Joel Mathis

It has never been true that Republicans would go along with an immigration reform bill. Ask James Lankford.

U.S. Deports Second Planeload of Iranians, Officials Say

THIS is what you can do a deal with Iranians on? www.nytimes.com/2025/12/07/w...

How’s the game going?

Oh man. I saw that in the theater when I was a kid - at the Emporia mall - and I thought I was the only one who remembered it.

We were just talking about how Bob and Phil arguing sound a lot like my grandparents bickering.

Physical media, folks.

(We already know my love of Liberty Hall.)

I really love Glenwood Arts so much.

I hate the Yankees and have no idea how Don Mattingly isn't in.

Did anybody tell Sen. Roger Marshall, who has been railing against the Netflix purchase? He doesn't usually let there be daylight between him and the president.

If I were to name my top 5 non-sci-fi movies just based on total number of lifetime viewings, it would probably be:

1. It's a Wonderful Life
2. White Christmas
3. Singin' In The Rain
4. Godfather 1 & 2
5. Paths of Glory

I am who I am.

Tonight, we are having our annual family viewing:

Congratulations, and good luck!

Did you get elected to something?

The Bubble-Wrapped President Trump surrounds himself with those who flatter him in places where he is comfortable.

Bubba Gump > Bubble Trump is this a thing? www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

My habit is to put on Pluto's DS9 channel while doing dishes and it's almost always a pleasure. TNG sometimes is. Voyager rarely.

Thing we have to remember about Tom Cotton is he started his public career as an Army officer calling for the NYT to be prosecuted for treason.

Donald Trump Jr. post: "Franklin Drives By Tim Walz's House and Calls Him Retarded"

Yesterday, Ross Douthat was giving advice on how Christianity might more properly manifest itself in this White House.

EDDINGTON (2025)

How a legendary historian is quietly fueling OKC's championship rise As OKC GM Sam Presti formed a Thunder team built for a dynasty, he was inspired by a man who has been working on the same project for more than 50 years.

Oh, now I have to be an OKC fan. www.espn.com/nba/story/_/...

So much is done to accommodate people with disabilities: handrails, taller seats in restrooms, larger stalls for those in wheelchairs. Why then are the toilet-paper rolls so danged hard to access? They are usually below the handrails, with the opening aimed at the floor. People need to assess how much paper they will need, gather it before they seat themselves and hope they have guessed enough. Tell me: What would it take to mount these dispensers above the handrail? - Clarin Blessing, Overland Park Read more at: https://www.kansascity.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article313418417.html#storylink=cpy

Truth.

The affordability stuff is now everywhere. Looks like people are gonna ride this horse into November. Nobody is talking about what they will actually do to make things affordable.

Ross Douthat doesn't like the post-religious right Why can't the Trump administration be more Christlike?

In which I fumblingly try to bring together Ross Douthat, that lady who believes the biblical story about the Sabbath justifies executing drug dealers, and @philklay.bsky.social's excellent essay on the president's failure of moral leadership. open.substack.com/pub/joelmmat...

That is a ... very long day.

is it worth pointing out that Jesus’ sabbath was Saturday, or

Most have been on video. I have seen 107 movies at the cinema this year. So far.

The cinema manager @libertyhall.bsky.social provided me with a rough estimate of how much I'd spent this year on tickets and ... it was a lot. It was also like six weeks ago, so the number is bigger now.

That's my hobby.

The King famously met Priscilla Beaulieu in 1959 when he was in the U.S. Army, stationed in Germany; Priscilla was the daughter of another officer stationed there and was, well, 14 at the time the two were introduced. Coppola’s movie, written by the director and based on Priscilla Presley’s 1985 memoir Elvis and Me, honors the author by giving us her perspective. And while latter-day considerations of Presley’s behavior in courting, or one might say capturing, Priscilla are replete with condemnations of how creepy it was—the word “groomer” is tossed around, and in some specific ways seen here, it is absolutely apt—from the point of view of a dreamy, distracted Austin Texas girl far from home the attention of this very shy superstar is exhilarating.

That's, uh, how grooming works. www.rogerebert.com/reviews/pris...

A ★★★★ review of Priscilla (2023) As it happens, I've been reading - slowly - "Reading Lolita in Tehran," and one of the many things it considers is what Nabokov's story looks like from Lolita's point of view. Well, now we know. A lot...

Movie 234 of 2025. #filmsky boxd.it/bXhVxz

The December print issue of The New Republic begins with an unbylined "11th Hour" column whose author I am not free to divulge. Suffice it to say I have admired him since birth. It's not online so I attach it here. If you can't make it out you'll just have to buy a paper copy.