Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“But what about the lurkers?”

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Bark louder, little dog.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

American History and Black History can not be separated.

Let’s finish the job.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

You are here: Home / Music / Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Hinge of the Year

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Hinge of the Year

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As of 11:48pmEST Monday night, the gradual decline into darkness reached its nadir for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, and from this morning on the days get longer. Colder and nastier and presumably snowier, at least for those of us in New England, but longer!

If you can’t be at Newgrange, Nazca, or Karnak, here’s hoping everyone can find a moment to celebrate the triumph of light over darkness, evanescent as it may be…

***********
Apart from astronomical events, what’s on the agenda for the day?

Reader Interactions

101Comments

  1. 1.

    Betty Cracker

    After a single day of winter on Saturday, when temperatures plunged into the 40s overnight, we had to reluctantly turn our air-conditioning back on to cope with highs in the 80s this week. It’s supposed to be nearly 90 on Christmas Day. It’s not unheard of to have a warm Christmas in Florida, but I can’t ever remember a warmer December, and neither can my father or grandmother, who are finally wondering if there may be something to this climate change business after all….

  2. 2.

    Mustang Bobby

    Betty, I’m going to spend Christmas with my parents in Cincinnati, and the forecast for the weekend is highs in the 60’s with thunderstorms. It sounds like Christmas in Florida. On the upside, I can pack light.

  5. 5.

    MattF

    @Betty Cracker: Isn’t warm east coast weather due to El Nino? Which is not to suggest that there’s isn’t a warming trend– there has to be some physical mechanism for warming local weather, and if it’s El Nino, then it’s El Nino.

    Also, about the solstice… Sunrise times will continue to laten until around the first week in January, sunset times are already getting later. But during this time of year, the turnaround rates of sunrise and sunset are pretty slow.

  8. 8.

    Schlemazel

    I think it is a mistake to try and pin any one year, let alone one season or one event, on climate change. Thats as accurate as the wingnut claiming a January snowfall in DC is evidence there is no warming. However, the steady drumbeat of month after month, year after year, higher than normal average temperatures and increasingly intense storms might be evidence of something going on. If only actual climate scientists could evaluate real data and draw some sort of conclusion maybe we’d know what it is. O mean, wouldn’t they be able to predict this sort of thing if it were a real trend?

  11. 11.

    bystander

    The clip of Un flambeau above reminds me that I’m so old that I learned that carol in French class in a public high school. In fact, we did it every year. My HS French teacher loved to teach us popular French songs and Christmas carols. Actually, it’s a great way to learn about the French, so thanks, Mrs. Coulter.

    Moanin’ Joe is so upset about that lyin’ Clinton. But Trump talking about HRC getting schlonged by Obama only gives rise to speculating on how Babs Bush is reacting to a Yiddishism she probably has no idea of.

  12. 12.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @BillinGlendaleCA: After watching the first 10 minutes of Morning Joe, I’m leaning towards the feeling that Trump may be wrong.

    They’re harping over and over again about there not being ISIS recruitment videos with Trump in them. Hey Mika, ever heard of video on TV?

  15. 15.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Mustang Bobby: I think I turned off Morning Joe for the rest of the year. LOD was pissing me off with him saying that Hillary should apologize to Trump(apparently most Dems he heard from on the Twitter didn’t agree either).

  16. 16.

    CapnMubbers

    @Botsplainer: Thank you for this–don’t know how I missed it, probably drunk at the time. (Haven’t had a drink for 31 years seven months tomorrow, Dec 23.) I finally have my December 21st birthday song as I’m headed for 80 at a pretty good clip. Better late than never.

  18. 18.

    Mustang Bobby

    @BillinGlendaleCA: The MJ kidz were making Hillary’s lie just as egregious as Trump’s lie about dancing Muslims so both sides do it and refresh my mimosa, please.

    If I wanted to be awakened by a bunch of white heterosexual alcoholic Republicans, I’d live in Boca Raton. No thanks.

  19. 19.

    Betty Cracker

    @BillinGlendaleCA: Wait, what? Why do they think HRC should apologize to Trump? I’m confused.

    @Mustang Bobby:

    If I wanted to be awakened by a bunch of white heterosexual alcoholic Republicans, I’d live in Boca Raton. No thanks.

    LMAO!

