Dog ... and Gift Not Included had me laughing out loud; I closed my eyes my eyes before poking my finger at the screen because I couldn't decide which got my vote. O'Hare was a near miss, mainly because the guy wasn't lying down to orient his zigzags to match the direction of the terminal 1 TUNNEL's. (Terminal vs. Terminal's tunnel: The day a flight terminates down there will be yet another day when I'm happy that I fly in and out of Midway.)
Enjoy whichever holiday you celebrate in December. May you and your family have a peaceful and joyous 2025, whatever that brings you, your family, your community, and this country.
ABC's action seems like a textbook example of what historian Tim Snyder calls obeying in advance. Individuals and institutions facilitate authoritarian rule by doing that they know the leader wants rather than putting up a fight.
It's terrifying to see major outlets bowing to authoritarianism this easily. It's a ready-made state-run media, necessary to any despot already presenting itself to Trump with minimal effort on his part.
I blame it on the conglomerate ownership of ABC News (Disney here). Because there are so many other of the conglomerate's investments potentially affected by the new administration, they've convinced themselves that they owe it to their shareholders not to make themselves a target of Trump's retribution. This clearly mitigates in favor of major newspapers and news organizations to be (to the extent they can be) "stand alone" businesses owned by independently wealthy people who don't give a ratzass about Trump's threats - real or implied.
Except Bezos owns the WaPo & is totally cowed by the fat orange traitor. He can't even get a new editor for the WaPo, as no one wants to deal with him!
Except that Bezos's ownership of Amazon and Blue Origin makes him particularly susceptible to sucking up to Trump due to current and potential contracts for cloud storage and NASA. Newspaper/ media owners need to be truly independent.
Republicans will never do anything about illegal immigration. The E-verify proposal and mass deportations will go the way of the wall and the bipartisan deal scuttled by Trump earlier this year.
They need the talking point to rouse up xenophobic supporters but they also understand the impact on businesses, economy, and inflation should a significant portion of cheap labor be eliminated. So just like those "caravans of migrants", this issue will be whipped up to a froth close to elections, but somehow dissipate soon after and the status quo will continue.
I think they will do some things in the name of “fixing” the problem that really just align with their other priorities, such as trying to scrap minimum wage laws (so that legal immigrants can enjoy the privilege of earning a pittance doing back-breaking work).
Shane Black, the writer of Lethal Weapon, sets many of his movies at Christmas time. Below is a bit from Wikipedia where he explains why and where the influence came from (hope this is not too obnoxiously long for a quote):
"Black explains that Christmas, which has been used as a backdrop in Lethal Weapon, Last Action Hero, The Long Kiss Goodnight, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Iron Man 3 and The Nice Guys (and in his original script for The Last Boy Scout, although references to the date have been almost entirely eliminated from the film), is a touchstone for him, explaining:[27][32][33]
Christmas represents a little stutter in the march of days, a hush in which we have a chance to assess and retrospect our lives. I tend to think also that it just informs as a backdrop. The first time I noticed it was Three Days of the Condor, the Sydney Pollack film, where Christmas in the background adds this really odd, chilling counterpoint to the espionage plot. I also think that Christmas is just a thing of beauty, especially as it applies to places like Los Angeles, where it's not so obvious, and you have to dig for it, like little nuggets. One night, on Christmas Eve, I walked past a Mexican lunch wagon serving tacos, and I saw this little string, and on it was a little broken plastic figurine, with a light bulb inside it, of the Virgin Mary. And I thought, that's just a little hidden piece of magic. You know, all around the city are little slices, little icons of Christmas, that are as effective and beautiful in and of themselves as any 40-foot Christmas tree on the lawn of the White House. So that, in a lot of words, is the answer."
Hi John, first and more important happy holidays. Regarding ABC and George Stephanopoulos (GS)….”True” as you stated is not evidence in the court of law. There is no “basic inoculation”. Also words related to this case and all cases brought to a U.S. court do have legal defined meaning which are not interchangeable or fluid. Having been one of Presidents Bill Clinton’s closest advisor GS is well versed in the identification, use and effects of words. As a reporter speaking on a public platform we rightly expect GS and all reporters to be fact based. Fact as to what the liable conviction was. Not interchange words for those preferred. George Stephanopoulos appeared to be editorializing his viewpoint. By choice of words and not reporting the final liable conviction. Given his noted skills, schooled and practical intelligence it would be challenging at best to believe he did not realize the difference, for nine plus times, in his choice of words during the interview. This is not a discussion of what Trump is or has been accused found liable for ( remember this is a civil case not a criminal one) This was not “bowing by ABC. It was taking responsibility for a serious error and in doing so has mitigated further journalistic damage. Trump at this point seems to be much more accessible to the press. The press and the president have an opportunity to begin with an open door discussion policy.
