Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

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

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

Second rate reporter says what?

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

In short, I come down firmly on all sides of the issue.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Chutkan laughs. Lauro sits back down.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Be a traveling stable for those who can’t find room at the inn.

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

Nikki Haley, who can’t acknowledge ‘slavery’, is a pathetic shill.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

T R E 4 5 O N

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

The gop couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

Spilling the end game before they can coat it in frankl luntz-approved dogwhistles.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

No Justins, No Peace

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

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

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Sunday Evening Open Thread: Memorable Moments

Reader Interactions

149Comments

  6. 6.

    BGinCHI

    I hope Obama and Jimmy Carter get together and form a gang of Ex-Presidents who rob banks and play tackle football on the beach.

    Point Break 2: The New Hawaiian

  8. 8.

    Mnemosyne

    @efgoldman:

    IANAL, but as I understand it, they can’t legally prevent her from going — what she does in her time off is still her own business, and she did not surrender her First Amendment rights when she took the job. But they could make her life hell if they find out, which sucks.

  9. 9.

    DesertFriar

    We got texts Friday night from some friends in Morgantown that the house we lived in at Cheat Lake was on House Hunters. We DVR’d the later showing and yes it was our house. And it was picked by the buyers.

    I thought that was cool.

  10. 10.

    Major Major Major Major

    @BGinCHI:

    I hope Obama and Jimmy Carter get together and form a gang of Ex-Presidents who rob banks and play tackle football on the beach.

    Point Break 2: The New Hawaiian

    When I started reading what you wrote I was thinking more Leverage.

  14. 14.

    BGinCHI

    @Aimai: He was required reading in the Voice in the 80s. Such a terrific writer.

    If my small midwest town’s public library hadn’t carried The Village Voice I don’t think I would have gotten out of there.

  17. 17.

    lollipopguild

    @BGinCHI: The new show that starts Jan. 21st is called “our President is legally insane and there is nothing we can do about it.”

  18. 18.

    randy khan

    @john fremont:

    I used to read him when I lived in New York. The jazz/free speech combination was pretty much unique. He was also anti-death penalty and anti-abortion rights, part of a very small group of generally liberal people with that combination of views.

  19. 19.

    BGinCHI

    @Omnes Omnibus: He seemed pretty old to me in the late 80s, but then again everyone did.

    Speaking of the 80s/90s, saw a great show last night at Lincoln Hall. Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker (a David Lowery double feature, so to speak). Really terrific. Reminds me that you should come down for a show, some eats and drinks. Must be some conference you can get yourself into.

  22. 22.

    guachi

    My favorite moment of the Obama Presidency was the day he nominated James Comey to be FBI director.

    Good times.

  24. 24.

    Lalophobia

    This is good for the future. Whatever Obama does next, this kind of thing will keep people exited and paying attention to him so he can use that momentum in whatever effort he wants to sink his teeth into.

  25. 25.

    BGinCHI

    @Omnes Omnibus: It was like 2 back-to-back shows. Complete personnel change and stage change (backdrop, mostly). Very cool carry-over and yet contrast.

    No Life Is Grand. Mostly early CVB, which was very cool. Like Surprise Truck, The History of Utah, etc. Pretty amazing. Wonder if they are coming up your way?

  27. 27.

    Ohio Mom

    @efgoldman: I am related by marriage to two newspaper reporters so I completely get why your daughter wasn’t allowed to simply write “The incoming Republican majority has no use for your consumer protections.” That wouldn’t be “objective.” That is what my inlaws, true believers, tell me. They twist themselves into pretzels to be “objective,” never noticing that they have let the truth slide right by.

    Your daughter has always sounded to me like a very smart cookie. One day she will have a different, better job, and stuff like this won’t be an issue anymore.

  34. 34.

    Patricia Kayden

    Loving Meryl Streep’s speech at the Golden Globes. She just called out Trump and the media.

  39. 39.

    Mai.naem.mobile

    Damn,Meryl Streep is making me proud of being an American. Also too, Lumpy will be tweeting like a WATB,probably tonight about the Golden Globes.

  40. 40.

    Patricia Kayden

    @debbie: Her speech was powerful. Loved when she pointed out how so many actors we love here in the US are foreigners.

  45. 45.

