Author Archive: Ed Driscoll

December 23, 2025

MORNING IN AMERICA? Boom! US Economy Grows By Big 4.3% In Third Quarter.

So, the 4.3% growth is very high and not too far away from “It’s Morning in America again.”

And it’s not even a one-quarter wonder — the last quarter showed strong 3.8% growth. It looks like it’s real and building.

Is the economic turn we desperately need for 2026 and 2028, too, finally here?

Let’s hope. It looks good at the moment.

Classical reference in headline:

 

Posted at 2:22 pm by Ed Driscoll on Dec 23rd, 2025

FROM THE “FARTING COWS AND PLANES” FILES: “Ecologists understand the implications. Then environmental organizations continue campaigning to remove cattle from rangelands because they’re ‘destroying’ the environment. The Serengeti proved that 1.5 million large grazers make the land healthier, not worse. But admitting this would require acknowledging that maybe cattle aren’t the problem.”

Posted at 1:35 pm by Ed Driscoll on Dec 23rd, 2025

BRENDAN O’NEILL: The anti-Semitic delusions of Candace Owens.

In a way, I’m glad Candace Owens held up a copy of the notoriously anti-Semitic screed, The Talmudic Jew, during her latest digital rant. For it confirms what she is. More importantly, it lays down a gauntlet to the right. To the left too, in fact. It demands of them the following: are you going to turn a blind eye to this propagation of bloodcurdling lies about the Jews, or are you going to do something about it?

It’s an extraordinary image – Ms Owens, once a darling of America’s online right, sporting a demented grin as she holds aloft one of the most scurrilous and libellous texts about the Jews. She was venting about Ben Shapiro after he dissed her in his speech at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest conference last week. Shapiro called the likes of Owens ‘frauds’ and ‘grifters’ for spreading conspiracy theories about the murder of Charlie Kirk.

‘Ben Shapiro, f**k you’, said Owens in her wild-eyed video response. You’re nothing more than a ‘Talmudic Jew’, she spat, with extraordinary venom. ‘I encourage other people at home to learn what is in that Talmud’, she said, holding up a copy of The Talmudic Jew by August Rohling, published in 1871.

And there it was, one of the digital right’s best-known figures, a woman with more than five million YouTube subscribers, hawking a book full of anti-Semitic lies. Rohling was a German Catholic theologian. He was an infamous Jew-hater. The Talmudic Jew depicts the Talmud as a ‘repository of anti-Christian hatred’ and a ‘manual for swindling Gentiles’, says Hussein Aboubakr Mansour. And of course it’s fraudulent, Mansour writes. It relies on ‘medieval anti-Jewish polemics and out-of-context quotations’.

Conservative pollster Patrick Ruffini suggests that “Lots of people are listening [to Owens] but are totally unpersuaded by anti-Israel arguments:”

Still though, I’m curious as to why Megyn Kelly, who had been doing yeoman work over the past couple of years rehabilitating her image with conservatives, chose to detonate her career (once again) by standing with Team Candace: Megyn Kelly Blasts Ben Shapiro After He Calls Her a ‘Coward’ for Not Condemning Candace Owens’ Charlie Kirk Murder Conspiracies.

Posted at 1:23 pm by Ed Driscoll on Dec 23rd, 2025

OLD AND BUSTED: “Nobody is Above the Law.”

The New Hotness? Charlottesville, VA Eliminating Use of Camera System Because Feds Might Track Illegal Aliens.

In other words, the Charlottesville City Council looked at the data and saw that the system was reuniting families, solving heinous crimes, and returning stolen property to people, and decided that protecting illegal aliens from deportation was far more important than the safety of its residents.

Does it get any more blatant than that? Nobody is even trying to pretend that the city has decided to drop using the system for privacy or any other reasons. It all boils down to weighing the safety and security of the citizenry on the one hand, and helping illegal aliens defy the law on the other.

They chose the latter. Better that illegal aliens roam free, even if it means unsolved murders and children not being found quickly.

“And now, a city council has decided that solving murders and reuniting children with their families is all well and good, but when compared to saving an illegal alien gang member from being deported, it’s nothing.”

