Will There Be Cameras in Kirk Trial? Noem’s Combustible Hearing. The Maduro Oil Squeeze. Why Europe Declines. Pagan Feminism. More
The 22-year-old man accused of murdering Charlie Kirk has high-powered lawyers, but they forgot to give him advice on courtroom demeanor: Try to look serious at your murder trial:
The man accused of assassinating conservative activist Charlie Kirk looked calm and chuckled with his lawyers as he made his first in-person court appearance – as a judge named Erika Kirk as the official victim representative for her slain husband.
Tyler Robinson made his first in-person appearance in court in Provo, Utah, yesterday. One issue was whether to allow cameras into the trial. Robinson’s lawyers argued against cameras. Erika Kirk supports them. U.S. District Court Judge Tony Graff is mulling this over and will decide by December 29.
A New York Post editorial urges us to rally behind Erika Kirk against Candace Owens’ toxic conspiracy theories. The feisty tabloid drew the line at being too specific on Owens’ conspiracy theories, but National Review, praising Erika Kirk’s courage in the face of this added tribulation, has more information. National Review editors say that Erika Kirk’s anger is justified. What’s wrong with us?
“Democrats Lambaste Noem, Demand She Resign at Combative Congressional Hearing” is the headline on a Washington Post story. What the story omits: Noem won hands down. Here is another account. This exchange with Rep. Bennie Thompson, co-star of the choreographed House January 6 hearings, was the most revealing:
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) asks about “the unfortunate accident that occurred with National Guardsmen.” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem: “You think that was an unfortunate accident?!? It was terrorist attack. He shot our National Guardsmen in the head!” Rep. Thompson: “It was an unfortunate situation, but you blamed it solely on Joe Biden…Who approved the asylum application for this same person?”
A marathon fight to reform health care is in the offing for early next year. The Hill reports:
Only a holiday miracle can prevent ObamaCare subsidies from expiring on Jan. 1, setting up a major health care fight next month when lawmakers turn their attention to a 2026 spending bill and another potential shutdown fight.
After dueling partisan bills failed in the Senate on Thursday, attention now turns to the House, where Republican leaders are teeing up a vote on yet another partisan health care package that does not include the enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies.
Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi [see above] isn’t the only member of Congress who is confused. “Progressives Struggle to Take America’s Side in a Fight” is a National Review article about the Left’s take on Venezuelan dictator Maduro. A Wall Street Journal editorial headlined “Trump Puts the Oil Squeeze on Maduro” is not confused:
President Trump is finally taking action beyond rhetorical threats to squeeze Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro out of power. The U.S. seizure of an oil tanker off the Venezuelan coast hits the dictator in the pocketbook, which is why he is screaming so loudly….
Mr. Maduro is accusing the U.S. of piracy, but he’s the one who stole Venezuelan democracy and caused millions of his countrymen to flee. More than eight million Venezuelans live in exile, destabilizing societies across the hemisphere while he props up the aging Cuban police state….
The seizure signals that Mr. Trump isn’t backing down on his effort to oust the dictator. This wouldn’t be a coup, but a liberation for Venezuelan democracy. Mr. Maduro lost a presidential election in July 2024 to opposition candidate Edmundo González, and he’s stayed in power through theft and terror.
The seizure of the tanker strikes at the heart of Maduro’s grip on power. Rescued at Sea: Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado risked her life to leave Venezuela to get to Oslo and beyond, where she will be an advocate for liberty in Venezuela. Her escape is the stuff of legend.
The Sick Man of Europe Is Europe: “European leaders are furious at President Trump following his recent derogatory comments about their Continent,” according to a Wall Street Journal editorial headlined, “The Real Reason Europe Is ‘Decaying’.” The editors contend that “the Continent faces a crisis, but not one JD Vance wants to admit.”
The editorial on Europe’s first crisis—the one cited by the administration:
The Administration’s National Security Strategy last week stirred outrage by warning that America’s European allies face “civilizational erasure.” Mr. Trump’s foreign-policy panjandrums mean primarily that mass immigration and deepening political illegitimacy are sapping Europe’s vim and vigor. Mr. Trump followed this week by describing Europe as “weak” and “decaying.”
The strategy, a brainchild of Vice President JD Vance and his circle, implies the U.S. may withdraw from its longstanding security cooperation with Europe if Washington decides Europe is no longer worth defending. A particular threat concerns the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The strategy paper warns that mass (read: Muslim) migration means some NATO members could within a few decades be majority non-European.
Messrs. Trump and Vance have a point.
The editors argue that there is a second, even more serious, cause of Europe’s decay:
But the Trump diagnosis ignores the biggest threat to Europe’s well-being. That is Europe’s generous social-welfare states and the cascading fiscal, economic and social ills they create.
Government social expenditure in the U.S. accounted for 19.8% of GDP in 2024, according to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. In France the figure was 30.6%, in Germany 27.9%, and in Italy 27.6%. This share will rise as populations age. These columns recently documented the severity of the old-age entitlement problem in France and Germany especially.
This fact explains much of what ails Europe. …
One additional way for a country to go broke is the expensive and unrealistic environmental regulations required to reach “net zero.” But help is on the way ….
“Revenge of the Climate Realists” is the headline on Peter Savodnik’s piece at The Free Press. “For years, those who questioned the calamity of climate change were treated like pariahs. Now, their day of vindication has come,” is Savodnik’s argument.
“Affordability” is the word on all tongues. “Is There an Affordability Crisis?” is debated at The Free Press, with the likes of Tyler Cowen, Jason Furman, Kyla Scanlon, and others weighing in. Political consultant David Winston issues the electorate’s inflation report and tells us what to look for in the lead-up to the midterms.
Here’s something else that will determine the midterms: the rise of the mini-Mamdani’s. That’s Kimberley Strassel’s term for the new kind of Democratic candidates springing up in the mold of New York’s socialist Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani. Her conclusion:
[I]f progressives emerge from this primary season firmly back on top the party, they might just mitigate some of that GOP risk.
“School Districts Are Keeping Parents in the Dark over Social Transitioning” is the headline on a National Review story. Yes, public-school administrators STILL think they know better than parents. Creepy stuff:
So-called social transition, including going by a name and pronouns that do not match a person’s sex, is a major intervention in a child’s life that can place the child on a difficult-to-escape pathway to medicalized transition, carrying the risk of life-altering damage. Yet over 1,000 school districts — attended by over 12 million students — have secret-transition policies that direct school officials to hide information about children from parents.
Meanwhile, as you may recall, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Civil Rights Division Harmeet Dhillon has sued the Loudon County Public School System. Dhillon’s suit alleges that Christian students were being forced to accept radical gender ideology that conflicted with their religion.
Well, somehow this seems the perfect spot to mention Carrie Gress’s “How Feminism Became the Biggest Pagan Megachurch In the World.” Fascinating thesis.
I’m off for an unplanned trip for a funeral, and this is my last Musts for the year. Many thanks to readers and Independent Women for allowing me this opportunity. Merry Christmas, and looking forward to seeing you next year.
