Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

We can’t confuse what’s necessary to win elections with the policies that we want to implement when we do.

Petty moves from a petty man.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

Not all heroes wear capes.

“But what about the lurkers?”

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

This chaos was totally avoidable.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

Anne Laurie is a fucking hero in so many ways. ~ Betty Cracker

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

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

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

This fight is for everything.

You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Hail to the Hairpiece / Open Thread: Just What Trump’s Heartland Fans Secretly Wanted

Open Thread: Just What Trump’s Heartland Fans Secretly Wanted

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… Holiday television “staples” from the days when everyone watched the same three channels, mostly in black & white. For one brief shining moment, they can pretend Vice-President Nixon has succeeded Ike, and that snotty-nosed Papist with the funny accent never showed up to spoil everything.

Trump himself being a big-city sophisticate (for very cheesy values of ‘sophisticate’), it’s chapping his spray-tanned outer-borough arse, per TheWrap:

Donald Trump is so displeased with his team’s inability to lock in A-list talent for his inauguration events next month that he’s ordered a “Hail Mary” shakeup of his recruiters to try to book performers, a person familiar with the situation told TheWrap.

Mark Burnett, who produces “Celebrity Apprentice” with Trump and has been overseeing entertainment for inauguration festivities, has brought in talent recruiter Suzanne Bender, a former “Dancing With the Stars” and “American Idol” booker, to end an effective freeze-out by Hollywood, the insider said…

The Trump transition has been struggling for weeks to secure A-list talent for the inauguration celebration. The only person confirmed to perform at the event is Jackie Evancho, a 16-year-old former “America’s Got Talent” contestant. She is set to sing the national anthem before he takes the oath of office…

Performers who are known to have rejected requests include Elton John, country singer Garth Brooks and opera star Andrea Bocelli. According to the insider, many of those approached have said they do not want to “normalize” Trump’s presidency.

A knowledgeable individual said Bocelli met with the president-elect and agreed to perform, but then bowed out under pressure from fans. The individual also said longtime Trump friend and Vegas hotelier Steve Wynn had promised to deliver Celine Dion, but could not do so.

Wynn also failed to book Brooks, whom he signed in 2009 for a reported multi-million dollar four-year residency at one of his Las Vegas properties…

“If anyone does do it, I hope that the check that they get is in the nine figures. Because it’s probably the last check they’re ever going to get,” Dixie Chicks manager Simon Renshaw told TheWrap on Friday…

And they better be sure that check clears in advance, too.

Reader Interactions

228Comments

  1. 1.

    Raoul

    Might be quite the thrill for a few Tabernacle-ers, seeing those Rockettes. Racy! (In 1958, that is).

  3. 3.

    Baud

    This is a repost, but I don’t care because it’s the most fun news that we’ve had in a while.

    the Radio City Rockettes will be made to perform at Trump inauguration

    Fixed.

  5. 5.

    dr. bloor

    The individual also said longtime Trump friend and Vegas hotelier Steve Wynn had promised to deliver Celine Dion, but could not do so.

    Total drag when the hired help is a billionaire herself, innit, Steve?

  6. 6.

    Raoul

    So, what cable networks are gonna be feeding us marathons, and what should the hashtag be for all of us watching them on Jan 20?
    Would be delightful to see that trending during Donnie Dork-o’s Dastardly Dynastic wingDing.

  16. 16.

    matryoshka

    Based on what I’m hearing from Kellyanne Conway on the Maddow Show, what the heartland is going to get is nuclear war.

  17. 17.

    mai naem mobile

    I remember seeing Celine Dion on Larry King during Katrina. I doubt Celine Dion,if she’s a US citizen, would have voted for Lumpy.
    Twitter is trending about a request from Trump Winery in front of the Labor Dept to hire foreign workers. I is loving this shit. My cheap thrills during the Lumpy Reign of Terrah.

  18. 18.

    Kropadope

    @Baud: Maybe they wanted to do it. Trump rewinding society to (at least) the 30s can only be good for the Rockettes, right?

  19. 19.

    JPL

    @Raoul: He has the Rockettes, what more do you want. One of the top headliners is Beau Davidson, but Daryl Worley and Sam Fazio will also perform.

  21. 21.

    lollipopguild

    Its funny that both Celine and Garth are seen as people who can be “delivered” by other people. Both Celine and Garth are probably both billionaires and are not going to be “delivered” by anybody. LOL.

  22. 22.

    raven

    @Emerald: She’s all fucking buddy-buddy with Nicolle Wallace too. Rachel tries really hard to get people from “the other side” so when this weasel says ok I’m sure it’s on/ Rachel also handles this kind of shit pretty well.

  23. 23.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @JPL: Good God, this is real? It’s like if Sarah Palin was programming director for Satellite Radio
    The Reagan Years – Next up is an ’80s cover band called The Reagan Years. This group was formed in 1996, and it consists of musicians Sy Seyler, Karen Ellison, Glenn Riley, Jody Lewis, Stephan Scott Lay and Scott Benford. They cover popular songs from the 1980s like Don’t Stop Believing, Footloose, and Rock of Ages, primarily at corporate events, weddings, and private ceremonies. “The Reagan Years is one of the HOTTEST 80’s cover band in the US!” the All American Inaugural Ball says on its website. “You will swear you’ve gone back in time…”
    I’m an 80s survivor, I listen to what I guess is now Geezer Pop (First Tracks, I think the channel is called), I saw all the John Hughes movies in the theater, I probably know all the words to “Don’t Stop Believing”, I have no memory of Rock of Ages

  24. 24.

    Davis X. Machina

    @Raoul: He has friends, dammit, The greatest friends! Lots of friends! So many friends you wish he’d stop having friends! And many of them have enormous breasts.

