Christmastime all over the world

 Gaie Delap, a 77-year-old environmental activist from Bristol, England, will be spending Christmas in prison.  She was jailed last summer for taking part in Just Stop Oil protests in 2022 and was given home release last month.  But the private company which provides security could not attach an ankle monitor because of a medical condition and was unable to find one small enough for her wrist.  Her offense was helping to disrupt traffic on the M25, the motorway which circles London.  Drivers were inconvenienced but nobody was hurt or killed.  Delap is only one of many climate activists in prison -- Anna Holland shared her experience with the Guardian.

When a Saudi man drove a car into the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, killing five people and injuring hundreds, Elon Musk immediately proclaimed him an "Islamist."  It appears that America's unelected ruler jumped the gun:  he's a 50-year-old doctor who turned against Islam and expressed views remarkably similar to Musk's own, including support for AfD ("Only the AfD can save Germany," according to the South African carmaker).  Saudi authorities had warned the Germans about him.  According to an expert on terrorism the doctor, identified as Taleb A, "wants to punish Germany for its tolerance to Islamists."  It seems the world's richest life-form can be spectacularly wrong.

Funding for pediatric cancer research known as the Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act 2.0 was part of the continuing resolution to fund the government, but was removed after objections from Trump and his controller Musk.  Last night the Senate unanimously passed it anyway despite opposition from Rand Paul.  Then the House passed a CR that doesn't include the $5 trillion debt ceiling addition that Trusk wanted.  (I'm calling them that until one of them dies or goes away.)

Two weeks ago Anderson Express of Muskegon, Michigan, hired Nathan Mahoney and planned to train him for a high position.  That's probably not happening as Mahoney was arrested for stabbing company president Erik Denslow, who's in stable condition at a hospital.  This would be a local story except for the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.  Now it's another reason for executives to feel uneasy.  (Anderson makes casts of tools and prototypes, which doesn't seem "parasitic," to use Luigi Mangione's word.)

Trump underling Chris LaCivita has described Peter Mandelson, Britain's new ambassador to the US, as a "moron" because he once called Trump "little short of a white nationalist."  Nobody insults Trump like that -- he's a full-on white nationalist.  Also a "bully," as Lord Mandelson said in 2018.  LaCivita should be careful of throwing around words like "moron" after Trump appointed Herschel "I'd rather be a werewolf than a vampire" Walker ambassador to the Bahamas.  

Walker may not be the bottom of Trusk's diplomatic barrel.  Nor Kimberly Guilfoyle, who called Greeks "freeloaders" who should be punished "like when a dog pees on the rug."  (They offended her by turning down a bailout from the EU in 2015.)  Step aside for Brian Burch, rightwing critic of Pope Francis and your new ambassador to the Vatican.  Burch hated the pope's decision to allow the blessing of same-sex couples, and he's worried the church is cooperating with FBI spying on "'Latin mass' communities."  Like that of Richard Williamson, the Holocaust-denying bishop in Texas.

Here's something Burch, the father of nine, could support:  Not only does Russia promote childbearing as its birthrate continues to drop, but it's now a crime to express negative views about it.  I guess they can't kidnap enough Ukrainian children to keep those wide-open spaces populated.  What's the good of having the world's biggest country if life is so hard, your people don't want to raise families?

Nancy Mace can cross Wesley Donehue off her card list.  He's been lighting up Xitter with posts like "I fired Mace as a client a few months back because I'm a political consultant and not a babysitter, a sex therapist or a doctor who can prescribe fixes for chemical imbalances.  I don't have time for her constant egotistical bullshit and drama in my life."  And a happy new year!  The snit began when former Rep. Trey Gowdy criticized Mace for voting against the Trusk spending bill, leading her to snarl, "Which bathroom do we think Trey Gowdy uses?"  It's her only theme, like Hannity obsessing about tampons.

I don't want to read another word about the left's "War on Christmas" after Chris Plante of Newsmax told The Right Squad, "I live in Washington, DC, and I work in Washington, DC.  I always enjoy a government shutdown no matter the time of year, but Christmas makes it especially nice, I think."  If he was being sarcastic, his Squad missed the joke.  Try winking, Chris.  

Eighteen years after being recommended for "meritorious service" in Afghanistan, Governor Wes Moore of Maryland finally got his Bronze Star.  This time General Michael R. Fenzel wasn't taking any chances -- he personally walked the paperwork through the process.  Merry Christmas, Governor.