December 25, 2025

Marie: Almost every day is No King's Day here in the U.S. But since we don't have a president -- the guy in the White House took the occasion of a high Christian holy day to call us scum -- I thought I'd make this my Borrow-a-King Day. Charles' Christmas message, though couched in the religious foundation a Defender of the Faith would do, is still the sort of address a real president would convey: ~~~

 

Motoko Rich of the New York Times: “Pope Leo XIV on Thursday used his first Christmas message as pontiff to call for 'peace and consolation for the victims of all current wars in the world' as well as for those suffering from 'injustice, political instability, religious persecution and terrorism.' Leo echoed many of the concerns of his predecessor, Pope Francis, urging protection for refugees, victims of climate disasters, the unemployed and the exploited. Leo called for 'dialogue' in Latin America amid an escalating U.S. naval campaign there and for better care for migrants who 'traverse the American continent.' And he pushed for 'respectful dialogue' in Europe as leaders seek peace in Ukraine.” The AP's report is here.

Peter Nicholas of NBC News: "After midnight [Christmas morning]..., the president posted or reposted more than 100 times on his Truth Social website, in many cases amplifying messages disparaging perceived political foes. As Christmas Day broke, the president made clear he is still captivated by his loss to Joe Biden in 2020.... Trump shared several posts attacking Somali immigrants." ~~~

     ~~~ As RAS wrote earlier, "At this point Fat Hitler doesn't even try any more with his holiday greetings. It is literally a form letter where they just insert the current holiday and the rest of the message is virtually the same. Even his messages and insults are tired and falling asleep. Very low energy." 

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~~~ Thanks to Patrick for the link.

~~~ Siobhán O'Grady & Anastacia Galouchka of the Washington Post: “‘Carol of the Bells’ was born in a Ukrainian city destroyed by Russia.... The piece [composed by Mykola Leontovych] has long served as an unofficial anthem for the city [of Pokrovsk], where he lived from 1904 to 1908.... Singing the song in its original Ukrainian remains an act of resistance against Russian aggression — and a reminder of Ukraine’s contributions to the global cultural canon.... The lyrics never even mention Christmas. Instead, voices describe a swallow fluttering through the sky as it ushers in a prosperous new year, urging a farmer to greet his newborn lambs and celebrate his future.... The song only made its major debut abroad in 1922, one year after a Soviet security agent assassinated Leontovych over his nationalist views. A Ukrainian choir promoting the country’s independence and cultural heritage performed it in Carnegie Hall that year to remarkable reviews — although some American newspapers wrongly praised it as Russian music.”

Steve Kenny of the New York Times: “Pope Leo XIV surprised the rain-soaked faithful in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday night with an apology, delivered in both English and Italian, to those who were unable to get inside the basilica for the American-born pontiff’s first Christmas Eve Mass. '“Welcome!' he said in English, greeting the thousands who were packed into the square. 'Basilica of St. Peter’s is very large, but unfortunately it is not large enough to receive all of you. I admire and respect and thank you for your courage and your wanting to be here this evening.' Then, in Italian, he continued: 'Despite the weather, we want to celebrate the Christmas feast together.' 'Merry Christmas to all of you!' he said, before adding, still in Italian, 'Please follow the celebration on the screen.' The celebration lasted almost two and a half hours and ended with a traditional homily from the Chicago native....”

Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night 
Stays these couriers from the swift completion 
Of their appointed rounds. ~~~

~~~ Steven Kurutz of the New York Times: “With the Postal Service seemingly in jeopardy, it’s worth taking a moment to reflect on the nation’s more than 500,000 postal employees. During the holiday season, the busiest time of year for the agency, a mail carrier laden with packages is part Santa Claus, part federal emissary.” ~~~

     ~~~ Rockwell's "Jolly Postman" (1949).

Marie: I apologize. It may be a day of spiritual joy for millions of Americans, but this year Christmas is still a news day: 

Hillel Italie of the AP: “A planned Christmas Eve jazz concert at the Kennedy Center, a holiday tradition dating back more than 20 years, has been canceled. The show’s host, musician Chuck Redd, says that he called off the performance in the wake of the White House announcing last week that ... Donald Trump’s

name would be added to the facility.... 'When I saw the name change on the Kennedy Center website and then hours later on the building, I chose to cancel our concert,' Redd told The Associated Press in an email Wednesday. Redd, a drummer and vibraphone player who has toured with everyone from Dizzy Gillespie to Ray Brown, has been presiding over holiday 'Jazz Jams' at the Kennedy Center since 2006, succeeding bassist William 'Keter' Betts.” (Also linked yesterday.)

