Christmas is Coming!

Disney's Acquiescence to Trump Signals a Shift in the Culture Wars?

Over the weekend came the news that ABC News had decided (surprisingly) to settle Trump’s defamation litigation against the network. Disney additionally released a statement expressing “regret” for anchor George Stephanopoulos’ on-air claim that Trump was found liable in court for “rape.” 

Experts on media law told The New York Times that traditionally media outlets fight suits harder than ABC had chosen to do.  ABC's decision is in line with recent media outlets capitulating to the Orange Jesus.  Last month, the L.A. Times, along with The Washington Post (owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos), both spiked endorsements of Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of the election.  

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, and X’s Elon Musk have also publicly praised Trump’s win (Musk having  spent millions to help engineer it), raising serious concerns about the impartiality of the platforms the men own.   For his part, Trump has now threatened future defamation lawsuits against the media. Among his targets are The Des Moines Register, “60 Minutes,” reporter Bob Woodward, and the Pulitzer Prizes in retaliation for reporting by The Washington Post and New York on Russia’s role in attempting to influence the 2016 election.

ABC's settlement with Trump could only have been with Disney chief Bob Iger’s consent, and that we might be entering a new era at Disney-- one where the company’s social activism gets tampered down for a more populist approach to creative content. This is evidenced by new reporting that Disney's Pixar removed a transgender character’s storyline from their upcoming “Win or Lose” animated film.

A spokesperson for Disney confirmed that the “Win or Lose” story arc was removed, saying "When it comes to animated content for a younger audience, we recognize that many parents would prefer to discuss certain subjects with their children on their own terms and timeline." This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, as earlier this year Iger said that he wanted to “quiet things down” at Disney “after years of culture wars.” This seemed to be in reference to the company having been accused of promoting a “woke agenda” in their movies. 

 

The War on Santa

A British priest has been forced to apologize after telling a group of schoolchildren aged 10 and 11 that Father Christmas was not real. Pupils reportedly began to sob as Reverend Paul Chamberlain made comments during a Religious Education lesson at Lee-on-the-Solent Junior School in Hampshire.

One parent described his talk as "absolutely disgusting", while another said her daughter reckoned the priest was mistaken and had "lost the plot", The Times reported.  The Anglican Diocese of Portsmouth said Rev Chamberlain accepted it was an "error of judgement".

A 10-year-old pupil, quoted in The Times, said some children "gasped" during the lesson, in which they were also told that parents ate the cookies left out for Santa.  One parent told the newspaper: "I don't know how it can be undone, but I think it's absolutely disgusting. "I don't want him anywhere near my daughter. I hope he never comes into the school again."

In a statement, a diocese spokesperson said: "We understand that the vicar of St Faith's, Lee-on-the-Solent, the Rev Paul Chamberlain, was leading an RE lesson for 10 and 11-year-olds at Lee-on-Solent Junior School.  After talking about the Nativity story from the Bible, he made some comments about the existence of Father Christmas.  Paul has accepted that this was an error of judgement, and he should not have done so.  He apologized unreservedly to the school, to the parents and to the children, and the headteacher immediately wrote to all parents to explain this."

 

Amy Grant - When I Think of Christmas

Indeed

The Nutty GOP and Weather-Weapon Laws

In April, Tennessee Republicans passed a state law to ban chemtrails, the mythical substance long touted by conspiracy theorists as chemicals released into the atmosphere to either control the weather or exert mind control over the population.  More recently, Florida state Sen. Ileana Garcia recently introduced similar legislation that would ban “weather modification activities” in the airspace over that state.  What the heck is going on?

Since the 1990s, conservative cranks have concocted conspiracies that the condensation trails left by airplanes are actually chemical sprays used for nefarious purposes. The scientific explanation is that water vapor near the exhaust of jet planes condenses and freezes, creating a temporary cloud.  Bottom line: the notion that there are weapons now existing to change the weather and mold minds is the stuff of scientific fiction.

