Yyyyup!
Sirius XM already has two Christmas stations operating, emulating Hallmark, which is showing nothing but cheesy Christmas movies starring B and C list actors (Candace Cameron Bure is one of the better known ones) all day long. Is there some significance to this rush to get to Christmas? Is it because everyone is so nasty and hostile that there is some kind of collective yearning for peace on earth and good will toward men, womyn and non-binary trans-pan-sexuals to arrive by cultural fiat? My wife is betting that the effort will just make everyone thoroughly sick of Christmas by the time we get there. Elmo learned, in a Sesame Street Christmas Special, that if every day is Christmas, nothing is.
But I digress…The reason I noted this was that I just heard Kelly Clarkson’s “My Grown-Up Christmas List” on the “Holiday Traditions” channel (I deemed it a better bet than The Doors, and “:Please Mister Custer”) and finally listened to the lyrics:
So here’s my lifelong wish
My grown up Christmas list
Not for myself but for a world in need
No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts
And everyone would have a friend
And right would always win
And love would never end, no
This is my grown up Christmas list.
Yeesh. Those are grown-up wishes? They are if “grown up” means ten-years-old.
Or you’re John Lennon.
I. One more ominous example of the Left channeling old fashioned totalitarianism..I knew that San Francisco was erecting a mural dedicated to the Climate Change Bullies’ own Joan of Arc, creepy Greta Thunberg, but I didn’t realize how huge it was going to be. The conservative satire site the Babylon Bee joked that her eyes would be equipped with lasers to zap SUVs, at least I thought it was a joke. Legal Insurrection writes,
Instead of focusing on issues of sanitation, job creation, or at least ensuring there are more high school students than drug addicts in the city, activists have chosen to honor Swedish “climate crisis” activist Greta Thunberg with a giant mural that will grace the skyline.
Andres “Cobre” Petreselli, an internationally renowned artist, is painting the activist teen with big blue eyes and a Mona Lisa smile.
The mural is still a work in progress, as Cobre is spending his days hoisted high up on a platform about 10 stories above Mason street, on the side of the Native Sons building near Union Square.
Thunberg is the 16-year old from Sweden who has inspired young people all over the world to take to the streets and let older people know they want climate change to be taken seriously.
“What I want from people is to realize have to do something for the world,” Cobre said. “Otherwise, it’s going to be the beginning of our extinction.”
Yikes.
This is Big Brother art. It’s intimidating and oppressive, and intended to be. [Thanks to Cathammer for the pointer.]
2. “The Return of the Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight.” “The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight’ was the title of a comic novel by Jimmy Breslin about an idiotic Mafia family. The famous political and social columnist would have had a great sequel at hand if he had lived long enough to write about the Democratic impeachment wars. Here’s the latest embarrassment, currently reported by The Federalist, the Daily Caller, Fox News, and Pajamas Media, but not by the mainstream, Left-biased media, which will only report news damaging to the cause when it has to:
The whistleblower behind the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry may have violated government regulations by using his office and his access to classified information to enrich himself on GoFundMe, a new complaint alleges. Anthony Gallo, managing partner at the law firm Tully Rinckey PLLC, sent a letter to the Intelligence Community Inspector General (ICIG) passing on the allegations from a source with a top-secret SCI security clearance who has served in government.
The GoFundMe fundraiser, entitled “Help the Intel Community Whistleblowers,” has raised $227,537 as of Tuesday morning. According to the complaint first reported by Fox News, the donations from roughly 6,000 individuals “clearly constitute” gifts to a current intelligence official. This may violate 5 CFR 2635.203 and other government statutes.
“I have not seen anything on this scale,” Gallo told Fox News, referring to the $227,537 raised on GoFundMe. “It’s not about politics for my client — it’s whistleblower-on-whistleblower, and [my client’s] only interest is to see the government ethics rules are being complied with government-wide.”
