A SOUTHERN ITALIAN CHRISTMAS EVE TRADITION: THE FEAST OF THE SEVEN FISHES

 

Growing up in a southern Italian family, I participated each Christmas Eve (La Vigilia di Natale) in the tradition of the Feast of the Seven Fishes.  I've never been able to find definitively where the tradition started or why seven fishes.  Here are some suggestions:



The Seven Sacraments of the Catholic Church -- baptism, penance, Holy Eucharist, confirmation, marriage, holy orders and the sacrament of Extreme Unction.



The seven sins of the world -- pride, envy, anger, gluttony, sloth, lust and greed.


The seven days it took Mary and Joseph to travel to Bethlehem.


Some say it's the seven hills of Rome, some say it's the seven winds of Italy, or the Seven Wonders of the World.

Another theory is that seven is a number representing perfection: the traditional Biblical number for divinity is three, and for Earth is four, and the combination of these numbers, seven, represents God on Earth, or Jesus Christ.

I have no idea why seven fishes were used, but it doesn't matter, since the idea of the feast was to carry on a tradition that was started somewhere in the obscure past and to celebrate a holiday in a manner that Italians know best--with lots of incredibly delicious food. 


My childhood memories are of my mother, grandmother (nonna) and aunts all working in the kitchen while the men smoked cigars, talked politics, and played cards in the parlor. [Beh!] 

One aunt made her famous ricotta filled ravioli.  Nonna made the dolci:  biscotti di regina, struffoli, pizzelle, pizza dolce, casatelli.   My mother, aunts and older cousins cracked steamed lobsters, picked the succulent meat from the knuckles, claws, 
and tails and put it into a marinara sauce that was ladled over piping hot bowls of linguini or fettucini. [We kids got to suck the little juicy bits of lobster meat from the legs, which were discarded because there wasn't enough meat in them to bother with.] I remember sweet, tender razor clams, stuffed with anchovy, parsley, and garlic flavored bread crumbs;  baccala--salted cod--made into a heavenly dish with hard-boiled eggs, floating in a savory sauce along with little salty green capers and bright red pimentoes.  The table was loaded with platters of lightly fried smelts, delicate sweet slender fish dredged in flour, sauted in olive oil, and served with cold lemon wedges; spicy, plump mussels in marinara sauce; scungilli salad; and my favorite, delicately battered and fried calamari.  One Christmas Eve, my mother prepared eel, which was surprisingly delicious--it tasted like chicken.

After everyone's bellies were filled, the uncles took out their musical instruments--violins, guitars, the older sisters and cousins played the piano, and we sang traditional Italian Christmas songs. [One of my childhood favorites was "Tu scendi dalle stelle." I just called it "Bambino."]  Finally, it was time for midnight Mass.  We all left the house and walked to church.  When we returned, we opened our gifts, played more music, ate more dolci and fell into bed by 2 am, exhausted, full, and happy.  Christmas day we all gathered again for our Christmas dinner--lasagna (in those days lasagna was made only for special occasions), followed by a meat course--roast beef or turkey, verdure (vegetables), salad, fruit, nuts, roasted chestnuts.  And later in the day, dolci--cannoli, pizza dolce, baba rum, and for the adults, caffe correcto (espresso coffee with a shot of sambuca in it).

I continued the tradition of cooking the seven fishes on December 24 when my children were at home, but now that they're living all over the country, it isn't as easy to do so with all of them so far away and on their own schedules.  But here is a feast of seven fishes meal I've made since then and am happy to share with everyone:


Feast of the Seven Fishes



Mussels with orzo (serves two)


2 lbs. mussels, cleaned and scrubbed
4 Tablespoons good fruity olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, sliced thin
1 medium onion, diced
1 medium stalk of celery, diced
1 medium carrot, diced
4 plum tomatoes, diced with skin and seeds
1 cup good burgundy wine
2 Tablespoons of minced fresh herbs (basil, mint, oregano, thyme, parsley, tarragon)
12 pitted black olives, sliced in half
1 tspn. anise seeds, crushed
salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste
3 Tablespoons minced parsley
1/4 pound of orzo


Boil water for orzo. Put orzo in water and cook until just tender (al dente).


Wash and scrub mussels and set aside. In a large, deep saute pan, saute the next 4 ingredients in olive oil until golden and tender, add plum tomatoes, and simmer for 1-2 minutes. Add wine and simmer until alcohol evaporates. Place mussels in pan, turn up heat and cook just till the shells open. Remove from heat. Stir in herbs, olives, anise seeds, salt and pepper. Add orzo to pan and stir so that the little rice-shaped pasta gets into the opened mussel shells. Place in deep pasta bowls and sprinkle with minced parsley. Serve immediately






Smelts with lemon (serves 2)


1/2 dozen smelts
3/4 cup flour
salt, pepper
4 Tablespoons olive oil
lemon wedges
1 Tablespoon minced parsley


Go to your local fishmonger and select the freshest smelts. Their eyes must glisten like the newly fallen snow. No cloudiness in the eyes. Ever.


