REALITYCHEX.COM - Constant Comments - Worst Christmas Songs 2014 Edition

The Ledes

Thursday, July 3, 2025

CNBC: “Job growth proved better than expected in June, as the labor market showed surprising resilience and likely taking a July interest rate cut off the table. Nonfarm payrolls increased a seasonally adjusted 147,000 for the month, higher than the estimate for 110,000 and just above the upwardly revised 144,000 in May, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday. April’s tally also saw a small upward revision, now at 158,000 following an 11,000 increase.... Though the jobless rates fell [to 4.1%], it was due largely to a decrease in those working or looking for jobs.”

Washington Post: “A warehouse storing fireworks in Northern California exploded on Tuesday, leaving seven people missing and two injured as explosions continued into Wednesday evening, officials said. Dramatic video footage captured by KCRA 3 News, a Sacramento broadcaster, showed smoke pouring from the building’s roof before a massive explosion created a fireball that seemed to engulf much of the warehouse, accompanied by an echoing boom. Hundreds of fireworks appeared to be going off and were sparkling within the smoke. Photos of the aftermath showed multiple destroyed buildings and a large area covered in gray ash.” ~~~

The Wires

The Ledes

Wednesday, July 2, 2025

New York Times: “The Rev. Jimmy Swaggart, who emerged from the backwoods of Louisiana to become a television evangelist with global reach, preaching about an eternal struggle between good and evil and warning of the temptations of the flesh, a theme that played out in his own life in a sex scandal, died on July 1. He was 90.” ~~~

~~~ For another sort of obituary, see Akhilleus' commentary near the end of yesterday's thread.

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New York Times: “The New York Times Company has agreed to license its editorial content to Amazon for use in the tech giant’s artificial intelligence platforms, the company said on Thursday. The multiyear agreement 'will bring Times editorial content to a variety of Amazon customer experiences,' the news organization said in a statement. Besides news articles, the agreement encompasses material from NYT Cooking, The Times’s food and recipe site, and The Athletic, which focuses on sports. This is The Times’s first licensing arrangement with a focus on generative A.I. technology. In 2023, The Times sued OpenAI and its partner, Microsoft, for copyright infringement, accusing the tech companies of using millions of articles published by The Times to train automated chatbots without any kind of compensation. OpenAI and Microsoft have rejected those accusations.” ~~~

~~~ Marie: I have no idea what this means for "the Amazon customer experience." Does it mean that if I don't have a NYT subscription but do have Amazon Prime I can read NYT content? And where, exactly, would I find that content? I don't know. I don't know.

Washington Post reporters asked three AI image generators what a beautiful woman looks like. "The Post found that they steer users toward a startlingly narrow vision of attractiveness. Prompted to show a 'beautiful woman,' all three tools generated thin women, without exception.... Her body looks like Barbie — slim hips, impossible waist, round breasts.... Just 2 percent of the images showed visible signs of aging. More than a third of the images had medium skin tones. But only nine percent had dark skin tones. Asked to show 'normal women,' the tools produced images that remained overwhelmingly thin.... However bias originates, The Post’s analysis found that popular image tools struggle to render realistic images of women outside the Western ideal." ~~~

~~~ Marie: The reporters seem to think they are calling out the AI programs for being unrealistic. But there's a lot about the "beautiful women" images they miss. I find these omissions remarkably sexist. For one thing, the reporters seem to think AI is a magical "thing" that self-generates. It isn't. It's programmed. It's programmed by boys, many of them incels who have little or no experience or insights beyond comic books and Internet porn of how to gauge female "beauty." As a result, the AI-generated women look like cartoons; that is, a lot like an air-brushed photo of Kristi Noem: globs of every kind of dark eye makeup, Scandinavian nose, Botox lips, slathered-on skin concealer/toner/etc. makeup, long dark hair and the aforementioned impossible Barbie body shape, including huge, round plastic breasts.

New York Times: “George Clooney’s Broadway debut, 'Good Night, and Good Luck,' has been one of the sensations of the 2024-25 theater season, breaking box office records and drawing packed houses of audiences eager to see the popular movie star in a timely drama about the importance of an independent press. Now the play will become much more widely available: CNN is planning a live broadcast of the penultimate performance, on June 7 at 7 p.m. Eastern. The performance will be preceded and followed by coverage of, and discussion about, the show and the state of journalism.”

No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land. -- Magna Carta ~~~