Posted at 12:30 pm by Ed Driscoll on Dec 23rd, 2025

IT’S COME TO THIS: Boston Democrat Mayor Michelle Wu Says Somalis To Thank For City’s ‘Every Achievement.’

Democratic Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said on Monday that Somalis are to thank for “every achievement” that the city has ever had.

Somalis have gained national attention after several were charged with stealing over $1 billion from Minnesota’s social programs, including those intended to feed poor children. Wu claimed that the Somalians are responsible for every positive thing that has happened in Boston.

“You cannot talk about any achievement that the city of Boston has had in safety, jobs, and economic development, in education, without talking about the Somali community that has lifted our city up. We are proud and we are grateful for our Somali community and for our Somali American neighbors. Boston and the country are clear that hate has no place in our society,” Wu said.

“We will use every attack to actually strengthen and expand the services available, to empower and work alongside our community members who are already doing so much good in the world and setting the example for the rest of the country,” Wu continued.

Related:

Posted at 12:00 pm by Ed Driscoll on Dec 23rd, 2025

December 22, 2025

MATT DAMON SETS SAIL IN EPIC FIRST TRAILER FOR CHRISTOPHER NOLAN’S THE ODYSSEY:

The first footage of The Odyssey has come ashore.

On Monday, Dec. 22, Universal Pictures released a teaser trailer for director Christopher Nolan‘s action epic, adapted from Homer’s ancient Greek poem of the same name.

A synopsis for The Odyssey describes it as “a mythic action epic shot across the world using brand new IMAX® film technology.” The new trailer shows Matt Damon as the title character Odysseus and brief glimpses at his life during the Trojan War (including the iconic Trojan Horse) and his years-long journey back to his homeland.

The trailer is the first look audiences outside of movie theaters have gotten at The Odyssey, Nolan’s first movie since his 2023 drama Oppenheimer won several Oscars, since Universal first announced the movie was in development in December 2024. The film is notably being shot with all-new IMAX cameras and will be the first feature length film ever to shoot entirely with IMAX film cameras.

Nolan has certainly banked plenty of good will over the years, the trailer looks intriguing, and I can’t wait to read the reviews. The Odyssey looks to be the big movie of 2026. But just typing that sentence at the end of 2025 is a reminder of how badly the industry has stumbled, after reading “George MF Washington’s” Substack titled “Making Movies in a Low Trust Environment,” and its lengthy roster of decent, good, and great movies Hollywood churned out seemingly came out once a week throughout 1993.

Posted at 8:30 pm by Ed Driscoll on Dec 22nd, 2025

CHRISTIAN TOTO: Jimmy Kimmel to Face Ultimate Free Speech Test in UK. Far-left host tapped to address Great Britain, but will he finally speak truth to power?

No. Next question?

Kimmel teased the comments will address “fascism,” and it’s clear it’ll be an extension of his nightly rants against President Trump.

Channel 4 elaborated on the speech to air on Christmas Day.

“Donald Trump’s return to the White House and wide-ranging impact on the world has been the story of 2025, and it would be hard to think of a better person to address it than Jimmy Kimmel, who has found himself on the frontline of America’s battle over free speech,” the spokesperson said.

If you’re afraid of fascism, look no further than Mother England. Here is the indispensable City Journal detailing the horrors coming out of the U.K. in recent years.

According to police records analyzed by the London Times, over 12,000 Britons per year are arrested for speech-related offenses—an average of 30 per day and nearly a fourfold increase over the 2016 figure. Recent cases have reportedly included arrests for derogatory comments about migrants, displays of the national flag that others found offensive, and even silent prayer near abortion clinics. Since 2014, police can record comments merely perceived as offensive as so-called “non-crime hate incidents,” which remain on the offending party’s record even if no charges are filed.

Exit quote: “If Kimmel is set to discuss ‘fascism’ and fails to mention this sorry state of affairs, his free speech hypocrisy may be viewable from outer space.”

Oh, it will be.

