GAC Family review: What Hallmark used to be for the better

 

Now that all the new Christmas movies have aired, I figured this was the perfect time for a real review of this channel. This may also be the only positive review you might read of this channel because I'm not a leftist critic. 😂 Here we go...

Back in early 2014, I only watched Hallmark for 'Little House on the Prairie' reruns (back when Hallmark aired them in the afternoon). Then the holiday season arrived, and I kept seeing ads for 'Countdown to Christmas', and got curious.

My very 1st Hallmark Christmas movie was 'When Angels come to Town', and it was on Hallmark Movies and Mysteries. And well, it was love at first sight.

After that, I started spending 4 to 8 hours a day watching movies on both channels. (My family didn't get a DVR until 2016). The new Christmas movie lineup from 2014 is what gave me my very high standards for Christmas movies, and what made me fall in love with Hallmark. (Try finding their movies from 2014 and way before, on DVD, they're soooooooo good!!).

For the next 6 years, I'd not only look at Hallmark as the very high standard for Christmas movies, and year round seasonal movies, while also occasionally checking out the 'competition' on Lifetime and ION Television.

And then Hallmark decided to go woke with sneaking in gay couples in a few of their movies last year. That's when my feelings for Hallmark started to drop.

I used to try and watch the new Christmas movies in 1 or 2 days, but now, I just let them sit on the DVR for days (Plus, it's really clogged now, so...), and I even delete them when someone who watches Hallmark movies says that there was a gay couple snuck in. Because I have no interest in throwing support in sneaking in gay couples in an attempt to 'evolve', No matter how cute the movie may look. I may have put up with it with last year's movies, but not anymore!! (The 'Sister Swap' movies and 'Every Time a Bell Rings' looked really good from their descriptions for this year, but alas, they involve gay couples. Sad, real sad.).

It's not just the bad attempt to go woke that's making my feelings decline either. Past couple of years, since maybe 2018 or 19, the new Christmas movies have been starting to look, bleh. Sure, there's still a few standouts that I'd love to own on DVD, but that's kind of it. This year, I can only think of maybe 2 or 3 new movies of theirs that I'd like to own. (Plus, Lacey Chabert and Candace Cameron Bure's new movies didn't even really interest me this year, and I love these 2 ladies and their movies!), (Not to mention, there hasn't been a new Hallmark Hall of Fame movie since 2019).

Plus, the 2 channels aren't showing most of their older movies so much anymore. 2 years ago, their 3rd channel, Hallmark Drama, aired a bunch of their older movies, but I have yet to see 1 older movie on there this year. (Not to mention, I haven't seen the 'Finding Father Christmas' trilogy airing anywhere this year!). I can name 2 older movies, 'Christmas festival of Ice' and 'Ice Sculpture Christmas', that I haven't seen reaired on any Hallmark channel in the few years since they first aired! I had to buy 1 of them on DVD just so I could rewatch it last year!

I love their older movies, but these newer movies haven't really impressed me in a 'I want this on DVD' way, especially with the politics being snuck in with casting.

Then GAC Family came around this year, and so far, I have been beyond impressed with their movies! There's several that I want to own on DVD next year! With Hallmark, there's only like 3 or 4 new Christmas movies of theirs that I'm really interested in owning.

I first heard of GAC Family back in September before the rebrand took place when I heard of a jerky Hallmark fan complaining about how 'bigoted' the network would be. That's when I knew I had to take a look at it. Because these days, anything that makes conservative-hating liberals so angry sounds good to me! :)

After watching a couple of charming older movies from different studios, and the network's 1st original movie An Autumn Romance, I knew that this was a network worth sticking with. No politics infused with plots or casting, just good clean fun! And their Christmas line up for this year? It reminded me of how amazing Hallmark used to be back when I first started watching their movies, which is a very good thing. (Plus, the ads that are aired during the breaks aren't that bad. I'm pretty sure Hallmark still occasionally airs that disgusting Uber Eats ad. 🤢)

The promos for the movies themselves are pretty basic, aside from maybe an extended trailer here and there. Which isn't bad, because being basic can be a good thing. Hallmark's ads for their movies are sometimes good, but their promos for their Christmas movies this year? Very bland IMO. I loved the couple of years when they played 'All I want for Christmas is You' in their Countdown to Christmas trailers.

