Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

Celebrate the fucking wins.

The lights are all blinking red.

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

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

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

We still have time to mess this up!

The words do not have to be perfect.

If marriage is the equivalent of selling yourself into slavery, women with self respect should reject the offer.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

It’s the corruption, stupid.

The choice is between normal and crazy.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

You cannot shame the shameless.

“That’s what the insurrection act is for!”

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Late Night Open Thread: Tonight’s State Dinner for the President of Kenya

Late Night Open Thread: Tonight’s State Dinner for the President of Kenya

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We deserve a little treat!
Kenya State Dinner - STOCKPILE


Earlier…
Kenya’s ‘Senior anchor / reporter’ is hyped!

Including Secretary of Defense (General) Austin, LeVar Burton, Pete (& Chasten) Buttigieg, Merrick Garland, Melinda French Gates & her son Rory Gates, Deb Haaland, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, NM Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, Maine Gov. Janet Mills, Hakeem Jeffries, the mayors of Chicago, Milwaukee, Augusta, Phoenix & Charlotte (NC), Karine Jean-Pierre, Don McLean, Cheryl Mills, Jesse Moore, Ilhan Omar, John Podesta, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, April Ryan, Symone Sanders-Townsend & her husband, Maya Wiley, Shalanda Young…

Reader Interactions

71Comments

  2. 2.

    SpaceUnit

    Very nice.  Good to have a president who knows how to do presidential.

     

    Gorgeous full moon tonight.

  3. 3.

    NotMax

    Don McLean

    Wasn’t aware he’s still kickin’.

    Now my EV has a TV
    But the levee’s still dry
    ;)

  4. 4.

    dmsilev

    Obama just stopped by so he could clear up a few loose ends about his birth certificate, right?

  5. 5.

    Jackie

    Glad to see the Clinton’s and Obama there!

    LOTS of Pomp and Circumstance!

    Absolutely can’t see TIFG doing this.

  6. 6.

    sab

    I have never before been interested in State dinners. I am 70, and they always seemed too inside the beltway to me. Maybe because they were, or because no internet then. I find them intriguing now.

  8. 8.

    sab

    @NotMax: Still kickin and performin.

    Back in 1975 when I was junior year abroad in England, one of my favorite classmates, old English family,  studying Turkish, had her favorite American musician as Don McLean singing American Pie.

    She was kind of obsessed with him. It was cute for us Yanks. He’s good, but really?

  9. 9.

    sab

    @sab: The last thing I remember about a state dinner was Cher, seated next to a tiny Amy Carter, was kind.

  10. 10.

    Parfigliano

    @Jackie: I can.  He’d gave a rambling speech airing his grievances.  Never acknowledge  the Kenyans presence.  Serve KFC.

  11. 11.

    eclare

    @sab:

    I am always interested in the menu.  And of course to see what people wear.  I did not like Hillary’s dress.

  17. 17.

    Captain C

    @Parfigliano:

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    He’s make a bad joke about how KFC stood for Kenyan (or worse) Fried Chicken, and then make the obvious racist jokes, with an expression on his face that said he expected to be praised and applauded for his clever low humor.  Assuming, of course, he can get a coherent, understandable sentence out.

  20. 20.

    columbusqueen

    @eclare: My Aunt Kathy was beyond outraged with that one; every ingrained hostess instinct in her felt you should be serving up lobster, prime steak, & the best champaign if it’s a White House event.

  22. 22.

    Steeplejack

    Get with it, Jennifer Jacobs! Wilmer Valderrama was last on That ’70s Show in 2006. He’s currently on NCIS, and has been for eight years.

    Maybe she had a crush on Fez 20 years ago. 🤔

  25. 25.

    Leto

    I was going to make a joke about where’s the cold Mickey D’s, or luke warm fast food in general, but everyone has a good memory regarding the culinary travesty of the shitbird’s tenure. Just absolute low class in every conceivable fashion. Hell, low class is several rungs up from where he and his spawn reside. Ugh.

  26. 26.

    JWR

    Anti-vaxxer said wut?!!

    (NBC) American mixed martial artist Bryce Mitchell said he will be home-schooling his infant son because he doesn’t “want him to be gay.”

