Piegate
CNN apparently has sunk so low in its hate for the Trump administration that one of its political analysts believed she needed to create news by accusing White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders of not making a pie she said she'd made.
Sanders, as part of a Thanksgiving week press briefing, made mention of a chocolate pecan pie she made for her family's celebration and shared a picture of it.
However, April Ryan, analyst for CNN and a correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks, tweeted that Sanders should "show it to us on a table" and with "folks eating it" and "a pic of you cooking it." The New York Daily News even joined in, with an article suggesting, "No one believes that Sarah Huckabee Sanders baked this piece," and cited Ryan and pecan pie experts whose Twitter handles are "@dumptrump33" and "NotMyPresident" as skeptics.
However, Sanders called the correspondent's bluff, tweeting "because I'm nice I'll bake one for you "
Last week, she did, posting several photos, including ones of the ingredients on a table in her home, the pecans supplied by Nick Ayers, Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff, the ingredients in a bowl before mixing, the pies in the oven and the finished product.
Sanders tweeted, "Excited to share these at tomorrow's press potluck. Merry Christmas to the WH press corps." But Ryan was the Grinch, saying they "look pretty" but I "won't eat it."
She has to keep her journalistic ethics, after all.
Angels from the realms of Chappaqua
Just in time for Christmas, and in continuing support of the Resistance, is the Hillary Clinton Christmas tree topper.
Called curiously "The First Lady of Christmas," it is offered by WomenToLookUpTo.com, a London feminist website. It is advertised as a way to "modernize" Christmas angels.
"The old dame (assumedly, the angel) was due a modern makeover," the site says, "so we thought, why not venerate the real women inspiring us in 2017."
But if you are like many Democrats, and are ready for Clinton to crawl in a hole in order that the party might craft a message for 2017 (as opposed to 2008, 1992 or 1968), you have other choices.
If a white pantsuit-wearing, winged Clinton doesn't get your tinsel in a tangle, perhaps singer Beyoncé, tennis champion Serena Williams, former first lady Michelle Obama, actress Angelina Jolie or singer Adele will.
"Women leading politics, culture, business, who are worthy of wings - the likes of Serena Williams, Beyoncé, and a woman voted for by you" should decorate our trees, the website says. The brand, it adds, is intended to shine a light on modern female role models to further women's position within society. "We act to inspire, motivate, and lift every woman up," it reads.
Colin Kaepernick's new gig
Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick apparently has found a job - addressing prison inmates.
The man who started the league's kneeling controversy - in the beginning to call attention to what he believed was police brutality to people of color - in 2016 didn't find a football home for the 2017 season.
But Kaepernick - who once wore socks on the playing field that featured cartoon pigs in police hats - recently spoke to inmates at Rikers Island, a prison in New York City. In his two sessions at the George Motchan Detention Center, he prattled on about social justice issues and his decision to kneel during the national anthem.
"That's crazy to me to have a person like Colin Kaepernick in prison talking about police brutality," said an officer who attended. "It was insulting for me to be there."
Other officers said they felt the visit would only embolden the incarcerated criminals, many of whom only see themselves as victims of a corrupt criminal justice system.
Burnin' down the house
Vanderbilt University's director of alternative lifestyles says students who disrupt university functions and stage sit-ins over their grievances should be "celebrated."
Writing in Inside Higher Ed, Chris Purcell said administrators should encourage such behavior, reward it and support it; in fact, he said, "it is the commonly understood role of administrators" to do so. Of course, that will come as quite a surprise to those who felt the role of administrators was to ensure the students who were paying good money to attend their respective places of higher learning got a good education.
The director of LGBTQI Life writes that activism falls into two categories, burners and builders. Burners need to figuratively "burn down" oppressive structures by the likes of "taking over offices" and "shutting down streets," while builders seek to "build new structures that work differently for one particular group of students" by the likes of creating new student groups.
"[W]hen oppressive structures stand in the way of creating equitable campus environments," Purcell wrote, "it may be useful to solely encourage burning strategies for students to get the job done." That way, "administrators can be ready to pursue building strategies when the figurative ashes are clear.
"It is our job to encourage this quest for justice, even if it challenges our power and our comfort," he said.