Earlier this year, the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) warned federal government employees that they “may not accept any gift given because of the employee’s official position,” meaning that the gift would “not have been given had the employee not held the status, authority, or duties associated with the employee’s federal position.” OGE also warned that gifts may not be accepted from “prohibited sources,” such as anyone whom the employee’s agency regulates or anyone who has interests affected by the employee’s work.
Gallo filed this complaint to ICIG Michael Atkinson, the same government watchdog who originally received the Ukraine whistleblower’s complaint that sparked the impeachment inquiry. Atkinson is protecting that whistleblower’s identity, even though various news reports have tentatively identified him as Eric Ciamarella.
“[M]y client believes … that the federal employee you are protecting and their attorneys apparently have strategically weaponized their alleged whistleblowing activities into a very lucrative money-making enterprise using a charity incorporated under a different name than the trade name it is using for fund-raising purposes, which would appear to my client to be a clear abuse of the federal employee’s authority and access to classified information,” Gallo wrote in the letter to Atkinson.
The organization Whistleblower Aid, also known as Values United, launched the GoFundMe fundraiser. Mark Zaid, the attorney representing the impeachment whistleblower, co-founded this organization. Values United tax documents show it paid $258,085 for advertising and consulting services to West End Strategy Team.
Something as shattering to a nation as an impeachment has to be handled with unimpeachable fairness and without obvious conflicts. The Mueller investigation was sullied even before its report saw the light of day, and Plan S is well down the same incompetent path.
3. And while we’re on the topic, can someone please issue an official directive regarding how to spell the whistleblower’s damn name? I just corrected all of my references to “Ciaramella” and just read two articles that spelled it “Ciamarella.” I think I’ll just refer to the guy as “Eric.”
4. This is too stupid for a full post, but…what the hell is the matter with the Governor of Wisconsin? Huffington Post tell us,
In 2011, during his first year as governor, [Gov. Scott] Walker reversed a quarter-century tradition when he changed the name from “holiday tree” to “Christmas tree,” The Associated Press reported. [Gov. Tony Evers (D)] not only changed it back, but he also gave it a science theme, asking kids around the state to submit ornaments on the subject. “We want students to make holiday ornaments that celebrate what science means to them, their families and their communities,” said Evers, a former science teacher, per WSAU radio.
Then the article devolves into a “Republicans pounce” screed. ONE, it’s a Christmas tree. Christmas is the holiday it celebrates. TWO, I know “science” is a secular religion, but the government should not be dictating the message children can express with their ornaments. Will ornaments expressing support for “no more lives torn apart, that wars would never start, that time would heal all hearts, that everyone would have a friend, that right would always win and that love would never end” be rejected? I guess so. Will Evers have a giant, laser-eyed Greta head on the top of the tree in place of the star?
Ethics Alarms 
Greta looks a lot like Vladimir Putin, or at least his evil twin sister, in that picture. And that is not a smile on her face.
1. What are the chances that Greta’s image is being created using fossil-fuel based paints?
”What are the chances that Greta’s image is being created using fossil-fuel based paints?”
Sure thing, I’d say; especially when they not only admit to it, (kind of) but get caught lying as well.
“OneAtmopshere.org is supplying the paint, and would only admit to the artist using around 133 cans, which they say Cobre plans to repurpose into a sculpture to prevent the highly toxic items from ending up in a landfill. But The Blaze reports that a similar, smaller mural by the same artist took more than 500 cans to complete. The Thunberg mural will likely take closer to 700 cans to finish.”
And if you think the paint is the only thing that assaults a fragile Mother Gaia, think again.
“Just think of all the propellant CFC’s released, which we are told have tremendous GHG potentials as much as 7000 times that of CO2 and contributes to Ozone layer loss.” (bolds mine)
1–I read somewhere that the propellant that artist is using for his spray painting of this mural is very damaging to the air quality. I’m sure that it’s somewhat of a drop in the overall bucket, but how ironic. (And hypocritical.)
Regrettably, my middle son has a Star Wars Death Star as his tree-topper. Sad, that.
Welp, dd, at least you know his fantasy leanings… the Empire was the epitome of totalitarian government by the elite.