    We’ve installed an 8th grade boy in the White House.

  28. 28.

    Mnemosyne

    I’m not the only one creeped out that (according to the Heavy.com list) Trump will be having not just one, but two teenage girls performing for him, am I?

  30. 30.

    JPL

    He’s tweeting

    The so-called “A” list celebrities are all wanting tixs to the inauguration, but look what they did for Hillary, NOTHING. I want the PEOPLE!

    Trump is lucky that the local d.j’s weren’t booked for weddings, or he’d really have a problem getting the PEOPLE.

  32. 32.

    Emerald

    @raven:
    Yes, she does keep the channels open.

    Sorry, the Grabittall admin (HT Charlie Pierce) is going too far for me.

    Do not “normalize,” as they say.

  36. 36.

    Larkspur

    RM: Who, other than Russia and the US, has the most nuclear weapons?
    KC: I don’t know. [pause] But I’m sure he [Trump] does.
    RM: France. And India and Pakistan.

    KC is backing off the implication that Trump’s tweet really truly means he wants us to get MORE nuclear weapons. Really, all he wants is to keep us safe and secure.

    RM: Why would Trump want as National Security advisor,someone who tweeted that HRC was involved in a pedophilia.
    KC: One tweet, look at his history of good National Security stuff. One little tweet shouldn’t b e such a BFD.

    Now KC is changing the subject to how BHO and HRC caused the horror of Aleppo, so they are bad too, and blah blah blah. She is being very serious, doing her best to be restrained and professional (and extra soft-spoken feminine, maybe to exaggerate how ladylike she is compared to the butch RM), in a serious but pretty black dress…she’s obviously been gearing up to deal with Rachel Maddow. RM is giving her a pretty good grilling. Now RM is questioning why there aren’t more “serious” people, as opposed to Monica Crowley. KC: Crowley has a PhD! So never mind her weird TV behavior.

    I can’t no more.

  37. 37.

    Kropadope

    @efgoldman:

    As you know from teaching, most eighth grade boys can be shamed, pretty easily.

    And the ones who can’t never grow past that mentality and become Donald Fucking Trump.

  38. 38.

    Miss Bianca

    @khead: I was thinking “We Are the World”, but that seems a little too international and Kumbaya for a trump administration.

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: OMG, are you fucking kidding? A cover band called “The Reagan Years”?! Man, even *I* couldn’t make this stuff up!

  41. 41.

    notoriousJRT

    @Emerald:
    Rachel included if she keeps this up.
    I should have given up on her when she referred to Pat Buchannan as “Uncle Pat.” As it is, I don’t recall which straw broke the MSNBC camel’s back, but it was way before election day. I find her sucking up to Mrs. Greenspan and others too much to take.

  42. 42.

    ChrisB

    I’ll simply note that while Conway is the absolute worst (sorry, Rachel, won’t be watching tonight) Boris Epshteyn isn’t far behind.

  43. 43.

    matryoshka

    @lamh36: Word. Maddow didn’t call out KAC when she said how sad shitgibbon is about how we’ve done nothing for the children of Aleppo. Isn’t he scared to death of Syrian refugees? Isn’t he BFFs with Assad/Putin, who are working together to kill those children, or am I all confused again? Rachel tries, but the BS comes so hard and fast, she can’t really track on all of it. Maybe she can’t keep her paycheck if she pokes certain bears.

  44. 44.

    Emerald

    @Larkspur:
    PBS has Henry VI, PT. 2 with some fabulous performances (including Cumberbatch as Richard, gearing up for Richard III, coming up soon). Well worth the time.

    Excellent production.

  49. 49.

    JPL

    @Larkspur: Shortly after the freedom girls performed at a Trump rally, I watched the first four episodes of season one. The nightmares that ensued, weren’t worth it. I turned it off.

  51. 51.

    delk

    I guess it’s easier to steal music against the artist’s wishes for a rally than actually getting the artist.

  52. 52.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @bmoak: ah, that I do remember

    @JPL: It’s a small comfort in this shitstorm, but I do take some comfort knowing that this will gnaw at him for weeks

  58. 58.

    Kropadope

    @bmoak: I’ve heard the song you’re speaking about, but those four words are more likely to make me think of the Offspring.

    ETA: Incidentally, Pretty Fly for a White Guy seems appropriate for a Trump inauguration, if not a little on the nose.

  59. 59.

    Larkspur

    Kellyanne Conway is going to hell. It’s going to be crowded. Thank god I don’t believe in god. When I die, I’m gonna be a dead body for young doctors-to-be to carve up, or I’ll be a prop at the Body Farm in Langley, and then I’m just gonna be dirt and dust and gone. I find this comforting.

  61. 61.

    Schlemazel

    @ChrisB:
    I prefer these lyrics:
    I want to put on big black boots
    And take a leather whip
    I’d like to tie you to the bed
    and hit you ‘cross the lip
    Pains the real thing
    it what your hoping to find

  64. 64.

    lamh36

    So I’ve got to work through the Christmas weekend…so I’ve been listening to Christmas music getting my playlist ready for work days.

    Some observations:

    There is NO version of This Christmas better than the original by Donny Hathaway…PERIOD!!

    White Christmas is one of my fav Christmas songs…but I do have a soft spot in my heart for Otis Redding soulful version! When Otis says “may yo days, may yo days…” I LOVE it…

    Fav new classic Luther Vandross – Every Year, Every Christmas
    literally can listen to it YEAR ROUND! 2nd fav new classic…of course…
    Mariah Carey – All I Want For Christmas Is You

    Probably my fav Christmas song from 80s, Wham! – Last Christmas. Saw George Micheal in one of his last US concerts before drug arrest…and so many folks wanted to hear Last Christmas…in July…lol

    Another Christmas classic…but I prefer The Temptations version…hands down!
    Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. They had me at…”ooh..ooh..ooh Rudolph”…YASS Eddie Kendrick!!! Speaking of The Temptations, Silent Night, prob 1st Christmas song I learned…the long version by 80s Temptations lineup is my fav hands down!

