Greetings! The season of joy and peace took an ominous turn over the weekend as two acts of gun violence darkened the holiday spirit in America and Australia. The only positive kernel in the senseless killings was that Ahmed al Ahmed, a Muslim fruit vendor near Sydney’s Bondi Beach single-handedly disarmed one of the two gunmen. I repeat, it was a Muslim man, in an act of selfless heroism, who neutralized a gun-toting maniac at a Jewish celebration thus preventing a horrific act of antisemitism from becoming even worse...Worst Trump Truth Social post ever? Here’s some of what our president had to say this morning on Truth Social about the likely murders of Hollywood director and outspoken Trump critic Rob Reiner and his wife: “(Reiner) passed away...reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME...He was known to have driven people CRAZY by his raging obsession of President Donald J. Trump.” Classic (and disturbing) display of Trump’s utter lack of compassion and empathy...Crickets: Virtually no one is talking about CBS’s hour-long interview with Erika Kirk, the widow of slain right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, on Saturday night. The taped program, hosted by Bari Weiss, aired just a few hours after the Brown University mass shooting, which made for a jarring split screen...Big League Politics keeps publishing pleas for donations from former Trump boot-licker Rudy Giuliani so he can pay for his legal defense.  Rudy writes, “A Democrat Attorney General is making me stand in a rigged trial for bogus state-level crimes, because she knows that not even the most powerful man on the face of the planet – President Trump – can save me with a federal pardon in state court”...If you keep reading, I’ll keep Righting. Howard

Greetings! Sign of the times: CBS just named Tony Dokoupil the anchor of its ratings-challenged Evening News broadcast.  That means that three middle-age white men are now the face of their respective news divisions.  But no one’s clutching their pearls over this development for two reasons: In the age of Trump 2.0, gender balance is so yesterday’s concern; Plus, does anybody beyond the readership of the AARP membership really care who’s anchoring the network nightly newscasts in 2025?...Influential  right-wing podcaster and  public intellectual Dr. Jordan B. Peterson is battling a “devastating health condition,” according to an article in the Daily Caller.  The report says he is suffering from chronic inflammatory response syndrome and was just released from the hospital.  Since August, Peterson has posted only two podcasts, according to Castbox postings...Cameras will be allowed in court for the trial of Tyler Robinson, the accused assassin of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, according to the Daily Wire. For right-wing news organizations like Newsmax, OAN and RSBN, this is their OJ Simpson trial moment. Careers and reputations will rise and fall on the coverage...Weekend Watch: Check out the engrossing After the Hunt (lousy title BTW). The Amazon Prime Video film stars Julia Roberts in a surefire Oscar-bait role as a popular Yale University professor caught up in a he said/she said scandal involving one of her students and a handsome faculty colleague. Despite the pretentious tone and uneven script, the movie hooked me. Worth noting: Tomorrow night, newly anointed CBS editor-in-chief Bari Weiss interviews Charlie Kirk’s widow Erika in a prime time special. Saturday night is hardly choice real estate for serious fare, but the one-hour length of A Town Hall with Erika Kirk and  its 8 p.m. time slot reveals much about the political direction of CBS News...If you keep reading, I’ll keep Righting. Howard