Take the smelts home. Take a pair of scissors and snip off their heads, then run the scissors down the front of the fish and degut them. Very easy.


Wash and dry the smelts. Put the flour on a platter and generously season with salt and pepper. Roll the smelts into the seasoned flour and set aside. Place olive oil in saute pan and heat. Saute the smelts over gentle heat until they take on a golden color. Do not overcook. Place on a platter and squeeze some lemon on them. Serve with more lemon wedges and garnish with minced parsley.






Lobster meat with fresh tomatoes and linguini (serves 2)


1/2 lb. lobster meat (buy shelled at fishmonger or cook your own)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
3 cloves of garlic, sliced
1 medium onion, minced
1/2 cup torn basil leaves
1 Tablespoon minced fresh thyme leaves
3 plum tomatoes, diced, with skin and seeds.
salt and pepper to taste
1 Tablespoon minced parsley


In a medium saute pan, saute the onion and garlic until soft and golden in the combination butter and olive oil. Add the diced plum tomatoes. Simmer for 2/3 minutes. Stir in basil and thyme leaves, salt and pepper to taste. Stir in lobster meat and heat through. Serve over linguini. Sprinkle with minced parsley.






Shrimp Scampi (serves 2)


3/4 lb. shrimp, shelled and deveined
3 Tablespoons olive oil
5 oz. of shitake mushrooms, sliced
3 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
1 medium onion, minced
1/2 dozen cherry or grape tomatoes, cut in half
1/2 cup white wine
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 oz. good quality feta or goat cheese
2 teaspoons lemon zest
2 Tablespoons combination minced fresh herbs (basil, thyme, mint, tarragon, parsley)


In a medium saute pan, saute the garlic and onion in olive oil until tender, add the mushrooms and simmer for 1-2 minutes, add the white wine and simmer until alcohol burns off. Add the tomatoes, lemon juice and lemon zest. Add shrimp and saute just until they turn pink, do not over cook. Remove from heat. Serve in shallow bowls. Sprinkle cheese and parsley just before serving.






Crabmeat and scallop stuffed filet of sole (serves 2)

2 good sized filets of sole pieces (approx. 1/2 lb. in total weight
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
1/4 cup crab meat
3 large scallops, cut in pieces
1/4 cup plain bread crumbs
salt and pepper, red pepper flakes to taste
1 teaspoon crushed cumin seeds
2 Tablespoons minced fresh herb combination (basil, thyme, parsley, tarragon, cilantro)
1 Tablespoon toasted pignole nuts
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
Lemon wedges


Place the olive oil and butter in saute pan. Add the scallops and cook to tender, add crab meat and heat through. Remove from heat. Stir in breadcrumbs, salt and pepper, cumin seeds, pignole nuts and herbs. Take the two sole filets and spoon mixture evenly on each filet. Carefully roll up the filets and place in glass baking pan. Dot with butter and squeeze lemon on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes. Sprinkle with minced herbs and serve with lemon wedges.



Pass the Alka-Seltzer and have a Happy Holiday, however you celebrate!

JUST SAYIN'

 

Paul Mrocka, Retired Honeywell Senior International Captain at Honeywell/AlliedSignal / Paradox Brewery

This Isn’t Normal. And We Need to Stop Pretending It Is.

Did anyone actually watch President Trump’s speech last night in North Carolina? Not the clips. Not the spin. The whole speech. It was supposed to be about affordability and the economy. Instead, it turned into rambling stories about folding underwear. He talked about “beautiful panties,” about Melania steaming them, tying them up, putting them neatly into a drawer, and how beautiful it all was. Then he said he doesn’t even notice beautiful women anymore. He said he only sees the arm of a chair. An armchair. That’s what he talked about.

That is not policy. That is not leadership. That is babbling.

People keep saying, “Don’t question his health.” I’m not diagnosing anything. I’m describing what we all saw and heard. He couldn’t stay on topic. He wandered from thought to thought. He repeated himself. He drifted. He’s been falling asleep in public. He keeps bragging about taking the same cognitive test three times and says that proves he’s perfect. If you passed it once, why take it two more times? That doesn’t calm concerns. It raises them.

This matters because this man holds real power. He holds the nuclear codes. This is not late-night comedy. This is not harmless talk.

And then he went even further. In that same speech, he talked about suing the United States government for one billion dollars. A sitting president talking about suing the government he runs, while also being in a position to influence the outcome. He joked about giving the money to charity, then immediately walked it back, saying maybe he wouldn’t, maybe he’d keep it. Like it was his decision. Like the money already belonged to him.

