I like to think of it as Hermitage American because they’ve aligned themselves so thoroughly with St. Petersburg.

The boss gives his minion instructions. The minion carries out his assigned tasks. The minion reports back. Is that the sequence?

It’s an unfortunate fact (or seems to be) that messages about immigrants’ demand side land more easily than the supply side. “Immigrants take houses” works on many voters; “Immigrants build houses” on fewer. Worse, data showing immigrants create more than they consume seems to have no effect.

You know that “what’s the best insult you’ve heard” thing? I have a niche entrant in the competition.

"Does anyone know what Somaliland is, really?" In Trumpspeak, this is the inverse of "Most people don't know x." The first means: "I don't know what Somaliland is." The second means: "I just learned x." He has this weird quasi-solipsism where if he doesn't know a fact, no one knows it.

The Boxing Day Test continues to dissatisfy everybody

Scenes from life as an American Jew The synagogue board member starting announcements from the bima on Friday night, December 26, by mentioning having had dim sum yesterday with the rabbi

How many times must we see this story? The Telegraph telling us in the UK that non-doms will leave the UK if taxed fairly. The US press saying the wealthy would leave if Massachusetts adopted a wealth tax. All the “the rich will flee Mamdani’s NY” stories. This isn’t reporting; it’s lobbying.

I would never say there are too many bowl games. A Friday night featuring a team that went 5-3 in Conference USA against a team that went 4-4 in the American Conference isn't exactly appointment television, though.

You know that “what’s the best insult you’ve heard” thing? I have a niche entrant in the competition.

Fact of the day: Every recipient of a FIFA Peace Prize has bombed a foreign country on the succeeding Christmas Day. Every. Single. One. It’s spooky.

Most understated, proportional, & well-earned take down: A man & a woman lawyer were on the same side in the Ohio Supreme Court. When the Chief Justice called the woman to the podium, the man stood up & said that they’d divide time but she’d go first. The Chief deadpanned, “That’s why I called her.”

I know what these words mean, but I swear I’m still an American.

I think someone should tell them that "Boxing Day Test" doesn't mean they have to *finish* on Boxing Day.

Fact of the day: Every recipient of a FIFA Peace Prize has bombed a foreign country on the succeeding Christmas Day. Every. Single. One. It’s spooky.

I was not a cricket fan in the '80s or "90s, so it's really fun for me to experience classic hits like The Inspired England Performance When The Ashes Are Already Lost.

Today is the day when Trump wrapped up the Nobel Peace Prize. There’s no point nominating anyone else.

Anyway, it's time to take Bluesky back from the miserabilists over the pond with our own special brand of misery. England opting to bowl first on a green pitch under grey skies, so what do we reckon: 120-0 at lunch? #TheCricket

"Traditional" is doing some extraordinarily heavy lifting

The thing about social media is we get to subskeet billionaires. Whether this makes us more or less likely to build guillotines is unclear; which of those you think would be a good thing is a value judgment left as an exercise for the reader.

Somehow, the Defender of the Faith in a* country that has an* established church, giving a speech on Christmas that includes a Christian message about the birth of Jesus, is able to recognize the many faiths among the people in a way DHS, in a secular republic with the First Amendment, cannot.

Japanese people have had their KFC & Christmas cakes, so they’re amped up, & they have a couple of days before they have to start to make mochi for New Year’s. This is a dangerous time to provoke them, Elon.

I think there may be a revolution in Oregon on Christmas Day

Another plank in my 2028 platform: I may be a Jew, but if called upon to talk to children about Christmas & Santa Claus, I’ll be a lot more normal & less likely to traumatize them than the last guy.

During the year’s busiest season of charitable giving, donors may wonder whether the nonprofits they are considering donating to are going to be good stewards of their money. Our Nonprofit Explorer can help you look into that:

House elves have it easy

For the life of me, I don’t know why the Dems backed off the “these guys are weird” schtick around September 2024

It was 3 years ago that @carlcecere.bsky.social so ably, and kindly, filed this brief in support of my daughters making Santa’s “nice” list. I have no doubt his briefing, along with the girls’ kindness throughout the year, made the difference.

If my Christian children were 8 years old again, there’s no way I’d let them take a call from Trump to talk about Christmas

Give me a list of your victims’ names, Stephen. I’ll scramble the order. You pick a number between 1 & however many victims there are. We go to that name on the on the scrambled list. If you bring them home from CECOT, they can stay with me & my elderly parents. I dare you.

TIL Christians have a version of Tekiah Gedolah

Too bad the Massie bill requiring the release of the Epstein files didn’t include a criminal offense & penalties. OTOH, the omission will help cut down my popcorn consumption in 2029.

Live your life so corrupt, dictatorial regimes don’t have the moral high ground when they criticize you

As a Jew, I agree on his point with the kind of people who insist the Framers established a Christian country: Christmas is a Christian holiday. The season is encrusted with secular & pagan elements. Non-Christians participate in much of it. But it trivializes the day to deny its Christian nature.

The announcement this week that will put the Epstein Files debacle off the front pages: Trump decrees that Christmas will no longer be a federal holiday & will be replaced by Trump’s birthday.

No one skeeting about the Kennedy Center Honors show (on my skyline, anyway). Is almost as if no one around here is watching it.

Live your life so corrupt, dictatorial regimes don’t have the moral high ground when they criticize you

I want to defend the Atlantic, but then they keep publishing substandard shit just to be contrarian

Bill of Attainder in constitutional litigation is like lupus in “House”: someone always thinks of it, but it’s never the right answer Also, if anyone did break the Bill of Attainder Clause, it would have to be a legislature Trump finds previously inconceivable ways to break the Constitution

Cognoscenti know footnote 4 is the first place to look for the key text in a SCOTUS opinion

SCOTUS turning down a Trump administration emergency application is like the Titans beating the Chiefs. This was a case with two torn ACLs, resulting in a very uncharacteristic outcome. And yet Trump came closer than the Chiefs, losing only by a FG (or a 2:1 ratio, if you prefer).

Ilan Wurman, Executive Allegiance as a Precondition for a Free Press, 32 George Mason L. Rev. 601 (forthcoming 2026)

For those waiting for handwriting experts to verify the Epstein-Nassar postcard: color me skeptical. This article is from 2001. Criminal lawyer friends: today, is handwriting analysis pretty much universally accepted by courts, the way it used to be?

The splintering of the right is interesting to watch, but these people are armed & think political violence is cool. If they start killing each other, they may or may not get away with blaming “the Left,” but it won’t be pretty either way.

I wonder how the Kennedy Center board’s independence compares to that of a typical publicly traded corporation’s board. @annmlipton.bsky.social?

He’s not helping CBS avoid the impression that it’s a regime propaganda organ. Not that they’ve been trying to avoid that. Collaborationist Broadcasting System. Command, Bull Shit on. Anyway, Kennedy Center Honors? I’m not going to watch that harder than I’ve ever not watched a program before.

This week, I’m glad not to be Christian. Christmas in politically divided families is going to be LIVELY this year. There could be fistfights in church & divorces launched before the kids have even broken their first toy.

Too bad Bari Weiss is one of (((us))). Otherwise, she’d be getting a visit on Wednesday from the ghosts of Murrow, Cronkite, & Wallace.

If the original Nazis had been as inept as this crew, they’d have gassed themselves

If Bari Weiss had ruled in Bush vs Gore, Bill Clinton would have somehow gotten a third term