And we Bostonians lived with the Curse of the Bambino until 2004!

Government Officials Once Stopped False Accusations After Violence. Now, Some Join In. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/25/t... After the Brown killings, false statements and politically charged innuendo by prominent figures in business and government compounded public anger/anxiety.

The Class Where ‘Screenagers’ Train to Navigate Social Media and A.I. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/25/b... "students are trained to consult a variety of sources, recognize rage-baiting content, consider influencers’ motivations; they brainstorm ways to distinguish deepfakes fr real footage."

The Service Dogs Helping Veterans With PTSD www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/w... "In general, veterans need to be on V.A. disability benefits to qualify, but in 2024, over 1/3 of veterans’ claims for disability were denied—many b/c of missing documentation or other bureaucratic hurdles."

He Was Locked Up in a Psych Ward. It Helped Him Get His Life Together. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/n... The program takes mentally ill men/women who have languished for years on streets/subways... treats them until able to move into permanent supportive housing w on-site social services.

Made in New York: The Magic of Holiday Windows in Stores www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/n... "Santa Claus as we know him today was invented in New York. So were department store windows where the snow never melts and Santa’s cottony beard is always perfect..."

A Father, a Son and Their $108 Billion Push for Media Moguldom www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/b... If the Ellisons prevail...they could become as influential as the Murdochs... manipulating the news, presenting their own heavily biased opinions as factual truths. God help us all.

Kennedy Center’s Christmas Eve Jazz Show Canceled After Trump Name Added to Building www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/u... A Profile in Courage

www.bostonglobe.com/2025/12/24/n... “We need to get better at treating this like a business,”

www.bostonglobe.com/2025/12/24/m... “The federal narrative that we’re hearing is that fraud, waste, and abuse are rampant.... that’s just not borne out by our experience.....one case is being used to tie into broader narratives about fraud by SNAP recipients is completely false.”

December 23, 2025 open.substack.com/pub/heatherc... "For one night a year, the hard-edged world of international alliances, intelligence, radar, satellites, and fighter jets turns into a night for adults to create a magical world for children." Thank you NORAD! AND MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

www.wwiimemorialfriends.org/blog/christm... A much needed reminder of American values, determination, and willingness to sacrifice for the common good... not just for fellow Americans, but for all humankind. Be sure to watch the brief video that follows. It will warm your heart.

"To sit in solitude, to think in solitude with only the music of the stream and the cedar to break the flow of silence, there lies the value of wilderness." John Muir Mr. Muir nailed it.

U.S. Bars 5 European Tech Regulators and Researchers www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/t... God forbid we should allow experts into our country!

Stephen Miller Cites Children of Immigrants as a Problem www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/u... Interesting that Miller singles out children of Somali immigrants as exemplars of problematic outcomes. Could it be because they happen to be black...and encounter prejudice at ever turn?

All I asked for was one darn thing. Seems Santa needs to make amends this year.

How Did DOGE Disrupt So Much While Saving So Little? www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/u... "Many of the largest savings that DOGE claimed turned out to be wrong.

Something to remind you It's a world worth saving

After Power Outage, San Francisco Wonders: Can Robot Taxis Handle a Big Earthquake? www.nytimes.com/2025/12/22/u... Why do we NEED robot taxis in the first place. That's what I've been wondering.

Hundreds of Big Post-Election Donors Have Benefited From Trump’s Return to Office www.nytimes.com/interactive/... Unfortunately, I've run up against of the quota in my NYT subscription that allows me to share this article. Pls find it if you can. It's the story of shameless corruption.

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Trump Halts 5 Wind Farms Off the East Coast www.nytimes.com/2025/12/22/c... Who cares about climate science when Big Oil is running the show? Thank you Supreme Court for the Citizens United decision that motivates the President to make policy decisions that his biggest donors.

Trump Administration Orders Nearly 30 U.S. Ambassadors to Leave Their Posts www.nytimes.com/2025/12/22/u... Chaos reigns supreme as Trump continues to fire people with expertise and experience. Are we "great" yet?

Trump Administration Orders Nearly 30 U.S. Ambassadors to Leave Their Posts www.nytimes.com/2025/12/22/u... Chaos reigns supreme as Trump continues to fire people with expertise and experience. Are we "great" yet?

Pot, meet kettle.

U.S. Tanker Seizures Begin to Draw International and Domestic Scrutiny www.nytimes.com/2025/12/22/w... Hasn't Hegseth made a point of saying "We aren't into regime change"? This Administration's incompetent Cabinet members contradict one another as they scramble to explain themselves.

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For Fallen Syrian Dictator Assad and Family, an Exile of Luxury and Impunity www.nytimes.com/2025/12/22/w... Assad is a mass murderer. He should be in prison.