Ask yourself a simple question. What court does he think decides that? What law allows a president to sue his own government and then hint he’ll pocket the money? That is not how America works. That is not how the law works. That is not how leadership works.

At the same time, he keeps trying to put his name on everything. Buildings. Institutions. Even memorial spaces meant to honor the dead. Memorials exist to remember sacrifice and history, not to feed the ego of a living man. When a president can’t tell the difference, something is wrong.

And still, people defend it. That’s the part I can’t understand. He can’t walk straight. He can’t hold a clear conversation. He falls asleep in front of cameras. He talks about underwear, chairs, and “beautiful” things while holding the most powerful office on earth. And people still fight for him like none of this matters.

History has seen this before. Leaders surrounded by yes-men. Institutions too scared or too compromised to step in. People telling themselves, “It’s fine,” because facing the truth feels uncomfortable. Those stories never end well.

The closest comparison I can make isn’t political. It’s a story. The Grinch. Loud. Self-obsessed. Taking what doesn’t belong to him and calling it greatness. The difference is the Grinch was fiction. This is real life.

I’m not saying the sky is falling. I’m saying open your eyes. This isn’t left or right. This is about judgment, stability, and basic fitness for office. History will judge this moment, and it won’t just judge the man. It will judge the people who saw it, excused it, and stayed silent.

This is serious. And pretending it isn’t may be the most dangerous thing we can do.

Paul Mrocka

Veteran, Business Owner, Defender of the Constitution 

HAPPY WINTER SOLSTICE!

 

Winter solstice › Date (2025) 

Sun, Dec 21, 2025, 10:03 AM 

Northern Hemisphere · Eastern Time

 

THOSE WINTER SUNDAYS

Sundays too my father got up early
and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold,
then with cracked hands that ached
from labor in the weekday weather made
banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.

I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking.
When the rooms were warm, he’d call,
and slowly I would rise and dress,
fearing the chronic angers of that house,

Speaking indifferently to him,
who had driven out the cold
and polished my good shoes as well.
What did I know, what did I know
of love’s austere and lonely offices?

--=Robert Hayden

"Not surprising, but it is disgusting."

 

 

Matt Davenport:

The Kennedy Center is our nation’s capitol’s only official living memorial to the late President John F. Kennedy. It was named by our Congress and President Johnson to honor Kennedy in the months following his assassination to honor his memory and legacy in promoting the arts and his tireless efforts to make the arts center first approved by President Eisenhower a reality.

President Kennedy promoted the arts as a source of national pride. He invited the renowned contralto, Marian Anderson, to sing and the famous poet, Robert Frost, to give a reading at his inauguration. He invited musicians to perform at the White House, brought the Mona Lisa to the National Gallery for temporary display with French government cooperation, and he and Mrs. Kennedy hosted operas, ballets, and theatrical performances of Shakespeare at new White House cultural events. And the center bearing his name has continued his legacy since its 1971 opening, hosting plays and operas and soloists while co-producing musicals and ballets and free public arts performances and educational programs for all visitors.

It was not a surprise that our current president fired the nonpartisan board overseeing the Kennedy Center and installed himself as chairman. It has not been a surprise to see him slash arts budgets and cancel previously awarded arts grants and educational arts and music programs, and cancel federal funding for the NEA, an endowment first envisioned and championed by Kennedy. Or to see him bulldoze the East Wing once graced by Mrs. Kennedy, or cement over the lawn of Mrs. Kennedy’s Rose Garden. Or install a wall of bronze plaques in the West Wing portico filled with kindergarten-level insults hurled at former presidents So it is not surprising today to wake up to the news that he wants to (unlawfully) add his OWN name to the Kennedy Center, something insecure, third-world dictators do.

Not surprising, but it is disgusting. He represents the ugliness of our time, rising to the top in a hunger-games marketplace of egotism and noise and branding and material greed and white nationalism where our White House is treated as his own piece of real estate to be defaced with ballrooms and gold he has grifted from his rich friends and working-class supporters. We have turned our back on the days when we cared about art and literature and music and the simple beauty of being moved. Because there is no art in this White House, no curiosity, no poetry, no literature, no theater, no selfless embrace of a national history bigger than any one person, just a dark cloud of hate now controlling national institutions he sees as nothing more than a stage he can use to promote himself and call our fellow Americans “garbage” and “vermin” and “deranged” and “low-IQ” and “piggy” and “stupid.”

He will one day be gone from our White House. And it will be the Kennedy Center once again. Until then, it’s good to remember the words of Kennedy himself, who in a speech to Amherst College of the Arts in the last month of his life said, “When power leads man towards arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the areas of man’s concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses.”

