“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

Merry Christmas to all!

The miracle and gifts of Christmas are not just for Christians. Christmas is for all. Believers, skeptics, and non-believers, including those who observe other faiths.

May the joy of Christmas reinforce the Faithful, persuade the skeptics, and convert the non-believers. May everyone’s heart be warmed and transformed, and dedicated to God’s Will and the love of their fellow man.

Thank you all for reading. I am very grateful.

GFK

“Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the King, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.” 

–Matthew 2:1-2

 “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”

–Winston L. S. Churchill

 “Down the ages from the first Christmas through all the years [since], mankind in its weary pilgrimage through the changing world has been strengthened by the message of Christmas . . . The religion which came to the world heralded by the song of the angels . . . remains today the world’s best hope . . . . “

 –Former President Harry S. Truman

 “Christmas is a time for children, and rightly so. We celebrate the birthday of the Prince of Peace who came as a babe in a manger. Some celebrate Christmas as the birthday of a great teacher and philosopher. But to other millions of us, Jesus is much more. He is divine, living assurance that God so loved the world He gave us His only begotten Son so that by believing in Him and learning to love each other we could one day be together in paradise.  It’s been said that all the kings who ever reigned, that all the parliaments that ever sat have not done as much to advance the cause of peace on Earth and good will to men as the man from Galilee, Jesus of Nazareth.”

–Former President Ronald Wilson Reagan

“I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me.’’

–Ebenezer Scrooge

“My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others.”

–Bob Hope

“God bless us, Every One!”

–Tiny Tim

“And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Cæsar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, good will toward men.”

 Luke 2:1-14

GOOD MORNING Mary Hazen!  Merry Christmas to all in Mississippi. I hope your shoulder is healing nicely!

And thank you for the cookbook and the Mississippi State bottle opener. I am cajoling English into baking your Cranberry Christmas cake. GO BULLDOGS!

GOOD MORNING Jay Wilson!  Merry Christmas.

HAPPINESS IS A COLD MARTINI MADE BY HOLLAND KOONTZ.  Shaken, not stirred.

Russell found the perfect martini recipe, with a ratio of gin to vermouth of 5:0. It is absolutely perfect.

Yesterday we all [well, not Dudley] went over the river and through the woods to the Chick-Fil-A in Purcellville, for our annual Christmas Peppermint milkshake. It was awesome. And do you know what goes well with a Peppermint milkshake? Chicken nuggets and waffle fries!

The Trump Administration announced the construction of a new class of battleship, the Trump Class. The new battleships will be the most powerful naval ships ever constructed. WINNING!

The United States economy grew at an annual rate of 4.3% in the 3rd quarter of this year. MORE WINNING!

The Trump Administration paused 5 off shore wind projects, due to national security concerns. Governor Kathy Hochul (D. N.Y.) and Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger (D. Va.) are not pleased.

The federal Department of Homeland Security just tripled the amount it will pay illegal aliens to self-deport, from $1,000.00 to $3,000.00. Since deportation proceedings can run, on average, a little more than $17,000.00, the payments are a bargain.

Congressional Democrats are outraged–OUTRAGED–that the Trump Administration is withdrawing a China Joe regulation that permitted immigrants to acquire a green card even if they were a “public charge” on welfare. Democrats are claiming that the rule is “cruel”, will “starve children”, etc., etc., etc. Horse hockey! The law–passed by Congress–requires that immigrants not be a “public charge”. The Trump Administration is merely abiding by a law that China Joe ignored.

“These military strikes against narco-terrorists carrying drugs in boats to the United States are legal.  They’re effective.  [Drug] traffic is way down.  The intelligence on which they are based is exquisitely good.”

–Senator John Kennedy (R. La.).

Senator Ruben Gallego (D. Az.) said that he was not concerned with stopping the flow of illegal narcotics into the United States. Huh. No surprise, since his father was a drug dealer. Apparently, like father, like son. No, Senator Gallego is more concerned that the Trump Administration’s actions in intercepting drug traffickers are damaging Venezuela. Seriously.