    Two other original song that CAN’T be beat, Nat King Cole – Christmas Song, and
    Santa Baby! “Original Song 1953” Eartha Kitt (…looking at you Madonna et al)

    Finally, my fav Christmas Carol of all time is O Holy Night. Luv Tevin Campbell’s version cause I think it’s purest when sung by a young voice

  65. 65.

    Emerald

    @JPL:
    Oh I thought it was terrific, especially with what they did in the final episode.

    Can’t wait to watch season two, but The Hollow Crown comes first!

  69. 69.

    matryoshka

    OK, this was my first exposure to the talking heads since Nov. 8 and I feel like I just stepped through a hole in the universe. The breathtaking back-to-back lies from KAC with that Skeletor grin, and Rachel trying to act like there was some cohesive truth underneath it all that wasn’t just “you are all going to die when we get our party started”–no more of this for me. No f*ing way. I thought I was getting my soul back, but watching this is the road to perdition.

  70. 70.

    magurakurin

    unrelated to the Big Show but, I don’t know, I have to call bullshit on Ivanka Trump flying coach on a JetBlue flight. That just doesn’t seem believable. And if she really was…their cash flow problems must be quite real. He secured the presidency just in time, it would appear. But, at this point…I’d believe anything.
    In my perfect world there wouldn’t be classed seating on airplanes, just reasonable large enough equal seating for everyone. Of course, that will never happen, and I will never have enough money to fly in first class. But if I did have enough money, I wouldn’t fly in coach simply because they have made the seats in coach so small that it hurts my knees. I can’t imagine what it is like for larger people.

    and I would add, that regardless of who the person was…and let’s just assume that it was Ivanka so as not to drift to deeply into CT territory, the dude was out of line making a scene on an airplane. That just is simply never okay. It’s a plane. Sit down and shut the fuck up unless you see a gremlin on the wing…then quietly notify the flight attendant…preferably one old enough to have watched the Twilight Zone. I’m sorry, I hate this family with the heat of a thousand suns, but if you are making a scene on the plane, I don’t care if you are having out with the ghosts of Stalin and Pol Pot…you’re outta there.

  71. 71.

    Shana

    @Raoul: I don’t know about you, but I’ll be relaxing on a beach in Jamaica that week. May open the home (with elder spawn’s overseeing duties) to friends coming in for various protests.

  72. 72.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Okay, I got out of the boat, as they say, and Maddow is pushing Conway pretty hard about Trump’s dishonest targeting of Martha Raddatz on the hate rallies
    ETA: Then I got back in the boat as Conway dissembles about how she’s “spoken” to the president elect, and lets talk about how mean the press was

  75. 75.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @magurakurin: If she was with her kids, I would say “back off”, but it just amazes me that they went through the bother of staging an “Ivanka flies coach, just like you!” photo op.

  76. 76.

    hovercraft

    @Kropadope:
    The Rockettes are owned by MSG, whose chairman is James Dolan of Cablevision fame. Below are his media policy Re. the Knicks and Rangers employees. If this is how he is with his athletes and the staff there, why would anyone think that the dancers, who are a dime a dozen, ( I’m sorry, I know they are all talented, but they are not individually famous, and are switched out frequently), would have any say over where they perform?

    Dolan rarely speaks with members of the media and communicates to the press through released statements or in interviews with MSG Network. In 2000, Dolan instituted media training for all Garden employees who might deal with the press and instituted an ironclad rule against team personnel criticizing others in the organization via the media.[29] Under Dolan’s watch MSG implemented controversial media policies limiting access to players. Some of these measures included prohibiting reporters and Knicks’ beat writers from interviewing players without an MSG public relations official present, forbidding one-on-one interviews, and excommunicating writers who write articles critical of the organization. The policies also forbid the MSG Network from being critical of the Knicks and the Rangers, regardless of their performance. Such measures were not standard practice for other NBA teams.

    This media strategy seems like it is similar in nature to the shitgibbon and his NDA’s, no one criticizes the boss or his actions ever.

  78. 78.

    matryoshka

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Did you hear her slip in that little nugget about how shitgibbon takes his daily briefings and “gets intelligence from other sources”? And how the Clinton Foundation was peddling influence but Uday and Qusay were simply being good businessmen? Language is important. These people are using it to cudgel reality.

  80. 80.

    magurakurin

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: At the gate, in the terminal…unload with both barrels. But on the plane…nah. It’s too small a space, too stressful, too many things to go wrong. We all have to be chill on the plane. It just has to be the rule. And yeah, if she had little kids with her…damn dude. But, then again we have to admit the possibility that the guy who was saying shit was merely a trumpkin paid to make a scene. If her being on coach was a photo op…then it isn’t much of a stretch that the whole scene was a photo op.

  83. 83.

    rikyrah

    @magurakurin:
    Her flying JetBlue is a scam and a fraud. They were going to try and get points out of it, when it was “leaked” .
    Now, she can try and play poor little put upon victim, attacked by the meany Democrats. But, here’s the thing – what they said was the truth.

  84. 84.

    CM

    “Mormon Tabernacle Choir to perform at inauguration…”

    Wonder what it is about Trump that appeals to the members of the choir. Maybe the pussy grabbing? The support for water-boarding and other forms of torture? Taking their oil? Depriving millions of health insurance? Cutting back on the right to vote? Mocking the disabled? Insulting those captured in war?

    Enquiring minds want to know.

