616 lines
64 KiB
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616 lines
64 KiB
HTML
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Can Wall Street’s Heaviest Hitter Step Up to the Plate on Climate Change?</strong> - More significant than BlackRock executives’s pledges is the firm’s continued inclusion of fossil-fuel companies in its index funds. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-a-warming-planet/can-wall-streets-heaviest-hitter-step-up-to-the-plate-on-climate-change">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Trump Directs His Wrecking Ball at the COVID-19 Relief Bill and Mitch McConnell</strong> - After a week spent largely out of the public eye, the President reappeared with a flurry of pardons and an attack on the House Speaker’s coronavirus relief bill. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/trump-directs-his-wrecking-ball-at-the-covid-19-relief-bill-and-mitch-mcconnell">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Georgia Trump Fans Say the Last Election Was a Sham. Will They Vote in This One?</strong> - Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue are trying to placate the President and run for the Senate at the same time. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/us-journal/georgia-trump-fans-say-the-2020-election-was-a-sham-will-they-vote-in-this-one">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>As the Vaccine Arrives, Death and Denial Rage in a California Coronavirus Epicenter</strong> - In the San Joaquin Valley, medical professionals fear that many in the public still fail to grasp the dangers of COVID-19. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/science/medical-dispatch/as-the-vaccine-arrives-death-and-denial-rage-in-a-california-coronavirus-epicenter">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The New COVID-19 Relief Package Is Flawed But Essential</strong> - If Congress had done nothing, the U.S. would soon face a humanitarian disaster as well as an economic one. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-new-covid-19-relief-package-is-flawed-but-essential">link</a></p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
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<ul>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The history of Jews, Chinese food, and Christmas, explained by a rabbi</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/jgrqFmvO6V44p5Fe3Rq4GnDtACw=/445x0:7556x5333/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/62724267/GettyImages_980080036.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Getty Images
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</figcaption>
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</figure></li>
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</ul>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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In the US, Jews have been eating American Chinese food on Christmas for over 100 years.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="s93koV">
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For over a century, American Jews have eaten American Chinese food on Christmas. The annual feast is a holiday tradition that is likely to go on as usual this year, even in the midst of COVID-19 — albeit in the form of delivery or takeout.<strong> </strong>This pastime has evolved to a near-holy tradition, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGzO1ghRKp4">parodied</a> on <em>Saturday Night Live</em>, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249714266_New_York_Jews_and_Chinese_Food_The_Social_Construction_of_an_Ethnic_Pattern">analyzed</a> in academic papers, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tku61sKhPGo&feature=youtu.be&t=29s">reaffirmed</a> by Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0Wiwl9">
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Perhaps the foremost expert on the practice is Rabbi Joshua Eli Plaut, PhD, executive director of American Friends of Rabin Medical Center, rabbi of Metropolitan Synagogue in New York, and author of <a href="http://akosherchristmas.org"><em>A Kosher Christmas</em></a>, the premier (and only?) comprehensive study of what Jews do at Christmastime.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zU0Ue6">
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I spoke to Plaut about Chinese food on Christmas, and why he used to sit on Santa Claus’s lap.
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</p>
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<div class="c-float-right">
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<figure class="e-image">
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<pre><code> <img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/VlBPsAhqj7tlJ1Ga0NbabSDocCw=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/13644078/51regy_EccL._SX331_BO1_204_203_200_.jpg" /></code></pre>
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</figure>
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</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VCX9hc">
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<strong>Both Jews and Christmas have existed for a while. When did Jews first ask, “What should we do on Christmas?” </strong><br/>It has been a question for as long as Christmas has existed, because Jews have always felt like outsiders. But how they felt specifically was really a function of their status in society. In Eastern Europe, for instance, Jews were not very assimilated. Christmas was a night of possible pogroms and violence, with so many celebrants, often drunk, going from house to house. Jews did not go to the synagogue to study. They stayed at home for physical safety reasons. If they did anything, they might play cards or chess.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="U5bKG6">
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In Western Europe, after the French Revolution, Jews were more assimilated. There, they had more freedom to wonder, “Do I bring a Christmas tree into my home? Do I have a holiday meal? Do I give out gifts?” The early Zionist Theodor Herzl was a secular Jew, and he had a Christmas tree in his salon. After the Chief Rabbi of Vienna came to visit, he <a href="https://forward.com/news/israel/356767/when-theodor-herzl-lit-his-christmas-tree/">wrote something in his diary</a> like, ”I hope the Rabbi doesn’t think less of me because of this. Then again, what do I care what he thinks?”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xeTz1u">
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<strong>Okay, so tell me when eating Chinese food on Christmas first comes into the picture. Is that a Jewish-American tradition? </strong><br/>Yes. It begins at the end of the 19th century, on the Lower East Side, where Jewish and Chinese immigrants lived in close proximity. The very first mention of American Jews eating in a Chinese restaurant dates to 1899, when the American Hebrew<em> </em>journal criticized Jews for eating at non-kosher restaurants. By 1936, a publication called the East Side Chamber News reported at least 18 Chinese tea gardens and chop suey eateries in heavily-populated Jewish neighborhoods. All of these were within close walking distance of Ratner’s, which was then the most famous Jewish dairy restaurant in Manhattan.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lF15t7">
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Jews would go out for Chinese food on Sundays, when they felt left out of church lunch. It was a gradual transition from the traditional diet of Eastern Europe, to eating American Chinese food, to eating other pan-Asian cuisines, like Indian food. I like to say that, within a hundred years of arriving in New York, the average Jew was more familiar with sushi than gefilte fish.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5mDxHr">
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In the last 35 years, Chinese restaurants on Christmas have really become this sort of temporary community where Jews in the United States can gather to be with friends and family. It’s a secular way to celebrate Christmas, but it’s also a time to shut out Christmas and announce your Jewish identity in a safe environment.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ULFjt4">
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<strong>Was there any reason, beyond proximity, that Jews wound up eating Chinese food, as opposed to some other immigrant cuisine? </strong><br/>In terms of kosher law, a Chinese restaurant is a lot safer than an Italian restaurant. In Italian food, there is mixing of meat and dairy. A Chinese restaurant doesn’t mix meat and dairy, because Chinese cooking is virtually dairy-free.