UPDATE: Now Labour could ban Christmas songs: Employment Rights Bill could see end of Jingle Bells and more sung in pubs over ‘racist’ origins.

Over to you, Jimmy!

Posted at 8:14 pm by Ed Driscoll on Dec 22nd, 2025

MILE MARKERS ON THE ROAD TO DETROIT: Once-thriving shopping mall in ailing Democrat-run* city is eerily empty on last Sunday before Christmas.

The [San Francisco Centre, formerly known as the Westfield Mall], which was valued at $1.2 billion about a decade ago, was foreclosed on in November.

It was sold to lenders, including JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank, for $133 million.

The banks have hired real estate brokerage CBRE to find a new buyer for the mall – and the firm’s executive vice president, Kyle Kovac, told CBS News that the sale signals a new era for the property.

He told the outlet: ‘Amid renewed civic leadership, three consecutive years of positive population growth and surging demand from artificial intelligence and technology firms, San Francisco Centre & Emporium is uniquely positioned to anchor the next chapter in downtown San Francisco’s recovery.’

But others are less convinced that the mall’s much-needed comeback is tangible.

Local Neil Wotherspoon, who told CBS in November that he visits the mall about once a week to order from the Panda Express in its basement – one of the only businesses still open – said he does not think the establishment’s future is bright.

‘I think these will be the last people to put the lights out,’ he said. ‘I think you’ll end up with the only people who will come here will be like me to enjoy the food. Just for the Panda, that’s right.’

Others noted how unsettling shopping in the massive mall has become since it transformed into a ghost town.

* You spelled “Democrat monopoly city” wrong; San Francisco’s last Republican mayor left office at the beginning of 1964.

Related:

And considering that Schwarzenegger was the very definition of a RINO, which party has controlled Sacramento for decades?

 

Posted at 6:14 pm by Ed Driscoll on Dec 22nd, 2025

SEE BS: 60 Minutes Correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi, Who Cried Foul Over Delayed Immigration Piece, Was Behind ‘Intentionally False’ Hit Piece on Ron DeSantis That Even Democrats Said Was Wrong.

In her leaked email to her colleagues, Alfonsi accused CBS News and Weiss of engaging in “corporate censorship” and of “betrayal of the most basic tenet of journalism.” Reporters at CBS News are threatening to quit over the Weiss decision, CNN’s Brian Stelter reported (it’s unlikely that anyone will actually quit due to the fast-shrinking job market for television reporters).

Weiss, who was appointed CBS News editor in chief in October, said in a statement Monday that the story “did not advance the ball” on what has already been reported about CECOT. “We need to be able to get the principals on the record and on camera,” she said.

There’s precedent warranting additional legwork on Alfonsi’s segments. Alfonsi was the lead correspondent on a debunked story in 2021 that DeSantis gave preferential treatment to the supermarket chain Publix to distribute coronavirus vaccines because the company donated $100,000 to DeSantis’s campaign.

“How is that not pay-to-play?” Alfonsi asked DeSantis when she confronted him after one of the governor’s press conferences.

Alfonsi’s producer for that story, Oriana Zill de Granados, also produced the “Inside CECOT” report.

Several Florida officials, including Democrats, blasted the 60 Minutes report, saying that DeSantis’s office was not involved in awarding contracts to Publix.

Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D., Fla.), who oversaw Florida’s emergency management division in 2021 and is known for tangling with the GOP, said that the division recommended Publix for the contract because other pharmacies were not equipped to distribute vaccines.

“No one from the Governor’s office suggested Publix. It’s just absolute malarkey,” he said.

But think of the long tradition of excellence at CBS News!

 

Posted at 5:45 pm by Ed Driscoll on Dec 22nd, 2025

NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN: ‘Kill Switch?’ Bari Bombshell Explodes on 60 Minutes:

Did Bari Weiss give the White House a “kill switch” on honest reports from CBS News? Or did she yank the chain back on one of its most biased platforms to remind everyone that times have changed?

One can imagine which narrative the Protection Racket Media will flog.

