It has not been my merriest Christmas since I lost two important comrades on the day, so I'm going to ignore most of the other grim stuff for a bit and go straight to the traditional Christmas links while there are still a few days of Christmas left:
• Mark Evanier's wonderful Mel Tormé story, and the man himself in duet with Judy Garland.
• Joshua Held's Christmas card, with a little help from Clyde McPhatter and the Drifters.
• Brian Brink's tour-de-force performance of "The Carol of the Bells"
• "Merry Christmas from Chiron Beta Prime."
• Ron Tiner's one-page cartoon version of A Christmas Carol
Mayor Mamdani's inauguration speech was pretty inspirational: "I stand alongside over one million New Yorkers who voted for this day nearly two months ago—and I stand just as resolutely alongside those who did not. I know there are some who view this administration with distrust or disdain, or who see politics as permanently broken. And while only action can change minds, I promise you this: if you are a New Yorker, I am your Mayor. Regardless of whether we agree, I will protect you, celebrate with you, mourn alongside you, and never, not for a second, hide from you. [...] In writing this address, I have been told that this is the occasion to reset expectations, that I should use this opportunity to encourage the people of New York to ask for little and expect even less. I will do no such thing. The only expectation I seek to reset is that of small expectations." He gave namechecks to many groups and neighborhoods and Fiorello and The New Deal, too. I think Harold Meyerson liked it.
There was internet buzz about a Substack piece claiming that white men were getting a particularly bad break in media these days, but Matt Bruenig and Carl Beijer find that the numbers don't back it up. But some people want to cling to it anyway and refuse to acknowledge that the real reason some guys are finding it hard to break into lefty journalism is that it's an incredibly tiny field and there just isn't much room for many people in it. And things keep getting harder by the day, for everyone.
I pulled down this map of the area I grew up in but I wanted a picture of an area I don't really know, West Virginia. And what set me on that path was that people always say the deep red states are the old slave sates, but West Virginia exists because they didn't want to join the rest of Virginia in fighting to defend slavery in the civil war. (Conversely, Maryland, the state where I was born and raised, is below the Mason-Dixon Line and was definitely a slave state but was nevertheless a Union state and is now deep blue.) And I really think people ought to take on board the fact that there was something else going on that took West Virginia down the deep red path.
The people at The American Prospect have collected their favorite stories of the year as the Best of 2025.
At the Guardian, "The photographs that defined 2025 – and the stories behind them".
World Nature Photography Awards
REST IN POWER: "Howie Klein, Visionary Music Executive & Anti-Censorship Activist, Dies at 77: Howie Klein, whose career took him from concert presenter and radio DJ to heading up prominent record labels and fighting censorship, died Dec. 24, 2025, after a long battle with cancer. His death was confirmed by numerous associates in social media posts; the place of death was not noted but Klein lived in Los Angeles for many years. He was 77" Long-time readers of The Sideshow will of course remember Howie's blog Down With Tyranny and his regular Thursday appearances on The Nicole Sandler Show, where he excoriated bad Democrats and the leadership's feckless performance on the party's — and the people's — behalf.
REST IN POWER: Nettie Pollard, British sexual freedom activist, early member of Gay Liberation Front, a founding member of Feminists Against Censorship, and former staff member of the National Council for Civil Liberties (Liberty) in its heyday, of cancer. She died peacefully on Christmas morning at 72.
"When Miscarriages Become Crimes: 412 women faced criminal charges for pregnancy outcomes. This is what fetal personhood looks like. [...] As it turned out, she was right to be fearful. The day after her miscarriage, Sasha continued to bleed and suffered from severe abdominal pain, so she returned to the hospital. There, her medical providers reported her to the state's Department of Social Services, whose staff alerted the county sheriff's office about a possible 'child abuse' case, as they complied with South Carolina's reporting mandates. According to the hospital, failure to report any suspicion of harm to a fetus, viable or not, can result in the provider being criminally liable. The sheriff's office began an investigation and eventually found the pregnancy remains in a trash receptacle near the motel. The Mayo Clinic estimates that 10 to 20 percent of known pregnancies end in miscarriage. Nonetheless, Sasha was arrested and jailed for the improper disposal of hers. A local abortion fund that had heard about the arrest on the news provided Sasha's $10,000 bail."
"Power, Not Economic Theory, Created Neoliberalism: Neoliberalism didn't win an intellectual argument — it won power. Vivek Chibber unpacks how employers and political elites in the 1970s and '80s turned economic turmoil into an opportunity to reshape society on their terms."
"Trina Robbins: Cartoonist, Historian and Lady of the Canyon: A three part Oral History of Trina Robbins, interview conducted by Heidi MacDonald of The Beat. This interview was recorded May 10, 2023 at Robbins' home in San Francisco."