brought me a bag of Beaver Nuggets. I don’t know what they are, but they are delicious. It is kind of a mish mash of a cracker jack, cheese puff, and Corn Pops cereal. It is crunchy, firm, and sweet, but not too sweet. Darnedest thing I have eaten in quite some time. I’d buy some on my next trip to Staunton, but I really don’t want to brave the crowds just for a bag of Beaver Nuggets.

In both review of 2025, and looking forward to 2026, I wish to share the story of a good friend. This young man was originally from upstate New York, went to school in the Deep South [Mississippi State], and returned home to New York after graduation, finding nothing to secure his future. Finally, his father, a stern, but kind, caring, and loving man, gave his son some money, a tank of gas in his car, and told him to leave home. There was nothing there for him anymore, and he needed to find his way in the world.

The young man began driving South, back to the only other place he knew, with no plans and no prospects. He stopped at a gas station in Bristol, Virginia. As he was walking back to his car, he realized it was almost dark, and that he had nowhere to stay. He remembered that a girlfriend’s brother lived in Danville, Virginia, and that she had urged him to look her brother up in his travels. So the young man took out a quarter, dialed the number on a pay phone, and was soon invited to stop by the brother’s house. Just one problem; Danville, Virginia is 4 hours away from Bristol, today. It was further in the late ’70s, due to available roads. Nevertheless, the young man drove to Danville, and his life was changed forever.

The young man soon found purpose in Danville. He became an assistant golf professional at the Danville Country Club, where he also lived, worked hard, and began to prosper. He met the love of his life, married, and raised a beautiful and talented daughter. He rose through the ranks of golf, eventually landing the head golf professional job at The Chatmoss County Club.

At Chatmoss, his reputation flourished further, as he soon established himself as an excellent teacher, a groomer of young golfers’ talent, and reestablishing or improving older golfers’ talent. He walked an incredibly fine line, keeping laid back and high maintenance members happy, never an easy feat. He made friends easily. He coached a local high school golf team. He ran tournaments that people wanted to play in, year after year. He played in the Virginia State Open until the folks at the Mid-Atlantic Professional Golfers Association realized he was really a Carolinas Section professional. He caddied for some of his young charges in tournaments ranging from the VSGA Amateur to the USGA Amateur, and tournaments in between, imparting advice and calm, when necessary. He was a student of the game, learning the straightforward rules, and the inexplicably difficult rules decisions. And at all times, he worked tirelessly as an ambassador for The Chatmoss Country Club, one of the finest golf clubs in the Southeast.

The man was a constant champion of young people. Members were confident leaving their children in his charge, allowing them to work at the Club, where they were taught some many important lessons necessary for later success in life. Today, countless children that came under his tutelage are professional golfers themselves, successful businessmen, skilled amateur golfers, husbands, fathers, and role models in their own right. Over a period of years, the young man touched so many lives; he will never be forgotten. By any measure, the best thing that could have happened to the young man, and to so many others who crossed his path, is that his father sent him packing after college.

The young man was, is, Robert Weinerth. He was the PGA professional at The Chatmoss Country Club for 41 years. Yesterday was his last day, as he has retired. Robert left the shop yesterday for the last time as our pro. We are so grateful for the legacy he leaves behind. His successor has a lot to live up to as he begins his tenure.

Robert is not leaving Chatmoss. He will still be our friend, a member of the Club, and our neighbor. He will still teach golf at the Club, perhaps working harder than he did before his retirement. He is looking forward to the next chapter in his life. So are we. Good luck, and God Bless you, Robert. We love you.

GFK

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

–John 3:16.

GOOD MORNING GINGER! Frank informs me that you emerged from surgery like a champ. Keep feeling better little girl!

This year, 2025 will end in a few hours.  The new year, 2026, will follow.  May 2026 bring you joy, health, wealth, happiness, and peace of mind.

“I’ve always thought New Year’s Day was an especially American tradition, full of the optimism and hope we’re famous for in our daily lives—an energy and confidence we call the American spirit.  Perhaps because we know we control our own destiny, we believe deep down inside that working together we can make each new year better than the old.” 

–Ronald Reagan

As with Spring, hope springs eternal with the dawning of the new year.  We shrug off the disappointments of the past and look forward to a new beginning.  In the dark and cold of winter, all things are suddenly possible.  We get a do-over!  Resolutions are crafted, and vows are made not to abandon them.  Weight is lost, exercise is undertaken, new relationships are formed, successes are achieved—all before January 2!

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.”

–C.S. Lewis

Of course most resolutions are abandoned before the Sugar Bowl kick off occurs on New Year’s Day evening.  The everyday obligations of work and family make our best of intentions difficult.  It is cold, and we can always exercise and diet . . . tomorrow.  Employers care little about your professional goals, as the bottom line is what pays the bills.  Our relatives and friends do not always cooperate.  And unforeseen events always seem to pop up at inopportune times.  So really, what is the point?

“I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.”

–Thomas Jefferson

THE POINT IS we are an optimistic, forward looking people.  We conquered a continent, built railroads, muscle cars, airplanes, won 2 World Wars, vanquished the Soviet Union without firing a shot, and put a man on the moon.  We invented the drive-in (movies and restaurants), the hula hoop, roller skates, football (NOT soccer), baseball, and basketball.  We wear Levi’s in our leisure time (and some on their professional time).  Hollywood’s movies are still shown ‘round the world.  Coca Cola is the soft drink of choice, from Hong Kong to Bombay to London.  You can board a plane in New York City, eat breakfast at 37,000 feet in the air, and be in Los Angeles in time for lunch at Gladstone’s on the beach.  And we did it all.  Our people have made the United States the most prosperous, free, and welcoming country ever to grace God’s green Earth.  There is nowhere else where one can go from rags to riches in one generation.