    Patricia Kayden

    @BGinCHI: She specifically called out Trump for mocking that disabled reporter. I saw tears in the eyes of other actors in the audience and felt pretty teary myself by the time she wrapped up her speech.

  47. 47.

    Major Major Major Major

    Oh, to continue on last thread, you had to be a registered Democrat to vote in the assembly district delegate elections this morning. They would let you register right there but you had to do it. There were neither calls of tyranny nor hand-wringing in regards to this. Curiously enough, I did see one candidate whose bio said that he was proudly running as an independent.

    I… did not vote for this person.

  49. 49.

    BGinCHI

    @Patricia Kayden: I would love to see her face him down in public.

    No coward like a rich bully.

    I think the cultural backlash against Trump is going to be WAY bigger than against Bush. It already feels so much more personal.

  50. 50.

    J R in WV

    @efgoldman:

    My wife’s previous employer was strictly in favor of the first amendment, for everyone but their employees. Who couldn’t even have a bumper sticker. A shame, but not a surprise.

    The job is probably more important than one more person at one of the demonstrations. Really. They will be more valuable then ever soon.

  51. 51.

    BGinCHI

    @Omnes Omnibus: I would never malign your cheese.

    You know I respect your curds, not to mention the whey. But mostly the curds.

    Which, now that I think about it, want to separate. Free the Curds!

  56. 56.

    Mnemosyne

    @debbie:

    I’m not watching the Golden Globes — hopefully it will be up on YouTube by tomorrow.

    The Globes are usually a lot more loose than the Oscars because there’s wine on every table, so everyone’s a little buzzed at a minimum.

  58. 58.

    PsiFighter37

    Meryl killed it. Trump mocking the disabled NYT reporter really should have been the end of him, full stop.

    What a disgrace we are in for in 12 days.

  63. 63.

    debbie

    Grudge
    @grudging1

    Trump has typed and deleted 15 tweets about how Streep isn’t even hot enough for him to assault.

  66. 66.

    Ohio Mom

    Let’s see: Nat Hentoff didn’t believe that hate speech should be prosecuted, thought Obama should be impeached, and didn’t believe women should have control over their own bodies.

    Not to speak badly of the dead but Meh.

  67. 67.

    J R in WV

    @efgoldman:

    Then she obviously cannot risk the job, the 401k, etc, etc. by being public.

    She can just hate Trump in private like everyone else.

  68. 68.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Ohio Mom: Almost tempted to ask what President Obama did to be impeached but I’ll resist the urge. I vaguely recall Hentoff being on the Left but I guess he was just like Greenwald in that regard.

  70. 70.

    mainmata

    @efgoldman: We live in Silver Spring MD within 1 mile of the DC Metro and now have bed/floor space because grown up kids. Supposedly, some of our daughter’s college students will come down for 1/21 but, if not, I will post if space is available before then.

  71. 71.

    zhena gogolia

    @Hill Dweller:

    Oops, always read the thread first. Really enjoyed it! And an actress who played a pivotal role was so good I didn’t recognize her, even though I’ve seen her in one other British mystery that I’ve watched about five times, “The Lions of Nemea” on Lewis.

  72. 72.

    zhena gogolia

    I’m reading online that the Sherlock episode had some connection to the Jimmy Savile case, and I can see that, but I just kept thinking “Trump” all the way through.

  73. 73.

    debbie

    @Ohio Mom:

    Like speaking badly of Margaret Sanger because she believed in eugenics?

    Hentoff wrote a gazillion words, and a small portion of them were those of a Libertarian. So what?

  74. 74.

    dww44

    @Patricia Kayden: I watched the whole thing, really almost accidentally. Switched after watching “Madam Secretary” ( with analogies made to our current situation) and happened on to Viola Davis’s introduction of Streep, which was also quite good and a very honest appreciation of Meryl.

    Don’t know if Streep’s speech was off the cuff or prepared (she waved some pieces of paper around), but it was a very effective rejection of our President-elect. Also was enthralled with the pans around the audience when she pulled off her very effective jabs. Couldn’t decide how Mel Gibson was taking her putdown of Trump. Any comments from those who watched? I’ll be looking for that video to share with friends and family who weren’t able to watch.