GAC has a bright future ahead of it, as long as it sticks with it's family friendly values, which I'm confident at the moment that it will.

Don't miss the channel's first new 2022 movie: The Winter Palace, premieres January 8th at 8 pm EST! (Saw a promo for it last night and it looks really good!)

10 Christmas Songs That Must Be Cancelled By The End Of 2021

The best way to spread Christmas cheer 

is to cancel that which does not adhere.

by Shawn Fleetwood at The Federalist

The song “Baby It’s Cold Outside” has certainly had its fair share of controversy in recent years. In 2018, the infamous Christmas classic made headlines when numerous radio stations moved to scrap the song after its lyrics were deemed controversial.

Although many conservatives may see this as another example of cancel culture plaguing our society, I view it as a necessary development for a more progressive civilization. Such grotesque and misogynistic rhetoric should not be tolerated, especially in supposed family-oriented music.

While the attempted canceling of “Baby It’s Cold Outside” is a step in the right direction, it didn’t go nearly far enough. There are plenty of Christmas—I mean, holiday—songs that contain themes that are completely unacceptable in 2021.

So, in order to make “the most wonderful time of the year” more inclusive and tolerant, I’ll be leaving you with a list of the most offensive Christmas songs that absolutely must go this holiday season. After all, the best way to spread Christmas cheer is to cancel what does not adhere.

1. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

On its face, “Rudolph” sounds like a nice, elegant Christmas tune that your kids will enjoy. But a further investigation into the song’s lyrics reveals just how problematic this old-time classic truly is.

Take, for instance, lines like “all of the other reindeer used to laugh and call him names” and “they never let poor Rudolph join in any reindeer games,” which blatantly glorify bullying of those who are different. What’s more, the other reindeer and Santa decide that Rudolph has some semblance of worth only after they use him as a flashlight to guide them through the wave of fog disrupting their Christmas Eve deliveries.

And who can ignore the undertones of animal abuse pervasive throughout the entire song. The idea that Santa can just brutally force these magical creatures into a life of indentured servitude is beyond repulsive and serves as one of the many reasons this song has got to go.

2. Frosty the Snowman

“Frosty” is a song that perfectly encapsulates the patriarchy that has dominated American society and Western civilization. Not only do the writers assume Frosty’s gender is male-identifying by including “he/his” pronouns in the lyrics, but they also dismiss any inclusion of snow-birthing-persons. Such sexism is emblematic of the patriarchal oppression all snow-birthing-persons face in their daily lives and professional careers.

To put the cherry on top, the writers also found it acceptable for Frosty to have “two eyes made out of coal.” The incorporation of a filthy fossil fuel demonstrates the continued ignorance of the dangers posed by the ongoing climate crisis.

3. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus

In its day, this classic tune was cute. But, after the MeToo movement, it is completely unacceptable. Nowhere in the song does Santa give Mommy any consent to kiss him. Perhaps he did give it to her, but it was prior to the song’s protagonist coming downstairs to witness the smooch under the mistletoe?  Until such an agreement is confirmed by both parties, however, it is within the best interest of society to give this song the boot (#SantaToo).

4. White Christmas

While the song’s protagonist may be “dreaming of a white Christmas,” I’ll be dreaming of a world where this kind of blatant white supremacy isn’t a mainstream holiday single. Not all Christmases have to be white. I just don’t know when the white-dominant society will get the picture and stop pushing this kind of blatant racism.

Some will argue that this song is actually about the wish for snow on Christmas Day. But if such a claim is true, then where is the representation for snow-of-color? I mean, haven’t the writers ever heard of yellow snow?

5. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

I’m sorry, but my “troubles” are not ” out of sight,” because this song is completely lacking any form of inclusivity. The writers of this yuletide classic clearly didn’t get the memo that society is all about the holidays now, and that any holiday-themed music must incorporate other seasonal celebrations. Unless this song is updated to include commemorations like Hannukah and Kwanzaa, it should be thrown into the chimney fire to burn.

6. Little Drummer Boy

Unlike other songs on this list, the major problems of “Little Drummer Boy” aren’t found in the lyrics, but in its historical connotations. Drummer boys played a critical role during the Civil War, oftentimes marching alongside Confederate soldiers. In the middle of battle, for instance, they would use drumbeats to send orders or signals from military leaders to troops engaged in combat.

