Opinion

A Great Christmas Gift Idea Want a great Christmas gift idea? How about giving yourself and your friends the best book about Social Security that you will ever read. And surprise! I’m talking about my book, “Social Security Simple and Smart: 10 Easy-To-Understand Fact Sheets That Will Answer All Your Questions About Social Security.” In just under 100 pages, I explain everything you’d probably ever need to know about our nation’s bedrock social insurance program.

Ron DeSantis is running as the true-blue conservative in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. And he’s learning the hard way that Republicans don’t nominate true-blue conservatives.

Taking the podium at an event in Boston last Tuesday, President Joe Biden wasted no time taking aim at a leading progressive’s hemming and hawing when asked to condemn Hamas’ mass rape of Israeli women on Oct. 7. Two days earlier, Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal had tried to duck journalist Dana Bash’s questioning about Hamas’ atrocities, which included rapes so violent that they broke women’s pelvic bones before Hamas gunmen shot their victims in the genitals and the head.

Dear Annie: I’m 48 years old. I’ve been a single mom since I had my first kid -- in other words, since forever. I’ve never really had healthy relationships with men. I’m way too trusting and just want love so badly. A few months ago, I accidentally texted a man I knew from high school. We ended up striking up a conversation, texting back and forth for a few days. Then he called me a couple of times, and we had long talks. We became friends on Facebook. I was so interested, as he seemed like a very good man: 20-year veteran, retired, single father, hard worker. I could tell that family was important to him. And he was so good-looking. After two months of chatting back and forth, I asked to meet him. He said, “Maybe after some more time.”

Dear Annie: I’m confused about an issue that involves my husband. We have been separated for 13 years. We try to work things out all the time, but now, suddenly, he said I cheated on him. He also said that all I do is lie to him. He said he doesn’t want to listen to me when I tell him the truth. He listens to everybody else.

There’s a reason that President Joe Biden’s advisers keep his access to the press as minimal as they can. They don’t trust him to answer reporters in a way that helps his standing in the polls. It’s likely that he’ll lose his temper, or he’ll lie preposterously.

Three cheers to Gov. Kevin Stitt for walking back a decision to apply for a new private school tax credit program that he championed just months ago.

Dear Annie: My partner and I were surprised to find ourselves expecting with my very loved rainbow baby. We had known each other less than two years and had just moved in together. So far, my relationship with his parents had been rocky at best. Both parents drank to the point of blacking out daily, which often made them unpleasant.

For those dismayed at how many college and university students and faculty, even, or especially, at selective and prestigious institutions, have been cheering Hamas’ Oct. 7 atrocities and calling, in only slightly veiled language, for the destruction of Israel and genocide of Jews, the question is how this vicious line of thought gained hold in American secondary and higher education.

As a single mom, I’ve spent Christmas alone while my daughter visited with her father’s family for the holiday. I’ve also celebrated Christmas morning as a blended family with my daughter, new husband and stepdaughter. Holidays can be challenging with so many moving parts and so many players who have emotional stakes in the day. I’m here to tell you to take the pressure off. Christmas isn’t about you.