The specifically Christian idea of the Virgin Birth is one of the most controversial and confusing theological concepts around, and a Yuletide blog which didn’t take on the topic wouldn’t be doing its job.

The traditional Via Meadia Yule Blog continues today, Boxing Day, with the second of the Thirteen Posts of Christmas. From Christmas Eve through to Twelfth Night, we explore the Christmas story and the ideas behind the celebration.

Merry Christmas and happy holiday to all!

It’s Christmas Eve today and time for the oldest tradition at Via Meadia: our annual Yule Blog when we update and present our thirteen posts of Christmas running from the preparatory Advent blog on Christmas Eve through Twelfth Night. During this holiday season in 2014-2015 we will blog on a light holiday schedule through New Year’s Day and on January 2 we will be back at full force.

The MSM is completely blind to how flimsy Bill de Blasio’s mandate was upon election last year. His troubles with the NYPD are probably just the beginning of a turbulent term in office.

The West has consistently been baffled by Putin’s reluctance to change policy. That’s because it doesn’t understand that in Putin’s own mind, he has been a successful leader fighting the currents of history.

But counting out ISIS would be a mistake. Let’s not forget, the upstart terror network has repeatedly surprised experts by overcoming problems they thought insurmountable.

Never have liberal ideas been so firmly entrenched within America’s core elite institutions. Never have those institutions been so weak and uninfluential.

The Obama administration may represent “Peak Left” in American politics. As a result, what we are getting from the left these days is a mix of bewilderment and anger as it realizes that this is as good as it gets.

After an EU court removed Hamas from its list of designated terrorist organizations and the EU parliament voted to recognize Palestine, Israel PM Netanyahu accuses Europe of forgetting the Holocaust.