  75. 75.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @efgoldman: @J R in WV: When I was working for WI’s election agency, I was required to be non-partisan. At one point, my boss explained to me that it did not mean that I couldn’t have opinions and express them, but that I couldn’t give money or participate in partisan events. I had expressed a concern about the fact that a WI Assembly member was a fraternity brother of mine and wondered whether that was a problem if I dealt with him when he was registering as a candidate for re-election. He told me that I could even tell him I supported him – as long as I didn’t give money or do partisan events.

  78. 78.

    Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)

    Hello, jackals!

    Two days ago, I was introduced to my great-grandnephew. Mother and child are doing well. Holding that child and looking into his eyes as he raised his head (are babies supposed to be able to do that?) granted me a moment of perfect peace and unbridled joy. For that brief moment, nothing else existed. I find myself both humbled and grateful to have witnessed it.

    Tonight, for the first time in nearly a year, I am at peace.

  80. 80.

    Kay

    ‏

    @ByronTau
    Reince Priebus said on Fox News the DNC “allowed” itself to be hacked by Russia.

    Media and Republicans keep saying this but the story (so far) is that GOP info was also hacked but not released. So how’d they get the RNC info ? The RNC must have been hacked too, right?

    This narrative they’re going with doesn’t make any sense.

  81. 81.

    Anne Laurie

    @Ohio Mom:

    Let’s see: Nat Hentoff didn’t believe that hate speech should be prosecuted, thought Obama should be impeached, and didn’t believe women should have control over their own bodies.

    He was an absolutist on two issues: Free speech and pro-life. When I was growing up in NYC, he gave me an early introduction to the moral nullity of “total political purity” in this imperfect world.

    But he was a very good music columnist, so he deserves to be obituaried by the people who know more about that topic.

  84. 84.

    J R in WV

    @efgoldman:

    Yes. She was an elected Union rep, so the bosses hated her. She also was really good at what she did, so they couldn’t get rid of her. She spent a lot of time in NYC negotiating new contracts, which was a good thing. The union paid her expenses, of course, so I could visit the big city and had a place to stay, and see the wife too.

    The AP for decades. Prison riots, industrial catastrophes, floods and blizzards, the legislature, crooked governors, and football and basketball games. Interesting but numbing after a while. I think the flood was worst, towns gone, the landscape altered. The smell, the vaccinations. Retired early on total disability.

    We travel a bit, but mostly hermit up the hollow in the rural countryside.

    ETA: We both agree with you about voting. She knew reporters who felt is wasn’t objective to have an opinion and express it at the polls, but we thought that was crazy, brainwashed nonsense.

  86. 86.

    Anne Laurie

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Almost tempted to ask what President Obama did to be impeached but I’ll resist the urge.

    Ferociously prosecuting whistleblowers — including John Kiriakou. Plenty of Democrats had issues with some of those trials, but Hentoff had a platform and a long history of free-speech absolutism to amplify his complaints against the Obama administration. He got a little too personal about President Obama even for people who agreed with his original complaints.

  88. 88.

    Jeffro

    @J R in WV: @efgoldman:

    The job is probably more important than one more person at one of the demonstrations. Really. They will be more valuable then ever soon.

    It’s important to stay employed – i.e., empowered – and then do what’s possible to undermine the Kkklown Syndicate. It may be terribly galling to stay back from the march, but a $100 donation to PP, SPLC, etc is very helpful as well.

  90. 90.

    Jeffro

    @Kay:

    Media and Republicans keep saying this but the story (so far) is that GOP info was also hacked but not released. So how’d they get the RNC info ? The RNC must have been hacked too, right?

    This narrative they’re going with doesn’t make any sense.

    They’re blaming the victim, as always. To them, the RNC didn’t get hacked as badly (if at all?) as the DNC, or for some reason the RNC’s innate toughness meant that the hackers wouldn’t dare to release whatever they found. It’s all bullshit of course but their narrative does at least have a reason behind it: we’re tougher and smarter that you and totes saw it coming, that’s why we didn’t get violated.

    It sounds…familiar…

  101. 101.

    Another Scott

    @satby: I hope you’re feeling better and that the weather isn’t causing too many problem. It’s been cold out there in the mid-west!

    Take care and best wishes.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  103. 103.

