From James Capener:
Let’s spend a bit of the season with internet companions:
- In Happiness Between Tails da-AL lists some of what she has learned this year about things like reading preferences, super powers, and Vicuñas.
Shamelessly stolen from Happiness Between Tails:
Vicuñas are related to llamas. Key invitation:
What did you learn this year? - Author John Scalzi notices a change in a longstanding Christmas preference:
While we are on the general topic of gifts I would like to know what age you were when socks went from "worst gift ever" to "actually this is a really useful and thoughtful gift"
Early 40s for me, and would have been earlier if I had bought into all the anti-socks-as-a-gift propaganda
— John Scalzi (@scalzi.com) December 18, 2024 at 8:29 AM
- M. Bouffant at Web of Evil looks for the meaning of Christmas and time-travels once more to the 1950s and the lessons we were taught in the Gospel according to Superboy.
- North Carolina pastor John Pavlovitz says that, too often and for too many, Christmas cheer is a horrible pretense, particularly this year.
He has a suggestion.
Key mission:
Unearth the beautiful things trapped beneath the rubble of bad news and altered stories and future fears, even if it takes more energy than you think you have.
The beautiful things are worth it. - Clickbait satirist Reductress has helpful gift advice on presents for someone you want to get back at.
- Is there a War on Christmas? Scotties Playtime suggests that the “magic of Christmas” has lost it’s magic.
Key declaration:
Frankly, I think the real war on Christmas is how we have forgotten Christmas.
- Courtesy of Frances Langum, Sean Hannity attacks Tim Walz’s Christmas tree:
- Juanita Jean has a thought about the near future for Trump voters.
- CalicoJack in The Psy of Life sees multiple catastrophes merging with the election of Donald Trump. He urges the only rational response: panic before it’s too late.
- Nan’s Notebook has a list of CEOs known for opposition to Trump who are now sucking up.
She suggests it has to do with greed.
Possible.I think it also has to do with fear.
Probable.Not all fear is financial.
From The Godfather Part II:
I don’t feel I have to wipe everybody out Tom.
Just my enemies, that’s all. - Infidel753 puts his typically skillful analytical ability to work examining the shear massive size of our national institutions, the total Trump preference of loyalty over competence, and the paper thin Republican control of Congress.
His conclusion: Much harm may come to many over the next four years, but Trump’s time will be survivable.
Key danger:
The one major thing he hasn’t backed down on, and which (given his character) he likely is really determined to do, is going after “enemies”.Key insulation
In America, even Trump’s America, the president can’t just lock people up because he doesn’t like them.Key Illustration (Shown separately by Infidel753):
- In News Corpse, Republican James Comer takes a break from his failed efforts to pin some criminality on Joe Biden to explain why tax records don’t count against Trump.
Key stretch, quoting Comer:
… I come from a banking background. Tax records don’t mean anything. If you want to know whether someone’s doing something corrupt or not, get their bank records because bank records don’t lie.Key exception, quoting Comer:
But if it ever comes out that they’ve got secret deals or whatever, then that that could potentially be a problem, obviously.News Corpse is willing to help out with investigative reports revealing Trump banking records and once-secret deals.
- Julian Sanchez on why it doesn’t matter to MAGAFolk what promises Trump breaks:
In a sense, this is the real culture war and the rest is window dressing. The GOP has rebranded itself as the Trash Party. Their fundamental promise isn’t really anything about policy. It’s that you have permission to be vulgar and stupid and hateful and not feel bad about it anymore.
— Julian Sanchez (@normative.bsky.social) December 17, 2024 at 7:54 PM
- Ted McLaughlin at jobsanger has the polling numbers and a list of factors that the public says should disqualify Cabinet nominees. The vote on each is by a lopsided margin.
All of the items happen to be ignored by President‑elect Trump.
- @whiskeywhistle98 watches a game show in which the contestant is not (Take my word for it) a nominee for official office.
- Juliet at Decoding Fox News looks into Pete Hegseth, Trump’s choice to head DOD, and concludes the nominee is the worst of a very bad group of cabinet selections.
She goes into even more detail in a separate entertaining podcast.
- At The Onion, Pete Hegseth now says women should be allowed in combat roles, but sees it as a huge turnoff.
- Brian Beutler suggests that one developing Democratic strategy, seeking areas of cooperation with Trump, is a loser. His example is lack of very public opposition to RFK, Jr. as head of Health and Human Services.
- PZ Myers gets impatient with a Fox Network personality’s breathless, empty-headed enthusiasm for RFK, Jr.
