Thank you, and Happy holidays in return Katie, Aaron, & Matt. Here is a story to bring you warmth on these icy days.
The Christmas Scout, By Samuel D. Boga [Modified]
“When we encounter suffering, we can either lean in or look away. When love wins the day, looking away is never an option — because love always leans in.” — Santiago Mellado
In spite of the fun and laughter, young Frank Wilson was in poor spirits.
It was true that he had received all the presents he wanted along with some special surprises. And of course, he enjoyed these traditional Christmas Eve reunions of relatives—this year at Aunt Susan’s—for the purpose of exchanging love and good wishes.
But Frank was almost devestated because this was to be his first Christmas without his brother, Steve, who earlier in the year had been the tragic victim of a reckless driver. Frank deeply missed his brother and the close companionship they had together.
Suffocating at this memory, he said good-bye to his relatives and explained to his parents that he was leaving a little early to see a friend. Since it was cold outside, Frank put on his new plaid jacket. It was his favorite gift. The other presents he placed on his new sled.
Then Frank, seeking that missing companionship of his brother, headed for the Flats, hoping to find the patrol leader of his Boy Scout troop. This was the section of town where most of the poor lived, and his patrol leader did odd jobs to help support his family. To Frank’s disappointment, his friend was not at home, but running errands.
As Frank hiked down the street, he caught glimpses of trees and decorations in many homes. And although not meaning to pry, out of the corner of his eye he detected a shabby room with a couple of small limp worn and dirty stockings hanging over an empty fireplace. A woman was seated near them weeping. The stockings reminded him of the way he and his brother had always hung theirs side by side, but theirs were big, and new, and clean, and the next morning would be bursting with candy and glimmering prizes. Unlike these which would surely be no different, even they sat there all the way through next Christmas and out the other side. Then it hit him that he had not done his “good turn” for the day.
He knocked on the door.
“Y..yes?” the sad shaky voice of the woman inquired.
“May I come in?”
“You are very welcome,” she sighed, “but I have not food or gifts for you. I have nothing for my own children.”
“That’s not why I am here,” Frank, surprising himself, announces with all the authority of a scout leader. “You are to choose whatever presents you need for your children from this sled.”
“Why, God bless you!” the amazed woman answered hesitantly but deeply grateful.
She gingerly selected some candies, a game, the toy airplane, and a puzzle. When she slowly reached for the new Scout flashlight, Frank almost cried out but he regained his composure in a flash. Finally, the stockings were full.
“Won’t you tell me your name?” she almost pleaded as Frank was leaving.
“Just call me the Christmas Scout,” he replied.
That night Frank saw that his sorrow was not the only sorrow in the world and before he left the Flats, he had given away the remainder of his toys. The new plaid jacket had gone to a shivering boy.
He trudged homeward, cold and uneasy - all that mystifying scout authority fleeing him. Having given his presents away Frank could think of no reasonable explanation to offer his parents. He wondered how he could make them understand.
“Where are your presents, son?” asked his father as he entered the house.
“I gave them away.”
“But I thought you were happy with your gifts.”
“I was, very happy,” the boy answered lamely.
“But, Frank, how could you be so impulsive?” his mother asked.
His father was firm. “You made your choice, Frank. We cannot afford any more presents.”
His brother gone, his family disappointed in him, Frank suddenly felt dreadfully alone. He had not expected a reward for his generosity for, in the wisdom of young grief, he knew that a good deed always should be its own reward. It would be tarnished otherwise. So he did not want his gifts back. Frank thought of his brother and sobbed himself to sleep.
manger night gathering light
The Light is Gathering
The next morning he came downstairs to find his parents listening to Christmas music on the radio. Then the announcer spoke:
“Merry Christmas, everybody! The sweetest Christmas story we have this morning comes from the Flats. A crippled boy down there has a new sled to get around in this morning. Another youngster has a new plaid jacket. And several families report that their children were made happy last night by gifts from a teenage boy who simply referred to himself as the Christmas Scout. No one could identify him, but the children of the Flats claim that the Christmas Scout was a personal representative of old Santa Claus himself.”
Frank felt his father’s arms go around his shoulders, and saw his mother smiling through her tears. “Why didn’t you tell us? We are so proud of you, son.”
The carols came over the air again filling the room with music.