Eric, we loved the Songs of Good Cheer! As always, a highlight of the season. Do you and Mary and the crew consider audience requests? My favorite song is "The Holly and the Ivy." Such a haunting tune.
In high school, my daughter, a high soprano, sang in her school's Christmas/Holiday Madrigal group, and I can attest that "The Holly and the Ivy" is a spectacular number when performed by those who have the voices and who have practiced at it!
About "who gets to say our mayor and governor suck"; the most important bit is where you said whoever it is must say why they suck. I am tired of so many people making accusations and throwing shade without ever saying what is so terrible about the people they are trashing.
I was thinking about the backlash Disney received from Florida's DeSantis because they disapproved of the "Don't Say Gay" bill. Perhaps they wanted to avoid a similarly aggressive response from Trump? Although my first thought was another billionaire-owned news media source kissing the ring.
Understand,….yet what frontline news media source is not owned by a billionaire? Reporting the news take money. Kissing the ring is all ready getting overused. Can you see the potential instead of kissing the ring…world leaders, media and others wish to work with the incoming president so all can best benefit?
Great selection of visual jokes today. I wanted to vote for them all!
Buying gas outside of the city. I do not see this as anything other than buying gas when you need it and where you are. It is not tax avoidance or anything else nefarious. There are out of towners who buy gas in the city because they are in the city and need gas. They are not gifting the city anything when they do.
As for lying to the self check out, that is clearly tax avoidance, rationalization and not protest. It is cheating. A better solution is to write your local leaders, call their offices and generally vote.
I have really enjoyed your writing all year. Looking forward to 2025 with you all.
afraid i have to disagree on your characterization of buying gas out of town/out of state. for many years we have traveled to michigan - first from evanston, then from chicago. we consciously made & make gas purchases in MI or IN - depending on where we could find the cheapest gas - before returning to IL, because gas in both of these states was/is cheaper than in the Chgo metro area.
but it certainly isn't tax evasion, or stealing, which is how i would characterize not paying for flimsy plastic bags in a grocery. buying gas out of city/state is tax avoidance - perfectly legal in a free market system, not unethical, nothing wrong with that. the state, county and cities are punishing their gas retailers with taxes too high.
This year I saw and bought the advent calendar of Nakatomi Plaza. It is sitting next to all the other Christmas decorations. Yes, Die Hard is a Christmas movie. We can't be friends if you disagree.
I chuckled at the statement that the absurd thing about Die Hard is the date of the Christmas party. The whole thing is absurd, and I enjoy the s@#t out of it. As Honest Trailers said about Pacific Rim (another fave), it's the dumbest great movie, or the greatest dumb movie ever.
I only went to one "Songs of Good Cheer" probably the first or second. I made the decision to never go again because audience members are "encouraged to sing along" in the same way non-Christians can NOT participate in group prayers at certain events.
Note; 38 of 50 states have official bans against me singing in public.
in the 90s I knew a lot of people who moved into the green zone of the city but still registered their cars in LaGrange, Downer's Grove, et al to avoid city stickers AND higher insurance rates.
VQotWs - Dog clearly resents girlfriend and Package out for delivery both KILLED IT for me!😅😂
Dog ... and Gift Not Included had me laughing out loud; I closed my eyes my eyes before poking my finger at the screen because I couldn't decide which got my vote. O'Hare was a near miss, mainly because the guy wasn't lying down to orient his zigzags to match the direction of the terminal 1 TUNNEL's. (Terminal vs. Terminal's tunnel: The day a flight terminates down there will be yet another day when I'm happy that I fly in and out of Midway.)
LOVED the dog one.
Enjoy whichever holiday you celebrate in December. May you and your family have a peaceful and joyous 2025, whatever that brings you, your family, your community, and this country.
I celebrate Festivus [for the rest of us]!
GSC: When is the "Airing of Grievances"?
December 23, right after the Festivus dinner!
Sliced reddish meatloaf-shaped food on a bed of lettuce.
ABC's action seems like a textbook example of what historian Tim Snyder calls obeying in advance. Individuals and institutions facilitate authoritarian rule by doing that they know the leader wants rather than putting up a fight.
