Shorts:

• Bella DePaulo, I study liars. I’ve never seen one like President Trump. He tells far more lies, and far more cruel ones, than ordinary people do. GOP spin, I suppose: “Scholar confirms our President is extraordinary.”
• Brandon McGinley, Saying ‘Merry Christmas’ isn’t an affront. But Trump is trying to make it one. Cruelty and vulgar divisiveness is Trump’s default mode, leaving Democrats speechless because they used up all their outrage-words on supposed “dog whistles” over the past decades. (Like I’ve said: What do you call Hustler after calling Playboy “hard-core pornography”?)
• Is it just me, or does the “God Bless the Whole World. No Exceptions” bumper sticker come off as the Progressive version of weaponizing “Merry Christmas”?
• “When I find I’m wrong, I change my mind. What do you do?” Attributed to John Maynard Keynes; quoted by Mitch Daniels, Is Anyone Ever Wrong Any More? As a result of Daniels’ column, I’ve added To America to my book wish list.

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Some succinct standing advice on recurring themes.