Truly Scrumptious
Merry Christmas.
It makes me happy to say how much I appreciate the support so many Wide World of News readers have extended to me in 2021.
The financial backing with voluntary paid subscriptions and contributions is wonderful, but what I mean here are the countless emails I get regularly from many of you, filled with generous encouragement for my daily missives, and for the effort required to put them together.
The kindness embedded in the relationships WWoN has created between me and so many of you makes my heart break into song and jig.
Thank you so much for being there each morning to read what I write, and for expressing your appreciation.
This morning, the first five readers who purchase paid yearly subscriptions will have the option of scheduling a 25-minute Zoom session with me at your convenience – for a group or one-on-one – to talk about politics, news, sports, weather, traffic, media, food, whatever you wish.
Estimated retail value: $0.00 to $25,000 (depending on what you think of any wit or/and wisdom I might possess).
Subscribe annually right now and the first five will be notified and offered the Zoom op, my gift offer back to you.
You can also show your support for my work and this newsletter by becoming a voluntary contributor by sending an email to markhalperintalk@gmail.com and arranging to give any amount of your choice.
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I’ve been consuming various news products for several hours and, not surprisingly given the holiday, there is not much news out there.
In other words, I haven’t taken the news cycle off; the news cycle is what has taken off (or, really, not taken off…)
Christmas and all.
Based in part on my long Friday night conversation with a friend who was waiting interminably and with little information in a drive-through testing line, I nominate this New York Times passage as the quintessential capture of Xmas ’21 (and, sigh, of America ’21):
Candace Forbes, 32, a nurse from Brooklyn, waited eight hours with her children, 2 and 4, and her husband, Andre Forbes, at a pop-up testing site at a Canarsie playground. She left anxiously awaiting results, as well as feeling colder and wiser from the experience.
“If they’re coming out and they have toddlers, dress them overly warm,” she advised. “If you have to bring a chair, bring a chair. If you have to bring a snack, bring a snack.”
Hanging in the air was the painful memory of similar lines in the pandemic’s early stages, when the virus was new and tests were scarce.
There’s a lot to play out over the next week, but at least some of the January questions are pretty clear:
1. Will 1/1/22-1/3/22 bring more massive flight cancellations as folks try to return home from the holidays?
2. Will K-12 be open for in-person learning?
3. Will the American COVID testing capacity be significantly more robust under Team Biden’s coming regimen?
4. What will happen to business travel, conventions, children’s birthday parties, masking and vaccine requirements, and the bowl and NFL playoff games?
5. Will the events of 1/6/22 heal the scars/scabs of 1/6/21 or inflame them?
5. Will Chuck Schumer really try to piece together a meaningless version of BBB in order to hold a meaningless show vote that will fail and also subject his vulnerable incumbents to a moment of political danger?
6. What will the State of the Union look like (assuming it is in January)?
7. Will Putin blink?
Speaking of which, per Reuters:
New satellite images captured by a private U.S. company show that Russia has continued to build up its forces in annexed Crimea and near Ukraine in recent weeks while pressing the United States for talks over security guarantees it is seeking.
Reuters could not independently verify the latest images from U.S.-based Maxar Technologies. The Kremlin reiterated on Friday that it reserves the right to move its own forces on Russian territory as it sees fit and that Western countries were carrying out provocative military manoeuvres near its borders.
Just a couple of more things and then I am going back to tying bows.
I somehow previously missed this story of extraordinary culture and personal relevance:
The New York Times obit, which brought Ms. Howes passing to my attention, starts with a bang/bang, including the last graph here with eye-opening, political details:
Sally Ann Howes, an English-born grande dame of American and British musical comedy who captivated children as Truly Scrumptious in “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” the 1968 film featuring a magic jalopy that floats and flies into fantasy adventures, died on Sunday in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. She was 91.
Her son, Andrew Hart Adler, confirmed the death, in a hospital. Ms. Howes had homes in West Palm Beach and London.
Born into show business, the daughter of a popular London comedian and his singer-actress wife, Ms. Howes was cast in her first movie at 12 and had a stage, screen and television career that spanned six decades. She starred in some 140 productions — musicals and plays in New York and London, Hollywood movies and television mini-series.
She toured Britain and America in musicals; sang at the White House for Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson; was a frequent guest on television game and talk shows; became a Barbie doll; sang operettas; and later in life lectured, made documentaries and raised funds for AIDS research and other charities.
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For all the latest news all the time, check out the 24/7 website the Walking Duck.
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Two final Xmas notes for you pertaining to the First Couple.
The Associated Press has a very Biden look at the White House’s dealing with the pandemic as it attempts to celebrate.
And there was the Christmas Eve moment when a man decided to be extraordinarily disrespectful and use his holiday access to Joe and Jill Biden to drop in a “Let’s go, Brandon!”
It breaks my heart that someone would do that under those circumstances.
Also bothering me about this incident, for very different reasons: The president’s reaction and the failure of the Dominant Media to write about what happened (and how) in a case of something clearly newsworthy.
All very unfortunate at a moment when we should all be determined to extend The Presumption of Grace and good cheer all around.
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My spideysense says there is some major news that is going to break on this Christmas Day, so I’m going to press “send” before the stuff hits the holiday fan.
Here’s one of my favorite holiday videos of all time, and not just because of the campy acting by Crosby and Bowie:
And, while the original is a classic, you can’t go wrong with the Will Ferrell/John C. Reilly remake:
Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good day.
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