Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Fani Willis claps back at Trump chihuahua, Jim Jordan.

The Supreme Court is corrupt. Democrats must win in November and force court reform.

There’s always a light at the end of the frog.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself. We’re allowed to grow past that.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” is supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

The new republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

Found liable for massive fraud, is required to post a massive bond, gets a break, then files a *fraudulent* bond!

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Trump’s legal defense is going to be a dumpster fire inside a clown car on a derailing train.

Another missed opportunity for Jamie Dimon to just shut the fuck up.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

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Open Thread: Sony Is Not Done Being Humiliated Yet

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Not while other media sources, like CBS, are around:

Cybersecurity experts are questioning the FBI’s claim that North Korea is responsible for the hack that crippled Sony Pictures. Kurt Stammberger, a senior vice president with cybersecurity firm Norse, told CBS News his company has data that doubts some of the FBI’s findings…

He says Norse data is pointing towards a woman who calls herself “Lena” and claims to be connected with the so-called “Guardians of Peace” hacking group. Norse believes it’s identified this woman as someone who worked at Sony in Los Angeles for ten years until leaving the company this past May…

It’s worth noting that the original demand of the hackers was for money from Sony in exchange for not releasing embarrassing information. There was no mention of the movie “The Interview”…

Back before watching the thing was proclaimed a patriotic duty, Gawker‘s Hollywood sub-blog Defamer claimed that “Sony executives were worried about the flick even before they got hacked“:

… A previous report by Bloomberg said Sony execs altered the gory finale of The Interview, toning down the extent to which Kim Jong Un’s head is exploded and set aflame. But the movie faced more problems than just Supreme Leader’s immolation scene—Sony executives and distribution partners around the world were worried that the movie was too offensive, “desperately unfunny,” and worst of all, starred James Franco.

Emails sent from UK Sony Pictures exec Peter Taylor to president of Sony Pictures Releasing International Steven O’Dell are particularly harsh, describing the comedy as a “misfire,” “unfunny and repetitive,” with “a level of realistic violence that would be shocking in a horror movie.” Taylor holds one of the film’s co-stars in particularly low regard: “James Franco proves once again that irritation is his strong suit which is a shame because the character could have been appealing and funny out of his hands.”…

The truth is, Sony’s been worried about this for a long time…

Sony’s international distribution partners—who saw the movie at a screening in London in June—show a lot of uncertainty that anyone, anyone in the world, will enjoy this movie…

The one bright spot, apparently, was that the Australians loved it. (Sorry, Australia.) Perhaps allowing the Guardians of Peace and/or the CIA to handle publicity and release was all for the best, after all…
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ETA: Hat tip to diligent commentor Corner Stone (comment #27)

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The Interview

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If you have not heard, youtube and a bunch of other websites will be streaming the Interview for a modest fee ($5.99). As I have noted before, I am going to give it a watch, and will probably do so tonight.

What really thrills me about this is how it might set the groundwork for this happening for a number of movies. As a misanthropic shutin, I would love it if I could watch new releases in this manner. Hell, I’d pay 20 bucks to watch a new release in the comfort of my own home. Cats and dogs on my lap, my own snacks, the ability to pause and restart and rewind scenes, no people coughing or talking on cell phones, etc. I know there are purists who think some movies need the big screen experience, but I am not one of them.

And honestly, that saves me money. By the time you factor in the time to drive to and back from the theatre, the 7-8 bucks in gas, the 10 dollar or more ticket if not a matinee, the wear on the car, snacks, I’d be well over 30 bucks to watch a movie in the theater, and wouldn’t enjoy it as much.

I really hope this becomes a thing. Hell, if Hollywood was smart, they would use the demographic data everyone has from internet usage and allow people to rate the movies as they watch them, and use that to better understand target and niche markets for future projects. The reason I always buy video games and music and what not rather than pirating isn’t that I am some super ethical human being, but because actors and artists work hard, and the only way they know their work is being appreciated is when they get paid for it. I buy video games I like so they know to and can make more of them.

Besides, everyone knows movies are better when you are wearing a bathrobe, and they just won’t let you do that in public. Yet.