Key summary:
Yay! RFK will end autism and cure cancer by “cleaning up” our food. He’ll remove “chemicals” from our food! - Imani Gandy has this on a Supreme Court Justice:
Sometimes I think about how Sam Alito was knighted and I want to walk into the sea. abovethelaw.com/2024/10/sam-…
— Imani Gandy (@angryblacklady.bsky.social) December 13, 2024 at 7:28 AM
- Tommy Christopher brings us a MAGA state official, Senator Doug Mastriano of Pennsylvania, with dramatic physical proof that President Biden has been lying about mysterious lights over New Jersey. The proof is a captured giant drone (WOW!!) – – except alien craft turns out to be a replica of a Star Wars prop. (Oops…)
To be fair, the poor fellow does try to recover. It seems media news organizations have just been too obtuse to understand his wonderful sense of humor. It was all a joke to illustrate …something.
Senator Doug helpfully points out that he is quite hilarious.
- Ant Farmer’s Almanac goes dictionarying (Is too a word! Look it up in the …uh… book!) with a new definition to a new word on media overreaction to public overreaction to …you know… drones and stuff.
- Courtesy of Right Wing Watch, extreme right activist Cameron Macgregor says Christian nationalism and white nationalism are merging, and boy-howdy, he is glad.
- Disaffected and it Feels So Good sees the Musk push to shut down the government as a well worn financial acquisition tactic: lower the value of an institution to make it cheaper to purchase.
- Vixen Strangely patiently (I think) explains that a Russian General recently killed in Moscow, presumably by undercover Ukrainian agents, was a legitimate military target and a genuine bad guy.
Among the accomplishments of General Igor Kirillov was the creation of an obvious fiction that provided Putin with a flimsy pretext for invading Ukraine: that Ukraine was running laboratories making bio‑weapons to threaten Russia. The story was all a fake.
Now the lie is being repeated by de facto incoming President Elon Musk, probable nominee for Director of Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and others.
- In Letters from an American, historian Heather Cox Richardson recalls the urgent bi‑partisan concern that produced clean water laws and the EPA back in cleaner days. That concern, and the facts behind it, are now under renewed attack.
The same analysis is now available in audio format, as Richardson narrates in podcast. - Libertarian Michael A. LaFerrara transcends ideology as he points out what should be obvious: the shooting death of a health insurance CEO ought to be condemned unequivocally, with no additional “but…” addenda.
- The government seems to be after TikTok and Dave Columbo is on top of it:
- At The Moderate Voice Joe Gandleman tracks the corporate decision of ABC News to pay a settlement of $15 million to Trump in a defamation case ABC was destined to win, a new form of extortion and bribery.
Social media criticism is massive.
- Wisconsin conservative James Wigderson seems to imply something akin to coerced bribery:
Maybe he'll sue ABC News again for reporting the poll so they'll give more money to his "library."
— James Wigderson (@jwigderson.bsky.social) December 16, 2024 at 10:34 PM
- tengrain at Mock Paper Scissors explains one slight byproduct of the ABC surrender to Trump threats (You better NOT win) as George Stephanopoulos leaves Twitter (Is too its name!)
- From The Borowitz Report:
ABC News has apologized for what a spokesman calls an unfortunate incident of freedom of the press, following which the news organization adopts a zero tolerance policy for news.
- In three sentences, driftglass comments on the one iron-clad rule media follows as they comment on election policy results.
- Our favorite Earth-Bound Misfit waits, after each school shooting, for some opponent of church‑state separation to call for prayer in schools, and develops a perfect rebuttal.
- The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser brings us wisdom from the governor of Louisiana, who (sure enough) justifies a to‑be‑required posting of the Ten Commandments in classrooms.
Key reasoning from Governor Jeff Landry:
The Ten Commandments are the fabric of civilization, and you’re telling me we can’t hang them in school?Former pastor, current atheist Bruce isn’t having it.
- SilverAppleQueen is having a rough time, caring for her terminally ill mother during what may be her mom’s final days. A word of support, perhaps?
- Vincent at A Wayfarer’s Notes uses a cell but prefers past telephones, as well as other old technology.
Key preference:
Key authority:
We have it completely wrong. Our much-vaunted technology angers the gods. - The perpetually wonderful Sarah Cooper goes all explosive Kevin Hart encountering middle age:
- In Georgia, Savanna Bananas‘ Jackson Olson brings romance (of sorts) to baseball
- CarrieCB finds child care especially fascinating:
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