Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

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

The words do not have to be perfect.

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

How stupid are these people?

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

Donald Trump found guilty as fuck – May 30, 2024!

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

Republicans in disarray!

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

Welcome to day five of every-bit-as-bad-as-you-thought-it-would-be.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Do we throw up our hands or do we roll up our sleeves? (hint, door #2)

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

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Fight them, without becoming them!

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

If you don’t believe freedom is for everybody, then the thing you love isn’t freedom, it is privilege.

I really should read my own blog.

You are here: Home / TV & Movies / Movies / Monday Morning Open Thread: The Kennedy Center Honors Ceremony

Monday Morning Open Thread: The Kennedy Center Honors Ceremony

by | 137 Comments

This post is in: , , , ,

(There will be a televised version on CBS, on December 28.)


Per the AP — read the whole thing:

A heartfelt Patti LaBelle praised her lifelong friend Gladys Knight. Sean Penn called U2 “four scrappy Dublin punks.” Ballet dancers performed for conductor and composer Tania León. Matt Damon playfully teased his friend George Clooney — a lot — while Sheryl Crow delivered a heartfelt rendition of “Baby Baby” to Amy Grant during Sunday’s Kennedy Center Honors.

Knight, Clooney, Grant, León and U2 were all celebrated at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, which annually honors a select group of people for their artistic influences on American culture. President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and their respective spouses were in attendance, as were members the President’s Cabinet and Congress.

One audience member from the political world — Paul Pelosi, husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — drew some attention. He is recovering from a brutal attack in the Pelosis’ San Francisco home in October. The couple received a standing ovation from the crowd.

Normally performers like U2 or Knight would be headlining such a show, but during the Kennedy Center event the honorees sit in the balcony and watch as their peers laud them and perform their works.

On the red carpet, Clooney, with his wife, Amal, beside him, joked that after seeing friends like Don Cheadle and Julia Roberts in attendance he was worried his tribute would be more of a “roast.” And it was a bit like that, though his friends and family showed obvious respect…

Standing on a stage lit by a massive sign reading “Gladys,” LaBelle called Knight her “everything,” saying they had been friends for six decades and had seen each other through laughter and tears. “We do everything together,” LaBelle said. “I am honored to honor you tonight.”…

Five ballet dancers took to the stage to honor composer and conductor Tania León, who left Cuba as a refugee in 1967; her passport was stamped “Cancelado” when she left the country. The performers were from the Dance Theatre of Harlem, which León helped found when she eventually made her way to New York City. She also instituted the Brooklyn Philharmonic Community Concert Series and in 2021 received the Pulitzer Prize for her work “Stride,” inspired by women’s rights champion Susan B. Anthony.

“How do I convey the extent of your musical genius?” asked actress and playwright Anna Deavere Smith. Jazz pianist Jason Moran, singer Alicia Hall Moran and cellist Sterling Elliott played one of León’s creations, “Oh Yemanja.”…

The last honoree of the night was U2. In a video taped Saturday, U2 guitarist The Edge noted that a group of four “Irish lads” were being honored for contributions to American culture and said there’s a bond between the group and America that can’t really be explained.

Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder sang U2′s “Elevation” and “One.” Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen brought his alter ego Borat to the stage as part of the U2 tribute, pretending to mistake Biden for former President Donald Trump. Singers Brandi Carlile, Hozier and Jamala — from the U.S., Ireland and Ukraine, respectively — closed out the show with an emotional version of “Walk On.”…

Reader Interactions

137Comments

  3. 3.

    Amir Khalid

    I wonder what the Republicans who want to investigate Dr Fauci make of him being applauded like a celebrity on the red carpet at the Kennedy Center Honors.

  4. 4.

    Betty Cracker

    Good to see Mr. Pelosi well enough to attend.

    Until recently, I assumed Kevin McCarthy would get the speakership once the Freedom Caucus loons were done making him grovel and promise to center their unpopular agenda. But now I’m not so sure and am just hoping for maximum chaos and humiliation before they settle on a speaker.

    McCarthy or whoever it is will soon demonstrate by contrast what an absolute legend Pelosi has been as speaker. It’ll be an apples-to-apples comparison since she’s exiting from a House with a slim majority and the Repubs are entering with a similarly scant number of seats.

  5. 5.

    Joe Falco

    @Betty Cracker: I believe there will be a few rounds of voting before “My Kevin” gets enough votes from fellow Repukes. The loons will want to get their message across to him that they have him by the short hairs. McCarthy will endure this ritual of public humiliation because both sides will get what they want. McCarthy gets his traitorous hands on the gavel, and the loons will get their committee assignments to trash Democrats and whoever the ’24 Democratic presidential candidate will be for the next two years.

  6. 6.

    Frank Wilhoit

    @Joe Falco: I think there will be a *lot* of rounds — essentially two years’ worth.  I don’t think there is *anyone* who can get 218 — unless maybe someone gets some crossover votes as a prank.  What happens if the speaker’s chair remains vacant?  No one seems to know.

  7. 7.

    oldster

    Julia Roberts dress is very funny.

    This whole event fills me with glee, because tfg will never get to experience this, and he knows it.

    For four years, official Washington was a culture-free zone, because that ass knew that he would get booed by any crowd of creative, thinking Americans.

    And it irks him. He always wanted to be a NYC socialite, and NYC turned up its collective nose. Then he thought he could dominate them from the White House, and it doesn’t work that way here. Putin can get applause at the Bolshoi on the basis of pure fear. But not in America. Not yet.

