JUSTICE ALITO’S CHRISTMAS GIFT FOR AMERICA: Look what’s happened on the religious freedom front since his November address to The Federalist Society. It’s the gift that really could keep on giving year-round.

NOTE TO THE DESPONDENT: Yes, the Supremes blew it on the Texas case. But, just as the seeds for the first American Revolution were planted from a hundred church pulpits during the Great Awakening (See this from Ellis Sandoz), maybe Alito has watered the seeds of a new rebellion.

NO, THE MAJORITY-MINORITY DEMOCRATIC DOMINANCE IS NOT INEVITABLE: Morris Fiorina, writing for The Federalist, points to CUNY Professor Richard Alba’s “The Great Demographic Illusion” as essential reading for anybody who talks, writes or thinks about U.S. elections.

RICHMOND UPS STORE SENT UNREQUESTED MAILIN BALLOTS: Hayden Ludwig of the Capital Research Center (CRC) has the details on that and much more about Mark Zuckerberg, the Center for Voter Information and much else concerning the Left’s voter manipulation.

NO, REVEREND, JESUS WAS NOT A PALESTINIAN: Georgia Democratic Senatorial Candidate Raphael Warnock thinks Jesus was a Palestinian two millennia before Palestinians became a Leftist thing.

GAVIN GETS SLAPPED DOWN BY CALIFORNIA JUDGE: The Golden State’s chief executive has issued anti-Covid regulations that are likely the most discriminatory against Christians in the nation.

But late Thursday, California Superior Court Judge Gregory Pulskamp waved the red flag, specifically citing the Supreme Court’s recent comeuppance to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s similarly bigoted regulations aimed at Jewish and Catholic gatherings in Brooklyn.

It takes time for Supreme Court precedents to be applied as widely as needed, but this decision suggests that Justice Alito’s efforts on behalf of the First Amendment and religious freedom are bearing fruit rather quickly.

CALIFORNIA BUREAUCRATS PUTTING SCREWS TO CHURCH: Discriminatory targeting of Christian churches by California bureaucrats continues apace, with Calvary Chapel of San Jose and Pastor Michael McClure being slapped with huge Covid-related fines

TEXAS SUIT IS NOT BUSH V GORE ALL OVER AGAIN: Margot Cleveland of The Federalist tees up six things you should know about the Lone Star State’s suit at the Supreme Court claiming multiple constitutional violations by Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Michigan in the November 3 election.

WHY ‘HE’S THE REASON FOR THE SEASON,’ A REFRESHER: What Christmas is really all about. You know, in case the kids ask. Or a liberal acquaintance. Also useful for correcting your know-it-all brother-in-law. Perhaps you’ve even forgotten.

HERE’S WALKING, TALKING, CRIMINAL-RELEASING INSANITY: Liberty Unyielding’s Hans Bader assesses the many ways the newly elected Los Angeles prosecutor plans to set in motion what could become the worst crime wave in that city’s history. That this could involve releasing up to 20,000 convicted criminals, including murderers, rapists and burglars is only the most obvious indicators of leftist insanity at work.

EVERYTHING YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT SCHEDULE F: What is Schedule F? The Lid describes the new classification for senior career federal employees defined by a recent executive order from President Donald Trump. The order makes it easier to fire such employees.

Civil service reform is one of those boring but absolutely essential issues that conservatives too often ignore when thinking of how to restrain Leviathan. Trump is late to the game in creating Schedule F, but at least he, finally, took action against rogue bureaucrats.

MEET THE PLATYPUS, THE ALA CARTE MAMMAL: I’m betting you, like me, had no idea just how unique this odd looking creature really is. Is its assortment of features that seem borrowed from other animals a result of chance or purposeful design?

And why should you care? Because ultimately, freedom is just nothing left to lose when existence is all shaped by chance or materialistic determinism. Like they say, faith, philosophy and science are all three upstream from politics.

SEASON TWO OF ‘THE CHOSEN’ IS COMING: Season one was a crowd-funded miracle. Instapundit readers will be cheered to know one of the geniuses behind it is Matthew Faraci of Inspire Buzz.

Little-Known Fact: Matt is a veteran of the Bush II administration at the Department of Labor where he labored (get it?!) to make unions fess up about their finances. Check out the trailer:

WHO’S YOUR DADDY? A lot of Americans seem to think the President of the United States is supposed to keep us all healthy. Not so, says the Issues & Insights crew.

SPEAKING OF BULLIES AND VOTE THEFT: Could it be true that a Georgia CPA has cracked the code of the Dominion algorithm?

BULLIES STEAL ELECTIONS, BY FORCE AND FRAUD: “Dilbert” creator Scott Adams rolls the video that shows Republican election observers being forcibly thrown out or otherwise barred from accessing counting stations in multiple locations.

And while we’re on the subject, The Lid has video of witnesses nailing an out-of-control Democratic state legislator during a hearing on Michigan voting abuses.

STRAIGHT TALK ON FIRST AMENDMENT: Family Research Council chief Tony Perkins puts it as succinctly as I have seen it anywhere other than the Bill of Rights itself:

“If 150 people can keep packing out planes, elbow to elbow for hours, then there’s no reason we can’t sit in a pew on Sunday morning. Religious liberty is a fundamental freedom. Flying on a plane isn’t.”

