Dave Barry’s Year in Review: Wait, wasn’t 2021 supposed to be better than 2020?

 . . .distinguished rapper/epidemiologist Nicki Minaj issues a tweet stating that her cousin in Trinidad had a friend who got vaccinated and became impotent and his man fruits swelled up and his fiancée canceled their wedding. . . 

Washington Post

DAVE BARRY, Miami Herald  "Is there anything positive we can say about 2021?

"Yes. We can say that it was marginally better than 2020.

"Granted, this is not high praise. It’s like saying that somebody is marginally nicer than Hitler. But it’s something.

"What was better about 2021? For one thing, people finally emerged from their isolated pandemic cocoons and started connecting with others. Granted, the vast majority of the people who connected with us this year wanted to discuss our car’s extended warranty. But still.

"Another improvement was that most stores got rid of those one-way anti-COVID arrows on the floor. Remember those, from 2020? You’d be halfway down a supermarket aisle, and you’d realize that you’d gone past the Cheez-Its, but you couldn’t turn around and go back because you’d be going AGAINST THE ARROWS, which meant YOU WOULD GET COVID.

"Ha ha! Was that stupid, or what? Fortunately in 2021, we followed the Science, which decided that the coronavirus does not observe floor arrows. On the other hand, the Science could not make up its mind about masks, especially in restaurants. Should everybody in the restaurant wear them? Should only the staff wear them? Should people who are standing up wear them, but not people who are sitting down, which would seem to suggest that the virus can also enter our bodies via our butts? We still don’t know, and we can’t wait to find out what the Science will come up with for us next.

"Anyway, our point is not that 2021 was massively better than 2020. Our point is that at least it was different. A variant, so to speak. And like any year, it had both highs and lows.

"No, we take that back. It was pretty much all lows, as we will see when we review the key events of 2021, starting in..." Full article here, beginning with January 2021

America as ruled by Soros-funded Democrats

These Stores Are Closing Due To Looting And Lost Profits

"As looting continues and lockdowns return, many retail companies have announced recently that they are shuttering some locations that have become simply too expensive to maintain.

"Major cities have been hit by a wave of “smash-and-grab” robberies, where organized groups of looters attack store employees and escape with thousands of dollars in merchandise. Organized retail theft now costs retailers across the country a grand total of about $65 billion per year.

"Meanwhile, some areas announced this month that they are again implementing stricter COVID restrictions, including mask and vaccine mandates, over concerns about rising virus cases and the new Omicron variant. Early data has pointed to the Omicron variant being less lethal but more contagious than the Delta variant.

"Some of the country’s major pharmacy chains have said that they plan to close a number of stores." . . .

https://rofcbybroc.com/

Read The Christmas Letter Gen. McAuliffe Sent His Surrounded, Outnumbered Troops In Bastogne, 1944

 Daily Caller

"Surrounded and greatly outnumbered, the men of the 101st Airborne Division were not expecting a merry Christmas in Bastogne, Belgium, in 1944.

"The German army had already begun a brutal offensive against the entrapped Americans, and on Dec. 22, under a white flag, messengers had delivered the German general’s demand of unconditional surrender.

"Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe sent back just one word — NUTS! — to the German commander. When the German messengers appeared puzzled by the term, one of McAuliffe’s attaches told them that, loosely translated, they could “go to hell.”

"McAuliffe then penned a letter to his own troops, in recognition of the imminent holiday, informing them of the events that had transpired." . . .

The German Commander received the following reply:

22 December 1944

“To the German Commander:

N U T S !

. . .  

The American Commander”

Hillary Clinton now 'advising' Kamala Harris how to be popular

 Monica Showalter

Faced with declining approval ratings, a series of staff departures and a drumbeat of criticism from Republicans and the conservative news media, she has turned to powerful confidantes, including Hillary Clinton, to help plot a path forward.

"If anything out there sounds like Mission:Fail, it's the unpopular Kamala Harris going to the unpopular Hillary Clinton for advice on how to be popular with voters.