    That’s part of why tfg envies Russia and North Korea. Since he’ll never have the respect and affection of free people, he would be content with the flattery of slaves.

    So, good on you, Joe! We love you, Nancy! Enjoy the KenCen, and keep bringing America’s best back to America.

  9. 9.

    JAFD

    Good morning, everyone !

    ‘Tis a beautiful late autumn day here in NJ.  Am surrounded by half-unpacked boxes, things that need to be reassembled as soon as I find the tools necessary, items that need to be put in proper places as soon as full boxes are removed from those places ….  First world problems ;-)

    Hope all of you have a great week !

  10. 10.

    zhena gogolia

    I love that Julia Roberts pic! So cute!

    As I do my P/T exercises, I’m watching Up in the Air. Clooney is so damn smooth. He’s hilarious in this film. I also love him in Out of Sight and O Brother, Where Art Thou?

  11. 11.

    Betty Cracker

    @Joe Falco: I agree that’s the likeliest scenario. I wouldn’t rule out Scalise shivving McCarthy though. Regardless, the next two years will be exasperating, but the coming House GOP antics might be good for Democrats overall. Having nutbars like MTG, Gaetz, Gosar, Jordan, et al., front and center might remind normies that those howler monkeys aren’t extremists within that party; they are the Republican Party. 

  13. 13.

    Anyway

    Happy to see Mr Paul Pelosi in attendance.

    Love Julia Roberts’ dress — playful and stylish.

    George and Amal – so glam.

  15. 15.

    Geminid

    @Joe Falco: I suspect that House Republicans will elect a Speaker the first day of the new Congress, possibly on the 1st vote, and if not, on the second. If McCarthy can’t get to 218 I think Scalise will.

    I wouldn’t rule out a prolonged fight like used to happen in olden days. But I think House Republicans understand how precarious their situation is already and will unite, at least this once.

    But I would love it if someone recorded their caucus meetings the day before their first session as the Majority, and then released transcipts. Although I would need a bigger popcorn popper.

  16. 16.

    Gin & Tonic

    @HinTN: Tying some threads together, Clooney’s co-star and lust interest in that film, Vera Farmiga, along with Kennedy Center honoree of a previous vintage, Martin Scorsese, yesterday hosted Notes from Ukraine at Carnegie Hall, a concert commemorating the centenary of the first performance of Shchedryk (aka Carol of the Bells) in that venue. Given current circumstances, it was a fundraiser for United 24. The concert is apparently available on video, although I can’t provide a URL at the moment.

  17. 17.

    karen marie

    I realize it’s easier to post twitter links but it makes it impossible for me – and I hope I’m not alone – to see the pictures or read the stories, because I would have to click through. I will not lend support to Musk’s fascist website or encourage those continuing to post there by clicking through.

  19. 19.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Gin & Tonic:

    A few days ago, you posted a link to a recent performance of “Carol of the Bells.” I couldn’t listen to it at the time, and now, of course, I don’t remember what thread it was in!

    If not too much trouble, would you mind posting the link again? Many thanks!!

  20. 20.

    Ken

    Is there some equivalent of the EGOT for these lesser recognition ceremonies?  Clooney might be on a short list for a combo that requires the Kennedy Center Honors plus People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive.

  21. 21.

    WaterGirl

    @Geminid:

    But I think House Republicans understand how precarious their situation is already and will unite…

    hahahahaha

    I may have to rethink the serious respect I normally have for your comments and opinions. :-)

    If you’re right on this and I’m wrong, I will donate $25 to one of the Ukraine charities.

  23. 23.

    Kay

    @karen marie:

    I agree that it’s kind of a dilemma at this point, with Musk actively promoting both the far Right and mainstream GOP politicians every day. Twitter is a Right wing site with a lot of liberals and normie Democrats voluntarily providing free content.

    But I don’t know what the solution is. Just leave it to the Right and let them turn it into a shithole?

  24. 24.

    zhena gogolia

    @Gin & Tonic: Is Farmiga Ukrainian? I always wondered what her ethnicity is. She’s really a good actress.

    Oh, cool, I see she is Ukrainian-American.

  25. 25.

    MisterDancer

    @HinTN:  Up in the Air is a truly exceptional film and Clooney is superb.

    Third-ed. I saw it in theaters and it blew me away. Props also to “Chidi” Anna Kendrick in the first role I saw her in, as well.

  26. 26.

    geg6

    Julia Roberts’ dress cracks me up. She always seems to me to be like a regular person who, incidentally, became world famous. Clooney strikes me that way, too. I am sure I’m wrong about that, but they do pull it off better than almost any other famous people.
    Not a big U2 fan, but I do like some of their earlier stuff. Whereas Gladys Knight is a goddess. Just an absolute goddess.

  27. 27.

    Kay

    @karen marie:

    I think it’s important to remember that the rest of the world hasn’t weighed in on this yet, and Twitter is international. Right now Musk is promoting Republican pols and Republican celebrity media stars for US political consumption but he really will eventually have to deal with European regulators (for one) and he is going to lose that fight.

  28. 28.

    Barbara

    @Kay: ​ I guess what turns me off is that Twitter isn’t just “owned” by Musk, it has become about nothing but Musk — and tbh, I am bored to tears with wondering what he’s going to do next or what his motives are or who he supports or blah blah blah. Not too dissimilar from people who spend their free time panting over the latest antics of the British monarchy. It’s B-O-R-I-N-G. So unless it goes back to being normal in the sense of, it lets me keep up with various kinds of news and developments, nope, not playing anymore.