  23. 23.

    raven

    @Steeplejack: You’re correct. Almost everyone on Lawrence O’Donell said the same thing last night. Here was a chance for her to distinguish herself from numbnuts by making a measured apology and, instead, she did what he does.

  25. 25.

    Mustang Bobby

    In the real world, if you start making personal attacks, that means you’ve lost the argument. With Trump, however, all it does is empower him. Someone has to stand up to the bully, and at the moment it’s Hillary Clinton. I’m sure it will get even nastier. So how close is Trump to calling her a bitch or going for the c-word? We’re going to find out soon enough. It will happen. And he’ll roll right along.

  27. 27.

    bystander

    I could have sworn I heard of reports that Trump was being quoted by Daesh. But with these bullets whizzing past my head, it’s hard to focus.

  34. 34.

    Betty Cracker

    Okay, I went to MSNBC and watched a snippet of the O’Donnell show to see what the brouhaha was about. I think he’s basing his premise on two incorrect assumptions: 1) that Clinton’s statement was false, and 2) that Clinton could set herself apart from the pumpkin-flavored arsenic marshmallow by owning up to a falsehood.

    O’D played the clip of Clinton saying that ISIS is using video of Trump insulting Muslims to recruit new members. That sounds perfectly plausible to me. Is anyone prepared to definitively refute that statement by proving that ISIS recruiters have never linked a YouTube of Trump proposing a ban on Muslims? She didn’t say they made a special video featuring Trump, though that wouldn’t surprise me either.

    As to the second point, Trump is a proven liar and a bully. As Bill says, he would take an apology as a sign of weakness, and he doesn’t deserve one anyway. His supporters obviously don’t give a shit about the truth or they wouldn’t support a liar.

  36. 36.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Betty Cracker: Here’s what Hillary actually said:

    You know, I was a senator from New York after 9/11, and we spent countless hours trying to figure out how to protect the city and the state from perhaps additional attacks. One of the best things that was done, and George W. Bush did this and I give him credit, was to reach out to Muslim Americans and say, we’re in this together. You are not our adversary, you are our partner.

    And we also need to make sure that the really discriminatory messages that Trump is sending around the world don’t fall on receptive ears. He is becoming ISIS’s best recruiter. They are going to people showing videos of Donald Trump insulting Islam and Muslims in order to recruit more radical jihadists. So I want to explain why this is not in America’s interest to react with this kind of fear and respond to this sort of bigotry.

  37. 37.

    Mustang Bobby

    @Betty Cracker:

    His supporters obviously don’t give a shit about the truth or they wouldn’t support a liar.

    That’s assuming they know he’s lying, which they don’t think he is. Everything he says is the Truth and everyone else is lying. To quote a line from The Four Seasons, “When he farts they think it’s Guy Lombardo.” How do you overcome that?

  38. 38.

    Schlemazel

    HRC should appologize!:

    I am truly and deeply sorry that a pathetic excuse for an American like Donald Trump is encouraged to say horrible, awful things about people of faith simply to get votes. Additionally I am sorry that these foolish statements play exactly into the hands of the people he claims to be against. It saddens me because I kow America is better than this and capable of much better than Mr. Trumps ugly vision for the further. It is beyond doubt that his hateful words, words that support Daesh stated mission, can so easily be use d to prove their point. I am deeply sorry for all of that.

  39. 39.

    Betty Cracker

    @Mustang Bobby: You’re right — you can’t overcome that. Trump’s hardcore supporters are unreachable. He does attract a subset of the “a pox on both their houses” crowd that will be damn hard if not impossible for HRC to win over, but fortunately, I don’t think she’ll need to peel them off to win.

    @Schlemazel: Now that’s an apology I could support!

  41. 41.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Mustang Bobby:

    That’s assuming they know he’s lying, which they don’t think he is.

    Which reenforces Betty’s point that they don’t care about the truth. If they cared about the truth, they would no how much he lies.

  46. 46.

    The Thin Black Duke

    Trump and his supporters are defined by who they hate and what they plan to do about it. That’s all. It’s not that complicated, unfortunately.

  47. 47.