The CBS 60 Minutes Doc confirms what we knew: The U.S. is currently using our tax dollars to imprison brown people with no criminal record in torture camps overseas. It’s no wonder administration shill Bari Weiss pulled this off the air: www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjY7...

F.D.A. Approves New Weight-Loss Pill www.nytimes.com/2025/12/22/w... Are weight loss pills truly the right answer? Big Agra is fighting w Big Pharma here: store shelves overflow w tempting-looking processed foods, snacks , flavored drinks; fast-food drive-thrus on every corner.

Trump Announces New ‘Trump Class’ of Warships www.nytimes.com/2025/12/22/u... More self-aggrandizing absurdity. It's endless. (The gold-encrusted piano is a nice touch.)

December 21, 2025 open.substack.com/pub/heatherc... .D. Vance needs to learn his history: 1790: George Washington assured a Jewish congregation:...that “[a]ll possess alike liberty of conscience." He wrote: The government “gives to bigotry no sanction...to persecution no assistance.”

Christianity Is a Dangerous Faith www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/o... I believe the title of this essay is wrong. It's fundamentalism that's dangerous, whatever the religion, philosophy, or world view.

‘60 Minutes’ Pulled a Segment. A Correspondent Calls It ‘Political.’ www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/b... With billionaires owning/controlling the media--we no longer have a free press.

Waymo Suspended Service in San Francisco After Its Cars Stalled During Power Outage www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/u... Ha! Not so smart, after all...

www.bostonglobe.com/2025/12/21/w... Settlements on the West Bank. Scorched Earth in Gaza. Where are Palestinians supposed to go? Or are they just supposed to disappear? Obviously, Israel has not intention of living peacefully, side by side, with Palestinians. Ever.

www.bostonglobe.com/2025/12/19/m... "... a Disney-level immersive experience, five acres of Santas and snowmen and animatronic figures and lights, lights, and more lights." CHRISTMAS MAGIC!

www.bostonglobe.com/2025/12/19/b... Video surveillance/license plate readers can be key tools for law enforcement and help keep us safe. As for I.C.E.: cruel policies/thuggish behavior are the real problem--not the means they use for finding/identifying people.

Big Agra doesn't care about the purity or quality of food. It's all about profits. Poison? Who cares!

"Writing is a combination of intangible creative fantasy and appallingly hard work." Anthony Powell, born on this day in 1905

A ‘Timeout Box’ in an Elementary School Draws Outrage: ‘This is Not OK’ www.nytimes.com/2025/12/20/n... If this is a teacher's way of dealing with disabled, troubled, or nonverbal students--or any behavioral issue--no doubt every young child in the classroom is traumatized.

329 Days of Trump, Trump, Trump www.nytimes.com/interactive/... And the chaos, nastiness, negativity and destructive decisions he's foisting upon us have made 75 million who voted against him...plus millions more who decided not to vote at all...distressed and depressed beyond words.

WHERE ARE THE PEOPLE!? Where is Congress? Where are they? I want to film this for my kids & my grandkids. I want them to see the day democracy died in Washington, D.C. Even George is upset 🦮 & we should all be shocked! No one is here to say this is wrong! I was born here. I'm Andrew Howard. 1/5🧵

Like Jim Crow (and slavery), mass incarceration operates as a tightly networked system of laws, policies, customs, and institutions that operate collectively to ensure the subordinate status of a group defined largely by race - Michelle Alexander Pic of the day #photography

U.S. Coast Guard Boards Tanker Carrying Venezuelan Oil www.nytimes.com/2025/12/20/u... The Trump Administration must be the most creative in U.S. history in coming up with convoluted fabrications and half truths to justify its outrageous decisions and reckless, bullying thuggery.

Announcing the 7 winners of the 2025 Weemsy Awards™ which spotlight the stupid, false, & outrageous things that public figures say about #UShistory. Some of the award categories: The Most Inaccurate Claim about the Founding Fathers. #blackhistory www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8Uw2kLP/ #petehegseth #jdvance

In 1913 my grandparents emigrated fr a village now in Lebanon--about 50 mi north of the Israeli border. With them they brought an atlas. The page showing land now comprising Israel shows Arab and Jewish village used to exist side peaceably side by side. www.npr.org/transcripts/...

Trains have got winter sorted. Next challenge, please.

‘It was snowing. It was always snowing at Christmas. December, in my memory, is white as Lapland, though there were no reindeers. But there were cats.’ ~ Dylan Thomas, A Child's Christmas in Wales. #BookWormSat 🖼️ White Cat in a Blue Winter, Mary Stubberfield.

R.F.K. Jr. Likely to Swap U.S. Childhood Vaccine Schedule for Denmark’s www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/h... "the childhood vaccination schedule in the United States ha[s] been tailored for the country’s large and diverse population and patchy system of medical care."