If you think about it, the Washington Post’s Nelson Pressley went to his bosses and said “hey, I have this idea on Trump and the pardons and how utterly horrible it was” and they said “run with it.” In the lifestyle section. Not even in the opinion section. And we end up with
Trump’s presidential turkey pardon felt like a reality show meets absurdist theater
In theater, the definition of a “turkey†is a disaster that can’t be saved. Does that apply to the perpetually peculiar presidential Thanksgiving turkey pardoning? Can Donald Trump do whimsy?
Performing America’s pre-dinner theater demands it, topped with a dollop of sincerity. Weird as it is, there is reassurance in routine — as travel and grocery shopping logistics pile up, you sort of want to glance at this novelty act and hear healing words just a moment — and on Tuesday in the Rose Garden, the president played the role of hardball politician softening for the week’s holiday pretty much by the book. He joshed about the annual event’s brand-new “reality show†wrinkle of public voting between two turkeys named Peas and Carrots to see which one gets, you might say, the embrace.
“The winner of this vote was decided by a fair and open election conducted on the White House website,†the president announced as the first lady looked on. “This was a fair election. Unfortunately, Carrots refused to concede and demanded a recount, and we’re still fighting with Carrots.â€
Democrats might not honor these pardons, Trump warned. Watch out for a reversal by that dastardly Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, he said, as another court was reversing his administration’s asylum policy.
This elbow in the ribs had a sharp Trumpian edge but fits within the established script for turkey pardoning, which, in this 2018 edition, lasted a fleet eight minutes. Beltway quips, some earnest platitudes (“All joking aside, this is a time for Americans to unite together in a spirit of love, understanding, unity and joy as one very proud American familyâ€), then the main course. “I hereby grant you a full pardon,†the president said, stepping toward the turkey named Peas as the assembled crowd dutifully laughed.
No, the article never takes an really sharp jabs at Trump, but the very fact that it was written, that the whole pardoning turkeys thing is apparently a silly farce, that online voting on the turkeys, which included a background on Peas and Carrots, just shows how deranged Trump makes liberals. Does anyone remember articles quietly slapping Obama over pardoning turkeys?
“Extremely lucky birds,†Trump noted.
All this taps into the something deeply loony that hangs on Thanksgiving’s beak like a snood. Thanksgiving inspired the legendary “WKRP in Cincinnati†episode “Turkeys Away,†with the radio station promoting itself by generously dropping free live turkeys onto startled Ohioans from a helicopter. Thanksgiving gave us the brilliantly daffy “Turkey Lurkey Time†dance in the 1969 musical “Promises, Promises†(thank you, Donna McKechnie), plus a thread in “West Wing†when President Bartlett wondered if pardoning birds would make him seem “soft on turkeys.â€
Humourless scold. Even the small things drive liberals over the edge.
Read: TDS: When Even Pardoning A Turkey Drives Liberals Moonbat »
In theater, the definition of a “turkey†is a disaster that can’t be saved. Does that apply to the perpetually peculiar presidential Thanksgiving turkey pardoning? Can Donald Trump do whimsy?
Most of the plantations around us were new, their rise a direct consequence of policy decisions made half a world away. In the mid-2000s, Western nations, led by the United States, began drafting environmental laws that encouraged the use of vegetable oil in fuels — an ambitious move to reduce carbon dioxide and curb global warming. But these laws were drawn up based on an incomplete accounting of the true environmental costs. Despite warnings that the policies could have the opposite of their intended effect, they were implemented anyway, producing what now appears to be a calamity with global consequences.
Phoebe Einzig-Roth,
Global warming is posing such wide-ranging risks to humanity, involving so many types of phenomena, that by the end of this century some parts of the world could face as many as six climate-related crises at the same time, researchers say.
With 33,000 Americans dying every year, Democrats believe that we must finally take sensible action to address gun violence. While responsible gun ownership is part of the fabric of many communities, too many families in America have suffered from gun violence. We can respect the rights of responsible gun owners while keeping our communities safe. To build on the success of the lifesaving Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, we will expand and strengthen background checks and close dangerous loopholes in our current laws; repeal the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) to revoke the dangerous legal immunity protections gun makers and sellers now enjoy; and keep weapons of war—such as assault weapons and large capacity ammunition magazines (LCAM’s)—off our streets. We will fight back against attempts to make it harder for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to revoke federal licenses from law breaking gun dealers, and ensure guns do not fall into the hands of terrorists, intimate partner abusers, other violent criminals, and those with severe mental health issues. There is insufficient research on effective gun prevention policies, which is why the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must have the resources it needs to study gun violence as a public health issue.
Sunday on CBS’s’ “Face the Nation,†Gov. Jerry Brown (D) said the increasing wildfires in California meant that “in less than five years†the “worst skeptics†were going to be believers in climate change.
Every week, students at elementary schools in Mahwah could take out books from the school library. That changed at the start of this school year, and parents are concerned as to why. Some are downright angry.
David Court gave a lecture on Wednesday night, something he does a lot as a professor of Geography at Santa Barbara City College, only this time his audience was at the Mammoth Brewing Company and was probably much more sober than he’s used to.
Myth #1: The Science is Not Settled