    Sherparick

    Record warmth for you this Christmas Ann! Boston is suppose to be in the mid-sixties. New York City and DC in the seventies. Near where I live it may be touching 80! Records falling by the hundreds. Thank you El Nino. It is a natural weather event, El Nino, but its strength (it may be a record El Nino) and the upward curve of the temperature chart over the last 75 years are indications of a warming planet and North America. (The El Nino is apparently the result of a weakening of the predominately westerly equatorial trade winds across the Pacific Ocean. Why they periodically weaken is something the scientists are still trying to figure out.)

  48. 48.

    Iowa Old Lady

    Also, did you ever notice how Trump repeats himself when he speaks? “Obama is the worst, the worst, the worst!” He’s filling time because he has nothing substantive to say.

  49. 49.

    Kay

    @Schlemazel:

    She made a good, practical argument and it’s a little different than the (general) Democratic line. I think that’s why they’re attacking her on it. All Democrats say that rhetoric is wrong but she said it’s also stupid because if Republicans alienate US Muslims then US Muslims are less likely to turn to law enforcement if they see evidence of radicalism. It’s the “community policing” idea- “we’re all in this together and no one benefits from violence” especially the people in affected communities. That’s a practical approach that I believe will make sense to people who are rattled by the Paris or California attacks. It’s not my particular fear but there are (supposedly) a lot of people who are afraid.

    She shouldn’t give it up because it’s smart and it hits the GOP on “safety” which is right in their area of strength. I was impressed when she made the distinction. It sets her off from everyone else, R and D and it’s coherent as far as the Democratic approach to (domestic) law enforcement generally.

  50. 50.

    JPL

    @Kay: That’s a good point. Muslims are our neighbors, co-workers, friends and Americans. They should not be treated any differently than those of another religion. Trump is the one that should be treated like a piranha.

  51. 51.

    Iowa Old Lady

    One or actually two more things about Trump and Clinton. He went after her in a vulgar way because she went after him. He always reacts. He can’t help himself. She should keep after him. He’ll keep showing off what he is and that’s a good thing.

    Second, when told HRC would like to campaign against him, he said she should ask Jeb whether he liked it. If Trump thinks Clinton is the same caliber as Bush, he better think again. And again, she should keep after him.

  52. 52.

    Baud

    Trump is not going to be liked being talked down to by a woman.

    I, on the other hand, will enjoy every minute of it.

  53. 53.

    Kay

    @JPL:

    I think it’s smart to make an argument that includes them as anti-violence allies in the US, not just in a broad sense that people will perceive as abstract and far away- “foreign policy” or “religious tolerance”- but in a practical way. She’s literally bringing US Muslims in to the group of people who oppose violence.

    Liberals always perceive conservatives as excluding groups, but I don’t think conservative voters hear it like that. Instead they hear Donald Trump as bringing them in to the charmed circle of people who are “right” or “good” or “taken advantage of”. We hear “these people are outside the circle” but they hear “you’re in the circle”. Trumps entire campaign is about who’s in and who’s out, but all Republicans do it. We needed someone to break the impasse, switch up the groups, and I think she did that.

  55. 55.

    Satby

    @Iowa Old Lady: @Baud: And every woman in America will remember some loudmouth misogynist jerk they had to deal with at work or school in how tRump reacts. And even a lot of R identified women will not like that.

  56. 56.

    Baud

    @Satby: I hope you’re right. There’s always speculation about the crossover appeal of candidates (whether Hillary or Sanders). I tend not to believe these theories, but it would be nice to see them pan out.

  57. 57.

    Kay

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    There will be a disconnect for a while because Clinton is already running in the general. Media will continue to cover it as a primary but it’s such a huge advantage to her to define her opponent(s) she’d be crazy NOT to run it like a general. I think they know it’s an advantage so they’ll continue to call foul, but tough shit, it’s not her fault Republicans have 14 candidates none of whom will step aside and half of whom are grifting and this bizarre front runner who sucks up the air in the room.

  58. 58.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    so they’ll continue to call foul, but tough shit, it’s not her fault Republicans have 14 candidates

    Like every other word from the GOP candidates isn’t BarackObamaHillaryClinton.

  59. 59.

    Baud

    @Satby:

    And every woman in America will remember some loudmouth misogynist jerk

    So you’re saying my past behavior will finally pay dividends for the party?

  60. 60.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Sri Lankan authorities have arrested a man at an airport in Colombo for allegedly trying to smuggle gold bars hidden in his rectum.

