Saturday, January 10, 2026

Holiday Post 2025: What the heck happened?

Welcome to the fourth and last post in the 2025 holiday posts series. For me, being Puerto Rican, I am still in the holidays spirit well into January. In fact, as I am typing this,  Tuesday was Dia de Reyes (Three Kings Day) in Puerto Rico and much of the Hispanic world. In Puerto Rico we keep going with  "las octavitas." So still plenty of holiday cheer to go around. The weather has been between seriously cold and unseasonably warm this winter season so far. I do appreciate the warm days as it makes it easier for me to do my morning runs, but I am also aware it may be a sign of climate change getting worse. Best I can do is take it a day at a time. 

In this post, I take a look at what happened in 2025. Boy, I thought 2024 was a pain in the ass, but damn, 2025 is a year I am definitely glad is gone.  2025 was a year I made sure to stay up to midnight not to celebrate but to make sure it got the fuck out of here. Not that 2026 is looking any better given that I woke up on Sunday, January 4th, 2026, logged into social media only to see people ranting about the Pendejo In Chief invading Venezuela (story via CBC) and kidnapping President Maduro. This will most likely make it to the top events list when I write the "what the heck happened?" post for 2026 next year. To be honest, as I am looking over the articles I am compiling for this year's summary, and I look back at the 2024 post, heck, 2024 is starting to look like a picnic compared to the hellscape of 2025, and sadly, it is not going to get better anytime soon.  

 

Top news events of the year

  •  Once again, the year that was is on track to be among the hottest on record. Al Jazeera reported 2025 was on track to tie for the second hottest year on record. 
  • Truthout also covers the story of the 2025 top rank as one of the hottest years.  
  • Time Magazine named the "architects," also known as the rich tech bros who threw money in, of artificial intelligence, better known as AI Slop, as their "person of the year."  Story via BBC, but it has been covered in a few places. 2025 certainly feels as the year when those assholes really put in the effort to shove AI Slop into anything and everything. Sadly a lot of people, including some who should know better, keep falling for their scam machines.
  • For Counterpunch, 2025 was the year the U.S. stopped giving a fuck about democracy. From what I have read and learned, I think the U.S. never gave a fuck about it, or gave it lip service at most, but last year the American Empire did go into full overdrive.  

 

What the heck happened? 

(Big news overviews) 

 


 

For 2025, I did not find much in terms of the usual big news summaries, like CNN for instance, or I did not find them as interesting, pretty much the same. What I did find was a variety of smaller and niche summaries of the year looking at a variety of topics, so here is a selection of what I found to help us recall what was going on, especially besides the usual. 

  • In technology, 
    • As if AI Slop was not bad enough, there are also hackers and cyberattacks. The Street looks some of the cyberattacks of 2025. It is the sort of stuff that makes you wish you could just go off the grid. 
    • The Verge offers their tech year in review, and of course, AI Slop figures prominently. This is a podcast episode you can listen to.
    • Truthdig notes that 2025 was the year that tech bent the knee to Trump. I think they did more than just bend the knee. If you have not figured it out by now, the article explains how Big Tech was never liberal; they just kept a good mask on until now where we all can see them for the predatory assholes they really are.
    • Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) presents The Breachies, the worst data breaches of the year.  
    • EFF also has their 2025 in review feature. 
  • In climate and environmental news, Grist notes that 2025 was the year the U.S. said fuck it on any efforts to address climate change while the rest of the world steps up as they see they need to do without the United States. 
  • Despite all the awful stuff of 2025, the United Nations points out we did have some good health advances in 2025.  
  • Type Investigations highlights their 5 must-read stories of the year.
  • Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) has their most read posts of the year. Their summary: "The rise of authoritarianism was the big story of 2025, and the censorship that goes along with it. The resistance to the dismantling of democracy continues to be underreported. The power of tech bros looms. And Israel/Palestine continues to be the greatest international concern." 
  • Pro Publica offers their most read stories of the year and their 25 investigations you may have missed. Some good stuff here.  
  • Dissent Magazine also lists their most read stories. 
  • Mother Jones offers their list of heroes and monsters of 2025, and boy did we have quite a few monsters this year.
  • Speaking of monsters, Counterpunch looks at the year that was 2025 in ICE abductions and abuses. Please note the story came out before ICE killed that woman up in Minnesota at the start of 2026.
    • Despite that, Counterpunch somehow managed to find 10 good things that happened in 2025. 
  • FactCheck.org looks at the "Whoppers of 2025." No, these are not burgers. These are the big lies of the year, in other words, a sampling of politicians talking.   
  • Open Secrets has a wrap up for 2025, and if you are interesting in topics like following the money this may be for you.  
  • The Daily Yonder has their rural year in review.  
  • Washington Blade has their top 10 LGBTQ+ national news stories.  
  • In libraries and library science, LIS News has their 10 stories that shaped 2025. Yes, AI Slop made this list too. 
  • In higher education. 
  • In science.
  •  Finally, here is what I often consider the best end of year wrap up, and that is the Rude Pundit's annual haiku end of year event. He has people submit a haiku over a few days, and he publishes them on his blog. The haikus are great brief summaries of what happened in the year and how people respond. I always enjoy reading these. 