    Ohio Mom

    @Anne Laurie: He also hated the ACA. Which I find hard to square with being so pro-life you have to oppose abortion rights. I once read that 20,000 Americans used to die every year for lack of health coverage.

    I’ll admit that I didn’t follow him but I’ve always known of him. I know he was a highly regarded music critic; he may not have aged well. In his later years, he was a pet of the right: Even the liberal Nat Hentoff…(fill in the blank).

  109. 109.

    Ruckus

    @efgoldman:
    I want to go to the march in LA but I’m not sure if I should. Still having some after effects from the radiation treatment and it is causing, ah….. issues, when I walk too much.

  110. 110.

    J R in WV

    @Jeffro:

    Exactly! A secure employed person can afford to be actively supporting many agencies and NGOs who work hard for personal freedom, helping those who most need it, etc.

    Someone who had to move in with the parents and has no income can’t do those things.

  112. 112.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Ruckus: My mom is still upset that her dodgy hip prevented her from marching at the union protests in Madison in 2011. I saw her face when the hip attacked; she could not have done it. She is having the other one done this year.

  113. 113.

    Dog Dawg Damn

    Pretty much at the epicenter of the Atmospheric River here in the Sierra foothills. Town is flooded already, and water level expected to rise tomorrow. Wandered down by the river today and bridges are full of crowds taking photos of the poor business owners whose 1st floors are now a torrent of muddy water.

    Only lost power once, so far so good. It’s not been a fun weekend, for sure, but we’re on higher ground and unless a tree falls on the house, should be fine.

  114. 114.

    Steeplejack (tablet)

    @satby:

    LOL. I thought of Omnes when I saw the preview. “This is, in fact, my third murdered clown case.”

  117. 117.

    Lizzy L

    @Ruckus: I have an issue with one of my knees, but I plan to go to the March in Oakland. I will walk until my knees start to hurt, (probably at about a mile) and then I will stop marching, and stand, and watch my sisters, and wave and cheer if that’s appropriate.

    I’ve got a friend in Seattle who’s planning to wear a black armband, and I gather other folks are doing that as well.

  118. 118.

    Ruckus

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    Hope she feels better with the new hip. When those things attack it’s not much fun. I’ve got a dodgy one of those as well but walking isn’t the problem. Mine just decides every once in a while to say fuck it, here’s a nice sharp stab and a how do you like me now, just to get my attention.

  119. 119.

    Steeplejack (tablet)

    @zhena gogolia:

    Similar, just noticed tonight that Cush Jumbo has been on The Good Wife, which I don’t watch, and is in the upcoming spin-off The Good Time (?). I liked her in her stint as a cop on Vera, a very underrated British show. Took me a while to start watching it because I mistakenly thought it was one of those “cozy” mystery shows. It’s actually more like Shetland or Hinterland (British cop in scenic landscape).

  120. 120.

    Ruckus

    @Lizzy L:
    Black armband for the walking wounded?
    I am planning to go and lend whatever support without walking too far. My issue is not pain or an inability to walk, and let’s just leave it at that.

  121. 121.

    GregB

    @Ohio Mom:

    I put him in the grumpy old crank category like Charlton Heston. Appreciate the early work but not the bitter old guy shtick in the waning days.

  125. 125.

    Pat Mc

    My Barack moment… February 2009. I was on holiday on the Honduran island of Roatán. A TV was on over the bar at the fairly remote, resort where we were staying, with the news on, showing something about the new administration of Barack Obama. And the Garifuna staff behind the bar began chanting ‘Obama, Obama, O, Bama’. And I realized how important his election was to people all over the world. Really cool.

  127. 127.

    Lizzy L

    @Ruckus:

    I am planning to go and lend whatever support without walking too far.

    Sounds like a plan.

    I’m not sure what the black armbands are meant to signify. They’re kind of a gloomy bunch in Seattle; it’s all those clouds. Maybe they intend to walk in silence? That’s not how Oakland rolls.

  130. 130.

    Ruckus

    @Lizzy L:
    Can’t imagine that’s how LA does it either. Although there are parts of LA were the rednecks roam, and it’s shitty all day. But those are mostly white areas that have been so since I was a lad and they are losing the battle of the ignorant, old, white, racist asshole pretty damn fast.

