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A brilliant star hangs above a stable in Bethlehem, like a giant Google Maps pin. The three kings arrive.
“We have brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh, gifts befitting the King of the Jews,” declared Melchior, bowing to the Holy Family.
“Actually…” said Balthazar.
“Oh, no,” replied Gaspar. “You forgot the myrrh?”
“Didn’t forget it,” answered Balthazar. “Just went in another direction.”
“We agreed on gold, frankincense, and myrrh. We’re the Three Kings—these gifts reflect on all of us.”
“Now, now, Melchior, we should have faith in Balthazar,” offered Gaspar. “He is a wise man, after all. Surely, he got a gift of great dignity and reverence.”
“Thank you, Gaspar,” said Balthazar, handing Mary a Papa John’s box. “Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday, whatever.”
“Hmmm,” said Mary, shaking the enormous rectangle.
“What does it say on the box?” asked Joseph.
“It says, ‘We created the Shaq-a-Roni to feed big appetites and make a big impact. With eight foldable Shaq-sized slices, loaded with extra cheese and covered in over sixty pepperoni from edge to edge, pizza gets bigger when you Shaq-a-Roni.’”
Nate Cohn at The Upshot makes a useful observation in his newsletter today (gift link) There’s a lot about politics that’s hard to predict, but there’s something you can count on every four years: One party loses a presidential election, and the recriminations begin. Every four years, the post-election fight seems to play out the same way. Every move of the losing campaign is questioned and scrutinized. The party’s center blames the activists for alienating swing voters. The activists blame the center for failing to mobilize the base. And no matter what, you’ll find each pundit concluding that the party’s way forward is to do exactly what that pundit has been arguing for all along. While you might not guess it from my tone, these debates do matter. They shape the strategy of the next midterm campaign, they can change the policies supported by elected officials, and they even influence how ordinary voters cast their ballots in future presidential primaries. Still, there’s a reason you could probably tell my eyes roll at the prospect of most election postmortems. In hindsight, they don’t usually look great.
It’s what psychologists call self-continuity, and can improve your health and well-being.
The post Making Friends with Your Past and Future Selves appeared first on Nautilus.
As I had hoped, Joe Biden commuted the death sentences of all but three federal prisoners to life without parole. Considering that he is a committed Catholic and the pope himself petitioned him to do it, I’m not surprised. He left three heinous mass murderers (Tree of Life, Boston Bombing and the Charleston Church) on death row which is disappointing for those of us who believe that the principle at stake is that the state should not be in the business of killing people. But I can understand why he would do it, particularly considering the inevitable blowback for the commutations, which is fierce. Salon reports: President Joe Biden heeded the calls of anti-death penalty campaigners and spared all but three federal prisoners from the threat of execution on Monday, commuting a total of 37 sentences to life in prison without the possibility of parole. In a statement, Biden, who has overseen a moratorium on federal executions even as federal prosecutors continue to seek the death penalty, cast the move as an act of mercy.
The House Ethics Committee released the Gaetz report today. It was even worse than we thought: Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., paid for sex with a 17-year-old who “had just completed her junior year in high school,” according to a House Ethics Committee report that accuses the one-time attorney general nominee of potentially spending more than $90,000 on sex and drugs while a member of Congress. A draft of the final report, first obtained by CBS News and other outlets, was made public following a committee vote earlier this month to release the panel’s findings. Gaetz, who was investigated for alleged sex trafficking by the Department of Justice, has not been charged with a crime. “The Committee determined there is substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House Rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, impermissible gifts, special favors or privileges, and obstruction of Congress,” the report states, per CBS News.
Thanks again, friends. I am so very grateful for your support after all these years. I can hardly believe it, to tell you the truth. It’s a Christmas miracle every year. It means we can keep going over the next year as we confront whatever this weird political zeitgeist is about to bring us. I wanted to take a moment today to say thank you to my good friend Tom Sullivan. He has been holding down the morning shift for many years here at Hullabaloo and I thank my lucky stars every day that I asked him to contribute here all those years ago. I had liked him the minute I met him and his lovely wife Sarah at a Netroots confab back in the day and I especially liked his writing and commentary. He’s a natural blogger, someone who understands the form (and yes, there IS a specific form) and executes it perfectly. I couldn’t ask for anything more in a co-blogger. But Tom is also doing God’s work down in North Carolina which has become a petri dish for right wing electoral shenanigans.