  85. 85.

    sigaba

    @magurakurin: If anyone in that clan has money problems it’s probably not Ivanka, her husband is legitimately wealthy, he is what Donald claims to be: a Manhattan property owner and developer.

    He is also a complete nutter who seems to have sold his soul to get his father out of jail, but, he’s got cash.

  86. 86.

    Shana

    @magurakurin: I gather the country’s changed a bit since I was last there as a 14 year old in 1973… but Hubby and I are looking forward to it, and to not being in the DC area that week.

  87. 87.

    magurakurin

    @rikyrah: Oh, no denying that the guy was correct in what he said, but you just can’t do shit like that on the plane. He should have waited until they de-planed and then said what he wanted to say at the gate. It’s just a thing with me, I guess, but the plane is too small and everyone is too close. Not the place.

  88. 88.

    J R in WV

    I think this comic dolt is the designated Black King, aimed at ending the world in a nuclear flash, at first, followed by the long prophesied nuclear winter, when everyone freezes and starves to death, because nothing can grow without sunshine.

    Speaking of dreams and nightmares. I could never watch a Phillip K Dick TV series, I could never watch a dramatic presentation of the world where we lost to the Nazis. Hell I could barely read the whole book!

    Of course, now we have our own problems with our own home-grown Nazis. So go figure?….

  89. 89.

    magurakurin

    @Shana: I’ve never been to Jamaica, but pictures look nice. It should be good, I reckon. And the weather will surely beat D.C. in January.

  90. 90.

    Jeffro

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Then I got back in the boat as Conway dissembles about how she’s “spoken” to the president elect, and lets talk about how mean the press was

    Just once, would they answer for their own behavior without deflecting it like a kindergartener? Just once, could they police their own? Of course not. Always attack, never explain (much less apologize).

  92. 92.

    Another Scott

    In other news, How about we scrap the Constitution?:

    This month, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker became the latest elected official to publicly call for an “Article V” constitutional convention to be convened by the states. This new constitutional convention’s aim, however, would be to devolve federal power back toward the states.

    Walker’s call was not sudden, novel, or unique, but part of a building movement that has a real political path forward.

    The Groundwork

    Article V of the Constitution outlines two processes for proposing amendments. The first is well known and taught in every civics class: Congress passes an amendment by a two-thirds vote in each chamber, as it has been done since the convention of 1787. The other option—one not yet taken and rarely discussed outside of the nerdiest of government geeks—is a convention of the states that circumvents the Congress’ role. For a constitutional convention to be convened, it requires two-thirds of states (34 of the 50) to call for it. In both situations, three-quarters of the states (38) must ratify its results.

    The recent political foundations for a new constitutional convention began quite a few years ago. In 2011, Harvard University hosted the Constitutional Convention Conference (well-coined as “ConConCon”). It was led by strange bedfellows Mark Meckler, co-founder of the conservative populist Tea Party Patriots, and Harvard professor Larry Lessig, a liberal political activist interested in a constitutional convention to enact campaign finance reform and electoral reform.

    The idea caught on among political conservatives. By 2013, there was enough interest that 100 state legislators from 32 states gathered at George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate to begin the groundwork for a national movement.

    Those legislators met while in the area for the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) conference. ALEC is a non-profit “partnership of America’s state legislators and members of the private sector” that writes model legislation for state legislators that “advance free-market enterprise” and “limited government.”

    […]

    When Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker became the latest conservative leader to join the call for a new constitutional convention, he was not alone. He was joining other governors, such as Texas’ Greg Abbott, who has laid out a total of nine recommended amendments ranging from prohibiting federal regulations that preempt state law to allowing a two-thirds majority of the states to overturn any federal law or supreme court decision.

    […]

    We have to fight them every . single . day . and take nothing for granted.

    Rest up over the holidays, if you can. We’re going to need our first stringers and a deep bench come January…

    Don’t get distracted by the TV stuff – Keep your eyes on the prize…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  95. 95.

    matryoshka

    @Iowa Old Lady: Flynn and worse than Flynn. It boggles the mind. The constant gaslighting does something to me that I cannot describe, but it isn’t good. Black Mirror and The OA made sense to me, and so did The Arrival. Trumpworld does not.

  97. 97.

    mai naem mobile

    @magurakurin: when I saw the photo,my first thought was that it didn’t look like Ivanka. Not the logistics with the Secret Service or the logic. The woman in the photo looks heavier or at least the face is a lot rounder with more of a chin. Beyond that, Lumpy is supposed to have five planes. He couldn’t lend one to his favorite kid? It doesn’t even make sense that the SS or JetBlue would let her ride in coach. Whatevs.

  101. 101.

    Mnemosyne

    @Larkspur:

    I’ve considered doing whole body donation if I live too long to have any useful parts left. I would also do it if I was dying of some disease (like cancer) that would make it impossible for me to donate organs and tissues.

    Otherwise, the current plan is to strip me for parts and then burn the rest.

  102. 102.

    Another Scott

    @magurakurin: I haven’t watched the video, and I don’t really care, but …

    I remember being out at Dulles years ago (before 9/11), late at night, waiting for a friend’s flight to come in. The gates were nearly deserted, and I suddenly saw Ollie North walking out of one of the gates, leaving in a brisk pace. It was a couple of minutes or more before anyone else appeared. He was long gone before I thought of a snappy remark like “traitor” to throw at him – probably just as well. ;-)

    If the airline wants to, they can get “special” people off the plane before the hoi polloi (though, admittedly, it is more difficult for “special” people in coach).

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  103. 103.

    magurakurin

    @lamh36: If we admit it was a stunt, then we almost have to admit that the guy who yelled at her was part of the stunt. If not, how could they have been sure we would have known that Ivanka was flying coach? The whole thing is really weird and just one more thing that is totally not normal. Gas lighting indeed.