But particularly when the right has been out of power, these conspiracies tend to take hold as an explanation both for why Republicans may have lost public support (due to "mind control") or just as a way to accuse Democrats of the dastardliest actions possible.  In October, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene accused an abstract “they” of using a weather manipulation device when hurricanes hit the southern U.S.  “Yes they can control the weather. It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done,” she wrote.  President Joe Biden called Greene out in remarks from the White House, stating, “It’s beyond ridiculous. It’s so stupid. It’s got to stop.”

Weather-weapon conspiracies tend to disappear when Republicans are in the White House, and conservatives never question why figures like Trump or former President George W. Bush have never used these amazing powers against their political enemies or the country’s global adversaries.  But in 2013, conspiracy theorist and Greene ally Alex Jones insisted that then-President Barack Obama had deployed a weather weapon when a tornado hit Oklahoma.  On his radio show, Jones argued that the government “can create and steer groups of tornadoes.”  Of course, it cannot-- but it is a convenient way to make figures like Obama and Biden appear to be sinister. After all, controlling the weather is the kind of evil that comic book supervillains do, not presidents.

Conservatism is oriented around spreading distrust of government and scientific reality. Making up falsehoods about mind/weather control dust being seeded in clouds or sprayed on the public via planes fits right in with their paranoid style.   But these anti-chemtrails bills and laws aren’t just harmless exercises. They stymie the development of real technologies with far more modest goals, like increasing rainfall. The people who get hurt? Regular people like farmers who need help maintaining their fields and increasing crop production—and they’re being hurt by increasing temperatures from climate change.

Worry is Growing Over Wacky Gabby

Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s pick to be the next director of national intelligence, was a faithful consumer of Kremlin-controlled media, three of her former congressional aides told ABC News.

According to ABC’s report, the aides said that the failed presidential candidate regularly read and shared stories from RT—a state-run media outlet formerly known as Russia Today—even after being told that it wasn’t a credible news source. They firmly believe she’s become a staunch advocate for one of the United States’ chief adversaries thanks to her routine consumption of pro-Russia propaganda.

Her former aides said that Gabbard read news from a plethora of outlets, ranging from stories peddled by far left factions to articles from extreme-right sources. But Gabbard’s views on Russian aggression in Europe, specifically, have become increasingly eyebrow-raising since her days as a Democratic House member representing Hawaii.

The aides provided ABC News with an internal memo that Gabbard sent to staff in 2017, for instance, which showed her extending unwarranted sympathy to the Kremlin. Among many other damning things, Gabbard complained about the United States’ “hostility toward Putin” and bemoaned the fact that “there isn’t any guarantee to Putin that we won’t try to overthrow Russia’s government.”    “In fact, I’m pretty sure there are American politicians who would love to do that,” she added.

These fresh allegations against Gabbard have heightened fears about her securing a spot in Trump’s Cabinet. Ivo Daalder, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO during the Obama administration, told ABC News that the thoughts outlined in Gabbard’s 2017 memo were “basically the Russian playbook.” He also expressed anxiety that she could soon be charged with overseeing America’s most sensitive intelligence assets. 

Her sympathy toward the Kremlin only grew after 2017. During her unsuccessful presidential run in 2020, Gabbard criticized America’s involvement in Syria’s civil war as a “regime change war” on President Bashar Assad, a key Russian ally. And in 2022, Gabbard defended Russia’s aggression toward Ukraine and went so far as to blame the United States and NATO for provoking the war by ignoring Russia’s security concerns. 

And she didn’t stop there. In October, Gabbard peddled an outright lie that Vice President Kamala Harris was the main instigator of the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. 

Gabbard’s pro-Russia takes have not gone unnoticed by the senators who will determine whether she earns a spot in the Trump administration. Even before ABC News’ bombshell report, some Republicans indicated that they were nervous about Gabbard’s worrisome positions on foreign policy issues, as well as her promotion of Russian propaganda.   “Behind closed doors, people think she might be compromised. Like it’s not hyperbole,” one Republican Senate aide told The Hill. “There are members of our conference who think she’s a [Russian] asset.”