In addition to being a convicted felon and adjudicated sexual assaulter, we can add "vandal" to what Trump is. He has vandalized a national monument by attaching his name to a memorial dedicated to our late 35th POTUS, John F. Kennedy. 

In a few years, Trump will be gone, and we will have the pleasure of redressing the Congressionally designated memorial that Trump has debased and sullied with his name. 

THE LAWLESS TRUMP BREAKING THE LAW AGAIN

 

Can Trump Actually Name the Kennedy Center After Himself? 

"There's no question that this is not legal." 

President Donald Trump’s hand-picked John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts board voted unanimously yesterday to rebrand the cultural institution as the “Trump-Kennedy Center.” Unfortunately for the president, this change won’t come as easily as slapping his name on a smartphone or a Bible. 

The statute that established the center as a memorial to President Kennedy in 1964 “explicitly names it the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,” says Georgetown law professor David Super, meaning the moniker is legally baked into the facility’s very existence. Because the center’s name is codified in US law, a board of trustees vote won’t cut it; an act of Congress is needed to tack on the “Trump.”

House Republicans have been toying with this project since the summertime. One proposal introduced in July, the Make Entertainment Great Again Act, would rechristen the institution the “Donald J. Trump Center for Performing Arts.” Such a measure would be a “completely adequate” means of legally changing the center’s name, Super says, should it advance through Congress.

Until then, however, any changes to the center’s name are unofficial. “The other way of accomplishing a renaming is to hire somebody with a hammer and a chisel,” Super adds. “But it wouldn’t be legal.” We’ve seen this film before, in fact: Consider, for example, the Department of War or the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace—which have never been established through an official legal channel and essentially function as colloquialisms, used mostly by the administration itself. 

 [skip] 

So the name change is pretty much imaginary, from a legal perspective. But it is real in the sense that it presents the potential for further damage to the center’s integrity and the resulting condition of its employees. As usual, though, don’t hold your breath expecting the Trump administration to face any legal consequences for this. 

“There’s no question that this is not legal, but it is not at all clear that anyone has standing to sue him over it,” Super says. Not even members of the dynastic Kennedy family, who have already expressed their unequivocal disgust with the move? No, not even those guys. “The fact that somebody might be offended by this change—even the fact that someone is a descendant of President Kennedy and feels that he’s being slighted—is not necessarily going to be enough to get someone into court.”

********************************

Trump has broken the law again. What did people think a convicted felon would do when he became president and was given immunity by the SCOTUS for acts committed in his official capacity as POTUS? 

They gave a man who's been a cheat, a liar, a fraudster, and all-around sleaze-bag for his entire life permission to be all that on steroids as the most powerful person on the planet.

The Kennedy family has spoken out about this insult to the memory of John F. Kennedy, our 35th president who was assassinated on November 22, 1963, and whose name was given to the Memorial Center for the Performing Arts by an act of Congress. Trump could care less about the insult to the Kennedy family, the American people, and the law. 

Since Trump has deteriorated into a squalid orange-faced Id enabled by his feckless lackeys, we'll see more and more of this corroding narcissistic behavior from him, and it will only get worse.

I will NEVER forget what the Republican Party let this wreck of a human being do to our country.

"Trump turned the White House into a middle school bathroom wall..."

 

From The Other 98%: 

"Trump turned the White House into a middle school bathroom wall, and the plaques he stuck under Obama and Biden’s portraits are the proof. Under Barack Obama’s picture, Trump’s brass tantrum calls him 'one of the most divisive political figures in American History' and sneers at the Affordable Care Act as the 'highly ineffective ‘Unaffordable’ Care Act,' bragging that Trump later tore up his Iran deal and backed out of the Paris climate accords. It reads less like history and more like a Truth Social post someone mistakenly let near a chisel.

 The Biden plaque is somehow even more deranged, labeling him 'Sleepy Joe Biden' and 'by far, the worst President in American History,' then claiming he only won 'as a result of the most corrupt Election ever seen in the United States.' It rants about 'unprecedented disasters' and Biden’s 'severe mental decline' and even fixates on his 'unprecedented use of the Autopen,' like a middle school burn book pretending to be official White House prose. This is not statesmanship, it is fan fiction for the deeply aggrieved.

Everything about this era of American politics feels stuck at the emotional maturity of a cafeteria food fight. MAGA has turned what should be a sober record of the presidency into a walk of fame for grievance cosplay, where cruelty, lies, and projection get framed as history. At this point, the movement can go right back to the locker room where this mentality started, because the country deserves leaders whose brains have actually graduated past eighth grade."

************************

I can't add anything more to this except wonder about the people surrounding Trump and how they've abased themselves by being his enablers. They know better, I hope, and yet they do nothing to curb Trump's worst impulses and behaviors. I will never forgive them for their failure to rein in Trump's beastly actions.

