“KEEPING THE KRAMPUS IN CHRISTMAS“: Longtime readers know that I am no fan of Santa-Claus treacle. But if we must have superstition in our Christmas, let’s at least have justice to go with our mercy!

(Jesse Walker has more links: “A few years ago an Austrian psychiatrist reportedly called for banning Krampus, on the grounds that ;in a world that is anyway full of aggression, we shouldn’t add figures standing for violence…and hell.'” And some readers may appreciate a Christmas version of Lovecraft’s “Shadow Over Innsmouth”: “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Fishmen.”)