    “We’re going to have to home-school all our kids or they’re all going to end up turning gay,” Mitchell, 29, said in an Instagram video Wednesday while holding his son, Tucker, who he said was born on March 29. “That’s the reason I’m going to home-school Tucker, because I don’t want him to be a communist. I don’t want him to worship Satan. I don’t want him to be gay.”

    Not to be outdone in the cray cray, he’s also protecting the kid from Edgar Allen Poe, which phobia is a new one to me.

  32. 32.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    @JWR:

    Republicans in Colorado (iirc) are calling for conservative parents to pull their children out of public schools to prevent them from being indoctrinated into something or other. I think what’s really going on is that conservative parents don’t want their kids to go to school and get an education that teaches them that their lives suck because their parents make bad decisions. They don’t want their kids to learn what hateful racists their parents are teaching them to be.

    Conservatives want uneducated children because it’s easier to indoctrinate the uneducated into their hateful racist beliefs.

  35. 35.

    Jay

    @Odie Hugh Manatee:

    Schoening is a former leader of the El Paso County chapter of the Nut Job group,  Moms for Liberty.

    By some accounts, that means roughly 330,000, (based on voting records) “should” be pulled from school.

    The are 1,270 “voucher” school slots available this year for Charter schools, at an average cost of $32,000 a year, roughly the average Colorado single person income.

    Just “Culture War” performative signaling, also known as the Dunning Kruger Self Selection Bias.

  37. 37.

    opiejeanne

    @JWR: On Black Twitter I read about an attack against HBCUs and the D9 Black Greek Letter Organizations (sororities and frats), denouncing them as not just un-Christian,  but Satanic in their rites and customs.  What got everyone’s attention was at least one HBCU grad renouncing her ties to Spelman, claiming demonic rituals are part of the curriculum and culture. This is rumored to have started with sermons in a black church.

    It was unclear if this is an actual movement at this time or just a handful of crackpots, but this is heartbreaking. The people discussing it said it feels like a coordinated attack, to separate black students from education, an attempt to lessen their impact as voters.

  38. 38.

    JWR

    @eclare:
    @Odie Hugh Manatee:

    We can only hope that the level of Stupid™ has infected ever larger numbers of GOP not-so-faithful voters to sit this one out, giving the Dems a landslide victory this November.

  39. 39.

    Gloria DryGarden

    What a wonderful guest list. I love Barbara kingsolver.

    dr Jill’s and mama Rachel’s dresses look wonderful.

    I sure hope the distasteful TFG White House dinner described above is imaginary.
    I hope our country continues as a democracy, and capable of respectful pomp and ceremony and decent international relations. The alternative is unbearable to consider.

  40. 40.

    Tony Jay

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    “Mister President, welcome to these United States of America… Mister President. That’s our name, you know. We came up with that. Everybody says so. Should come up with your own take, maybe. Prezzy-K. K-Dawg-P. I’m very musical. Really good. You know Manilow? Great tunering. Sad about the news, though. He writes the songs… like they say… making the old ladies cry. Copperfield’s a great guy, by the way. Catch his show if you can. You know what else they say. I heard. All over the TV. You guys, your… fellow continentals… you did great work over here. Really great. And some great music too. But I hear people saying, maybe it’s not working out anymore. Party’s over, out of… out of time. Call it. Prince. Fresh Prince. He punched a guy. Ladies and Gentleman… let’s hear it for the band!”

      NYT – President Trump Thanks Kenyan President For African-Americans’ Musical Contributions To America

  41. 41.

    Ian R

    Must admit that I’m surprised to see Sean Penn (arrested for multiple assaults and credibly alleged to be a wife beater) on that invite list.

  42. 42.

    opiejeanne

    Is anyone else keeping track of the red cow known as #88 on Twitter? She’s gone into labor tonight, and she’s so huge i’m hoping it’s only twins. It’s under Clay Scott @scottwestacre. People started watching her progress earlier this year, I only started watching the updates this week and the rancher’s preparations for this event (she’s now an internet superstar) have been interesting. I think he said all of his other cows have had their calves within the last couple of weeks, she’s the last one.

  44. 44.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    @Jackie:

    Glad to see the Clinton’s and Obama there!

     

    Always nice to see the first black president and Barack as well.

  45. 45.

    Tony Jay

    @NotMax:

    “Foreign ‘shzeepi’ imports drive down demand for native British mutton, say local interest groups, amidst calls for a STOP THE GOATS campaign.”

  46. 46.

