OPEN THREAD: Anything happen today?

KEVIN WILLIAMSON: ‘Hilaria’ Baldwin and the Allure of the Invented Persona.

Mrs. Baldwin’s career strategy was not really all that different from that of young Elizabeth Warren, who inflicted self-help books on the reading public (All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan) and misrepresented her ancestry — Cherokee cheekbones! — in an attempt to build a reputation and make herself seem more interesting than she is. But Warren got started some years before smartphones were ubiquitous and social media had displaced reality for so many people, and she wasn’t married to a movie star.

Mrs. Baldwin is not the first Hillary we’ve heard do a corny fake accent.

Alec Baldwin is, we have reason to believe, not quite the charming man in private life he is in public. But his celebrity was not built on being a good man, or any particular kind of man, in his private life. His celebrity is built on performing, and he is one of the best in the business. The strange pseudocelebrity of social media is an invitation for everyone to become a performer, but not everyone has the kind of chops that Baldwin has. (Most professional actors don’t.) Social media can be a platform for genuinely gifted performers who take to a digital platform rather than a traditional stage (all those great guitarists on YouTube); but it also involves users in the worst aspects of celebrity culture, without imposing the entry fee of talent and only rarely offering the rewards that go along with it. The would-be celebrities of social media chase the paparazzi instead of being chased by them — that’s the sign of our times.

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The longing after a sense of significance that causes Hillary Hayward-Thomas to reinvent herself as the more exotic “Hilaria” is the same force that powers social-media hate mobs and shallow hashtag activism, cults like QAnon and the anti-vaxxers, and the relatively new but almost ubiquitous phenomenon of partisanship as a form of identity politics.

Every society worships something, and we have decided — disastrously — on ourselves.

The recurring catchphrase of Tom Wolfe’s epochal “The Me Decade” article from 1975 was “Let’s talk about Me,” and the promise of endless change and reinvention. But even he didn’t predict the surprising number of celebrities and pseudo-celebrities who would re-invent themselves into different genders, races, and imagined backgrounds, despite the 21st century left constantly screaming about the imagined dangers of “cultural appropriation.”

As PJM’s Megan Fox wrote last week, “Why anyone would try to pull off this hoax in the age of the internet, I have no idea. It seems so dumb to even try, yet plenty of people do it. Remember Rachel Dolezal? Or Jessica Krug? There’s no getting away with faking your heritage in 2020… I do enjoy, however, the fact that the race imposters are always ideologically far-left, even making a living on the race-obsessed culture in America. Race imposters are never conservatives. It’s always the fringe kook left that does things like this. Why isn’t anyone asking why? Has there ever been a conservative person who impersonated another race in order to be liked or to be more acceptable to their community? Who are the true racists in this country?”

#FIGHTFOR15: Minimum Wage Hikes Kick in Across the Country—at the Worst Possible Time for Small Businesses.

A HUGE BUT LARGELY UNSUNG HERO OF AMERICA’S SPACE POLICY: Pace steps down from National Space Council.

FATHER MICHAEL PFLEGER ASKED TO STEP ASIDE FOLLOWING CHILD SEX ABUSE ALLEGATION:

Prominent Chicago priest Father Michael Pfleger has been asked to step away from ministry following a decades-old child sexual abuse allegation, the Archdiocese of Chicago announced Tuesday.

According to a letter sent from Cardinal Blase Cupich to the St. Sabina community, Father Pfleger has been accused of sexual abuse of a minor from more than 40 years ago.

Pfleger is well-known in Chicago as an anti-violence activist and has been the pastor of St. Sabina Catholic Church, located in Auburn-Gresham, since 1981.

Cupich said Father Pfleger has agreed to fully cooperate while the matter is being investigated.

You may remember Pfleger from this classic video from the 2008 presidential election:

UPDATE: Pfleger removed from St. Sabina for decades-old sexual abuse allegation.

FLASHBACK: Obama, Biden Oval Office Meeting On January 5, 2017 Was Key To Entire Anti-Trump Operation.

MICHAEL WALSH: Having the Election Conform to the Constitution.

Cruz et al. cite the work of the commission as a possible model to resolve the current dispute.

“We should follow that precedent. To wit, Congress should immediately appoint an Electoral Commission, with full investigatory and fact-finding authority, to conduct an emergency 10-day audit of the election returns in the disputed states. Once completed, individual states would evaluate the Commission’s findings and could convene a special legislative session to certify a change in their vote, if needed.

“Accordingly, we intend to vote on January 6 to reject the electors from disputed states as not ‘regularly given’ and ‘lawfully certified’ (the statutory requisite), unless and until that emergency 10-day audit is completed.”

