Carrie Fisher has died. George Michael died on Christmas day in London. Both deaths are heart-related.

News that makes you want to take another shower: The UnPresident Elect has named his family's lawyer of 20 years to the position of "special representative for international negotiations." He is expected to focus on Israel and Palestine.

As the president’s special representative, Mr. Greenblatt is likely to focus on peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians, renegotiating trade agreements and the relationship between the United States and Cuba, among other international issues.

His experience for the position:

“He has a history of negotiating substantial, complex transactions on my behalf, as well as the expertise to bring parties together and build consensus on difficult and sensitive topics,” Mr. Trump said.

This is probably the most Un-Merry Christmas I can recall in 14 years of blogging. I'm studiously avoiding news of the UnPresident-Elect and his family so he can't rob us of any more joy than necessary over this supposed holiday season.

I am not going to report on the UnPresident Elect over the holidays, he's not the President yet, nothing he does has any significance, and the only thing I feel like doing after I read or hear his name is taking a shower. [More...]

Here's a new open thread, all topics welcome.

From SNL last night. I liked it better than the Alec Baldwin/Vladimir Putin cold open skit which you can see here.

More drama over the Colorado electors who want to vote for someone other than Hillary or Trump. The 10th Circuit denied their Emergency Motion for Injunction Pending Appeal yesterday. Some are taking hope from a footnote about the 12th Amendment. The case is Baca v Hickenlooper, Tenth Circuit, Case No. 16-1482. [More...]

I made these cookies last night, they were seriously very good. And they only took 10 minutes to put together. They looked just like the pictures.

Very busy today, here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

The Critics Choice Awards are on A&E tonight. Why you should watch? T.J. Miller is hosting. I love TJ -- I carpooled him to school from the second grade until high school.

TJ got arrested early Friday a.m. in LA after his Uber driver claimed he swatted him in the back of the head after they disagreed about Donald Trump. T.J. said on Twitter today he'll discuss "the elephant in the room" during tonight's show. He really didn't, but he did talk about how movies and TV can bring us together.

We are one television, one couch, one potato.

"Trolls did well this year. Not the movie. The ones on the internet. One got elected president."

He'll be on James Corden Tuesday night with Jennifer Lawrence. His latest movie, Office Christmas Party, with Jennifer Anniston, opened Friday.

Congrats to James Corden and the Late Late Show which won best talk show.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome, TV related or not.

Congratulations to Mick Jagger on the birth of his 8th child.

I don't get why so many people are trashing him for having a child at age 73. He's got more energy than most people half his age and will probably live long enough to see his son go to college or start a band. More power to him. It's so Rock n' Roll.

Madonna is also getting a lot of criticism for her "twerking" during last night's Carpool Karaoke with James Corden. I liked it. She's 58 and enough of a philanthropist that people should just get off her case and let her do what she wants. At least she's not sucking up to Donald Trump like Leonardo di Caprio who met with Trump and the other Mrs. Trump (Ivanka) and gave him a copy of his foundation's plan for the economy and climate control -- along with a copy of his new film about it.

Time for El Chema, episode 3 (Telemundo.)

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

The predicted "arctic freeze" in Colorado has begun. It is really cold, and just started snowing. It's a perfect night to stay in and watch the premiere of El Chema on Telemundo. You can watch the first 20 minutes here.

The recount in Michigan is a mess. More here.

Two Colorado electors have filed a federal lawsuit seeking to be relieved of the obligation to vote for Hillary Clinton on Dec. 19. They are hoping to vote for someone else in an attempt to keep Donald Trump from being named President. The complaint is here.[More...]

The news reads like a joke: Al Gore meets with Ivanka Trump (and then her father) on climate change.

Is anyone surprised Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump are house-hunting in Washington?

A federal judge has ordered the vote recount in Michigan to begin immediately. As for the current vote total:

Mr. Gore’s loss to George W. Bush pales in comparison with Hillary Clinton’s. If you’re still counting, Mrs. Clinton’s popular vote lead over Mr. Trump climbed to 2,597,156 over the weekend, five times Mr. Gore’s final lead over Mr. Bush. And at 2 percentage points, Mrs. Clinton’s lead has equaled Jimmy Carter’s victory spread over Gerald Ford in 1976.

Both the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times are demanding you turn off ad blockers to read them. When you do, there are so many ads you can't find the story. The ads pop up every few seconds. Sorry, WP and LAT,not a chance will I suffer through your popups (or pay and subscribe.)

I'll be offline today, here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

Here's a new open thread, all topics welcome.

Hillary is now beating Donald Trump in the popular vote count by more than 600,000 votes. Not much solace. But it may be enough for me to call him the UnPresident from now on.

Josh Marshall says the Trump Administration will be incredibly corrupt.

Can Netflix please speed up the release date of Surviving Pablo Escobar -- the series about his head hitman Popeye, John Jairo Velásquez, who was released from prison in 2014 after serving 23 years? I've been following him in the news since before his release and want something to watch so I can stop reading about our UnPresident.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.