As Christians, when we consider New Year’s resolutions, we often think about reading the Bible more, praying more often, or maybe getting more involved in our church. Those are all wonderful things worthy of pursuing.

Rather than taking time to expound on those, however, I’d like to commend three other resolutions that may not make the usual lists.

Our bodies and souls are integrally connected, and each significantly influences the other.

These are practical — maybe even commonsensical — but given the times in which we live, they’re easy to neglect, with the result that we flourish less than we could.

1. Practice attention management

We hear a great deal about time management these days, but rarely about attention management. Americans spend multiple hours each day on their phones, with teens devoting more than nine hours(!) and adults more than four hours daily. We’re awash in a sea of texts, emails, videos, games, and alerts. If we’re not careful, these can become an endless series of distractions that divert our attention from more important things.

They can also subtly mold us in the shape of the secular culture that produces much of what we consume. As theologian Jason Thacker writes, “Following Jesus in a digital age requires ... having our eyes wide open and seeing how technology is subtly shaping us in ways often contrary to our faith. We need to learn how to ask the right questions about our relationship with technology, examining it with clear eyes grounded in the Word of God.”

It takes some intentionality to guard our hearts from the often counter-Christian messages coming through our screens, but we have to make it a priority because “everything [we] do flows from” our hearts (Proverbs 4:23). We can use technology in many beneficial ways, but we must also “examine everything” and “hold firmly to that which is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21) while avoiding obstacles to our spiritual growth.

2. Get more sleep

There’s an old saying among pastors that “sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is take a nap.” After all, we’re not just souls or minds, but also physical beings, by God’s design. Christians are sometimes tempted to view our physical nature in a negative light, but this reflects a Gnostic view that sees the spiritual as good and the material as bad or inferior. This is alien to Scripture, however, which tells us that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14). As John W. Kleinig argues in his book "Wonderfully Made: A Protestant Theology of the Body":

The body matters much more than we usually imagine it does. It matters because it locates us in time and space here on earth. It matters because we live in it and with it. It matters because through it we interact with the world around us, the people who coexist with us, and the living God who keeps us physically alive in it.

Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). In order to keep them healthy and functioning properly, adults need between seven and nine hours of sleep each day. A lack of sufficient sleep can lead to heart disease, hormonal imbalances, reduced immune response, and a lack of mental focus, among other problems.

Since blue light from our phone and computer screens can make it harder to get deep, restful sleep, this is another good reason to limit screen time, especially close to bedtime.

Get enough sleep, and you’ll likely notice greater energy, optimism, and an increased capacity to exhibit the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). Our bodies and souls are integrally connected, and each significantly influences the other.

3. Cultivate friendships

Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, half of U.S. adults reported feelings of loneliness, with 58% worrying that no one in their life knows them well. We live in a hyper-individualistic society that often views other people as obstacles to our personal agendas. Yet God designed us to live in close connection with other humans, especially fellow believers. The writer of Hebrews instructed his readers not to give up “meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another” (Hebrews 10:25). Like Christians in the early church, we should “[devote ourselves] to ... fellowship” (Acts 2:42).

Since we’ve been noting how some of these resolutions affect our physical health, it’s remarkable that chronic loneliness is more dangerous than smoking 15 cigarettes a day! Thus, author Justin Earley observes that “friendship will make or break your life.” We can see the wisdom of God’s statement in Genesis that “it is not good for the man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18).

Heritage Images/Getty Images

The quality of our friendships also makes a big difference. We’ve all seen groups of people sitting together in some public place, not interacting with one another, but engrossed in their phones. “This is what community often looks like in the digital age,” writes pastor Jay Kim. “Lonely individuals falling prey, over and over again, to the great masquerade of digital technology” that lulls us “into a state of isolation via the illusion of digital connection.”

As Kim goes on to note, while we can communicate digitally, we can only commune in person. Communication is about the exchange of information, while communing involves the exchange of presence. Communing is the more difficult task because it “requires more of us: more of our attention, empathy, and compassion.”

So this year, I encourage you to practice attention management, get enough sleep, and intentionally look for opportunities to begin new friendships and deepen old ones. It will take some deliberate effort, and every relationship will have growing pains, but the greater depth of fellowship will be worth it. As a saying often attributed to 18th-century evangelist George Whitefield goes, “No man is the whole of himself. His friends are the rest of him.”

A version of this essay originally appeared in the Worldview Bulletin Substack.

Biden said $5 gas was inevitable. Biden was wrong.

When gasoline surged past $5 a gallon in 2022, the impact landed on every household, every small business, and every industry that depends on transportation — which is to say, nearly all of them.

Families were reshuffling budgets, truckers were adding unavoidable surcharges, and businesses were raising prices simply to stay afloat.

It remains true that no president controls gas prices outright. But federal policy does shape how quickly American energy can be produced, moved, and delivered.

At the same time, Americans were told that there was little anyone in Washington could do to ease the burden. The message stayed the same for months: Global forces were responsible, and there was no quick fix for the pain drivers were feeling at the pump.

Yet while families struggled with the highest fuel prices ever recorded — a national average of $5.02 per gallon — the federal government was encouraging Americans to buy electric vehicles costing between $50,000 and $70,000.