Remember all those Venezuelan illegal alien gang members the Trump Administration sent to El Salvador? Most of those gang members have been repatriated to their native Venezuela. But federal judge James Boasberg is not satisfied. He wants the Trump Administration to return all those illegal alien gang members to the United States, and provide them all a trial. Sigh. It is not going to happen.

Grifter George Conway, former husband of Kellyanne Conway, and disappointed applicant for a high position in the 1st Trump Department of Justice, has announced that he will be running for Congress, hoping to succeed Representative Jerry Nadler (D. N.Y.). HA, HA, HA! The “principled conservative” never was either “principled” or “conservative”, and now he has come out as a full-fledged Democrat. The truth is that most political figures have no principles. Most political figures crave power above all else.

California’s legislature passed a law requiring public school teachers to accommodate a student’s “gender transition”, and to keep the “transition” secret from parents. The law punished those who failed to accommodate the “transition” by using improper names or pronouns, or denying access to preferred restrooms. Well, the law is no more, as a federal judge has ruled that law unconstitutional. TAKE THAT, Governor Hair Gel!

A Pennsylvania public school bus driver was fired for requiring students to speak English while on the bus. The school district explained that the driver’s expectations were “racially insensitive”. Sigh. You cannot require someone to speak English in the United States of America? Sad.

The Mount Nittany Middle School [Pennsylvania] started a “Black Affinity Club”. No white students need apply. The establishment of a racially segregated club in a public school is apparently not “racially insensitive”.

In New Jersey, an illegal alien died of natural causes while in an ICE detention facility. Congressional Democrats are now demanding that the ICE detention facility be closed. Because . . . ?

The Minnesota welfare fraud keeps getting worse. Now federal authorities have discovered that the monies fraudulently obtained by Somalis are $9 billion, and rising. That is more than the entire Somali economy.

Governor Tampon Tim (D. Mn.) and Attorney General Keith Ellison (D. Mn.) should resign at once. Their incompetence, indeed their complicity, is self-evident. They are a disgrace.

The evil, religious hating Freedom From Religion Foundation sent a threatening letter to Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R. Ar.), demanding that she rescind her decision to close the State government on December 26, to permit State employees to enjoy another day off for the Christmas holiday. The atheists insisted that closing the State government on December 26 was unconstitutional–it is not–and that they would sue if Governor Sanders did not act. Sue away, because Governor Sanders properly responded that she would not bend to the Foundation’s evil demands.

ICE agents arrested an MS-13 assassin squad member in Nebraska. The assassin had been permitted into the country by China Joe.

For the 8th year in a row, Tito’s Vodka is Virginia’s best-selling alcoholic spirit. I personally know of a group of folks who have disproportionately contributed to Tito’s success in the Commonwealth. They are impressive and hard souls.

The Church of the Holy Redeemer was attacked by Islamic Arsonists in Jenin, Judea. The arsonists burnt down the parish’s Christmas tree, and attempted to burn down the whole Church. The religion of peace strikes again.

In Germany, a Syrian refugee who participated in the gang rape of a 15 year old girl in a public park was given a suspended jail sentence. A German woman who called the Syrian rapist a “disgraceful rapist pig” was sentenced to 3 days in jail for uttering “racially insensitive” comments to the man.

In England, retired pastor Clive Johnston is standing trial on criminal charges for preaching The Gospel in a local park. It seems that Reverend Johnston’s voice and words could be heard down the street, at a hospital that performed abortions. The criminal charges allege that Reverend Johnston’s words might have discouraged some woman (no one in particular) from having an abortion. The culture of death and tyranny are strangling the British people.

Another humiliation was visited upon Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, as special police arrived at his residence, and required him to surrender his firearms and shotgun licenses. It just keeps getting worse, and worse.

“Christmas is a day of meaning and traditions, a special day spent in the warm circle of family and friends.”

— Margaret Thatcher.

May tomorrow morning, you find yourself surrounded by the ones you love.  Merry Christmas!

GFK

“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