If You Can't Beat 'Em, Arrest 'Em -- It's 9 p.m.; do you know where your goat is? -- The War on Santa

The arrest of a top executive at one of the most successful Chinese global companies threatens to upend a delicate detente between the U.S. and China in its months-long trade war.

Meng Wanzhou, deputy chairwoman and chief financial officer of telecommunications giant Huawei, was arrested Saturday during a transit stop at a Vancouver airport and could face possible extradition to the U.S. and an appearance in federal court in New York.   by Robyn Dixon & David Pierson in the LATimes. 

China has ambitions for technology; they steal

as much of it as possible from underneath our heel.

And so with misdirection, as Trump chats up their new Mao,

we sneak up on their technocrats to throw in our hoosegow.

Wars have started for much less, and certainly we need

another war about as much as English worsted tweed.

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UNITED STATES AIR FORCE ACADEMY — The mules are locked down. The goats are in an undisclosed location. With the Army-Navy football game coming up this Saturday, West Point and Annapolis are at Threat Level Red — for their mascots.  by Dave Philipps for the NYT.

Instead of stealing goat or mule

why don't they take that darn old fool

that in the White House sits all day

and keeps coherence far away?

He's a mascot of the fear

that's ruining our own country dear;

so put him in a barn somewhere --

and keep him out of all our hair!

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Move over, war on Christmas; it’s time to fight the war on Santa. This yuletide predicament is not isolated to New Jersey. During the Cape Coral Festival of Lights in Florida, a man with a large sign walked around shouting “There’s no Santa Claus!” Actors Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell told Us Weekly that they decided to inform their daughters, ages 3 and 5, that Santa is “pretend.” And on Fox News this week, Sean Hannity made the tension a topic of debate on two separate segments.  by Katie Mettler for the Washington Post. 

So many souls are shriveled and they want to share their bile

with others quite defenseless 'gainst their irritating guile.

They rage about Kris Kringle, and refuse to recognize

that Father Christmas lives inside the heart and soul and eyes

of children all across the globe who need a happy cause

to celebrate their innocence -- like good old Santa Claus!

A figure of goodwill and joy, and elfin jubilee;

he represents our yearning for complete felicity.

So let the children have the hope that somewhere in the sky

a blithesome figure knows their name and loves them at first try.

And may this hope in little minds turn into firm belief

that giving unto others is the finest cure for grief.