Guest: Peter Shankman & Bruce Turkel
"As we reported last night, ESPN refused to run an ad by a children's hospital in St. Louis. ESPN will not provide a spokesman and will not define exactly why it rejected the ad, which mentions 'the birth of Jesus' and 'God's healing presence.' ESPN has a legal right to reject the ad, but it is a foolish decision. What's the beef, does the birth of Jesus offend you? It doesn't make business sense either, as 80% of this country is Christian. So who are you pandering to, ESPN? The Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center in St. Louis caved - not only would they not come on The Factor to talk about the story, but they've submitted another commercial without any religious reference. Don't you people realize that you've been insulted and your faith has been demeaned? The ad violates nothing, it only offends maniacs! If an ad for a Catholic children's hospital offends you because it mentions the birth of Jesus, then you are a loon. ESPN is simply dumb, I can not understand why they made this decision, especially when you consider that the family-friendly Disney company owns ESPN."

The Factor pursued the controversy with marketing executive Peter Shankman, who endorsed ESPN's decision. "80% of the country may be Christian," he said, "but ESPN doesn't serve Christians, it serves sports fans. ESPN has the right to air commercials and people expect to see commercials, but people don't expect to see religion. They are not tuning in to hear the word 'Jesus.'" Advertising veteran Bruce Turkel seconded Shankman's position. "ESPN cares about their customers and this will keep people who would object from tuning out. They care about revenue, they're selling eyeballs." But The Factor insisted that ESPN's decision is indefensible: "If they're selling eyeballs, this is alienating 80% of the eyeballs. I'm not saying people will boycott ESPN, but there will be ill will from people who are Christian."

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Later in the show, The Factor received this note from ESPN: "We have again reviewed the ad submitted for the Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center and have concluded that we will accept the original requested commercial."

Guest: Dan Barker
Time's person of the year is Pope Francis, who was elected Bishop of Rome in March. The Factor invited reaction from Dan Barker, head of an atheist organization. "The current pope is popular," he opined, "partly because he appears to be less Catholic than his predecessors. 90% of Catholics in America disagree with the Vatican on social issues and birth control, and it looks like this pope is more concerned about the real world than in puffing up the glory of the church. But I'm not saying he's a good man, he's still endorsing the archaic principles of the church." Barker also contended that Christianity has basically pilfered December. "Nobody things Jesus was born in December if he was born at all. The real reason for the season is the birth of the sun and the shortest day of sunlight in the Northern Hemisphere. We atheists and agnostics celebrate this time of year and we're happy to invite you, Bill, to share in the season."

Guest: Geraldo Rivera
A San Diego man named Kevin Bollaert created a website that allows jilted lovers to post explicit photos and videos of their exes. Geraldo Rivera explained why Bollaert is now facing prison time. "Suppose I have an ex-girlfriend that I'm mad at," he hypothesized, "and when we were together I took nude pictures of her. If I posted her nude photos, almost nothing could happen to me until very recently. But California and New Jersey have passed these 'revenge porn' laws that make it a crime to post those photos with malicious intent. This guy is in trouble because he solicited the nude pictures and then charged people to have the pictures removed. He's an extortionist and a blackmailer!" The Factor suggested that Bollaert is in a world of hurt, saying, "This is going to be a hard case for this guy to defend because he broke this new law and they're coming after him."

Guest: Heather Nauert
Fox News anchor Heather Nauert entered the No Spin Zone to help answer mail from some disgruntled viewers. One of them, Kim Godfrey, is angry because two of her doctors are moving to "concierge care" because of the Affordable Care Act. "We are seeing a trend in 'concierge care,'" Nauert reported. "It basically means that someone pays a doctor a retainer to be able to access that doctor, although it doesn't pay for tests or anything else. That's the road we're going down." Canadian Georganne Burke expressed her anger at Fox News for covering Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and his antics. "People voted for him and they liked his anti-big government stance," Nauert said. "He talked about doing away with the 'gravy train' of politicians and he voted against property tax hikes. Mayor Ford is still there, but his duties are largely ceremonial because the city council stripped his power."

Guest: Jeanine Pirro
Filling in for Megyn Kelly, Judge Jeanine Pirro looked at the case of former Florida teacher Ethel Anderson, who was sentenced to a hefty 38 year prison sentence for having sex with a 12-year-old male student. "I called the State's Attorney office," Pirro reported, "and they told me there are sentencing guidelines. In a similar case, Debra Lefave didn't spend a day in jail, but the boy was older and his mother didn't want him to testify, so Lefave benefitted from that. But in this case Anderson refused to take a plea deal and she was convicted of nine counts. There are 230 pages of explicit sexual messages with a 12-year-old and she was having oral sex with this boy at her home while she was tutoring him. She has a child who will be 44 when she gets out."

Guest: Bernard McGiurk & Greg Gutfeld
Greg Gutfeld and Bernard McGuirk turned their attention to the bogus sign language interpreter who stood just a few feet from President Obama and other world leaders in South Africa. "He is a violent schizophrenic," Gutfeld observed, "which qualifies him for the UN. We spend billions of dollars protecting the President but this guy was two feet away from him, anything could have happened." McGuirk was flummoxed by the entire spectacle. "Security was about as tight as Bob Beckel's sweat pants on Dana Perino. I thought this interpreter was dancing or doing the frug." The Factor concluded that the Secret Service owes everyone an explanation: "Wherever the President goes, U.S. security is in charge. This guy doesn't even know sign language and is a violent schizophrenic by his own admission."

The Screen Actors Guild has nominated Rob Lowe as the year's best actor in a television movie for his portrayal of JFK in Killing Kennedy. A tip to SAG voters: Lowe deserves to win.