Weiss issued a last-minute order to yank a 60 Minutes exposé on Donald Trump’s decision to partner with El Salvador on deporting criminal illegals, citing the need for more reporting and better balance. All of the usual suspects have been losing their minds ever since:

CBS News pulled a segment on Trump administration deportations of Venezuelan immigrants to an El Salvador prison from “60 Minutes,” causing staffers and media onlookers to question whether the decision was politically motivated. …

Driving the news: “60 Minutes” announced on social media around 4:30pm ET Sunday that it was dropping the segment, called “Inside CECOT,” from that evening’s broadcast lineup, but said that it would air at a later date.

  • Sharyn Alfonsi, the segment’s correspondent, alleged in an email to colleagues that she learned Saturday that new CBS editor-in-chief Bari Weiss had “spiked our story” after Trump officials refused to be interviewed, per multiple reports.
  • “Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices,” Alfonsi wrote, per a copy of the email that journalist Liam Scott shared on X.

I’ve watched 60 Minutes and CBS News’ practical application of “standards and practices” for decades. This is not the flex that Alfonsi thinks it is. Twenty-one years ago, CBS News and 60 Minutes II ran a prime-time hit piece on George W. Bush based on fabricated documents in an attempt to influence a presidential election. “Rathergate” only cost CBS some embarrassment and retractions, and perhaps a momentary blip in sponsor support. Almost exactly twenty years later, they botched a re-edit of their softball interview with Kamala Harris so badly that the manipulation was once again easily exposed by critics and commentators. That escapade cost Paramount $16 million to settle in a lawsuit Trump filed, who most definitely preferred direct action more than Bush did at the time.

Alfonsi’s past performance is helping her case, either:

Brian Stelter has thoughts:

I can remember when 60 Minutes suffered the ultimate blow to its credibility, a moment that has never once bothered Stelter:

UPDATE:

Posted at 2:55 pm by Ed Driscoll on Dec 22nd, 2025

GEORGE MF WASHINGTON: Making Movies in a Low Trust Environment. “Washington” compares and contrasts 1993’s top movies with today’s choices being proffered by DEI-infected Hollywood and compares the results to a once dominant sports team now constantly having losing seasons. “Don’t we become hyper-critical of even the smallest mistakes, mistakes of the kind we might forgive a competent team that is otherwise playing well? Worse, don’t we sometimes start to expect that our team will lose even before a single minute of game time has been played?”

And that is exactly what has happened to Hollywood over the last 20 years. The studios have performed the task of entertaining us so poorly, so regularly, that audiences feel burned. They no longer trust that the movies they pay to see will be any good, and they have begun to give up… even in the case of big blockbuster titles based on popular franchises, characters or IP of the kind audiences would have flocked to see in the 80’s and 90’s when Hollywood was releasing movies in a high trust environment.

We can debate what has changed. Some think it’s the high cost of movie tickets and popcorn combined with the inconvenience of theater-going when compared to streaming from the couch. And I know many in my right-leaning audience will blame Progressive politics, the powerful urge of Hollywood stars and directors to lecture us as if we are bad people to be taught a lesson rather than friends who deserve to be entertained… what the Critical Drinker calls “The Message.” And while that has clearly been a part of the problem, Hollywood’s woes are about much more than just politics.

The problem is that Hollywood has forgotten what movies are supposed to be about. The industry which once released “Mrs. Doubtfire”, “Schindler’s List” and “The Pelican Brief” in the same month has forgotten that movies must first entertain. They have forgotten that audiences want to see all kinds of movies, not just movies about Superheroes. They have forgotten that movies shouldn’t look like a corporate product created in a lab for the sole purpose of raising the stock price of the studio’s corporate parent. And perhaps most importantly, they have forgotten that movies need not focus obsessively on the goal of bending the arc of history towards justice… and certainly not at the expense of telling a great story.

The Critical Drinker and his cadre recently looked back on the tenth anniversary of The Force Awakens, the first Star Wars movie made under the Disney brand name. In his blockbuster “Lost Generation” article, Jacob Savage wrote, “In retrospect, 2014 was the hinge, the year DEI became institutionalized across American life.” Not coincidentally, The Force Awakens was released the following year.