These latest revelations certainly aren’t good news for Trump, who has already had two of his nominees drop out (see: Matt Gaetz and Chad Chronister, his picks to head up the Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration).   The good news for Gabbard, at least for now, is that another one of Trump’s potential appointees, defense secretary nominee and Fox News host Pete Hegseth, is now in the hot seat for a series of scandalous revelations and accusations about his own past. That means Gabbard’s troublesome views and actions have flown mostly under the radar.

 

Not Ruling Anything Out

Ben Folds & Lindsey Kraft - We Could Have This

Supreme Court Seems Complicit in Denying Trans Youth Their Right to Make Health Care Decisions

The Supreme Court heard arguments regarding a current Tennessee law banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth—and witnessed history.  Chase Strangio, a staff attorney for the ACLU, defended the transgender community and became the first openly trans lawyer to make an argument before the highest court in the land.

Conservative lawmakers defended the legislation by arguing that transgender youth could ultimately regret using puberty blockers or seeking other gender-affirming care.  However, as the Associated Press reported in 2023, the number of transgender people who detransition—or regret switching genders and revert back to their gender assigned at birth—is minuscule. 

Conservative justices tried to frame the case as one of "states rights", but that type of rubbish has been around for over a century-- famously used to justify slavery during the Civil War.  As was the case back then, conservatives today wave the banner of "states rights" to give GOP-controlled states the power to violate basic human rights.  Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar pointed out that allowing Tennessee to impose a ban on gender-affirming medication could potentially lead to a “nationwide ban.”

The case, United States v. Skrmetti, will ultimately determine just how much states can meddle in the medical affairs of transgender youth and, potentially, all Americans.  Transgender rights have been at the forefront of public discourse lately, with Donald Trump and many Republicans lambasting the issue during their 2024 campaigns. 

The Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group, argues that the push for gender-affirming care is more important than ever as a growing number of states impose laws on decisions typically made between a minor, their family, and their health care provider. In 2023 alone, 19 states passed laws to stop gender-affirming care for people under 18, according to CNN.  “Rather than protecting kids, these laws are preventing parents and young people from making informed medical decisions, and doctors and health care providers from providing best-practice care to their patients,” the organization argued. 

Indeed, the Health and Human Services Department’s Office of Population Affairs found that this type of medical care for transgender minors—which has rarely included gender-affirming surgeries—is “crucial” to the “overall health and well-being” of these children. The department also notes that transgender youths “face significant health disparities” compared to cisgender people, or people who identify with their gender assigned at birth. 

Part of this disparity in health care access contributes to the striking number of LGBTQ+ youth who “seriously considered attempting suicide” in 2021, a national survey reports. Advocates for transgender care fear that upholding the medical ban in Tennessee will exacerbate the mental health crisis for trans youth.

 

North Carolina GOP Can't Win Statewide Office, So They Resort to Cheating to Maintain Power

Republicans in the North Carolina state Senate overrode Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper's veto of a bill that is a blatant attempt to steal power from Democrats and give it to the GOP-controlled legislature.

Republicans crafted the bill in secret, held no hearings on it, and passed it in November, less than 24 hours after it had been made public. The vote came after Democrats won the governor's mansion and attorney general position in the state for the third cycle in a row, as well as the race for state superintendent of public instruction. Republicans tried to claim the bill was about Hurricane Helene recovery funding, but it contains very little of that. Instead, it takes away power from those three incoming Democratic statewide officials.

It shouldn't be a surprise that North Carolina is not the only state where GOP legislators have tried to take power away from their states’ Democratic governor. 

Earlier this year, Wisconsin Republicans tried to strip Democratic Gov. Tony Evers of his power to spend federal dollars by putting a measure on the August primary ballot that would have amended the state Constitution to require Legislative approval for federal funds. Voters rejected the effort in a 57.5%-42.5% vote.