Trump is to be pitied because we are watching a slow-motion dissolution of a human mind no longer able to control its primitive urges.

THANK YOU, DAVE MILLER

 

I was going to do a post on Trump's speech to the American people last night. I'm getting ready to travel to New York for Christmas and a wedding (my son's) on Christmas Eve!!! Needless to say, I'm a bit harried with shopping, cooking, and preparations for two big events coming on December 24!

Dave Miller left this excellent analysis of Trump's lies speech, so thanks to him, here's a recap of it:

The speech...

Gas in $1.99 a gallon... Maybe somewhere. But the gold standard AAA survey says the average price of gas in the US is $2.99, so Trump is wrong, or lying.

Drug prices have been lowered 400, 500, 600%... Maybe the president skipped math in elementary school or at Wharton. You cannot lower prices more than 100% without people being paid when they get their medicines.

The check is in the mail... $1776.00 for our soldiers... The check is not in the mail. In fact, the Constitution says only Congress can appropriate money. So if the check is in fact in the mail, Trump has betrayed his oath, committed an illegal act and should be impeached and removed from office.

Inflation is lower than it has ever been... According to Trump's own White House, this is not true. Sorry MAGA, facts matter.

What can we do with all of this? Nothing at all. Look, I actually like giving our soldiers a Christmas bonus. But the White House, any White House, cannot, by law, just send $$$ to people. All expenditures like this must, according to the Constitution, must be approved by Congress. It's just as Schoolhouse Rock explained it back in the 70s.

But here's the larger issue and Grey touched on it. Trump is losing it. And before you "what about" folks start, I said the same about Biden. Any objective person can see Trump is nowhere near the campaigner, showman or communicator he was in the first term.

People at some blogs I am sure will write posts asking why Trump doesn't just better explain to the American what he is doing. If he does so they claim, America will understand all the great stuff he's trying to do.

Well, this was his chance. And he whiffed. His speech was full of lies, obfuscations and outright mistakes. The delivery was rushed, at times seemed shouted and almost comical.

And that's before we get to his Biden obsession. The MAGA crowd simultaneously sees Biden as both an evil genius and a dithering idiot during his time in office. Apparently, so does Trump as evidenced by his speech where everything is/was Biden's fault. MAGA folks lap this up.

But at some point they're going have to face facts... They elected Trump, he's hurting America, he's a liar and in their blind support of him, they have surrendered their ability in the future to credibly complain about presidents and candidates lying to the American people.

What a night.

So, Trump's giving our troops money that's already been allocated to them for housing and calling it a gift from his tariffs?

Really? Did he think no one would look into this?

"OUR PETTY, HOLLOW, SQUALID OGRE-IN-CHIEF"

 

After reading this post, I suggest you go to THIS BUZZFEED SITE to see what Trump has done to his so-called "Presidential Walk of Fame" at the White House. It is difficult to believe that Trump, our hollow, squalid ogre-in-Chief, could outdo himself in pettiness, but go to the site and see that he absolutely did. It is appalling!

Conservative opinion columnist, Bret Stephens

"There is, as Adam Smith said, 'a great deal of ruin in a nation,' by which he meant that there are things in almost any country that are going badly wrong but can still be mended. Foolishly imposed tariffs can be repealed. Hastily cut funding can be restored. Ill-thought-out national security strategies can be rewritten. Shaken trust can be rebuilt between Washington and our allies.

 But the damage that cuts deepest is never financial, legal or institutional. As one of Smith’s greatest contemporaries, Edmund Burke, knew, it lies in something softer and less tangible but also more important: manners. 'Manners are what vex or soothe, corrupt or purify, exalt or debase, barbarize or refine us,' Burke wrote. It is, he warned, through manners that laws are either made or unmade, upheld or corrupted.

 Right now, in every grotesque social media post; in every cabinet meeting devoted, North Korea-like, to adulating him; in every executive-order-signing ceremony intended to make him appear like a Chinese emperor; in every fawning reference to all the peace he’s supposedly brought the world; in every Neronic enlargement of the White House’s East Wing; in every classless dig at his predecessor; in every shady deal his family is striking to enrich itself; in every White House gathering of tech billionaires paying him court (in the literal senses of both 'pay' and 'court'); in every visiting foreign leader who learns to abase himself to avoid some capricious tariff or other punishment — in all this and more, our standards as a nation are being debased, our manners barbarized. 

I wonder if we are ever getting them back — and if so, what will it take."

[skip] 

"This is not a country on the cusp of its 'Golden Age,' to quote the president, except in the sense that gold futures are near a record high as a hedge against inflation. It’s a country that feels like a train coming off the rails, led by a driver whose own derangement was again laid bare in that contemptible assault on the Reiners, may their memories be for a blessing."