  104. 104.

    lamh36

    @mai naem mobile: Exactly…she’s gonna be the First Lady in lieu of Melania…so of course she has SS…

    What I’d like some enterprising reporter to do is tell us how many time BEFORE has Ivanka and her hubby flew coach ON JET BLUE!

  108. 108.

    lamh36

    A smart network would have appropriate counter programming up against it.

    @TichinaArnold
    *I will NOT be tuning in for lil don’s inauguration. It should be his least watched, lowest rated tv appearance ever.

  110. 110.

    debbie

    @Emerald:

    I’m having a hard time with Hollow Crown. Every death more agonizing than the previous one. I’ll have to find a more traditional production, I guess.

  111. 111.

    Mnemosyne

    @lamh36:

    My Christmas music is much funkier than my everyday self, probably because I grew up in the 1970s, but I have all of those, plus Stevie Wonder’s Christmas album. His version of “Ave Maria” is one of the most beautiful I’ve ever heard. I even have the Booker T. and the MG’s Christmas album — I think it was on special at Amazon.

    G and I both have a soft spot for Johnny Mathis, because both of our parents used to listen to that at Christmas. My dad was also a big opera fan, so he would always watch the broadcast from Vienna and listen to Pavarotti and Domingo.

    Bette Midler’s Christmas album from a few years ago is really good and has a nice mix of traditional and modern songs, including “From A Distance.”

  114. 114.

    Yarrow

    @Another Scott: I heard on the radio a month ago or so that we are one Republican governor of a state short of having the minimum number of Republican governors to call for a constitutional convention. Or something like that. The general thinking being that the Republicans would be the ones to do that.

    Pay attention people. Work in your state. Elect Democrats, especially for Governor.

  115. 115.

    Emerald

    @debbie:
    Hang in there. Old Will liked his bloody scenes. Cumberbatch at the end just chills and Sophie Okonedo is outstanding.

    But yeah, they did let the gore flow just a bit too freely, I admit.

  120. 120.

    magurakurin

    @efgoldman: won’t be much difference between the living or the dead…the living ones are all 74 or older, save one. Just 5 more old white guys…but I bet they don’t do it.

  121. 121.

    Jeffro

    Btw folks I have to recommend…most…of “American Amnesia”, by Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson, the duo that wrote “Winner-Take-All Politics”. “AA”s subtitle is “How the War on Government Led Us to Forget What Made America Prosper”, which is simply horrendous but I’m biased – they rejected my recommendation of, “How right-wing nut jobs nuked every norm while rabidly pursuing an ever more Randian agenda”

    Hacker and Pierson do an outstanding job of noting (historically) how we’ve arrived in this twisted reality, where far-right Republicans are falsely equated to moderate Democrats, and where Republicans claim the government is fucked up, get elected, and prove it. (Seriously – the historical overview of how we got where we are is worth the reading). However, they don’t quite make the big-money connection I’d like them to make – that steadily since the early 80s, and then on steroids with Citizens United, the rich have had an unbelievable ability to set the agenda and prop up the Right – but they get pretty close.

    The disappointing part is the conclusion: where do we go from here? H&P recommend:
    – pointing out that ‘there is so much money on the table waiting to be picked up’ by rebuilding our infrastructure, redouble our commitment to science investment, provide great early childhood education and college, refine Obamacare, continue to promote green energy, etc.
    – end the filibuster
    – increase the budgets of both houses of Congress and related agencies (like GAO)
    – hire more federal workers
    – guarantee the right to vote, secure voter IDs where required, etc
    – creating public financing of campaigns/elections
    – use technology to organize better
    – rebuild unions
    – get business to understand that it’s in the interest of business to support a strong government, to include great P-12 education and infrastructure
    Oh, and
    – hope for the emergence of a Republican Leadership Council (similar to the old DLC) that will “gradually force ambitious, farsighted Republican leaders who wish to hold office and want the GOP to thrive to reevaluate their party’s most extreme antigovernment positions”.

    (yes, they really wrote that…they may as well have put a unicorn on the book jacket, instead of a fog-shrouded Capitol)

    Ah well. At least one of those items – pursuing voting rights in a myriad of ways, as PBO’s planning to do post-presidency – is worthwhile and do-able through the courts and some good old fashioned public shaming. But the rest is silly until we kick these clowns in the teeth. I’m shocked that the list didn’t note:
    – getting our billionaires to seriously pony up for a similar progressive infrastructure, on the scale of what we see on the right
    – focusing on getting new voters, occasional voters, independents voters, and the few disgusted Republican voters to register, get/bring their IDs, and turn out
    – obviously, running a 40,000 seat strategy!
    – POUNDING the media to quit it with the false equivalency
    – POUNDING our MoCs as noted in the “Indivisible” handbook
    and finally
    – getting it out there to the country that these crazy-ass Rs are all working in the service of the 0.1%…there is a legitimate case to be made for conservatism, and then there is the country-destroying agenda of the hard Randians…and that we shouldn’t bring our country to the brink of civil war (or embracing a hostile foreign power’s ex-KGB leader and his agenda) to further line the pockets of the ultra-wealthy.

    So..good read, great historical review of how we got here, but as for how to fix it…you can stop reading at page 336 and just go with ol’ Jeffro’s prescription. ;)

  128. 128.

    lamh36

    @efgoldman: the Kennedy Center pics the honors though, don’t they?

    The question is…who will want to sit next to Trump and First Lady Ivanka?

    Now the presidential medal of freedom…buncha redneck celebs…

    and I’m guessing performance at the White House will be a crappy affair as well.

  129. 129.

    Mike in NC

    @Another Scott: We were at Dulles late one night years ago and I recognized the person standing across from us at the luggage pickup was Surgeon General Koop. Told my wife to approach him and ask for a light.

  130. 130.

