Sunday Funday: A roundup of short takes, funny posts and interesting stuff, plus Christmas is coming, more TrumpWatch, and Animal Crackers

Hi all - I found some great posts this week to share.

Short takes and funny posts
Word of the year

Merriam-Webster’s human editors have chosen ‘slop’ as the 2025 Word of the Year.

— Merriam-Webster (@merriam-webster.com) December 15, 2025 at 8:07 AM

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I think it was windy all across the country this week:

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Explaining the news:

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I actually know who these celebrities are:

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Also I grew up with Bugs:

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What will Canada do if we don't have Poilievre to kick around anymore?

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— Pierre Polyester (@canadian-critic.bsky.social) December 17, 2025 at 7:27 PM

Chicago, never change!

Chicago is having none of this administration's BS.

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— Dawn Xiana Moon (@dawnxianamoon.bsky.social) December 20, 2025 at 3:40 PM

I thought this was an interesting point - it applies to smaller towns in Canada too:

It's kind of crazy how important school districts are to the underlying economy of a series of small towns, and how in doubling down on homeschooling and charters and all that business, rural types have basically put people in power who are ripping away the most important employer where they live.

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— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) December 13, 2025 at 11:44 AM

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I saw a great thread today about how the New York Times has consistently thrown trans-gender people under the bus for the last several years, to the point that their own news staff finally yelled "Stop!" Here are a few of the posts in this thread:

How the nyt used the Cass report to restart its anti-trans propaganda campaign in the US: Coverage of the report was initially assigned to a nyt UK correspondent, usual practice for a UK report. The story being prepared cited critics who called Cass a shoddy, political document that defied science

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— Billie Jean Sweeney (@billiejsweeney.bsky.social) December 20, 2025 at 4:23 AM

The story never ran. Coverage of Cass was taken away from the international desk, per order of top editors in NY, and given to the science desk. That desk had been a leader in promoting anti-trans disinformation throughout 2022-23. (Hundreds of the nyt own contributors had denounced its bias)

— Billie Jean Sweeney (@billiejsweeney.bsky.social) December 20, 2025 at 4:23 AM

By failing to examine Cass’s assertions critically and provide even basic context, the nyt failed its most fundamental journalistic duty. It handed over its space and authority to an anti-trans campaigner. The “conversation with” story was propaganda disguised as news.

— Billie Jean Sweeney (@billiejsweeney.bsky.social) December 20, 2025 at 4:56 AM

The nyt’s anti-trans coverage has always been Sulzberger’s political project. He and his lieutenants saw trans ppl as easy prey, a way to show the right wing the nyt was not a “liberal rag” and pay no price for their bigotry But there is a price: the lives of trans ppl, especially young ppl.

— Billie Jean Sweeney (@billiejsweeney.bsky.social) December 20, 2025 at 5:04 AM

And in other news:

A leaked memo suggests Pam Bondi wants to put a bounty on trans activists. She wants to reward people for turning advocates into the FBI. There’s another group who did this. The Nazis. They went after trans people, gay people, the disabled, immigrants and the Jews. Don’t let history repeat

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— Kelly (@broadwaybabyto.bsky.social) December 18, 2025 at 5:57 PM

Bravery is fighting back:

Today, AG Letitia James of New York responded to the Trump administration's new rule attempting to ban trans youth care in hospitals nationwide. "I will not let the administration come for you." Read the latest from our writer, S. Baum here. www.erininthemorning.com/p/i-will-not...

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— Erin Reed (@erininthemorning.com) December 18, 2025 at 4:45 PM

And remembering this, too:

Wise words

- Glen Lancaster 🇨🇦

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On a lighter note, I loved this post - you have to watch this week's Pluribus to get it:

I feel like I'm going to get a lot of use out of this Pluribus screencap

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— Parker Molloy (@parkermolloy.com) December 20, 2025 at 6:59 PM

Another great thread about feminism - at CBS, the execrable Bari Weiss is now promoting a discussion about how feminism has failed because some women think now they didn't really need it blah blah blah - more fool they:

I love to be told that feminism has failed women by women whose careers and ability to flourish in public life, let alone have a credit card, only exist because of feminism

— Kat Tenbarge (@kattenbarge.bsky.social) December 19, 2025 at 10:03 AM

It seems like a lot of them haven't read much history on the subject. I think many folks under 50 might be shocked if they knew what it was like for women before the mid 1970s.