  29. 29.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: It’s definitely a dilemma. Tons of lawmakers and journalists still post on Twitter, so it’s still relevant for news. It’s also a handy platform for sharing video — e.g., I post personal video of birds, etc., I want to share here on Twitter first because that makes it easy to embed video on this platform. ETA: About Musk and international regulations, yep, he’ll lose that fight. He did amplify bullshit about the election in Brazil recently, IIRC.

  30. 30.

    sdhays

    @Kay: The owner of the site wants it to be a shithole, and making it a shithole is easy, so it will happen regardless of what anyone else does.

    I have an account but have never tweeted, so I don’t really have skin in the game, but it just seems to me that people who like to post on Twitter should be clear-eyed that the Twitter they knew is dead and they should be looking for a replacement.

    I don’t see a big problem with viewing content while it’s still there, though – it doesn’t make Elmu any money unless he has advertisers, and advertisers don’t want to advertise in a shithole, so the problem resolves itself.

  31. 31.

    Geminid

    @WaterGirl: It’s too bad this is not a betting site. I’d put some Jackal Bucks down on the proposition, “a Speaker by the second vote.” House Republicans know they’ve got to do it sometime, and I think they will hammer out a deal before Opening Day even if it takes all of the night before.

    But please note also: I said “at least this once.”

    But hey, Watergirl. That will be a ludicrous day in some respects, but it will still be a sad one without Nancy Pelosi in the Speaker’s  chair. When it comes, how about posting Hakeem Jeffries’ speech from the first session in January, 2019, where he nominates Nancy Pelosi as “the Once and Future Speaker.” That would make people smile.

  32. 32.

    MisterDancer

    @Kay: I don’t know what the solution is. Just leave it to the Right and let them turn it into a shithole?

    I know it sounds awful, but yeah, I kind of think so. My gut says that these people are the “pigs” in that old saying “Never Wrestle with a Pig. You Both Get Dirty and the Pig Likes It.”

    The more “voices” that stay on Twitter, the more Musk can claim the “fair and balanced” POV. But I also acknowledge it risks the Fox News problem, where they managed to drive off all of their non-hardcore “Conservative” voices, but still retain much of their “moderate/mainstream” stance that they pretended to have when that channel got started.

    And above all that is safety. I left ASAP because Musk’s history showed massive hostility to Black folx, Women, LBGTQIA+, and pretty much anyone not wealthy and white. And I’d submit we’re seeing that play out, and I would never submit that people need to stay someplace unsafe for this principle. If we can’t keep people safe on Twitter, then there’s really no solution but to have an Exodus — and there’s a reason Christian African-Americans hold that Book of the Bible pretty close.

  33. 33.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @Joe Falco:

    @Frank Wilhoit:

    The thing is, there’s this supposedly moderate Republican caucus in the House (the Problem Solvers or something like that)…if the R’s were actually interested in restoring sanity that caucus would be throwing its weight around the way the freedom caucus is. In fact, they could say, we’re going to solve this problem by voting with Dems to make Jeffries the speaker if you don’t cut it out with this crap. But they won’t.

    That tells you everything you need to know about how serious the “serious” Republicans are about pushing the party in another direction. Like Bill Barr talking sadly about the state of the party and how it needs to move on does nothing until or unless that wing of the party proves it’s willing to take action that would result in the moving on.

  35. 35.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    I loved lurking on it- it’s really efficient! And I think it has a genuine, vital role in actual repressive regimes where activists use it.

    But I don’t think anyone can deny that at this point it is a wholly owned subsidiary of the GOP/Right wing. Musk is much worse as a CEO than I thought he would be, and I never thought he would be good. I never thought he would use the site to endorse Right wing candidates. It’s bizarre, really, because it’s so US-centric and he bought an international company. I know Right wing US internet influencers are fascinated with Hunter Biden’s penis but they couldn’t even sell the Hunter scandal to the US public– the rest of the world will be interested in it?

  36. 36.

    Ken

    @Kay: @Betty Cracker: There seem to be three groups of scenarios for Twitter collapsing:

    1. Technology — Something breaks, and there aren’t enough knowledgeable people left to get it running again.
    2. Business — Ad revenue is a small fraction of what it was, and it was losing money even then.
    3. Legal — Lawsuits for unlawful termination in the US or EU; German laws against Nazi symbols; GDPR requirements.

    My money is on #1, but #3 is also possible. The GDPR, for example, has maximum fines of 4% of company turnover, and each of the 27 member states can levy that separately if they wish.

  37. 37.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    They’re always so much worse than even I think they will be. For example.

    I knew Right wing pols (including Trump) would have petitioned Twitter to take down content so when Taibbi released his embarrassing flop of a bombshell I thought “well, he’s clever- he’ll put a gloss of ‘journalism’ on it by releasing not just the Biden campaign requests but also Right wing pol requests. Nope. They selectively released ONLY Biden campaign requests. Just PURE lazy hacks. They don’t even bother with any lipstick on the pig anymore. Too much work I suppose.

  39. 39.

    jonas

    @MazeDancer: ​  Speaking of Kennedy Center honors, I think that schtick goes back to an old joke by JFK during (iirc) his first trip abroad as president to France where the press was fawning over Jackie. He introduced himself at one point at some gathering as “the man who accompanied Jackie Kennedy to France.”​

  40. 40.

    thruppence

    @karen marie: Can you try using a different browser? I’m using Chrome on a Mac and the pictures all show up, but when I use Firefox, a lot of the content doesn’t appear, maybe related to Firefox’s built in ad blocker (?)