It's terrifying to see major outlets bowing to authoritarianism this easily. It's a ready-made state-run media, necessary to any despot already presenting itself to Trump with minimal effort on his part.
let's not forget some major news outlets made the "decision" not to endorse a presidential candidate. that wasn't a simple innocuous decision.
I blame it on the conglomerate ownership of ABC News (Disney here). Because there are so many other of the conglomerate's investments potentially affected by the new administration, they've convinced themselves that they owe it to their shareholders not to make themselves a target of Trump's retribution. This clearly mitigates in favor of major newspapers and news organizations to be (to the extent they can be) "stand alone" businesses owned by independently wealthy people who don't give a ratzass about Trump's threats - real or implied.
Except Bezos owns the WaPo & is totally cowed by the fat orange traitor. He can't even get a new editor for the WaPo, as no one wants to deal with him!
Except that Bezos's ownership of Amazon and Blue Origin makes him particularly susceptible to sucking up to Trump due to current and potential contracts for cloud storage and NASA. Newspaper/ media owners need to be truly independent.
Republicans will never do anything about illegal immigration. The E-verify proposal and mass deportations will go the way of the wall and the bipartisan deal scuttled by Trump earlier this year.
They need the talking point to rouse up xenophobic supporters but they also understand the impact on businesses, economy, and inflation should a significant portion of cheap labor be eliminated. So just like those "caravans of migrants", this issue will be whipped up to a froth close to elections, but somehow dissipate soon after and the status quo will continue.
I think they will do some things in the name of “fixing” the problem that really just align with their other priorities, such as trying to scrap minimum wage laws (so that legal immigrants can enjoy the privilege of earning a pittance doing back-breaking work).
By the Die Hard standard, Lethal Weapon is also a Christmas movie…
Shane Black, the writer of Lethal Weapon, sets many of his movies at Christmas time. Below is a bit from Wikipedia where he explains why and where the influence came from (hope this is not too obnoxiously long for a quote):
"Black explains that Christmas, which has been used as a backdrop in Lethal Weapon, Last Action Hero, The Long Kiss Goodnight, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Iron Man 3 and The Nice Guys (and in his original script for The Last Boy Scout, although references to the date have been almost entirely eliminated from the film), is a touchstone for him, explaining:[27][32][33]
Christmas represents a little stutter in the march of days, a hush in which we have a chance to assess and retrospect our lives. I tend to think also that it just informs as a backdrop. The first time I noticed it was Three Days of the Condor, the Sydney Pollack film, where Christmas in the background adds this really odd, chilling counterpoint to the espionage plot. I also think that Christmas is just a thing of beauty, especially as it applies to places like Los Angeles, where it's not so obvious, and you have to dig for it, like little nuggets. One night, on Christmas Eve, I walked past a Mexican lunch wagon serving tacos, and I saw this little string, and on it was a little broken plastic figurine, with a light bulb inside it, of the Virgin Mary. And I thought, that's just a little hidden piece of magic. You know, all around the city are little slices, little icons of Christmas, that are as effective and beautiful in and of themselves as any 40-foot Christmas tree on the lawn of the White House. So that, in a lot of words, is the answer."
Loved the concert / singalong over the weekend. Our second year attending.
Thanks. Glad you made it!
ABC has basically inoculated Trump from further claims he raped E Jean Carrol, no matter how true such claims are.
Hi John, first and more important happy holidays. Regarding ABC and George Stephanopoulos (GS)….”True” as you stated is not evidence in the court of law. There is no “basic inoculation”. Also words related to this case and all cases brought to a U.S. court do have legal defined meaning which are not interchangeable or fluid. Having been one of Presidents Bill Clinton’s closest advisor GS is well versed in the identification, use and effects of words. As a reporter speaking on a public platform we rightly expect GS and all reporters to be fact based. Fact as to what the liable conviction was. Not interchange words for those preferred. George Stephanopoulos appeared to be editorializing his viewpoint. By choice of words and not reporting the final liable conviction. Given his noted skills, schooled and practical intelligence it would be challenging at best to believe he did not realize the difference, for nine plus times, in his choice of words during the interview. This is not a discussion of what Trump is or has been accused found liable for ( remember this is a civil case not a criminal one) This was not “bowing by ABC. It was taking responsibility for a serious error and in doing so has mitigated further journalistic damage. Trump at this point seems to be much more accessible to the press. The press and the president have an opportunity to begin with an open door discussion policy.