"Even Democrats can't stand her. It's like Joe Biden going to Jimmy Carter on how to get a rip-roaring economy going. (And that seems to have happened, too).

"So here we are, with the mendicant and her mentor -- with cackling that can be heard a mile away:" . . .

CNN Bottomed Out in 2021—Will Viewers Come Back?

Daily Beast

. . . "continued, raising eyebrows with an unsubtle suggestion that CNN does not currently practice “real journalism” when compared to the overtly conservative Fox News: “I would like to see CNN evolve back to the kind of journalism that it started with, and actually have journalists, which would be unique and refreshing"…

"At the beginning of 2021, CNN was on top of the cable news world.

"The network, which revolutionized round-the-clock news coverage when it launched more than four decades ago, had finally retaken the ratings crown from Fox News and pushed its conservative rival to third place for the first time since 2000.

"Less than a year later, CNN’s viewership has shrunk—the channel is buried in third place, behind Fox and MSNBC after a series of controversies and scandals that ostensibly struck a blow to the news network’s credibility.

"In fact, just this past week, the network averaged a paltry 585,000 total viewers in primetime, placing CNN all the way back in 17th place among all basic cable. Worse yet, the channel’s 120,000 viewers in the key primetime demographic were only good enough for 31st place among cable stations.

"In other words, the future isn’t all that bright for CNN heading into 2022—and it’s not clear if there’s anything it can do to pull itself from the morass." . . .

Police Seize Electronics and Hard Drives of CNN Producer Accused of Sexual Improprieties Involving Minors  . . ."Last Wednesday Project Veritas released a shocking video featuring whistleblower Janine Banani, who presented graphic texts and videos showing an unnamed CNN producer fantasizing about molesting his fiancé’s 14-year-old daughter, and Banani’s own underage daughter." . . .

After the story broke, his fiancé wrote a heartfelt letter to James O’Keefe, thanking him for alerting her to the danger.

Pramila Jayapal: The Loser of the Year

Source: The American Spectator  "Everything she does creates catastrophe for the Democrats."

. . ."Jayapal told her caucus at a meeting on November 5 that they had taken their standstill as far as they could. Biden called into the meeting and asked Democrats to trust him that he had Manchin’s commitment to passing Build Back Better. Five progressives disagreed with Jayapal’s decision to relent: Jamaal Bowman, Cori Bush, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib. “This is bulls–t,” said Ocasio-Cortez. Yet, enough of Jayapal’s caucus sided with her, and the bill was passed.

"It was an epic disaster. The progressives had created high expectations that they would use their leverage on infrastructure to pass all of Build Back Better, and they had failed to deliver. When the infrastructure bill passed the House on November 5, a Friday night, it felt like defeat. 

"The infrastructure bill also seemed to be too little, too late. Just days earlier, Republican Glenn Youngkin had soundly defeated Democrat Terry McAuliffe in the Virginia gubernatorial election. Many Democrats placed the blame for that squarely on Jayapal and her progressive colleagues. They believed that had they scored a major legislative victory before the election, the state would not have turned red. That was certainly the opinion of Virginia Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine." . . . 

God's Christmas Gift

If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator. If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist. If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist. If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer. But our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Savior.

Trevor Thomas  . . ."We work hard at keeping Christ the center of Christmas.  We've cautioned our children that "traditions" often can distract us from the profound Truth that Christmas presents.  In addition, those who hate the real meaning and message of Christmas will go to great lengths to keep us from this Truth.

Thus, as is almost always the case, at this time of year, we must endure again the "War on Christmas."  Why wage a war on Christmas?  Is the birth of Jesus really that scary?  Yes, it is.  In fact, whether we would admit it or not, each of us, whether privately or publicly, at one time or another, has waged a "war on Christmas."