*****************************

Trump's disgusting Truth Social post about the Reiners is as bad as anything he has done, and he will expose himself as the depraved person that he is again. As hard as it will be to witness another one of his travesties, I believe his next outrage will need to be reported and broadcast widely because this is how all this will end. 

The resistance, the pushback, the organizing must continue; but at this point, I think it's become clear that we are witnessing Trump's inevitable self-destruction. The sooner that is complete, the sooner the country can start to heal.    

The great Italian director and screen writer, Federico Fellini, supposedly said about television that "it is the mirror in which we see the complete defeat of our culture." 

For America, Donald Trump is the mirror in which we see an ongoing debasing and mockery of our culture. He is what the tyranny of the minority adores. They elected him twice, and it appears that he will never lose substantial support from many of them, although some deterioration in that support is happening. 

He is them; they are him. 

And now, they're getting what they have clamored for, good and hard.

MY RESPONSE

 

SAM HUNTINGTON OF GEEEZ BLOG: "I don’t know what prompted Joe to bring the disruptions to your attention yesterday; I hope it wasn’t out of meanness. But I am not surprised by what I saw printed there, nor by those who participated in their childish banter. What are they most upset about? It’s that many of us are no longer willing to turn the other cheek or let bygones be bygones. And we now have certain limitations in our tolerance. We are not willing to accept decadence as America’s standard."

"...decadence as America's standard."

The man they support for POTUS is a convicted felon, adjudicated sexual assaulter/rapist, serial adulterer who cheated on all 3 wives, and the present one with a porn star and playmate bunny; a man who bragged openly about grabbing women's genitals because he thinks he's "a star." Trumps was also a close friend of two notorious child sex traffickers/rapists for years. Trump AND his wife, Melania partied at Epstein's mansions in New York and Palm Beach many, many times. Trump even sent an affectionate birthday card to Epstein and signed his name in the crotch section of a drawing of a young female's body. Trump bragged about being the owner of a teen beauty pageant so that he was able to intrude on the teenage girls when they were half naked because, as he said, he was the owner of the pageant, and he could do it.

Trump appeared on shock jock radio, Howard Stern's, show and had no problem when Stearns described Trump's daughter, Ivanka, as "a piece of ass." Trump was proud that Sterns saw his daughter as something to be ogled at and objectified by men.

Trump denigrates women on almost a daily basis calling them names for the way they look and for doing their jobs.

I could list more about Trump, but what I have posted here is common knowledge and has been widely reported about him for years.

So, to counter what "Sam Huntington" wrote about his and his confrere's inability to "accept decadence as America's standard," I say this to him:

You don't just ACCEPT decadence, you proudly support, vote for, and relish it because you put it in the White House, Sir!

GET RID OF THEM!

"Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose."

 

 "After WWII, there was significant American sentiment, driven by racism, economic fear, and wartime hysteria, that wanted to prevent Japanese immigrants and Japanese Americans from returning to the West Coast or gaining full citizenship rights, leading to post-war anti-Japanese activism and policies, though the U.S. Supreme Court eventually struck down some of the most extreme measures like indefinite detention. 

While many Nisei (second-generation Japanese Americans) were loyal citizens, the desire to keep them out was strong, with groups lobbying Congress and state officials fearing economic competition and cultural threats, even pushing for legislation to strip citizenship from those who renounced it during the war. 

Following Pearl Harbor, Executive Order 9066 led to the forced removal and incarceration of over 100,000 Japanese Americans, fueled by fear, prejudice, and political pressure from the West Coast, as documented by the National Archives

 

"The more things change; the more they remain the same."

The comments below were taken off the public blog "Geeez." I assume most of the people who comment there see themselves as good Christian Americans who believe and practices what is in the Bible. Although reading their comments on Muslim Americans, and in particular Minnesota Rep. Ilan Omar, belies that assumption.

"When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress or mistreat him. But the stranger who resides with you shall be to you like someone native-born among you; and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt; I am the LORD your God."

GET RID OF THEM!

"SHOULD ICE JUST KEEP STOPPING PEOPLE, KEEP ARRESTING, CONTINUE WHAT THEY’RE DOING?   How do we convince Americans that WE NEED THESE PEOPLE GONE?  AND THAT WE DON’T WANT TO BE ANOTHER UK WITH MUSLIM MAYORS IN SO MANY CITIES ACROSS THIS COUNTRY?

1. jess says:

   December 16, 2025 at 4:17 am

   People ignore the efforts of an enemy. Why? They’re afraid and don’t want to engage them in war. Until the enemy is recognized as the enemy, drastic measures are taken to remove their ability to cause harm, and the avenues of their infiltration are removed, they become stronger, and the inevitable outright war will cause the deaths of those that ignored the reality of their predicament.