  41. 41.

    John S.

    Sacha Baron Cohen also reprised his role as Borat to make everyone deeply uncomfortable (as he often does) at the Kennedy Center Honors.

    “I know the president of US and A is here,” Borat said to an audience including politicians and celebrities during a segment celebrating the Irish rock group U2. “Where are you, Mr Trump?”

    Borat went on: “You don’t look so good. Where has your glorious big belly gone? And your pretty orange skin has become pale.” He then asked if the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, and the nerve agent novichok were responsible.

    Borat said: “Before I proceed, I will say I am very upset about the antisemitism in US and A. It not fair. Kazakhstan is No 1 Jew-crushing nation. Stop stealing our hobby. Stop the steal! Stop the steal!” Some guests burst into laughter while others sat in uncomfortable silence.

  43. 43.

    Kay

    I know I sound like a broken record but it is (now) funny to me how consistently we are told some Right winger doing something “won’t be that bad” and then it is much, much worse than even we imagined.

    Did anyone anticipate Musk turning Twitter into a 24/7 campaign arm of the GOP? I didn’t. I thought ordinary business sense might carry the day and he’d make some effort to appeal to people outside the far Right, especially give that he has a huge international group of users.

    Wrong again! :)

    I think it’s time to drop the “it will not be that bad” reflex and just wait and see. Chances are it will not only “be that bad” it will be worse.

  46. 46.

    VOR

    @Geminid: The flaw in your theory is you are assuming rational behavior. “We have a very small majority and can’t afford to lose even a single vote, so we need to unify”. That’s what rational people think. House GOP is dealing with the likes of Gosar and MTG. These people listen to voices in their head, believe in Jewish Space Lasers, and dream of being Fox News hosts. They know the Speaker doesn’t have to be a member of the House. Expect votes for TFG in the first round.

    I don’t know the rules, but if all 210+ Democrats vote for a single candidate and the Republicans split, is it possible a Democrat could become Speaker?

  48. 48.

    Kay

    @zhena gogolia:

    I think he realized he had to take it over-that he had entered into a binding agreement and it woud be enforced. That was one deal where he wouldn’t be getting “the special rules for lucky heirs who inherit a lot of money”. It was real money and Twitter and a court intended to enforce it.

  50. 50.

    Geminid

    @What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: I think there will be a more moderate bloc in the Republican caucus centered around purple district members like Don Bacon (NE) and others including most members who won purple districts last month. But they will work inside their caucus, I think, and throw their weight behind a Speaker like McCarthy or Scalise, and block a more radical candidate.

    The Problem Solvers Caucus you speak of is a hybrid caucus that pairs 10 or so members from each party who try to shape compromise, bipartisan legislation. Their efforts have not been futile. Besides the double digit defections from the Republican minority on the Infrastructure and CHIPS bill, other lower profile but substantive legislation passed with Republican votes.

    And we are about to witness a very bipartisan vote on this year’s biggest spending bill, when the House passes the National Defense Authorization Act later this month. There will be close to a hundred members of each party voting on either side.

  52. 52.

    zhena gogolia

    @Barbara:

    Not too dissimilar from people who spend their free time panting over the latest antics of the British monarchy. It’s B-O-R-I-N-G.

    Hey, the new Harry & Meghan doc looks juicy!

  53. 53.

    jonas

    @oldster: That’s part of why tfg envies Russia and North Korea. Since he’ll never have the respect and affection of free people, he would be content with the flattery of slaves.

    Well put! Trump in a nutshell.

  57. 57.

    Geminid

    @VOR: I think that if 435 members are present it will take 218 votes to elect a Speaker. It would take 6 Republican defectors to put Jeffries in the Speaker’s chair, assuming that Republican leads in the Colorado (3rd) and California (?) Districts hold up.

  59. 59.

    Geminid

    @BlueGuitarist: That 2 1/2 minutes or so of oratory has got to be one of the best speeches I’ve every heard. They don’t call Hakeem Jeffries “the Brooklyn Barack” for nothing.

  63. 63.

    sdhays

    @Kay: I was surprised at how quickly he worked on hollowing out his workforce without even a HR plan. That’s stupid and illegal and will be a costly distraction. Not to mention it could cause the whole site to collapse, although the contraction of users will help avoid that. I knew he was a stupid asshole, but I didn’t think he was that stupid. Lesson learned!

    The right-wing shitshow was the entire point of his stupid childish bid in the first place, so I’m not really surprised by any of that.

  64. 64.

    Suzanne

    Strategically, honoring Amy Grant was brilliant. She has a long career as a Christian artist, but she’s apparently been incredibly outspoken about supporting the LGBTQIA community. (She also got a divorce back in the day, which pissed off much of her evangelical fan base.)

  66. 66.

    Eolirin

    @Geminid: That’ll never happen. If there’s a deal struck with Democrats it’ll be for a Republican willing to make concessions to them for their votes rather than one trying to make a deal with the Freedom Caucus.

    It’ll only happen if neither McCarthy or Scalise can get the Speakership and the candidates the Freedom Caucus are willing to support can’t get support from the less crazy bloc. There is at least one R congressman on the record saying they’ll back this, if and only if they can’t agree on anyone of course.

    But with their vote margin this is really unlikely, I think. If it had been an even smaller majority, like 1-3 votes, I think it would be almost assured. We’ll see what happens obviously. Hoping for maximum damage to the Republicans. But we’ll have a hostile media regardless of what they do. That’ll minimize some of the effect.

  67. 67.

