1/. Did you know the Democratic party has refused to release their analysis of why the Democrats lost in 2024? Thought not.....
There needs to be a house cleaning at the DNC of all of the old guard who gave us Trump twice.
This is a thoroughly depressing story......
The Democratic National Committee’s decision to block the release of its own autopsy report on the 2024 election is stunning but not surprising. Averse to unpleasant candor, the Democrats’ governing body functions more like a PR firm than a political organization devoted to grassroots capacities for winning elections. The party’s leaders pose as immune from critique, even if they have led the party to disaster.
Unwilling to depart from the party establishment’s culture of conformity, the DNC has remained under the Biden-Harris shadow throughout 2025. Release of an official autopsy might have shown that party leaders actually want to encourage public discourse about the missteps that enabled Donald Trump to become president again. But the DNC is proceeding as if there’s nothing to be learned from the tragic debacle of 2024 that its leaders don’t already know – and they don’t need to share their purported wisdom with anyone else.
2/. The old guy "Thin Bones"......3 amusing minutes.....
3/. A long but fascinating article in the Times about what was notable in 2025, and trends you've probably not heard of..
Read it, enjoy and keep informed!
With 2025 drawing to a close, we reached out to Times Opinion contributors for their personal lists. Our algorithmic feeds and all the “helpful” suggestions from A.I. chatbots have only enhanced the status of the list as a place of clarity and refuge: Here is what I saw and experienced. Here is what lodged in my mind as important. Here is what I want to think about more. Here is what I never want to think about again.
List making is ultimately a forward, affirmative act — the wish to impose order on a chaotic world. In that spirit, we present lists on economics, fandom, nostalgia, fashion, politics, culture and other subjects. These are human-made lists for human-made readers in an uncertain time.
4/. Words fail me. This is an official White House Christmas video.....30 horrible seconds....
5/. Heather Cox Richardson summarises our insane year in politics.
She is an excellent writer, and what I really appreciate about her daily blog is that she puts the lunacies of Dementia Don
and his minions in perspective, and explains their corruption and incompetence in a historical context......
The hallmark of the first year of President Donald J. Trump’s second term has been the attempt of the president and his cronies to dismantle the constitutional system set up by the framers of that document when they established the United States of America. It’s not simply that they have broken the laws. They have acted as if the laws, and the Constitution that underpins them, don’t exist.
As soon as the 2024 election results were clear, billionaire Elon Musk, who had supported Trump’s campaign both through his purchase of Twitter—now X—and with $290 million in cash, posted on social media: “Novus Ordo Seclorum,” Latin for “New World Order.” Although he won with less than 50% of the vote, Trump announced that he had an “unprecedented and powerful mandate.” Musk would head a new “Department of Government Efficiency” that Musk vowed would cut at least $2 trillion from the federal budget.
6/. This Tom Tomorrow may well be true......
7/. Interesting story from New York Magazine - the year's political losers.....
025 was a strange year in politics, with a lot of unexpected twists and turns. The second Trump administration began like a bat out of hell but lost quite a bit of momentum by year’s end among the president’s low approval ratings, big GOP election losses, and the ongoing Epstein scandal. The Democratic opposition, meanwhile, spent a good part of the year wringing hands, pointing fingers, and vowing to “fight, fight, fight” without any ammunition. Yet now they’re on the offensive and confident about busting up President Donald Trump’s governing trifecta in the 2026 midterms.
So for a lot of people in Washington, it was a mixed year with some successes and some failures — but a few stumbled spectacularly. Here’s a look at the politicians who had the biggest fall in the past year, in reverse order of loserdom.
8/. A country filled with, and run by, idiots......
9/. The top ten Florida cities losing people......this video explains why, and some of the cities will surprise you.....
It's about 11 minutes, and even though YOU don't feel this pain, low wage workers do and they're leaving.
Just a note - the video doesn't mention the Canadian exodus, nor does it mention immigrants.....
10/. Trump is building 2 new battleships, named after himself.....
11/. A "nice" British story, about a man who saved the last public phone box in his village......
The caller display flashes up: “Derek in the K6” it reads. On the line is Derek Harris, ringing from the red phone box he saved for his village. When he saw, on the agenda for the parish council meeting, that BT had earmarked it for closure, Harris knew he had to fight it. “It’s fighting for what is valuable, cherished,” he told me when I went to meet him in February, sitting over coffee in a cafe near Sharrington, the Norfolk village that has been his home for more than 50 years, and the phone box for longer. It’s a K6, for Kiosk No 6, designed in 1935 by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott.