 

 

A bit from around the world  

 

  • From Latin America: 
    • Task Force on the Americas has their 2025 in review. 
    • From Puerto Rico, Centro de Periodismo Investigativo has their list, in English, of their most read investigations for 2025.  A lot of local corruption along with abuses from the gringo colonial overlords went on.
    • From Puerto Rico, La Perla del Sur reports that 2025 ended on the island with 426 homicides based on police reports.  
  • Across the pond in the United Kingdom, Freedom News (UK) reports that "2025: A gilded year for the right, hubris fulfilled on the left."  
  • Washington Blade lists their top 10 LGBTQ+ international stories.  
  • The Walrus (Canada) has their 2025 year in review from around the world.  They also report on the year in business, or as they say, a year without money (well, for the rest of us), and they managed to find some things to bring us joy. 

 

 

Film, music, and television

 


 

While I do enjoy media, I am not obsessive about keeping up with the newest and latest. I will add that these days a lot of media comes out of the paid streamers, and since I do not subscribe to any of those, I just go on blissfully with my life. Usually I know enough of what is in film, music, and television to be aware. Like yes, I am aware such a show exists, but that may be about it. So looking over these lists helps me see in a quick glance what has been coming out and making waves for some people over the year. If any of you is a fan of anything that came out or was chosen this year, let me know. Maybe I will check it out. 

  • Movies and film. 
    • Here is Rolling Stone's list of best 25 movies. From the list, the new at this time Frankenstein and Weapons are the only ones I've heard about. I'd heard of Eddington only because I've seen it featured on some YouTube folks' worst films of the year list. 
    • Rolling Stone also ranked their best horror films. Naturally, Frankenstein and Weapons made this list too. Sinners is the one I keep hearing about; I am a bit skeptical as I am not a fan of the "one actor playing twins" gimmick, but a vampire film does make me curious enough to seek it out down the road. 
    • Out Magazine offers a list of 11 top LGBTQ+ films of the year.  Only film I heard about from the list was the Wicked sequel, and probably because it is mainstream enough many, including me, would not have thought of it as an LGBTQ+ film. I also learned there is another remake of Kiss of the Spider Woman. 
    • The Detroit Metro Times just lumped their lists of best films and television together, so here ya go.
    • And we need to have at least one worst movies list, and UPI delivers it. Aside from the Minecraft Movie, which has gotten panned in other places, the rest of the list items I had not heard about until now.
  •  Television.
    • Here is Rolling Stone's best television list.  Most of the stuff is from streamers because to be honest legacy television ain't putting out much worth a damn. From the list I've heard of Andor, mainly because Star Wars in social media often won't shut up about it. The other show on this list I've heard about is The Pitt, again, because folks on social media keep yapping about it. At times this is a reason I don't feel much of a need to seek out articles on a movie or show. Social media folks, if it is a big deal to them, will keep talking it up. If it sounds good, I look it up and add it to my list of things to watch. If it does not interest me, I had the title to the filter list on social media to not see it again. 
    • Variety also has their best TV shows list.  There is a bit of overlap with the previous list, but not much. 
    • Out Magazine has their list of best LGBTQ+ shows for the year.  
    • If reality TV is your thing, Reality Blurred has their list of the best reality TV for the year. They provide a small overview of the year, and the author notes the list is from shows they actually watched. To be honest, aside from a cooking show here or there, reality TV is just not my thing, and most of these again are on streamers. But feel free to comment and make a case why I should watch one of these shows or not. 
  • Music.