In contrast to George Lucas’ constant writing and rewriting of his Star Wars concepts in the mid-1970s, as the Drinker et al note, the lack of worldbuilding by Disney as they were setting up shop on a new run of Star Wars movies was shocking. Apparently Kathleen Kennedy believed that printing up loads of “The Force is Female” t-shirts would suffice instead.

To borrow from what I wrote last week, Hollywood’s decline, a decade of DEI-driven slop coupled with the shocking murder of Rob Reiner, is a textbook example of Hemingway’s description for how one goes bankrupt: Gradually, then suddenly.

Speaking of which, one way or another, Warner Brothers being on the chopping block could likely accelerate the end of the moviegoing experience as well: Larry Ellison guarantees $40.4 billion in Paramount’s hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery.

Posted at 1:22 pm by Ed Driscoll on Dec 22nd, 2025

OH, TO BE IN ENGLAND: Jimmy Kimmel to say ‘fascism has had a great year’ in Channel 4 Christmas message.

US chat show host Jimmy Kimmel will say 2025 has been “a really great year for fascism”, when he delivers this year’s Alternative Christmas Message on Channel 4.

The presenter’s ABC talk show was briefly taken off air in September after comments he made about the shooting of Charlie Kirk.

The host’s suspension led to a debate in the US about freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Kimmel was reinstated a week after his removal.

The full quote from his address will say: “From a fascism perspective, this has been a really great year.”

The Daily Mail is of course suitably outraged: Jimmy Kimmel’s Christmas message to British public sparks outrage: ‘He should’ve stayed fired.’

Viewers in Britain and America alike hit out at the comedian for his anticipated anti-Trump rant and expected omission of censorship issues plaguing Sir Keir Starmer‘s government.

‘He’s going to whine about free speech and fascism,’ said GB News presenter Alex Armstrong on X.

‘He won’t be referring to our govt, will he? It’ll all be Trump. [Channel Four] deeply out of touch as usual.’

Commentator Paul Thacker also pointed to the recent arrest of comedian Graham Linehan for making anti-trans jokes as evidence of the ‘double standard’ in choosing Kimmel for the alternative message.

‘The British establishment chose Jimmy Kimmel to speak out against fascism and in favor of free speech. This is the same government that only recently arrested comedian Graham Linehan,’ Thacker wrote.

Worst. Hitler. Ever: Kimmel will be broadcasting in England, of all places, railing against fascism, with absolutely no repercussions from the Trump administration afterwards. And apparently, with no clue whatsoever about England arresting people for their tweets and Whatsapp posts.

Posted at 12:00 pm by Ed Driscoll on Dec 22nd, 2025

December 21, 2025

WE NEED A TOTAL AND COMPLETE SHUTDOWN OF AUSTRALIA UNTIL WE CAN FIGURE WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON THERE:

 

Posted at 2:45 pm by Ed Driscoll on Dec 21st, 2025

JOHN NOLTE: RINO Romney Calls for Tax Hikes, Raising Retirement Age.

Here are his suggestions for outright tax increases…

“I long opposed increasing the income level on which FICA employment taxes are applied (this year, the cap is $176,100). No longer[.]”

Currently, once your income reaches that $176,100, the government stops taking taxes for Medicare and Social Security. It sounds like Romney wants to tax people no matter how much they make.

He also argues for closing loopholes, increasing the estate tax, and similar measures.

This has always been Romney’s problem.

Actually, two of Romney’s problems.

The first is that you can always count on him to eventually cave to Democrats. There’s death, taxes, and Romney caving to Democrats.

Second is his dazzling lack of imagination.

How do we fix entitlements, Mitt?

Uh, raise the retirement age and tax increases.

Way to think out of the box, Mitt.

America cannot tax its way to either prosperity or fiscal solvency. Tax increases always-always-always slow economic growth, which — and this is key — decreases tax revenues. Romney acknowledges this and then, without evidence, wrist flicks it: “Yes, taxes can slow growth. But most of the measures I propose would have a relatively small impact on economic growth.”

