“The nation’s oldest National Park Ranger, Betty Reid Soskin, died at the age of 104. In a public post on Soskin’s social media accounts, a spokesman confirmed the news of her death, saying Soskin had died at her home in Richmond, California on Sunday. … Soskin was hired by the National Park Service as a ranger at the age of 85, working at the Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Historical Park until her retirement in 2022 at the age of 100, according to her obituary. The National Park Service said Soskin worked to establish the park as a site for honoring women’s roles during World War II before she began working there as a park ranger.” (12/22/25)
Source: Washington Post
by US Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) & US Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
“In the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Biden administration gave Congress its assessment of Ukraine’s ability to hold back Russian forces. The projection was bleak. Kyiv, they said, would fall in weeks, if not sooner. … Instead, Ukraine successfully confined Russia’s troops to the far east of their country, where Russia has tried to steal territory since 2015. After almost four years of fighting, Russia has lost about a third of its strategic bombers, and it continues to lose equipment at significantly higher rates than Ukraine. It is Russia that has borne more than 1 million casualties, dead and wounded, in grinding battles of its own making. Pundits who predicted a quick Ukrainian defeat were wrong in 2022, and they are wrong today.” (12/22/25)
“The U.S. will build “Trump-class” military vessels that the president on Monday suggested are new-age battleships, inching the country closer to construction of what the administration is advertising as ‘the Golden Fleet.’ … Trump unveiled the plans while flanked at Mar-a-Lago by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Navy Secretary John Phelan. ‘They’ll be the fastest, the biggest, and by far 100 times more powerful than any battleship ever built,’ Trump said. Concept art depicts something reminiscent of a cruiser. It has at least one laser weapon aboard and is capable of launching missiles. A helicopter hovers overhead. And an image of Trump raising his fist is emblazoned on the back.” (12/22/25)
“Being the editor of Law & Liberty affords me more time than most to ponder the relationship between freedom and responsibility. It is, after all, sort of our thing. And sometimes you can’t help but see the question everywhere. That was the case for me when watching the Christmas classic Home Alone with my kids. They love it for the slapstick humor (okay — I love it for that, too). But like most John Hughes endeavors, it also has a little more depth than it initially lets on.” (12/22/25)
“Christmas is a time for watching movies. Every year, television schedules are packed with holiday classics, and the internet is awash with lists of the greatest festive features — from It’s a Wonderful Life to The Muppet Christmas Carol. Occasionally, some unconventional choices slip through, like Terry Gilliam’s dystopian comedy Brazil (which features a memorable cameo from Santa Claus) and Stanley Kubrick’s erotic thriller Eyes Wide Shut (which includes Christmas trees and fairy lights in almost every scene). But one classic film is never mentioned in the Christmas movie conversation: Psycho.” (12/22/25)
“CBS’s new controversial editor-in-chief Bari Weiss pulled a 60 Minutes story that was set to air last night about the torture and other horrid conditions at CECOT, the El Salvador megaprison to which the Trump administration has send hundreds of deportees over the last year. Weiss’s reason for spiking the piece — that Trump administration officials refused to comment on it — raises questions about how CBS will be covering high profile stories going forward, particularly ones related to controversial U.S. national security policies like war with Venezuela, and the Trump administration’s relationship with Israel. … On Monday, Weiss confirmed that in order for the story to air, she wants Trump administration officials on the record. … If administration officials can effectively kill a story by simply refusing to talk about it on record, that’s basically allowing the government to censor your news coverage.” (12/22/25)
“Iranian state media reported missile drills in different Iranian cities, citing unnamed sources and witnesses. The Telegram channel of Iran’s public broadcaster and semi-official Nournews publish videos of what appear to be missile launches …. Israel has warned the Trump administration that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps may be using an ongoing military exercise focusing on missiles as cover to launch an attack on Israel, according to a report yesterday. However, the US intelligence community has not seen any signs that an Iranian strike could be imminent, an American source told the outlet.” (12/22/25)
“The U.S. blockade on Venezuela’s sanctioned oil tankers is illegal. It is an act of war that is based on false charges. Though it is hoped to bring about a coup that will usher in a pro-American government that opens Venezuela’s resources to the United States, the more likely outcome is mayhem and instability. Trump’s order of a blockade caught senior officials at the Pentagon by surprise, and they are unsure of what role the U.S. military is expected to play. But on the day after the order, three ships left Venezuela carrying oil-based products. This time, they were escorted by Venezuelan naval ships.” (12/22/25)
“New York poet David Lehman has overseen publication of Scribner’s annual Best American Poetry anthology for almost four decades now. But this summer, the 77-year-old Lehman announced that the series’[s] 2025 installment will be the last. Although he says his decision was sparked only by a desire for ‘new adventures,’ it’s hard to see it as anything but the falling of another tree in the artistic forest. True, the purported ‘best’ often included lousy work … but it also included samples from some of America’s best living poets, including A.E. Stallings, Amit Majmudar, and Stephen Kampa, and offered curious readers a chance to dip their toes into an art form that, more than any other, has been torn by the competing forces of our divided and divisive culture. Where can they look now?” (12/22/25)