    Botsplainer

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Fuck ’em. Ivanka is a Trump and the kids are Kushners AND Trumps. All of them should be made to feel unwelcome and loathed everywhere – they’re all frauds in training, and the sooner they’re bullied into submission and self-loathing, the better.

    Part of the problem with this disgustingly filthy fucking family is that nobody ever calls them out in public for being pieces of shit.

    If this causes Ivanka to retreat to a protective cocoon, the better.

  131. 131.

    Another Scott

    @Baud: Maybe? It’s hard to believe that ALEC would be behind the effort if corporations weren’t on board.

    To hear the GOP talk, life would be paradise if there was a race to the bottom on interstate sales of health insurance, so they (and the Chamber of Commerce and the like) probably rationalize that there’s little value in uniform national laws and standards when they can buy up, say, South Dakota (like Citi did years ago) and race to the bottom…

    :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.
    (“I don’t care if the pie would grow bigger over time if we all took a smaller slice, I want my big slice now!!1”)

  132. 132.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @lollipopguild: Lawyers/Guns/Money sez that the Beach Boys have been asked but have not made a decision yet.

    Dave Weigel ‏@ daveweigel 37m37 minutes ago
    Area band that recorded Charles Manson song still mulling over this Trump thing

    @lamh36: The question is…who will want to sit next to Trump and First Lady Ivanka?

    Kelsey Grammer and whatever stripper he’s married to at that moment?

  134. 134.

    magurakurin

    @liberal: not on the plane. If you do it. You’ll be kicked off. And I won’t object. If you do it at the gate…I’ll join you.

  136. 136.

    Keith P.

    @efgoldman: Especially since it assumes they would even get a check for their performance. But Scott Baio is ready and able to swoop in to save the day. Imagine a full orchestra backing a live performance of the theme song from “Charles in Charge”, sung by….TV’s Charles! Fuck Garth Brooks and Andrea Bocelli

  138. 138.

    Another Scott

    @Yarrow: There’s much more in the link:

    Since President Obama took office, Republicans have picked up over 1,000 additional state legislative seats, ultimately gaining control of 67 of the 98 partisan state legislative chambers in the United States (more on Nebraska’s weird deal in a moment).

    The GOP will control both chambers in a total of 32 states in 2017.

    While Republicans only hold the governorship in 25 of those states, is this the sort of legislation a Democratic governor will want to utilize political power on a veto? In certain states, perhaps. In other states, that veto may be costly from a political capital standpoint. In others, such as North Carolina, it could be overridden or tucked into crucial legislation.

    In addition to those 32, there are other states that shouldn’t be counted out. Nebraska is a prime target. Its legislature is unique in two ways: it is “non-partisan,” with people not running with a party affiliation; also, it’s unicameral, meaning there is one chamber instead of two. Being non-partisan for election purposes does not mean many of its members would not affiliate themselves with this movement.

    Maine, with firebrand conservative Gov. Paul LePage and two closely divided legislatures could also be a target. Alaska also is in play. Although a coalition of Democrats, Independents, and Republicans control the Alaska House of Representatives, the state has Republican majorities in both chambers. While Alaska Gov. Bill Walker is an Independent, he has previously identified as a Republican.

    By this count, in 2017 alone there are 35 legislatures which could be solid targets for advocates of a constitutional convention that devolves power from the federal government. As this state legislation would remain on the books unless repealed, advocates have time—the magic number of 34 could be reached over a number of years as state legislative majorities ebb and flow.

    […]

    In 1787, states gave varying, typically vague reasons for calling for a constitutional convention. As seen in the language from ALEC, a vague mandate would be likely if another was called in the coming years. What comes out of a convention could be anything the delegates choose to address that can be tangentially attached to that mandate, and representatives will have some leeway on what can be included in that mandate.

    […]

    After the convention and its recommendations comes the hard part: a ratification by three-fourths of the states—either by their legislatures or state ratifying conventions, as chosen by Congress. While it would be a high bar to get 38 states to ratify the results, no time limit exists for ratifying amendments unless specifically set by those proposing it. The 27th amendment to the constitution waited 202 years, 7 months, and 10 days before passing in 1992. It was originally proposed along with the Bill of Rights.

    Even when a deadline has been set for an amendment, it still can be extended. Congress added three years of life to the Equal Rights Amendment with a simple majority vote in 1979 before it was ultimately declared dead in 1982.

    We cannot take anything for granted any more.

    We know the Teabaggers aren’t going to campaign on throwing out the Constitution, but we also know that there’s nothing they’d like better than being able to rewrite it on their terms.

    If you like “Equal Justice Under Law” you’re going to have to fight for it, starting in January, and for the next 4 years or more….

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  140. 140.

    Mnemosyne

    @lamh36:

    True story: Mel Brooks was offered his Kennedy Center honor while W was still president, and he passed because he hated W. Obviously, when the chance came up again with President Obama, Brooks grabbed it with both hands.

  142. 142.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Keith P.: he has a broader repertoire than that, maybe Mr Trump the Great Negotiator could get Joanie to reunite with Chichi.

    (I happen to know that Joanie and Chachi actually hate each other. I don’t remember why I know it, but I do, and I’m a little ashamed of myself for knowing it)

  147. 147.

    Yarrow

    @lamh36: Does Clint Eastwood have one? Seems like a no brainer if he doesn’t. Maybe one for his chair?

    @Another Scott: Exactly. We have to fight for everything with everything we have.

    One possible brighter spot – the out-of-power party usually picks up seats during the midterms. Of course Democrats don’t vote in midterms, and the current administration may not allow elections, but if they do we might have a chance to do better than we might have otherwise.

  149. 149.

    Mike J

    Kurt Eichenwald ‏@kurteichenwald Dec 21
    A request: Would self-identified Christians please stop telling me they wish I had died from my seizure last week?

