"The notion that CO2 is pollution is absolutely preposterous... The idea that [it's] going to destroy the planet or change the temperature of the Earth is totally ludicrous." "But from a totalitarian perspective, if you can convince people that CO2 is pollution, there's no human activity that doesn't result in CO2 emissions.." [dri]

Just to amplify the last entry: We started paying for pay-TV services so that we would not have to watch commercials, and could watch the original uncensored versions of movies.
Amazon and many other pay TV services now force you to watch commercials unless you pay even higher monthly fees, and now we're back to watching the same censored versions of movies we used to see on TBS.

Vandals: Amazon Prime cuts the key scenes in It's a Wonderful Life of George Bailey contemplating suicide
The whole plot of the movie concerns an angel's intervention, showing George what everyone's life would be like without him in it. If you cut the scenes of him thinking about exiting his life, then what is even the point of the movie?
Remember when we naively thought that Bezos and Amazon were generally on the right side of things? How absurd we were.
I re-watched The Name of the Rose this past year on Amazon and noticed that the semi-important scene of Christian Slater's character losing his virginity to a peasant girl were cut out. My thought was that Amazon must be using a cut of the movie shown on TV or something. I don't know if Amazon is aware it is running censored content, or if they're demanding these cuts, or seeking out versions of the film that remove politically-sensitive material. Whatever the reason, they should be ashamed and run the actual movies again. What is the point of any communications platform that engages in censorship?

Via Black Orchid, Nichole Shanahan's thoughts on the tech/H-1B debate
It is nice that we are actually permitted to debate actual policy questions again. You know, like the right guaranteed to Americans in the Constitution as our inalienable birthright, which we had until the past ten years of authoritarian tyranny by the Deep State and intelligence services.

The secret symbiosis between rap and yacht rock

The sexy cover of "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" you never knew you needed

Mash-Up: "Baby It's Cold Outside" mixed with one of the Horde's favorite songs

All I want for Christmas is more leftwing fruitcake cope videos
BTW I cued up that video after he played the Don LeMon "Elon is really president" video. I figured you saw that in a prior post. But if you don't read my posts, just go back a couple of minutes to see it.

You probably didn't know this, but Norm MacDonald was a passionate ventriloquist and loved his dolls like they were his own children
Except for his crusty "old man" puppet, who was a vicious racist

American Airlines grounds all flights due to a technical glitch, then resumes flights -- but almost every flight features serious delays
Sorry, traveling morons, but your holiday journeys will be an even bigger source of aggravation than you were expecting

Trump covers hit song "APT" by Bruno Mars and Rose [dri]

Critical Drinker: The Most Netflix Movie of All Time

Podcast: Merry Christmas! CBD and J.J. Sefton Chat about the budget mess, Israel's new resolve, Foggy Bottom being unfixable, and more!

Reacting to leftwing Karen Cope videos
Apparently they have two main copes: 1, Trump will not take office, due to "structural collapse" or a military coup against him, and 2, all Trump voters are crying because we already regret our votes. The first revelation: "Shady" (J.D.) Vance has turned "state's evidence" against Trump and he will be arrested and tried before the inauguration. Source: "a post by Kathy." Well! I didn't know you were in contact with Kathy! This changes everything!
Also, much of this "news" is provided either by "the spirits" or "ChatGPT," or one of these sources confirming the other.
Reviewing more cope videos
"After the Holocaust..."

Public Health Officials Suggest Mystery Disease in Congo Could be Malaria
Ya think? And it is far past the time when we should have brought back DDT. [CBD]

"DOGE Days" reality game show (AI Parody)
thanks to zombie

Guinness stocks run dry as pubs forced to ration pints
It is the End Times! [CBD]

Departing conspiracy theorist and "Squad" Congressman Jamaal Bowman: It wasn't pulling the fire alarm that got me kicked out of Congress, it was opposing the Israel lobby

JD Vance invites Daniel Penny to Trump's suite at the Army-Navy game

Podcast: Sefton and CBD are joined by Legal Insurrection's Leslie Eastman. We discuss the lab breach in Australia, Scientific American's lunacy, Volcanoes, The state of scientific communication, and more!