Eric, we loved the Songs of Good Cheer! As always, a highlight of the season. Do you and Mary and the crew consider audience requests? My favorite song is "The Holly and the Ivy." Such a haunting tune.
In high school, my daughter, a high soprano, sang in her school's Christmas/Holiday Madrigal group, and I can attest that "The Holly and the Ivy" is a spectacular number when performed by those who have the voices and who have practiced at it!
Yes! We have done that song at previous shows. It's interesting that it has several different melodies -- https://youtu.be/dpiI_WzNUpw?si=oOmn5YsIbH9QWvm1&t=43 is one and https://youtu.be/Ec9iuQYJsrY?si=Iq8uN298qobfPKzP is another. Several others are here https://glostrad.com/browse/?fwp_search_browse=holly+and+the+ivy&search_radio=Songs%2FTunes Our choir teacher in junior high introduced this to us but she pulled it from the program when we couldn't stop smirking at the reference to "the merry organ."
About "who gets to say our mayor and governor suck"; the most important bit is where you said whoever it is must say why they suck. I am tired of so many people making accusations and throwing shade without ever saying what is so terrible about the people they are trashing.
Agree, but it's just so common, e.g. the popular phrase, "all politicians are crooks" with zero distinction or explanation.
Governor Pritzker doesn't suck, he's mensch.
Brandon Johnson however does suck!
I was thinking about the backlash Disney received from Florida's DeSantis because they disapproved of the "Don't Say Gay" bill. Perhaps they wanted to avoid a similarly aggressive response from Trump? Although my first thought was another billionaire-owned news media source kissing the ring.
Understand,….yet what frontline news media source is not owned by a billionaire? Reporting the news take money. Kissing the ring is all ready getting overused. Can you see the potential instead of kissing the ring…world leaders, media and others wish to work with the incoming president so all can best benefit?
Great selection of visual jokes today. I wanted to vote for them all!
Buying gas outside of the city. I do not see this as anything other than buying gas when you need it and where you are. It is not tax avoidance or anything else nefarious. There are out of towners who buy gas in the city because they are in the city and need gas. They are not gifting the city anything when they do.
As for lying to the self check out, that is clearly tax avoidance, rationalization and not protest. It is cheating. A better solution is to write your local leaders, call their offices and generally vote.
I have really enjoyed your writing all year. Looking forward to 2025 with you all.
afraid i have to disagree on your characterization of buying gas out of town/out of state. for many years we have traveled to michigan - first from evanston, then from chicago. we consciously made & make gas purchases in MI or IN - depending on where we could find the cheapest gas - before returning to IL, because gas in both of these states was/is cheaper than in the Chgo metro area.
but it certainly isn't tax evasion, or stealing, which is how i would characterize not paying for flimsy plastic bags in a grocery. buying gas out of city/state is tax avoidance - perfectly legal in a free market system, not unethical, nothing wrong with that. the state, county and cities are punishing their gas retailers with taxes too high.
This year I saw and bought the advent calendar of Nakatomi Plaza. It is sitting next to all the other Christmas decorations. Yes, Die Hard is a Christmas movie. We can't be friends if you disagree.
We're friends then🤗
From where did you order it or buy it?
Amazon.
2024 Christmas Die Hard Advent... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CN2PQ67D?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
I don’t think substack works well with links but if you search Die Hard Advent calendar you will get results. Edit. The link worked.
I chuckled at the statement that the absurd thing about Die Hard is the date of the Christmas party. The whole thing is absurd, and I enjoy the s@#t out of it. As Honest Trailers said about Pacific Rim (another fave), it's the dumbest great movie, or the greatest dumb movie ever.
I only went to one "Songs of Good Cheer" probably the first or second. I made the decision to never go again because audience members are "encouraged to sing along" in the same way non-Christians can NOT participate in group prayers at certain events.
Note; 38 of 50 states have official bans against me singing in public.
Trib call to avoid being charged for the “special” inserts: semiannual, not biennial.
The language pedant in me approves.
Actually, the terms are ambiguous -- Merriam Webster has a good essay on this https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/difference-between-biannual-and-semiannual and the typical guidance is to avoid those terms and say "twice a year" or "every other year."
thx for the link. 'semiannual' always always means 2x/yr.
sorry, i repeated 'always' and didn't mean to.
"I was unaware of these practices "
in the 90s I knew a lot of people who moved into the green zone of the city but still registered their cars in LaGrange, Downer's Grove, et al to avoid city stickers AND higher insurance rates.