SCENES

Given the debate that’s happening at The Free Press and elsewhere over Tucker Carlson’s interview of Huckabee, this article is newly relevant. musicandculture.substack.com/p/comfort-o-co… Find out the real pro-Israel position of Catholics. @PatriciaHeaton @roddreher @TuckerCarlson @DanielDarling @CarriePrejean1 @JDVance @NickFuentes @Mike_Pence @GovMikeHuckabee @jsolomonReports @POTUS @WriterJonLeaf @PressSec

@johnddavidson Not Saint John Paul II of Pope Benedict XVI. Look there statements up.

So much of this debate is a semantic dispute over what “Zionist” means. If it means affirming that the modern nation-state of Israel is the inheritor of God’s covenant with Abraham that entitles them to biblical claims on the Holy Land, then you can count most Catholics out.

The federal rules governing these plans had such elaborate requirements, including insisting on fiber and that every locality had to be serviced at the same time (instead of rolling the service out locality by locality as a real business would do), that the program was entirely unworkable. The Trump administration prevented this Rube Goldberg plan from being enacted for the very good reason that it was unnecessarily expensive and unworkable—like California’s train to nowhere. The reset gives the project a chance to work by eliminating unworkable regulations.

@TheChiefNerd Is @GovernorShapiro that ignorant?

🚨 OUCH: Gov. Shapiro Throws the Biden-Harris Admin Under the Bus “They got that infrastructure bill passed to provide the BILLIONS of dollars that were needed to … connect everybody in Pennsylvania. Do you know how many people have been connected to high speed, affordable Internet thanks to President Biden? … ZERO.”

@tonydokoupil Millions are rooting for you, Tony, and @bariweiss. How great it would be for a sea change to occur among legacy media, where events and issues are presented straight-up.

@BenSasse What a tremendous witness your life has been and continues to be. I am praying for you and yours and that you’ll feel God’s love every step of the way.

Friends- This is a tough note to write, but since a bunch of you have started to suspect something, I’ll cut to the chase: Last week I was diagnosed with metastasized, stage-four pancreatic cancer, and am gonna die. Advanced pancreatic is nasty stuff; it’s a death sentence. But I already had a death sentence before last week too — we all do. I’m blessed with amazing siblings and half-a-dozen buddies that are genuinely brothers. As one of them put it, “Sure, you’re on the clock, but we’re all on the clock.” Death is a wicked thief, and the bastard pursues us all. Still, I’ve got less time than I’d prefer. This is hard for someone wired to work and build, but harder still as a husband and a dad. I can’t begin to describe how great my people are. During the past year, as we’d temporarily stepped back from public life and built new family rhythms, Melissa and I have grown even closer — and that on top of three decades of the best friend a man could ever have. Seven months ago, Corrie was commissioned into the Air Force and she’s off at instrument and multi-engine rounds of flight school. Last week, Alex kicked butt graduating from college a semester early even while teaching gen chem, organic, and physics (she’s a freak). This summer, 14-year-old Breck started learning to drive. (Okay, we’ve been driving off-book for six years — but now we’ve got paper to make it street-legal.) I couldn’t be more grateful to constantly get to bear-hug this motley crew of sinners and saints. There’s not a good time to tell your peeps you’re now marching to the beat of a faster drummer — but the season of advent isn’t the worst. As a Christian, the weeks running up to Christmas are a time to orient our hearts toward the hope of what’s to come. Not an abstract hope in fanciful human goodness; not hope in vague hallmark-sappy spirituality; not a bootstrapped hope in our own strength (what foolishness is the evaporating-muscle I once prided myself in). Nope — often we lazily say “hope” when what we mean is “optimism.” To be clear, optimism is great, and it’s absolutely necessary, but it’s insufficient. It’s not the kinda thing that holds up when you tell your daughters you’re not going to walk them down the aisle. Nor telling your mom and pops they’re gonna bury their son. A well-lived life demands more reality — stiffer stuff. That’s why, during advent, even while still walking in darkness, we shout our hope — often properly with a gravelly voice soldiering through tears. Such is the calling of the pilgrim. Those who know ourselves to need a Physician should dang well look forward to enduring beauty and eventual fulfillment. That is, we hope in a real Deliverer — a rescuing God, born at a real time, in a real place. But the eternal city — with foundations and without cancer — is not yet. Remembering Isaiah’s prophecies of what’s to come doesn’t dull the pain of current sufferings. But it does put it in eternity’s perspective: “When we've been there 10,000 years…We've no less days to sing God's praise.” I’ll have more to say. I’m not going down without a fight. One sub-part of God’s grace is found in the jawdropping advances science has made the past few years in immunotherapy and more. Death and dying aren’t the same — the process of dying is still something to be lived. We’re zealously embracing a lot of gallows humor in our house, and I’ve pledged to do my part to run through the irreverent tape. But for now, as our family faces the reality of treatments, but more importantly as we celebrate Christmas, we wish you peace: “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned….For to us a son is given” (Isaiah 9). With great gratitude, and with gravelly-but-hopeful voices, Ben — and the Sasses