“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language, and next year’s words await another voice.”

–T.S. Eliot

Democrats complain that 2025 was the worst year ever.  To them, it probably was, as they were out of power.  But The Observations dissents.  Our country is turning the corner, from China Joe’s disastrous reign.  The seeds are being planted for future success.  We just have to be patient, and stay the course.

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts.”

–Winston Churchill

The United States is getting a do over.  President Trump and Congressional Republicans are making our economy strong again, and the underlying factors are chomping at the bit to roar, if only the politicians will get out of the way.  Our people want jobs, not handouts.  Freedom and free markets made our country the greatest, strongest, wealthiest nation to ever grace the face of the Earth.  We succeed when government gets out of the way, and allows the American people to do what they do best; invent, produce, and advance.  And the American people are waking up, rediscovering our basic values and freedoms.  We don’t like government dictating with whom we can associate, where we can eat, if we can worship, and if we can work.  We want our lives back, and are poised to retake them.  And these are very good things.  These are very positive, forward looking, and very American things.

The truth is, President Trump has accomplished more in the last 11 months than most Presidents accomplish in 8 years. If he can keep the pace up, we are all in for a wonderful ride.

“It’s never too late to become who you want to be. I hope you live a life that you’re proud of, and if you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start over.  It’s never too late to become who you want to be. I hope you live a life that you’re proud of, and if you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start over.”

–F. Scott Fitzgerald

So please.  Make your resolutions, plot your course for the New Year, and be not discouraged one bit if you fall short.  Hopefully you will exceed your goals, but if you do not, dust yourself off and begin again.  There is nothing that we as a people cannot accomplish if we put our minds to it.  Why?  BECAUSE WE ARE AMERICANS!  And with God’s help and grace, there is nothing that the American people cannot accomplish.  Nothing.  The Observations is looking forward to 2026.  You should too.  May it be our best year yet!

GFK

“We consider Christmas as the encounter, the great encounter, the historical encounter, the decisive encounter, between God and mankind.  He who has faith knows this truly; let him rejoice.”

— Pope Paul VI.

As we move into 2026, it might be helpful to briefly look back on 2025. We begin with the top 10 lies of 2025, which are:

1. Trump is in the Epstein files in a negative, damaging way

2. Joe Biden was “sharp as a tack.”

3. There was no collusion among drug manufacturers to hide vaccine threats and ineffectiveness.

4. Israel is the aggressor in the Middle East, and Muslims never invaded and slaughtered anyone on October 7, 2023.

5. Islam does not want to conquer the world, especially America.

6. Trump is using Nazi and Stormtrooper tactics to clean up crime.

7. Trump is “literally Hitler” and “literally killing people.”

8. Diversity is our strength (an oldie but goodie), and DEI is “anti-racist.”

9. Trump is not well and is showing signs of dementia.

10. Trans women are women.

We would add honorable mention as Hunter Biden’s laptop is “Russian disinformation”. Yes, that first surfaced in 2020, but the mainstream media has never dropped their lying about it over the last 5 years.

We have also recognized some awards that nicely encapsulate the year that was 2025, to wit:

Metaphor of the year: Hollywood director Rob Reiner, the onetime foil to Archie Bunker, was murdered by his son, proving that sitcom dysfunction can mirror life and be All in the Family.

Best market correction: Hunter Biden is no longer getting $400,000 for his artwork. He is down to $100 bucks to spray-paint obscenities on a Tesla.

Stat of the year: The New York Times ran a story on how foreign travel to the U.S. is down due what the Gray Lady calls the Trump Slump. This is believable when you consider that for the last four years our number one tourist attraction was the Rio Grande.

Question: When will scientists admit that the climate has been changing long before humans invented SUVs, plastic straws, or had opinions?

Cover-Up: Jake Tapper’s book, Original Sin exposes the mainstream media’s 4 year whitewash of China Joe’s cognitive decline.  The canard that China Joe was sharp, the border secure, Trump colluded with Russia, and Hunter’s laptop was fake, Tapper reveals what Washington long knew: China Joe was unfit for office as early as 2017. The book recounts one particular moment of confusion when at a Beverly Hills fundraiser, China Joe failed to recognize George Clooney and told Obama how much he loved him in Driving Miss Daisy.

The Oxford Word of the Year is actually two words: “rage bait” because apparently “click bait” wasn’t emotionally ruinous enough. Linguists use “rage bait” for anything that divides or offends.  Last year’s phrase was “brain rot,” the term for scrolling ourselves into mental mush. Together, they sum up digital life: outrage sparks engagement, algorithms fan the flames, while burning a hole in your cornea.

All in a name: As of this writing, the U.S. Navy destroyed its 5th Venezuelan drug boat. The boat didn’t have a chance with its name: Coke Zero.

Best laugh: During warm‑ups for the 2025 WNBA All‑Star Game, players wore shirts stitched by Asian slave labor that read: “Pay Us What You Owe Us”, a bold slogan for a league so cash‑strapped it can barely afford the thread.

Political Twister: President Trump’s deal with Nippon Steel because nothing says “America First” like outsourcing patriotism to a Japanese steel conglomerate. Two weeks before the deal, Turner Classic Movies spent Memorial Day defeating the Japanese.  For Japan to save U.S. Steel shortly thereafter is political good sportsmanship.