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</p>
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<div class="c-float-left">
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<aside id="2m9YQC">
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<q>Within a hundred years of arriving in New York, the average Jew was more familiar with sushi than gefilte fish</q>
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</aside>
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</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7xt0gD">
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In Chinese-American cooking, if there is any pork [which is not a kosher food], it is usually concealed inside something, like a wonton. A lot of Jews back then — and even now — kept strict kosher inside the home but were more flexible with foods they ate at restaurants. Sociologist Gaye Tuchman <a href="https://qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/~hlevine/SAFE-TREYF.pdf">wrote about this practice</a>. She described [the plausible deniability of non-kosher ingredients] as <em>safe treyf. </em>[<em>Treyf</em> is the Yiddish word for non-kosher.] A lot of Jews considered the pork in Chinese food to be <em>safe treyf</em>, because they couldn’t see it. That made it easier to eat.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QHj3Lu">
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<strong>In your research for this book, did you come across anything about Chinese food and Christmas written from a Chinese-American perspective? </strong><br/>I actually found a citation from 1935, in the New York Times, about a restaurant owner named Eng Shee Chuck who brought chow mein to the Jewish Children’s Home on Christmas Day. If you were to interview Chinese restaurant owners, they’d tell you that Christmas is their biggest day of the year, outside of probably the Chinese New Year. If you want a more thorough understanding, though, you should probably go talk to some restaurant owners in Chinatown.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Z2OFTw">
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<strong>Sometimes my family eats Chinese food on Christmas, but we always go to the movies. When did that become an established Jewish Christmas tradition? </strong><br/>When Jews began to settle on the Lower East Side of Manhattan between the 1880s and the 1920s, they were poor immigrants. They worked in sweatshops and lived in tenement housing. In their time off, they would go to the newly opened <a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-nickelodeon-opens">nickelodeons</a>. For between one cent and five cents, they could see a very early form of a movie. By 1909, there were 42 nickelodeons adjacent to the Lower East Side and 10 uptown in Jewish Harlem. Christmas was just another day off, so these early movies attracted big crowds.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BjauN9">
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We know from the Yiddish press that Christmas became a popular day for the opening of new Yiddish theater productions. It was a day off from work, so what do you do? You can stay home, or you can go to the nickelodeons, or the Yiddish theater. Eventually, decades later, you could go have a meal in a Chinese restaurant.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HFH8jH">
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<strong>What do you usually do on Christmas? </strong><br/>For many years I was researching this book. This year, I’ll be with my family in a small town, where there are no real restaurants open. We will probably play a board game or watch Netflix.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pJ1BOy">
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<strong>What did you do on Christmas growing up? </strong><br/>I never went to Chinese restaurants. We’d go skating in front of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, and then we’d have hot chocolate with marshmallows. I have great memories of Christmas. My mother would take me to sit on Santa Claus’s lap. When I was writing this book, I asked her, “Why did you take me — the son of a rabbi! — to sit on Santa Claus’s lap?” She said, “Everybody in America does it, so why shouldn’t we?” She knew I was secure in my Jewish identity.
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</p>
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<ul>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>One Good Thing: The gentle, lovely beauty of the YouTube Christmas coffee shop</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="A Christmas coffeeshop on YouTube" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/8-L3-EadGKotbO9ibqfCefofCf4=/194x0:1245x788/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/68580011/Screen_Shot_2020_12_23_at_12.54.22_PM.0.png"/>
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<figcaption>
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Calmed by Nature
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</figcaption>
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</figure></li>
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</ul>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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It’s the holiday pick-me-up you might need right now.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RUfVmr">
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<a href="https://www.vox.com/one-good-thing"><em>One Good Thing</em></a> <em>is Vox’s recommendations feature. In each edition, find one more thing from the world of culture that we highly recommend.</em>
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fjHerU">
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This Christmas has felt different.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QkFKHv">
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Normally I find myself eagerly anticipating the end of the year — I look forward to the presents, the well wishes from friends and strangers alike, the time off from work. It’s a chance to look back over the year that was and prepare for the year to come. The world changes, but this time of year, these remaining holidays, we try to keep as similar as possible. We like these little islands of time that change a bit more slowly than the rest of our lives.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="d1W1M7">
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In 2020, however, it’s harder to appreciate that island of time when <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/5/7/21248259/why-time-feels-so-weird-right-now-quarantine-coronavirus-pandemic">time has ceased to have meaning</a>. Each day blends into the next, and as I write this (on December 23), it’s hard to believe that Christmas is just two days away, even though looking at my calendar will tell me that it is. I still haven’t put up my tree. I’ll get to it when I get to it, maybe on December 27 or something.
