The War on Christmas Comes to Wow Wow Toaster, Wisconsin
Plus: Haley’s Weird Ignorance About Vaccines
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BILL LUEDERS: The War on Christmas Comes to Wow Wow Toaster, Wisconsin.
IN HIS FOX NEWS PROGRAM ON NOVEMBER 13, Jesse Watters mused about what he called a “holiday tradition”: The war on Christmas. He observed, with palpable glee, that “Now it feels like the war on Christmas is coming earlier and earlier every year. Probably climate change.” Ha, ha.
Watters proceeded to give all of two examples of what he called “opening shots” and “complete sneak attacks” in this year’s war. One was that “a guy [who] runs a healthcare company” in Georgia was “canceling Christmas Eve,” by no longer treating it as a company holiday.
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WILL SALETAN: Haley’s Weird Ignorance About Vaccines.
NIKKI HALEY IS RUNNING as the sane Republican alternative to Donald Trump. I doubt she’ll beat him, but I hope she does, because that would spare our country the risk of a second Trump presidency. I’ll still vote for Joe Biden, but by every measure—preserving democracy, discouraging bigotry, protecting our allies—Haley would be a far less dangerous president than Trump would.
So it’s odd and cringey to see her criticize Trump for the best thing his administration did.
In 2020, Trump sabotaged almost every aspect of the government’s response to COVID-19. He downplayed the threat, opposed testing, ridiculed masks, delayed government action, and silenced officials who tried to alert the public. But his administration got one thing right: Operation Warp Speed, the project to devise, test, and manufacture vaccines.
BRIAN STEWART: Kissinger’s Fundamental Mistake.
HENRY KISSINGER, WHO DIED LAST MONTH at the age of 100, was described as clear-eyed by his admirers and as cold-blooded by his detractors (and his admirers sometimes agreed with that, too). His realpolitik model of diplomacy had long been impugned as indifferent to the suffering of the world’s most helpless people. Biographers have debated—and will continue to debate—how his dour outlook may have emanated from his youth as a Jewish refugee from Hitler’s Germany. With the Nazi episode—to whom he lost many members of his family— before his eyes, Kissinger understood, along with his fellow émigré Hans Morgenthau, both the necessity and the limitations of power.
🚨OVERTIME🚨
Happy Tuesday! We’re getting in the holiday mood here in the Swift household. We don’t go over the top, but appreciate those who do. And I’ve perfected my ad-hoc hot cocoa recipe for demanding young ladies. (Spoiler alert: It’s Sillycow Farms.) Some families take lights a little too seriously.
It’s over. But the other candidates can’t admit it… Rick Wilson in The Economist on the “zombie debates.”
An explosion in Arlington… Normally you have to live near where I do to hear the booms, which are expected at the crossroads of the USMC. But last night in suburban Ballston, part of Arlington County, a man decided to blow up his duplex rather than be served a warrant. Thankfully, it doesn’t appear there were any fatalities other than the troubled man, James Yoo.
The Granite State Debate… Is going to happen with or without the RNC, the state party says.
Enough with all the fatalism… about a Trump dictatorship, argues Greg Sargent at the Post.
No show Rudy… Having already blown his defamation case, the former Trump advisor didn’t show up to see the women he cruelly defamed.
Slow walking the failure of Uvalde… Politicians in Texas might not want the public to learn the truth, but ProPublica does. Here’s what they’ve uncovered so far.
“National Nancy” loses leadership staff… And in something of a metaphor, one of them left with the popcorn machine.
Rule of law party? Just hours after saying the GOP was pursuing an impeachment inquiry because they’re they law and order party (lol), Speaker Johnson told reporters they were blurring J6 footage to protect lawbreakers (read: their base) from DOJ prosecution.
Loyalists, lapdogs, and cronies… In a second Trump administration, there will be no “adults in the room”, McKay Coppins argues in The Atlantic.
The details just keep getting worse… For accused FL GOP chair Christian Ziegler.
Tommy Tuberville releases his holds… Senate confirms 425 nominees.
Meanwhile, in the “Free State of Florida™”… A new budget item to litigate not getting into the college football playoff. A cool million!
Sheffield, Illinois saves its lone grocer… A neat story about a small town north of Peoria near the Iowa border.
What the Sports Illustrated AI debacle is telling us… Must read Will Leitch at CNN.
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