 

 

Books and reading 

I already did a holiday post on books and reading, so this covers some lists I found interesting that I may have missed and/or came after that post, plus some trivia about books and reading. On a side note, let me mention that I will be writing and posting my end of year reading list and report later this month on this blog, so stay tuned to see what I read in 2025.

  •  Literary Hub presents the 29 best (old) books they read in the year. Everyone always does the best books they read in the year, and they are usually books published in that same year. This is a nice idea for a change. There are a few really old books here and some interesting choices. 
  • Inquest has their year in books. From this list, I have read This Book is Free and Yours to Keep (link to review). 
  • Gizmodo had 20 authors pick out their favorite books of the year in science fiction, fantasy, and horror. 
  • The Comics Beat has their list of best comics of the year.  
  •  Not every book is great or good, and Steve Donoghue lists his worst fiction of 2025. Do you agree? Have you read any of these? Feel free to comment. 
  • Literary Hub also has a list of the most scathing reviews of 2025. 
  • Claridad (Puerto Rico, Spanish language) looks at the vices and virtues of end of year book lists. They also list some books in Puerto Rican history and culture. 

 

 

Adult and risque 


 

 

If this is not your thing or interest, you can just scroll down to the final category.  I do enjoy some adult entertainment, and I find the trivia around it interesting, so here are some stories from the adult entertainment and porn world. 

  •  Pornhub released their annual trends report, which among other things reveals details like top online searches on various topics. Unfortunate for me, Kentucky is one of those retrograde states pushing for privacy violating age verification, which I am not doing, but if you live in a better state you can see the report. Highlights from the report can be found at Pride.com, at AVN, and XBiz. 
  • For gay folks, someone sorted out their top 5 gay sex positions.  Via Pride.com.
  • Clips4Sale gets a bit into the "word of the year" with their fetish of the year, which was gooning. You can read more about it and see their list of other growing fetishes for the year on their blog.  Hat tip to AVN. 
  • In awards, via AVN.
    • The 2025 Adult Empire Awards announced  “which honor the best and most popular stars and movies on the award-winning platform within a given year."
    • The 2025 Femdom Awards announced.

  

 

Miscellaneous

 These are stories that did not fit any of the categories above and/or just random trivia.

 

Predictions for 2026

 

A fluffy cat with a cloth on head, necklace, and crystal ball. Text: Let me check my crystal ball.

 

 

Predictions was a new category I added to this in 2023. People love to make all kinds of predictions about new year, and I found quite a few. This year I am breaking this down into trends, you know the pundits, experts, and gurus who tell us what to expect, and into esoterica where we look at things like astrology, Tarot, and other esoteric ways to predict what will happen. 

Trends:

  • Metro (UK) has a list of predictions (slide show) based on Old Moore's Almanac. Extreme weather will continue in 2026 is one of their predictions. That seems straightforward enough. 
  • Quartz predicts prices will keep rising as they look at what is likely to cost more in 2026.  To be honest, this one is not predicting much that we do not know already like rising grocery and utilities pricing. 
  • Fitch Ratings expects higher education to keep deteriorating. Story via Higher Ed Dive. This is another prediction that seems more like it's already happening.
  • Al Jazeera looks at "all the big elections to look out for in 2026" including the 2026 midterm elections in the United States, where we will see if gringos finally get their fucking act together or if they keep going down the abyss.
  • Not quite a trend, but maybe we can make it a trend and care for our mental health in 2026. The San Juan Daily Star has a list of  "9 ways to take care of your mental health in 2026."   

Predictions and looking at the future: 

 

 

 


 


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