   Liked by 5 people
2. Ed Bonderenka says:

   December 16, 2025 at 5:35 am

   To add to Jess.

   We are at war. Most of us just don’t want to admit it, it’s too unpleasant, or requires a response and effort. But they are at war with us.

   This is true of China and it is true of these unassimilating heathens.

   Liked by 5 people
3. Jeffrey Guy says:

   December 16, 2025 at 6:01 am

   Agreed with Jess and Ed. Plus the Liberals and MSM are pushing for the illegals, the Muslims, and people that have come in that are on government assistance to stay. All of these should be gone as they break our laws and the Muslims want to take over following Sharia Law, which is not allowed as it against US Constitutional Law.

   Our country is based on Judeo-Christian Law and religions. The Elites on the Left are ignoring what is happening with the flood of lower class Muslims taking over Europe and seeing what is happening in other countries. This flood was done by Biden with not just Muslims but other countries and group

 this tendency to bow to figures like Ilhan Omar was predicted by writers such as John Cunningham, who, in 1947, demonstrated how to recognize cowardice in his short story that became the Hollywood film High Noon.  All Omar has going for her is the race card, and when all you have is the race card, you have nothing.  We can despise Omar because she deserves our negative feelings toward her.  Still, shouldn’t we acknowledge the fact that she is the result of an insidious plan by Obama to “fundamentally change the complexion of the United States of America?

I have questions, though.  Since when does ICE pull over anyone?  Was there an immigration checkpoint?  That would make more sense.  Now, if ICE asked for proof of citizenship, is that a form of discrimination?  Answer: No, not if the questions were asked of everyone regardless of skin color or hairstyle.  Maybe he was detained because he couldn’t provide proof of citizenship, which is nearly impossible in Minnesota.  In Minnesota, even extraterrestrials can obtain proof of citizenship.  That leaves one more possibility: When a woman gives birth to her brother’s child, it’s entirely possible that the offspring is a fool and shouldn’t be allowed out of the house, much less wander through an immigration checkpoint."

jess says:

December 16, 2025 at 11:25 am

Ice has no record of Omar’s son being pulled over. Otherwise, the Islamic acceptance of using deceit, and any other method, including murder, to promote their goal was well used by Omar. She needs to go.

Who to believe? Who to believe? The people who work for a known liar, Donald Trump, and Kristi Noem, who's been brought before a Congressional Oversight Committee for breaking the law? Or Ilhan Omar and her son, whom Trump publicly denigrated by calling them "garbage?"

I'll believe Rep. Omar, since Trump and Noem have a reputation for being dishonest.

Words fail me.

PALATE CLEANSER

 

In social media parlance, the story below is known as a "palate cleanser," and that term is used when a poster wishes to inject something of beauty, wisdom, or human decency into horrendously bleak reports on current events.

As Dave Miller noted in the comments below, this past weekend was one of unrelenting news of tragedies:

Three Americans shot and killed in Syria by lone gunman. 

Two killed and 9 others injured in the Brown University shootings.  

Fifteen dead and 40 injured in Australia shooting aimed at Jews attending a Hanukkah celebration. 

Four people injured in a shooting in Greenville, NC. 

Six people injured in a shooting in Brooklyn, NY. 

One killed and 3 injured in a shooting in Cleveland, OH. 

I needed to read something that reaffirmed human decency, and I found this:

"On May 30, 2015, Barack Obama walked into the Oval Office and found Joe Biden sitting alone, staring at a family photo with tears streaming down his face—it was just fifteen days after Biden's beloved son Beau had died from brain cancer at age forty-six, and what Obama did next became one of the most profound moments of friendship ever witnessed in the White House.

He sat beside Biden, held his hand for nearly twenty minutes without saying a word, and then whispered something that Biden later revealed in his 2017 memoir: 'You gave Beau the best life any son could ask for, and now you have to let yourself grieve like the father you are, not the Vice President everyone expects you to be.' 

What makes this moment absolutely soul-crushing and beautiful is that Obama had cleared his entire afternoon schedule without telling anyone why, instinctively knowing that his Vice President and friend needed permission to fall apart, and according to senior advisor Valerie Jarrett's 2019 book, Obama told his staff, 'If anyone needs me today, tell them the President is exactly where he needs to be—with his brother.' 

The depth of their bond was forged not in policy victories but in shared understanding of devastating loss—Obama had lost his mother to cancer, his grandmother days before his 2008 election victory, and he recognized the specific hell of watching someone you love slip away despite all your power and resources. 

Biden later told Stephen Colbert in a heartbreaking 2015 interview that Obama offered him something extraordinary during those grief-stricken months: 'Barack told me to take all the time I needed, that the Vice Presidency could wait, that America could wait, because being Beau's father was more important than being Vice President, and he meant it—he actually meant it.' 

