Open thread 12/1/23
You’ve got to be kidding me – December already?
Then again, Christmas stuff has been displayed in the stores since right after Halloween.
You’ve got to be kidding me – December already?
Then again, Christmas stuff has been displayed in the stores since right after Halloween.
NO. You got that wrong. The local Costco store started putting up some Christmas stuff while they were waiting for the end of Halloween!
I remember it well!
I’ve seen Halloween stuff in local stores start appearing as early as mid August. And Thanksgiving stuff (not that there’s typically much decoration for Thanksgiving) in mid September. And I swear I’ve seen some Christmas stuff as early as the beginning of October. I’ve seen “Black Friday” flyers and promotional material as early as mid August.
In the retail world time gets compressed in Q4. It’s like some sort of temporal anomaly out of Star Trek or Doctor Who, blending descrete events into some sort of all encompassing purgatorial Holiday Season.
I think retailers were/are expecting a very bad sales year so they were getting stuff out sooner hoping that the longer time frame would help sales.
I was actually shocked this morning. I’ve been working on stuff (and watching a couple movies) for the last few and I hadn’t realized the calendar had flipped.
As far as roll-over stuff, I just hope eggnog is still available two weeks from now. I got most but not all I need for the coming year for coffee.
I love this song . ” Way Maker”. This is You Tube, so the adds may have nothing to do with the song. Noticed that the Mormons are running adds in front of non Mormon Christian groups songs. That Mormon Glenn Beck , whom I really like politically, is part of a sneaky crowd. Ha !
https://youtu.be/iJCV_2H9xD0?si=Z3bePqrRpLX2IVw8
Elon Musk tells major corporations to obscenity themselves!
_______________________________________
Elon Musk is sharing his thoughts on advertisers pulling their ads from X.
The Tesla CEO, 52, sent a strong message at the 2023 DealBook Summit in New York on Wednesday after several companies, including Disney, recently pulled their advertisements from X, formerly known as Twitter, due to antisemitic posts he amplified on the platform.
Musk’s response to the companies: “Don’t advertise.”
“If somebody’s going to try to blackmail me with advertising? Blackmail me with money? Go f— yourself. Go. F—. Yourself. Is that clear? I hope it is,” he continued.
https://people.com/elon-musk-tells-disney-other-advertisers-go-f-yourself-8408395
_______________________________________
Keep in mind that Big People are in the audience. Such as Bob Iger:
_______________________________________
The tech CEO then appeared to call out Disney CEO Bob Iger in particular, saying, “Hey Bob, if you’re here in the audience.” He then added, “That’s how I feel.”
_______________________________________
The government-media-complex is rather nakedly trying to take Musk out.
The background to this story is that a few weeks ago Media Matters scammed up a collection of screenshots showing corporate ads juxtaposed with anti-Semitic tweets.
Musk saw this as a direct, existential threat to his company, X, formerly known as Twitter. Hence his declaration of going “thermonuclear” on Media Matters via a lawsuit.
Now, in Stage 2, all these big corps are pulling their ads from X. Hence, Musk’s blunt profane outrage.
It’s fun to watch the talking head jaws drop as Musk drops his F-bombs:
–“Drinker’s Chasers – Elon Nukes Bob Iger From Orbit”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HvI5cprxSE
Go, Elon, go!
Sadly for me as a Peter Zeihan fan, PZ just dropped a disgraceful video:
–Peter Zeihan, “Why I’m Done With Twitter (or ‘X’ or whatever you call it)”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kwtVbM5o-o
I question the timing!
Costco started putting out Christmas stuff before college football season started.
What really annoys me is “Christmas music” in grocery stores. (1) It’s not even Advent yet. (2) The stores are afraid to play religious-themed Christmas music, so they’re running a new genre of modern seasonal music which is bland, entirely unrelated to the Christian holiday, and often awful musically. I may begin carrying ear plugs with me.
Kate, that reminds me, I had said to myself a year or so ago that I would try not to go for groceries at certain stores when the “holiday” music was on their speakers. But now that I think about it, I haven’t heard any such in those places yet. It makes me wonder – has Price Chopper turned off its music completely?!
Say what
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/federal-appeals-court-finds-trump-not-entitled-presidential-immunity-j-rcna127602
https://twitter.com/CollinRugg/status/1730727638283772336
The stores are afraid to play religious-themed Christmas music, so they’re running a new genre of modern seasonal music which is bland, entirely unrelated to the Christian holiday, and often awful musically.
Kate:
I get you, but I would offer two favorite not-really-Christian Christmas songs which I won’t stop loving:
–Frank Sinatra, “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (Remastered 1999)”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvA7-EjaSPI
–Mel Tormé. “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire)”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiT1lZ6pkK4
I’m sure you understand.
huxley,
I tried to watch the Zeihan video. Couldn’t get through it, but in the 20 or so seconds I did see fast forwarding; I’m not impressed with his reasoning. I’m glad Musk is calling the media and big corporations out. Ace, Babylon Bee, Libs of Tik Tok and many others have been pointing out the rank hypocrisy of the companies pulling their advertising.
Now that media megaliths* no longer have the monopoly they had, their nefarious narrative shaping is more and more transparent. They don’t seem to want to voluntarily relinquish their power and control.
We live in interesting times.
*I should have wrote, “Nattering nabobs of negativism” to continue the alliteration in the latter part of the sentence, but that seems too obvious to an erudite audience like this one.
