Posted on 12/23/2015 11:43:11 AM PST by Kaslin
As we gather around our holiday tables this year, it's hard not to notice that something feels different. While the news is always an uninvited guest at family functions, this year the uninvited guest is suffocating us and will not leave.
You can feel it as you catch up with old friends and visit with family. There's fear and anxiety over terrorism here and overseas. There's sadness that so many will celebrate Christmas without a loved one, victims of an endless stream of violence in some of our nation's big cities. There's disbelief that someone could mow down more than 30 pedestrians on a Las Vegas sidewalk, with a toddler in the backseat. There's anger that our presidential candidates don't seem to get it and resentment that our opportunities might be fewer than they were a couple years ago.
But in the doom and gloom of current events, it's important to remember that it's not all bad. There are some bright spots on the horizon, and rather than dwell on the dire, the dark and the dangerous, let's try to find some relief in the little things this holiday season.
For one, "House of Cards" is returning March 4. And if anything could make us look at the current political landscape and say, "It could be worse!" it's President and Mrs. Underwood and their seamy Washington power struggles. Let's face it: Frank Underwood makes Hillary Clinton look honest and Donald Trump downright cuddly.
For proof -- and, more good news, unlike Underwood -- Donald Trump has vowed not to kill journalists! This was particularly settling news at the Cupp house. "No, I wouldn't," he told a rally. "I would never kill them, but I do hate them. And some of them are such lying, disgusting people, it's true." In the sea of unforgivable garbage that pours out of his mouth on a daily basis, this was a rare pearl. Let's take it.
Things are looking up for another candidate, Jeb Bush. After months of enduring what seemed like a roller-coaster ride he never wanted to be on in the first place, he's finally found some peace -- in fifth place. "I feel much better back here," he told "Face the Nation." It shows. He delivered a solid debate performance in Las Vegas and is taking on Trump in more believable ways. Maybe now that the heat is off he can campaign the way he wanted to: with a smile on his face.
But if politics is just too terrible to stomach no matter how you spin it, humor is always a great distraction when the world seems dark and unfriendly. In that department, Jerry Seinfeld just took a monthly residency for the first half of 2016 at New York's Beacon Theater. And, for those of us who can't make it, he debuts the new season of "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee" with President Obama, for many of us our favorite comedian, on Dec. 30.
The overwhelming omnipresence of "Star Wars" -- its fans, its merchandise, its catchphrases -- is almost enough to make you forget everything else that's going on in the world. And just this week, fantasy met reality when SpaceX successfully launched -- and landed -- a rocket, besting Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin's efforts in November. A SpaceX spokesperson said what they accomplished was "like launching a pencil over the Empire State building and having it land on a shoebox on the other side ... during a wind storm." Maybe those flying cars we were promised are in our future after all.
Finally, it's been a rough week for Steve Harvey, who announced the wrong winner in the Miss Universe pageant (and had some unfortunate mispronunciation moments). But the good news is, Kenan Thompson, whose Steve Harvey impression is already legendary, will get to satirize it perfectly, I'm predicting, this weekend on "Saturday Night Live." So we all win.
Yes, it's scary out there. Yes, these are trying times. We're facing some serious challenges as a nation, without much confidence that we can succeed. But let's all take a few days off from the stress and panic to appreciate each other and life's small pleasures.
If the Harvey incident reminds us all of one thing this holiday season, it's that it's important to laugh -- and laugh at ourselves.
S.E Cupp? Who listens to anything she has to say?
Who listens to ‘C’ Cup? Both CNN viewers ...
What a small minded person this SE Cupp is.
"C" cuppers have always been overlooked..........
An example of the problem with atheism.
Here the author reveals that the trivial and meaningless assume undue importance in her life, not atypical among the godless. This is a cry for attention-S. E. must be feeling envious and lonely. Is this pessimistic, defeatist screed an underhanded poke at Christianity?
I realize this was tongue-in-cheek dear, but for the rest of us, this is an important time. When looking for good to counter the bad, Ms. Cupp, did you contemplate the marvel and utter beauty embodied in the christian community in Charleston, SC., and the example set for all humanity in their words and deeds after the senseless murders there? One need not even be a Christian to find the good within the events there. Just wanted to give you an example as to where your article could have gone. Opportunity missed.
It seems you wish to dwell in the unserious world. Must be a coping mechanism.
Awaiting verification of that statement before I scratch Trump off my 'nice' list...(/s)
Anything more than a mouthful is wasted...
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