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</p>
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<aside id="YkHHtK">
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<div>
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</div>
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</aside>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8TM8Nk">
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YouTube, as always, has stepped into this void I’ve felt. Some of my favorite channels for creating “ambience” — soundscapes meant to replicate particular real-world experiences, usually with slightly animated visuals to match — have gone all out this holiday season, creating Christmas atmospheres that are lovely, festive, and aching reminders of the world that used to exist.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DTobvA">
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Particularly popular are <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9a9GixtqVP4">“Christmas coffee shop” settings</a>. There are seemingly thousands of these (though it’s probably only “dozens”), and they tend to feature the same elements. There’s a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJhmK6kXqr4">coffee shop decorated for the holidays</a>, steaming <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDhuXiK5lfw">hot drinks on the tables</a>. There’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zWd6z0pwEM">soft Christmas music</a> (and often <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk-7F-vixko">a crackling fire</a>). There’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtGaoDORPlw">snow peacefully falling outside</a>. Here’s one <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVL3XIjfTxc">specifically set at Starbucks</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1lsHWF">
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A friend and I will sometimes gather on Zoom, pull up one of these videos on screen share, then talk about how we wish we were sitting in a very real coffee shop, talking face to face. For now, this is a substitute.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jt426z">
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What’s slightly eerie about these videos is the fact that none of them have any people, not even a bored barista behind the counter. These are Christmas coffee shops devoid of humans (though <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9a9GixtqVP4">one of my favorites</a> occasionally has someone walk by on the sidewalk outside). Watching them, it really does feel like the world is waiting for us to come back to it, as though these cheery holiday spaces are still out there somewhere, if only we could find them.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9v2S0O">
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But that emptiness also makes it easier for my friend and me to project ourselves into those spaces. If nobody else is here, maybe we can grab a cup of cider or hot cocoa and sit down together without worrying about everything worth worrying about right now. It might be an idealized space, and it says something about 2020 that it’s easier to imagine an idealized coffee shop as an empty one than ever before.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DfyVVY">
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YouTube is lousy with Christmas and winter soundscapes, which I turn to every year, because California Christmas will always be just a touch disappointing to a Midwestern girl raised on drifting snow. I love <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQt4t8E-BPE">this visit to a Christmas-y apartment</a> in 1950s New York, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7i8pA3ClJw">this check-in</a> at Santa’s office, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA9Y9Dp2D-8">this peaceful mountain cabin</a> in the middle of a blizzard. Or consider <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiW7CBz2Qfs">this look at a Christmas party</a> seen from outside of the house where it’s being held (look at all those people inside; wouldn’t you like to join them?). Or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBTgNN3UjiU">this Victorian Christmas storefront</a>? I could go on.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SMhvEp">
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The point is, we might feel unmoored in time right now, but the promise of finding this one tiny island where everything is the same and nothing has changed is intensely appealing. I don’t know if there are so many Christmas coffee shops on YouTube this year because we’re all missing the trappings of the season or because those of us who spend time on YouTube’s ambience channels keep watching them, but those two hypotheses are kind of the same thing. Christmas is best shared with other people. We can’t do that right now, but until we can, we can at least pretend.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UsZ5wL">
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<em>Ambience channels are all over YouTube. Some of my favorites are </em><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJuMbdKSMThk2RpALASyXVQ">Calmed by Nature</a><em>, </em><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8O01n9bla2e-o3GAsOkCEg">Autumn Cozy</a><em>, and </em><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFvxUdKxflHQxuhFv6tWsfg">Ma Ambience</a><em>.</em>
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</p>
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<ul>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Fox News’s post-Trump identity crisis, explained by an expert</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="President Trump Holds Campaign Rally In Michigan Ahead Of Tuesday’s Election" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/npyLJKgppFw6Hs7VllhtHH6XoMI=/116x0:4379x3197/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/68579811/1283101957.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Trump supporters watch a video featuring Fox host Sean Hannity ahead of Trump’s arrival to a campaign rally in Waterford, Michigan, on October 30. | John Moore/Getty Images
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</figcaption>
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</figure></li>
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</ul>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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We talked to Matt Gertz of Media Matters about Trump’s one-sided feud with Fox, the rise of OAN and Newsmax, and where right-wing cable news is headed.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tB97zt">
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As its main meal ticket prepares to leave office, Fox News is struggling through an identity crisis.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XeexAF">
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For the better part of five years, Fox and Donald Trump have enjoyed a symbiotic relationship. Trump’s habitual watching of Fox and the willingness both he and other administration officials have had to be interviewed on Fox News and Fox Business brought the network to unprecedented heights of relevance, while Fox has helped Trump by <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/8/27/20835366/fox-and-friends-trump-doral-g7">defending him</a> through <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/6/20/18692891/trump-sean-hannity-interview">thick and thin</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8bu5aL">
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But Trump’s relationship with Fox hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows. Even while the vast majority of the network’s programming did his bidding in one way or another, Trump has repeatedly <a href="https://www.vox.com/21563687/trump-turns-against-fox-news-explained">lashed out at Fox in recent years for coverage he deems insufficiently fawning</a> — and the one-sided feud has escalated dramatically since his loss to Joe Biden.