Sometimes it's as subtle as Clark Griswold at the end of the film Christmas Vacation.  While staring at what he thinks is the Christmas star, with the typical Hollywood drivel, Clark declares, "That's all that matters tonight.  It's not bonuses or gifts or turkeys or trees.  You see, kids, it means something different to everybody; now I know what it means to me."  The moment is supposed to warm our hearts, but instead it's just another lie about Christmas.

"We lie about Christmas because the real meaning and message of Christmas make us confront a frightening truth.  Christmas means one thing and one thing only.  As C.S. Lewis put it, Christmas is the story of how the rightful king has landed.

"When Jesus stood before Pilate, just prior to going to his execution, the Roman governor asked Him, "Are you the king of the Jews?"  After some discussion Pilate concluded to Jesus, "You are a king, then!"  Jesus answered him: "You are right in saying I am a king.  In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world.' " . . .

Sad that we have to ask this: Is There No Longer Room in America for the Christ Child and His Family?

Trump Plans to ‘Tell the Real Facts’ About Bette Midler in Forthcoming Book

 PJ Media

Bette Midler recently made headlines for attacking the voters of West Virginia, calling them “poor, illiterate and strung out.”

“ 'What [Joe Manchin], who represents a population smaller than Brooklyn, has done to the rest of America, who wants to move forward, not backward, like his state, is horrible,” she tweeted earlier this week. “He sold us out. He wants us all to be just like his state, West Virginia. Poor, illiterate and strung out.”

"She later apologized, but that apology wasn’t good enough for Donald Trump, who vowed to “tell the real facts” about her in his forthcoming book.

douceart

“ 'Wacko Bette Midler said horrible things about the great people of West Virginia and Joe Manchin, but when I say much less offensive things about her, everybody goes wild,” Trump said in a statement. “Don’t worry, I’ll tell the real facts about her in my book. I love you, West Virginia!”

"Midler was a vocal critic of Trump during his presidency, and the two occasionally got into some public feuds. I don’t know what Trump meant by saying he’d tell “the real facts about her” in his upcoming book. I don’t doubt that Midler is like many of his Hollywood critics who once praised him before entering politics and sought him out for his financial assistance. But, for those of us anxiously awaiting to read his story of his time in the White House, we don’t need Trump’s presidential memoir to be a litany of score-settling with Hollywood liberals. We deserve something better." . . .

I've Worked with People Like Bette Midler... Yes, They Think You're Stupid

Her attack was unseemly, rude, insulting, and demeaning. Also, sadly, it was all too common within the cloistered, sheltered, and privileged ranks of the entertainment elite. 

Bette Midler mocks Rush Limbaugh with KKK comparison less than a week after his death   ..." '#RushLimbaugh has gone to his reward.  Bet it’s hot," she wrote."...

 Bette Midler Mocked For Calling West Virginians “Poor, Illiterate and Strung Out”  "One of the few things Democrats are really good at is concealing their deep contempt for working-class Americans behind what independent journalist Glenn Greenwald appropriately called a “thin veneer of condescending intellectual compassion.” But every once in a while they let the masks slip, and the ugliness that is revealed as a result can sometimes end up backfiring spectacularly."

How much do you wanna bet @BetteMidler has a “Hate Has No Home Here” sign in her yard? https://t.co/YWYj2LVARc  — Adele Scalia (@AdeleScalia) December 21, 2021

 

Lefty pols get a lesson in what 'defund the police' means

Let them lie in the bed they made for all of us. 

Tony Branco

Monica Showalter  "It's pretty amazing when leftists have to live with the results of their own decisions.

"Deep-blue San Francisco's descent into violent crime and chaos following its voters' choices to elect officials on platforms to "defund the police" is Exhibit A.

"But for the political perpetrators of these imposed anti-police agendas, it doesn't usually happen.  They are, after all, a nomenklatura of sorts, and membership has its privileges.

"But for two leftist politicos who unleashed "defund the police" on the public, the result was so big that they couldn't escape it.  They got what they voted for, "good and hard," as H.L. Mencken put it. 