    Martin

    Always proud to see the First Lady speaking out for educational institutions other than the ivies.

  47. 47.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    @Ian R: ​
     obviously he had Spicoli over to celebrate the descheduling of reefer

  49. 49.

    prostratedragon

    Here’s another version of WaterGirl’s favorite sign, apparently from outside the TFG Bronx rally. I must say, though, it’s hard to top the strut in the original.

    @opiejeanne:  Oh it has to be co-ordinated, and by idiots at that. I’ll see what a Morehouse grad (they all minor in networking) knows about it this weekend.

  51. 51.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    General Brown, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, cutting a very handsome figure (photo)

  52. 52.

    Betty Cracker

    Chilled green tomato soup? I might have to look into recipes for that. Our tomatoes are ripening at a rapid pace and overtaking all counter space. If we lived in town, I’d sneak out at night to place bags of tomatoes in unlocked cars.

  56. 56.

    Dan B

    @JWR: in his rebellious teenage years Tucker will become a communist, Satan worshipping homosexual.  He might enjoy it.  Dad less so.

  57. 57.

    satby

    @Ian R: probably there due to his charity CORE, which has been effective in its work. His work in Haiti after the earthquake was stellar.

  58. 58.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Betty Cracker: tomatoes as the new zucchini, love it! Tomato flax dehydrated wraps? Potlucks? A friend who might take a bunch to the food bank…?
    I’ve heard tomatoes freeze well.  do the plants  ever die, or stop bearing?
    In no Colo, an 80 day tomato will yield one or two ripe ones before frost/snow. If you plant it early enough. The green ones might ripen in storage, but one loses interest once winter pours down.
    would green tomato purée (soup, pate) be more fun as a lemony thing, or a Mediterranean oregano basil thing, or w Mexican spices? Hmmm.

  59. 59.

    Ian R

    @Betty Cracker: The father of one of my childhood friends literally did that. People learned that you either locked your doors if you parked near him or came back to find your car just filled with veggies.

  60. 60.

    evodevo

    @Betty Cracker: ​
      Zucchini…that’s what I would formerly have to “gift” to anyone who stood still long enough LOL – at least you can freeze tomatoes and use them in chili when Fall comes…zucchini not so much.

  61. 61.

    narya

    @Betty Cracker: cut in half or quarters, toss in a little olive oil, and stick in the oven for a couple of hours at 250 or so. The results can be frozen, and the intensified flavor adds a nice pop.

  65. 65.

    sab

    @Martin: When I decided to do a dramatic career change Grand Rapids Community College was there for me. Best accounting course I ever took, taught by a practicing CPA who only taught that one course.

    Community colleges have the reputation of being taught by failed academics. My experience is that they also have a lot of excellent teachers committed to teaching and their students. Like Dr Biden.

  66. 66.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @sab: My experience with accounting teachers at community college was the same,  with the sole excepting of the auditing instructor.  The rest were outstanding, dedicated teachers.  I taught the capstone accounting class at a different community college after I retired,  and tried to follow their example.

  68. 68.

    RaflW

    @JWR: For a second I though “Now why would a fine artist be worried about his kid being gay?”, then re-read it and (since names are meaningless in most entertainment industry sectors to me), saw the problem. He’s not a mixed material artist. Nothing of his would have tiny plaques and perfect gallery lighting. Ok then.

  69. 69.

    rikyrah

    @opiejeanne:

    What got everyone’s attention was at least one HBCU grad renouncing her ties to Spelman, claiming demonic rituals are part of the curriculum and culture.

     

    Been seeing those.

    But, yeah, the one on Spelman was when people turned from maybe having sympathy for these people, to saying..no..they’re cray cray.

  70. 70.

    Mai Naem mobile

    @JWR: i know nothing about this guy so I had to look it up. Apparently he was knocked out unconscious for a little bit during a match earlier this year. So maybe there’s some CTE involved in his thinking.

  71. 71.

    Mai Naem mobile

    @Parfigliano: there actually is a KFC in Kenya. The Random Restaurant Bot on Bluesky has a bunch of KFCs all over the world and not just the countries you would expect to see them in.

    TFG would talk about how  Junior had bagged the yuggest elephant, the fastest cheetah and the tallest giraffe all in one hunting trip.  The mounted bodies of the poor dead animals displayed around the dinner would be the piece de resistance.

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