    Mike in NC

    Trump basically boycotted attending these events for four years because he was an uncouth, uneducated slob from Queens who couldn’t figure out a way to make some money off of them.

  68. 68.

    Kay

    @sdhays:

    That’s stupid and illegal and will be a costly distraction. Not to mention it could cause the whole site to collapse, although the contraction of users will help avoid that. I knew he was a stupid asshole, but I didn’t think he was that stupid. Lesson learned!

    They all went completely insane over “wokeness”. They’re thrilled that he’s firing Twitter employees because they put Twitter employees in the “woke” basket.
    These are people who thought the entire concept of “liberalism” and speech and debate was threatened by 200 Yale law students behaving poorly outside a speech. They’re not rational. They’re really cranky middle aged people – former ‘trailblazers” but now conventional and financially comfortable- with huge platforms and the combination of BLM and the pandemic drove them absolutely insane.
    I’m a fairly conventional person so I get it. It is TOUGH to age gracefully and accept that norms change and the world keeps moving. I too would like to remain relevant and “edgy” to 20 year olds, but alas, I’m not :)

  69. 69.

    Barbara

    @Kay: ​Occam’s Razor here: I think Musk genuinely misperceives why most people — like 90% — with Twitter accounts almost never tweet and only rarely reply. He tweeted that he wanted those people to become part of the “discussion.” There is no discussion that is carried out in 280 character segments. Most people use Twitter to quickly access recent information. Most of the time I don’t even bother looking at replies in threads.

    So all this bleep bleep about “free speech” is not just misplaced, it’s stupid because pro-Nazi or racist or anti-Semitic or misogynistic content isn’t just offensive or potentially harmful it is a net drain on whatever value Twitter has accumulated as an efficient and easy source of information. The relentless “Ronco” style ads are going to have a similar impact — making the site harder to use or scroll.

  70. 70.

    Geminid

    @VOR: There is going to be a lot of pressure on the Gosars and Greenes, and some of the strongarming will be done by their radical peers. There may well be more than 5 defections on the first vote, but I think a deal will be worked out that limits defections to five on the second.

  71. 71.

    Kay

    @sdhays:

    My son, who does platform infrastructure for big companies and now works w/in the EU rules, thinks the nuts and bolts will take him down- that’s where the “key people” are really important, in the boring “does this thing WORK ?” area. He thinks it dies with a whimper not a bang, just winds down and stops working reliably and has quality problems. Kind of like Teslas :)

    It matters if the fucking hood of the car remains attached!  That matters!

  72. 72.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Kay: I knew that the Orange Error would be terrible and not just me most immigrants knew. He put a target on our collective backs when he ran for President. We knew how much worse he would be with the powers of the Presidency. Those 4 years were an absolute nightmare.

    NYT and prestige media journalists want a repeat because they were the audience for that shit show and it made them rich.

  74. 74.

    Kay

    @Barbara:

    Great point. It’s such a rookie error too because it’s the same in politics, right? Half don’t vote, a tiny portion of half are political junkies and a tiny portion of THEM donate.

    I have never Tweeted but I think Twitter is a great quick resource. I actually read “the other side” because it’s a good way tto find out what they’re up to w/out wading thru thousand word NY times editorials. I use Twitter in an adversarial manner- defense.

  75. 75.

    Geminid

    @Eolirin: Yeah, I don’t think Jeffries will be elected with Republican votes either. I think the Republicans will come up with a Speaker, and he’ll be chosen from within their ranks.

    But one thing I keep in mind is that the Speaker does not have absolute control over what legislation comes to the House floor. I think that if a “petition to discharge” is signed by 2018 members the underlying legislation will get a vote. This hardly if ever happens, but it is a standing threat to majority control, and this possibility may be a real factor in the next Congress.

  76. 76.

    Kay

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I think immigrants are a good measure of threats- they have to be alert and they can’t tell themselves fairy tales. I knew he would be bad because I knew birtherism was bad- not a joke or a silly tactic but a really corrosive and vicious “othering” that would stick and linger in US politics. When he launched his campaign on birtherism I knew we were in for real trouble.

  77. 77.

    Geminid

    @Omnes Omnibus: I think of my present Congressman, Bob Good. He’s a vile, nasty, bible-thumping bigot who makes my skin crawl. But he is not irrational in matters of temporal power. I think Good, Jim Jordan and others like them will talk enough of the crazies down to get McCarthy or Scalise to 218 votes.

    But we’ll find out next month, won’t we?

  78. 78.

    Brachiator

    @Betty Cracker:

    McCarthy or whoever it is will soon demonstrate by contrast what an absolute legend Pelosi has been as speaker. It’ll be an apples-to-apples comparison since she’s exiting from a House with a slim majority and the Repubs are entering with a similarly scant number of seats.

    I don’t think it matters much. The GOP will not propose much in the way of legislation, but will solidly oppose anything the Democrats put forth.

    Apart from angry, irrelevant investigations, I don’t expect much from the Republicans.

  79. 79.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Josh Marshall has some info on a suspect in the shooting out of power stations in North Carolina

    A Jan 6er named Emily Rainey was an outspoken opponent of the drag show. When cops showed up at her door she was basically god did it, not me. So not a terribly persuasive denial.

  80. 80.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Kay:

    Did anyone anticipate Musk turning Twitter into a 24/7 campaign arm of the GOP?

    Not that I recall, because we were anticipating he would be much, much worse.  Standard predictions from Musk’s detractors were that he would immediately end content moderation and reinstate everyone banned for harassment, turning Twitter instantly into an unusable sewer of frothing hate.  That’s what he promised, after all.  He’s backed off of lots of his promises, as Musk so often does.  He was already pushing Republican crazy, and that hasn’t changed much.  He’s getting more attention doing it.