All pain, no gain

Transportation officials suggested that the “more pain” people felt from gasoline prices, the more attractive EVs would become. Energy officials repeated that an electric car was the fastest way for families to reduce their gas bills to zero. For most households, though, the math just didn’t work. The average new EV price in 2022 was $66,000 according to Kelley Blue Book, while the median U.S. household income was around $74,000. A new electric car was not an immediate or practical solution.

Meanwhile, federal actions during those early years reflected a shift away from domestic oil development. The Keystone XL pipeline permit was canceled on day one, new federal oil and gas leasing was paused, existing Arctic leases were withdrawn, and a record 180 million barrels were released from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Drilling permits decreased, and U.S. oil production fell below 2020 levels despite growing demand. Those choices — combined with refinery constraints and global volatility — kept domestic supply from growing at the pace needed to bring relief.

Supply high

The landscape looks very different today. By late 2025, U.S. energy production had expanded significantly. Federal lands reopened for leasing, permitting became faster, and producers were able to meet more of the country’s energy needs. American crude oil production climbed to an all-time high of 13.4 million barrels per day, and the number of active drilling rigs rose substantially from pandemic-era lows. More supply began moving through the system, helping stabilize markets that had been strained for years.

The results are unmistakable. The national average for regular gasoline sits near $3 per gallon — roughly 40% lower than the 2022 peak. Eighteen states now have average prices below $2.75. These aren’t isolated discounts; they are widespread indicators of stronger supply and more balanced market conditions.

Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Where the rubber meets the road

It remains true that no president controls gas prices outright. Global crude markets, refinery operations, seasonal demand, transportation costs, and taxes all influence what drivers pay. But federal policy does shape how quickly American energy can be produced, moved, and delivered. When supply is constrained, prices rise. When supply grows, prices ease. The past three years have demonstrated this in real time.

The contrast between the experience of 2022 and the reality of 2025 underscores a simple point: Energy policy affects everyday life in immediate, measurable ways. It determines what families pay to commute, what businesses spend to operate, and what consumers pay for goods delivered across the country. It is not theoretical. It shows up every time someone fills a gas tank.

For millions of Americans now seeing sub-$3 gasoline again, the numbers tell the story more clearly than any political argument.

6 ways I'm using 2026 to deepen my relationship with God

Personally I think springtime is the best time to start something new — after all, the sunshine gets warmer, everything is budding and greening up, and my energy level is definitely higher than it is right now, in the “bleak midwinter.”

Nevertheless January 1 looms large. We're less than a week into the new year, a time that practically begs us to turn over a fresh page, a new leaf.

The idea is putting my daily meeting with God on my calendar as a nonnegotiable appointment.

So let’s talk about how to use 2026 to improve your relationship — with your creator.

Because that is unquestionably the most important task on our to-do list. Full stop.

How to do that? Well some things never change. God gave us an instruction manual, and immersing ourselves in that should be our absolute highest priority. This includes:

reading the Bible by ourselves;
reading the Bible with others;
studying the Bible by ourselves;
studying the Bible with others;
memorizing the Bible by ourselves (you can do this with others too, but it’s really more of a solitary pursuit);
reading what other people have written about the Bible; and
listening or watching other people teach the Bible (priority one is your weekly sermon by your own pastor — after that, my highest recommendation is the treasure trove of sermons John MacArthur left behind, covering all the New Testament books as well as many Old Testament books and topics).

And of course along with immersion in the Word, which involves absorbing things God wants us to learn and act upon, He also welcomes us into His very presence. We are invited to bring our worship and gratitude to Him in prayer as well as our every request and concern, big or small.

Yeah, it always comes back to those two things.

Prayer and the Word.

And now here are some suggestions about how to prioritize these most important of life activities, now that 2026 is underway ...

The morning meeting

I read this idea this year on Substack (if anyone can remind me of who suggested it, please comment, and I’ll update with the link), and it hit me hard. Probably because I find too much of the day slipping away from me even though I’m not bound to external employment hours, and I know I need to take better control of my time. I’m still wasting too much sand!

The idea is putting my daily meeting with God on my calendar as a nonnegotiable appointment. You can make this appointment any time of the day that works for you, but I do think morning is preferable if you can swing it. This meeting can be as long or brief as this stage of your life requires, but give it a hard start time and a hard stop time (of course you can always tweak this as life changes).

A meeting requires an agenda. You can make a general agenda for all meetings, or you can prepare a separate agenda for each daily meeting. Right now I’m working with an ambitious general agenda, but giving myself grace to skip some items if need be. Here’s my meeting agenda:

1. Read-through-the-Bible time

No, I’m not doing it in a year. I’m doing a three-year plan, because I want to savor what I’m reading and avoid the “check-it-off-for-the-day” mindset.

I used Biblereadingplangenerator.com to create exactly what I wanted to cover — the Bible chronologically as it happened, with the prophets intertwined with other Old Testament passages where they fit chronologically, and the New Testament letters in the order they were written.

I removed Psalms and Proverbs from the plan, then added them back in at a rate of one per day (one Psalm, one chapter of Proverbs). This is because I’ve learned that I need to really slow down to savor the depth and wisdom contained in these two books.

Another benefit of taking three years for this is I have time to read and analyze the study notes in my Bible or even look up other commentary perspectives.

A final part of this agenda item: reading through books about the books of the Bible I’ve completed (this falls under the general category of “reading what other people have written about the Bible”).

