As we move toward the end of the year—and look at January and 2026 in front us, it’s it is worth remembering that January is named after the Roman figure “Janus,” whose head looked forward and backward.

Looking backward, it was a year with some awful moments. We lost one of the youngest and brightest of our age in Charlie Kirk as well as one of the oldest and brightest of the age that educated all of us, Norman Podhoretz.  The conservative constellation weeps over 2025.  But as we look forward, we have much to celebrate and build on: Namely: Our 250th anniversary as a country which still very much is, as Lincoln said, “the last best hope of earth.”  And, second, a presidency that has sidelined transnational progressivism in favor of Western superiority.  Finally, the hope we all have for the uplift of our fellow citizens and the destruction of the enemies of civilization in a world torn between civilizational abuse and civilizational liberation.

From the Salem Media family to all of you: Happy New Year!