    Definitely nowhere near as bad as predicted.

    That he would gut Twitter with mismanagement wasn’t a major focus of speculation, but not much surprise since he declared he would ahead of time.

  81. 81.

    Betty Cracker

    @Brachiator: I agree there won’t be much partisan legislation given that they only hold one chamber, but the pre-speaker election shit-show happening now doesn’t bode well for caucus unity. I don’t think McCarthy has anything like the chops to hold his members together like Pelosi did.

  82. 82.

    Kay

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    I disagree. I think Twitter turning into the ops arm of the GOP is much worse for liberals and Democrats than allowing Trump back on.

    Identified the wrong threat, IMO.

  83. 83.

    frosty

    @geg6: [Julia Roberts] always seems to me to be like a regular person who, incidentally, became world famous.

    That pretty much describes her part in Notting Hill. (One of my favorite movies)

  84. 84.

    Kay

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I re-read (well, skimmed – it’s 100 pages) the GOP 2012 post-mortem the other day. People forget this but they were genuinely convinced Obama was “toast” in 2012 and their base were absolutely convinced of it. Pre Trump. They were as delusional in 2012 as they were in the 2022 midterm.

    Anyway- one of their “must do” after they lost in 2012 was “immigration reform”  – can you IMAGINE what would happen if anyof them suggested that now? They can’t. There is an entire issue they cannot touch except to demonize it and use if for mean-spirited campaign stunts. They have nothing to say about immigration other than “halt it”. It’s like health care, another huge issue they have completely left to Democrats.

  85. 85.

    Geminid

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I could be proven wrong, but I don’t think Rainey is a suspect. She made some big talk on social media after the attacks, but I bet it was just empty bragging.

    I expect the perpetrators will keep a much lower profile, although they might decide to go on a rampage if they think authorities are closing in.

  87. 87.

    Miss Bianca

    @zhena gogolia: My friend Kevin Renick wrote the title song for Up in the Air! He has an amazing story about how he had written a song called “Up in the Air” when he was in a bad way both personally and professionally, went to hear the director give a lecture at his alma mater in MO, and sent him a cassette recording of the song. Director loved it and picked it for the movie. Which ended up boot-starting Kevin’s current musical career in his late 40s.

    Sometimes little miracles happen.

  88. 88.

    Kay

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    It’s never like some roundabout thing either, with Right wingers. It’s never “would get rid of content moderation which would then lead to a frothing hate site which would then lead to violence”.

    It’s always blunt and dumb and obvious. They storm the capitol or they turn their newly purchased social media site into yet another GOP campaign arm. He’s going to turn Twitter into the “elect DeSantis” platfrom.

  89. 89.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Kay:

    Twitter turning into the ops arm of the GOP

    Not unless he shuts down the ability of users to post liberal content.  There is a giant difference between Twitter, the platform and social area, and Twitter, the official accounts of the company and management declarations.  Nobody gives a shit about Musk’s paranoid and ugly declarations who wasn’t lapping them up beforehand.  Stuff like the Taibbi release got the standard reaction all dumbass conservative stunts get, with conservatives screeching they were right all along, and liberals mocking them because even Taibbi admitted the release proved Twitter wasn’t making political decisions.

    In the actually dangerous sense, Musk has not turned Twitter into an arm of the GOP.  If anything, he has fired the people who could do that for him.  What he has done is gotten increased attention for standard conservative publicity stunts, and gotten that only because Musk himself is the current public clown show.

    This isn’t nearly as bad as what he promised, which would have driven liberals off of Twitter entirely because of nonstop harassment.

  90. 90.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Barbara: That’s an interesting point–he honestly thinks most people don’t engage because they’re being suppressed by a censorship regime? You’ve got it–as far as I know, the vast majority of accounts on any successful social network rarely engage. That’s how they work.

    And the exhausting thing when it comes to contentious topics is preemptively defending yourself from outraged responses, cranks, trolls and pedants–but that has nothing to do with suppression of free speech, that’s classic “the answer to free speech is more speech”, the cost of a low-moderation freewheeling debate. If anything, “freeing the bird” would make it worse.

  91. 91.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Kay:

    It’s never like some roundabout thing either, with Right wingers. It’s never “would get rid of content moderation which would then lead to a frothing hate site which would then lead to violence”.

    That’s not roundabout.  It’s direct and ugly and exactly what the Right wingers wanted and said they wanted, loudly, praising Musk as the man who would give it to them.

    Except for one thing:  I didn’t say violence.  I said harassment.  They want to drown every liberal voice on Twitter with slurs and threats.  Freedom to turn Twitter into a hate site.  Musk wimped out.

  92. 92.

    Miss Bianca

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    It’s really heartbreaking how little credit Black people get for creating and pioneering so many aspects of American life and culture.

    It’s true, it’s really true. (Or “twue”, as Lili von Schtup would say.) The career of Bass Reeves should be its own fucking mini-series, along with commentary about how his exploits got turned into adventures for white fictional heroes like the Lone Ranger.

  93. 93.

    cain

    @What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?:

    Ultimately, it’s about staying in office and that is true for both Dems and Republicans. But for Republicans, they have a lot more self interest – they want that sweet grift money. So they’ll grumble, but they aren’t going to do anything.

    I mean, do you see other Christian leaders calling out evangelicals? If they are the media isn’t promoting it. (I’m sure there is but there should be a large push)

  94. 94.