Melancholy medal: When you realize 1972 and 2025 are as far apart as 1972 and 1919.  Congratulations, you are officially older than your nostalgia.

The Confirmation Cup: In 2025, the White House Correspondents’ Dinner ditched a 140‑year ritual and refused to toast the president, an unexpected move that validated Donald Trump’s longtime complaints about mainstream media bias.

Truth is stranger than fiction: After the Hooters restaurant chain went bust, Democrats disrupted a Senate hearing to protest a Kennedy being nominated for a cabinet post by a Republican president.

More effective than coal: Children awoke this Christmas to disappointment after discovering that Santa had revised his disciplinary policy and is now punishing naughty kids with tickets to the New York Giants.  Provided such naughty behavior continues, Colorado Rockies tickets will be featured next year.

Book of the year: The Man Who Invented Conservatism: The Unlikely Life of Frank S. Meyer Daniel J. Flynn’s biography of Frank S. Meyer uncovers how a Marxist firebrand became a founding architect of conservative “fusionism,” blending liberty and tradition into the movement’s philosophical backbone.  It’s a richly researched portrait of a restless, contradictory thinker whose ideas still echo through today’s political discourse.

Finally, a look back at 2025 through the lens of my golf game. Every year I vow to play more golf. Usually, I do not. But in 2025, I did! I began in April (usually it is June), and did not finish until December (usually it is late October/early November). I played in 4 club member-guests, 2 invitationals (1 individual and 1 team), other miscellaneous tournaments, including, for the very 1st time, the Reindeer Classic. Big fun!

I played more daily rounds also, though not enough to suit me. Work still gets in the way, and frankly, that is largely on me (though there are some judges and attorneys who deserve some blame). I played with Holland, though not as much as I would like. English still refuses to play with me. Why, I do not know.

I am no John Minnium, but I do regularly peruse his annual “Year In Review” in preparation for establishing my goals for the year. In 2024, John played 68 different courses; in 2025 I played 6 different courses. John played golf in 16 different States, I played in 2 States. John had a hole in one (Congratulations!), I had 0 holes in one (but I have 2 career holes in one, 1 more than John, so . . . ).

I am looking forward to John’s 2025 “Year In Review” so I can establish my 2026 goals. John is now retired, so his accomplishments are going to be even tougher to approach. But hope springs eternal.

GFK

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.”

— Luke 2:10.

On Christmas Day, the United States launched missile strikes against ISIS terrorists in Nigeria. ISIS has been targeting Christians generally in that country, and U.S. soldiers in Syria, specifically.

Politico’s Hannah Roberts wrote that Christians are “recasting” Christmas as a “Christian” holiday, instead of a secular holiday. Unbelievably, Politico published her piece!

It may be news to many in Washington, D.C., but Christmas is, and always has been, a Christian holiday. It has never been a “secular” holiday.

A petulant jazz musician cancelled his band’s Christmas Eve concert at The Trump/Kennedy Center, because Donald Trump’s name is on the building. Yawn.

Code Pink protestors invaded a Washington, D.C. restaurant to heckle Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent while he was eating his dinner. The waitstaff took no action to remove the protesters, who disrupted Secretary Bessent’s dinner, as well as the dinners of all the other patrons. Sigh. Washington, D.C. is such a rude, rude, town.

Former U.S. Senator Ben Sasse (R. Ne.) sadly announced that he had been diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. The diagnosis is a death sentence. Tragic news for a talented, and relatively young, man. Most right thinking Americans are sympathetic and are including Mr. Sasse and his family in their prayers. Then there is Representative Eric Swalwell (D. Ca.) who turned Mr. Sasse’s diagnosis into a political cudgel, attacking President Trump and his administration for spending cuts at the National Institutes of Health. Eric Swalwell is a vile, disgusting person. He is trash.

May God Bless Ben Sasse and his family.

Hillary Clinton took a cheap shot at El Salvador, and its notorious prison, CECOT. CECOT is notorious because it holds the worst of the worst, as El Salvador cracked down on its gangs, and imprisoned, instead of coddling, them. El Salvador’s President responded to Mrs. Clinton, inviting her to step and show everyone how it should be done. He offered to send to her CECOT’s entire prison population, and allow her to handle their incarceration.

We have a better idea. Put Hillary into CECOT.

MS NOW accused President Trump of being a “racist”. Again. It seems that, according to the propaganda network, that the only reason the United States bombed ISIS camps in Nigeria is because the President likes bombing countries full of “black and brown people”.

California’s new laws take effect on January 1, and some of them are . . . “interesting”. One of the new laws bans ICE from enforcing immigration laws near public schools. It is unconstitutional. Another law prohibits cat declawing, while still another requires restaurants that make tortillas to add a Vitamin B supplement. But our all-time favorite new law is the establishment of Diwali, the Indian festival of lights, as an official State holiday. Less than 2.6% of all Californians are from India, or are of Indian descent.

The California Department of Education is demanding that the Tahoe/Truckee Unified School District switch sports associations. Currently the school district is in a sports association where boys compete against boys and girls compete against girls. The Department of Education wants the school district to join an association whereby boys are permitted to compete against girls. It is a “trans” thing, don’t you know?

Not only is the California Department of Education’s demand disruptive and insane, but it is also dangerous. The nearest acceptable sports association would require the school district’s teams to travel back and forth through the Donner Pass, notoriously famous for bad weather and treacherous roads. And notably, the Donner Pass is famous for the Donner Party, which became stranded in the Pass in a snowstorm, and the settlers were reduced to cannibalism in order to survive. This is how wed the State of California is to the notion of the “trans”.