While the writing of “Little Drummer Boy” had nothing to do with the Civil War, the implications evoked by the song are simply too great to ignore. Much like the Confederate statues that pollute our parks, this song deserves to be melted down and discarded.

7. Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer

Hitting grandmothers with sleighs is flat-out wrong. I can’t believe that has to be said, but apparently the song’s writers thought it was comical enough to write a Christmas jingle about. The outward contempt for grandmothers and the elderly is so potent that I’m willing to bet the writers are also anti-vaxxers who refuse to triple mask and wear face shields to protect seniors from COVID-19.

8. The Chipmunk Song (Christmas, Don’t Be Late)

Much like “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” this song flawlessly quantifies the abuse facing so many animals in America. Despite their rhythmic vocals and spot-on pitch, nothing the chipmunks ever do satisfies Dave’s ambitions for perfection. His continuous screaming at Alvin is appalling to hear and exemplifies everything wrong with the white, male-dominant society endangering the livelihoods of animals all across the country.

9. Deck the Halls

If you thought that a tune like “Deck the Halls” was free of sin, you’d be flat-out wrong. With lyrics like “[D]on we now our gay apparel,” this song is simply not acceptable in 2021. The flagrant appropriation of LGBT culture and dress wear is beyond abhorrent. How such offensive content has eluded so many for so long is a reflection of the homophobic bigotry prevalent throughout Western civilization.

10. Last Christmas

“Last Christmas” defines our corrupt, capitalist system so incredibly well. Verses like “Last Christmas, I gave you my heart, [B]ut the very next day, you gave it away” are indicative of the greed and avarice harbored by America’s wealthy, upper class.

Despite the protagonist’s sincerity in giving away his/her heart, the recipient sells it to someone else almost immediately just to make a quick buck. Teaching our children these ideals through holiday songs will only further glamorize the failed and racist economic system known as capitalism, which is why this song has got to go.

🎧

The inevitability of Kamala Harris

However talentless, she’s still best positioned by far to win the Democratic primary

written by Luke Thompson for SpectatorWorld

I come neither to bury Kamala nor to praise her.

Commentary on her vice presidency is polarized. Harris’s well-known praise chorus is completely deranged. True, she is the first woman to become vice president, and only the second “person of color,” to use a term in vogue. These are historic achievements to those who understand history through the thick lens of demographic taxonomy.

True, also, Harris has over the last year shown a near-total lack of the political skill generally needed to make a serious run at the presidency. She has been given large projects and failed to advance the administration’s goals. She has not improved as a speaker and comes across as indifferent, haughty and detached. Her approval ratings lag even those of her feckless boss. Transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg — mediocrity made flesh — labors to supplant her as heir apparent with surprising brazenness.

Nonetheless, just as Harris’s chromosomes and skin color will not win her the White House, nor will her weaknesses as a candidate doom her to the political sideline should Joe Biden forego a 2024 reelection run. Kamala Harris remains the person most likely to win her party’s nomination in a post-Biden world, for reasons not reducible to the familiarity that comes from four years in the vice presidency.

The White House, it would seem, has realized this. The last week has seen a well-executed rollout of Kamala puff pieces, launched on Monday with dueling profiles — one schmaltz and one serious — in the San Francisco Chronicle and Los Angeles Times. These were followed by a CBS News piece lavishing her with praise for her heretofore unknown role in getting the bipartisan infrastructure bill across the finish line.

As I wrote at The Spectator in July 2020, picking Harris to be VP showed concerns with the “here and now” of winning the presidential campaign rather than the governing that came later. A year into his presidency, Biden appears to be waking up to the difficult reality that pick created. Harris comes from the Democratic heartland, can tie together, however loosely, the major voting blocs of her party, enjoys an institutional position that gives her structural advantages over her prospective rivals, and will thus almost certainly be Biden’s successor should he exit, mumbling, stage left in 2024.

There has never been a state with the influence over a single party that California exerts over the Democrats today. Nearly one in eight Americans resides in the Golden State, which went to both Clinton and Biden nearly two-to-one. Culturally, California calls the tune for affluent white liberals and progressives. Materially, its major industries — entertainment, tech, finance, public sector unions and renewable energy — fund and backstop Democratic campaigns. Only mid-century New York compares, but whereas the Empire State exercised outsized influence in both parties because it would swing between them, California is a Republican afterthought even though the GOP House leader hails from Bakersfield.

So long as she controls California, Harris can make life very difficult for any prospective challengers seeking volunteers, operatives and dollars. If, as seems likely, Democrats demote the Iowa caucuses and give Nevada the first presidential nominating contest, having a political infrastructure in neighboring California will only become more, not less, valuable.

The Democratic bench, already so desperately thin that Mayor Milquetoast is viewed as a plausible standard-bearer, looks even thinner when one turns southward. To put the matter bluntly, even if they do not love her, who could win Southern black voters away from Kamala Harris in a Democratic primary? Warren? No. Klobuchar? C’mon. Buttigieg? No way. Mitch Landrieu will enjoy fawning Morning Joe coverage, but it will make no difference to the eventual implausibility of his candidacy.

Finally, Biden’s own political incentives help Harris. Even if Joe decides tomorrow to forego reelection, he’ll keep the decision a secret for as long as possible. Making himself a lame duck any earlier than necessary would bury his effectiveness in office. As a result, Biden will freeze the field by giving every indication of running for reelection even if he has no intention of following through on the threat. No other Democrat can ramp up a large political apparatus without appearing to be challenging Biden as the incumbent.

Harris, by contrast, enjoys institutional benefits by virtue of her position. She can fly around the country, hold political rallies nominally for her own reelection as vice president, and keep close tabs on the Democratic Party apparatus. This advantage could only be checked by the active intervention of Biden himself or, failing that, from Barack Obama, who still enjoys godlike status among Democratic primary voters. Yet Obama has no reason to intervene against Harris, who has followed his model even as she lacks his rhetorical and political skills.

And so, like it or not, Democrats ought to get used to the idea of nominating Kamala Harris if Biden doesn’t run. They’re unlikely to have much of a choice.

Good News, Politico Is Rallying Support for Mitch McConnell

posted by Sundance at Conservative Treehouse

At first glance, it might seem odd to think that Politico diminishing the MAGA movement in defense of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is a good thing.  However, in the background of that motive exists the reality – they need to defend him.

…”And though the forest was shrinking, the trees kept voting for the axe, for the axe was clever and convinced the trees that since his handle was made of wood, he was one of them.”…

The story of Mitch McConnell as leader of the GOP DeceptiCon wing is well known on these pages.  Heck, for ten years we frustratingly battled against the members of our own team infected with ‘battered conservative syndrome.‘

Mitch controls roughly 20 members of the Republican wing in the Senate.  It’s the same names that repeatedly surface whenever Democrat legislation is supported, or rule changes are made, to support the goals and objectives of the UniParty in the upper chamber: Cornyn, Thune, Porter, Blunt, Portman, Burr, Barasso, Crapo, Murkowski, Gardner, Roberts, Sasse, Tillis, Rubio, Graham and Romney.

The Politico article is basically saying that despite Donald Trump’s repeated attacks against McConnell, the DeceptiCon senators have not followed any effort to replace the minority leader; which, when you know the nature of the system, is not surprising.

[…] To date, just two prominent GOP Senate candidates have called for McConnell’s ouster — Kelly Tshibaka, an Alaska Republican who is challenging incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski, and Eric Greitens, the former governor of Missouri who is running for a seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Roy Blunt. (link)

The good news is that Donald Trump and more Republican voters now see through McConnell’s schemes and manipulation.  Thus, it takes a left-wing outlet like Politico to try and run cover.

Several DeceptiCon senators have already announced they will not run for re-election in 2020 [Shelby, Toomey, Burr, Portman, Blunt].  In the 2022 Senate races there are 34 seats up for grabs.  14 are held by Democrats and 20 are held by tenuous Republicans.  [Breakdown Here] Those exiting senators, among others, know what McConnell’s objective is.  They also know this time the damage is far greater than previous times McConnell set about to destroy the base of the party.

Most casual political observers have absolutely no idea how McConnell works.  However, for over a decade CTH has been trying –slowly succeeding– to awaken the base of commonsense voters.  In 2010, 2011 and 2012, the #1 priority for McConnell was to destroy the threat represented by the Tea Party.  In 2022 we are seeing an exact replay of the same intents and purposes, only this time the target is President Trump’s MAGA movement.