2. Daily Bible chunks

There’s probably a more elegant way to say that. But the point is, since read-through-the-Bible time stays in each book of the Bible for quite awhile, I want to dip my toe into other sections as well on a regular basis. Here’s how I’ll divide it up by each day of the week this year, reading generally shorter sections of each book (I use my study Bible’s book outlines to guide me):

Monday - Torah/OT history (Genesis through Song of Solomon, but minus Psalms and Proverbs, since I’m already in them daily)
Tuesday - OT prophets (Isaiah through Malachi)
Wednesday - Gospels
Thursday - Acts
Friday - Paul’s letters
Saturday - other Epistles
Sunday - Revelation

Notice the emphasis on the New Testament, since my foundational Bible reading will be mostly Old Testament for at least two years!

3. Devotional

If I’m working through a devotional, here’s where I’ll do that.

4. Memorization

I’m trying something new this year! I want to memorize whole big chunks of the Word. I think I’m going to start with the tiny book of Jude, where the topic is false teaching. Very relevant for 2026, I believe.

I’ll study it first before beginning to memorize, a verse or two at a time. I'm planning to do this with my mini-discipleship group, so there’ll be at least two of us working our way through it.

5. Other reading or training

I’ll try to work my way through my enormous “books I’d like to read” list during this time as well, since I have countless spiritually enriching titles collected but not yet read. Or I’ll watch videos I’ve been saving to work through, like Stand to Reason’s excellent apologetics series.

6. Throne room time

This is where we gratefully accept His gracious invitation to come directly to the foot of His throne with all our prayers.

I’ve always tried to systemize my prayers, keeping lists and focusing on different people and needs on different days, but I’ve never journaled my prayers. The reason I’m excited to do this now is this — I’m excited to crack open my new five-year prayer journal.

The idea of this is to write out a prayer (or prayers) for each day, then after a full year of filling the journal, we circle back and fill it out a second year and a third and a fourth and a fifth — reviewing the previous year’s entry as we do.

I can’t wait to see how God works in my life as I review prayers I prayed a year earlier!

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

A few final thoughts

So that will be my morning meeting in 2026. I will devote a couple of hours to it every day. After all, I’m in the season of life where I can devote more time to this most worthy endeavor, and I’m excited to make that commitment.

I’ve written a few other pieces to help you plan, execute, and enjoy this most marvelous time of the day:

A basket of God
Quiet time 101 (although your morning meeting does not have to be quiet!)
Creating space for God

With the year just beginning, there is nothing more important to lock in for 2026 than your time with God.

Happy (and God-centered) new year to all of you!

A version of this article previously appeared on the She Speaks Truth Substack.

Ford just lost $20 billion on its EV investment

If you want a clear picture of where the American auto market is heading, don’t look at political speeches or glossy concept vehicles. Look at where manufacturers are spending — and writing off — real money.

Case in point: Ford’s $19.5 billion decision to abandon plans for a next-generation all-electric F-150.

Ford’s leadership is now openly saying what many in the industry have been signaling quietly: Customers are not moving in lockstep with regulatory timelines.

The company’s change of direction for its massive BlueOval City complex in Tennessee is one of the clearest signals yet that the industry’s all-electric future, at least as it was sold to consumers and investors, is being fundamentally rethought.

Instead of building a new electric F-150 Lightning there, Ford will pivot the facility toward producing lower-cost gasoline-powered trucks while shifting electric strategy toward hybrids, extended-range electric vehicles, and smaller EVs.

Demand in the driver’s seat

This move matters because Ford did not quietly slow production or delay a model year refresh. It wrote down billions of dollars in electric vehicle assets, restructured long-term plans, and publicly admitted that customer demand — not forecasts or incentives — is now driving decisions.

Ford expects roughly $19.5 billion in special charges tied to this pivot, most of which will hit in the fourth quarter, with an additional $5.5 billion in cash costs spread through 2027. Of that total, $8.5 billion represents EV asset write-downs. That is corporate language for investments that will not deliver the returns originally promised.

Yet Wall Street’s reaction was telling. Ford stock rose about 2% in after-hours trading following the announcement and remains up nearly 40% this year. Investors appear to see this not as failure, but as realism.

Sticker shock

The electric F-150 Lightning was once positioned as proof that electrification could conquer America’s best-selling vehicle segment. In theory, the idea made sense. In practice, the numbers never fully added up. High prices, heavy battery packs, range limitations under real-world towing conditions, and charging concerns narrowed the pool of potential buyers. Demand softened even as incentives increased.

Ford now plans to transition the Lightning into an extended-range electric vehicle, pairing an electric drivetrain with a gasoline-powered generator. This is not a retreat from electrification. It is an acknowledgment that pure battery-electric power trains do not yet meet the needs of a large portion of truck buyers.

Ford CEO Jim Farley framed the shift plainly. High-end EVs priced between $50,000 and $80,000 were not selling in sufficient volume. That reality is difficult to ignore when inventory sits on dealer lots and profit margins evaporate.

Hybrid vigor

At the same time, Ford is going all-in on hybrids, including plug-in hybrids, and reinvesting in its core strengths: trucks, SUVs, and commercial vehicles. This reflects a broader industry trend. Hybrids offer meaningful fuel economy improvements without requiring buyers to overhaul their driving habits or rely on charging infrastructure that remains inconsistent in many parts of the country.

Ford’s revised outlook projects that by 2030, about half of its global volume will come from hybrids, extended-range EVs, and fully electric vehicles combined. That is a significant increase from today, but it is far more balanced than earlier projections that leaned heavily toward full electrification.