@USAmbIsrael Ambassador Huckabee - here’s something to cheer you on in your mission. It’s about our responsibility as Christians to love the Jews and recognize God’s promises to them. musicandculture.substack.com/p/comfort-o-co…

@megynkelly Megyn, check this out as to our obligations to Jews as Catholics. It’s reasoned. musicandculture.substack.com/p/comfort-o-co…

@jpodhoretz I hope you will find this cheering. musicandculture.substack.com/p/comfort-o-co…

@PaulinaJayne Paulina, I sent you an invitation via email. It went both to Tess and you—I don’t know if your emails remain the same. If not, please contact me at hfickett@scenesmedia.com.

@HawleyMO Time for an apology to Hilary Perkins. wsj.com/opinion/josh-h…

@elonmusk Appreciated what Doge is doing. But entitlement restructuring and asset sales are essential to putting the nation’s finances in order. Even the President. for all his daring, seems content to let demagoguery prevail until the crash comes. I suggest, as a first step, removing the caps on Social Security taxes. Let everyone contend with the fiscal gravity that absorbs the discretionary income of most.

Here’s some math. It’s daunting. Combining the three measures—removing the payroll tax cap, means-testing benefits for those earning over $200,000 annually, and imposing an 18% tax on income above $500,000 from all sources—would likely eliminate a significant portion of Social Security's projected funding shortfall over the next decade. Here's an estimate based on available data: 1. **Eliminating the Payroll Tax Cap**: Taxing all earnings at 12.4% could close about 53-55% of the funding gap, reducing the shortfall by approximately $2.2 trillion over 10 years. 2. **Means Testing Benefits**: Phasing out benefits for individuals earning over $200,000 could save an additional $100-$150 billion over a decade. 3. **18% Tax on Income Above $500,000**: Applying an 18% tax to all income above $500,000 (including capital gains) would generate substantial additional revenue. High-income earners derive significant income from wages and investments; taxing this group more heavily could raise hundreds of billions of dollars annually. For example, taxing just capital gains at higher rates has been estimated to raise $100-$150 billion per year under similar proposals. ### Combined Impact Together, these measures could address roughly 80-90% of the projected shortfall over the next decade, depending on economic conditions and behavioral responses (e.g., tax avoidance). While exact figures depend on implementation details, this approach would bring Social Security much closer to long-term solvency. Sources [1] Social Security's Funding Gap is 1.2% of GDP — Here's How We ... pgpf.org/article/social… [2] Social Security Report Projects Trust Fund Shortfall in 2035 - AARP aarp.org/social-securit… [3] Social Security expected to run short on funds in 2035, government ... cnbc.com/2024/05/06/soc… [4] Changes Americans would make to close Social Security's financing ... cnbc.com/2025/01/29/cha… [5] Fixing Social Security - Brookings Institution brookings.edu/articles/fixin… [6] Research: The Future Financial Status of the Social Security Program ssa.gov/policy/docs/ss… [7] Trustees Report Summary - SSA ssa.gov/oact/trsum/ [8] Proposals to Change Social Security - SSA ssa.gov/OACT/solvency/

By 2033, social security will no longer cover a good chunk of people eligible. There’s not enough money. But any dialogue about making changes to save it for all brings accusations that the person wants to “cut social security.” We hamstring our politicians into making sure we do nothing but row towards the waterfall. And most of them smile and pretend it will all be just fine.

@GovEvers BOO!

BREAKING: we’re suing President Trump and the Trump Administration for recklessly firing tens of thousands of federal workers, including thousands of our veterans. It's wrong, illegal, and bad for our state and our country—that’s why we’re headed to court to try and stop them.

@dreamy12122 Yes

@IanJaeger29 Mr. Jeffries, you are delusional.

Hakeem Jeffries: “We have the Republicans on the run.”

@JDVanceNewsX 👍

If you support Trump Abolishing the Department of Education, drop a “👍” in the comments

@SaveAmericaNew Yes!

DO YOU THINK PRESIDENT TRUMP IS RIGHT TO SAY SENIORS SHOULDN’T PAY TAX ON SOCIAL SECURITY? A. YES B. NO