Happy New Year! A few satirical forecasts for ‘26

 

It’s predictions time so here go a few for your consideration:

1. The Beatles’s management company will release a new anthology.  It will include studio samples and a lost version of “Strawberry Fields Forever”.  I’m sure that you are ready to drop another $25 to hear a raw version of that song again.  It will include an affidavit signed by Lennon confirming that he did not say “I buried Paul” as the song fades away.
2. The LA Dodgers will win the NL West, but lose in the first round to the SF Giants.  It will convince team owners that money can’t buy pennants, so all of the talk about a “lockdown” will stop until the Dodgers win the World Series again.
3. MS Now, formerly MSNBC, will change its name to MS Used-to-be and disappear from our screen.  Rachel Maddow will show up on “The View” to provide some balance to that show.
4. Governor Newsom will announce that he is running for president.  He will have his time as governor of California magically deleted from his Wikipedia page.  His first speech will be in Texas, suggesting that The Golden State could learn a lesson or two about gas prices from The Lone Star State.  He will campaign to win back the “male vote,” indicating that his party has forgotten about men.  His campaign hat will say “Make America Male Again”.
5. Former VP Harris will write another book about the hardships facing a black woman writing a book.
6. We will see polls in April saying that the Democrats lead the famous generic poll by 11 points.  Another poll will come out the next day saying that the race is a dead heat.
7. A New York Times story based on “sources familiar with the situation” will say that President Trump is going for another term.  The Washington Post will run another story quoting VP Vance, saying that he didn’t hear anything about that the last time he visited with the president in the Oval Office.
8. Harvard will get into the college football business.  The head coach will say to an anonymous source that they need the money badly.
9. And on a serious note: The GOP will hold Maine and North Carolina, and pick up Michigan.  The Democrats will give it their best, but the GOP will hold the House by less than 10 districts.  The party promises to release an internal report explaining why they lost to Trump again.  They promise to really do it this time.

Happy New Year and enjoy writing some resolutions.  If I can do it you can do it.

P.S.  Check out my blog for posts, podcasts, and videos.

When the big game was played in December

 

Happy New Year to the AT leadership staff, our contributors, and especially those wonderful folks who take time to leave a comment.

Lost count but there will be a ton of college and pro games this weekend. It's enough to give you football "fatigue," if you know what I mean.

Back years ago when we waited to celebrate the arrival of 1959, the sports pages were full of stories about a huge football game in New York. It was the NFL title game and here are the details:

click to read:

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2026/01/when_the_big_game_was_played_in_december.html

We remember Hank Greenberg (1911-86)

The great Hank Greenberg was born in New York on this day in 1911.    He became one of the great power hitters in the game:

Greenberg won 2 MVPs with Detroit; 

In 1935, he hit .328 and led the AL in HR (36) and RBI (168).   The Tigers won the World Series that year; and,

In 1940, Hank hit .340 with 41 HR & 150 RBI.   

His career was cut short by military service, 1941-45.   Nevertheless, he retired with a .313 average, 331 HR, 1,274 RBI in 1,394 games.   

He was elected to The Hall of Fame in 1956.

Greenberg was one of the first Jewish stars in baseball and died in 1986.

 P.S.  Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos. If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

Another January to remember Cuba

Another January to remember Cuba: Cuba became an independent country in 1902. You can divide the island’s history into two periods: the pre-Castro years and the current regime’s period in power since 1959. I was born in the last decade of pre-Castro Cuba. 

Click to read:

Another January to remember Cuba - American Thinker https://t.co/gxTeKtxvDW

— Silvio Canto. Jr. (@silvio_canto) January 6, 2025

Cuba became an independent country in 1902. You can divide the island’s history into two periods: the pre-Castro years and the current regime’s period in power since 1959.

I was born in the last decade of pre-Castro Cuba. My story so typical of the other kids born in the 1950s. We were the grandchildren or great-grandchildren of immigrants from Spain or elsewhere.

Our ancestors came to Cuba because it was a prosperous island, an attractive place for Spaniards seeking a better life, for Jewish refugees from Europe, hardworking Asians, and others. 

It was a young and vibrant country with hope and a future. In other words, the island of Cuba attracted people rather than driving its citizens away looking for a future.

It is really sad to watch Cuba today, from energy blackouts to importing sugar. Let me repeat: importing sugar. As a result, the young escape and look for a better life, preferably in the U.S. The old get stuck behind. 

As I saw yesterday, Cuba is on track to have the oldest population in Latin America.