It is a motive and agenda all wrapped up in the Senate power structure.  McConnell does not fear being in the minority; the color of the flag atop the spire of the UniParty Senate does not matter to those underneath it.  McConnell maneuvers with just as much power in the minority as he does in the majority; factually, he makes more money selling his DeceptiCon caucus votes to Chuck Schumer (on behalf of Wall Street) than he does in the majority where he is forced to purchase them.  The entire thing is a rigged game.

Through his power structure, McConnell directly controls about 16 Republican Senators, we have called them “The Decepticons” for years. [Cornyn, Thune, Porter, Blunt, Portman, Burr, Barasso, Crapo, Murkowski, Gardner, Roberts, Sasse, Tillis, Rubio, Graham and Romney].  He also has four more that can join him when needed.

To remind ourselves how Minority and Majority Senator McConnell took down the threat of the Tea Party revisit these old articles:  CNN Part I and CNN Part II  – both showcase how McConnell works.   Then do some research on how McConnell worked with Haley Barbour in Mississippi [SEE HERE].

McConnell must preserve the trough.  Corporations (special interest groups) write the legislation. Lobbyists take the law and go find politician(s) to support it. Politicians get support from their peers using tenure and status etc. Eventually, if things go according to norm, the legislation gets a vote.

Within every step of the process, there are expense account lunches, dinners, trips, venue tickets and a host of other customary financial waypoints to generate/leverage a successful outcome. The amount of money spent is proportional to the benefit derived from the outcome.

When a House or Senate member becomes educated on the intent of the legislation, they have attended the sales pitch, and when they find out the likelihood of support for that legislation, they can then position their own (or their families) financial interests to benefit from the consequence of passage. It is a process similar to insider trading on Wall Street, except the trading is based on knowing who will benefit from a legislative passage.

Yes, Democrats are the opponents; they are ideological enemies to freedom. However, Mitch McConnell is the man who builds the Trojan Horse.

The most transparent example of how DeceptiCon McConnell operates was the Trade Promotion Authority authorization that Mitch constructed in 2015 to help then President Obama advance the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement.

The pragmatic conservative base of GOP voters were against the TPP, because we could see how the trade deal would lead to more job losses in the U.S.  However, the Obama White House, Wall Street DeceptiCons and Democrats needed to support it as required by their multinational donors.

Mitch McConnell created a legislative pathway for Obama to unilaterally construct a trade agreement by flipping the votes in the Senate under Trade Promotion Authority.  Instead of Obama needing 60 ‘yea’ votes to support TPP, Mitch flipped the terms so that Obama needed 60 ‘nay’ votes to deny TPP.   That’s what Trade Promotion Authority bill was really all about.

McConnell sneakily created a system so that all Republican Senators could give their base the illusion of voting against Obama’s TPP trade agreement, and yet the agreement still passed (which is what they wanted).  That’s the way the DeceptiCons roll.

If you think this sounds similar to how Mitch recently helped change Senate rules so that Democrats could raise the debt ceiling on their own, you would not be wrong.

WASHINGTON DC – […] The Senate minority leader spent Tuesday selling his members on a convoluted strategy that would require at least 10 Republicans to approve legislation that would later allow Senate Democrats to raise the debt ceiling by a simple majority vote. After a leadership meeting and a Senate GOP lunch, McConnell said he’d done enough work to clinch the deal in a vote expected on Thursday. (read more)

So the Senate DeceptiCons once again *claimed* to be against the multi-trillion ‘Build Back Better’, fundamental change, spending bill.  Yet they have facilitated the Democrats not having to negotiate or eliminate anything inside the BBB bill, by removing the leverage of the debt ceiling raise.

Yep, Uniparty gotta Uniparty – all courtesy of the Senate DeceptiCon caucus.

This, and the Machiavellian scheming and conniving they do to hide their UniParty alignment, is why I have openly said for 15 years, I hate them.

The Federalist Staff’s 2021 Winners And Losers Of The Year

From ice storms to inflation, from impeachment to Ivermectin – 

these are the most notable and quotable, the winners and losers of 2021.

by: The Federalist Staff

News stories come and go every year, but what we remember are the people at the center of them. The Federalist staff has a few of those people in mind, for better or worse, that stood out in 2021. Here are our picks for the winners and losers of 2021.