Los Angeles, California Mayor Karen Bass (D.) laments the fact that “Latinos” are joining ICE in record numbers. What happened to her affinity for “diversity”?

Illegal aliens have launched a class action lawsuit against the California Division of Motor Vehicles for cancelling their commercial drivers licenses. I wish I were kidding. I’m not.

Boston, Massachusetts Mayor Michelle Wu (D.) insists that you cannot discuss any achievements in the city of Boston without giving credit to Somali immigrants. Holy John Adams!

New York Mayor-elect named Lillian Bonsignore as the next Fire Department Commissioner. Lillian Bonsignore has never worked for a fire department, and has no other relevant experience. Not to worry, however, as she will be the 1st openly gay woman to serve in this office.

Minnesota Governor Tampon Tim (D.) thinks that white people should apologize for the color of their skin. Absurd. Governor Jazz Hands is unhinged.

Minnesota Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan (D.) is running for the United States Senate. She has taken lately to wearing a hajib while campaigning, apparently pandering to the Somali community in Minneapolis. Peggy Flanagan is Roman Catholic.

For 120 years, Palmer’s was a bar/tavern in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. But no more. A neighborhood mosque opposed having alcohol served in proximity to it, and through political pressure and protests, forced Palmer’s closing. Now the historic bar will be razed, and in its place, the Somalis are planning to erect another mosque. Sigh. Islam is coming for all of us.

Why did Minnesota’s State government pay millions of dollars to a daycare center with no staff and no children? Why is Tampon Tim still in office?

In Polk County, Florida, a man shot and killed his wife, and shot and wounded his stepdaughter, and then turned the gun on himself, following an argument over the San Francisco/Indianapolis football game. Sigh. I saw that game; it was not worth an argument. And murder seems a tad extreme.

Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy non-profit organization, is advocating for legislation that would criminalize corporate actions that influence “climate change”. The radical Left wing group would start with imprisoning the CEO of Exxon/Mobil. But it will not be long before it comes for you too, perhaps for eating beef, having pets, or driving a car.

During his Christmas address, Pope Leo expressed great sympathy and love for the Gazan Arabs who slaughtered Israeli Jews. But strangely enough, Pope Leo uttered not one word–not 1–about the thousands of Christians being slaughtered in Nigeria by Arab Muslims. Odd. Very odd.

Iran declared “total war” on the United States, Europe, and Israel. This is news? Iran has been at war with the West since 1979.

Professor James Deaville of Carleton, University [Ottawa, Canada], claims that the iconic movie It’s A Wonderful Life is “racist” and “bigoted”, because it is “insufficiently inclusive”. It seems that the Professor from lily white Canada thinks that there are an insufficient number of black people in Bedford Falls, the movie’s setting. Hmmm. Canada is more than 70% white. Only 4.3% of Canada’s population is black. It would seem, based on Professor Deaville’s analysis, that Canada is “racist” and “bigoted”.

“Drag For Palestine” is a 2 day LGBTQ++ celebration in Toronto, Canada. All proceeds from the event will be sent to aid the Gaza terrorists. Those are the same terrorists who would willingly–gleefully–murder each and every one of the LGBTQ++ individuals, given the opportunity.

New South Wales, Australia has enacted more severe gun restrictions, and restrictions against free speech and protests, in the wake of the Hannukkah massacre at Bondi Beach. The government confirmed it was concerned that there could be a rise of “Islamophobia” following the massacre.

Yep. That is the problem. All those Jews in possession of firearms, expressing their hatred of Islam.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett held a press conference where she stated that the Bondi Beach massacre had nothing to do with religion. AHA! Now we have identified the problem. The massacre was all about religion, but the government is too stupid to realize it.

On Christmas Day, Jimmy Kimmel was in London, England, where he gave an “alternative Christmas Day Address” on Channel 4, where he decried the fascism present in the United States under President Trump. Mr. Kimmel was particularly focused on Mr. Trump’s threat to “free speech”.

Setting aside how classless and unpatriotic it is to go abroad and criticize your country. Let us instead focus of the absurdity of Mr. Kimmel’s message. He is in Great Britain, where government has arrested, charged, prosecuted, and convicted tens of thousands of citizens for their speech, including social media posts, and even “liking” social media posts. But instead of denouncing Great Britain’s fascistic crackdown on free speech, Jimmy Kimmel lies and cries about the fascistic crackdown on free speech in the United States, which is non-existent. The federal government has arrested, charged, prosecuted, and convicted 0–ZERO–citizens for their speech.

Brooks Koepka is leaving the LIV professional golf tour. It is thought that he wishes to return to the PGA Tour. Buyer’s remorse.

Dru and Smiley were in Annapolis on Saturday, munching on Maryland Blue Crabs and cheering East Carolina University on to victory over Pittsburgh. A very BIG TIME!

Virginia beat Missouri in the Gator Bowl. I did not see that coming.

Masashi “Jumbo” Ozaki, Hall of Famer, and arguably the greatest professional golfer from Japan, has died at age 78. R. I. P.

Actress Brigitte Bardot has died at age 91. R. I. P.

“It’s not what’s under the Christmas tree that matters, it’s who’s around it.”

— Charles M. Schulz.

GFK

“God never gives someone a gift they are not capable of receiving.  If He gives us the gift of Christmas, it is because we all have the ability to understand and receive it.”

