Once upon a time, I loathed Christmas. I hated the music. I hated the decorations. I hated pretty much everything about it and I hated that I hated it because I used to love Christmas. And then I figured out the secret to enjoying it again... To continue reading this article, ...read more
The Banter Long Read: By the time Jordan was 4, it was obvious his autism wouldn't allow me to take him to see The Nutcracker. He just didn't have the patience or attention span to do it and that hurt. Of all the many things autism took from us as a family, that one stung more ...read more
On Christmas Day, while most Americans were enjoying their turkey and eggnog, Republican National Committee Chairman and incoming White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus sent out a holiday message to Americans. That message begins with this paragraph: Merry Christmas to all! ...read more
There are a lot of possible reasons why Donald Trump will, unimaginably, be the next President of the United States. There's so much potential blame to go around, in fact, that the Trump victory and all it represents can operate as a kind of Rorschach test, with each person able ...read more
'Tis the season... to throw up in your mouth a little, if a pair of viral "family" Christmas photos are any indication. First up. a photo that was shared on Facebook by Louisiana's Hannah Hawkes Photography, then pulled down when the shot generated a tsunami of outrage on the ...read more
Don't be dreaming of a white privilege Christmas this year. Get your genderless, vegan gingerbread thing today. Actually, this is from a couple of months ago. I decided to post it now for three reasons: 1) Mike Luciano and I were exchanging e-mails making fun of social ...read more
As soon as Fox News reported that Santa Claus "just is white," the same as Jesus, liberal outrage suddenly threw millions of children into a yuletide panic. On September 21, 1897, our own Tommy Christopher responded to a letter from one such youngster, little Megynia O'Kelly, ...read more
Disclaimer: I know the people involved with this story, but I'd still be writing about it if I didn't. Because I am a fan of the First Amendment as it applies to allowing fucked up things to be seen by people who don't want to look at them, those hypersensitive babies. The ...read more
I have no idea what's possessing me to put these up today. Ironically, it may be the fact that today's the first day that really feels like the Christmas season for me. Can't really explain why that is, but it just finally hit me. And so, with that in mind, allow us here at the ...read more
Tis the season to be Merry, or in NYC, get drunk dressed as Santa and fight with other dudes dressed as Santa. Here's what happened during 'SantaCon', a holiday bar crawl where guys dress up as Santa and drink themselves into a stupor. Merry Christmas everyone!! ...read more
This was posted at Alex Jones' InfoWars website, so I initially assumed it was his. After listening to most of it, and having seen some of Jones' previous videos, I was positive it was an InfoWars production. But when I clicked over to YouTube to grab the embed code, it turned ...read more
Santa Claus, also known as Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle and simply "Santa", is a fantasy figure with legendary, mythical, historical and folkloricorigins who, in many western cultures, is said to bring gifts to the homes of the good children on the night ...read more
I haven't been to an office holiday party in years. At the beginning of my career, WSVN in Miami held theirs at a place on the water in Ft. Lauderdale and it was admittedly a blast, mostly because at some point you were always guaranteed to see Rick Sanchez singing karaoke-style ...read more
Sarah Palin's new book, Good Tidings and Great Joy: Protecting the Heart of Christmas, is exactly what it sounds like: a poorly written self-indulgent response to the so-called "War on Christmas," featuring personal stories of Palin's various Alaska Christmases. For example, in ...read more
Well, I know I am relieved. Just when I was starting to worry about Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who was elected three times by New Yorkers, was getting out of control, Sarah Palin, who has never been elected by New Yorkers, has come to the rescue. After quitting her job as governor ...read more
By Lawrence S. Wittner: Although fundamentalist fanatics have been working for decades to turn the United States into a “Christian nation,” they have not had much success along these lines. One reason for their failure is that religious minorities and non-believers have ...read more
It's too early to claim victory, but the GOP's unified front in regards to taxation appears to be breaking. From the Guardian: Cracks in Republican opposition to tax rises for the wealthy grew bigger on Wednesday as Barack Obama increased pressure on the party to accept a deal to ...read more