Lightning rod

One of the more curious elements of Ford’s announcement is its plan to build a fully connected midsize electric pickup starting in 2027, based on a new low-cost “Universal EV Platform.” The company suggests this truck could start around $30,000, a figure that raises serious questions.

To put that claim into context, Ford’s Maverick Hybrid, which uses a small 1.1 kilowatt-hour battery, already approaches $30,000 in many configurations. A midsize EV pickup would likely require an 80 kilowatt-hour battery or more. Battery costs have declined, but not nearly enough to make that math easy — especially while maintaining margins.

Consumers will ultimately decide whether such a vehicle makes sense. Price, capability, range, and charging convenience will matter far more than marketing language. Automakers are learning, sometimes the hard way, that affordability cannot be willed into existence by press releases.

Batteries included

Ford’s restructuring also includes repurposing battery plants in Kentucky and Michigan for a new stationary energy storage business. This is a strategic move that acknowledges batteries may find more reliable profitability off the road than on it, particularly in data centers and grid stabilization applications where weight, charging time, and cold-weather performance are less critical concerns.

The broader lesson here is not that electric vehicles are disappearing. They are not. It is that the one-size-fits-all electrification narrative has collided with economic and consumer reality. Automakers were pushed, through regulation and incentives, to prioritize battery-electric vehicles at a pace the market could not fully absorb.

When policy environments change, as they recently have, manufacturers regain flexibility. Ford’s leadership is now openly saying what many in the industry have been signaling quietly: Customers are not moving in lockstep with regulatory timelines.

From a business standpoint, Ford is attempting to stabilize profitability. The company raised its adjusted earnings guidance for 2025 to about $7 billion, even as these restructuring charges weigh on net results. It is aiming for a path to profitability in its Model e EV division by 2029, with incremental improvements beginning in 2026.

That is a long runway, and it reflects how difficult it has been to make EVs profitable at scale. Traditional internal combustion and hybrid vehicles continue to subsidize electric losses across the industry. Ford is now being more transparent about that reality.

Matt Cardy/Getty Images

Turning radius

This shift also has implications for American manufacturing and jobs. BlueOval City was originally pitched as a cornerstone of the electric future. Its revised mission underscores how quickly industrial strategies can change when assumptions fail. Gasoline and hybrid trucks remain highly profitable, and demand for them remains strong.

Ford insists this is a customer-driven strategy, not a retreat. In many ways, that framing is accurate. Consumers have shown they value choice, reliability, and affordability more than power-train ideology. They want vehicles that fit their lives, not policy targets.

For buyers, this could be good news. A more balanced market tends to produce better products at more reasonable prices. Hybrids, extended-range EVs, and efficient gasoline vehicles all play a role in reducing fuel consumption without forcing trade-offs many drivers are unwilling to accept.

For investors, Ford’s announcement may mark a turning point toward discipline and realism. Writing down nearly $20 billion is painful, but continuing to chase unprofitable volume would be worse.

For the industry, the message is unmistakable. Electrification is evolving, not ending. But it will happen on consumer terms, not political timelines.

Ford’s course correction is not about abandoning the future. It is about surviving the present — and doing so with a clearer understanding of what American drivers are actually willing to buy.

The American car industry would be in a much stronger position today had its CEOs not embarked on the EV joy ride with politicians promising subsidies. Next time maybe the brands will listen to the customer.

My son and daughter are fundamentally different — and it's a beautiful thing

Boys and girls are different.

It’s one of the most self-evident truths there is. Entire libraries of jokes, novels, films, and essays exist because of it, all orbiting the same basic observation: Boys and girls — and later, men and women — are not interchangeable.

The things I have learned about how the female mind works could have been very helpful when I was dating but are now no use to me. That’s funny. God is a poet.

Of course, society doesn’t really like to talk about this basic fact of life these days. I'm far from the first person to point this out, so I'll spare you another screed calling for a return to common sense. If you're reading this, I suspect we're on the same page anyway.

Gender reveal

As a normal, thinking person with functional brain, I have always known boys and girls are different. I had a sister growing up, dated girls when I was younger, met my wife and somehow convinced her to marry me and even have children with me. So I understood that there was something about women I just couldn’t quite get, some different way of thinking and feeling that I couldn’t really understand.

But it’s funny: I didn’t realize just how immovably different boys and girls are — and how beautiful this difference is — until I became a father to both.

Looking back, I realize I carried an unconscious assumption that the differences between men and women were learned somewhere along the way — socially instilled rather than baked in at the deepest level imaginable.

This wasn’t because I was a liberal before having kids; I’ve been a conservative for essentially my entire adult life. It was because I was raised in the aftermath of an idea that insisted men and women are basically the same. We are all modern now, and even those of us who resist that worldview absorb its signals over time. They work their way quietly into how we see the world, and the only way to fully dislodge them is an encounter with reality.

Snips and snails

Our son is such a boy.

I don’t know how else to put it. My wife and I say it to one another all the time. He checks all the boxes. He was obsessed with construction equipment when he was really little, then dinosaurs and dragons, and then tools. He loves building things, and he loves destroying things. He loves swords and shields and Nerf guns too. And frantically wrestling with me when he should be falling asleep soundly.