In other words, I’ve acknowledged it, so I don’t have to really address it, you know, because I acknowledged it.

As the late Robert Novak famously said, “God put the Republican Party on earth to cut taxes. If they don’t do that, they have no useful function.” But Romney himself can pay more in taxes anytime he’d like:

Bush 41 is, however, an object lesson in how Republican presidents are treated by Democrats should they accede to their wishes, and increase the taxes that Americans are paying: Clinton attacked Bush from the right for raising taxes.

Posted at 2:14 pm by Ed Driscoll on Dec 21st, 2025

DANIEL GREENFIELD: Tucker Carlson: “Attacking Millions of Americans Because They’re Muslims, It’s Disgusting.”

Building up to a furious pitch, Tucker ranted against what he called “attacking millions of Americans because they’re Muslims, it’s disgusting. And I’m a Christian. I know there’s effort to claim I’m a secret Jihadi. I’m not. You should not attack on those grounds. And you’re seeing that from Republicans. What the hell are you doing?”

What the hell are they doing? They’re doing what Charlie Kirk was doing? Speaking the truth and standing up for America, Christianity and the West.

America’s Newspaper of Record believes that Tucker may be overselling, just slightly, his newfound change of heart on the Religion of Peace™:

Posted at 1:45 pm by Ed Driscoll on Dec 21st, 2025

OLD AND BUSTED: Statue Toppling Endorsed by College Professors and Once Respectable Publications.

The New Hotness? JFK’s Niece Kerry Kennedy Vows to Remove Trump’s Name from the Kennedy Center with a ‘Pickax.’

More members of the Kennedy family are speaking out after President Donald Trump added his name to the Kennedy Center this week.

Following a controversial vote by a MAGA-friendly board, workers officially added Trump’s name to the Kennedy Center’s exterior on Friday, Dec. 19. They tacked on “The Donald Trump and” above the previously-existing lettering, which reads, “The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.”

Kerry Kennedy, the daughter of Robert F. Kennedy and JFK’s niece, took to X after photos of the new addition went public.

“Three years and one month from today, I’m going to grab a pickax and pull those letters off that building, but I’m going to need help holding the ladder,” she wrote. “Are you in? Applying for my carpenter’s card today, so it’ll be a union job!!!”

Sounds awfully violent and destructive, but that’s par for the course for her family’s lineage. As RFK said in March of 1968, “If our colleges and universities do not breed men who riot, who rebel, who attack life with all their youthful vision and vigor then there is something wrong with our colleges. The more riots that come on college campuses, the better the world for tomorrow.”

I like Ike; let’s rename it after him. But assuming we don’t have a President Vance or Rubio in office four years from now, Democrats will be working harder than Winston Smith in the Ministry of Truth to airbrush President Trump two terms of office out of existence.

Posted at 1:14 pm by Ed Driscoll on Dec 21st, 2025

21st CENTURY HEADLINES: First wheelchair user goes into space. “A German engineer has become the first wheelchair user to go into space.Michaela Benthaus, an aerospace and mechatronics engineer at the European Space Agency, crossed the Karman line, the internationally recognised boundary of space, during the 10-minute Blue Origin flight. Ms Benthaus, 33, from Kiel in Schleswig-Holstein, suffered a spinal cord injury in a mountain biking accident seven years ago.”

Posted at 12:30 pm by Ed Driscoll on Dec 21st, 2025

ROGER SIMON: J. D. Vance Has a Tucker Carlson Problem.

Is Tucker’s cognitive disorder Qatar’s doing? Maybe partly, but it is J. D. Vance’s problem. Currently, he and others are unable to shake themselves free of Carlson’s celebrity and the attendant charisma that remains.

If they don’t, it could sink the Republican ship. I’m not just talking about the Jews, many of whom were in the process of shifting to the GOP or already had, only to be repelled by Tucker’s antisemitic ravings, but also about the evangelicals who constitute a much larger backbone of the Republican Party. Without them, they are lost.