Kate et alia,
Regarding holiday music; I’m a big fan of Christian Carols (“God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” is my favorite), but some of the secular stuff is great too and some of my absolute favorites were written by Jews. I think Kenny G still holds the record for biggest selling Christmas album.
Christmas Joy can come from many sources.
Rufus, I haven’t heard that nabob comment in a LONG time. Spiro Agnew, cough, cough
I’m not impressed with his reasoning
Rufus:
Zeihan didn’t offer much beyond agreeing with the MSM talking points.
_______________________________________
It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.
–Upton Sinclair
_______________________________________
It’s a problem.
My favorite Christmas music is
1 Jesu, Joy Of Man’s Desiring
This version off this album
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kh_sckAUkgE
2 Carol of the Bells
Peggy Lee did some Christmas songs that should be much better known.
https://youtu.be/N3sYcLqN0kU?si=bnt8kLLNoEqcfdV7
Hawaii’s Christmas anthem.
Willie K’s English/Hawaiian version of ‘O Holy Night’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbfhS3FjCNE
You hear it everywhere and never get tired of it.
Having said that, I really dislike the commercialization of Christmas and when I am Queen of the World, there will be no decorations or music allowed until after Thanksgiving!
@ Your Royal Highness > “when I am Queen of the World, there will be no decorations or music allowed until after Thanksgiving!”
I’ll vote for that!
Not too surprisingly, the gradual down-playing of Thanksgiving to just another excuse for bureaucrats to have a paid vacation seems to have a strong correlation with the generational loss of moral compasses.
Now TG is a back-drop for the Marxist hordes to spout their oppressor-of-the-week garbage.
Make Thanksgiving Great Again.
@ huxley > “Go, Elon, go!”
Works for me.
Also from that interview, the foundation of his tirade appears at the end (long excerpt because I enjoyed seeing him twist Sorkin’s nose):
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2023/11/30/elon_musk_lets_see_how_earth_responds_to_advertisers_trying_to_blackmail_twitter.html
John Hinderaker stands with Elon, who fesses up to committing the faux pas that triggered the faux-offended.
Sometimes brevity is the soul of misunderstanding rather than wit.
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2023/12/elon-isnt-perfect-but-hes-right.php
Hinderaker linked this post, which goes back to the X-Tweet that kicked off the entire brouhaha:
https://freebeacon.com/culture/elon-is-right-about-the-jews/
I do think it’s ironic for the Leftist minions currently parading their pro-Hamas credentials to be fauxfended that Musk “is an anti-Semite.”
Ben Shapiro, who does not shy away from calling out Jew haters, doesn’t feel that way.
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1725702681530945687
A story I missed from September, when I was still cutting back on my internet addiction. Hinderaker alluded to the ADL vs Musk situation.
https://www.jewishpress.com/news/jewish-news/antisemitism-news/live-elon-musk-ben-shapiro-jewish-leaders-meet-on-x/2023/09/28/
Lotta people at that conference who ought to know if Elon is anti-Semitic or not, and are perfectly capable of calling him out if they do.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-745296
Dershowitz: Jews shouldn’t be defending George Soros against Elon Musk – opinion
No single person has done more to damage Israel’s standing in the world, and especially among so-called progressives, than George Soros. (2023-06-06)
Too long to summarize, but Musk has been consistent about free speech, and the left hates that. The posting date is dark irony.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20022/musk-dershowitz-free-speech
Alan Dershowitz and Elon Musk on Free Speech and Anti-Semitism
by Alan M. Dershowitz October 6, 2023 at 5:00 am
There is a bit of context missing from this one. No surprise.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/nov/26/elon-musk-israel-president-isaac-herzog-benjamin-netanyahu
Elon Musk to meet Israeli president amid antisemitism accusations on X
Isaac Herzog’s office says president will emphasize the ‘need to act’ against rising anti-Jewish hate during tech billionaire’s visit
https://english.elpais.com/international/2023-11-28/elon-musk-greeted-in-israel-as-a-head-of-state-the-geopolitics-of-big-tech.html
Israelis don’t seem to be overly concerned about Elon’s admitted faux pas.
Dersh’s op-ed at the Jerusalem Post revealed something I didn’t know, which connected a lot of dots for me.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-745296
Now to see if the Left can apply its standards (cough) equitably.
https://ace.mu.nu/archives/407247.php
Libs of TikTok @libsoftiktok
4h
Literally shaking. The same day a report comes out that TikTok is the main driver of antisemitism on social media, I get a @Disney ad on TikTok.
.@RobertIger since we know you’re very concerned with your ads appearing near antisemitic content, I thought you would want to know about this.
.@mmfa feel free to reach out to me for comment when you write up this story about @Disney’s ads on TikTok urging them to stop advertising on the platform.
huxley, Rufus, if they were playing Sinatra and Tormé I wouldn’t be using my earplugs. The stuff I heard in the store yesterday was more or less tuneless, and just plain awful.
AesopFan:
Great job filling out the background to the Musk story. I like the way you bold the particularly relevant bits.
I’m not sure you ever stopped being a researcher!
So much Christmas music to choose from, but I’m partial to this song.
I’m not familiar with the group, Home Free performing, but I love harmonies and acapella and they do the song justice.
Home Free – Mary Did You Know
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Af73Qt1kkhk