  131. 131.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @BillinGlendaleCA: I meant, pretty good. I’ve been under the sink off and on, replacing my water filter. Do these people actually test out the designs and instructions? I didn’t think so.

  133. 133.

    Ruckus

    @BillinGlendaleCA:
    You know the instructions have been translated several times before they get here and that does tend to make things a bit more difficult to understand. Remember that none of the translators actually has seen the product nor tried to install it. In the 60-70s if you tried to read a service manual for a Japanese motorcycle and then try to fix it, it might never run again. So they started to have english speaking, or at least an american tear down each model and write the manuals. Life got a lot easier at that point.

  134. 134.

    Mnemosyne

    All right, MomSense managed to successfully knitter-shame me into trying to participate in The Pussyhat Project. I have enough super bulky Boston Multicolor to make three hats, though I don’t know that I’ll make the deadline for sending them to DC. If not, I’ll give them to my local friends for the LA march.

  137. 137.

    Monala

    @randy khan: @john Fremont: Among his other talents, Nat Hentoff also wrote children’s and YA novels. He was one of my favorites as a kid. His characters were ones I could relate to – usually black and Latino kids living in the city (in his novels, NYC). But they weren’t stories about gangs or poverty, but really fun stuff, stories about kids solving mysteries or traveling through time. Only downside is that I don’t recall reading any of his novels with a female protagonist.

  138. 138.

    Yarrow

    Watching that video up top makes me happy but also so sad. Barack Obama’s presidency has been amazing in so many ways. I felt like he was President of all of America. I know he’s not perfect but it always felt like an adult was in charge of things with him in the White House. He’d consider everything and make what he felt was the best decision. I felt like we were in good hands.

    And now he’s leaving. We’re going from him to corruption, authoritarianism, nepotism, greed, racism, sexism, even something akin to treason. The list is endless. All the ideals I was taught to believe in are being cast aside. I can’t grasp it. It feels like the death of America.

  139. 139.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Ruckus: It’s not the grammar or syntax, it’s the order. They say to put the tank in, in step 3 and then put the faucet in, in step 4. The tank would be in the way when you tried to install the faucet right above it.

    ETA: Install complete, except for one leak.

  140. 140.

    Ithink

    @dww44:

    Meryl was ABSOLUTELY phenomenal (as with everything she graces with her presence) and the highlight of an otherwise highly enjoyable night. Jimmy was a fun of not overly affable host (isn’t he with everything)? I definitely gotta go see Moonlight, Manchester by the Sea & LaLa Land after seeing them sweep most everything.

    It was so so great seeing such a respected and properly elevated American icon like Streep give Trump the proper shading his deplorable ass so richly deserves (full video is on Judd Legum’s Twitter Timeline~Chief Editor @ Think Progress~) but he’s gonna be in for some world of a cultural backlash over the term past January 20th. And the harder he tries to impose his Beer Hall style and incoherent fascism, the more relentless it’ll be. I just hope the country survives intact and his term will be circumvented by some kind of impeachment.

  142. 142.

    max

    @efgoldman: Eight degrees outside my house right now, and going down, with a foot of snow on the ground. Wanna’ change places?

    Ha! It’s currently 7 here, many many miles further south. I am hoping we can skip the four feet of snow in 36 hours thing this year.

    max
    [‘A nice stormy rain would be awesome. Maybe with some good tornadoes.’]

  144. 144.

    Ruckus

    @Mnemosyne:
    Thank you! Not sure if that would be my particular style but one never knows. I’ll think about it for a bit and let you know.

  145. 145.

    zhena gogolia

    @Steeplejack (tablet):

    She’s very big in New York/London theater. I’ve never seen her in anything. I think she was Kate in The Taming of the Shrew, something tells me Royal Shakespeare but I’m not sure.

  146. 146.

    Ohio Mom

    @GregB: That is the best way to put it.

    Just ironic because the efforts of his last years were undermining his accomplishments of his early years.

  147. 147.

    Steeplejack

    @zhena gogolia:

    It’s always interesting when an actor has some quality that you particularly notice, and then it turns out that the guest spot or supporting TV role is just the tip of the iceberg of their career.

    I saw something a week or so ago that reminded me that Roger Allam (Inspector Thursday on Endeavour) also is a big theatrical/​Shakespearean actor.

Comments are closed.