The UK government is looking into the possibility of teams going door-to-door to make sure all Brits eligible to be vaxed against COVID-19 are indeed so, the Guardian reported Sunday. The MAGA nightmare is being floated after a pilot program in the Suffolk and Ipswich regions reported some success with in-person teams coaxing the reluctant unvaxxed to board buses to vax centers.

More than 10,000 Russian troops that had spent the last months in drills along the Ukraine border, raising concerns among Western allies that Vladimir Putin intended to invade, are heading home, Reuters reports based off an account from Interfax News Service.

The troops, however, represent a portion of the tens of thousands of Russians who has amassed along the Ukraine border for military exercises; US intelligence stated that at various time this year, Russia has had between 60,000 and 175,000 troops in the region.  The withdrawal is still a sign that Putin has heeded the warnings issued by President Joe Biden and European leaders.

“A stage of combat coordination of divisions, combat crews, squads at motorized units… has been completed. More than 10,000 military servicemen… will march to their permanent deployment from the territory of the combined arms’ area of drills,” Interfax quoted the army as saying.

Canada has passed a new bill that makes assault of a health-care worker an offense punishable by time in prison. The full text of the bill is available on the Canadian Parliament website.

Earlier sections of the bill deal with changes made to the country’s policy regarding paid family leave for those afflicted by Covid19. Page 7 of the bill addresses changes to the Criminal Code of Canada. The bill makes it a crime for any person to attempt to harass or intimidate a person who is in the process of seeking medical care, including making it a crime for anyone to attempt to block access to a health-care facility. It also makes it a crime to harass or interfere with any healthcare worker who is operating in a facility owned by the Canadian Health Service, or providing services using equipment provided by the Canadian Health Service.

Special Plan for Civil Protection and Emergency Assistance for Volcanic Risk of the Canary Islands (PEVOLCA) declared the eruption of Cumbre Vieja on La Palma Island officially ended on Saturday, the Canary Islands government announced Saturday. The volcano had gone quiet on December 13th, but officials had waited until Saturday to declare the eruptive phase over with. More than 1,000 homes and other buildings were destroyed, 7,000 people evacuated, but no one was injured during the 85 days the fucker was spewing molten rock all over the place.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called the eruption’s end “the best Christmas present. All my appreciation to the La Palma people. We will continue working together, all institutions, to relaunch the marvelous island of La Palma and repair the damage” Sanchez tweeted.

The Bloviating Orange Gasbag’s behavior during a recent interview with right-wing propagandist Candace Owens has many Americans scratching their heads. During the interview, The Former Guy boasted that the Covid19 vaccines developed by American pharmaceutical companies were huge achievements, and urged his supporters to get vaccinated. This represents a huge shift for Depends-clad Donald from the Covid and vaccine skepticism that has characterized other GOP leaders like Ronnie the porky dwarf DeSantis, who has repeatedly abused the authority of his office to try to make it more difficult for responsible Floridians to protect themselves from the epidemic of Covid that continues to spread among MAGA extremists in Florida.

How #Omicron Stole Christmas 🎄😷 #MerryChristmas #omicronchristmas pic.twitter.com/8DMMiRFMWH

— John Walsh (@itsJohnWalsh) December 24, 2021

A moment those kids will never forget 🥰

Third grade teacher Ms. Fitz promised her class hot chocolate if she made this shot ☕️

Way to go, Ms. Fitz!
🎥: htsgeorgetown/IG pic.twitter.com/wqnc22vNEZ

— CBC Sports (@cbcsports) December 23, 2021

Holiday flyers are running into massive complications nationwide as staff shortages related to the Omicron variant of Covid19 and storms in California lead to thousands of flight cancellations nationwide. The website Flightaware.com reported that as of 9:30am Christmas day there had already been over 4000 delays and 2500 flight cancellations in the last 24 hours nationwide.

NBC News reports that “[s]everal major airlines, including United, Delta and Alaska, said they had been forced to cancel hundreds of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day flights after the omicron variant infected employees and crew members.”

