THIS YEAR’S CHRISTMAS DEBUNKING: The Christmas season always seems to induce an irresistible urge among Lefty “scholars” and “journalists,” with a result that one of the latter interviews one of the former and publishes something like the New York Times’ December 21 “A Conversation About the Virgin Birth that Maybe Wasn’t” by columnist Nicholas Kristoff.

“Hate to barge in on your Christmas joy as you reflect on the miracle of the Incarnation, but The New York Times has delivered its annual dose of skepticism wrapped in tinsel. This time, it’s an interview with Elaine Pagels, a famed Ivy League biblical scholar. You’d expect some highbrow insights from the hoity toity Times, but instead, it’s a predictable grab bag of speculation and lazy thinking,” Is Jesus Alive proprietor Erik Manning writes in a lengthy dismemberment of this comedy of factual errors, fallacious logic and uninformed analyses.

Just to cite one of the many examples Manning addresses, Pagels makes a big deal out of the fact that the Gospel of Mark, which is commonly thought to be the earliest written of the four Gospels, makes no mention of the Virgin Birth of Jesus.

“There’s also a whopper of an argument from silence here that needs addressing. Just because Mark doesn’t mention the virgin birth, it doesn’t mean he’s unaware of it. Omitting a detail isn’t the same as denying it, and history is full of examples where major events go unmentioned.

“Take Pliny the Younger, for instance. In two detailed letters to Tacitus, he describes the eruption of Mount Vesuvius but says nothing about the destruction of Pompeii or Herculaneum—two of the biggest stories from that disaster. Or consider Henry Oldenburg, who wrote extensively during the Great Plague of 1665-1666 but barely mentioned the plague itself. Paul doesn’t mention Jesus’ miracles, but I’m guessing Pagels still believes Jesus was known as a wonder-worker. If these omissions don’t equal denial, why assume Mark’s silence does,” Manning writes.

Manning’s is a lengthy piece and it requires an attentive reader to follow the Pagels arguments and Manning’s critique. But it’s well-worth your time to have such a chronicle of the weaknesses in so much of the popular skepticism about Jesus, the Gospels and the miracle at the heart of Christmas.

NICE FAKE NEWS NETWORK YOU’VE GOT THERE, IT WOULD BE A SHAME IF ANYTHING WERE TO HAPPEN TO IT: Trump’s New FCC Chief Just Read the Riot Act to Disney’s Bob Iger.

WHERE ARE THESE CHILDREN? Do you know that at least 500,000 children, many of them toddlers, have been brought illegally into this country and then they disappeared? Most likely, they were sold by the Mexican drug cartels into hellish lives of sex trafficking or child slavery.

“Where Are the Children: Crisis at the Border” is a new two-part documentary by Epoch TV that digs deep into how something so horrible could happen in America, based on the testimony of whistleblowers from within the federal government. You will want to share this once you’ve seen it because evil like this cannot be allowed to happen in our America.

COMMIES GOTTA COMMIE: Sweeping Vietnam internet law comes into force.

New Vietnamese internet rules requiring Facebook and TikTok to verify user identities and hand over data to authorities came into force on Wednesday, in what critics say is the latest attack on freedom of expression.

Under “Decree 147”, all tech giants operating in Vietnam must verify users’ accounts via their phone numbers or Vietnamese identification numbers and store that information alongside their full name and date of birth.

They must provide that data to authorities on request and remove any content the government regards as “illegal” within 24 hours.

The new rules came into force on Wednesday, state media VNExpress said.

All social media sites had been given 90 days to provide data on “the total number of regular visits from Vietnam” and the number of regular users per month to authorities, the website said.

“Decree 147 will be used to publicly suppress those with different viewpoints,” said activist Dang Thi Hue, who writes about politics and social issues on her Facebook account, which has 28,000 followers.

Lefties would love to be able to do the same in this country.

LEADERSHIP MATTERS: Americans Are Hopeful Again… Can You Guess Why?

TREAT YOURSELF TO A GIFT: Beats Studio Pro – Wireless Bluetooth Noise Cancelling Headphones. #CommisionEarned

MAYBE WE’RE JUST DONE WITH BEING FORCE-FED PROPAGANDA: Americans are exhausted by political news. TV ratings and a new AP-NORC poll show they’re tuning out.

FIGHT THE POWER: Christian college defeats Georgia in lawsuit, will participate in state financial aid program.

ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Why is the day after Christmas called Boxing Day?

CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: DOJ holds University of Delaware accountable for failing to disclose professor’s affiliation with Chinese government in NASA grant.

CHANGE: These large companies are funding Trump’s inauguration despite pledge to withhold support after Jan. 6. “People just really want to move forward and move on. The election results were very clear.”

LIGHTNING DEAL: imarku Non Stick Frying Pans, Frying Pan with Lid 2Pcs. #CommissionEarned

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING (CLASSIC): Dreams Can Come True. “One of my clearest and fondest memories from the 2016 presidential election involved the few minutes leading up to the announcement that Donald Trump had won the state of Pennsylvania, and the next several minutes after that. The looks on the faces of the mainstream media talking heads are forever etched in my mind. They knew what the Trump victory in the Keystone State meant, and the sheer panic was delicious.”

“THE BEST PART IS NO PART”: The Musk-Led Manufacturing Revolution Nobody Is Talking About. “When most analysts discuss Tesla, they focus on new vehicles or the electric vehicle company’s advancements in autonomy. Yet, according to Launch i/o CEO Jeff Lutz, one of the most significant—and under-discussed—developments at Tesla is happening not in its design studios or on the road, but in its factories. Lutz, a former executive at Google and Motorola, argues that Tesla’s true innovation isn’t just the electric vehicles or robots it’s building, but how those products are being made. The company’s first-principles approach to manufacturing is a radical departure from the industry norm, focusing not just on cheap labor or existing models, but on rethinking the entire production process.”

ROGER KIMBALL: Musk Derangement Syndrome: Elon Musk’s push for transparency and fiscal responsibility has reshaped the debate over government spending, exposing inefficiency and forcing Congress to answer to the public.

Yes, that’s right, both Rogers — Kimball and Simon — are talking about Musk Derangement syndrome. Surely a sign that it’s a big thing.

JOHN LUCAS: “What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.“ Beware of the risks of miscommunications with different cultures.

CORN, POPPED: It’s Even Worse for the Dems Than They Thought And It Will Get Worse Before It Gets Better.

ANALYSIS: TRUE.

All communism is about destruction therefore all communism requires lies at all times. That’s why communists have been more obsessed with controlling information than anyone else in history. And it’s why our media is the devil.

Without lies, there is no communism. Anywhere. https://t.co/1DctSVmws7

— Jesse Kelly (@JesseKellyDC) December 24, 2024

AND YET THERE ARE STILL MORONS OUT THERE PROMOTING COMMUNISM:

Cuba runs out of sugar.https://t.co/U6VV1eNtGm

— wretchardthecat (@wretchardthecat) December 23, 2024

It’s not even, in Churchill’s words, the equal sharing of misery. The dictators and apparatchiks and nomenklatura — all of whom are invariably present in communist regimes — pretty much skip the misery. That part is reserved for the workers and peasants for whose benefits the regime allegedly exists.

Cuba is in fact a brutally exploitative slave state run by corrupt and incompetent slavers. And yet there are still some in America and elsewhere who pretend there’s something admirable about it, which in fact there never was.

BIG BROTHER BILL IS WATCHING YOU:

No greater nightmare. This is the window they want to break through into the house. Then they will own it and you'll be in the wilderness, being tracked by drones. https://t.co/ohQXtLh7Ms

— Walter Kirn (@walterkirn) December 26, 2024

Neither 1984 nor Brave New World were instruction manuals.

FROM BRADLEY THOMPSON: More on Revolutionary Constitutionalism.

OUT: TRUMP WILL POLITICIZE THE COURTS!!! In: White House Vetoes Bipartisan Bill to Create Needed Judgeships: It is apparently unacceptable that some of the new judges would be appointed by a Republican.

LIST: Nominees for the 2024 Tillman Award. Can I just say that he’s annoyed all the right people?

NO, I DID NOT: Did You Have ‘CIA Docs Say There Was Life on Mars’ On Your Bingo Card?

SO WE’RE NOT EVEN GOING TO BE ABLE TO TELL JOURNALISTS TO LEARN TO CODE SOON: A fascinating thread.

Absolutely nobody predicted this: AI Code is the new NoCode.

Honestly, I like talking to AI more than to human developers when building small apps. It understands me better, even with half-baked specs.

I've literally tested all AI builders I could find 😑

1/20 🧵 :

— John Rush (@johnrushx) December 24, 2024