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</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0mD8ah">
|
||
“On a fundamental level Fox has been operating as a propaganda arm of President Trump, but the president has never really been satisfied with the level of obsequiousness he sometimes sees when he turns on his television,” Matt Gertz, senior fellow at Media Matters for America, told me.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sEZ2o6">
|
||
Things came to a boiling point in the days following the election. Fox News’s “news side,” such as it is, was among the first on election night to call Arizona for Joe Biden. Its decision to do so sent President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/04/us/politics/trump-fox-news-arizona.html">into a rage</a>. Though the state didn’t end up being central to most networks’ decisions to call the race for Joe Biden, it was a symbolic turning point during a night that quickly went from hopeful to sour for the president. He’s spent the past six weeks seemingly more focused on settling scores with Fox News than he has been on the coronavirus pandemic.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div id="pVQhD6">
|
||
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
|
||
.<a href="https://twitter.com/FoxNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"><span class="citation">@FoxNews</span></a> daytime ratings have completely collapsed. Weekend daytime even WORSE. Very sad to watch this happen, but they forgot what made them successful, what got them there. They forgot the Golden Goose. The biggest difference between the 2016 Election, and 2020, was <a href="https://twitter.com/FoxNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"><span class="citation">@FoxNews</span></a>!
|
||
</p>
|
||
— Donald J. Trump (<span class="citation">@realDonaldTrump</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1326920264203046915?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 12, 2020</a>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MyvY85">
|
||
Trump apparently isn’t alone in feeling betrayed. At his urging, many of his followers have turned off Fox News and are watching <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/21558899/newsmax-network-fox-news-trump-biden">Newsmax</a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/5/13/18617594/trump-one-america-news-network-explained">One America News Network (OAN)</a> — Trumpier alternatives to Fox News, which at least during the daytime hours still likes to think of itself as a news channel and not a Trump propaganda network.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div id="ZTYMsA">
|
||
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
|
||
.<a href="https://twitter.com/FoxNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"><span class="citation">@FoxNews</span></a> daytime is not watchable. In a class with CNN & MSDNC. Check out <a href="https://twitter.com/OANN?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"><span class="citation">@OANN</span></a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/newsmax?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"><span class="citation">@newsmax</span></a> and others that are picking up the slack. Even a boring football game, kneeling and all, is better!
|
||
</p>
|
||
— Donald J. Trump (<span class="citation">@realDonaldTrump</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1335657565733212162?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 6, 2020</a>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DGHqll">
|
||
To give you a flavor for their programming, OAN is refusing to refer to President-elect Biden as “President-elect,” based on lies about there being “<a href="https://twitter.com/RobHerring/status/1339266480429416448">fraud in voting</a>.” Newsmax, meanwhile, recently did an interview with former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn in which Flynn mused about a military coup to keep Trump in office — shocking comments that received no pushback from the host.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div id="UB2eOY">
|
||
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
|
||
Here's Michael Flynn on Newsmax saying that Trump could order "military capabilities" to swing states and "rerun an election in each of those states."<br/><br/>"People out there talk about martial law like it's something that we've never done. Martial law has been instituted 64 times." <a href="https://t.co/KNmiAGGiPF">pic.twitter.com/KNmiAGGiPF</a>
|
||
</p>
|
||
— Aaron Rupar (<span class="citation">@atrupar</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1339730530661789696?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 18, 2020</a>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yPrX8L">
|
||
Believe it or not, this coverage is resonating. While they still lag far behind Fox News overall, ratings for Newsmax and OAN have surged since the election while Fox’s have stagnated. In a major milestone, Newsmax earlier this month even <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/12/newsmax-beats-fox-news-in-ratings">bested Fox News in a key demographic</a> over an hour of programming.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4mdQUG">
|
||
Fox, meanwhile, is also feeling pressure from the saner end of the spectrum. CNN’s <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2020/12/09/cnn-newsmax-claim-post-election-ratings-wins-over-fox-news/?sh=61e32ecf1ca6">post-election ratings are up</a> and at times have been better than Fox. For the first time in 20 years, Fox News can no longer boast that it’s clearly the top dog in cable news.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4dSUHp">
|
||
Trump can’t totally quit Fox News, however. While he lambasts the network’s “news side,” he still habitually live tweets broadcasts hosted by his favorites, such as Sean Hannity and Mark Levin. During a <em>Fox & Friends</em> interview on election morning, Trump even bashed Fox News while on Fox News.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div id="Bzjd2K">
|
||
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
|
||
Brian Kilmeade gives Trump the opportunity to respond to Obama and instead he lays out his grievances against Fox for sometimes airing Biden speeches before listing all the hosts he likes. <a href="https://t.co/WSRlXDrQjL">pic.twitter.com/WSRlXDrQjL</a>
|
||
</p>
|
||
— Matthew Gertz (<span class="citation">@MattGertz</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/MattGertz/status/1323613398907658240?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 3, 2020</a>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aQuraY">
|
||
Along similar lines, Trump’s first post-election was on Maria Bartiromo’s Sunday morning Fox News show. And as is <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/10/8/21507513/trump-maria-bartiromo-coronavirus-interview">often the case</a>, Bartiromo let Trump lie with impunity.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div id="nSfqkh">
|
||
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
|
||
Trump's own lawyers conceded in court that the claim he makes here about poll watchers is a lie -- but Maria Bartiromo lets Trump lie with impunity <a href="https://t.co/5nyfc4XnsF">pic.twitter.com/5nyfc4XnsF</a>
|
||
</p>
|
||
— Aaron Rupar (<span class="citation">@atrupar</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1333069551756599298?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 29, 2020</a>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LpyiBL">
|
||
To unpack right-wing cable news’s tumultuous situation and where things might go in a post-President Trump world, I talked to Gertz, the Media Matters senior fellow and close observer of the right-wing news TV ecosystem.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZjHqtc">