• Elves need to unionize.  Without a doubt, they work in below standard conditions at both the North Pole and the Keebler tree.  
• There is no Constitutional basis for Jim Jordan or Scott Perry to refuse to report to the House J6 Committee.  By definition, executive privilege does not apply–as members of the Legislative branch, they are not covered–so their only objection could be self incrimination. 
• It’s encouraging to see so many crappy lawsuits filed by the likes of Trump and Flynn getting thrown out.  Also great to see J6 defendants getting sentenced to years in prison.  
• For the sake of every public servant, I hope the mother and daughter election workers in Georgia being harassed by MAGAts in Georgia bankrupt OANN, Giuliani, Gateway Pundit and Trump.  They did nothing wrong, and their being threatened because of those people needs to be avenged. 
  Read More ▶ “Random thoughts Friday, Volume XLIX”

The USS Milwaukee, a litorral combat ship with about 100 crew, will stay docked at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay for the immediate future because a significant number of its crew has been diagnosed with COVID due to the spread of the Delta and Omicron variants.

According to the Associated Press, the Milwaukee was scheduled to patrol the South Atlantic, making goodwill stops at ports in Central and South America before continuing its mission under the command of the U.S. Southern Command.

The Navy has announced that 98% of its uniformed members are in compliance with the Pentagon’s vaccination mandate.  The first Navy ship to experience widespread infections was the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, which docked in Guam after its captain issued a warning that its crew was not healthy enough to function.  The captain was relieved of duty by Donald Trump for making the report.

A half dozen Marines, members of a Reserve MP unit with the assistance of an airlift unit out of Japan, traveled to eleven villages to help Santa on his annual toy delivery, providing donated toys and Christmas cheer to 2,500 children, the Juneau Empire reports.

The Marines, from Delta Company of the 4th Law Enforcement Battalion, took a flight on a KC-130 aircraft to Northwest Borough, Alaska, a 41,000 square mile jurisdiction located 25 miles above the Arctic Circle, and then rode snowmobiles to eleven remote villages.  Deputized by Saint Nick, the Marine then donned Santa suits to distribute the toys.  Part of Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 152, the aircraft traveled from Okinawa for the mission.

The effort is part of the Toys for Tots campaign, a program run by the Marine Reserve since 1947 to distribute toys to needy children during the holiday season.  Toys for Tots distributes 18 million toys to 7 million kids annually.

https://youtu.be/QqAikSdsLwY

Oh, poor Candace Owens.  Feel sorry for her, people.  She secures a one-on-one interview with Donald Trump and what’s he have the nerve to do during it?  He endorses people getting vaccinated because, he says, it saves lives!  Can you believe it???

Now, days after the interview, Owens is trying to calm the panic of her followers who cannot believe that Trump–DONALD J. TRUMP–is telling people to get the vaccine–the vaccine that they all *know* is responsible for millions of deaths around the world and the loss of freedom by Natural Light drinkin’ folks all over the country. 

The hatred of Trump supporters ruined the enjoyment of a Florida holiday flotilla of boats cruising in Cocoa Beach for the families that watch as a number of the boats featured vulgar and obscene messages aimed at President Joe Biden, Florida Today reports.

What should have been a family-friendly Christmas event turned into a dilemma for parents who had to explain to their children why people would post placards and flags proclaiming “Fuck Joe Biden” during a joyous seasonal celebration.

The parade, organized by the Cocoa Beach Rotary Club, has traditionally been a non-partisan, apolitical event since the first one in the 1970s.  Spectators took to social media to voice their displeasure with the displays, with some even calling the mayor’s office to complain.

“Political messaging has no place in a Christmas parade,” Cocoa Beach Mayor Ben Malik said.  “We have enough to fight amongst each other about. We don’t need to ruin Christmas over it.”

It’s Christmas Eve. The children of Holland lit candles and placed them on the graves of Canadian soldiers who never came home.
 
They do this every year.
They still see you.
 
We still see you. pic.twitter.com/3oygeliC8B

— Canadian Forces in 🇺🇸 (@CAFinUS) December 24, 2021

Twice-a-year christians may get a reprieve from having to go to church services this holiday as a number of congregations around the country are canceling their holiday services due to the explosive spread of the omicron variant of coronavirus, the Associated Press reports.