Jordan Boyd

Winner: Parents

Some of the biggest winners this year were parents who saw the radicalization of their children’s education and fought back. What started as fighting against the tyrannical teachers unions and schools that wanted to keep kids at home glued to screens in the name of protecting them from COVID morphed into a national movement of people young and old who saw something wrong in their communities and did something about it.

Parents upset by the prevalent racism and radical gender ideology in their children’s schools found their voices in social media groups and at protests, spoke out at school board meetings despite hurdles created by schools and the Biden administration, learned how to file open records requests, and, in some cases, even gained enough traction to vote out corrupt and woke school officials and replace them with better candidates. Parents in Loudoun County specifically are highlighted in The Federalist’s documentary “Meet The Parents: How The Moms And Dads Of Loudoun County Took Back Virginia.”

[WATCH: Meet The Parents: How The Moms And Dads Of Loudoun County Took Back Virginia]

Loser: Anthony Fauci

It should be no surprise that Fauci is at the top of the “loser” list this year. In addition to being a complete political hack who moves the goalposts to suit whatever agenda keeps him on TV and in the good graces of the corporate media, reports released this year found that Fauci lied to Congress about funding for gain-of-function research, colluded with Big Tech to censor conservatives, and even authorized the torture of beagles in the name of “science.” Emails obtained by corrupt media who were unwilling to criticize Fauci also detailed the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director’s tendency to hide key COVID-19 information from the public to protect himself.

John Daniel Davidson

Winner: Kyle Rittenhouse

Defamed and smeared as a white supremacist and domestic terrorist by President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and the entire corporate press, Kyle Rittenhouse was vindicated by a jury of his peers last month year, acquitted on all counts and completely exonerated. The verdict affirmed what everyone who had seen video footage of that night of rioting in Kenosha, Wis., in August 2020 already knew: Rittenhouse was chased by a violent mob that meant to harm or kill him, and he shot three men, killing two of them, in self-defense. His victory in the courtroom was a powerful reminder that the American judicial system, despite its flaws, can still work — no matter what defamatory nonsense is spewed by our elites on social media.

Winner: Mexican drug cartels and migrant traffickers

The Biden border crisis, which began as soon as President Joe Biden took office in January and signed a raft of executive orders undoing most of former President Trump’s successful border policies, has massively enriched the cartels and migrant smugglers who control northern Mexico. These criminal organizations force migrants to pay thousands for passage through cartel-controlled territory and over the border, often collecting information on migrants and their families and forcing them into debt bondage long after they have settled in the United States.

Thanks to Biden’s failed border policies, which have created massive incentives for illegal immigration, cartel-associated smuggling networks are making billions in annual profits at the border. As long as Biden’s policies remain in place, this will be the new normal: record levels of illegal immigration and record profits for the cartels that control the border.

Kylee Zempel

Winners: Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers 

In a year full of elite losers, two football stars won big — for very different reasons. My winners for 2021 are Tom Brady — who carried a host of fans with him to Tampa Bay and now looks poised not only to be in (and win?) Super Bowl LVI, but to clinch his fourth MVP title — and Aaron Rodgers. Although Rodgers suffered a toe injury, missed a game with the Wuhan virus, and continues a rocky relationship with Green Bay, he showed some real tenacity and came out on top on vaccines and his bodily autonomy.

Losers: The Cuomo Brothers 

Where to even begin with the losers? Honorable mentions include the entire “Bachelor” franchise, which went up in the woke flames and never recovered; the Pulitzer Prize board, whose credibility is just completely gone after Russiagate; and Jussie Smollett, who will never be the guy who didn’t say this:

The losers of the year, however, are the Cuomo brothers, who started on top of the world and couldn’t have ended lower, mired in sexual scandal, exposed lethal policies, corruption, and an embarrassing resignation and termination. Farewell, losers. You won’t be missed.

Madeline Osburn

Winner: Kim Kardashian West

In reality, Kim Kardashian West has been winning for many years now, but 2021 seems to be the year that the rest of the world truly started taking her seriously. Maybe it’s because it was the year she finally ditched her manic, genius husband (although that’s no doubt a loss for her family and her children), or maybe it’s because she finally ended her family’s iconic reality television show (only to start filming another). Whatever the reason, the wins keep coming to Calabasas.