|
||
During the Trump years, Gertz has been distinguished himself as perhaps the foremost chronicler of the Fox News-to-Trump pipeline. He’s tirelessly traced Trump’s tweets back to the Fox News segments that inspire them — even when Trump is watching and tweeting programming that aired hours or days earlier.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div id="ufBqCk">
|
||
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
|
||
The president of the United States is so busy that he's watching a recording of a Fox Business show that aired Sunday morning and tweeting about it.<br/><br/>Left, Fox Business' Sunday Morning Futures, 10:24 a.m. yesterday<br/>Right, Trump, 8:37 a.m. <a href="https://t.co/e7YJA7zOcd">pic.twitter.com/e7YJA7zOcd</a>
|
||
</p>
|
||
— Matthew Gertz (<span class="citation">@MattGertz</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/MattGertz/status/1214191061825921025?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 6, 2020</a>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="u8Rjkv">
|
||
As the president has started watching more Newsmax and OAN, so has Gertz.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div id="B9Jxnx">
|
||
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
|
||
An ongoing shift in the president's viewing habits from Fox to the even more conspiracy-minded OAN. <a href="https://t.co/bQ3jFMr1Ku">https://t.co/bQ3jFMr1Ku</a><br/><br/>Left, OAN, 7:46 a.m.<br/>Right, Trump, 8:14 a.m. <a href="https://t.co/sc45i8bIrZ">pic.twitter.com/sc45i8bIrZ</a>
|
||
</p>
|
||
— Matthew Gertz (<span class="citation">@MattGertz</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/MattGertz/status/1334849383494455297?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 4, 2020</a>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1mOOwB">
|
||
As Gertz explained to me, even in a post-Trump world, he still expects Fox News to play a leading role in setting the conservative agenda, since “they have the biggest audience and the biggest propensity to produce dangerous misinformation that shifts the public discussion, and the state of policy in this country.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DtQiG8">
|
||
But Gertz sees signs that Fox News is bowing to the pressure Trump and his supporters are putting on it.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="blYWl3">
|
||
“We’re also seeing a sort of race to the bottom in certain ways. I think Fox has really kicked up the amount of coverage it’s done in support of President Trump’s effort to overturn the election because they’re feeling some heat from competitors,” he said. “So that, I think, is part of the real risk behind all of us — that it will [increase] Fox’s need to become ever more conspiracy-minded in years to come.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4ht1dW">
|
||
A transcript of our conversation, lightly edited for length and clarity, follows.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="y2OaKH">
|
||
<strong>Aaron Rupar</strong>
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9YXAet">
|
||
I thought maybe a good place to start is with your cable news diet. I know you watch a lot of it. What have you on a typical day been watching over the past four years, and has that changed from 2017 to today?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="6X30E1">
|
||
<strong>Matt Gertz</strong>
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vqB0Cd">
|
||
I’ve been at Media Matters since 2007, so I’ve been in one way or another immersed in this right-wing media world ever since. A lot of my work has focused very specifically on Fox News during the Trump administration, and the way in which its hosts and its shows have become intertwined with President Trump and with other members of his team.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YAfhMs">
|
||
A lot of that has been focused on <em>Fox & Friends</em>, the president’s favorite morning news show. I generally have that network on from early in the morning throughout the day. I will catch clips from shows later that night and read the transcripts the next morning to make sure that I have a good sense of what was going on on all of those primetime and later shows.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bNKefW">
|
||
But Fox News has been at the center of the conservative media infrastructure for that entire time, and so it’s been my main focus.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="Ze0aYT">
|
||
<strong>Aaron Rupar</strong>
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vfIWp9">
|
||
Perhaps the biggest development in cable news since the election has been the sudden rise of Newsmax and OAN as in some sense alternatives to Fox News that are further right. Shockingly, Newsmax’s ratings even beat Fox News in a key demographic over an hour of programming earlier this month.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="62hfWk">
|
||
Do you think this is all attributable to Trump and his fans feeling betrayed by Fox’s infamous somewhat early call of Arizona for Biden? Or is there something else going on here?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="M1bE2n">
|
||
<strong>Matt Gertz</strong>
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OM39bi">
|
||
On a fundamental level, Fox has been operating as a propaganda arm of President Trump, but the president has never really been satisfied with the level of obsequiousness he sometimes sees when he turns on his television.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="C3cG8M">
|
||
He’s watching as much as or more Fox as I am — and to some extent, I do that for a living — and so when he sees things on his television that he doesn’t like, when he sees Democrats appearing on the network, when he sees some of the more so-called “news side” shows presenting Fox polling that shows him losing various states, when he sees the state of Arizona getting called for his opponent and then Fox acknowledging Joe Biden is the president-elect, he becomes infuriated.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HOCr01">
|
||
This has happened throughout the administration. We have seen here and there, he will lash out at Fox for not going far enough in his favor, and he’s even from time to time told his supporters that they should be watching OAN or Newsmax instead. But since the election, since his defeat, he has been willing to do that on a far more consistent basis. He has made the criticisms of Fox News much more frequently on his Twitter feed, and he’s actually watching the other networks much more than he used to as well.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="L1tmAV">
|
||
I’ve been tracking Trump’s so-called “live tweets,” the cases where he responds in real time to what he’s seeing on the television with tweets, since October 2017. And he’s never sent tweets about that network’s competitors the way he has over the past few weeks. He’s sent about the same number of tweets between November 15 and December 2 of this year in response to OAN segments as he had over a two-year period.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div id="oKMj6q">
|
||
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
|
||
Looking back at Trump live-tweets since Nov. 19, I count:<br/><br/>Fox News/Business: 11<br/>OAN: 10<br/>Newsmax: 3<br/><br/>Trump sent only 12 OAN live-tweets total over a recent two-year span, compared to more than 1,200 Fox News/Business. <a href="https://t.co/UBNZMWCrUG">https://t.co/UBNZMWCrUG</a>
|
||
</p>
|
||
— Matthew Gertz (<span class="citation">@MattGertz</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/MattGertz/status/1334231935728701440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 2, 2020</a>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tl4G5A">
|
||