~~~ New York Times: “Bought for $27.50 after World War II, the faint, water stained manuscript in the library of Harvard Law School had attracted relatively little attention since it arrived there in 1946. That is about to change. Two British academics, one of whom happened on the manuscript by chance, have discovered that it is an original 1300 version — not a copy, as long thought — of Magna Carta, the medieval document that helped establish some of the world’s most cherished liberties. It is one of just seven such documents from that date still in existence.... A 710-year-old version of Magna Carta was sold in 2007 for $21.3 million.... First issued in 1215, it put into writing a set of concessions won by rebellious barons from a recalcitrant King John of England — or Bad King John, as he became known in folklore. He later revoked the charter, but his son, Henry III, issued amended versions, the last one in 1225, and Henry’s son, Edward I, in turn confirmed the 1225 version in 1297 and again in 1300.”

Page Links

Wednesday

Dec242014

Worst Christmas Songs 2014 Edition

Defunct videos removed.

This year's effort is dedicated to the Grand Old Party.

Note: You may have to call up Reality Chex in Google Chrome to capture all the videos. In Firefox, I get a number of black boxes.

In this horrible original song, Stephen Colbert captures the GOP Christmas spirit:

December 2011:

Okay, sentiment aside, this is truly awful. I guess we shouldn't be surprised that Justin Bieber can't sing:

You have to give the First Family credit for sitting through this:

For some reason Maura Sullivan thinks "Christmas Eve in Washington" is wonderful. Her lyrics don't mention maybe that's because Congress is adjourned:

Apparently you have not won the "War on Christmas," Gen. Bill O'Reilly. Here's video, via the Epic Times, of a WalMart manager in Klamath Falls, Oregon, earlier this month threatening to call the cops on kids singing Christmas carols in the store.

"Eight Days of Hannukah," lyrics by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah):

Not exactly a Christmas carol, but still a classic: Nixon Piano Concerto No. 1:

I suspect this is the most popular Christmas flash mob evah -- performers sing Handel's Hallelujah Chorus from "The Messiah" at a U.S. shopping mall:

I'm partial to this Spanish mob, performing the Ode to Joy from Beethoven's 9th, sponsored by Banc Sabadell:

This is as flash-mobby as the Air Force gets. "The USAF Band Holiday Flash Mob 2014 at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum":

Merry Christmas, Everyone. Or whatever. Thank you for your continued readership. And a hearty Ho Ho Ho to contributors; no lumps of coal for you. -- Constant Weader

News Ledes -- December 25

USA Today: "Online game networks Xbox Live and PlayStation Network have been offline much of Christmas Day in an apparent DDos (distributed denial of service) attack. Taking credit for the takedown: a group called Lizard Squad, which previously claimed credit for August attacks on the PlayStation Network and online games World of Warcraft and League of Legends."

New York Post: "JetBlue airlines said Wednesday it will be offering free flights to police officers from around the country who wish to attend the funerals for the two slain NYPD cops killed over the weekend. The airline said it will allow up to two cops from each department to fly at no charge from anywhere across its route network to New York City."

Atlantic: "Russian President Vladimir Putin cancelled the extended New Year holiday for government ministers because of the ongoing financial crisis, informing the agencies they must work to help strengthen the economy and take protectionary measures in the face of a combination of governmental mismanagement, dropping oil prices, and economic sanctions that have caused considerable panic in Moscow in recent weeks."

AP: "Russia on Thursday offered sympathy to North Korea amid the Sony hacking scandal, saying the movie that sparked the dispute was so scandalous that Pyongyang's anger was 'quite understandable.'"

Weather Channel: "Winter Storm Eris will virtually guarantee a white Christmas in the Rockies, and not just over the higher elevations. Eris,(air-is; from Greek mythology: the goddess of discord) will bring snow to some valley floors of the Northwest, Great Basin and Rockies in time for the Christmas holiday. Parts of the Plains and Upper Midwest will also likely see a fresh blanket of mainly light snow from this system."