Or he might just like spaceships the size of ‘small moons.’
/sn
I. I read an article about the Greta mural going up. I immediately fantasized about someone using a drone with a spray-paint attachment, to hover at the mural and paint F-R-A-U-D in huge letters over her face. (Actually, just painting a big red circle with a slash through it would be sufficient; that would minimize hover-time and paint required.) Well, there: I did my part. I brought it up. Now, I can only wait for someone to actually go out and do the deed. Who says only the leftists can ruin public icons? If you can’t topple ’em, deface the hell out of ’em.
3. I am convinced that the proliferating versions of spellings of Eric’s surname are part of his allies’ disinformation, obfuscation, and distraction campaign, aimed at salvaging an “official” verdict of innocence despite his abundant and increasingly obvious criminal guilt.
I suggest a couple of INSOC banners flanking it. http://theretroset.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/1984_still2-678×381.jpg
I’ll see your couple of INSOC banners and raise you a minor, irreverent tweaking, which should allow Hilarity To Ensue!
(That should have been “INGSOC”
still was funny…
1. “This is Big Brother art.”
You said it. That’s one creepy mural. Big Sister is watching you.
4. When will the Left just admit it just doesn’t like Christmas at all?
Does it need to? Is there any doubt?
What part of Christmas do they hate?
The individual and spontaneous demonstrations of generosity, spawned entirely from personal choice free from central coordination and bestowed as private individuals see fit free from oversight?
or
Christ?
Yes.
You win “Reply of the Day”, DD 😉
My thanks, kind sir.
Comment of the Day.
dd should get a special mention for ‘Winning the Internet with Least Pixels Consumed.’
That’s unexpected. I’m honored. Thanks!
1. Amazing that so many people think of her as some sort of authority even
though she never published a single scientific paper!
William A. Levinson and Natalie Hershlag at least have some scientific
credentials to speak about this subject.
2. Just remember that the same people who want to impeach Trump also excused Bill Clinton committing perjury to defeat a sexual harassment lawsuit!
The media has shifted from quid pro quo to bribery and extortion after taking their cues from the NYT’s column.
If the issue is that candidate x promised benefit Y to a particular group in exchange for an act that would influence the outcome of an election constitutes extortion or bribery, what is the promise of free college, stopping deportations, or other specific benefits accruing only to one group of beneficiaries if not outright bribery or buying votes?
Why do none of the Republicans ask if Joe Biden were not running for office would a president asking a foreign leader to assist in an ongoing investigation of potential criminal behavior by Americans that may have occured in concert with or within their country be considered impeachable.
If the answer is No then ask why is Joe Biden above the law by virtue of his candidacy.
If the answer is Yes, ask why the mutual cooperation treaty on criminal matters ratified by Congress.
Screw arguing process start arguing the law.
Chris,
Are you cool with me copying that comment and sending it to both of my state’s Republican Senators? I think they’re both pretty smart, but every little bit helps.
I’m serious…
By all means. I really do not understand why such fundamental questions are not asked.
The body politic wants to know.
Jack Marshall really needs to testify before the House.
I sent it to them this morning. Many thanks for the consideration.
“I really do not understand why such fundamental questions are not asked.”
The Elites cover for each other. As they allow to be done, after all, might be done unto them. This is why we call most elected GOP ‘GOPe’ for ‘elites,’ or ‘establishment,’ as the poster desires.
We cannot have the gravy train of wealth and power at the expense of constituents be threatened.
Cynical, but prove me wrong.
I’ve seen the question brought up a few times by conservative pundits, and it seem a reasonable issue to consider, although we shouldn’t hold our collective breath waiting on MS media to address it. Really, should a person’s candidacy (or potential candidacy) immunize them from valid inquiries into suspicious past behavior (as long as such inquiries are not actually requests to fabricate information)? The answer only appears to be “Yes” if the person is a democrat.
It took me several tries to the see the difference….
SF is a lost cause, Now they want to deify Greta while they are shrouding George Washington?