So his own viewing habits are changing, and he is getting at least some slice of his supporters to change their viewing habits as well.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="fLDHAO">
|
||
<strong>Aaron Rupar</strong>
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NgIEA4">
|
||
Do you think it’ll be sustainable for Newsmax and OAN to continue on as basically Trump propaganda outlets after he leaves office? I wonder if there’s going to be the staying power in terms of filtering all the news through a Trump prism a year or two after he leaves office.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="LRHWz7">
|
||
<strong>Matt Gertz</strong>
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yJnQx6">
|
||
I don’t know. I think what seems pretty clear is that Fox is trying to forestall that by shifting its programming in certain ways.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HfYwLp">
|
||
I have been seeing during the so-called “straight news” hours that Fox has started airing clips of its primetime hosts to set up various segments. They’ll air 15 seconds of Tucker Carlson talking about a topic before going into their own discussion about it, or playing a clip from Sean Hannity’s show and asking guests to respond. So that’s the way in which they’re trying to change things up a little bit to push back on these competitors.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div id="4Km9OV">
|
||
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
|
||
Fox "straight news" broadcast America's Newsroom is increasingly a show about what happened in Fox prime-time the previous night. <a href="https://t.co/unkNQIv3ll">pic.twitter.com/unkNQIv3ll</a>
|
||
</p>
|
||
— Matthew Gertz (<span class="citation">@MattGertz</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/MattGertz/status/1329437434095017987?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 19, 2020</a>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3lWEkh">
|
||
We’re also seeing a sort of race to the bottom in certain ways. I think Fox has really kicked up the amount of coverage it’s done in support of President Trump’s effort to overturn the election because they’re feeling some heat from competitors. So that I think is part of the real risk behind all of us — that it will [increase] Fox’s need to become ever more conspiracy-minded in years to come.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="YOdLKr">
|
||
<strong>Aaron Rupar</strong>
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8BMvR4">
|
||
It does seem there’s been a divide between Fox’s daytime programming with Neil Cavuto and Chris Wallace and the primetime lineup. I’ve noticed as well that they’re now treating Hannity clips as though they’re newsworthy, and then framing panel discussions around them.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZNkBRu">
|
||
But what I hear you saying is that to the extent that Fox News is going to have to choose, you see them shifting more in the direction of making their daytime content more like their primetime content than the other way around.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="aUnPae">
|
||
<strong>Matt Gertz</strong>
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pwIljN">
|
||
Yes, I think that is certainly the case. There is no movement in the opposite direction — there is no indication that the network is considering becoming a better source of information to its viewers.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EsHp5o">
|
||
And there’s really a problem there. Fox’s viewers to some extent are counting on the network to provide them with credible information, so when I look back on the past 10 months of pandemic coverage that the network has produced, they’re lying to their viewers about how much danger they are in from a deadly pandemic, because they think that’s better for President Trump and their ratings than leveling with their audience about the real physical danger they are in.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div id="GIzBZg">
|
||
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
|
||
Dec. 8: Laura Ingraham criticizes the "concerted campaign to vilify and dismiss and demean, and frankly lie about it, the ineffectiveness of" hydroxychloroquine.<br/><br/>This alternative history that lets Trump off the hook will be a permanent feature of right-wing commentary. <a href="https://t.co/OXmsMRmkCc">pic.twitter.com/OXmsMRmkCc</a>
|
||
</p>
|
||
— Matthew Gertz (<span class="citation">@MattGertz</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/MattGertz/status/1336658262939275264?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 9, 2020</a>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<h4 id="4nAI2l">
|
||
<strong>Aaron Rupar</strong>
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MnHh1C">
|
||
I think you’re right to identify what’s in Trump’s interest as motivating a lot of the editorial choices that Fox has made in recent years, but where do you see that going in the months to come under a President Biden? Do you anticipate that there will be fealty to Trump, even if it’s more about appeasing their viewers?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VCHCvi">
|
||
I’ve noticed in some of their programming it seems like they’re repositioning themselves as these gadflies chastising the media for not covering Hunter Biden more, or calling out liberal hypocrisy.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div id="XxdpnX">
|
||
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
|
||
lots of tears being shed on Fox News' Outnumbered Overtime today <a href="https://t.co/B8jGwbDdcB">pic.twitter.com/B8jGwbDdcB</a>
|
||
</p>
|
||
— Aaron Rupar (<span class="citation">@atrupar</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1339640852109553664?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 17, 2020</a>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DIUxLh">
|
||
How much do you think Trump’s interests will drive editorial choices going forward?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="ttAEaE">
|
||
<strong>Matt Gertz</strong>
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8G4eTv">
|
||
Fox News always takes on the character of the Republican Party of the era. I think their hope is that they can make a return to what the network was like in 2009, 2010. That’s when it emerged as the voice of opposition to President Obama, and they spent eight years fighting his administration on every front possible.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YxKWGq">
|
||
I think their fear, though, is that this competition from OAN and Newsmax will lock them into this current role as a Trump propaganda arm, that they won’t be able to establish any distance or even move away from constantly talking about Trump once he’s out of office.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="ZNZMH9">
|
||
<strong>Aaron Rupar</strong>
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JA4qOC">
|
||
I know Media Matters has been involved in <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/tucker-carlson/tucker-carlson-returns-fox-news-advertisers-are-staying-away">campaigns targeting advertisers</a> who are doing business with Fox News shows when hosts have said offensive things. What’s the scene like with Newsmax and OAN? Do they have robust ad content on those networks?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="xAnO0h">
|
||
<strong>Matt Gertz</strong>
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HqHpNt">
|
||
Not really. Neither of them, and OAN in particular, don’t have large ratings. And that keeps them from, certainly, getting blue-chip advertisers. We’re seeing a lot more MyPillow ads on Newsmax in particular over the last several weeks. [MyPillow] has a conservative owner, they very much try to own that particular demographic, and so they have a ton of ads really propping up Tucker Carlson’s show in particular on Fox.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div id="tPsqmp">