AP: "Former President George H.W. Bush will remain hospitalized through Christmas Day after experiencing shortness of breath two days ago."

AP: "Demonstrators took to the streets for a second night after a white police officer in Berkeley, Missouri, killed a black 18-year-old who police said pointed a gun at him." ...

... St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "By 7 a.m. Wednesday, police released surveillance footage showing the men approaching the police cruiser as soon as it pulls onto the lot. [Antonio] Martin can be seen walking away from the officer several times after the officer gets out of his car to talk to the men. Martin then turns toward the officer and appears to be pointing a gun at him. The officer fires and stumbles to the ground as he tries to back away." The three surveillance videos are here.

Washington Post: "Researchers studying Ebola in a highly secure laboratory mistakenly allowed potentially lethal samples of the virus to be handled in a much less secure laboratory at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, agency officials said Wednesday. One technician in the second laboratory may have been exposed to the virus and about a dozen other people have been assessed after entering the facility unaware that potentially hazardous samples of Ebola had been handled there."

AFP: "Pope Francis led Christmas Eve mass in the Vatican calling for 'tenderness' and 'warmth' after a violence-plagued year as millions of Christians began marking the holiday. The Argentine pontiff's brief homily was replete with Gospel references in his Christmas Eve mass, broadcast live in 3D for the first time."

Times of Israel: "A five-year-old Palestinian boy was severely injured when he was hit in the face by a rubber-coated bullet shot by Israeli troops Wednesday, Palestinian media reported."

Here's Google's announcement that the film "The Interview" is now available on Google Play & YouTube Movies. So, in the spirit of the season, you can gather your family around the teevee to watch Kim Jong-Il's head explode. Sweet. ...

... And on your Xbox, too.

Emperor, No. Princess, Yes. Politico: "White House photographer Pete Souza shared a photo on Instagram on Wednesday of the president donning a tiara with a group of Girl Scouts from the White House Science Fair earlier this year in May. In the caption, Souza wrote the girls from Tulsa 'convinced' Obama to join in on the fun."

At a Toys for Tots event, the Big Elf "breaks down gender stereotypes":

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Reader Comments (5)

Thanks for the links, Marie, and a merry to you and all who check in here,

My favorite xmas toon (pun intended), however, is a tad secular: The Drifters’ White Christmas.

December 24, 2014 |

James Singer

@James Singer. I love that one, too. Leon Redbone does okay by "White Christmas," too. And I always disliked "Frosty the Snowman" till this.

Marie

December 24, 2014 |

Marie Burns

For several years I've recommended to friends (though I think for the most part that they've ignored me) that one of the best Christmas films to watch is the French "Joyeux Noel". It was one that I liked so much after my first Netflix view that I purchased the DVD. (Not available in Netflix streaming to my knowledge).

Then this morning just browsing through several Web sites, spotted this story on the BBC, which provides a background story for the film of which I wasn't fully aware.

"How France has forgotten the Christmas truce soldiers" http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-30433729

It's my annual go to view around Christmas, just as "Babette's Feast" is my New Year's Eve tradition!

Merry, merry celebrations to RC readers one & all, with a special extra toast of cheer and good fortune in 2015 to the one-and-only Constant Weader, who keeps us informed, challenged, and amused throughout the year!

P.S. No problem with my Firefox browser to view above videos.

December 25, 2014 |

MAG

@MAG: looks like Amazon prime is streaming "Joyeux Noel." It's not on Hulu prime, YouTube or Netflix streaming. I don't have Amazon prime (tho I could sign up for a free trial). I watched 7 pirated parts of the movie (minus Parts 2 & 9, which Sony has blocked).

I think I'll watch John Huston's "The Dead," such an uplifting Christmas movie (ha!). And it is available on YouTube for 3 bucks.

Marie

December 25, 2014 |

Marie Burns

I've seen that flashmob "Ode to Joy" before. It's wonderful. I have had it bookmarked for some time. It ought to be retitled, however: "Ode to the Joy of Young Children." A delightful and delighted audience!

December 25, 2014 |

James Singer

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