    Kay

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    I have zero faith that the NYTimes and CNN and the rest won’t follow the Right on Hunter Biden. They absolutely will. There is no group of people in this country who more worship billionaires than political media. The NYTimes already asked for the internal Twitter communications on Hunter! They have this thing lined up and ready to go.

    It’ll be the social media equivalent of Fox News, but with a bullshit “noble free speech” gloss and the entire “anti woke” crowd will go along and get duped – the antiwoke crowd includes a lot of alleged “liberals” with huge platforms.

  98. 98.

    cain

    @Kay:

    Did anyone anticipate Musk turning Twitter into a 24/7 campaign arm of the GOP? I didn’t. I thought ordinary business sense might carry the day and he’d make some effort to appeal to people outside the far Right, especially give that he has a huge international group of users.

    That’s really puzzling is why he’s doing it? The man must be doing it just for the attention – because the GOP is not great for any of his other businesses. They are actively hostile to Tesla and electric ars, they hate science and will make no investments in it. Do you think they are going to want to pay for NASA to hire out SpaceX? They certainly aren’t going to give money to Elon – they have much older powerbrokers to give money to.

    He’s as best a useful idiot.

    Also, billionaires are buying out the media outlets – newspapers, twitter – and other media commons. I think this is precisely why Mastodon is important. We need to create a bulwark against these assholes.

  99. 99.

    Kay

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    I think as it becomes more obviously Right wing as a site major media will have to decide if they can stay on it and retain the “impartial” cred they think they have. It’s a business decision for them, and it’s not one for me and most ordinary Twitter posters/readers.

    I don’t make any money off Twitter. They do. They sell their work on it. It’s less valuable to them as a marketing tool if it’s obviously Right wing.

  100. 100.

    Mimi haha

    According to my memory of what used to be taught in evangelical circles* Amy Grant’s divorce was fine. She just could not marry again during the lifetime of the ex-husband.

    *I learned this a long time ago. They might not have been quite as nuts back then. Or nutty about different things.

  101. 101.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Kay:My friend’s then pre-teen son was wondering whether he was an anchor baby when the eventual R nominee and President came down that escalator to announce his candidacy. We were having lunch a week after it IIRC

    *My friend is also from India and a naturalized citizen.

  102. 102.

    Kay

    @cain:

    “Wokeness” drove them insane. It’s the first time in any of their lives that they haven’t been in charge of social norms and they absolutely freaked out at the loss of power.

    THEY will decide what is LIBERAL! THEY wil decide what gets cancelled and what doesn’t and they will do it using the norms that were in place when they were 22 year old college students.

    They didn’t handle entering middle age well. It’s hard. There’s a lot of changes to reckon with. They can’t sexually harrass women at work anymore with no consequences. That alone was huge.

  104. 104.

    cain

    @Brachiator: I think we need to really support our party by demanding solutions from the GOP politicians. They’ve been put in charge to help Americans, ostensibly. But I suspect they are just there to stop wokeness.

    Unfortunately for them, that’s not going to work and their support is going to continue to dwindle as GenZ influence continues to grow.

  106. 106.

    Jeffro

    @Brachiator: Apart from angry, irrelevant investigations, I don’t expect much from the Republicans.

    I have a feeling that Rep Jeffries will rip them a new one on a weekly basis for doing nothing but Benghazi II: The Laptop.  I’m praying that he also rips the DC snooze media on the regular for lowering expectations for the GOP.

  107. 107.

    Kay

    @cain:

    Taibbi and Musk want to go back to the norms that were in place when they were young men- where they could badger and humiliate the (economically vulnerable) young women who worked for them and demand blow jobs in terurn for employment without later lying about it (Taibbi) or paying off the women (Musk).

    Can you blame them? They set the norms and the norms ALL ran in their direction! Of course they’re pissed it was moving away from them. They are desperately grasping it BACK.

  109. 109.

    Kay

    @cain:

    I have an acquaintance who works as an executive at a (small, local) natural gas supplier. He’s a nice man. He got in trouble at work because he kept referring to a female subordinate as “babydoll” and she complained. Her argument was she won’t get promoted because he is diminishing her in the company with this (gross, unprofessional) nickname. It’s a pure economic damage to her. He’s taking money from her. The company bent over backward to accomdate her complaint because it’s valid. 

    He FLIPPED OUT when she complained. Had a year-long hissy fit where he told everyone he knows how unfair it is, even though the VAST MAJORITY of us told him it sucked, he’s an idiot, and he deserved to get in trouble.

    It’s hard. Norms change. You can’t be brittle and you can’t insist younger people follow the norms thatwere in place when you were young. It’s their call.

  111. 111.

    Matt McIrvin

    @cain: The best theory I’ve seen is that the proximate cause was Grimes dumping him for Chelsea Manning. He’s got some Extremely Divorced Man energy going on.

    But elements of the left have been dumping on Musk for his appalling labor, safety and environmental practices for some time, and like Trump, he seems to be a man who wants to get adulation from everyone and will flip out if he doesn’t. Either way, I think it’s deeply personal for him.

  113. 113.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Kay:

    THEY will decide what is LIBERAL! THEY wil decide what gets cancelled and what doesn’t and they will do it using the norms that were in place when they were 22 year old college students.

    Some of this strikes me as a repeat of what happened when aged liberals who had grown up in the first half of the 20th century encountered the Sixties counterculture–draft dodgers, acid and promiscuity! This was not what they signed up for! And you got all these old guys like Al Capp flipping hard to the right.