|
||
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
|
||
Four different My Pillow ads for four different products, all of which ran on Tucker Carlson's show tonight. <a href="https://t.co/byIG9W7xfr">pic.twitter.com/byIG9W7xfr</a>
|
||
</p>
|
||
— Matthew Gertz (<span class="citation">@MattGertz</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/MattGertz/status/1282844740552204292?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 14, 2020</a>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xg0Q95">
|
||
But this is where they are different. Fox is a propaganda network that sometimes does conspiracy theories but depends on the existence of this “news side” that they say is unbiased and like a normal network’s, in order to keep blue-chip advertisers on board with at least some of those shows. OAN is a conspiracy theory network that sometimes does propaganda. It’s not in the Nielsen ratings because it doesn’t reach a lot of people.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XFD8pu">
|
||
Newsmax is a little bit different. Newsmax is a grift. The thing you have to understand about Newsmax is that it’s an unprofitable TV business that’s welded onto a very profitable digital and newsletter business. And the reason it’s profitable is that it sells out its audience of older conservatives to an assortment of scammers and snake oil salesmen.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XZlYFh">
|
||
So they’re using Trump’s current feud with Fox to build a bigger audience for themselves. They want to pull those people into their ecosystem and then pitch new viewers on nutritional supplements and the efficacy of natural cures for Alzheimer’s, and financial products that protect your savings from the coming waves of hyperinflation — it’s absolutely disgusting, but that’s where their money comes.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="jLquL2">
|
||
<strong>Aaron Rupar</strong>
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hs7cGW">
|
||
There’s been a lot of speculation that after he leaves office, Trump will get involved in right-wing TV in some capacity, whether it’s with his own network or his own show on an existing network. He seems pretty committed at this point to aligning himself with OAN and Newsmax while distancing himself from Fox, but do you think there’s a chance any of those networks would give him his own show?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="qGfgiT">
|
||
<strong>Matt Gertz</strong>
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="K2qXGI">
|
||
I’m skeptical about a lot of these ideas until I see them actually move forward in some way. Starting your own network from scratch is a huge business endeavor that requires a lot of time and effort and money and relationships, and so I really am not expecting to see the fabled “Trump TV” outlet emerge. I could be wrong about that, but I’ll be skeptical until I see some actual movement on it.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Oq75pD">
|
||
It’s hard for me to imagine Newsmax offering him enough money to make it actually worthwhile. Or certainly OAN — I don’t really see that happening either. The president wants to be able to go on <em>Fox & Friends</em> and talk with Sean Hannity, and so he’s gonna do something that lets him keep doing that.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ro737M">
|
||
My guess has continued to be that the best way he can make money off his post-presidency is stage shows. Basically Trump rallies, but for profit. That seems like a thing he could do that doesn’t involve a lot of work, and frankly I’m skeptical he will do anything in the media that does require a lot of work.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Czv7Bp">
|
||
I mean, his interviews are basically riffing. You could imagine him maybe doing some sort of digital streaming show where, again, he doesn’t need to do much but sit in front of a camera and mug and do his stream of consciousness about the issues of the day. But my thing on this is that the continuum is from “things that won’t happen because they are a lot of work” to “things that could happen because they are not a lot of work.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="WNmTcT">
|
||
<strong>Aaron Rupar</strong>
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="z2GEd1">
|
||
To bring things full circle, what do you anticipate your cable news diet will look like post-Trump? What does a new president mean for what you’ll be paying attention to and perhaps live-tweeting?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="3SONua">
|
||
<strong>Matt Gertz</strong>
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ATHkcf">
|
||
I think it could end up being a lot more fractured. The media environment in general has become a lot more fractured over the past several years, and if some of these cable news networks do get more of a footprint, they’ll be worth tuning in to now and again. There are also plenty of conservative digital outlets I’ll be paying attention to, since they can feed into the rest of the discourse.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PwMd4t">
|
||
But I imagine I’ll still be paying a lot of attention to Fox News. They have the biggest audience and the biggest propensity to produce dangerous misinformation that shifts the public discussion and the state of policy in this country.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QV4Qh1">
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>New Zealand vs Pakistan | Williamson steadies hosts on opening day</strong> - Williamson was on 94 at Bay Oval with Henry Nichols on 42 as New Zealand battled for much of the day against Pakistan's disciplined and accurate bowling attack</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Successor, Grand Royal, Incredible Star, Bolivia and Hadar excel</strong> - Successor, Grand Royal, Incredible Star, Bolivia and Hadar excelled when the horses were exercised here on Saturday (Dec. 26).Inner sand:600m: Glorio</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Aus vs Ind second Test | Playing with confidence without being reckless will be our motive while batting, says Bumrah</strong> - After bundling out Australia for 195, India finished day 1 at 36 for 1.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How the tide turned for Santhome in 1983</strong> - In the corresponding week 37 years ago, the team from this school found itself in a space graced by Lloyd’s mighty West Indians and Kapil’s world beaters</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>MCG may witness spectator surge if 3rd Test is shifted from Sydney</strong> - India are set to play their fourth and final Test in Brisbane from January 15 and current health protocols would require the touring side to undergo quarantine if they play the third Test at the SCG</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>New species of Sun Rose found in the Eastern Ghats</strong> - Portulaca laljii discovered growing on rocky crevices in Andhra Pradesh’s Prakasam district</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Farmers’ protest | Samyukt Kisan Morcha accepts government’s offer for talks</strong> - Kisan Morcha proposed December 29 for talks with the government.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Oxford COVID-19 vaccine may become the first to get Indian regulator’s nod for emergency use</strong> - “Going by this, Oxford vaccine “Covishield” is likely to be the first to be rolled out in India,” a source said.