— Pope Francis.

English and Holland are having a BIG time in South Carolina. I hope Holland does not wear Gram and Rufe out.

Dudley meanwhile continues to pout. He had a nice Christmas, and there is no reason for his churlish behavior. But over the years, I have gotten used to it. And I blame English. Thankfully–eventually–she will have to come home. Then all will be right with the world.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY POOK! I wish you a VERY BIG day!

Will Smith thoughtfully reminded me that we were in the middle of Kwanzaa season. How could I have possibly forgotten? I’ve done no Kwanzaa shopping, and I have engaged in no Kwanzaa rituals. I would feel guilty if Kwanzaa were actually a real holiday. But it is not.

Acceptance is not a virtue.  It is submission.

“There is no part of Kwanzaa that is not fraudulent.” 

–the late Tony Snow, columnist, author, commentator, and White House Press Secretary

We are smack dab in the middle of the Kwanzaa celebration!  Is it not wonderful that we can demonstrate our “diversity” and “inclusion” by this annual observance of African culture?  Uh, no.  No it is not.

Kwanzaa has absolutely nothing to do with Africa and everything to do with hating the United States.  Kwanzaa is the brain child of Ron Everett, who you will not be surprised to learn, chaired the African American Studies department of California State University, Long Beach, from 1989 to 2002.  Before that, he spent several years in jail for torture, changed his name to Maulana Ron Karenga, put on a dashiki, embraced Marxism, and declared Kwanzaa a real holiday.

“People think it’s African, but it’s not.  I came up with Kwanzaa because black people wouldn’t celebrate it if they knew it was American.  Also, I put it around Christmas because I knew that’s when a lot of Bloods were partying.”

–Ron Everett [Karenga] 

Ron Karenga went on to call Christ “psychotic” and declared Christianity a “white religion.” 

Kwanzaa actually is the perfect holiday for post-modern American secularism as celebrated by the rich, white elite of the Left.  Every other holiday celebrates a religious miracle, patriotic heroes, or America itself.  Every other holiday celebrates something greater than the self.  Kwanzaa was made up by a felon establishing a holiday whereby people can celebrate the racial self.  The self-absorbed secular elite have been looking for a self-absorbing holiday.  Now they have it with a secular political class happy to embrace it too.

In short, Kwanzaa is the perfect post-modern politically correct holiday.

It is most amusing to observe Democrat politicians from coast to coast shouting out Kwanzaa greetings. It is to be expected from the likes of Karen Bass (D. Ca.), Tony Evers (D. Wi.), Brandon Johnson (D. Il.), and Tampon Tim (D. Mn.). But my-all time favorite has got to be former North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper (D.) who is running for the United States Senate. While North Carolina is more liberal than I would like, there are not enough Kwanzaa celebrants to make a difference. Even in a Democrat primary.

Below is an article concerning the longstanding “war on Christmas”, primarily from the perspective of Europe. Thankfully, at the present, American Christians are winning the “war on Christmas”. But there is no guarantee but eternal vigilance and efforts that victory will be assured. I hope you find Mr. Aguilar’s thoughts interesting.

When the Churches Go Silent at Christmas

Why Christianity endures while Europe locks its church doors.

By:         Lou Aguilar, The American Spectator (December 21, 2025).

Even in a deeply cynical time, Christmas remains the most joyous holiday of the year for most people, despite the communistic conspiracy against it — the Democratic Party, academia, the legacy news media, and the entertainment media. Because the concept of a Godsent male Savior come to Earth to save Man from sin demolishes their unsacred cows — the State as the supreme judge of morality, truth as a personal interpretation.

“Our Kwanzaa celebrations are one of my favorite childhood memories,” gushed Kamala Harris in 2020.

This godless philosophy has destroyed Western Europe. The Christian faith that built its civilization and sustained it through a thousand years of darkness has been abandoned, hollowed. Consequently, the two forces Europe soundly defeated — Islam and Marxism — are now conquering it with little resistance, enabled by the nations’ leaders.

All over the continent, charming Yuletide traditions are being canceled for fear of Muslim-induced violence. In Germany, for instance, the beloved Christmas markets, the Weihnachtsmärkte, were scrubbed this year. Evil feeds on fear, and removing a spiritual counter to it only hastens its advance.

Many Christmases ago, I took my first weeklong vacation from USA Today to visit a girlfriend, Jenny, in Dijon, France, where she was studying at the Centre International d’Études Françaises. One chilly night, we left her dorm to take a stroll around the town. Bypassing a small vintage church, we heard the most beautiful violin version of Arcangelo Corelli’s Christmas Concerto (Concerto grosso in G minor, Op. 6, No. 8 [1714]) emanating from within. The door was unlocked, and we went inside.

The pews were empty. But on the stage stood nine young musicians in angelic white — six girls on string instruments, three men on horns, and their conductor — obviously rehearsing for a special event. On this night, however, Jenny and I were the whole audience, and we sat there for maybe an hour, enchanted and enthralled, aware we were enjoying something special.

Jenny died of cancer around eight years ago. Her sister Caroline gave me the sad news,  adding one tidbit. For many years before she passed, Jenny often brought up that magical night in a little French church as the most wonderful of her life. That made me happy, if now melancholic. For a memory such as Jenny and I enjoyed will be shared by no one else ever again.

Odds are no church in France today would be trumpeting classical Christian music out to the night for fear of the Moors. The church door would be locked, perhaps permanently. That is if it were not now one of the dozen new mosques built this century in Dijon, where only one stood in 1990.