"Here's a pair of Democrats who found themselves helpless victims of violent crimes brought on by defunding the police, according to Fox News:

Judge calls vax mandate a ruse

Don Surber

Bush 41 nominated a good man when he nominated Merryday in 1991. A Democrat Senate confirmed him. That was 30 years ago when Biden wasn't playing hardball and Democrats weren't as nuts.

"Judge Steven Douglas Merryday shot down Biden's vax mandate for federal contractors in Florida. He issued an injunction preventing its enforcement. The battle is between the federal and state government over who has the authority to handle a public health emergency.

"In his injunction, Merryday questioned the premise on which Biden based this particular mandate." . . .

‘Shame on ya, padre’: CNN’s Father Edward Beck argues that the unvaccinated should stay out of church — and then keeps digging  . . ."Those who have not been vaccinated against COVID have effectively become the modern-day lepers. You’ve got people like David Frum and Rex Chapman out there arguing that the unvaccinated are basically asking to get sick and thus don’t deserve to be treated if they go to a hospital seeking treatment for illness (or, at best, the unvaccinated should automatically be put at the back of the treatment line).

"Father Beck’s argument isn’t as cold as that, but if you replace “hospital” with “church,” his argument is essentially the same: the unvaccinated have no dignity." . . .

Biden To The Unvaccinated: Drop Dead  . . ."Just in time for Christmas, the ghoulish Biden executive branch has cranked up a climate of fear that in the blue regions has been overheating for months. This is no way to encourage the unvaccinated to get the shot. Stoking anxiety and “othering” people, treating them as lepers, is mean, cheap, not in any way American – and quite clearly part of the Democrats’ agenda.

"Make no mistake. Democrats, who want voters to believe theirs is the party of diversity, want to divide America. They want Americans charging for each others’ throats so they can play the role of savior: “We’re the only ones who can bring America together, so give us more money and power and we’ll fix this broken country.' ”. . .

Oklahoma Man Pleads Guilty to Misdemeanor for Taking Nancy Pelosi’s Beer on January 6 — Will Serve 6 Months in Federal Prison for the Crime

American Gulag  "An Oklahoma man pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor after taking one of  Nancy Pelosi’s beers from her office on January 6.

"Andrew Craig Ericson, 24, pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. Prosecutors will drop three related misdemeanor charges in exchange for his plea. Ericson said in a signed statement that he is pleading guilty because he is in fact guilty.

"He will face six months in federal prison and a $5,000 fine after he was tipped off to the FBI by someone who had known him since high school.

"Six months in prison for one beer? 

"Ericson posted a photo of himself on Snapchat while sitting comfortably with his feet on a table at Pelosi’s conference room and taking a beer out of a mini-refrigerator." . . .

Judge Hands Down Big Win To Gen. Flynn, Allows His Family To Sue CNN

 Conservative Brief

"A U.S. federal judge has ruled that relatives of former national security adviser Michael Flynn can move forward with a lawsuit against CNN.

"The relatives, Flynn’s brother Jack and sister-in-law Leslie, allege that CNN wrongly portrayed them as QAnon conspiracy followers, according to a report.

"Earlier this year, CNN aired a report entitled “CNN Goes Inside A Gathering of QAnon Followers.”

“ 'The report included a brief clip of Lieutenant General Michael Flynn proclaiming, ‘where we go one, we go all.’ Plaintiffs John P. (‘Jack’) and Leslie A. Flynn … are shown in the clip standing next to General Flynn,” wrote U.S. District Judge Gregory Woods, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama.

"Jack and Leslie are seeking $75 million in damages, arguing that CNN defamed them and portrayed them in a negative light.

"Politico described QAnon as a “popular online conspiracy theory that claimed elites were sexually abusing children and that former President Donald Trump was planning to declare a national emergency to strike back at the shadowy figures engaged in the abuse.' ”. . .