𝅘𝅥𝅮 And praises sing to God the King, and peace to men on Earth. 𝅘𝅥𝅮
I wish you three the happiest of holidays with friends and family. I truly appreciate the knowledge, candor and humor that you bring with the shows. I wish you a fantastic new year.
Have a wonderful few days of celebration and relaxation. I think that 2026 will turn out to be a terrific year; Donald Trump will see the errors of his ways, undue all the things that he did this year, and publicly apologize to the world. Not another word about Greenland, Venezuela, Panama, Syria, Nigeria, or even China. One wonders what other Peace Prizes our Leader will win, in the new year--what additional events, buildings and cities will end up changing its name to "Trump..." [the nurse is coming; i'm not supposed to be off the ward, using the computer] BYE!
I do not know what I would do without Useful Idiots. Following you feels like a warm blanket of comfort while trying to find light in the darkness. You carry yourselves with a calm, caring dignity while dealing with the brash, aggressive and evil. Your courage in expressing truth seems so rare for those who could otherwise have cush, comfortable, lavish lives. Most of all, where do you get all that information from! Your knowledge continually blows my mind. Thanks to all in this community who care for free speach, equality, justice and truth for those suffering under the oppression of the wealthy and powerful. You are my heros.
Happy holidays to Katie, Arron, and Matt. I appreciate all of your podcasts and the hard work you put into getting such well-informed guests. Thank you!
Matt Taibi, , is the guy who loves the first amendment unless it’s enjoyed by genocide protesters on college campuses. He calls Bari Weiss critics “jealous losers “ while praising her work. Her “journalism “ is incessant Israeli propaganda.
He is now riding shotgun in the Michael Tracy pedophile obfuscation clown car. Where if victims are sluts, then forget everything you know about black mail and mossad connections, exposed daily by dropsite and others. This from the same cunt who told viewers that Gaza wasn’t his expertise. If Taibi, TP USA, Ben Shapiro and Israel are pearl clutching Candace, then knowing nothing else about her, I’d say she’s over the target.
I plan to be subscribing to racket until it goes bankrupt. Hooray for free speech.
I congratulation you. Your wallet, and perhaps your heart, is larger than mine. I dropped my paid subscription to Matt more than a year ago. I am thankful he introduced me to Useful Idiots. Katie and Aaron have been outstanding in standing up for the rights of all. Come home Matt, back into the First Amendment fold!
I get it. But, if for $50 a year I could have ridiculed anyone who betrayed their readers or advocates over the years, I would like to think that I would gladly spend the money.
I'm about to drop my free sub to racket (gave up paid years ago). Aside from the Salzman posts, it's truly a boomer slopfest I could get from a gajillion other online sewer lagoons. Totally irrelevant, pure sellout drama.
I remember when Matt Taibbi was a Useful Idiot and I think he is finally returning to his roots. I am a useless idiot I am 77 almost blind and as autism spectrum disordered as I was 78 years ago when I was conceived. I was little kid until I grew into a friendly giant. I was an evening student at Sir George Williams University when we had our race riot. Sir George Williams the founder of the YMCA was an English racist, colonialist and supremacist and Sir George Williams University denied its Paternity before it joined its mightiest opponent the Jesuit Loyola College to form the mighty Concordia where Bill21 makes all religion the enemy of liberal democracy. Today is Christmas not Easter. We need more love and as the leader of the country band at Kamala Harris' High School once sang. There ain't no cure
My grandson graduated Wesleyan University and I live in Stanstead Quebec. Home of the Wesleyan Stanstead College where the students live inside a ghetto reserved for those blessed with good fortune and enough fortune to send their children into the isolation of our Canadian wilderness Hockeytown Canada and the Wesleyan Stanstead College run Pat Burns Arena.
Thank you, and Happy holidays in return Katie, Aaron, & Matt. Here is a story to bring you warmth on these icy days.
The Christmas Scout, By Samuel D. Boga [Modified]
“When we encounter suffering, we can either lean in or look away. When love wins the day, looking away is never an option — because love always leans in.” — Santiago Mellado
In spite of the fun and laughter, young Frank Wilson was in poor spirits.
It was true that he had received all the presents he wanted along with some special surprises. And of course, he enjoyed these traditional Christmas Eve reunions of relatives—this year at Aunt Susan’s—for the purpose of exchanging love and good wishes.
But Frank was almost devestated because this was to be his first Christmas without his brother, Steve, who earlier in the year had been the tragic victim of a reckless driver. Frank deeply missed his brother and the close companionship they had together.