The Islamists alone did not crush Christmas in Western Europe. They had plenty of help from the secular Left. From people the Muslims would toss off rooftops or veil once they took full power. But only together can they accomplish their great common goal — the elimination of good family-raising society-building Christians who repel their delusions, perversions, and atrocities against babies and children. Christians who point out evil where it lurks, even when protected by its governmental vassals in Britain and Europe.

It could have happened to this country, and still might. But here there is resistance, mounted by the true believers of an old yet eternal story recorded 2,000 years ago: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14). And His glorious Nativity repels all the fantasy and fanaticism shoved on the weak-minded by the leftist-Islamic alliance.

Here, unlike Europe, Christians are winning the War on Christmas, much to the demonic shrieking of the Left. Because we have devout Christian leaders — even though a leftist killed one of the most influential, Charlie Kirk. Progressives scoff when President Trump celebrates “Merry Christmas” over “Happy Holidays.” They mocked the official White House X account photo of Trump beside a Christmas tree with the caption: “We’re saying MERRY CHRISTMAS again!”

But it sticks in their craw, because it exposes their agenda to devalue this most sacred day as a secularist holiday — or a fake one like Kwanzaa. Kwanzaa was fabricated by an anti-Christian black nationalist, Maulana Karenga, who said, “Jesus was psychotic,” and called Judeo-Christianity “spookism.” Which has not kept prominent Democrats from proclaiming their reverence for the sham Christmas substitute.

“Our Kwanzaa celebrations are one of my favorite childhood memories,” gushed Kamala Harris in 2020. “The whole family would gather around across multiple generations and we’d tell stories and light the candles.” That’s a story all right. Kwanzaa was created in 1966, Harris in 1964, and the Kwanzaa con didn’t catch on till the 1980s.

Christmas doesn’t need phony endorsement to thrive. On its side it has history — confirming Christ’s Baptism and Crucifixion. Music — some of the most beautiful songs ever composed, like Joy to the World (1719), Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (1739), O Come, All Ye Faithful (1744). Literature — Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Anonymous, late 14th Century), A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens, 1843), The Gift of the Magi (O. Henry, 1905), The Christmas Spirit (Lou Aguilar, 2020).

To quote the most famous line from the most famous Christmas story of all time — though it may soon be deemed hate speech in Europe — “God bless us, every one!”

GFK

“God rescued us from the power of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of his beloved Son.  Through him we have redemption, the forgiveness of our sins.  He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creatures.”

–Colossians 1:13-15.

The remarks below were delivered by Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard. The dangers of Islam are rising, worldwide, daily. And we seem to be sleepwalking through history, to our ultimate detriment, and perhaps, demise.

“There is a threat to our freedom that hasn’t been talked about enough.  And it is the greatest near and long term threat to both our freedom and our security, and that is the threat of Islamist ideology.  It is propagated by people who not only do not believe in freedom, their fundamental ideology is antithetical to the foundation that we find in our Constitution and Bill of Rights, which is that our Creator endowed upon is inalienable rights — the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is a political ideology that seeks to create a global caliphate that governs us here in America.  And if you fail to comply, if you fail to adhere to this ideology, if you dare to exercise your God-given right to free speech, censorship is not what we face.  They will use violence or any means that they deem as necessary to silence us.

This is already underway in places like Houston; this is not something that may possibly happen, it is already happening here, within our borders.  Patterson, New Jersey, is proud to call themselves the first Muslim city.  They are working to implement in their own governments these Islamic principles that are forced on people through the use of laws or violence.  The bottom line is this: when we talk about the threat of Islamism, this political ideology, there is no such thing as individual freedom or liberty.  As Charlie [Kirk] said over and over again, it is fundamentally incompatible with our nation’s foundation of freedom.  And at its core, when we understand that our freedom comes from God, and no one else, we understand the seriousness of this Islamist ideology threat, because it means that they deny that God is the one who bestowed this right to freedom in every one of us.

So what do we do?   We as Americans have to stand proudly for freedom, and understand that a free society cannot survive if it refuses to defend itself.  You don’t preserve freedom of speech by canceling it; you preserve free speech by exercising it.  By using more of it, by encouraging more speech.  We protect our Constitution by ensuring loyalty to the Constitution.  We protect our Democratic Republic by ensuring that we, the people, elect leaders who not only believe in American values but actually live them.  Leaders who are committed to ensuring we have a government of, by, and for the people, and leaders who most importantly put freedom, and the interest and well-being of the American people first, in every single decision they make.”

–Tulsi Gabbard, Director Of National Intelligence.

Director Gabbard does not overstate the dangers of Islam. If anything, she understates the dangers. We share below a recent article by Everett Piper which discusses that which we should have learned from recent violent events.

Our Enemy Islam Has Revealed All

Recent massacres reveal patterns that denial and euphemisms only worsen

By:         Everett Piper, The Washington Times (December 22, 2025).

It has been said that the best predictor of future behavior is always past behavior and that if you want to know what your neighbor is going to do tomorrow, it would be wise to pay attention to what he has already done. In the words of Sun Tzu: “Know your enemy” if you want to avoid the “peril of a hundred of battles.”

In light of recent atrocities, including the massacre of Jews in Australia and the butchery of Christians in Nigeria, as well as the shootings on the campus of Brown University, maybe it’s time we start acknowledging what we know about this enemy that seems so hell-bent on destroying us.

