2 Of The Most Prominent Buzzwords for the U.S. Economy in 2025 Were “Affordability” and “Layoffs

If you are having a really difficult time keeping up with the rapidly rising cost of living, you are certainly not alone. This year, “affordability” was a buzzword that was constantly on the lips of politicians, economists and talking heads on television. As you will see below, Americans are being slammed by rising prices from a multitude of directions. Meanwhile, “layoffs” has been another buzzword that has been widely used in 2025. Thanks to the rise of AI and our steadily deteriorating economy, we have seen far more mass layoffs this year than we did last year. Unfortunately, one survey has found that executives are gearing up for an even larger round in 2026.

This is what happens when you flood the system with money and you go into unprecedented amounts of debt. Eventually a day of reckoning arrives.  Continue reading

Godless Democrats Cannot Self‑Examine

We may indeed be witnessing the final convulsions of a once‑dominant political force that has forgotten how to look in the mirror;

Self‑examination is a deeply Christian discipline. It requires humility, honesty, and the willingness to confront one’s own failures; traits that historically lead to repentance and course correction. But the modern hard‑left, and the Democratic Party increasingly shaped by it, appears fundamentally incapable of such introspection. To look inward would be to unravel the very foundations of what they have built. Continue reading

The Constitution Demands An Honest Census

When the Framers drafted the Constitution in 1787, the first three words were “We the People.” The rest of the document repeatedly refers to “the people,” a term clearly denoting citizens of the United States, those whose rights the Constitution addressed. Additionally, the Tenth Amendment to the Bill of Rights identifies the states and “the people” as the repositories of plenary power, in contrast to the limited powers delegated to the federal government. Continue reading

DOGE Says 55 Contracts Worth $863 Million Canceled in Past 5 Days

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) stated that federal agencies have terminated or scaled back 55 contracts over the past five days, eliminating an estimated $261 million in spending tied to what the task force described as wasteful or duplicative services.

The canceled and descoped contracts had a combined ceiling value of $863 million, DOGE stated in a Dec. 22 social media post announcing its latest update. Continue reading

Garrison: Just the Tip of the Iceberg

“Just the tip of the iceberg” is a perfect metaphor for what’s unfolding in Minnesota — a state swamped by over $1 billion in alleged welfare and program fraud, much of it tied to networks in the Somali community.

But Omar isn’t just the tip; she’s quick to cry “racism” whenever the fraud is called out. She’s slammed scrutiny of these schemes as “disgusting” and “vile,” insisting we shouldn’t “blame the lawlessness of an individual on a whole community.” Continue reading

Smith ~ Weathering the Storm

This is what comes from “retiring” sooner than a man should. But truthfully, I must say I’m glad to be far and away removed from the madness of the corporate spinning and endless cycle of psychological bullshit aligned with all the politically correct programs that still persist in the corporate world today – that bullshit that ultimately led to the Woke movement and so many other detrimental and destructive programs across society, that which allowed the Transgendered Movement to grow to mammoth, militant proportions and tried to make the mutilation of children appear to be as ordinary as ordering a piece of apple pie at Mom’s Diner on 41A in Murfreesboro.

I know that in the grand scheme of things, no matter what anyone thinks of me, for better or worse. I am a man of little importance for the most part. And many people might question the reasons I write so prolifically on an entire array of topics, and to them, I say that it is to be certain there is an accounting of some sort left behind for whoever is to follow in this fight for the soul of America… Continue reading

Dickens: Christmas 2025 ~ What’s It All About, Ralphie?

My subtitle is an homage to the movie “A Christmas Story” based on a story by Jean Shepherd to set the tone for my commentary.

We watched this movie last night as part of our ritual viewings of our favorite seasonal movies. It’s based on the humorous writings of author Jean Shepherd; this beloved holiday movie follows the wintry exploits of youngster Ralphie Parker. It opens with a downtown scene about an Indiana town in the 1940s.

– “Downtown Hohman was prepared for its yearly bacchanalia of peace on Earth and goodwill to men.”

Higbee’s corner window was traditionally a high-water mark of the pre-Christmas season. (The kids crowd around the window, and we soon see inside.) First-nighters, packed earmuff to earmuff, jostled in wonderment before a golden, tinkling display of mechanized, electronic joy.”