He’s more focused on things than people; he is blunt and too smart for his own good; he loves to argue and litigate. He hates “Let It Go” from "Frozen," and when my daughter asks my wife to play it, he covers his ears and walks away. He doesn’t want to describe an emotional part in a story to us and pretended not to cry when Mufasa died in "The Lion King." He is such a boy.

Sugar and spice

Our daughter is such a girl.

She is emotional. So emotional. She cries during movies, and she isn’t embarrassed about it. If she had her way, she would change her clothes ten times over the course of any given Tuesday. She loves carrying a little purse around. She wants to get her ears pierced like Mom. She loves our new baby and always wants to hold her. She pretends her stuffed dog is her baby and that she is a mom too.

She is so sweet, just so sweet. So much sweeter than our son. He is a callous grump compared to her. She wants to help us; she tries to help him; she says after sharing some of her dessert with him that she wants him to be happy. She is so pretty, so sweet, and so emotional. She is such a girl.

Javier Zayaz via iStock/Getty Images

Default settings

Nobody taught them these things. Yeah, we run a traditional household, but they started acting the way they act long before we ever told them anything, and it’s so obvious that the way they are is such a part of their very essence that we know for a fact nothing we ever did made them the way they are deep down. They just are that way. They are boys and girls.

I’ve learned so many things from them. I’ve learned that guys really are just naturally blunt. It isn’t just a lack of manners; it’s our default setting. The things I've learned about how the female mind works could have been very helpful when I was dating but are now no use to me. That’s funny. God is a poet.

I’ve also learned, in a deeper sense, that we cannot be all things. Boys are boys, and that means all the good things and all the bad. Girls are girls, and that means all the good things and all the bad.

That can’t be changed. It’s the nature of the world. It’s how it’s supposed to be. Women and their ways can be frustrating to men, and men and their ways can be frustrating to women. Can’t live with them, can’t live without them, as the old saying goes. But seeing how pure and true it all is, how deeply embedded in their spirits these predilections are, I have begun to just sit back and marvel at the incredible balance God struck when he made man and woman.

Indeed, boys and girls are different.

When did America start going to bed so early?

There was a moment — maybe early 2000s? — when people began talking about a new frontier in American life.

I remember there was a "Nightline" episode about it and articles in magazines.

In Portland, where I live, the last 24-hour diner-style chain, Shari’s, closed all its restaurants earlier this year. Too dangerous to stay open that late.

They described a new territory that was open for exploration. A place where most people were still reluctant to go. But this new space held new opportunities and prospects for growth.

This new frontier was called “late-night America.” It wasn’t a geographical location. It was a time period. It occurred from approximately 11:00 p.m. to 6 a.m.

Crosstown traffic

The idea was as the world became more crowded, with more cars on the road, more people packing into office buildings every morning, a natural evolution was occurring.

People were opting to change their schedules to avoid the crowds. They were staying up later, working later, and beginning to inhabit late-night America.

These early adopters preferred a less hectic world, so they adjusted their lives toward the “off hours."

Think of Midtown Manhattan at lunch time. The Seattle Fish Market at 9:30 am. Or your own city during afternoon rush-hour traffic.

Now think of all those places at 4 a.m. Pretty different, aren’t they? Not so crazy. Not so overwhelming.

The worst thing you might encounter at 4 a.m. is a garbage truck or an impatient jogging enthusiast with an early work schedule.

As more people began to see the obvious advantages of conducting their business and personal lives at a later hour, other businesses sprang up to serve them.

Instead of just one 24-hour restaurant in your town, now there were a dozen. Many gas stations went 24 hours as did convenience stores. Big cities added more night buses. Supermarkets began staying open until 11, then midnight, and then 1 a.m.

With more people inhabiting it, the late-night world became a more active place. It was fun working the late shift. It was easier to drive to work. The vibe was more relaxed. People weren’t in such a hurry.

San Francisco noir

I was always a night owl. My first job out of college I worked at a courier company in San Francisco. We did most of our business during normal hours, 9 to 5. But I quickly maneuvered myself into the swing shift position, coming in at 2:30 p.m. and staying until 11.

After 5, I was alone in the office. I routed the overnight shipping and spent the late hours on the phone with my cohorts at our company’s other branches in other cities.

The late-night crew got to know each other. We were the oddballs of our respective offices. We tended to be more eccentric, more interesting than the daytime employees.

When I was occasionally called in by my boss to work a normal 9-to-5 shift, I found the routine deeply disturbing.

Imagine waking up at 8 in the morning! Riding a packed, slow-moving bus downtown. Waiting in line for 10 minutes for a morning coffee. Standing in another line for a soggy sandwich at lunch.

All of this with robotic office workers crowded around me. Dan from sales. Sheila from billing. Their business outfits. Their terrible hairstyles. It was unbearable!

But to be on the late shift, alone in the office, with the radio on, my feet on the desk. That was heaven. And then leaving the building at 11, the downtown streets deserted, late-night San Francisco all to myself.

Truck stop scribbling

Later when I became a professional writer, I loved working in late-night cafes. Or 24-hour diners. Or truck stops, if there were one nearby.

I went there to work, but I liked having people around, a nice waitress, some foot traffic, someone to share a bit of conversation with.

Or on a bad weather night, there were the state troopers or the snowplow guys coming in from the cold at 2 a.m. for a hot coffee and a piece of pie — wasn’t that fun to be part of?

