KIMMEL, to the UK: “.. It may not seem like it, but we love you guys. .. We’re going through a bit of a wobble right now, but we’ll come around. .. Give us about three years.” @jimmykimmel.com

“.. The concert had been held at the Kennedy Center for 20 years ..” @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/u...

“.. fame and exceptionalism can be very, very destructive. .. I think it’s good to make your own bed, it’s good to go do your shopping, to have your feet on the ground, to know that you’re a human being as well. The other stuff is projection.” - Annie Lennox, born today in 1954 💕

“Eminence Front” turns 43 today. 🎸 “I hesitate to try to explain what it was about,” Townshend told @rollingstone.com. “It’s clearly about the absurdity of drug-fueled grandiosity — but whether I was pointing the finger at myself or at the cocaine dealers of Miami Beach is hard to recall.”

Donald Trump, basically acknowledging that so far at least he’s losing the fight over Epstein.

I can’t believe they’re doing this to the only person on earth who’s won the FIFA peace prize.

“.. What happened to Rob and Michele is an obscenity, an abyss in lived reality. .. I have to be allowed to imagine .. that one day, I’ll be at a dinner or a party and find myself seated next to Rob .. and feel lucky all over again to have him as a friend.” www.nytimes.com/2025/12/25/o...

“.. 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 .. @apnews.com apnews.com/article/kenn...

“.. His fingerprints are so evident on the GOP’s redistricting plan that some White House aides refer to it as ‘Blairymandering.’” @wsj.com www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

We might not be able to watch “A Charlie Brown Christmas” around a TV together like we once used to, but we can still listen to its classic soundtrack—that rare artistic artifact that transcends what it was made to accompany, writes Anna Holmes:

The condescension and moral preening are getting all the glory in this email, but don’t sleep on the new head of CBS News declaring that the last 7 days were a “slow news week.”

Data is wonky right now with Nielsen's new "big data" panel. But in prelims, KenCen did just 2.65M viewers. Even with a massive 25% lift, the show still finishes in the mid-3M range-- well below last year. In demos, it's even more of a massacre-- currently it's a 0.14, roughly HALF of 2024 show

Last year, the KENNEDY CENTER HONORS scored its smallest audience ever, with 4.1M viewers. In 2022, it averaged 5.2M viewers. Still too early for a final number, but based on early data, the so-called "Trump" KenCenter Honors will be the least-watched ever and may lose to HIGH POTENTIAL reruns.

“.. But many of them were conspicuously quiet on Tuesday, when the Justice Department released a batch of materials that contained hundreds of mentions of Mr. Trump.” @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/u...

“.. On Sunday, J. D. Vance was presented with the simplest moral test: denounce commentators who traffic in medieval blood libels, who deny the Holocaust, and who endlessly harp on evil Jewish cabals.” @theatlantic.com www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...

“.. Weiss, a digital provocateur .. has cascaded through a series of unforced errors since her arrival ..” @bristei.bsky.social $PSKY variety.com/2025/tv/news...

Since the DOJ is now saying they have "uncovered" one million more documents they claim to not know about, doesn't that put seriously in doubt this absurd claim by FBI Director Patel that Epstein had not trafficked anyone?

Biggie releases “Big Poppa” as a single 31 years ago today — one of the last tracks recorded for his “Ready to Die” LP. “.. I just tell what I know,” he said. “I tell what I see. I tell what I live.”

unfortunately for Bari, people can see the story she killed to please her paymasters for themselves; the only person whose trust is being put to the test is her own

Bari Weiss just sent this Christmas Eve email to the CBS News staff about "building trust," which includes her tripling down on spiking the CECOT piece "to make sure it's comprehensive and fair." One CBS staffer tells me: "She really has no idea how insulting she comes across."

“Like prime, but with human beings”

Nat King Cole releases his 4th and most-famous recording of “The Christmas Song” today in 1961. Years earlier, songwriters Mel Tormé and Bob Wells had taken it to Nat King Cole’s house. “Play that again,” Cole said. They did, but before they finished, Cole said, “Stop everything. That's my song.”