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Another Christmas music thread

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I was going to write about Darlene Love’s final performance of Christmas Baby Please Come Home, but Anne Laurie beat me to it. I always loved how Dave had that as his only Christmas song. That was just the kind of thing that distinguished him from wankers like Jay Leno, IMHO.

So instead I’m going to go with my very favorite Christmas song, though it’s never on the radio, from the same album (by far the best Christmas album) as that and Sleigh Ride.

Earlier we did your favorite Christmas song that’s on the radio, what’s your favorite that’s on the radio or not?

Merry Christmas, everyone!

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The World is Not Enough

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Apparently, Rush Limbaugh had a bit of a ruined ragegasm over the possibility that Idris Elba will be the next James Bond (via). I say “apparently” because Rush Limbaugh rants and James Bond movies are two forms of video that I’m not often motivated to watch, so I’ll just take it on faith that Rush said something racist and/or stupid about the possibility that the next Bond might not be a WASP.

Am I the only male who finds the whole “Bond, James Bond” thing fairly tedious? I don’t mean just the movies themselves, which are, at best, uneven and, at worst, terrible. I also mean the concept of Bond, the overly slick, globetrotting chick magnet/misogynist with his shiny, unbelievable toys.

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St Louis County, Again

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Here’s the Guardian’s live blog of the aftermath of a St Louis County Police officer shooting a black teenager:

  • A 34 year old white officer, who had six years experience, encountered two suspects at the Mobile [sic] gas station after responding to report of a theft. He didn’t know that one of the men was armed. The officer fired three shots after the victim raised a pistol at arm’s length. Surveillance video from Mobile station appears to support the police version of events. Only one of the shots hit the victim. No shots were fired by the victim’s “defaced” 9mm pistol.
  • Belmar said the shooting was a tragedy for the victim’s family and for police officer involved. The officer will “carry the weight” of this for the rest of his life, Belmar. He said the incident underscores the pressures police officers face.
  • Two witnesses have given statements to the police. The police are looking for the friend of the victim who fled the scene.
  • A crowd of up 300 protesters gathered at the Mobile gas station after the shooting and four arrests were made after police officers were assaulted. Several bricks were thrown at police officers and three “explosive devices” thought to be fireworks bound together were set off. One police officer was hurt in the leg from one of the explosions another was injured by a brick. Belmar said it was “disturbing” that protests came armed with bricks and explosives.

The officer had a body cam but it was turned off. It’s not clear if his car’s dashcam was on. The gas station had video surveillance, available at the link.

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Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Victory Lap!

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As explained by Matt O’Brien in the Washington Post:

…[I]f arbitrary round numbers are your thing, the Dow passed a big one on Tuesday, closing above 18,000 for the first time.

And that brings us to the worst op-ed in history. On March 6, 2009, former George W. Bush adviser Michael Boskin offered whatever the opposite of a prophecy is when he said that “Obama’s Radicalism Is Killing the Dow.”… Obama had been in office for less than two months at that point, and in that time, stocks had admittedly fallen a lot as markets worried that the big bank bailout known as TARP wouldn’t actually be enough to save the banks…

Boskin, though, didn’t think that this once-in-three-generations financial crisis was to blame for the market meltdown. Instead, he blamed it on Obama for … talking about raising taxes? “It’s hard not to see the continued sell-off on Wall Street and the growing fear on Main Street,” Boskin philosophized, “as a product, at least in part, of the realization that our new president’s policies are designed to radically re-engineer the market-based U.S. economy.” What followed was the usual conservative jeremiad against higher taxes on the rich, lower taxes on the poor, and deficit spending. Obama’s trying to turn us into Europe, and that’s why markets are pricing in the possibility of a Great Depression—not the dying economy he inherited.

It was an obvious stretch, but it was extraordinarily ill-timed, too…

Add it all up, and Obama’s radicalism has killed the Dow to the tune of a 171 percent return since Boskin’s op-ed.

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Apart from rude gestures in the general direction of the WSJ, what’s on the agenda as everyone tries to wrap up loose ends before the holiday?

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