Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“For the first time in two years, the Christmas tree in Bethlehem lit up the night sky, restoring a glimmer of joy to the birthplace of Jesus after seasons overshadowed by Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. Palestinians watching the lighting said the celebration carried a dual meaning: Hope in the Nativity and a yearning for freedom from the Israeli siege gripping Bethlehem and cities across the occupied territory. … This year’s celebrations were limited to religious rituals, attended by church leaders and local officials who stood on a stage in Manger Square for a modest tree-lighting ceremony. Thousands gathered in the square, singing hymns and listening to choirs carolling – the only form of festivity permitted at a time many described as a mix of joy and mourning.” (12/07/25)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12/7/bethlehems-christmas-tree-lights-up-after-two-years-of-darkness
Source: Washington Post
by Megan McArdle
“The short story used to be a viable commercial and artistic proposition, until television killed off the pulp magazines. By the 1980s, short stories were more of a loss leader for novel writers (actual or aspiring). Today, the form is mostly the province of tiny literary magazines, and its author usually survives on grants, gigs teaching creative writing and pedestrian day jobs. I’m afraid I expect the feature film to suffer a similar fate, because everything about the medium is optimized for theaters: its visual language, its lavish production budgets and even its length (long enough to be worth leaving the house for, not so long that your butt goes numb). In the future, storytelling will be optimized for streaming into our living rooms — unless, of course, it’s optimized for YouTube and TikTok, or some other technological medium I can’t yet imagine.” (12/06/25)
https://archive.is/faLgV
Source: New York Post
by staff
“America’s kids are paying a steep price for lower standards and less testing in schools — and there’s no obvious sign of a turnaround. It’s particularly troubling for New York kids, especially as state ‘leaders’ have decided to stop requiring passing scores on Regents exams to graduate high school starting in the 2027-’28 school year. How crucial are hard standards? Well, after colleges (in the benighted name of ‘equity’) stopped requiring SAT or ACT scores as part of the admissions process a few years back, a host of high schools evidently stopped teaching the skills needed to do well on such tests — even though such skills are vital to getting through college, and life. Kids who are unprepared don’t face consequences until it’s too late — i.e., when they’re already in college and struggling to do the work expected of them.” (12/06/25)
https://nypost.com/2025/12/06/opinion/alarming-signs-kids-are-paying-a-steep-price-for-low-standards-and-less-testing-in-schools/
Source: Yascha Mounk
“Richard Thaler on Why People are Much More Irrational than Economists Believe.” (12/06/25)
https://yaschamounk.substack.com/p/richard-thaler
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Kelley Beaucar Vlahos
“Europeans at the Doha Forum in Qatar were quite clear in their disdain for President Donald Trump’s National Security Strategy and his peace plan for Ukraine, but his ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker came out swinging in favor of both, unabashedly telling an audience Saturday that U.S. partners need to step up if they want continued support from Washington and not to criticize the sausage (peace deal) while it’s being made.” (12/06/25)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/us-nato-trump/
Source: Fox News
“ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons, as well as the Archdiocese of Boston, are calling for the removal of an ‘ICE was here’ sign that was placed at a Nativity scene at a Massachusetts church. ‘The actions of the activist reverend, Stephen Josoma, are absolutely abhorrent and add to a dangerous narrative responsible for a more than 1,150% increase in assaults on ICE officers,’ Lyons told Fox News Digital in a statement. A Nativity scene at St. Susanna Parish in Dedham, a suburb of Boston, shows an empty manger with a sign reading ‘ICE was here,’ along with contact information for a group that monitors immigration enforcement in Massachusetts. Rev. Stephen Josoma, the pastor at St. Susanna, said the church’s peace and justice group organizes a display annually.” (12/06/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/media/ice-director-boston-archdiocese-demand-ice-here-nativity-removed-from-mass-church
THANK YOU to supporter DB, whose $10 donation over the weekend brings our year-end fundraiser total to $1,433.84!
We’re 75% of the way through our only annual fundraiser period, but only 52% of the way to our goal. I don’t know if we’ve ever been this far behind, this late in the game, before.
In order to reach our goal of $5,501, we must raise another $1,316.66. That will get us to the halfway point, after which reader GL has pledged to “match funds” for the other half.
But unless we raise the first half, we don’t get the second.
Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily
Source: The Bulwark
by Will Saletan
“Donald Trump’s latest assault on immigrants — threatening to ‘denaturalize’ U.S. citizens who were born in other countries — is an affront to human rights and American values. It’s also a betrayal of the six million naturalized Americans who voted for him last year. Without their ballots, he wouldn’t be president. And if they turn against him, his party will be out of power. … if Trump thinks he can strip naturalized Americans of their citizenship, he’d better move fast. The backlash from nonwhite voters has already cost his party two governorships.” (12/05/25)
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-bites-the-hand-that-voted-for-him-naturalized-immigrants-citizens
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff
“It’s been nearly 10 years since the people of Haiti have voted in an election – and more than 50 since this soccer-loving nation has fielded a team in the World Cup tournament. In 2026, they’ll get to do both. On Dec. 5, a few weeks after Haiti’s November qualifying victory, World Cup organizer FIFA announced group draws for the competition. Around the same time, with somewhat less fanfare, Haiti’s transitional government announced election plans. Meanwhile, the United States called on countries to support a new United Nations-approved multinational mission to quell rampant gang violence in the Caribbean island nation. Neither the World Cup berth nor the proposed international Gang Suppression Force promise easy wins for Haitians. But they hint at a possibility of parlaying the unity and persistent effort demonstrated on the soccer pitch to the arena of politics and governance.” (12/05/25)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2025/1205/In-Haiti-soccer-joy-and-longed-for-unity
Source: Reason
“On housing policy, America needs to be less fascist King Kong and more free-market Godzilla.” (12/05/25)
https://reason.com/2025/12/05/what-america-can-learn-from-japanese-housing/