“.. We need to get better at treating this like a business,” ICE acting director Todd M. Lyons said .. as efficiently as Amazon moves packages: “Like Prime, but with human beings.” @washingtonpost.com www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

“.. if an applicant can find Trump at Mar-a-Lago or a White House event and ask for a pardon directly, Trump is often inclined to be helpful, administration officials said—particularly if someone says the magic words: ‘unjust persecution.’” @wsj.com www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Now that Stephen Miller is calling for CBS to fire journalists who are trying to tell the truth about Trump's mass deportations, it's a good time to check out our deep reported dive into Miller's real worldview and agenda:

#ThingsThatMatter 🤡

A lovely, festive time celebrating with the Goldenaires at Freedom House! Thank you to the Goldenaires for all that you do, and thank you to all of our seniors building community every day of the year.

Just imagining if Merrick Garland’s DOJ had shitposted.

No 60 Minutes segment can be considered complete without this kind of erudite analysis on the issues of our day.

* S&P 500 HITS INTRADAY RECORD HIGH @reuters.com

More #JoblessRecovery chatter: @byheatherlong.bsky.social

".. The sluggish deal activity has led to the once unimaginable: For the past several years, private equity’s annual returns have been lower than the S&P 500’s." @nytimes.com @maureenfarrell.bsky.social $CG www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/b...

Via Schwab:

But of course.

“.. In an age of A.I., where all the white-collar jobs are going away pretty damn quick, I think maybe it’s a good time for people to think about having good blue-collar jobs,” Peter Navarro, the president’s top trade adviser, told CNBC.

“Dismal,” “confused,” “demoralized,” “super fucked.” That, as one reporter tells Vanity Fair, is the mood inside CBS after editor Bari Weiss pulled a 60 Minutes segment that was critical of the Trump administration.

Happy birthday, @diedrichbader.bsky.social 🎂

“The Holdovers” is a great, under-appreciated Christmas film — and it solidifies Giamatti as one of our finest screen actors. 💕 (Payne, 2023)

IP: “.. Few would object if pre-2025 Hassett took the helm of the Fed. The worry is that the Hassett of 2025 shows up instead.” @wsj.com www.wsj.com/economy/cent...

“.. He's waged war against a group of producers that literally have no real effect on the price of beef in the store," said Todd Hertzog, owner and operator of beef processor Hertzog Meat Company in Butler, Missouri.” @reuters.com www.reuters.com/world/us/not...

#ConferenceBoard 🇺🇸

“.. Oh, so now the Trump administration is worried about the complexity of its tariff polices?” 🤡 @reason.com @scottlincicome.bsky.social reason.com/2025/12/23/t...

* ISRAEL'S PRIME MINSTER NETANYAHU SAYS HAMAS ONGOING AND CONTINUING PUBLIC REFUSAL TO DISARM IS AN ONGOING FLAGRANT VIOLATION @reuters.com

".. In the last four months, the European Union spent 7% less on buying oil and gas from the United States, despite Donald Trump’s pledge to purchase American energy resources worth $750 billion over three years." #PinkyPromise @financialtimes.com www.ft.com/content/c961...

GS: New Tax Cuts Will Be a Major Tailwind to Consumer Spending in 2026; We Expect a Net Boost of 0.2pp from Fiscal Changes to Consumption Growth in 2026, With a Frontloaded Impact in the First Half of the Year

Spending on durable goods slowed to 1.6% in Q3 — from 2.3% in the prior quarter. “It tells a tale that people aren’t replacing their worn-out stock,” said @joebrusuelas.bsky.social.

Remembering the legendary Art Cashin on this Christmas Eve.

Page One.

“.. 60 Minutes” is seen by an average of 10 million viewers a week, and it is not clear if the bootlegged version of Ms. Alfonsi’s report will eventually reach a similar audience.” @nytimes.com $PSKY www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/b...

Woo hoo! 🤡