Thanks to late-night America, there were always such places available. It was a great time for a person like me. I always had somewhere to go. Some coffee to drink. And mostly good people to be around.

Closing time

By now, you probably know where this story is going. We are presently at the other end of the pendulum swing. Now NOTHING stays open late. Good luck finding a coffee shop that’s open after 4!

In Portland, where I live, the last 24-hour diner-style chain, Shari’s, closed all its restaurants earlier this year. Too dangerous to stay open that late. And nobody wants to work those hours.

The early-closing phenomenon had already begun before COVID, and then COVID finished the job.

Plus in many cities, there is now the constant presence of homeless and mentally ill people to contend with.

In response, business owners have decided it’s best to minimize their hours of operation. They lock their doors and lower their metal gates as soon as the sun goes down.

Last of the lounge lizards

Bars are still open, of course. But even that world is shrinking. Young people don’t go out as much these days. They have other ways to socialize, and they have multiple forms of entertainment right there in their homes.

Meeting people for romantic purposes was once the primary reason for being out late at night. But this seems to be on the wane as well.

Men are less eager to approach women in public places. And contemporary women, with careers and important jobs, don’t want to be out late at night. Swiping on dating apps during lunch hour is a much more efficient way to meet a potential partner.

Are there still jobs on the night shift? Sure there are. Trucking, loading, and delivering are still much easier during off-hours. But most of the other late-night jobs are ... well ... security guard, security patrol, security supervisor.

In other words, protecting people and property from the dangers of the night.

Goodnight, moon

So yeah, that last frontier? It’s closed.

For such a social space to function safely, you need a high-trust, high-functioning society. People need to feel safe. They need to trust each other.

Society is too fractured at the moment for that to happen. There is too much crime, too much drug abuse, too many zombies to venture into the dark.

But think of the romance lost! Think of the late-night walks you can’t go on. The moonlit skies you’ll never see. The late-night drives in a cozy car with the radio on.

These are not insignificant things for a culture to lose. The night should be ours. The night should belong to us.

Pope Leo calls out gambling addiction and 'demographic crisis' in Vatican meeting

Pope Leo XIV says people need more face-to-face interaction in their lives.

Speaking with Italian mayors from the association of local Italian authorities, the Assocazione Nazionale dei Comuni Italiani, the pope touched on some of the biggest issues faces the world today.

'Democracy atrophies, becomes just a name, a formality.'

During the Vatican meeting, Pope Leo noted that a "demographic crisis" and "struggles" among families and young people remain top issues. According to Vatican News, the Catholic leader also stated that social isolation and "social conflicts" are pervasive issues in Italy.

At the same time, the pope — Robert Francis Prevost — said he wanted to focus on one of the biggest topics in today's world: gambling. The Chicago native explained that he wanted to "draw attention in particular to the scourge of gambling," which has "ruined many families."

Citing a "major increase" in gambling in Italy in recent years, Prevost cited a recent report that described gambling as a "serious problem" in terms of education, mental health, and societal trust for Italians.

Photo by Simone Risoluti - Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images

The pope stressed that gambling addiction is a form of "loneliness" and called on the local mayors to promote "authentically human relationships between citizens" as a way to tackle the issue.

Pope Leo reportedly drew from 20th-century Italian priest and activist Don Primo Mazzolari in order to illustrate the need for social interactions between Italians.

"[Italy] does not only need sewers, houses, roads, aqueducts, and pavements," but also "a way of feeling, of living, a way of looking at one another, and a way of coming together as brothers and sisters."

Photo by Jacopo Raule/Getty Images for Philipp Plein

To solve many of these modern issues, authorities must listen to the weak and the poor, the pope said. If not, he said, "democracy atrophies, becomes just a name, a formality."

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'Baby, It's Cold Outside': The perfect song to drown out 2025's pop dreck

The top songs this Christmas should certainly offend anyone who thought "Baby, It's Cold Outside" was worthy of outrage.

At the height of the woke era, media outlets argued over whether the 1944 Frank Loesser classic should be banned, as radio stations pulled the song because its lyrics allegedly alluded to "date rape."

'Baby, I'm a dog, I'm a mutt.'

The media apparatus sprung into action with parody after cross-dressing parody. Few defended the song — surprisingly, Variety was one of the biggest outliers — and the "Me Too" mantra carried on looking for more scalps to take.

Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" soon received similar treatment, despite garnering almost a billion views on YouTube. With featured artist Pharrell saying the song he profited off of was evidence of a prominent "chauvinist culture," that art was not allowed to exist as art.

While offense can be taken in any generation's music, it seems appropriate to note that it seemingly goes one direction, and progressive cookie-cutter sexual content cannot be questioned.

This has not changed in 2025, as slop tops the charts with stereotypical soft-core imagery.

Sombr, 'Back to Friends'

Topping the Billboard charts in the rock and alternative category as of Dec. 17 is "Back to Friends" by Sombr. In this song by New Yorker Shane Michael Boose, he talks about the difficulty of returning to a normal friendship with some one he has slept with.

The song about being forgotten by a presumed love one remains fairly generic until the music video is taken into account, which features multiple gay make-out scenes juxtaposed with explosions of lava.

Leon Thomas, 'Mutt'

The R&B and hip-hop category is led by Leon Thomas' "Mutt."