Suffocating at this memory, he said good-bye to his relatives and explained to his parents that he was leaving a little early to see a friend. Since it was cold outside, Frank put on his new plaid jacket. It was his favorite gift. The other presents he placed on his new sled.
Then Frank, seeking that missing companionship of his brother, headed for the Flats, hoping to find the patrol leader of his Boy Scout troop. This was the section of town where most of the poor lived, and his patrol leader did odd jobs to help support his family. To Frank’s disappointment, his friend was not at home, but running errands.
As Frank hiked down the street, he caught glimpses of trees and decorations in many homes. And although not meaning to pry, out of the corner of his eye he detected a shabby room with a couple of small limp worn and dirty stockings hanging over an empty fireplace. A woman was seated near them weeping. The stockings reminded him of the way he and his brother had always hung theirs side by side, but theirs were big, and new, and clean, and the next morning would be bursting with candy and glimmering prizes. Unlike these which would surely be no different, even they sat there all the way through next Christmas and out the other side. Then it hit him that he had not done his “good turn” for the day.
He knocked on the door.
“Y..yes?” the sad shaky voice of the woman inquired.
“May I come in?”
“You are very welcome,” she sighed, “but I have not food or gifts for you. I have nothing for my own children.”
“That’s not why I am here,” Frank, surprising himself, announces with all the authority of a scout leader. “You are to choose whatever presents you need for your children from this sled.”
“Why, God bless you!” the amazed woman answered hesitantly but deeply grateful.
She gingerly selected some candies, a game, the toy airplane, and a puzzle. When she slowly reached for the new Scout flashlight, Frank almost cried out but he regained his composure in a flash. Finally, the stockings were full.
“Won’t you tell me your name?” she almost pleaded as Frank was leaving.
“Just call me the Christmas Scout,” he replied.
That night Frank saw that his sorrow was not the only sorrow in the world and before he left the Flats, he had given away the remainder of his toys. The new plaid jacket had gone to a shivering boy.
He trudged homeward, cold and uneasy - all that mystifying scout authority fleeing him. Having given his presents away Frank could think of no reasonable explanation to offer his parents. He wondered how he could make them understand.
“Where are your presents, son?” asked his father as he entered the house.
“I gave them away.”
“But I thought you were happy with your gifts.”
“I was, very happy,” the boy answered lamely.
“But, Frank, how could you be so impulsive?” his mother asked.
His father was firm. “You made your choice, Frank. We cannot afford any more presents.”
His brother gone, his family disappointed in him, Frank suddenly felt dreadfully alone. He had not expected a reward for his generosity for, in the wisdom of young grief, he knew that a good deed always should be its own reward. It would be tarnished otherwise. So he did not want his gifts back. Frank thought of his brother and sobbed himself to sleep.
manger night gathering light
The Light is Gathering
The next morning he came downstairs to find his parents listening to Christmas music on the radio. Then the announcer spoke:
“Merry Christmas, everybody! The sweetest Christmas story we have this morning comes from the Flats. A crippled boy down there has a new sled to get around in this morning. Another youngster has a new plaid jacket. And several families report that their children were made happy last night by gifts from a teenage boy who simply referred to himself as the Christmas Scout. No one could identify him, but the children of the Flats claim that the Christmas Scout was a personal representative of old Santa Claus himself.”
Frank felt his father’s arms go around his shoulders, and saw his mother smiling through her tears. “Why didn’t you tell us? We are so proud of you, son.”
The carols came over the air again filling the room with music.
𝅘𝅥𝅮 And praises sing to God the King, and peace to men on Earth. 𝅘𝅥𝅮
Excerpt from and more like this here if interested: https://tritorch.substack.com/p/the-light-is-gathering-3-unto-earth
Best to all of you this special day, I hope 2026 is the year things turn around.
Thank you dear one.
Christ’s message to all of us was “Love one another as God loves you.”
MLK put this message in different terms but the same spirit — “We live together as brothers or we perish together as fools.”
JRR Tolkien — “There is some good in this world and it’s worth fighting for.”
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays 🎄 to you both !
I wish you three the happiest of holidays with friends and family. I truly appreciate the knowledge, candor and humor that you bring with the shows. I wish you a fantastic new year.