And for a chaser, they elect the spawn of Weather Underground killers, raised by Bill Ayers no less, to be the District Attorney. He is an attorney, but has never prosecuted a case.
And the city still has poop-cleaners on staff. For the sidewalks.
“SF is a lost cause… still has poop-cleaners on staff. For the sidewalks.
I read that they will no longer enforce ordinances prohibiting urinating in public.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/san-franciscos-newly-elected-da-pledges-not-to-prosecute-public-urination-other-quality-of-life-crimes
Is this not discriminatory against those who have to squat, simply because they lack the, er, ‘plumbing,’ to not have to lower their pants? There should be open air ‘urination seats’ for those who are not prepared (equipped?) to simply unzip and let fly, no? Hopefully these will be placed uphill of a sewer grate, for when the ground saturates and creates a new yellow stream bed.
Will this privilege be extended to deplorables, tourists, and the simply drunk, or must one appear to be homeless?
What if one wears a red MAGA hat while doing so? What if one is wearing a ski mask?
What if a male identifies as female, yet this act exposes, er, the ‘lack of progress’ toward his (her) statesd goal? Wouldn’t that tend to ‘gender shame’ the fragile (imaginary?) female ego?*
How about prosecution for ‘accidental’ splashes on passerby? What about intentional hosings? We ARE talking about mentally ill people here. They cannot be penalized for having bad aim and missing the ground! (Will the San Fran Woke urbanites start a new ‘hip’ fashion for fishing waders in public? Boots will not be enough.)
(sigh)
‘The City’ used to be a charming visit, full of history, culture, and great food… 25 years ago. I would not return there today.
I just do not have the intestinal fortitude required.**
*Okay, I heard you thinking that these protected special snowflakes could simply decide to urinate in a washroom, almost as if they were a normal human being, to prevent their ‘unaltered’ state from being exposed. This thought exposes YOU for the unWoke cretin you really are! Facts and logic are white supremacy, no matter what color you are! How dare you expect ANY progressive/victim to forgo any right whatsoever, imaginary or not? A non penis-deprived (yet) person who happens to have decided they feel pretty on any given day cannot be expected to think for themselves, or solve their own problems. That is the job of the Elite Progressives who, after all, told them they could be female (despite genetics) in the first place!
The answer is to simply provide enclosures every couple of blocks, where the trans initiate can have privacy to do their business. We could even place these privacy structures uphill from a sewer grate, so the yellow stream bed has somewhere to go. We could repurpose old porta potties for this, and cut a hole in the bottom to allow the trans public to ‘pee on the ground’ like any woke progressive victim, without actually enduring the damage to their female psyche of having that unfortunate tube of flesh that nature inflicted upon them publicly displayed.
**The author has been warned against such gratuitous punning, but is allowed to do so under a weird clause in his contract. That last sentence was forced in despite our strenuous objections. -Ed***
*** So the editors are complaining again? Something about that crack (heh) in the last sentence being ‘forced upon them, despite strenuous objections?’
This [scatalogical reference deleted] writes itself… -author
2. Does that OGE rule apply to things of value being unexpectedly proffered to close relatives of government employees? Like if maybe the son of a highly placed government official, having previously evidenced no particular business or personal acumen, were inexplicably swamped with lucrative offers from foreign sources?
“In 2011, during his first year as governor, [Gov. Scott] Walker reversed a quarter-century tradition when he changed the name from “holiday tree” to “Christmas tree,”
That’s some framing there by the Huffington Post. Note the deliberate weasel wording:
“reversed a quarter-century tradition when he changed…”HE transgressed against our sacred tradition of calling Christmas trees by a politically correct euphemism!
“quarter-century…” an attempt to make “about 25 years” sound like a longer time than it is.
“holiday tree to Christmas tree…” That doesn’t seem right. So they were “holiday trees” all along?
How about telling us who ended the 350-year run of calling them “Christmas trees?” Seems more like THAT person actually “reversed a tradition,” and Walker fixed it.