It’s highly unlikely to work, of course. Even though Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s margin in the House is now very small, no Democrat will vote for it. And Sen. Mitch McConnell’s Senate? Forget about it. No matter what happens in the Georgia runoff elections for both Senate seats on Jan. 5, McConnell has already made his peace with a Biden presidency, and squishy “moderates” such as Sens. Ben Sasse and Mitt Romney will be sure to put the boot in.

Still, it’s the principle of the thing—something that’s always in short supply in Washington and desperately needed now. If the courts won’t discharge their duty, then it’s up to Congress.

And for Cruz, Trump’s last rival in 2016, it’s a way to thrill the president’s base and position himself smartly for 2024. Because one way or another, the White House will still be up for grabs four years from now.

Read the whole thing.

INJECT THE HEAVY METAL STRAIGHT INTO MY VEINS! Conspiracy theorists share schematic for “5G chip” they claim is implanted in COVID-19 vaccines – only it’s actually for the Boss Metal Zone Electric Guitar Pedal.

GEORGE KORDA: For Democrats, be careful what you wish for.

DR. DRE SUFFERS BRAIN ANEURYSM: In ICU at L.A. Hospital.

Sources connected to Dre and with direct knowledge tell us, Dre suffered the aneurysm Monday and was rushed by ambulance to Cedars and was taken directly to ICU, where he remains Tuesday.

Our sources say the 55-year-old music mogul is stable and lucid, but doctors don’t know what caused the bleeding and they are doing a battery of tests.

Here’s hoping for a speedy and complete recovery.

MARK JUDGE: When ‘Dr. Death’ Came for Me: The Black Art of Political Opposition Research.

HMM: Single dose of the vaccine may be better than nothing at all.

I BLAME #ORANGEMANBAD AND SCIENCE-DENYING RED-STATERS: Europe has fallen behind on covid-19 vaccination: The leisurely roll-out of vaccines risks extending the pandemic for months.

Also: Micromanagement Is Plaguing the Vaccine Rollout: A lot of people think that a take-charge attitude by Biden would inoculate America faster. Let’s hope he knows better. Well, in the words of Barack Obama, don’t underestimate Joe’s ability to f*ck things up.

Seen on Facebook: “Chik-fil-A would have had everyone in the nation vaccinated by now.”

BANG BANG: I have never owned anything but revolvers, so I defer to those with more firearms experience. This woman, the first female Green Beret, as reported by JustThenews.com, was apparently “practicing dry fire training” and said “she had made a mistake and did not think the firearm had a chambered round when she conducted this training drill.” Wrong. It went off and sent a round through her neighbors wall.

The sidearm was a Smith & Wesson Military & Police Shield 9 mm handgun. Does this make sense? I’ve heard that this weapon will not “dry fire” without the magazine. Your thoughts?

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CHANGE: SpaceX, L3Harris pursue hypersonic missile defense system.

SHOCKING NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF SCIENCE: Study: Young adults in U.S. overeating during pandemic lockdowns.

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STIGMATA DETECTED: “She and I were meeting from our respective bedrooms in the now familiar, strange intimacy of a one-on-one Zoom meeting. She has developed a massive rash all over her boobs. The cause of this rash? Well, this is the Guardian. And so, ‘It’s years of bullshit – racism, micro-aggressions,’ she told me in a matter-of-fact tone. ‘I have never had any eczema before. My doctor said it’s erupted now because I’ve finally given myself permission to acknowledge the toxic stuff I’ve been putting up with during all these decades of my career.’ Readers are invited to ponder whether a reputable GP, one fit for employment, would actually diagnose racist microaggressions as the most obvious cause of boob eczema. Rather than, say, suggesting a change of bra or detergent.”

YEAH, THE EAGLES THREW THE GAME. GOOD. “But by losing the Eagles won, moving from the ninth overall pick in the draft to the sixth. The Not Redskins also won by advancing to the playoffs. The only losers were the New York Giants, but they are used to that this year…The secret to being a Philly sports fan, to enduring all the losing and embarrassment, is to take more joy from the suffering of your enemies’ losses than you do in your own success. That was on full beautiful display Sunday night. Yes, we will revel in the inevitable defeat of the Washington Politically Correct and celebrate the sadness of their fans. This is the big leagues. As far as I am concerned, as a Eagles fan, Sunday night could not have gone better if Santa had been clocked by a D battery.”

PRIDE IN CHEATING: Stacey Abrams Brags About Lack of Signature Verification in Georgia.