Her most recent win is passing the California “baby bar” exam, also known as the First-Year Law Students’ Examination. She failed the exam three times during the last two years, but after finally passing, Kim is eligible to sit for the final bar exam.

Other wins include her October hosting of “Saturday Night Live,” which may have been one of the only funny episodes this season, as well as her growing name recognition in the world of high fashion. Kanye introduced Kim to the world of fashion, including design icons like Balenciaga and Fendi, but this year Kim proved she has style beyond what Kanye emails her. Besides winning fashion awards and launching her own high fashion lines, Kim dominated the fashion event of the year, Anna Wintour’s Met Gala, with her transgressive, faceless Balenciaga ensemble.

Loser: Travis Scott

The loser of the Kardashian-Jenner circle is not Kanye, who is sadly still pleading with Kim to come back to him (and refusing to sign the divorce papers), but Kylie Jenner’s partner and baby daddy, rapper Travis Scott. We already knew Travis was a loser when he committed to a second child with Kylie while still failing to commit to her in marriage, but the bigger loss this year happened at his November Astroworld music festival that left 10 fans dead in Houston.

Scott now faces a $750 million lawsuit and has angered the families of the victims after his first interview in which he failed to take any responsibility for the violent crowd. Even though Scott has a history of inciting music-festival crowds to ignore security and violently storm the stage, he has painted himself a victim of the tragic Astroworld incident, claiming his earpiece rendered him completely unaware of the stampeding crowd in front of him.

Loser: Simone Biles

Because she literally lost – err, decided not to compete – for her team at the 2021 Olympics.

Tristan Justice

Winner: Britney Spears

After being locked under the bondage of conservatorship for more than a decade, the princess of pop is finally free. In November, Britney Spears reclaimed her autonomy when an LA judge ruled the singer’s court-ordered conservatorship had finally run its course.

Reserved for those who suffer debilitating conditions, which include severe mental issues or old age, Spears spent years fighting for her freedom. The pop star’s productivity over the 13 years since her conservatorship’s inception cast doubt the arrangement was ever needed, where the world-famous icon filled stadiums on three world tours with four new albums amassing a Forbes-estimated fortune of $60 million in the process, a fortune off-limits to the singer who earned it.

In June, Spears gave a full-throated plea for the conservatorship to end in her first public remarks on the arrangement that suffocated her for years. “I truly believe this conservatorship is abusive,” she said. Five months later, the judge agreed.

Losers:

Liz Cheney

Liz Cheney started the year off on a crusade to recruit Republican support for the Democrats’ snap impeachment of President Donald Trump in January. She finished the year fabricating evidence in pursuit of the same goal ridding the Republican Party of Trump’s influence post-presidency.

In the end, only nine other Republicans voted with Cheney in support of conviction, several of whom had already declared their intent to do so. The futile effort offered a preview of bad year for the Wyoming lawmaker who now faces a competitive primary challenge from Trump-endorsed attorney Harriet Hageman.

After getting kicked from House leadership for her persistent antagonism of the Republican voter and efforts to undermine the conference she chaired, Cheney is now raking in money from the same donors who fund the Lincoln Project to save her hopes of securing a fourth term.

Lincoln Project

The Lincoln Project continued to expose itself as a haven for bad-faith grifters this year when the blue-dollar-funded PAC was caught staging a race hoax in Virginia.

Its leadership began to flee at the start of the year as the scandal-plagued group cratered under credible allegations of sexual misconduct against co-founder John Weaver, who resigned after 21 men came forward. Some were underage when Weaver allegedly approached them inappropriately.

A Democrat super PAC masquerading as Republican, the latter label given to the group by a complicit media establishment, the group founded to oppose Donald Trump has struggled to find relevance in an era of the post-Trump presidency. Just two weeks ago, Politico ran the headline, “No one seems to like the Lincoln Project anymore.”

Girls’ Sports

A lot of men are breaking records for women. On day one of his presidency, Joe Biden signed an executive order seeking the erasure of women’s sports by mandating federally-funded schools allow biological males compete in female leagues.

Earlier this month, 22-year-old Lia Thomas, who spent three years swimming for the University of Pennsylvania as Will Thomas, set another record in the 1650-meter freestyle. In November, Thomas set records in the 200-meter and 500-meter freestyle races.

More women’s records will be broken by more men competing as women.