On September 16th, 1919, the already world-famous physicist, Albert Einstein, was conducting a seminar with graduate students at Princeton University in the United States. Suddenly one of his colleagues in the Physics Department burst into the room brandishing a telegram. It was from the Royal Society in London, from his friend and fellow physicist, Hendrik Continue reading »
Why do American Christian evangelists support Israel’s genocide in Gaza? At this time of year many Christians express ‘tidings of comfort and joy’ toward their friends, family and even complete strangers. Good for them. No doubt it’s just what we need in these increasingly troubled times. There are some noteworthy exceptions to this upsurge of Continue reading »
The below is an excerpt from my essay, “The Sin of Cosmocide,” for Renovatio, the literary magazine of Zaytuna, the Muslim liberal arts college in Berkeley, Ca. It underlines how both Jewish and Muslim spiritual teachings forbid the killing of innocents who are guilty of no crime, and equate this deed to killing all humankind — Continue reading »
I just attended a wonderful Christmas concert at St Mary of the Angels in Wellington – the Bach Choir, the Chiesa Ensemble and excellent soloists sent a thrill through my body. The final piece, Gloria by Antonio Vivaldi, triggered these thoughts. The Gloria, of course, is a traditional element of the Catholic mass, and the Continue reading »
After having spent the last five weeks listening to Muslim representatives from across Australia, Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia, Aftab Malik, exclusively and frankly shares his initial reflections. My scope of work and first priority I assumed the role of Australia’s first-ever Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia on Monday 14 October. It emerged against the Continue reading »
This Christmas, we can give to all planetary life. The loving intent must be to stop carbon emissions as soon as possible. The transition to renewables is obviously complex but ‘loving our neighbours as ourselves’ includes those on islands in the Pacific who know the consequences of global warming and need us to focus unambiguously Continue reading »
It goes almost without saying that much of the ordinary economic commentary ahead of the election, whether in the Murdoch media, the Fairfax media and the ABC, as well as among the senior bureaucracy and the business community (including Reserve Bank governors), will proceed on the assumption that any money spent on subsidies, tax breaks Continue reading »
December 5, 2024. On the eve of Christmas as thousands of Americans file towards the White House to watch the Christmas tree lights turned on, Christians come together to witness for Peace against the horror currently taking place in Gaza and the West Bank. Palestine. A captive nation which has lived under Israeli occupation for Continue reading »
2024 will mark the hottest year in recorded history as global production of fossil fuels reaches record highs. Climate-related natural disasters continue to devastate the planet in the form of unprecedented floods, droughts, hurricanes, and wildfires, with marginalised and Indigenous communities, situated in the Global South, exposed to its worst impacts. Global North countries have contributed the most Continue reading »
“I’m Dreaming of a Light Sickness”
“All I Want for Christmas Is You… to Acknowledge Receipt of the Referral I’ve Sent in Fourteen Damn Times Now”
“I Saw Mommy Charged Five Grand for Gauze”
“Halve Your Wealth to Repair Your Meniscus”
“God Rest Ye Weary New Mother (For Twenty-Four Hours, Then Please Vacate the Maternity Ward)”
“Grandma Got Screwed Over on Her Claim, Dear”
“It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year (Open Enrollment Runs From November 4 to 6)”
“Here We Come, a-Copaying”
“All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth to Be Covered by Regular Health Insurance and Not Considered Special Entities Only Covered by Separate Insurance; They’re Part of My Body, WTF”
“Mary, Did You Know? Your Baby Boy’s a Pre-Existing Condition”
“Have a Blue Christmas (Brought to You by Your Health Partners at Blue Cross Blue Shield)”
“I Want a HIPAA Law to Fix This Business”
Trump’s on a new crusade to seize territory One of the more annoying conceits of the MAGA cult is its insistence that Donald Trump is some kind of religious figure dedicated to bringing world peace and mutual understanding among all of humankind. They even insist that he’s been cheated out of a well-deserved Nobel Peace Prize. That anyone could believe that about the most hostile, aggressively insulting, vengeance seeking, demagogue this country has ever elected to high office is enough to make you wonder if there are hallucinogens in the water supply. Setting aside his promises to wreak revenge on his political opponents and round up and deport mass numbers of people, including American children, there is the simple fact that his first term did not feature no war or death at the the hands of the US military as he and his acolytes so often claim. Despite his promise to end the “forever war” in Afghanistan it continued under his watch. It was left to President Biden to do the difficult task of ending it and take the heat that he was too cowardly to take. And naturally Trump criticized him for it.