Months before its December 9, 1965 debut, The New York Times television reporter Val Adams called A Charlie Brown Christmas a “big gamble” that was “tampering with the imaginations of millions of comic strip fans on how Charlie Brown, Lucy and others should act and talk.”

It might have been a risk, but it was a wager that certainly paid off.

How and why does a nearly six-decade-old animated television program manage to connect with younger audiences — and still draw many of us older viewers back year after year?

One of the main reasons is that A Charlie Brown Christmas isn’t about Santa Claus and reindeer and the traditional sentimental trappings found in your typical holiday television fare.

It’s about the birth of Jesus Christ, perfectly and poignantly articulated by Linus in the climactic scene of the Peanuts’ gang’s stage performance.

In writing the special with producer Lee Mendelson and director Bill Melendez, Charlie Brown creator Charles Schulz insisted on including a passage from the gospel of Luke, which contains a detailed description of Jesus’ birth and the popular Christmas passage read every year in churches all over the world.

You probably know the spiritual emphasis on regular television made his collaborators nervous. “Bill said, ‘You can’t put the Bible on television,’” his widow Jean remembered. “And Sparky’s [Schulz’s nickname] answer was: ‘If we don’t, who will?’ Lee said that Sparky then got up and walked out of the room.”

Daniel Penny, a young Marine veteran, stood trial this month for the death of Jordan Neely, a mentally ill New York City homeless man who entered a Manhattan subway car on May 1, 2023. According to witnesses, Neely started acting wildly, screaming threats at other subway riders declaring “someone is going to die today.”

Penny’s lawyers stated in court that the Marine initially ignored Neely’s loud rants as he “began moving through the subway car, lunging at terrified passengers,” according to The New York Times. Penny only stood up and got involved when “Mr. Neely approached a woman who was protecting her son from behind a stroller and Mr. Penny … heard Mr. Neely say, ‘I will kill.’”

The subway passengers were clearly frightened as police reports described Neely’s “hostile and erratic manner.” Penny brought Neely to the floor of the packed subway train with one arm around his neck and his legs wrapped around Neely’s to subdue him. Two other men got involved to immobilize Neely’s violent arms.

Neely, who was high on synthetic marijuana, had a faint pulse when New York City police arrived, and they administered Narcan and CPR. Neely was transported to a hospital and pronounced dead after arrival.

A very sad outcome.

Penny was taken in for questioning by the NYPD and released without charge after a few hours.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard a historic case on December 4 about a Tennessee law protecting minors from experimental and damaging “transgender” medical interventions — drugs, hormones and surgery.

Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar and ACLU Staff Attorney Chase Strangio, a woman who identifies as a man, argued that the law, Senate Bill 1, should be struck down. Tennessee Solicitor General Matt Rice argued in favor of protecting children.

Here’s a brief synopsis of the case, followed by some reactions from conservatives about the oral arguments.

Tennessee’s measure prohibits medical procedures “enabling a minor to identify with, or live as, a purported identity inconsistent with the minor’s sex.” The interventions would still be available to a child with a real medical issue such as precocious puberty, when sexual development begins at a very young age.

The case gained national attention, as the outcome could affect 23 states that have shielded children from these destructive procedures, along with 17 lawsuits fighting these protections.

The day before the case was presented, people camped outside the Supreme Court to get seats. Groups supporting and opposing the law held separate rallies outside the court before oral arguments took place.

The ACLU and other LGBT activist groups filed a lawsuit against SB 1 on behalf of minors with sexual identity confusion and their parents.

New York police have charged 26-year-old Luigi Mangione with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, five days after a masked gunman shot him to death on a Manhattan street.

Police arrested Mangione in Pennsylvania on Monday.

The alleged killer was carrying a gun, a silencer, a fake ID matching the one person of interest used to check into a hostel before the murder and a handwritten manifesto mentioning UnitedHealthcare by name.

Mangione cut off contact with his friends and family in June, according to multiple sources, prompting his mother to file a missing person’s report in November.

The young man’s background explains neither his mysterious disappearance nor his alleged capacity to commit murder. By most metrics, Mangione had everything going for him.

Born to a wealthy family, Mangione graduated valedictorian of his 2016 high school class at the prestigious and expensive Gilman School. He subsequently graduated the University of Pennsylvania, according to The New York Times, with a bachelor’s and master’s degree in computer science.

Though social media posts indicate Mangione experienced debilitating back pain beginning in 2022, he underwent successful spinal surgery for the problem almost a year before he dropped off the map. On Reddit, Mangione claimed the procedure had alleviated his pain almost immediately.