“[Y]ou must be calm and happy all the same. Such is life, and we have to take it as it is, valiantly, heads erect, smiling ever – despite all.”
Rosa Luxembourg, in a PS to a letter to Sophie Liebknecht, 1917
https://www.marxists.org/archive/luxemburg/1917/undated/03.htm
I love that you guys used the snowman for the title pic.
Have a wonderful few days of celebration and relaxation. I think that 2026 will turn out to be a terrific year; Donald Trump will see the errors of his ways, undue all the things that he did this year, and publicly apologize to the world. Not another word about Greenland, Venezuela, Panama, Syria, Nigeria, or even China. One wonders what other Peace Prizes our Leader will win, in the new year--what additional events, buildings and cities will end up changing its name to "Trump..." [the nurse is coming; i'm not supposed to be off the ward, using the computer] BYE!
I do not know what I would do without Useful Idiots. Following you feels like a warm blanket of comfort while trying to find light in the darkness. You carry yourselves with a calm, caring dignity while dealing with the brash, aggressive and evil. Your courage in expressing truth seems so rare for those who could otherwise have cush, comfortable, lavish lives. Most of all, where do you get all that information from! Your knowledge continually blows my mind. Thanks to all in this community who care for free speach, equality, justice and truth for those suffering under the oppression of the wealthy and powerful. You are my heros.
Happy holidays to Katie, Arron, and Matt. I appreciate all of your podcasts and the hard work you put into getting such well-informed guests. Thank you!
Excellent message.
What is the photo?
From The Snowman from 1982. I recommend it's beautiful animation.
Happy Holidays, Katie and Aaron, and Mr Wilson!
I miss the old formatting, but I will adjust when I can figure out what you're doing exactly.
To a wonderful five years and the next fifty.
Thank you.
Katie and Aaron, thank you both so much for doing Gods work in this world.
Thanks for the weekly mournings!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUS5Kf1UhqM
Comment of the year this is awesome thank you
Matt Taibi, , is the guy who loves the first amendment unless it’s enjoyed by genocide protesters on college campuses. He calls Bari Weiss critics “jealous losers “ while praising her work. Her “journalism “ is incessant Israeli propaganda.
He is now riding shotgun in the Michael Tracy pedophile obfuscation clown car. Where if victims are sluts, then forget everything you know about black mail and mossad connections, exposed daily by dropsite and others. This from the same cunt who told viewers that Gaza wasn’t his expertise. If Taibi, TP USA, Ben Shapiro and Israel are pearl clutching Candace, then knowing nothing else about her, I’d say she’s over the target.
I plan to be subscribing to racket until it goes bankrupt. Hooray for free speech.
I congratulation you. Your wallet, and perhaps your heart, is larger than mine. I dropped my paid subscription to Matt more than a year ago. I am thankful he introduced me to Useful Idiots. Katie and Aaron have been outstanding in standing up for the rights of all. Come home Matt, back into the First Amendment fold!
I get it. But, if for $50 a year I could have ridiculed anyone who betrayed their readers or advocates over the years, I would like to think that I would gladly spend the money.
I'm about to drop my free sub to racket (gave up paid years ago). Aside from the Salzman posts, it's truly a boomer slopfest I could get from a gajillion other online sewer lagoons. Totally irrelevant, pure sellout drama.
I remember when Matt Taibbi was a Useful Idiot and I think he is finally returning to his roots. I am a useless idiot I am 77 almost blind and as autism spectrum disordered as I was 78 years ago when I was conceived. I was little kid until I grew into a friendly giant. I was an evening student at Sir George Williams University when we had our race riot. Sir George Williams the founder of the YMCA was an English racist, colonialist and supremacist and Sir George Williams University denied its Paternity before it joined its mightiest opponent the Jesuit Loyola College to form the mighty Concordia where Bill21 makes all religion the enemy of liberal democracy. Today is Christmas not Easter. We need more love and as the leader of the country band at Kamala Harris' High School once sang. There ain't no cure
My grandson graduated Wesleyan University and I live in Stanstead Quebec. Home of the Wesleyan Stanstead College where the students live inside a ghetto reserved for those blessed with good fortune and enough fortune to send their children into the isolation of our Canadian wilderness Hockeytown Canada and the Wesleyan Stanstead College run Pat Burns Arena.
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/bill-21
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYP7uMWsyAM&list=RDLYP7uMWsyAM&start_radio=1