David Edwards of the Raw Story: "'The Kennedy Center Honors' reportedly drew its lowest ratings ever after ... Donald Trump announced he would host the event. 'According to preliminary Nielsen data, "The Kennedy Center Honors" on CBS drew its smallest audience ever on the night of December 23, 2025, averaging an estimated 2.65 million viewers,' Programming Insider reported on Wednesday. 'To put that in perspective: the 2024 broadcast averaged 4.1 million.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Donald Trump Has a Lump of Coal for Each of Us. Lisa Friedman & Maxine Joselow of the New York Times: “A day after the Trump administration acted to throttle offshore wind farms, it tossed two lifelines to coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel and a favored industry of the president. The government ordered two coal-burning power plants in Indiana to continue operating past their scheduled closure dates while it also gave hundreds of coal plants an additional five years before they need to prevent toxic chemicals from leaching into sources of drinking water. The dual moves late on Tuesday were part of the administration’s sweeping effort to bolster the struggling coal industry and avoid having coal plants close on ... [Donald] Trump’s watch.... Burning coal produces more planet-warming carbon dioxide than any other form of energy. It also emits mercury, a powerful neurotoxin, and other heavy metals.”

Nothing Wrong with These People~~~

~~~ A Christmas Message from Donald Trump: Merry Christmas to all, including the Radical Left Scum that is doing everything possible to destroy our Country, but are failing badly. We no longer have Open Borders, Men in Women’s Sports, Transgender for Everyone, or Weak Law Enforcement. What we do have is a Record Stock Market and 401K’s, Lowest Crime numbers in decades, No Inflation, and yesterday, a 4.3 GDP, two points better than expected. Tariffs have given us Trillions of Dollars in Growth and Prosperity, and the strongest National Security we have ever had. We are respected again, perhaps like never before. God Bless America!!! President DJT (via Mediaite) ~~~

~~~ A Christmas Eve Message from Donald Trump: Stephen Colbert is a pathetic trainwreck, with no talent or anything else necessary for show business success. Now, after being terminated by CBS, but left out to dry, he has actually gotten worse, along with his nonexistent ratings. Stephen is running on hatred and fumes ~ A dead man walking! CBS should, ‘Put him to sleep,’ NOW, it is the humanitarian thing to do! – One of a spree of rants about late night TV hosts Trump posted to Truth Social (via Joe Jervis; thanks to RAS for the link) (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Charlie Nash of Mediaite: “Donald Trump told a child on Christmas Eve, Wednesday, that he had to track Santa Claus to make sure that 'Santa is being good' and that a 'bad Santa' is not 'infiltrating into our country.'” ~~~

~~~ Tom Ambrose of the Independent: “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has released an AI-generated Christmas advert, showing Santa Claus working as an ICE agent. The video, in which an imposing Father Christmas is seen wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying weapons, urges undocumented immigrants to leave the country voluntarily.... The video encourages undocumented immigrants to 'avoid Santa’s naughty list' by self-deporting using the CBP One app, which was previously used by the Biden administration to allow migrants to enter the U.S. legally. A caption for the video says participants will receive $3,000 and a free flight to their home country if they leave voluntarily.... DHS followed up the post with a GIF of ... Donald Trump doing his signature dance move, but superimposed onto Santa’s sleigh.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

Here's a Christmas tale courtesy of Stephen Colbert, tasteless but not necessarily inappropriate: ~~~

Devlin Barrett & Michael Gold of the New York Times: “The Justice Department said on Wednesday that it had discovered over a million more documents potentially related to the investigation of the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — increasing the amount previously known and lengthening the time it will take to release the material. To date, the department has released about 130,000 pages of information, some of it redacted.... On Wednesday, the Justice Department said the F.B.I. and the U.S. attorney’s office in the Southern District of New York, which oversaw the investigations into Mr. Epstein and his longtime confidante, Ghislaine Maxwell, had informed the department 'that they have uncovered over a million more documents potentially related to the Jeffrey Epstein case.'” The link appears to be a gift link. (Also linked yesterday.)

David McAfee of the Raw Story: "Donald Trump's name appears on a newly released Epstein file in which a purported victim makes allegations about a newborn baby being murdered and dumped in Lake Michigan. The Justice Department released this file ahead of Christmas Eve in which an unnamed individual, on Aug. 3, 2020, is looking for an update on the status of their earlier complaint. The report lists Jeffrey Epstein as the perpetrator and Trump as the witness."

Marie: Tuesday evening, I posted this:

⭐“No Longer at This Address” Edward Helmore of the Guardian: “A disturbing letter that appears to have been written by Jeffrey Epstein and sent to Larry Nassar, the US Olympics gymnastics team doctor convicted of sexual abuse, is included the latest batch of Epstein-related documents released by the US government. 'As you will know by now, I have taken the “short route” home,' the letter, which appears to have been signed from Epstein to Nasser, reads. 'Good luck! We shared one thing … our love & caring for young ladies and the hope they reach their full potential.' The letter continues: 'Our president [Trump] also shares our love of young, nubile girls. When a young beauty walked by he loved to “grab snatch”, whereas we ended up snatching grub in the mess halls of the system.' The letter is signed: 'Life is unfair. Yours, J. Epstein.'... 

“The existence of the letter was first reported in 2023 by the Associated Press after it was discovered in the midst of more than 4,000 pages of documents held by the Bureau of Prisons. The letter is postmarked 13 August 2019, notably three days after Epstein died in custody in what was ruled a suicide. It was found by investigators in the jail mail room weeks later after it was returned from a prison in Arizona and marked 'no longer at this address'.” ~~~