As many have noted, demography is destiny. Among Jews, the more orthodox are the fastest-growing segment, obeying the biblical admonition to be fruitful and multiply. The others, like most secular people, are having fewer children. The orthodox have long been the most conservative and by far the most likely to vote Republican—until the advent of Tucker’s screeds.

Exit quote: “This places J. D. Vance in a box. He must separate from Tucker and his followers, but he must do so subtly to avoid escalating the already percolating civil war. I sympathize with his dilemma.”

Read the whole thing.

Posted at 12:00 pm by Ed Driscoll on Dec 21st, 2025

December 20, 2025

THE POWER LINE WEEK IN PICTURES: Return of the King Edition.

Okay, John Hinderaker went and did it last week! He has abused his stewardship of TWiP and went full Die Hard Christmas Movie Denialist!  As the Dude says in The Big Lebowski, this aggression will not stand, man! To restore proper balance in the universe, I [Steve Hayward] am staging a coup d’tat, and am taking over this week’s TWiP. To mix movie references further, John has done a Denethor-level job as Steward of TWiP; time for the Return of the (TWiP) King! Actually, like the Gaza and (prospective) Ukraine ceasefires, we’re going to share power, and alternate TWiP each week. And so as the great John McClain would say on basic cable Christmas season reruns, “Yippie-ki-yay, melon-farmer!”

‘Tis the season:

Posted at 12:00 pm by Ed Driscoll on Dec 20th, 2025

DISPATCHES FROM THE EPSTEIN FILES: Nearly naked Bill Clinton pictured soaking in hot tub with unidentified woman in Epstein files: ‘His reckoning.’

Former President Bill Clinton is photographed reclining nearly naked in a hot tub with an unidentified woman at his waist in files kept by late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein — drawing strong reactions, including an ex-aide’s pronouncement that “this is his reckoning.”

Clinton, 79, is shown in many other images in the sprawling cache of Epstein files released Friday by the Justice Department — including with his arm wrapped around a young lady on a plane.

The ex-president is seen vacationing with the now-notorious predator in the UK, traveling with him to Brunei and Thailand and attending the 2002 wedding of Moroccan King Mohammed VI.

The extent of the Democrat’s appearance in the files drew shock shortly after the DOJ’s heavily redacted dump of thousands of records in compliance with a congressionally mandated deadline.

In one image, Clinton is shown frolicking in a swimming pool with Epstein’s girlfriend-turned-madam Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking crimes.

“This is his reckoning. I mean, if you turn on CNN, that’s what they are talking about. I’ve gotten a million texts about it,” said one former Clinton aide.

Related: Epstein Files Have Been Released, And Democrats Won’t Like These Photos.

Curiously, distaff Democratic Party operatives with bylines are shocked not by their man being in the Epstein files, but by his images actually being released:

Evergreen:

Posted at 8:14 am by Ed Driscoll on Dec 20th, 2025

IT’S COME TO THIS: “Patriots should not fight for the British state,” says a columnist…in the London Telegraph?!

Talk of war is everywhere. Last week Mark Rutte, Nato’s secretary general, warned that the West must be prepared “for the scale of war our grandparents or great-grandparents endured” and that Nato is “Russia’s next target”. Then Sir Richard Knighton, the chief of the defence staff, said that the global situation is the most “dangerous I have known”, before describing a “new era for defence” which “doesn’t just mean our military and government stepping up… it means our whole nation stepping up”.

But is this realistic? Will the Britons of 2025 rise to the call as we did in 1914 or 1939? Polling suggests not. According to an Ipsos poll in June, almost half of us “say there are no circumstances” in which we “would be willing to take up arms for Britain”, with 39 per cent of men saying they would never fight for this country, and only 42 per cent of 18-34 year olds saying there are circumstances in which they would fight.

Some of those refusing are Leftists, but an increasing number of those on the Right, especially the young, believe that to obey the British state is to act against the interests of the British people.

If only there was a military role that many young conservative British men would flock to serve:

 

Posted at 7:45 am by Ed Driscoll on Dec 20th, 2025
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