In a 2017 email, Jeffrey Epstein wrote: "I have met some very bad people. None as bad as Trump. Not one decent cell in his body."

From Occupy Democrats:

BREAKING: Obama delivers a powerful tribute after Rob Reiner’s murder as Trump spits on his grave — and Americans are stunned by the contrast.

In a moment that called for basic human decency, America got a side-by-side contrast so stark it felt like a morality play.

Barack Obama responded to the deaths of filmmaker Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele, with empathy, humility, and class.

“Michelle and I are heartbroken by the tragic passing of Rob Reiner and his beloved wife, Michele. Rob’s achievements in film and television gave us some of our most cherished stories on screen. But beneath all of the stories he produced was a deep belief in the goodness of people—and a lifelong commitment to putting that belief into action. Together, he and his wife lived lives defined by purpose. They will be remembered for the values they championed and the countless people they inspired. We send our deepest condolences to all who loved them,’ the former president posted on X.

His message centered on grief, love, and legacy. He spoke about Reiner’s belief in the goodness of people, about a life lived with purpose, and about the inspiration Rob and Michele gave to others. It was a reminder of what leadership looks like when it understands that words can heal. No politics. No ego. Just humanity.

Then came Donald Trump.

While Obama offered condolences, Trump used the deaths of two people to settle scores. In a rambling Truth Social post, Trump mocked Reiner as “tortured” and “struggling,” smeared him with the made-up slur “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” and somehow managed to turn a tragedy into a self-congratulatory rant about his own “Golden Age of America.” Even the obligatory “rest in peace” landed like an afterthought, tacked on after a barrage of cruelty.

This wasn’t just bad taste — it was a window into character.
Obama spoke to the country. Trump spoke to his resentments. Obama honored a life and a marriage defined by creativity and values. Trump reduced two deaths to an excuse for ridicule and grievance. One man showed respect for the dead and compassion for the living. The other showed that even grief is no barrier to his appetite for insult.

The American people have seen this pattern before. When tragedy strikes, Obama’s instinct is empathy. Trump’s instinct is always about attacking his perceived enemies and protecting himself.

And that’s the real comparison voters should sit with. Leadership isn’t about who shouts the loudest or who insults best. It’s about who knows when to be silent, when to be kind, and when to rise above hatred.

In this moment, one former president acted like a statesman. The other acted exactly as America has come to expect — cruel, petty, and incapable of grace.

YOUR SUNDAY MOMENT OF ZEN

 

“Be where you are, otherwise you will miss your life.” — Buddha

SATURDAY NIGHT MUSIC

 

Appropriate for what our country has experienced over this past week (and the past 11 months) because of the convicted felon in the White House:

"WHAT IS HAPPENING NOW IS NOT NORMAL POLITICS."

Conservative David Brooks wrote this in an Op-Ed in the NY Times in April of this year:

"Trumpism… is primarily about the acquisition of power — power for its own sake. It is a multifront assault to make the earth a playground for ruthless men, so of course any institutions that might restrain power must be weakened or destroyed. Trumpism is about ego, appetite and acquisitiveness and is driven by a primal aversion to the higher elements of the human spirit — learning, compassion, scientific wonder, the pursuit of justice. …

What is happening now is not normal politics. We’re seeing an assault on the fundamental institutions of our civic life, things we should all swear loyalty to — Democrat, independent or Republican.

It’s time for a comprehensive national civic uprising. It’s time for Americans in universities, law, business, nonprofits and the scientific community, and civil servants and beyond to form one coordinated mass movement. Trump is about power. The only way he’s going to be stopped is if he’s confronted by some movement that possesses rival power. …

I’m really not a movement guy. I don’t naturally march in demonstrations or attend rallies that I’m not covering as a journalist. But this is what America needs right now."

 DAVID BROOKS WRITING FOR THE ATLANTIC: 

"There’s a question that’s been bugging me for nearly a decade. How is it that half of America looks at Donald Trump and doesn’t find him morally repellent? He lies, cheats, steals, betrays, and behaves cruelly and corruptly, and more than 70 million Americans find him, at the very least, morally acceptable. Some even see him as heroic, admirable, and wonderful. What has brought us to this state of moral numbness?"

AMERICAN CITIZENS KIDNAPPED, ABUSED, AND BRUTALIZED BY THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

 

How much longer will we Americans allow this brutal administration to continue their reign of terror?

The US is lost. As lost as it was when it decided to intern Japanese Americans. All the people in this administration and those enabling this will spend the rest of their lives denying they played a role in this horror.

They will be the shame of their children and grandchildren, and the ones who fought it will be the heroes.

 

Another innocent American citizen kidnapped and brutalized by his own government!

Testimony of an American citizen, George Retes, who was kidnapped and brutalized by the Trump administration. Full testimony below.