Christmas’ meaning has changed drastically over my 74 years, altering my appreciation for this particular holiday as I read and learned to appreciate classic literature and film messages that try to interpret its true meaning. The culmination was my realization of its importance to mankind. Continue reading

The 1962 Mr. Magoo Christmas Carol Is a Lovely and Underrated Take on a Classic

The 1962 UPA production of Mr. Magoo’s A Christmas Carol is an unfairly overlooked Christmas classic. This animated 52-minute TV is presented as a Broadway theater extravaganza with songs, dances, and curtain calls, and it really does delve into the true meaning of Christmas.

Magoo, voiced by Jim Backus and created by Millard Kaufmann and John Hubley, is an extremely near-sighted man who stubbornly refuses to accept this reality, causing numerous comical situations that affect everyone around him. In this production, he is Ebenezer Scrooge. Other cast members include Jack Cassidy as Bob Cratchit and Royal Dano as Marley, along with Morey Amsterdam, Joan Gardner, and veteran voice actor Paul Frees.

                    Image created using AI based on the original illustration to A Christmas Carol.

The show-within-a-show is a brilliant twist on the novel, but modern viewers won’t get it. That’s because many scenes have been cropped or deleted entirely. The deleted original begins with Magoo navigating through busy Manhattan traffic to the theatre, where he’s the star of the musical Christmas Carol. The deleted conclusion shows how Magoo, in trademark fashion, pulled a cord that collapsed all of the background sets. Typically, he emerges unscathed, leaving utter chaos in his wake. Continue reading

Whitehead ~ The Surveillance State Is Making a Naughty List — and You’re On It

“He sees you when you’re sleeping.
He knows when you’re awake.
He knows if you’ve been bad or good,
So be good for goodness’ sake.”
Santa Claus Is Coming to Town

For generations, “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” has been treated as a playful reminder to children to be good because someone, somewhere, is watching.

Today, it reads less like a joke and more like a warning.

The Surveillance State is making a naughty list, and we’re all on it.

Long before Santa’s elves start loading his sleigh with toys for good girls and boys, the government’s surveillance apparatus is already at work – logging your movements, monitoring your messages, tracking your purchases, scanning your face, recording your license plate, and feeding it all into algorithmic systems designed to determine whether you belong on a government watchlist.

Unlike Santa’s naughty list, however, the consequences of landing on the government’s “naughty list” are far more severe than a stocking full of coal. They can include heightened surveillance, loss of privacy, travel restrictions, financial scrutiny, police encounters, or being flagged as a potential threat – often without notice, explanation, or recourse.

This is not fiction. This is not paranoia. Continue reading

Is Trump a Lame Duck?

And what does that even mean in today’s politics?

(Roman Genn)

It looked for a moment as if Henry Cuellar’s career might be over. The eleven-term congressman from Texas’s Rio Grande Valley had long fought to retain his seat in this overwhelmingly Hispanic region of the state, facing closer margins over the years as the Republicans gained traction among Latino voters during the worst of the Biden-era illegal-immigration crisis. The voters in Cuellar’s district had, for the first time in history, given their votes to a Republican — Donald Trump carried the district 53–46, in a straight reversal of Biden’s 2020 margin. Statewide Texas Republicans altered his district’s shape to make it slightly redder. And on top of it all, Cuellar was indicted in 2024 on twelve federal charges of bribery, conspiracy, and money-laundering. Would this be the end of the popular, but increasingly threatened, incumbent?

        Not quite yet… 

Continue reading

Smith ~ Liberty Must Be Chosen, Defended and Lived! Continued…

Trumpism embraces the best and the worst of two sides of the political aisle, in a frenetic fashion that sometimes supports and defends freedom and liberty while trampling both at other times. It is a pitchfork populism that isn’t really making the reforms to government necessary to take the American people along a path to truly living free, and instead, it is bringing closer to fruition the very thing that so many liberty minded Americans reject – a massive surveillance police state that is on track to remain and grow as an ever more mammoth and intrusive Big Brother/Nanny State, as President Trump cannot seem to divest himself of his statist and globalist inclinations.

In the twilight of the American century, a profound question looms: How can the United States unwind its vast imperial commitments without descending into economic ruin, social dependency, or authoritarian control? The nation’s Founding Fathers envisioned a republic of free individuals, bound by limited government and inalienable rights derived from a higher moral order. Yet, over two centuries, America has morphed into a global hegemon, with a sprawling federal apparatus that often tramples those very principles. From endless foreign entanglements to domestic overreach – exemplified by agencies like the TSA detaining citizens without cause and demanding access to personal devices – the drift toward centralized power has eroded liberty. Continue reading

Parents’ Fury Over School District Teaching Nine Genders and 30 Sexual Orientations for Kids

San Diego Unified School District is under fire for its LGBTQIA+ curriculum which teaches there are nine genders and 30 sexualities

A San Diego school district is under fire for providing a curriculum that teaches young students about nine genders and 30 sexual orientations.