— Buck (@turbineseaplane.bsky.social) December 19, 2025 at 10:04 AM

Interesting Stuff

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This features British comedian Bill Bailey and professional dancer Oti Mabuse performing their "Rapper's Delight" routine on the BBC:

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The Lion Sleeps Tonight (Wimoweh) - Young People's Chorus of NYC at The GREEN at Lincoln Center THIS IS JUST PURE HAPPINESS. WATCH THIS AND FEEL GOOD!!

- Edmond Bertrand

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I don’t think I’ve seen anyone paint winter light quite like Gustaf Fjaestad. Spellbinding…

- The Culturist

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And another post from The Culturist:

One of my favorite things about Tolkien’s writing is how he takes time out of the plot to describe single trees in great detail. He gives them the dignity of their own names, personalities, even genealogies — but why? It’s well known that Tolkien abhorred the desecration of nature, and wanted us to live in communion with all things that grow. He saw his rural England fall prey to industrialism, and saw it as his role to speak up for trees, which in our world are voiceless: Every tree has its enemy, few have an advocate. In all my works I take the part of trees against all their enemies. Tolkien understood the importance of tending to a thing without any regard for how you could use it for your own benefit. A living tree, just the way nature intended it, is more beautiful than anything we could use it for or carve from it. And this tending to the things around you encapsulates the ethics of Tolkien’s stories. Notice how he uses the dead White Tree of Gondor to echo a very old idea. In Ancient Greece, towns had a hearth at the center called a prytaneion. Someone had to tend to the sacred fire each day, and if it died, so too the city would die. Failure to keep Gondor’s tree alive is a symbol of man's dwindling ennoblement. And this is no ordinary tree, either; it’s a descendant of Nimloth, a beloved tree that once stood in Númenor at the height of human civilization. It’s no small thing that Aragorn, upon his ascension to the throne at the end of the story, replants the White Tree with a new sapling to see it flourish again. If you’re wondering how to change the world for the better, consider first taking the time to connect with and care for the little things immediately around you, especially the things that grow. Before setting out to change the world, learn how to step back and simply be in it first.

- The Culturist

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Each circle tells a different story

- James Lucas

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When it’s cold enough to see the melody

- James Lucas

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We could likely use several hundred of these, across the country:

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Christmas is coming
What an outstanding human being is Rick Steeves:

It’s the “season of love and giving”…but this year, doesn’t it seem more like a “season of fear and taking”? Like many of you, I’ve been saddened by the human impact of draconian government budget cuts and how angry many housed Americans are at unhoused Americans. 🧵 1 of 9

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— Rick Steves (@ricksteves.bsky.social) December 20, 2025 at 8:51 PM

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Seven swans to rule them all, Six geese to find them, Five gold rings to bring them all, And in the pear tree bind them.

— tom brandt (@twbrandt.net) December 19, 2025 at 6:06 PM

This is how Coca-Cola celebrates Christmas in Japan

- James Lucas

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The Canadian Pacific Christmas Train is travelling across Canada

- American Escapee

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More TrumpWatch

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— billyboomer.bsky.social (@billyboomer.bsky.social) December 21, 2025 at 12:02 AM

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And I missed including this on my TrumpWatch roundup yesterday:

Televangelist Franklin Graham has asked us to pray for Donald Trump, so here it goes: "May the gates of Hell swallow him, his family of grifters, his criminal cabinet, the Republican politicians who were accomplices to the betrayal of America, and every MAGA voter." I feel better now. Praise be.

- The Mouthy Renegade Writer

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Animal Crackers

There actually is a website - Does The Dog Die? - that you can check before you start watching a movie.

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Amazing:

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"Dogs and cats, living together":

As witnesses later recalled, two small dogs just waltzed into the place, grabbed the cat, and waltzed out.

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— THE FAR SIDE DAILY (@bot.cowtools.org) December 19, 2025 at 6:07 AM

Cats and Dogs in the ❤️#ChristmasSeason #ChristmasJoy

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— ContempraInn 🌹 (@contemprainn.bsky.social) December 16, 2025 at 10:05 PM

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 #cats #dogs

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— america.is.not.free (@antifapatriot.bsky.social) December 19, 2025 at 7:33 AM

Nala😍 They got a dog for their dog…🥹

- I.L. Williams

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