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>New book on Mahatma Gandhi to be unveiled by RSS chief on January 1</strong> - Authors JK Bajaj and MD Srinivas say their book “Making of a Hindu Patriot: Background of Gandhiji's Hind Swaraj” has evolved out of their earlier effort to prepare an authentic edition of "Hind Swaraj" based on Gandhi's handwritten manuscript</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Rajasthan allowed to borrow ₹2,731 crore more post ease of doing business reform</strong> - The government had in May decided to link grant of additional borrowing permissions to States who undertake the reforms to facilitate ease of doing business.</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Coronavirus: France finds first case of new variant</strong> - The health ministry says an asymptomatic Frenchman who arrived from England tested positive.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>UK minister sees 'special relationship' with EU</strong> - The cabinet secretary says he has lost friends over Brexit and admits it turned UK politics "ugly".</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>George Blake: Soviet Cold War spy and former MI6 officer dies in Russia</strong> - Blake was one of the Cold War's most notorious double agents and betrayed dozens of MI6 personnel.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What a pandemic Christmas looked like around the world</strong> - From masked mass to a socially distanced beach party, here's how Christmas looked in 2020.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Several injured after shooting in Berlin</strong> - Heavily armed police have been sent to the scene in the Kreuzberg district of the German capital.</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>TV Technica 2020: Our favorite shows and binges in a year of living distantly</strong> - With most major movie releases sidelined until 2021, TV stepped in to fill the gap. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1726397">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Wonder Woman 1984 is fun, but doesn’t quite capture magic of its predecessor</strong> - Patty Jenkins' sequel is hampered by nonsensical plot, heavy-handed moralizing - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1731935">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Study: children’s belief in Santa Claus is more nuanced than you think</strong> - Santa falls into an ambiguous category between "real" and "nonreal" for many children - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1731335">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>2020’s 20 most-commented stories</strong> - Yesterday we brought you the most popular stories of 2020. These are the most talked-about. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1731551">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Nikola stock craters after cancellation of major garbage truck order</strong> - Nikola has been on the defensive since fraud allegations surfaced in September. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1731952">link</a></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><strong>Two big girls walk into a bar</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
They order drinks, in a thick accent.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
"You two ladies from Ireland?" asks the bartender.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Offended, one of them replies <strong>"Wales!"</strong>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
"Oh I'm so sorry," says the bartender, "Are you two whales from Ireland?"
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/BipolarUnipolar"> /u/BipolarUnipolar </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/kkafuc/two_big_girls_walk_into_a_bar/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/kkafuc/two_big_girls_walk_into_a_bar/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>What did the Tibetan monk say when he saw the face of Jesus in a tub of margarine?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
"I can't believe it's not Buddha."
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/RipKipley"> /u/RipKipley </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/kjyaco/what_did_the_tibetan_monk_say_when_he_saw_the/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/kjyaco/what_did_the_tibetan_monk_say_when_he_saw_the/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>A man and woman, both married separately, had to share a room one night on a business trip.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
They feel weird at first, but they both fall asleep in their separate beds.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
After a few hours of sleeping, the man wakes the woman up and asks her, "Could you grab me another blanket from the closet? I'm really cold."
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The woman responds, "Or we could just pretend to be married for the night?"
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The man replies, "That would be amazing."
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The woman smiles and says, "Okay. Get your own fucking blanket!"
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/mmmdeliciousbeans"> /u/mmmdeliciousbeans </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/kkh78t/a_man_and_woman_both_married_separately_had_to/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/kkh78t/a_man_and_woman_both_married_separately_had_to/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>They say make-up sex is the best, which is good for me.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Because all my sex is made up.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/kliptic6996"> /u/kliptic6996 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/kkagoa/they_say_makeup_sex_is_the_best_which_is_good_for/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/kkagoa/they_say_makeup_sex_is_the_best_which_is_good_for/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>Joseph Stalin is in a movie theatre with his fellow party members when one of them sneezes</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
"Who was it?", asks Stalin.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
No answer.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
"WHO WAS IT?!", he demands, even louder.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Still no answer.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Then he gets up and walks to the front of the theatre. He demands all the people in the front row to stand up. They promptly did.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
"Was it one of you?", he asks.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
No answer.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
"Shoot all of them." The NKVD shoots all of them.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Then he moves on to the second row.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
"Was it one of you?", he asks.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
No answer.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
"Shoot all of them." The NKVD shoots all of them.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Then he moves on to the third row.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
"Was it one of you?", he asks.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Before anyone could stand up, a young man stands up trembling and shaking and weakly replies, "I... it was me... Com... Comrade Stalin."
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Stalin turns towards him and says, "Bless you, comrade."
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Jazzman144"> /u/Jazzman144 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/kkfn9k/joseph_stalin_is_in_a_movie_theatre_with_his/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/kkfn9k/joseph_stalin_is_in_a_movie_theatre_with_his/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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