Although the song came out in 2024, it is hitting new highs for the 2025 Christmas season, with lyrics about Thomas convincing a woman that there is no need for them to wait to have sex, because, "Baby, I'm a dog, I'm a mutt."

Thomas notes that he wishes for him and his new lady to "break in" his new apartment, while adding that he believes in the Second Amendment, with the lyrics: "Thirty-two, like my pants size 'cause a n***a tried breaking in."

The song is really not offensive, but neither are lyrics from the 1940s saying, "My mother will start to worry."

Kehlani, 'Folded'

Not to be forgotten at No. 2 on the R&B list is Kehlani's "Folded."

Kehlani Ashley Parrish, an Oakland-born singer who once aspired to be a Juilliard-trained dancer, shows off her moves in the video, where she sports a completely see-through dress and essentially dances naked alongside women in their underwear.

Again, while this is not a new phenomenon for a music video, it seems extremely egregious when placed next to the 1949 film "Neptune's Daughter" that popularized "Baby, It's Cold Outside."

While Kehlani carries laundry and talks about folding clothes in her music video, the obvious inference is that she is talking about her preferred sexual position.

The lyrics website Genius states, "Here, Kehlani seems to be implying she can 'fold' her body for her lover if they decide they want to become romantic again."

Taylor Swift, 'The Fate of Ophelia'

It comes as no surprise that Taylor Swift is topping the pop charts with "The Fate of Ophelia," even though the music video came out in October. Swift obviously sexualizes herself — maybe Dean Martin did too? — as a 1950s showgirl, but the song centers on Shakespeare's "Hamlet" and has Swift nearly dying from heartbreak in the lyrics.

Some lyrics are almost direct lifts from "Hamlet," but the song as a whole is light-years away in terms of degeneracy in comparison to the other items on this list.

However, it is hard to imagine how it is conceivable that Swift dancing in lingerie and being groped on a pirate ship is less controversial than, "My sister will be suspicious (Gosh, your lips look delicious)."

While music lovers may notice that wild offense-taking now skips the industry unless it serves a political purpose, that equilibrium rarely holds forever. Cultural pendulums do swing.

When they do, the correction sometimes arrives loudly — through provocation, politics, or spectacle. But just as often, it comes quietly, in the form of art that refuses to scandalize at all.

Ella Langley, 'Choosin' Texas'

Which brings us to Ella Langley. Topping the country charts this Christmas with "Choosin' Texas," the Alabama native commits a far subtler transgression: She sings plainly about heartbreak, drinking alone, and the ache of love gone wrong — without sexual exhibitionism, ideological signaling, or manufactured outrage. She even manages to say a few positive things about Texas and Tennessee. In 2025, that kind of restraint may be the most disruptive posture left.

Does your city feel like Disney? Blame Robert Moses

A single man had near-unending influence over the infrastructure of the largest North American cities.

Robert Moses, born in 1888 in New Haven, Connecticut, helped pioneer large-scale urban infrastructure built around cars and commerce. His top-down planning approach later influenced other controlled, master-planned environments, including those created by Walt Disney.

'An extraordinary man who, denied power within the normal framework of the democratic process, stepped outside that framework.'

Moses held many titles during his time in politics and city/park planning, including secretary of state of New York (1927-1929), the first chairman of New York State Council of Parks (1924-1963), and the first commissioner of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (1934-1960).

Mr. Moses' neighborhood

Moses' influence can be seen all over New York City, and he is predominantly responsible for turning a collection of neighborhoods into the common metropolis that most cities appear as today.

It was Moses' idea to run expressways right through the middle of cities to maximize access to commercial zones. He was responsible for infrastructure projects like the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, the Staten Island Expressway, and the Cross Bronx Expressway. Many bridges that lead into New York City and Manhattan were his doing as well.

FDR Drive, where the United Nations headquarters is located, is also a creation of Moses.

All's fair

Aside from numerous bridges and expressways, Moses also built nearly 30,000 apartment units by 1939, which is discussed in his biography, "The Power Broker," by Robert Caro.

The book describes Moses as "an extraordinary man who, denied power within the normal framework of the democratic process, stepped outside that framework to grasp power sufficient to shape a great city and to hold sway over the very texture of millions of lives."

It was that influence and power in New York that led him to becoming the president of the World's Fair in 1964. Which, according to a documentary by Defunctland, led to Moses implementing mass evictions in low-income neighborhoods to make way for road systems.

Photo by Bettmann Archive/Getty Images

Moses planned to make at least half of the fairgrounds permanent and openly said that much of the infrastructure was meant to stay as part of his vision of a futuristic park. This plan mirrored Moses' suggestions for many of the city projects he worked on.

Shopping block

At the same time, the fair was more heavily commercialized than any before it. Moses abandoned the visual and thematic consistency of earlier fairs to maximize profit, allowing companies to design their own exhibits in exchange for high rental and repair fees — services that were allegedly monopolized by a small number of favored contractors.

Moses' success in commercialization was noted by Disney, who wished to replicate his overall design thesis when plotting out Disney World in Florida. The two had worked together on the 1939 World's Fair, for which Disney created a special promo cartoon and even licensed a Donald Duck Day.

The first animatronics were created for the 1964 iteration of the fair as well.

Moses' influence goes far beyond Disney, though. He either directly consulted on, or influenced, the planning of at least a dozen North American cities. He is responsible for the infrastructural theory that cities should be focused on commercial centers, not residential housing.