Parents have objected to a slideshow featured on the San Diego Unified Schools (SDUS) website entitled ‘LGBTQIA+ Terms you should know‘.

The resources outlined definitions for nine gender identities including transgender, non-binary, genderfluid and agender. Continue reading

The Mafia Presidency

Trump is saying, essentially, “If you don’t want to get hurt, you’ll do what I say“.

Illustration by Paul Spella

The Sunday before the New York City mayoral race, President Donald Trump told New Yorkers he might withhold federal funding if Zohran Mamdani won.

“It’s gonna be hard for me as the president to give a lot of money to New York, because if you have a Communist running New York, all you’re doing is wasting the money you’re sending there,” Trump told CBS’s 60 Minutes. Continue reading

Minick: Self-Governance Is the Bedrock of Liberty

Those who refuse to govern themselves will be governed by others.

This is one of the takeaway lessons from the recent elections, particularly in New York City.

There a young and inexperienced pro-Islamist and democratic socialist won the mayoral election in part by promising voters goodies like free bus transportation, free childcare, some government grocery stores, and heavier taxes on the rich.

Unable or unwilling to take care of themselves, Zohran Mamdani’s supporters have fallen prey to one of the oldest tricks in the book, dating all the way back to Ancient Rome’s bread and circuses for the masses: They have surrendered liberty and self-reliance for a mess of pottage. Such ignorance of the past, or worse, such willed stupidity, strips away freedom and empowers would-be dictators. Continue reading

Smith: Liberty Must Be Chosen, Defended and Lived!

America cannot remain on its current trajectory forever, pushing constantly for more growth and more spending as our so-called “leaders” unchain the federal government from any and all real restraint, violating the Constitution even as they put on a good front – talking points and all – of trying to reduce spending and the size of the federal government. They may end one agency, but two more spring up, and although many often refer to our Congress as “the Swamp”, nothing has become more apparent than the fact it’s one big, nasty Sewer that leaves everything it touches covered in political bullshit far and away from anything the people truly ever asked to receive or even wanted.

America was born in defiance. The Revolution was not polite debate in drawing rooms; it was muskets fired at redcoats, pamphlets smuggled through towns, and men willing to risk the gallows for liberty. Thomas Paine captured the spirit when he wrote of the “summer soldier and sunshine patriot” – those who shrink from the hard work of freedom, waiting to reap the rewards after others have bled. Continue reading

Garrison: Presenting the Traditional Christmas Gift Guide

Need a few gift ideas before Christmas rolls around? GrrrGraphics is happy to help with your Christmas shopping needs. For 2025, you can’t go wrong with these suggestions!

• It’s Trump Time: Everyone has seen the new Trump watch commercials recently. Well, now there is a special edition offered exclusively by GrrrGraphics, “It’s Deport Time!” Because no matter what time it is in America, it’s always ‘Deport Time.’

• For those who crave attention and want help, the “Jasmine Crockett Wig and Eyelash Set,” which will make you help you achieve that crazy ‘look at me’ style used by Texas wanna-be Senator Crockett. Continue reading

Holmquist: The Christmas Film You’ve Never Heard of With a Perfect Message for Our Time!

This time of year, everyone – myself included – airs out their favorite Christmas movies, talking about the wholesomeness and meaning and warm fuzzies they bring each time they’re watched. Topping the list are films such as “Home Alone,” “A Christmas Story,” “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and even “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”

One of my favorite Christmas films, however, never makes this list of classics. I suppose that’s not surprising. In fact, most people might say that except for a few scenes at the end of the film, it’s not even a Christmas film at all.

That’s technically true … that is, if one only looks at the surface. Beneath the surface, however, runs the entire message of Christmas – and that’s a message we could especially use this year. Continue reading

Hickman ~ 2025: The Year Energy Sanity Returned

When Robert Oppenheimer watched the first atomic bomb detonate in the New Mexico desert on July 16, 1945, the blast confirmed that America had won the race to build a nuclear weapon.

The destructive power of these weapons was extraordinary; the explosion from Oppenheimer’s “Trinity” test unleashed an astonishing 83.7 Terajoules (TJ) of energy from just SIX kilograms of Plutonium-239.

By comparison, a typical power plant in 1945 would have required 9.5 MILLION kilograms of coal to produce a similar amount of energy. Continue reading