Whether it be the carnage of Oct. 7, 2023, the terrorism of 9/11 or the thwarted threats to bomb Los Angeles and various Christmas festivals across Europe, maybe, just maybe, it’s time we start being honest about what we see clearly before our very eyes and acknowledge that our enemy is telling us exactly who he is, what he believes and what he intends to do to us.

Who is this enemy? Put simply, it is Islam.

Before you shout, “Islamophobia!” you might want to remember that a fear is not irrational or “phobic” if it’s based on facts, and that it’s more insane to ignore someone who says he intends to kill you than it is to take him at his word and conclude he actually means it.

Now, we’ve all been reassured a thousand times over that the word “Islam” simply means submission to God. To those of us with Christian sympathies, that all sounds innocuous enough. Still, shouldn’t we consider how the Quran itself defines this “submission” and what it instructs its adherents to actually do?

Here is just a smattering of Quranic verses to that end.

First, the Quran is clear that all Muslims must work to convert Christians, Jews and all others to Islam — and kill them if they refuse.

Surah 2:191, for example, says explicitly, “And kill [non-Muslims] wherever you find them. … Such is the recompense of the disbelievers.” Surah 9:5 adds, “Kill the disbelievers wherever you find them, capture them and besiege them, and lie in wait for them in each and every ambush.”

No, these verses are not just anomalies; there’s more — a lot more — where this came from:

• Surah 3:28 says Muslims must not take the infidels (any non-Muslim) as friends.

• Surah 3:85 says any religion other than Islam is not acceptable.

• Surah 5:33 says maim and crucify the infidels if they criticize Islam.

• Surah 8:12 says terrorize and behead those who believe in scriptures other than the Quran.

• Surah 8:65 says the unbelievers are stupid and Muslims must fight them.

• Surah 9:123 says make war on the infidels living in your neighborhood.

• Surah 47:4 says do not seek peace with the infidels and behead them when you catch them.

This is all part and parcel of the Muslim worldview. This is what it is. It is right there in black and white.

George Santayana told us, “He who doesn’t learn the lessons of history is doomed to repeat them.” Many of our seminal leaders have learned these lessons and warned us of Islam’s threat to the civilized world and to our Judeo-Christian freedom.

Thomas Jefferson wrote to Congress: “The [Barbary] ambassador answered us that [their right to attack us] was founded on the Laws of the Prophet, that it was written in their Quran, that all nations who should not have answered their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and that every Mussulman who should be slain in battle was sure to go to Paradise.”

John Quincy Adams added: “The precept of the Quran is perpetual war against all who deny that Mahomet is the prophet of God. … The command to propagate the Muslim creed by the sword is always obligatory when it can be made effective. The commands of the prophet may be performed alike by fraud or by force.”

Winston Churchill, understanding Islam’s history all too well, said this: “How dreadful are the curses which Muhammadism lays on its votaries! … The influence of the religion paralyzes the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in this world.”

Only those who are blind, foolish and dumb ignore an enemy who says explicitly that he intends to kill you and your neighbors and then proceeds to do it. The lessons of history are clear. It’s not Christians and Jews who are spraying bullets into holiday festivals and shouting, “Death to the infidel.”

Worldviews matter. Some are enemies of life and freedom, and some are not. We ignore the difference at our peril.

Finally, we offer the following article which calls for a “divorce” from Islam, in the name of self-preservation.

ISLAM AND THE WEST:  Time For A Divorce

BY:          Jim Davis, The American Thinker (December 25, 2025).

Islam is simply incompatible with Western civilization, and that couldn’t be more evident considering the 2025 Christmas and Hanukkah season. We get it rubbed in our faces, time and time again, with one massacre after another. These aren’t just lone gunmen who go nuts. These are organized terrorism cells. Bondi Beach, a massacre allegedly committed by two Muslims (father and son), is only the latest example.

San Bernardino, California was the scene of a similar massacre by two Muslims (husband and wife). Nineteen Muslims, backed up by the wealth of other Muslims, gave us 9/11.

Only Islam commands its followers to “kill the infidels.” As a result, we constantly see two (or a lot more) Muslims banding together to kill the infidels. That’s us.

The gay nightclub shooting in Orlando was by one Muslim security guard, who targeted homosexuals — it was, presumably, driven by the Koran’s command to kill homosexuals. He killed 49 people and wounded 53.

There are literally hundreds of other examples from all over the world, such as the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris. I could publish an encyclopedia full of nothing but massacres of non-Muslims by Muslims, in the 20th and 21st centuries alone.

How To Stop the Violence

This has got to stop. Nobody is going to stop it, except Western governments. And there’s only one way to do it: ban Islamic immigration, revoke their refugee or temporary protected status, and deport those who are here illegally, for the same reason Germany banned the Nazi Party.

The Constitution forbids discrimination on the basis of religion, but this isn’t just a religion. And the Constitution isn’t a suicide pact.

Islam is a brutally misogynistic, brutally homophobic, brutally xenophobic, supremacist political ideology, pretending to be a religion. And it needs to be viewed that way by Western civilization. No matter how peaceful most Muslims seem, eventually a charismatic leader will come along who will radicalize them, for his own aggrandizement. That’s what’s going on right now in Iran.

Adolf Hitler had a Muslim infantry division in the Waffen SS for very good reasons. Islamists love killing Jews, which was permitted by a charismatic leader in Germany. If Islamists aren’t killing Jews, they’re killing Christians; or any other religion, nationality, or ethnic group.

Lebanon used to be a Christian nation. Afghanistan used to be a Buddhist nation. Pakistan used to be a Hindu nation. Now all three are Muslim nations. Does anyone notice a pattern?