  154. 154.

    El Caganer

    Never mind all these opening acts. Main event is still the much-anticipated world premiere of Vladimir Putin’s Tiny Fingers Puppet Theater.

  157. 157.

    Another Scott

    @Mike in NC: :-)

    I saw George Fvcking Will waiting at the gate in Chicago a few years ago. His suit wasn’t hiding his big belly very well. Some star-struck young guy went up to him and talked to him a few minutes – they seemed to have a genial conversation.

    Two more quick stories:

    1) I took a SouthWest flight from Austin to DC around mid-2009 and was a couple of rows back from the extra-legroom rows. Sen. Cornyn was sitting in one, all stretched out, by the time we were able to get a seat. His staff knows how to get him decent seats even with the cattle-car seating. ;-)

    When the flight landed, some brown-nosing guy with a young family with him made some too-loud remarks to Cornyn, thanking him for “keeping the country safe” or some such nonsense. I mumbled under my breath that he was destroying the country, nobody else said anything (Cornyn might have mumbled “thank you” or something, but he seemed to want to stay anonymous on the flight).

    2) I took a shuttle from DC to Boston once and the flight was nearly empty. There was a family (a man and his two grown kids?) talking in the row behind me about politics while we were waiting for boarding to finish, then suddenly Rep. Barney Frank walked down the aisle and spent maybe 5 minutes talking with them (the father knew him). He is a very good retail politician and seemed genuinely interested in the guy’s family, etc.

    It’s good to see how human these “celebrities” and “powerful” people are, and to be reminded that they’re not 10-feet tall. And for them to see us, also too!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  160. 160.

    Mike J

    @Omnes Omnibus: In case you aren’t up on the story, it’s widely known Eichenwald ‏has epilepsy. Earlier in the campaign a Trump supporter tweeted a link at him trying to trigger a seizure. Last week one was successful.

  161. 161.

    randy khan

    It didn’t escape my notice that both the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Rockettes are people who can be told to perform at the inauguration by their bosses.

  170. 170.

    Morzer

    Perhaps Donny Putinobitch can execute a strategic pivot from combing over the A-listers to grabbing a few of the A-Hole list sourpusses. After all, a man who can propose to wreck the retail sector overnight via a brave! new! shiny! 10% tariff on all imports (except illegal Slovenian escorts .. sorry, models!) is capable of just about any act of futile vandalism.

  171. 171.

    opiejeanne

    @lamh36: Heard Ella Fitzgerald’s version of Sleigh Ride last night, but it took us a while to figure out she was the singer and the radio station wasn’t announcing the names of any artist. Finally identified her by the way she sang “Giddy-YAP, Giddy-YAP!” She was so very, very good.

  172. 172.

    divF

    I’ve come to the party late. All this talk of rock of ages and MTC made me turn to inspirational music. Therefore, Delaney and Bonnie’s Motel Shot.

    That is all.

  180. 180.

    FlyingToaster

    @efgoldman: Those guys are still alive. Not that Trump has the testicular fortitude to allow Don Rickles on his stage.

    As a Falco fan (as in, I started buying import albums of his in the 80s), I and several of my friends were pretty pissed off at him ramming into a bus in ’98.

  181. 181.

    NotMax

    This could be the comeback opportunity Milli Vanilli has been pining for.

    :)

    @Omnes Omnibus

    #1 filmed version in my book. Trivia: Ghost of Christmas Future was a woman, in order to get the look of long, slender (even spectral) fingers the director sought.

  183. 183.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @NotMax: I once met one of the 4real Milli Vanilli voices. Nice guy. And, yes, it is the best version. I hate the Jim Carrey cartoon version. Hate it. But Sims version makes me feel Christmassy.

  185. 185.

    Mike J

    @Omnes Omnibus: Jim Carrey: cartoon version of xmas carol that doesn’t live up to the lice action original. Does a live action version of the Grinch that doesn’t live up to the cartoon version.

    Of course it’s nigh impossible to be as good as Chuck Jones, Thurl Ravenscroft, June Foray, and Boris Karloff.

  186. 186.

    NotMax

    @Omnes Omnibus

    Made a point when was in London to see Sim on the stage in a revival of the Victorian farce Dandy Dick.

    He did not disappoint and was superb. And the link reminded me that production also included Patricia Routledge.

  187. 187.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Mike J:

    Does a live action version of the Grinch that doesn’t live up to the cartoon version.

    I will never watch that. Never. I was born in ’64. I was one of the first to see the Grinch TV show. For me, the Sim ACC and the Grinch are the two musts.

    ETA: It is interesting that my two favorite Christmas tales are both redemption tales.

  189. 189.

    FlyingToaster

    @efgoldman: Ha!

    WarriorGirl won’t get an invitation, seeing that her parents are D, 3 of her 4 grandparents are/were D, and her great grandfather was a socialist. Leaving out the atheism and one of her close friends being Muslim.

  193. 193.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @efgoldman: Max is the perfect Cocker Spaniel. I know those faces.

    I also love Christmas. I just need the kick into the mood. Present wrapping, the Grinch, and Sim just got me there. Fuck Trump and the whole Trump season, This time we quite know the reason.

  195. 195.

    eemom

    The Grinch and Charlie Brown are the best.

    Also, though I know OO disapproves, George C. Scott’s version of Scrooge.

    Anyway, I’ll take what I can get. This is the saddest Christmas evah. :(

  196. 196.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @efgoldman: I was baptized. My religious participation stops there. I have snow and prezzies. I just don’t want too much stress on me mum. Those are my X-mas wishes. I will trade most for the avoid mom stress.

  197. 197.

