As we embrace this joyous holiday season, I send Merry Christmas greetings as we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ coming to this world to redeem mankind. I am filled with gratitude for the honor of serving as your mayor.

Imagine a group of people who work to destroy Italy because, they claim, Italy’s origins are illegitimate. Imagine further that these people maintain that of all the countries in the world, only Italy doesn’t deserve to exist. Then imagine that these people vigorously deny they are anti-Italian. Would you believe them?

EDITOR’S NOTE: Josh Hammer is off this week. We hope readers will enjoy the following guest column by Ben Shapiro.

Ryan Burge is a data analyst who synthesizes information about religion and politics in the United States. He publishes his findings and observations regularly on Substack. Last week, he wrote an article titled “How Weird is the Religious Composition of Harvard’s Student Body?” In it, he examines the results of a poll Harvard conducted of this year’s freshman class.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Dennis Prager is off this week. We hope readers will enjoy the following guest column by Ben Shapiro.

The news continues to be filled with shocking accounts of Jew-hatred (or as it is more blandly called, “antisemitism”). Ed Morrissey at HotAir described recent attacks on Jews and Jewish-owned businesses in Philadelphia and New York City as an “American Kristallnacht.” Yet another article -- this one by Darlene McCormick Sanchez at the Epoch Times -- connects the support for Hamas and opposition to Israel with the many Marxist movements that have proliferated in the U.S.

A44-year-old senator went down the Senate floor on Jan. 29, 1987, to attack the Reagan administration for running up the debt and to warn the nation about “global warming.” His name was Joe Biden.

Since dropping out of the Democratic primaries and launching a third-party campaign bankrolled by Big Tech and Hollywood, environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has grown a substantial following, particularly among disaffected swing voters.

Newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson has posted on his congressional website what he calls “The 7 Core Principles of Conservatism.” “In 2018,” the website explains, “Speaker Johnson drafted this summary of the central beliefs of American conservatives to help anchor the work of the House Republican Conference in the timeless principles that made our nation the freest, strongest and most prosperous in human history.” One of the principles on Johnson’s list is: “Fiscal Responsibility.” “Because government has refused to live within its means, America is facing an unprecedented debt and spending crisis,” Johnson said in his explanation of this principle. “Federal debt now exceeds $33.5 trillion, and our current fiscal path is unsustainable and dangerous, jeopardizing our nation’s economic growth, stability and the security of future generations.

For a week now, the world has watched a high-stakes, emotionally draining and dangerous game being played out in Gaza. What began as a mediated fourday “truce” and swap of 50 Israeli civilians held hostage by Hamas in exchange for 150 convicted Palestinian-Arab terrorists has been dragged out much further.