Taking in some culture tonight

In which a reader notes the absence of Triumph of the Will, then adds, "Do I have to note parenthetically I don't approve of the message?": pajamaguy.blogspot.com/2025/12/hoov...

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People think this means he doesn't know those guys' backgrounds, but it is possible that he just really hates their Christmas special.

"...stern warnings against 'globalist contamination' from politicians who grew up eating industrial panettone and Kraft slices in school sandwiches..."

The tree's still up at the mall

"Boorishness commands attention, and boors mistake attention for leverage. Pseudo-martyrdom becomes an end in itself. Loyalty tests proliferate..."

"'We played Memphis the night Elvis died,' he said. 'Jerry Lee Lewis climbed up onstage, drunk as fuck, and said, 'I'm the King now.'' Lewis tried to sit down next to Bobbie at the piano. His bodyguard flashed a gun. From behind the drum kit, Paul English flashed his."

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Brings new meaning to the phrase "war on Christmas"

I'm not sure if this is canonical. Also, if this is canonical.

Reader reaction: "I think every one of these is a quality film (even the low budget ones). My only difference is in what order I'd rank them..." pajamaguy.blogspot.com/2025/12/happ...

My new Christmas tradition is reminding people of what might be the worst sentence in the history of music criticism.

"...the cheesy ones, the sentimental ones, the ones where the girl from the big city goes home for the holidays, rediscovers the true meaning of something vaguely defined, and somehow ends up owning a toy factory or small vineyard..."

My brother got me this book...I'm not sure the inscription is legit.

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Time has passed, the novel has become familiar, and the definitive versions of the classic Christmas songs are now the Motown ones.

New genre just dropped

"A Brief History of AI Psychosis": a short story

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I appear here in one of my favorite social roles: an anonymous husband

Homeland Security spokesperson thinks that recording or following law enforcement "sure sounds like obstruction of justice"

SCOOP: Flock left at least 60 of its AI-powered, people-tracking surveillance cameras exposed and livestreaming to the open internet. We tracked ourselves. The exposure highlights the power of these cameras and types of things they're tracking. Not just cars. www.404media.co/flock-expose...

"Looking at this list, it reminds me that in the 50s Hollywood was way behind the best of the rest of the world..." pajamaguy.blogspot.com/2025/12/ike-...

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Going back to the '80s to tell people that one day there will be not just an "Edwin Meese III Institute for the Rule of Law" but a competition over who gets to have it.

The Weiss memo on the 60 Minutes story. The first point misses the difference between a network audience and the NYT audience, the second amounts to "ask again," the third is tendentious, and the fourth is another "ask again." The fifth might be legit; it's hard to tell without seeing the report.

"We see little reason to hope that the world's poorest countries will fare well in this new era of political and economic nationalism. A falling tide is unlikely to lift the flimsiest boats."

It might be fun to revisit this year-old conversation and see how close my speculations about Trump 2.0 came to reality. Might be humbling too.

"beer that's also a vaccine"

"Activists create and distribute thousands of 3D-printed whistles, and their piercing cries are used to signal that immigration agents are nearby. Caravans of protesters follow agents around, raising the alarm as they drive through the streets..."

"The errors were part of a broader pattern of unprecedented prosecutorial missteps, resulting in a 21% dismissal rate of the DC US Attorney's office's criminal complaints over eight weeks, compared to a mere 0.5% dismissal rate over the prior 10 years..."

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Gotta look into whether any of the abused detainees had preexisting conditions.

"'It's definitely me, but no idea how I got there,' he said of his cameo, adding that he was only alerted to the issue after receiving messages about it. 'Had I known I would be on the White House page I would probably have dressed a little differently.'"

Reader reaction: "Minute for minute, A Game With Stones and Time Piece may be the two best films on this list, but they're both shorts so shouldn't be here." pajamaguy.blogspot.com/2025/12/beat...

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"from Isaac Asimov to Anaïs Nin and Kazuo Ishiguro to Margaret Atwood...the Poetry Center has digitized audio recordings of its literary events stretching back to 1949"

"A man from the future steps out of a shimmering portal and informs you this president will put in place a naval blockade of socialist Venezuela. You immediately log onto a novel website called a prediction market and bet your entire savings on Marco Rubio."

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"Iván Moure Pazos tours the psychedelic chambers of Rochetta Mattei, optimised for electrohomeopathic healing, and Castello di Sammezzano, an immersive, orientalist fever dream..."

The Hunt-Helms race of '84 was the first nonpresidential election to get my attention. The mudslinging TV ads were so hilarious that my Boy Scout troop did skits that parodied them—surely a rare level of cultural penetration for a Senate campaign.

Kevin Carson's take on my article about Karl Hess and John McClaughry

A reply: "Never seen Fox And His Friends. Fassbinder sure made a lot of films in his short life. I wonder how often this one is confused with Fox & Friends?" (More here: pajamaguy.blogspot.com/2025/12/gas-...)

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Woodstock, YIMBY

The TikTok shakedown nears completion

"Not all journalistic malfeasance is created equal. There are plenty of shades of grey. But making up medical details is not in the gray zone. It's malpractice."

To paraphrase Josiah Warren, it is best not to understand things too quickly: www.wpri.com/target-12/po...

"likewise, congratulations to President Kennedy"