Monthly Archives: December 2025

I selected this video not because of the gingerbread recipe, but for the inspirational story of Christopher Ludwick that can be found within.

I don’t know if it’s true, but it’ll make you smile.

Whoever this guy might be, he’s not a nominee for the Earl Landgrebe award, is he? Not a devotee to the President:

Here’s one particularly exercised senior House Republican:

“This entire White House team has treated ALL members like garbage. ALL. And Mike Johnson has let it happen because he wanted it to happen. That is the sentiment of nearly all — appropriators, authorizers, hawks, doves, rank and file. The arrogance of this White House team is off putting to members who are run roughshod and threatened. They don’t even allow little wins like announcing small grants or even responding from agencies. Not even the high profile, the regular rank and file random members are more upset than ever. Members know they are going into the minority after the midterms.

“More explosive early resignations are coming. It’s a tinder box. Morale has never been lower. Mike Johnson will be stripped of his gavel and they will lose the majority before this term is out.” [Punchbowl News]

Second bold mine.

It’s been apparent, since Day 1 of this Congress, that the House GOP would be vulnerable at the end of this cycle because of mass incompetence in both the White House and the House of Representatives. Even with a Democratic Party which is remarkably resistant to self-analysis and education, the GOP is in deep trouble.

How it all falls out will be not only fascinating, but remarkable. What if certain GOP members decide not to vacate when defeated, addicted to their positions of prestige? Will they have to be forcibly ejected? Will Speaker Johnson lose his re-election to the House? While I’m not historian, the grasping for power allied with vast incompetence is an explosive combination.

And notice what this anonymous Republican says at the end: Mike Johnson will be stripped of his gavel and they will lose the majority before this term is out. While it sounds far-fetched to me, it’s still a possibility. A few resignations from caucus or the House, a few Republicans requesting a new Speaker election, and we might see a new Speaker. Heck, if this guy is right, we might even see Johnson … expelled! Sounds like madness, doesn’t it?

In the end, will this make Democrats mistakenly confident in the rightness of their causes? Or will they be smart enough to backtrack on mistaken procedures (note I do not say position) and try to win back the trust of the independent voter?

I tell ya, my name is ‘Arthur’!

Father Frost Morozko (Soviet Union, 1964; known also as Father Frost and Jack Frost) is the story of Ivan’s pursuit of Nastenka. The former is an arrogant young man, out to see the world outside of his rural farming village; the latter is a Cinderella-like character, a young woman whose older, vulgar sister is favored by her mother, while her father spends his time murmuring “I’ll not say anything.”

But there’s more to this story. Father Mushroom takes an interest in cutting Ivan down to size, taking advantage of Ivan’s arrogance to give him a bear’s head and a good case of despair. Meanwhile, Nastenka wrestles, metaphorically, with her mother, her sister, and Father Frost, all while being sweet and charming.

Add in a gang of rogues and an appearance by a murderous Baba Yaga, a witch from Russian folklore, and it almost works. Charming but jerky, too magical but quite human, my Arts Editor muttered several times about stereotypes interfering with her enjoyment.

Another problem is cultural: Soviet, or Russian if you prefer, cinema and folklore sensibilities differ from American sensibilities. For example, Ivan throws the rogues’ clubs into the air quite early in the story, and they only descend, at a fortuitous moment, at the end of the movie. Now, this may fulfill Russian expectations that perhaps Father Mushroom arranged for them to fall when needed, or that the delay is an example of karma, but Americans might find that convenient, rather than sensible or essential.

In the end, it’s an interesting film from a country that no longer exists, but not excellent.