The National Cathedral in Washington; St. John the Divine, the cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of New York; and the historic Old South Church in Boston have all canceled or significantly scaled back in-person services and events.

“Unfortunately, as the omicron variant takes hold across the world, our city seems to be leading the nation in infections,” the Very Rev. Randolph Marshall Hollerith, the dean of the National Cathedral said. “Given the spike in infections, I simply cannot justify gathering massive crowds as the public health situation worsens around us.”

Thirty three years ago today, the United States was forever changed by the deadliest foreign terrorist attack on the country up to that time.  Though the body count is still debated today, at least a dozen local, state and federal law enforcement officials were killed, as well as two of the hostages and all of the terrorists during the 1988 seizure of Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles.  Some put the body count as high as 26.  

Significant confusion about the nature of the attack still swirls:  was it an actual terrorist attack by a group sponsored from behind the Berlin Wall on a symbol of international capitalism?  Was it an elaborate robbery?  Or was it an attack on the holiday by a bunch of godless communists intent on winning the nascent War on Christmas?  While we may never know the true motivation of the terrorists, largely recruited from West Germans who had distinctively Hollywood tastes, the incident is relived in households every December.

Right wing media asshole Dan Bongino still hasn’t made good on his October promise to quit his daily radio show if Cumulus Media didn’t back off on its employee COVID-19 vaccine requirement, the Washington Post reports. The specific reason why the perpetually angry MAGA bro hasn’t quit yet is unclear, however Bongino has a history of waffling on such declarations.

Today is September 27th, 2021, 261 days since you tweeted "This will be my final post on this anti-American platform. The greatest threats to liberty are the destructive tech tyrants who have acted as publishers in their ongoing wars on conservatives & free speech"

— National Zero (@NationalZeroUSA) September 27, 2021

We have the remnants of that deleted tweet, posted right here as a National Zero “article”. What’s notable was that non-quit came in to reaction to Trump being briefly temporarily suspended from Twitter in the immediate aftermath of the Capitol riot, but nearly 12 hours before he was banned permanently from the platform. So in spite of his issue becoming permanent and irrevocable, he still returned to Twitter anyway. We’re starting to think Dan Bongino just talks a lot of shit.

On behalf of the Democratic Party, merry Christmas Eve.

As we reflect on the personal blessings of family, community, and country, we wish you a day filled with love, laughter, and joy. pic.twitter.com/DPqc450XST

— The Democrats (@TheDemocrats) December 24, 2021

Federal prosecutors have asked a judge to revoke the bail for James Tate Grant, a Capitol rioter described as one of the first of the MAGA insurrectionists to jump the police barricades and begin the melee at the Capitol on January 6th, following Grant’s arrest for driving while impaired and in possession of an AR-15 with 60 rounds of ammunition in his hometown of Garner, North Carolina. Highlights from the arrest report include Grant saying “It’s over. Just kill me now” while being detained outside a Denny’s at 5:06 AM on Dec 7th. From the motion to revoke pretrial release:

“On December 21, 2021, Pretrial Services Agency (‘PSA’) filed a Pretrial Violation Report (ECF 73) recommending defendant James Tate Grant (‘the Defendant’ or ‘Grant’) be removed from PSA courtesy supervision in the Eastern District of North Carolina as a result of several serious violations, including commission of a crime and possession of an AR-15 assault rifle with over 60 rounds of ammunition. Codefendants Ryan Samsel and Grant were the first rioters to approach U.S. Capitol Police (‘USCP’) Officers guarding the U.S. Capitol on January 6. Grant arguably gestured to the crowd behind to follow them… Now, while on pretrial release for these crimes, he was caught driving drunk with an assault rifle and over 60 rounds of ammunition in his vehicle, and initially attempted to flee from law enforcement. There are no conditions or combination of conditions that could ensure the safety of the community and Grant’s presence in Court if he were to remain released, and the Government requests that he be detained pending trial in this case.”