    NotMax

    @efgoldman

    Plan on making a trip into town for a roast and assorted fixings tomorrow as well. Not at all looking forward to playing parking lot roulette.

    Repeating: Chef John’s magic method for perfectly cooking a prime rib roast is virtually foolproof.

  206. 206.

    Anne Laurie

    @Geoduck:

    Don Rickles is still alive and still performing. Dunno how he feels about Trump.

    The contempt of any professional for a third-rate amateur doing a flailing imitation of his act, I’m guessing.

  209. 209.

    Anne Laurie

    @Omnes Omnibus: Hate to say it, but George C. Scott’s Scrooge is my favorite, too. Although the one I watch with the Spousal Unit is usually the Muppets version.

    My other get-in-the-mood-for-the-holidays movie is The Preacher’s Wife, mostly because Denzil Washington (although Loretta Devine and Courtney Vance do good work too). I also find it amusing that the only white characters are a couple of extras scurrying around in the background — a little grace note that’s never made explicit.

  210. 210.

    Mnemosyne

    @eemom:

    My saddest Christmas was the one where we were all pretending that my father wasn’t dying — he lasted until January 3rd, 2013.

    But this one is pretty sucky, too.

  213. 213.

    seaboogie

    I work retail – artisan jewelry shop in a sweet town, and my “Christmas” playlist is one that I put together from my limited and esoteric itunes playlist on my phone -while we wrap up and put things away when the last shopper is gone on Christmas Eve. Not at all seasonal, but kind of fun:

    Billy Preston – Will it Go Round in Circles
    Hot Chocolate – Everyone’s a Winner
    David Bowie – Modern Love
    Erasure – Oh L’Amour
    Olu Dara – Your Lips
    Michael Franti – Say Hey (I Love You).

    Possibly not a DJ perfect flow, but should give us the energy to get the remaining jewels back into the safe. And then a quiet, lovely solo day on the 25th….

  214. 214.

    Larkspur

    @liberal: You’re probably right – I was just jotting down what I heard them saying. Rachel was trying to get Conway to discuss Trump’s tweet about moar nukes, and Conway was nattering on about how he just wants to keep America safe from the nuclear threats that abound in the world, after what we and Russia have. Conway hadn’t a clue about nuclear proliferation in general and RM was pointing out that France had the next highest stockpile. Then she mentioned India and Pakistan and Conway was talking over her and maybe Israel and North Korea got mentioned and I didn’t catch it. The discussion had pretty much fallen apart by then. The takeaway was that Trump knows jack shit about nukes and Conway doesn’t know much either.

  215. 215.

    Anne Laurie

    @Larkspur:

    maybe Israel and North Korea got mentioned and I didn’t catch it.

    Well, IIRC, Israel doesn’t officially have nukes — they’re not listed in the “nuclear club”. Because if the Israeli government admitted to having nukes, then one or more of the Gulf States would start agitating for the U.S. to lend them a few spares, and nobody wants the Saudis or Egypt to have nukes, not even most of the Saudis/Egyptians.

    India & Pakistan both have nukes, which is scary enough, but at least it’s their own neighborhood version of Mutually Assured Destruction (as in, either party looks to be using their big swinging nukes, and a larger power disassembles the top 37 levels of the guilty government with extreme prejudice).

    North Korea would like to have a nuke or six of Dear Leader’s very own, but unless things are worse than we’re being told, that’s more an ambition than a goal for them right now.

    So it’s possible Maddow was being… politically correct, in leaving Israel out of the discussion.

  216. 216.

    James Powell

    @notoriousJRT:

    As it is, I don’t recall which straw broke the MSNBC camel’s back, but it was way before election day.

    I gave up when they brought Brian Williams back. I’m not sure what they’re doing, but if he’s there, it isn’t journalism.

  219. 219.

    evodevo

    @matryoshka: Yes. My husband is a Rachel fan, but I just walked by the TV and said “Rachel doesn’t seem to have a clue – there is NOTHING logical that can be said about any of this, and NOTHING to be derived from questioning the Shitgibbon’s minions – you’re rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, while water is rising in steerage.” I don’t even want to hear her any more … I go to bed and read a book.

  221. 221.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    Garth Brooks said no, but it seems like Trump could get some A list country stars to perform. I mean, the Dixie Chicks were ostracized from that community for criticizing W. so one would think there’d be some Trump supporters among Nashville’s A list set. If he hates country music and doesn’t want them to perform at his big shindig then he better never let that cat out of the bag…because if he gets painted as too good for country music it’ll leave a mark.

  225. 225.

    Elizabelle

    Trust me. You will all be much happier, with more time on your hands, if you stop watching MSNBC, every single fucking show of theirs.

    They’re NBC big corporate, with a libtard interface at night. Further, after skimming through the internet all day, why do you want to see that programming at night?

    Fuck MSNBC. Seriously. With a chainsaw.

    Also CNN. Fox News is already in its own circle of hell.

  226. 226.

    jk

    @Elizabelle:

    For me, the bottom line is that the programming on MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News is nothing more than a super-sized, putrid, steaming plie of excrement.

    Danny Schechter was correct when he wrote: “The More You Watch, The Less You Know” and that was in 1997. The situation has only gotten exponentially worse since then.

  228. 228.

    George

    @magurakurin: Until evidence to the contrary surfaces, I have no doubt that the Ivanka Trump/Jetblue circumstance was a stage-managed response to the guy who got tossed off a flight a week or so ago because he was taunting Clinton supporters.

    If there is one person in the Trump crime family who has been given the (undeserved) reputation as being sane and kind it is Ivanka. What better way to drum up sympathy for Trump than to have his sweet daughter verbally assaulted in the coach section of Jetblue.

    In fact, from here on out I’ll need to see independent verification of any “common clay” stuff that the Trump crime family allegedly does before I believe a shred of it.

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