  114. 114.

    The Moar You Know

    I realize it’s easier to post twitter links but it makes it impossible for me – and I hope I’m not alone – to see the pictures or read the stories, because I would have to click through. I will not lend support to Musk’s fascist website or encourage those continuing to post there by clicking through.

    @karen marie: since we have it blocked at work here, I see nothing save for whatever has been quoted.  No images and no text from Twitterland.  As a result, none of Anne Laurie’s front page posts has made any sense to me for a couple of years now.

    I have to guess, and sometimes I guess very wrongly.

  117. 117.

    Miss Bianca

    @Omnes Omnibus: Wow, never read *or* heard of that one before! Somehow, strangely, that wasn’t one of the Browning poems we were made to digest in school. Hmm…wonder why?…

  120. 120.

    cain

    @Kay: He absolutely should get in trouble – “babydoll” – what fuck is this? The 40s?

    You can’t be brittle – but he’s the perfect candidate to get grifted and be on the GOP train where you’re doing nothing but shouting at the clouds because you want to just harass women.

  122. 122.

    Geminid

    @Omnes Omnibus: They say “it takes a thief to catch a thief.” Maybe it takes a crazy to talk down a crazy, at least this kind of political crazy.

    That’s what I meant at #70 when I said “some of the strong arming will be done by their radical peers.”  Jordan, Good, and others like them will be the ones talking their colleagues down.

    They just have to limit defections to five. I think they will, although McCarthy may have to fall on his sword first.

  123. 123.

    Kay

    @cain:

    His DEFENSE of this (to me- remember- he knows me so knows how I feel about these things!) was it’s what he calls his grown daughter.

    Just behave appropriately at work. 90% of “woke” is just behave like a decent human being. Don’t overthink it. You can’t call her what you call your daughter. Jesus. Use your head. Cuomo didn’t have to know jack about “woke”. He just had to know how to behave at work and use some self control.

  124. 124.

    karen marie

    @Kay: Given it’s current ownership, it is a shithole. I will not tailor my opinions to suit the current ownership, nor will I tacitly endorse that ownership by accessing their site. Posting content from that site is an endorsement of what Musk is doing.

  125. 125.

    Kay

    @cain:

    Another acquaintance. Manager at a manufacturing facility, becomes a born again Christian and starts HUGGING the employees he supervises on the production line if he finds out they are encountering personal problems. Female employee complains. He gets fired. His defense to me was “I hugged both men and women”. Touche! He thinks. Ironclad defense. I was “why are you HUGGING people? Stop bothering them!”

    This isn’t hard.

  126. 126.

    cain

    @Matt McIrvin: BTW – I think there was some piece out in October where he claimed Grimes was a simulation. He must have been head over heels over her and he lost his mind.

  130. 130.

    Soprano2

    @schrodingers_cat: In 2015 I was telling people he was dangerous! It wasn’t that hard to see if you just listened to the things he said and the way he acted. When you’re a known birther and your very first speech characterizes Mexican immigrants as mostly rapists, it’s not hard to see where you’re heading.

  131. 131.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: This, every bit of this. They resent that things have changed since they were in their 20’s and they want things to change back, except they want to go further, back to the 1950’s when a lot of them were either small children or not born yet. They want to recreate the world where white men were ascendent and got pretty much everything they wanted if they wanted to work for it, and everyone else had to either stand in line behind them (men of other races) or not get a chance at it at all (women of all races), where anyone who wasn’t Christian understood that they were second class citizens and had no say in our culture, and where people who weren’t straight were supposed to keep that hidden from everyone. They really resent having to compete with people who aren’t white men for things, and the comedians really resent having to find new material.

  132. 132.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: Just behave appropriately at work. 90% of “woke” is just behave like a decent human being.

    I have never understood why they can’t simply think about how they want their mother, wife, sister and daughter treated, and then treat other women that way. It’s not hard!

  133. 133.

    Miss Bianca

    @Soprano2: It is hard, apparently. The fact of the matter is that a lot of these guys don’t seem to respect their mothers, sisters, wives or daughters either.

    “Feminism is the radical notion that women are people”, after all.

  135. 135.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    Did anyone anticipate Musk turning Twitter into a 24/7 campaign arm of the GOP? I didn’t.

     

    I did.

    He was right -wing.

    What I didn’t expect were the people who helped him with $22 of his $44 billion purchase price to let him turn it into a dumpheap.

  136. 136.

    Geminid

    @rikyrah: I think those votes will be hung around those purple district Republicans’ necks. They and their staffers better keep their resumes fresh and their job networks active, because they will be looking for work in 2025. Along with some of their colleagues who think they are in safe districts. I suspect this will be the last two years Republicans will have a House majority this decade.

  137. 137.

    Geminid

    @rikyrah: Seven big banks lent musk $13 billion. I think Morgan Stanley accounted for $2.5 billion of this.*

    These are really big banks, and their losses on this deal won’t sink them. But last I read they haven’t tried to syndicate these loans as they typically do. They can’t without taking big losses, and carrying the loans on their balance sheets creates its own problems. The banks will still be standing this time next year, but I expect some executives will be canned.

    This was a “hung deal,” initiated in April but not completed until October’s end. musk seemed to be trying to wriggle out of it in between. What I’m curious about is: why didn’t the banks walk away?

    Maybe someone here who knows more about these matters than I do can tell me. Or maybe some good financial journalist already has and I just need to find out.

     

    *CNBC, “The Elon Musk-Twitter purchase: who is financing the deal” October 28, 2022.

Comments are closed.