For a few weeks, Harris, then 89, became a media star. One of the criteria for keeping a phone box in use is that at least 52 calls have to be made from it in a year (fewer than 10 had been made in 2024). As the campaign picked up speed, one day a queue of people made more than 230 calls from the K6. Harris sparked a national conversation about the continuing need for kiosks in an age of mobiles
SNL does an ad for [runny] mascara......1 amusing minute.....
12/. The Guardian with a summary of the year in patriarchy.....
The year 2025 would have been far better if we could have sent a few billionaires and world leaders into intergalactic exile. Instead, we had to make do with Katy Perry spending 11 minutes on the edge of space as part of Blue Origin’s all-female crewed mission. Perry promised us all that, in service of women’s empowerment, the crew would “put the ‘ass’ in astronaut” and “make space and science glam”. Truly, one giant leap for womankind!
Space may have got glam, but it was another glum year for many on Earth. The war in Ukraine continued, with increasing numbers of women volunteering to fight. The civil war in Sudan raged on, with the UN urging the world not to ignore harrowing details of targeted sexual violence, torture, and abductions from the region. The slaughter in Sudan is so extreme that the blood can even be seen from space. Although I’m not sure the billionaires and celebs doing celestial joyrides in their expensive rockets are particularly bothered by that view.
13/. SNL takes on "Home Alone", with Ariana Grande as Kevin.
Note - this is extremely violent! Three minutes....
14/. Kelly Eldridge Boesch does an AI video in the style of "Pulp Fiction"....
AI wrote the song too.....
15/. A book review that leads into a most interesting discussion about AI and how corporations are using it to grind employees down.....
Park Chan-Wook’s latest film, “No Other Choice,” is an unflinching, bitingly funny portrayal of the moral depredation brought on by scarcity. Man-su, the film’s embattled protagonist, has lost his longtime job at a paper factory. He’s so desperate to get a new job in the same industry that he begins murdering his competitors.
The U.S. release of this Korean film resonates in a moment when America has its highest rate of unemployment since 2021 and the ratio of unemployed workers to job openings is on the rise. Not only that, but highly profitable corporations like Amazon and Salesforce are laying people off and slowing hiring, expecting that artificial intelligence will do the same work at less cost than actual humans.
16/. The old guy again.....he's really funny.....2 minutes....
17/. A little musical break for you.....1 minute....score points if you remember the name of the song!
19/. SNL with random duets of Christmas songs.......really good, especially the last one with Ariana Grande and
James Austin Johnston ....3 minutes....
20/. A nice human story about AI and what to do when you lose your job......
Some of the best career advice I’ve received didn’t come from a mentor — or even a human. I told a chatbot that A.I. was swallowing more and more of my work as a copywriter and that I needed a way to survive. The bot paused, processing my situation, and then suggested I buy a chain saw.
This advice would have seemed absurd back when I lived in Washington, D.C., in a dense neighborhood of rowhouses. But for the past 25 years, I’ve lived in Lawrenceburg, Ind., a small, working-class town where my grandparents once ran a bakery.
21/. The Guardian with 25 good movies you probably haven't seen......
From an old-fashioned western to a charming baseball comedy, Guardian writers pick their favourite lesser-known films of the year
22/. Bob Lefsetz recommends "Bleak House", after his views on a lot of other things....
I didn’t read it either…
But I did read “Tale of Two Cities” in high school…you know, it was the best of times and the worst of times (kind of like today, although I think we’re leaning towards “worst”). And “Great Expectations” with Pip. But that’s it. As for reading Dickens in college… It was part of a course that required you to read books up to a thousand pages at the pace of one a week and if I actually did all the reading…I’d have no time to do anything else.
There have been all these stories recently how even in college students no longer read entire books. But the dirty little secret is always what college you go to. If you go to a classic liberal arts college, believe me, you will. As for studying business at a multi-university…I don’t know. Then again, my classic New England upbringing leaves me with a different view of college from most people today. College was not a place you went to to get a job, but to enrich your life.
23/. HuffPost lists 26 International shows to watch on Netflix.......
Netflix has plenty of content to sort through, no matter what kind of mood you’re in. Want a comedy? There are a zillion hilarious movies and TV shows to watch. Love medical shows? The streamer finally added “Nurse Jackie” back to the platform, and of course, “Grey’s Anatomy” is there if you need a long binge or rewatch session. Go wild for a new true crime drama? Netflix has quite a few — including this year’s shocking doc “Unknown Number: The High School Catfish.” But, perhaps you’re looking for something new, addictive and outside of your worldview. Netflix has a huge library of international and foreign-language TV shows. They range in length — from four-episode miniseries to 16-episode limited series to multi-season shows that have built cult followings that have begged for more seasons. (To fans of “The Law According To Lidia Poët,” “All of Us Are Dead,” “The Devil’s Plan,” “Dept. Q” and “Culinary Class Wars,” new seasons are on the way.) https://www.huffpost.com/entry/netflix-best-international-foreign-tv-shows_n_6920b561e4b0536e01ace606
Today's medical joke
There is nothing worse than a Doctor's Receptionist who insists you tell her what is wrong with you in a room full of other patients.