NOT HOLDING MY BREATH: Former Clinton pollster Doug Schoen tells the New York Post Democrats will lose the House and Senate in 2022 if they follow the “socialism/Defund the Police” madness.

A PANDEMIC-INSPIRED BABY BUST? Experts are predicting ghost-town maternity wards for at least the next year, thanks to the Pandemic. But Breakpoint’s John Stonestreet and Shane Morris say hold on, there’s more to it than Covid.

NO, WE’RE NOT MORALLY SUPERIOR TO OUR ANCESTORS: Ever been told you “are on the wrong side of history?” There is a pernicious assumption of moral superiority behind such claims. The Colson Center’s Shane Morris offers three responses that expose just how pernicious, especially on this side of the 20th century.

DEEP MIND IN THE FOLD: The folding of protein structures that are key to understanding how diseases develop, spread and can be countered, among much, much else. Deep Mind, by the way, is owned by Alphabet, which owns Google, which owns the world.

Tech Crunch says “DeepMind’s technological leap could make accurately predicting these folds a much less time and resource-consuming process, which could dramatically change the pace at which our understanding of diseases and therapeutics progresses.”

As with so many technological advances, it’s not hard to envision good and bad consequences with this one. New challenges to civil liberties come to mind as well. And I have a hunch this just might also be a step forward in understanding the origin of life. But what do I know?

BIDEN GETTING THE OLD ANTI-ISRAEL BAND BACK TOGETHER: Jeff Dunetz at The Lid digs into the Israel views of Biden’s foreign policy team and finds it “is as anti-Israel as is much of his track record and the sentiments of the Democratic Party base.”

For example, Reema Dodin, slated to be deputy director of the White House Office of Legislative affairs, for example, “joined with Palestinians and their supporters who used to routinely and openly justify the most heinous terror attacks, blowing up buses and pizza shops, and Passover seders,” Dunetz writes.

Dunetz has more, much more, and, while it doesn’t surprise,  it still ought to give pause to anybody who cares about defending and preserving America’s most loyal and dependable ally in the Middle East.

HOW TO EXPLAIN TAIWAN, FEWEST COVID DEATHS AND LEAST RESTRICTIONS: Taiwan has one of the world’s densest populations, has tested only those with symptoms, yet has suffered the fewest Covid deaths (per capita), while imposing the least restrictive public health measures.

CHINA MOVES TO BAN FOREIGN MISSIONARIES: A government agency controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) — but I repeat myself — has issued a 40-article regulation that extends the government’s suppression of Christian congregations in China to foreign missionaries coming into the country. It’s Mao’s Cultural Revolution all over again but this time the Red Guards are government bureaucrats and secret police armed with digital weapons.

WE’VE BEEN ZUCKED. OR XI’D? China wants the world to adopt its QR-code system for assigning every individual a color denoting his or her current Covid status. What could possibly go wrong? Maybe some people should read Revelation 13?

SUPREMES STRIKE DOWN CUOMO’S ANTI-RELIGIOUS COVID LIMITS: In a 5-4 decision that is full of positive implications for First Amendment litigation regarding religious freedom and practice, the Supreme Court late yesterday slapped down New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s restrictions on worship gatherings in targeted areas hit hard by Covid.

The decision acknowledged that the nine Justices on the nation’s highest court “are not public health experts,” but it went on to explain that “even in a pandemic, the Constitution cannot be put away and forgotten. The restrictions at issue here, by effectively barring many from attending religious services, strike at the very heart of the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious liberty. Before allowing this to occur, we have a duty to conduct a serious examination of the need for such a drastic measure.”

This is big and potentially huuuuge, as a certain prominent American Socialist who likely will not be pleased by it might say. But what is certain is that for those who love the First Amendment as a whole, and especially its guarantees of religious freedom and practice, this decision is something to indeed be thankful for on this Thanksgiving Day 2020.

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): The full opinion is here. Excerpt:

At the same time, the Governor has chosen to impose no capacity restrictions on certain businesses he considers “essential.” And it turns out the businesses the Governor considers essential include hardware stores, acupuncturists, and liquor stores. Bicycle repair shops, certain signage companies, accountants, lawyers, and insurance agents are all essential too. So, at least according to the Governor, it may be unsafe to go to church, but it is always fine to pick up another bottle of wine, shop for a new bike, or spend the afternoon exploring your distal points and meridians. Who knew public health would so perfectly align with secular convenience? As almost everyone on the Court today recognizes, squaring the Governor’s edicts with our traditional First Amendment rules is no easy task. People may gather inside for extended periods in bus stations and airports, in laundromats and banks, in hardware stores and liquor shops. No apparent reason exists why people may not gather, subject to identical restrictions, in churches or synagogues, especially when religious institutions have made plain that they stand ready, able, and willing to follow all the safety precautions required of “essential” businesses and perhaps more besides. The only explanation for treating religious places differently seems to be a judgment that what happens there just isn’t as “essential” as what happens in secular spaces. Indeed, the Governor is remarkably frank about this: In his judgment laundry and liquor, travel and tools, are all “essential” while traditional religious exercises are not. That is exactly the kind of discrimination the First Amendment forbids.

Yep.