Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

I did not have this on my fuck 2025 bingo card.

So many bastards, so little time.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

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

America is going up in flames. The NYTimes fawns over MAGA celebrities. No longer a real newspaper.

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

Dear legacy media: you are not here to influence outcomes and policies you find desirable.

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

The world has changed, and neither one recognizes it.

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

Sometimes the world just tells you your cat is here.

“But what about the lurkers?”

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

The way to stop violence is to stop manufacturing the hatred that fuels it.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you do not.

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

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

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

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Late Night Open Thread

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Part of getting older is that eventually there’s a Christmas holiday album from every musician you’ve ever spent money on. Fortunately for me, I like quite a few carols, pagan that I am. This year, it’s Annie Lennox:
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This is about the most Northern European carol I can imagine, and Lennox does full justice to the sense of frozen despair as the world waits to be noisily shattered by the return of the Sun Lord…

Reader Interactions

22Comments

  1. 1.

    Yutsano

    Elegant and gawjuss. Not that I expected any less from Miss Lennox.

    And I am back wondering if I haz work past Tuesday. Somehow I’m betting not.

  2. 2.

    debg

    The African influence here is especially enjoyable after reading Chunky Bobo’s horrific reference to Chrismukwanzaaa.

  3. 3.

    Ty Lookwell

    Hey, does this year feel less… “Christmassy”? That is, in a public, commercial sense: less music, less commercial crap, less lights, … less? (which, personally, I like)

    I’m curious what other people – I’m in the Pacific NW – think.

  8. 8.

    JPL

    What a beautiful song. After reading the earlier posts, it was nice to just sit back and listen to Annie.

  9. 9.

    PurpleGirl

    Oh, that is beautiful. Guess I need to get the album.

    A friend and I started a tradition a decade or so ago — we go to one church for a Christmas Eve mass and another for Christmas Day mass. We’ve gone to a bunch of different churches but have settled into a Lutheran church and an Episcopal church whose musical choices we really like. The Lutheran church includes a little jazz, and one of the Episcopal churches has a professional choir school. We go for the pomp and ceremony which both do quite well.

  10. 10.

    dr. luba

    @PurpleGirl: If you’re in it for the music, consider going to an Orthodox church on January 6th (evening service) or 7th. Ancient-sounding music, more akin to chant than what you’re used to. The Ukrainian churches, if you can find one in your neck of the woods, often have fine choirs and beautiful traditional carols (all done a capella). (Note: Ukrainian Byzantine Catholics are split on celebrations; some follow the old calendar, some the new, but they have similar eastern music.)

  13. 13.

    jinxtigr

    Wow. I can’t tell if she’s using autotune like typical pop singers today- or if it’s a slap in the face to all that by just singing super tight :)

    Huh.

    Sorry, sound engineer moment…

  14. 14.

    Alwhite

    I’m waiting for Bob Dylan’s

    Siiiiiilver Bells
    Siilllver . . . BElls

    Its . . Christmas time in the
    CI . . ty

  17. 17.

    CynDee

    Wonderful. What a pleasant surprise. This is now my most loved Christmas music. Was it you, Anne Laurie–someone last year posted a link to the Gloucester Cathedral choir and congregation singing this, and I go to it rather often. So beautiful. Whoever that was, thank you forever.

    youtube.com/watch?v=xRobryliBLQ

  18. 18.

    SRW1

    AL, the winter despair in Northern Europe is not so much about the frozen state of the environment as it is about the lack of sunlight. I learned that as a transplant when a former colleague of mine once commented towards the end of January that winter was now fortunately almost over.

    Had me puzzled for a while, because the temperature outside were still well below the freezing point and there was snow everywhere. Until I realized that what he was talking about, was the fact that the daylight period was getting noticeably longer, not that the temperatures were getting warmer.

  20. 20.

    Don

    I just picked this up from Amazon a few days ago when they had the album on sale for $2-3. Which is a nice xmas tradition from Amazon – every year there’s a slew of heavily discounted and/or free tracks for download. I think if you look around their MP3 store you can find a place to sign up for notifications.

    EDIT: Oh look, it’s still only $2 as a download!

  22. 22.

    MarkJ

    I like this carol a lot, and I like Annie Lennox too, but I’m not loving this version. It’s just better sung by a choir. That may be elitist of me but I like what I like.

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