The “Aliens” and “Green Apples” Analogies

Here’s a Facebook reel from Nathan Fang, using an “aliens from outer space” analogy. If aliens landed on Earth and began to harm us, Fang is convinced that “alien’s rights activists” would crop up shortly, advocating for the aliens and their right to remain.

There’s also a conservative gentleman in the UK who’s of Russian descent (I think, judging from his name) who did a Facebook reel on the following analogy: We have green apples, red apples, and yellow apples, just as we have Muslims, Christians, and Jews. But what if a tiny percentage of green apples were extremely toxic, and will kill whomever eats them. Would we have people insisting that green apples deserve to stay on the grocery shelf, for the sake of diversity?

Would we have scientists monitoring all the green apples carefully, developing some sort of hideously expensive system that detects which ones are toxic, at incredible expense (think of an America bristling with security cameras and traffic cams, like the quills on a porcupine — costing us not only tax dollars, but much of our privacy)?

No, we wouldn’t. We’d have the FDA banning green apples from our grocery stores.

The  “Neighbor” Analogy

The relationship between Islam and the West has been very much like that of a woman with a new, male neighbor. The following analogy will be condemned as collective punishment, as certainly, there are good Muslims in the world. But they have roughly 50 countries of their own, and they should stay there and make the best of what they have there.

In this analogy, when the lady’s new neighbor appeared, there was a lot of feuding: the Islamic invasion of western Europe in the 7th Century, followed by the Crusades, followed by two Turkish invasions that were stopped at the gates of Vienna in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Gradually, they established relative boundaries—but then the male neighbor developed a lucrative new career: oil. Eventually, the woman begins a relationship with him, because he’s got something she wants, and they marry.

Regardless of his professed good intentions, every now and then he beats her up — an analogy for all these massacres. Regardless of his wealth, every now and then he steals a piece of her heirloom jewelry, and sells it to support his drug habit — an analogy for the roughly $9 billion in fraud schemes we now see in Minnesota, almost entirely by Somali Muslims, also justified by the Koran (Surah Al-Anfal, Chapter 8; Surah Al-Hashr, Chapter 59; Surah Al-Baqarah, Chapter 2, Verse 190-194).

Any woman with any sense, and a husband who is really nice to her 99.99% of the time, but beats her up and steals from her 0.01% of the time, is going to start thinking about divorce. So she takes a look at his iPhone.

Every now and then, in his confidential texts to his pals, he openly admits that he wants to kill her — an analogy for all the “death to America” and “death to Israel” campaigns in Muslim nations.

Is there any doubt that such a woman would be hiring a divorce lawyer in a New York second?

Why An Immigration Ban Must Be Enforced

I realize that we’re not talking about aliens, or apples, or even one woman and her husband. We’re talking about billions of human beings: a clash of Western civilization with Islamic civilization. Each individual has a unique set of values and behaviors.

Muslims such as Ayaan Hirsi Ali have adopted Western values, but generally, we’re not compatible. The minority of Muslims who endorse or commit the killing of non-Muslims is too substantial. We should live in separate spaces. It’s time for a divorce.

The existing 50+ Muslim-majority nations can continue to be laboratories for the development of Islamic civilization. And I truly do wish them all the best. They have plenty of oil and other resources. If they’re moving in the right direction with free and fair elections, fair wages, personal liberty, honesty in government and a reduction in violence, we could even help with a little foreign aid where needed.

But not so much mingling. Not until Islamic cultures mature out of their current, violent phase.

Unfortunately, our own relatives, neighbors and friends — Western progressives — argue against divorce. “Muslims enrich us with their diversity,” they say. “And you’re living on stolen land anyway.”

When is the West going to stop listening to them, and do what is necessary for self-preservation?

GFK

“Christmas is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart.”

–Washington Irving.

Thank you, all you dear readers who took the time to send Christmas cards, and email me with Christmas wishes and greetings.  I cannot express to you all how much those messages meant.  I thoroughly enjoy overseeing The Observations daily publication, and I am gratified that so many of you read and enjoy it.  Even those dear readers who disagree, occasionally or regularly, are valued, welcomed, and appreciated.  Debate and thought are sadly disappearing throughout society, and our goal is to promote debate and thought as much as we can.  The feedback we get from our readers tells us that we just might be making a difference.  Thank you.

English and Holland are in South Carolina, visiting Gram and Rufe.  Dudley and I are enjoying an uneasy, fragile Christmas truce.  As usual, the dog blames me for English’s absence. It is so unfair.

Dudley and I shall spend the day together by the fire, reading, perhaps watching some football. I shall drink Scotch. Dudley will drink water. But if he is a good dog, some of the very delicious Christmas roast will be in his future.

Today, throughout the British Commonwealth, is celebrated as “Boxing Day”. In Britain, it was a custom for tradesmen to collect “Christmas boxes” of money or presents on the first weekday after Christmas as thanks for good service throughout the year.   This custom is linked to an older British tradition in which the servants of the wealthy were allowed the next day to visit their families since they would have had to serve their masters on Christmas Day.  The employers would give each servant a box to take home containing gifts, bonuses, and sometimes leftover food. Until the late 20th century, there continued to be a tradition among many in Great Britain to give a Christmas gift, usually cash, to vendors, although not on Boxing Day, as many would not work on that day.

“God rest you merry, gentlemen, let nothing you dismay; Remember Christ our Savior, was born on Christmas Day.”

GFK