It is even more painful when you realize that pre-Castro Cuba attracted thousands of immigrants from all over the world, as our friend Dr Carlos Eire wrote: 

• Between 1900 and 1930, the first three decades of Cuban independence, about one million immigrants flooded into the island, mostly European, and mostly northern Spaniards.

This population tsunami also included Asians, Levantines, and Jews.  These immigrants doubled the population of the island and changed its complexion, literally.

Tens of thousands of immigrants continued to flow into Cuba every year after that, up to 1958.

Immigration from the U.S. was comparatively slight, but in 1958 there were more Americans living in Cuba than Cubans in the U.S.A.

Emigration from Cuba was minimal during this half century.

• Rates of immigration as high as this and of emigration as low require a robust and growing economy, and a considerable degree of political stability.

 To wither is to shrivel, fade, decay, or lose the freshness of youth. Cuba is indeed withering today.

So another January to remember the tragedy of Cuba and how much longer it will go on.

P.S. Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos.

 

 

 

1863: The Emancipation Proclamation went into effect

On January 1, 1863, President Lincoln issued The Emancipation Proclamation.   

It marked the end of a story that began in July 1862 when the President began working on the draft.

The Proclamation was a controversial move.    It took effect on January 1, 1863 but many states did not see the executive order as binding.

President Lincoln knew that the order was not the long term answer.  This is why he fought for the 13th Amendment that ended slavery in the US in 1865. 

P.S.  You can listen to my show (Canto Talk).  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column.

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Happy New Year

Let me wish you a very happy New Year.  

I hope that you and your family have a very happy and prosperous New Year.

 P.S.  Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos. If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

We wish you a very Happy New Year....

P.S.  You can listen to my show (Canto Talk).  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column.

A week in January that changed our lives

It’s another January, and a time to welcome the new year, but also remember one very sad day in 1959.

Sixty-one years ago, the Baltimore Colts were still celebrating what they called “the best football game ever played,” their victory over the New York Giants in the NFL title game. (No Super Bowl back then.  I’m not even sure that the AFL had started playing).

Over on the radio, The Chipmunks had the # 1 song on Billboard USA.  Who can forget Alvin and “Christmas Don’t Be Late”?

Down in Cuba, my parents were trying to figure out how everything would work out.  Batista fled and Castro was in!   

It did not happen like what we saw in “Godfather 2,” with people rushing to their boats.  Most Cubans were sleeping or celebrating the new year.  My parents did not hear about it until the next morning.

No one understood that morning what it all meant. We certainly had no idea that a communist dictatorship was coming.  At least, my parents did not.

Within months, Cuba began to change, i.e. the mass executions, the mock trials, the political prisons, the attacks on the press, and the radicalization of the regime. 

Elections never came and Castro quickly started to blame the U.S. to distract Cubans from all the unkept promises.

We eventually moved to the U.S. and this is now my adopted country.  I am a very proud citizen of the U.S.  My three sons were born here and the youngest one served in the U.S. Army.  We are very proud of his service.

However, it still hurts to see how much damage the communist dictatorship has done to Cuba and the people who stayed behind.

As my late father would often remind us, we were the fortunate ones. We got to grow up in the U.S.  Some were not so unfortunate.  They had to stay in Cuba or saw their fathers executed or spend time in a political prison.

A sad anniversary for Cubans, and for truth and freedom. 

It turned out to be a terrible morning for the people of Cuba.

A few years ago, we recorded this chat with Dr. Carlos Eire about another anniversary of the communist takeover.

 Listen to ""Cuba at 60" with Dr. Carlos Eire" on Spreaker.

P.S.  Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos. If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

Happy New Year to all of our friends

WE WISH YOU A VERY HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR

P.S.  Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos.

A chat with Carlos Eire about Cuba 1959

Carlos Eire, author & historian, joined me for a look at Cuba on this fateful day when Cuba changed.  Of course, it will be 66 in 2025 but the story is the same.

Carlos wrote an amazing article about Cuba today.  Read here!

Click to listen.

 

Listen to ""Cuba at 60" with Dr. Carlos Eire" on Spreaker.

Happy New Year: "In my life" by The Beatles..........

Happy New Year.............

In my life

"There are places I'll remember All my life, 

though some have changed

Some forever, not for better 

Some have gone and some remain

All this places have their moments 

With lovers and friends I still can recall

Some are dead and some are living In my life, 

I've loved them all

But of all these friends and lovers 

There is no one compares with you

And these memories lose their meaning 

When I think of love as something new

Though I know I'll never lose affection 

For people and things that went before

I know I'll often stop and think about them

In my life, I love you more

Though I know I'll never lose affection

For people and things that went before

I know I'll often stop and think about them

In my life, I love you more In my life-- I love you more...."

P.S.  Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos.