CHRISTIAN TOTO: Guess What NY Times’ Late Night Year in Review Left Out?

Fox News’ “Gutfeld!” debuted in April 2021, the first right-leaning late night show since the network’s ill-fated “1/2 Hour News Hour” in 2007. “Gutfeld!” quickly established itself as a sly alternative to the other, hard-Left showcases.

This year, Greg Gutfeld’s showcase finished either first or second in the late night ratings race. A cable-based show with no A-list stars or fawning media coverage became the format’s biggest news story since David Letterman hung up his mic.

The New York Times published an exhaustive ode to 2022 late night TV, and guess what the Gray Lady forgot to mention?

“Gutfeld!”

It seems impossible, but it’s true.

“Best of Late Night 2022: A Rebuilding Year” touches on Trevor Noah’s retirement from the low-rated “Daily Show,” the cancellation of hate comic Samantha Bee’s “Full Frontal” showcase on TBS and how comedians torched Donald Trump early and often.

Nothing about the show Yahoo! news called the new king of late night.

Let’s face it: the Gray Lady’s readers would dive for the fainting couches if the Times allowed the news of Gutfeld’s meteoric success into print. And they’d never let the writers hear the end of it. Or as America’s Newspaper of Record reported in 2019:

IN THE MAIL: Tales From the Fermi Resolution: Vol. 1: Shadow of the Tower (Tom Vargas Mysteries), by Moe Lane.

FTX: Sam Bankman-Fried’s ex Caroline Ellison faced 110 years in jail before plea.

CHRISTMAS IN NAZI GERMANY: How Nazis Stole Christmas & Turned Adolf Hitler into Messiah (Video).

Earlier: The National Socialists Fought the Original War on Christmas.

Who knew? Other than everyone who read Jonah Goldberg’s Liberal Fascism in 2008, or this London Daily Mail article the following year. But it’s good to see this sort of thing in the Smithsonian’s house organ. Or as author Dave Shiflett quipped in 2002 at NRO, “A shocking story has been revealed: Adolf Hitler was not a Christian after all. Instead, he hoped to destroy Christianity.”

To borrow a line from another 19th-century born socialist God killer, as a reminder of the first time as tragedy and the second time as farce — while killing time before engineering the next tragedy — I found that above quote in a post of mine from right around this time in 2012. A few years before Angela Merkel turned the lights out on 21st Germany, Yahoo was reporting that “A minister in Angela Merkel’s government has sparked a pre-Christmas row among Germany’s ruling parties by suggesting God be referred to with the neutral article ‘das’ instead of the masculine ‘der.’”

But then, political correctness is what governments do in order to ignore their nation’s real, structural problems.

GREATER EXERCISE ACTIVITY IS TIED TO LESS SEVERE COVID-19 OUTCOMES, A STUDY SHOWS.

This seemed perfectly logical even during the early days of COVID. So why did we see all of these headlines in 2020?

● Crackdowns on Lone Surfers and Paddleboarders Threaten to Erode Respect for Law Enforcement Even Further.

—Jack Dunphy, PJ Media.com, April 6th, 2020.

● Former police officer arrested in park for throwing ball with daughter due to coronavirus social distancing rules.

—ABC News, April 8th, 2020.

● Coronavirus: San Clemente Fills Skatepark With 37 Tons Of Sand After Skaters Ignore ‘No Trespassing’ Signs.

—CBS L.A., April 17th, 2020.

● Shocking moment cops arrest mom for taking kids to playground during coronavirus outbreak.

—UK Metro, April 22nd, 2020.

● NJ Can Shut Down Gym That Defied Coronavirus Closure, Court Rules.

—NBC Philadelphia, July 25th, 2020.

● As Rioters Destroy New York, Cops Kick Jewish Families Out of a Playground.

—Tyler O’Neil, PJ Media.com, June 4th, 2020.

DON’T WORRY, THEY’RE ALREADY HERE: Why everyone thinks a recession is coming in 2023.

From Fox Business on September 29th: Final GDP reading shows US economy shrank 0.6% in the spring, cementing start of recession.

WITH DNC IN MIND, CITY BANS CARRYING URINE, FECES: Mark Cuban Blasts California: ‘It’s Just About People Shi–ing On The Street.’

(Classical reference in headline.)

JEFF DUNETZ ON KWANZAA: A Fake Holiday With A Racist Goal, Created By A Criminal Madman.

Some claim that Kwanzaa is a holiday observed all over the world. However, that is a lie. Kwanzaa is a day celebrated excluIt’sly in the U.S.! It’s not celebrated in any other part of the world (including Africa). The name Kwanzaa comes from a phrase” of Swahili origin,” “Matunda Ya Kwanza,” and translates as “translates as “First Fruits of the Harvest.”

That’s right, it’s supposed to be sp “ll” d with only one “a.” This means that the very name of this supposed holiday is a typo.

Kwanzaa is supposed to be a week-long holiday honoring African culture and traditions, but it is tainted by its founder and original purpose.

The man who created the holiday, Maulana Karenga (born Ronald McKinley Everett), described the “celebration as “An All-Seasons Celebration and Practice of the Good.” The problem with that statement is that Maulana Karenga is anything but good. He was convicted in 1971 of torturing two women who were members of his organization, U.S. (United Slaves), a black nationalist cult he had founded.

Fortunately, the holiday was officially renamed earlier today: Pelosi mocked for wishing Americans a ‘Happy Shwanza’ during final speech as House Speaker: ‘Shawarma?’

Pelosi ends her final speech as Speaker of the House by wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah and a "Happy Shwanza" pic.twitter.com/LtcMeA8KIT

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) December 23, 2022

ANNALS OF LEFTIST AUTOPHAGY: Kamala Harris whines media doesn’t focus on ‘strength of my leadership.’

Vice President Kamala Harris complained this week about poor media coverage — during a friendly interview with a Washington Post columnist — moaning that the press doesn’t focus on what she called “the strength of my leadership.”

“There are things that I’ve done as vice president that fully demonstrate the strength of my leadership as vice president that have not received the kind of coverage that I think Dobbs did receive,” Harris told Jonathan Capehart, referring to the June 24 Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade and returning the question of abortion to the states.

“What you’ve been able to see,” the veep added, is “based on what gets covered.”

In his opinion piece, Capehart argued that contrary to conventional wisdom, Harris, 58, has “had a most excellent year” and cited three supposed “tent poles” of her 2022.

Narrator’s voice: Harris in fact, did not have “a most excellent year:”  Kamala Harris: Work in Progress Or Piece Of Work?

IDENTITY POLITICS MAKING LEFTISTS BIG MAD OVER SMURFS: The Avatar sequel is getting heat from some Indigenous people.

More than a decade after sci-fi blockbuster “Avatar” hit theaters, James Cameron is back with a sequel that once again takes audiences into the lush world of Pandora. But some Indigenous viewers aren’t particularly interested in returning to it.

“Avatar: The Way of Water” and its director are facing fresh scrutiny from Native audiences, some of whom have criticized the franchise for its “White savior” narrative, use of stereotypes and inadequate representation of Indigenous people.

Yuè Begay, a Navajo artist and activist, called for a boycott of the film in a tweet that’s since received more than 47,000 likes, while Autumn Asher Blackdeer, a scholar from the Southern Cheyenne Nation, compiled a widely shared list of Indigenous-led sci-fi films for viewers to watch instead. Countless others have also weighed in with their own complaints, with some – including Begay – calling out remarks made by Cameron in earlier interviews.

The “Avatar” franchise isn’t subtle in its anti-colonial, anti-imperialist and environmentalist themes – Cameron has said as much, previously referring to the first film as “a science fiction retelling of the history of North and South America in the early colonial period.”

But despite the director’s intentions, critics of “Avatar” feel the films fall short in their execution.

It would take a heart of stone not to laugh.

Earlier: James Cameron Learns Hard Lesson – You’re Never Woke Enough.

GIRL GETS TRAPPED IN CLAW MACHINE AFTER TRYING TO STEAL TEDDY BEARS:

A four-year-old girl’s plan to pilfer teddy bears from a claw machine backfired horribly after she ended up trapped inside the crane contraption.

“My partner was shocked but I just started laughing,” her mother Melanie Pike told Channel 7 News of the im-prize-onment, which occurred while she was with her family at a pub in Airlie Beach, Queensland, Australia.

Her daughter Poppy attempted to nab some teddy bears from a claw machine on a dare from her twin sister. However, the tot’s attempted toy heist went sideways after she infiltrated an opening in the glass box like a pee-wee jewel thief and couldn’t figure out how to escape.

“The girls were playing outside and the next minute my twin daughters ran inside and said ‘mum, Poppy’s stuck in the vending machine,’” recounted Pike, who, luckily for social media gawkers, filmed her daughter’s impromptu jail sentence.

Live look inside the machine:

PORKULUS II, FISCAL BOOGALOO: Here are the 18 Republican senators who voted for the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending package.

NFL ‘SUNDAY TICKET’ HEADED TO YOUTUBE BEGINNING NEXT SEASON: “It is the second time in less than two years that the NFL has partnered with a streaming service to air games. The league’s 11-year contract with Amazon Prime Video for Thursday night games started this season.”

MARK FELTON: Cobra King — First Tank Into Bastogne 1944 (Video).

AMERICA’S GOVERNOR: DeSantis’ COVID Vaccine Grand Jury Gets the Green Light From the Florida Supreme Court.

MARK JUDGE: Raw, weird, and politically incorrect: How underground comics are pushing back against woke culture.

[Libertarian cartoonist Peter Bagge] also makes a telling comment — that when comics were underground, it wasn’t something that any creator “was going to lose a college professorship over.” In the age of the woke, that has changed. In the fall of 2020, for example, Phoebe Gloeckner, the author of the graphic novel The Diary of a Teenage Girl and an associate professor at the University of Michigan, was accused of “ curriculum-based trauma ” by students partly because she showed them Crumb’s work. The art itself might not have been offensive, but Crumb and his refusal to accept woke ideology were.

Talking to the New York Times, Crumb “refers disdainfully” to “the wokies.”

“The whole identity politics and L.G.B.T.Q. stuff,” he said, “I agree with it. These people need an equal share. I can’t argue with that. But then people get kind of intolerant about anything that could be seen as triggering.”

The establishment man Crumb and others battled in the 1960s is now the arms-folded college scold.

And so, as with so many other cultural trends, the world of comics has come full circle. Underground comics, at least those willing to buck leftist cultural trends, are once again banned by the establishment. Which means, of course, that they’re right on target.

Meanwhile, overground comics, having gotten woke — well, I think you can see where this is headed: LOL: Corrupt Leftwing Comics “Journalists” Finally Admit That the Comics Industry Is In Financial Trouble.

OLD AND BUSTED: Build the wall!

The New Hotness? Arizona Will Dismantle Container Border Wall to Settle DOJ Lawsuit.

From the comments:

This was always a stunt designed to do four things:
1. Show that an effective barrier can be built quickly
2. Demonstrate the deterrence value of a barrier
3. Draw National attention to gaps in our border deliberately left by the Biden WH and d/prog
4. Force the Biden DoJ to go on record to dismantle the barrier and clearly reveal their priorities don’t include security along our border

From that perspective it was successful. The most pro border security /anti illegal immigration President we have had since Eisenhower was unable to get a border wall fully built during his term. It’s going to take more than a President, it will take electing a critical mass of folks to Congress who will support border security.

I’m old enough to remember when Democrats at least pretended to be anti-illegal immigration:

● What Changed?! Chuck Schumer 2009 kicks Chuck Schumer 2018 right in his badoobies on illegal immigration (video).

—Twitchy, December 28, 2018.

● “Trump took to Twitter on Thursday to remind Democrats that even former President Barack Obama spoke out against illegal immigration. Trump dug up a 2011 tweet from former President Obama which said: ‘I strongly believe that we should take on, once and for all, the issue of illegal immigration.’ ‘I totally agree!’ Trump wrote, retweeting the former president.”

—The Daily Caller, December 27, 2018.

● Harry Reid in 1993: It’s insane to reward illegal immigrants by giving their children birthright citizenship.

—Hot Air, October 30, 2018.

● Bill Clinton warns of “the large number of illegal aliens” coming into America, and explains his crackdown.

—Instapundit, January 31, 2017.

IT’S AN IDEA SO CRAZY, IT JUST MIGHT WORK: Missouri mayor bans kids from attending ‘A Drag Queen Christmas.’

THAT’S NICE: Biden hopes Christmas will ‘drain the poison that has infected our politics.’

President Joe Biden is calling on the country to “spread a little bit of kindness” this Christmas season in hopes of easing the partisan tensions plaguing U.S. politics.

Biden donned his “uniter-in-chief” hat during his annual Christmas address, delivered from the White House on Thursday, and stated that “Christmas has always been the season of hope.”

“We’re here on this Earth to care for one another, to look out for one another, to love one another. The message of Christmas is always important, especially important through tough times like the ones we’ve been through the past few years,” the president said.

“The messages of hope, love, peace and joy: They’re also universal. It speaks to all of us,” he continued. “This Christmas, let’s spread a little kindness.”

Fair enough. You go first, grandpa:

To be fair, today’s holiday wishes are a step up from Biden’s Christmas wishes last year: White House Christmas message to unvaccinated: You’re looking at a winter of death for yourselves and your families:

UNEXPECTEDLY: Fillmore District’s Black Community Leaders Demand More Police.

At a meeting Monday night at San Francisco’s Third Baptist Church, Rev. Amos Brown and other Black community leaders called on the city to fix what they described as an escalating homelessness and drug problem. These issues, they said, disproportionately hurt the historically Black Fillmore District, an already vulnerable community.

Several dozen people attended the meeting, with its tone alternating between desperation and anger. Speaker after speaker sounded the same note, calling for an increased police presence. Further, they want to require homeless drug addicts to get treatment and prevent them from camping on the street.

Flashback: White Progressives Shocked to Learn Black and Latino Voters Don’t Share Their Radical ‘defund the Police’ Views.

THE BRIAN STELTER MEMORIAL AWARD FOR WORST QUOTE OF THE YEAR:

It was a challenging task, but an esteemed panel of NewsBusters editors led by MRC President L.Brent Bozell and MRC’s Vice President for Research and Publications Brent Baker, boiled down all the biased outbursts from lefty hack hosts, anchors, reporters and pundits in 2022 and declared a winner.

This year the winner is Don Lemon!

The CNN host won for his laugh-out-loud response to CBS Late Show host Stephen Colbert’s silly inquiry that “you guys aren’t allowed to be liberal anymore” under new CNN CEO Chris Licht’s leadership. To which Lemon absurdly responded: “I don’t think we ever were liberal.”  

And for once, he’s right! Certainly by the traditional, laissez-faire definition of liberal before the term was stolen by “Progressives” in the 1920s. But if pressed, how would LeMon define CNN’s ideology? Socialist? Statist? Corporatist?  The network has a penchant for doxxing its viewers, and has run odes to North Korea, Fidel Castro, Saddam Hussein, and Hezbollah, so totalitarian is also an option.

OLD AND BUSTED: Florida Man.

The New Hotness? Florida Iguanas! Florida Iguanas Could Fall From Trees on Christmas Weekend. “Florida is forecast to have one of its coldest Christmases in 20 years. Though it may be a welcome site to locals in the subtropical region, cold weather can be quite unpleasant for the local iguana population. When temperatures drop to near 40 degrees, iguanas become immobile and lose their grips in trees, thus making them fall to the ground like a wet sack of concrete.”

FTX FOUNDER SAM BANKMAN-FRIED TO BE RELEASED ON $250 MILLION BAIL.

JIM TREACHER: Joe Rogan Was Right About Exercise and COVID-19. “Not too long ago, Joe Rogan went on his hugely popular podcast and said this: ‘If you’re a healthy person and you’re exercising all the time, and you’re young, and you’re eating well… I don’t think you need to worry about this.’ In response, the mainstream media went completely insane… In other words, Joe Rogan was right about exercise and COVID-19. Even WaPo is admitting it. Without acknowledging that they were wrong to attack him, of course. But still.”

A new study found that exercise, in almost any amount, reduced people’s risks of being hospitalized or dying of covid. https://t.co/tKpKyxLPiJ

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) December 21, 2022

“OFF THE MAP:” Sam Bankman-Fried Arrives in US to ‘Face the Music’ of Federal Fraud Charges. “Bankman-Fried has been charged with wire fraud, securities fraud, securities fraud conspiracy, and money laundering. The 30-year-old could spend the rest of his life in federal prison if found guilty. ‘Because so much money is involved in this case—literally hundreds of millions of dollars, if not billions—SBF’s recommended ‘sentencing range’ under the United States Sentencing Guidelines will be extremely high—indeed, probably off the map,’ Miriam Baer, Vice Dean at Brooklyn Law School, told Decrypt at the time of Bankman-Fried’s arrest.”