    Officers at Bandaranaike international airport had noticed he was walking suspiciously, a spokesman said. Gold weighing 400g, worth about 2m Sri Lankan rupees (£9,400), was found hidden inside the suspect’s rectal cavity, a customs spokesman told the BBC.
    India shows its metal with plan to open gold mines across country

    The Onion is going to have to really up it’s game.

  61. 61.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Satby: It’s not a coincidence that the highest-profile (and potentially most potent) journalist assassinated in Russia was a woman, Anna Politkovskaya.

  65. 65.

    David Koch

    National Poll — Quinnipiac — Dec 16-20

    50% of voters say they would be “embarrassed” if Donald Trump were president

    60% of women say they would be “embarrassed” of Trump.

    40% of men say they would be “embarrassed”.

    47% of independents say they would be “embarrassed” by Trump

    ► But 44% of Republicans say they would be proud of him.

  70. 70.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    I think so many candidates is a real problem. Rubio and Cruz are brand new. If the GOP had 5 candidates they would be getting put thru a wringer but they’re not because we have to do this “fairness” thing where we pretend Carly and Paul are in the running. If the election is about “security”, economic and now personal safety, I’d rather be Clinton than the brand new people.

  71. 71.

    Kay

    @MattF:

    I said it too – deep bench- not because I thought it was an advantage but because I think it’s both tragic and enviable that they have so many governors. I want some governors. As it turns out, though, Republicans aren’t interested in governors for President.

    I;d feel fine if I were Clinton- a couple of points ahead of all of them or even is a fine place to be before the general starts.

  73. 73.

    Baud

    @Kay: The governor doesn’t seem to be doing well on our side either. For whatever reason, governors aren’t in this year.

  74. 74.

    MomSense

    Well, my symbol of “pagan mockery” or Christmas tree is still upright and loaded with decorations. Once the lights and ornaments went on the pup lost interest.

    Trump is an interesting character. Here is a guy who is yooogely wealthy and has traveled all over the world. And yet he remains incurious, vulgar, ignorant, and provincial. What would Freud say about a guy who wants to erect golden schlong towers all over the place?

    Let’s face it, Trump attracts people for whom the mental demands of the modern world are overwhelming and scary. He’s promising them the political version of winning the lottery. Life is going to be beautiful. You will do so much winning that you’ll be tired of winning. Oh and we will get rid of all the undesirables and people who upset you. That he doesn’t tell them how he will magically deliver streets paved in Trump gold makes this fantasy even better.

  77. 77.

    Another Holocene Human

    Okay, I’m lost. What happened while I was migraining?

    Trump apparently said HRC was “schlonging” BHO? Does he mean shtupping? And what kind of schoolyard insult is that?

    Bernie Sanders drank the Kool-Aid and is accusing Hillary of stealing his data, even though data access is tracked, which is how his boys got caught? What a sad end.

    Anything else?

  79. 79.

    OzarkHillbilly

    NASA continues to pour resources into trying to convince people those faked moon landings were real:

    “Every photo ever taken by Apollo astronauts on moon missions is now available online, on the Project Apollo Archive’s Flickr account. That’s about 8,400 images, grouped by the roll of film they were shot on.”

    Cool stuff.

  80. 80.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Another Holocene Human:

    Trump apparently said HRC was “schlonging” BHO? Does he mean shtupping?

    I don’t know if it means “Obama is such a wuss he takes it up the butt from a woman” or “Hillary is so devoted to Obama she’s jerking him off” or “…sucking him off.”

    Whoops, just saw the quotation reported elsewhere, I’ve misunderstood it entirely.

  81. 81.

    MomSense

    @Another Holocene Human:

    What happened while I was migraining?

    Oh no. I don’t miss those days at all. I remember that once the migraine is done, there is still the exhaustion to deal with. I hope you are feeling much better.

    Schlonging does sound a wee bit better than migraining. I don’t know how to tell you what has been happening. The media and the Republicans seem to be devolving before our eyes. I didn’t think it was possible since they had already sunk pretty low but they are a determined bunch.