Room for vroom

The idea that cars should move swiftly through cities on expressways took hold in places like Portland, where Moses was hired to help design the freeway network.

In Pittsburgh, Moses put his skills in planning both parkways and parks into practice when he was hired by the Pittsburgh Regional Planning Association to solve congestion issues. He ended up building the Penn-Lincoln Parkway, the Crosstown Boulevard, and the Point State Park.

Photo by Paul Hiffmeyer/D23 EXPO via Getty Images

Moses acted as a consultant for a "high-speed freeway" in New Orleans in the 1940s and "stressed the benefits of removing vehicle traffic from the crowded streets," according to an article by urban planning expert Jeff Brown.

While most of his suggestions were not taken in New Orleans, they were in Hartford, Connecticut, where he planned another freeway. The city declined his suggestion to build a parking garage in tandem with the expressway, though.

Interestingly, Moses' road was reportedly placed through a slum in order to capitalize on "urban renewal funds" to help pay for the project.

Goin' south

Other cities like Boston, San Francisco, Baltimore, Memphis, Phoenix, and Toronto, Canada, have seen indirect influence from Moses. In the 1940s and 1950s, Moses eventually faced resistance, and many of his highway projects were scaled back or canceled, according to the New World Encyclopedia.

As the desire for Moses' planning skills eventually soured, he and others looked to opportunities in Latin America.

The article "Transforming the modern Latin American city: Robert Moses and the International Basic Economic Corporation" discusses how in 1950, the mayor of Sao Paulo, Brazil, hired a commercial corporation headed by Nelson Rockefeller to design the public works for the city.

Moses was appointed director of studies to work in the "Program of Public Improvements" for Sao Paulo and allegedly caused great controversy in Brazil due to his intentions to import American companies to operate in the country.

Moses' influence is still visible in major cities where congestion is chronic and housing is scarce. Disney World succeeded for a simpler reason: It was designed entirely around consumerism, without the complications of cars, housing, or civic life.

In that sense, Disney World represents a kind of Robert Moses ideal — an urban space devoted purely to consumption, perfectly controlled, and freed from the democratic friction and human needs that constrained Moses in the real world.

Celebrate Christ's birth with the world’s best Christmas carol — and it's not the version you think

As the years pass by, it can feel like Christmas has become less about the birth of Christ and his salvific mission and more about secularism and winter.

Look no farther than some of the most popular “Christmas” carols of the past 100 years: "White Christmas," "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," "Deck the Halls," "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer," and on and on.

This Christmas, as you gather with your family, return to the meaning of the holiday — the birth of Christ — by reflecting on the original French version of “O Holy Night.”

The closing lyrics proclaim, without equivocation, that it is Christ who has saved us and we celebrate his coming. In other words, Christ is King!

For those in the French-speaking world, and especially the Acadian and Quebecois diaspora in New England, “Minuit Chretien” was a staple entrance hymn of midnight Mass.

While the English version “O Holy Night” is a beautiful song, the lyrics were adapted by Unitarian minister John Sullivan Dwight, reducing the theological weight of the original French.

Here are those English lyrics.

O holy night, the stars are brightly shining;
it is the night of the dear Savior’s birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices,
for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!
Fall on your knees! O hear the angel voices!
O night divine! O night when Christ was born!
O night divine! O night, O night divine!

According to Chicago Catholic, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Chicago, the song quickly became popular in Northern U.S. abolitionist circles due mainly to its third verse, which deals with breaking the chains of slavery.

Truly He taught us to love one another.
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother,
and in His name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we.
Let all within us praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord! O praise His name forever!
His power and glory evermore proclaim!
His power and glory evermore proclaim!

Again, this is beautiful, but it downplays the truly salvific mission of Jesus Christ, God incarnate.

Before examining the French lyrics and their literal English translation, listen to the definitive version of the song, sung by Luciano Pavarotti at Notre Dame Basilica in Montreal, Quebec, in 1978. The concert in which he sang this rendition was a long-standing PBS Christmas special.

French lyrics

Here are the French lyrics, as compiled by the Oxford International Song Festival.

Minuit, Chrétiens, c’est l’heure solennelle,
Où l’homme Dieu descendit jusqu’à nous
Pour effacer la tache originelle
Et de son Père arrêter le courroux.
Le monde entier tressaille d’espérance
À cette nuit qui lui donne un sauveur.
Peuple, à genoux, attends ta délivrance.
Noël, Noël, voici le Rédempteur.

The tone is set right at the start. The verse boldly announces that this song is for believers. “Midnight, Christians, it is the holy hour.”

There is no mistaking this for secularism or a postmodern, easy Christianity. It calls the listener to remember that he is Christian and that Christmas is about the coming of the Savior, as the second line says, “When God as man descended unto us.”

The next part boldly proclaims the reason Christ became man: to save mankind from the stain of original sin. “To erase the original stain, and to end the wrath of His Father.”

The next two lines are very close to the English translation: “The whole world thrills with hope on this night that gives it a Savior.”

The end of the first verse brings it home: “Kneel, people, await your deliverance: Christmas, Christmas, the Redeemer is here!”

A bold declaration of what the night is about: the coming of deliverance that Christ the Redeemer brings!

The second and third verses are as reverent and hopeful as the first. The closing lyrics proclaim, without equivocation, that it is Christ who has saved us and we celebrate his coming. In other words: Christ is King!