In 2018, after Republicans lost the gubernatorial mansion in Wisconsin, Republicans stripped power from Evers and incoming Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul before they took office. The legislation took away Evers’ ability to remove work requirements for food stamps and health care, and tried to block Kaul’s ability to withdraw the state from a lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act.  “It’s a power grab,” Democratic state Senator Jon Erpenbach told the New York Times at the time. “They lost and they’re throwing a fit.”

Republicans straight-up admitted the legislation was an effort to hamstring Evers’ ability to pass his agenda.  “We are going to have a very liberal governor who is going to enact policies that are in direct contrast to what many of us believe in,” state Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said at the time of what would happen if the power grab legislation didn’t pass. Of course, by limiting the governor from enacting policies, it would be ignoring voters’ will in choosing their top state executive.  That power grab was eventually overturned by the courts.

That same year, Michigan Republicans tried to strip power from then-incoming Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, but failed when the outgoing GOP governor vetoed the effort.

 

DOD Nominee is Starting to Circle the Drain

Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s nominee for Defense secretary, is already under fire for several notable controversies, including ties to right-wing extremism, anti-Muslim bigotry, and his defense of mercenaries that killed civilians. But new reporting has revealed more allegations of abuse toward women and public drunkenness that are likely to come up at future Senate confirmation hearings—if the former Fox News pundit makes it that far.

The New York Times reported on Friday that in a 2018 email Hegseth’s mother, Penelope Hegseth, described her son as an abuser of women.  “On behalf of all the women (and I know it’s many) you have abused in some way, I say … get some help and take an honest look at yourself,” she wrote. “I have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around and uses women for his own power and ego. You are that man (and have been for years) and as your mother, it pains me and embarrasses me to say that, but it is the sad, sad truth.”

The behavior described in the letter echoes other reporting on Hegseth’s past behavior.   A recent report by the New Yorker that detailed behavior from Hegseth that led to him stepping down from leading conservative veterans groups, Veterans for Freedom and Concerned Veterans for America.  A whistleblower report says that Hegseth was so drunk while doing public events for Concerned Veterans of America that he had to be carried out. The report also alleges that Hegseth sexually pursued staffers at the group and he and other men in the organization divided the women staffers into groups labeled “party girls” and “not party girls.”   The report also notes that an allegation of sexual assault by Hegseth was made, involving an employee while the two were at a strip club in Louisiana.

Hegseth is also accused in the document of chanting “Kill All Muslims! Kill All Muslims!” while drunk at a bar in 2015, while on an official tour. An email sent by whistleblowers also accused Hegseth of treating the organization’s funds “like they were a personal expense account” and said he used money donated to advocate for veterans “for partying, drinking.”

The new revelations about Hegseth come on the heels of the release of a police report in which a woman accused Hegseth of raping her at a Republican women’s event in 2017. Hegseth was not charged following a police investigation.

Disclosures about Matt Gaetz, Trump’s former pick to be U.S. attorney general, led to Trump giving up on the nomination when it became clear even Republicans would oppose him. Those allegations included sex with a minor and accusations of sex trafficking. The disclosures about Hegseth seem even more severe, but so far there has been no indication that Trump will back away from the pick.

 

Toughing it Out at Work on CyberMonday

Texas Women Continue to Die Without Proper Medical Care

Over the course of six hours on June 11, 2023, Porsha Ngumezi had bled so much in the emergency department at Houston Methodist Sugar Land that she’d needed two transfusions. She was anxious to get home to her young sons, but, according to a nurse’s notes, she was still “passing large clots the size of grapefruit.”

Hope dialed his mother, a former physician, who was unequivocal. “You need a D&C,” she told them, referring to dilation and curettage, a common procedure for first-trimester miscarriages and abortions. If a doctor could remove the remaining tissue from her uterus, the bleeding would end.

But when Dr. Andrew Ryan Davis, the obstetrician on duty, finally arrived, he said it was the hospital’s “routine” to give a drug called misoprostol to help the body pass the tissue, Hope recalled. Hope trusted the doctor. Porsha took the pills, according to records, and the bleeding continued.

Three hours later, her heart stopped.