Since Bill O’Reilly has declared victory in the War on Xmas, I didn’t have occasion to remind everyone that celebration of this holiday was once strongly discouraged in many non-Lutheran Protestant lands, and was actually illegal in Cromwellian England and John Knox’s Scotland.
To my fellow Christians, I hope you have a blessed Feast of the Nativity, and to others, a peaceful day off (and as always, I especially empathize with those who have to work on major holidays).
Here are some remains of the day:
* At the Atlantic, Ta-Nehisi Coates warns us that “police reform” may actually require contradicting majoritarian sentiment.
* At TNR, Alice Robb rains on at least one Christmas parade by noting that The Nutcracker’s a tad racist.
* At the Prospect, Paul Waldman suggests Christians are intruding on the “Jewish Christmas” practice of going to the movies.
* At Ten Miles Square, Julia Azari decides Joel Kotkin needs a little more correction for his claim that Democrats would be better off if they got rid of all this civil rights bushwa.
* At College Guide, Andre Perry tells a Christmas story about a kid who got the kind of second chance Michael Brown missed.
And in non-political news:
* NORAD Santa Tracker now online.
That’s it for Wednesday. We’ll close with an unusual and (for me) gripping Christmas Eve performance: Ensemble Organum with “Puer Natus Est Nobis,” an Old Roman (i.e., pre-Gregorian) chant typically performed as an introit at Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve/Day.
Selah.