  85. 85.

    rikyrah

    Watch: CBS’ ‘Sunday Morning’ Previews Upcoming All-Star Lineup ‘Shuffle Along’

    By Tambay A. Obenson | Shadow and Act
    December 20, 2015 at 8:15PM

    It was first announced in March when Producer Scott Rudin said that 6-time Tony Award-winner Audra McDonald would be returning to Broadway next spring, to star in a show that will look at the making of the 1921 hit “Shuffle Along” – one of the first Broadway musicals to be written and directed by African Americans.

    To be titled “Shuffle Along, or, the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed,” the show will have a story by George C. Wolfe, who will also direct, with choreography by Savion Glover, who last worked together with Wolfe on the 1996 hit “Bring in ‘da Noise, Bring in ‘da Funk.”

    In an all-star lineup, 4 African American theatre star performers of our time, will be joining Audra next spring: Brian Stokes Mitchell, Billy Porter, Brandon Victor Dixon and Joshua Henry – with 5 Tony nominations (including two wins) among them (not including Audra’s 6 trophies).

  90. 90.

    bemused

    Crude Trump can’t take any criticism especially from a woman and reacts like am obnoxious junior high bully boy. Gail Collins wrote an article about Trump’s trumped up wealth claims and he sent her a picture of herself circled and wrote “The Face of a Dog”. I read that he uses a gold toned ink sharpie for his written rebuttals to critical reporters, yoogly classy.

    The California man that wanted to harm Muslims just busted for making a potential explosive device is a big Trump fan. He had said on social media “Trump’s on again. I’m feeling good about myself.” That sums up the majority of Trumpbots. They can feel good about all their most hideous thoughts and beliefs when Trump validates them.

  95. 95.

    rikyrah

    Watch: Cicely Tyson Looks Back on Her Professional and Personal Life in CBS Profile

    By Tambay A. Obenson | Shadow and Act
    December 18, 2015 at 12:37PM

    Cicely Tyson in a rare videotaped feature courtesy of “CBC This Morning” earlier this week, and is now available online.

    The profile was done in conjunction with her Kennedy Center Honor celebration for her contributions to American culture, paving the way for African Americans in the industry.

    “You know, I say no to everything first,” Tyson said, speaking to “CBS This Morning” co-host Gayle King in her old Harlem neighborhood. “I say no to everything because I always want to make sure that when I say yes, I know what I’m getting myself into

  96. 96.

    Paul in KY

    Have seen Bombay Bicycle Club (Hangout Music Fest a couple of years ago). Very impressed with them. If you get a chance to see them, please do.

  97. 97.

    Another Holocene Human

    @MomSense: It seems the press is in real trouble given their inability to push back against Trump. If that is how they treat the press, what of protesters? Or any opposition whatsoever?

  98. 98.

    bystander

    @David Koch: That poll had Moanin’ Joe in ecstasy because 35% would be embarrassed by a Clinton presidency. Shocking, huh?

    BTW, LOD is a moynihanite and moynihanites do not like the clintonistas.

  99. 99.

    dww44

    @raven: How so? I hope he was loaded for bear as he was last night on Hayes’ show with Michael Steele on with him and Alex Witt doing the Hayes stand-in.

  100. 100.

    J R in WV

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    Every news show covering the US election races features Trump and his evil hate speech about Muslims, Gay people, Mexican and other Latino peoples, and so forth.

    This includes all the Sat channels providing news coverage to the entire world, including North Africa, the Middle East, Persia, Pakistan, Indonesia and Malasia, the whole Muslim world. So they get to see Trump calling them violent untrustworthy hateful people who he will not allow into America for any reason.

    He talks about killing the innocent families of Jihadis, carpet bombing innocent populations, another giant war crime by the way. The whole world is watching! Literally, on their news shows. ISIS / ISIL whatever they are today, don’t have to make a video, Trump and CNN are doing it for them.

    That’s what is so amazing about the guy, he has no awareness of how his spew looks to people who don’t accept it. He is worse than Jersey Shore wanna-be mobsters talking about the other gang! He is doing it to huge populations all around the world, people who never had any reason to hate the USA are learning a good reason, and the lesson is being taught by Trump, on the news shows that run all day in cafes and lunch counters all over the world.

    What is he gonna claim, that no where in the Muslim world do they have daily news coverage of his political campaign? That more stupid than his normal ranting! They have to watch, their world depends upon current events just like ours does!

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