~~~ Update: CNN is now reporting on-air that DOJ claims this letter -- which DOJ itself released, of course -- is a fake. Who knows? ~~~

~~~ Update 2: The Guardian article linked above has now been modified to indicate the DOJ says the letter is a fake. The Guardian links to the FBI's "proofs" -- outlined in an X post -- that the letter isn't real. ~~~

Marie: I did not bother to repost any of this yesterday because I figured the subject was literally a "dead letter. But then. Last evening I watched the video embedded next. Keith Edwards is among the sensationalist left-wing podcasters who populate the Internet. I listen to them occasionally, but I seldom link their podcasts, because they're so biased, so often bathed in breathless unproven assumptions and generally over-the-top. Nevertheless, Edwards is one of the more sensible people working this genre, and his report this evening on the supposedly debunked Epstein letter to Nassar makes a sense to me. ~~~  

Jazmine Ulloa & Charlotte Dulaney of the New York Times: “A quiet Baltimore suburb was shaken Wednesday morning after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot an undocumented driver trying to evade arrest, according to ICE and local officials, resulting in a crash that left the driver and a passenger hospitalized.... Justin Mulcahy, a spokesman for the Anne Arundel County Police, confirmed the shooting in a news conference. After ICE agents approached the van, he said, 'that van attempted to run agents over.' He added that after the agents opened fire, the vehicle accelerated and eventually came to rest in a wooded area nearby.”  

Joey Cappelletti of the AP: “A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from enforcing a March presidential memorandum to revoke the security clearance of prominent Washington attorney Mark Zaid, ruling that the order — which also targeted 14 other individuals — could not be applied to him.... The March presidential memorandum singled out Zaid and 14 other individuals who the White House asserted were unsuitable to retain their clearances because it was 'no longer in the national interest.' The list included targets of Trump’s fury from both the political and legal spheres, including former Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, New York Attorney General Letitia James, former President Joe Biden and members of his family. The action was part of a much broader retribution campaign that Trump has waged since returning to the White House....” (Also linked yesterday.)

Sarah Fortinsky of the Hill: “A federal judge on Tuesday rejected the Trump administration’s bid to block New York’s so-called Green Light Law, which allows the state to issue driver’s licenses to people without requiring proof that they’re in the country legally. U.S. District Judge Anne Nardacci in Albany ruled that the Trump administration failed to support its claims that certain provisions of the state law are preempted by federal law, impermissibly regulate the federal government, or impermissibly discriminate against the federal government. (Also linked yesterday.)

Tom Durante of Mediaite: “Former Special Counsel Jack Smith has demanded that House Republicans release the 'full videotape' of his nine-hour testimony before the House Judiciary Committee earlier this month. The letter, obtained by CBS’s Scott MacFarlane on Wednesday, was sent to the committee’s chairman, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH). In it, Smith’s lawyers ask for the 'prompt public release' of Smith’s testimony, during which he discussed his classified documents, obstruction of justice, and election-tampering investigations into ... Donald Trump.”

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Honduras. Annie Correal & Jeff Ernst of the New York Times: “Election officials in Honduras on Wednesday declared Nasry Asfura, a former mayor endorsed by ... [Donald] Trump, as the winner of the country’s presidential election, after weeks of delays, technical issues and claims of fraud. Mr. Asfura became the Central American country’s next president by a razor-thin margin after a hard-fought contest between two right-wing candidates that was upended by Mr. Trump’s involvement, and a vote count that took more than three weeks to play out.”