I know most of us have experienced this, and I love the way this old guy handled it.
A 65-year-old man walked into a crowded waiting room and approached the desk.
The Receptionist said, 'Yes sir, what are you seeing the Doctor for today?'
'There's something wrong with my dick', he replied.
The receptionist became irritated and said, 'You shouldn't come into a crowded waiting room and say things like that. '
'Why not, you asked me what was wrong and I told you,' he said.
The Receptionist replied; 'Now you've caused some embarrassment in this room full of people.
You should have said there is something wrong with your ear or something and discussed the problem further with the Doctor in private.'
The man replied, 'You shouldn't ask people questions in a roomful of strangers, if the answer could embarrass anyone".
The man walked out, waited several minutes, and then re-entered.
The Receptionist smiled smugly and asked, 'Yes??'
'There's something wrong with my ear,' he stated.
The Receptionist nodded approvingly and smiled, knowing he had taken her advice.. 'And what is wrong with your ear, Sir?'
'I can't piss out of it,' he replied.
The waiting room erupted in laughter...
Today's blonde jokes.....
What can strike a blonde without her even knowing it? A thought
What do you do if a blonde throws a grenade at you? Pull the pin and throw it back.
What do you call a smart blonde? A golden retriever.
How do you make a blonde's eyes light up? Shine a flashlight in their ear.
What did the blonde say when she found out she was pregnant? "Are you sure it's mine?"
What do you call it when a blonde dyes their hair brunette? Artificial intelligence.
How do you make a blonde laugh on Saturday? Tell her a joke on Wednesda
Today's moral dilemma joke....
A moral dilemma for our times…
At the end, this test only has one question, but it's a very important one. By giving an honest answer, you will discover where you stand morally. This test features an unlikely, completely fictional situation in which you will have to make a difficult decision.
Only you will know the results, so remember that your answer needs to be honest.
THE SITUATION:
You are in Florida, Miami to be specific.
There is chaos all around you caused by a hurricane with severe flooding.
This is a flood of biblical proportions.
You are a photojournalist working for a major newspaper, and you're caught in the middle of this epic disaster. The situation is nearly hopeless.
You're trying to shoot career-making photos.
There are houses and people swirling around you, some disappearing under the water.
THE TEST:
Suddenly you see a man in the water.
He is fighting for his life, trying not to be taken down with the debris.
You move closer.
Somehow the man looks familiar.
You suddenly realize who it is.
It's Donald Trump!
At the same time you notice that the raging waters are about to take him under forever.
YOU HAVE TWO OPTIONS:
You can save the life of Donald Trump or you can shoot a dramatic Pulitzer Prize winning photo, documenting the death of one of the world's most powerful Republican men hell bent on the destruction of America.
THE QUESTION:
Here's the question, and please give an honest answer.
"Would you select a high contrast color film, or would you go with the classic simplicity of black and white?"
Today's little girl joke....
Here's a truly heartwarming story about the bond formed between a little 5-year-old girl and some construction workers that will make you believe that we all can make a difference when we give a child the gift of our time.
A young family moved into a house, next to a vacant lot. One day, a construction crew began to build a house on the empty lot. The family's 5-year-old daughter naturally took an interest in the goings-on and spent much of each day observing the workers.
Eventually the construction crew, all of them 'gems-in-the-rough,' more or less, adopted her as a kind of project mascot. They chatted with her during coffee and lunch breaks and gave her little jobs to do here and there to make her feel important. At the end of the first week, they even presented her with a pay envelope containing ten dollars. The little girl took this home to her mother who suggested that she take her ten dollars 'pay' she'd received to the bank the next day to start a savings account.
When the girl and her mom got to the bank, the teller was equally impressed and asked the little girl how she had come by her very own pay check at such a young age.
The little girl proudly replied, "I worked last week with a real construction crew building the new house next door to us."
"Oh my goodness gracious," said the teller, "and will you be working on the house again this week, too?"
The little girl replied, "I will, if those assholes at Home Depot ever deliver the fuckin' sheet rock."
Kind of brings a tear to the eye - doesn't it?
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