Quote of the Day:
“There’s a new bar in my hometown that was built inside of the newsroom of a longtime local newspaper that had to shut down. Kinda sums it up, don’t it?”
— Frank Pallota, media reporter, CNN.
MOOD: “Twitter has been so pleasant and carefree today that it’s hard to imagine it will become a hellscape again tomorrow, but I’m sure it will.” — Josh Dawsey, WaPo White House reporter, on Christmas at 10:05 p.m.
Santa/Shutterstock.
In the same vein… “Guys we can all resume the Twitter fights in 3.5 hours. Enjoy Christmas until then.” — Peter Hasson, senior reporter, Daily Caller News Foundation, on Christmas at 8:37 p.m.
CNN’s Chris Cuomo: “#MerryChristmasEve twitter is not often the place to find a kind word but – here is to all finding love and warmth and a connection to something bigger than themselves. Good health and happiness during the #HolyDays.”
Root news editor encounters Christmas Eve turds
“Anyway, I am a bad pet mom because I went to bed way later than Lady last night and was sleeping too hard to hear her start whining to be let out this morning, so in desperation, she let out two little turds near the opening of her crate. I cleaned and sanitized it and put new clean blankets for her, but I felt so bad. Poor baby. She is currently snuggled in the small of my back snoring. I fed her and gave her water, then she wanted to get in my bed with me, so here we are.”
— Monique Judge, LA-based news editor, The Root, referring to her new cute dog, Lady.
Journos agree that putting this in your vajajay is wrong
JESSICA HUSEMAN, ProPublica: “Uhm hello im Sorry @Pinterest why are you advertising a website to me that advocates i stick garlic into my vagina.”
JOHN STANTON, New Orleans-based, covers sex work, border and addiction, former Washington Bureau Chief, BuzzFeed: “I do not have a vagina personally but even I can tell you this is not a good idea and dangerously stupid. …’Stick a piece of food in your junk and wait’ is … never ever a thing you should do. Just … no. No. Never.”
McConnell’s staff complains about request for comment
“McConnell’s office receives a 1 hour deadline for a Christmas Eve hit piece. #journalism #HappyHolidays.” — Josh Holmes, former chief of staff to Senate Maj. Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
“Reporters and editors! Unless the @uscapitol is *ackshually* on fire there is nothing today, especially political hit pieces, that command a one hour deadline. Merry Merry everyone!” — David Popp, McConnell’s communications director.
Note to press secs and anyone else: There’s nothing wrong with an hour deadline no matter what day of the year it is.
Christmas Greetings that pissed some people off
And others that are mildly annoying.
President Trump: “MERRY CHRISTMAS!”
Kellyanne Conway, counselor, President Trump, at 9:41 p.m. on Christmas: “Merry Christmas. God’s blessings to all.”
Simona Mangiante Papadopoulos, swimsuit model/designer, wife of George Papadopoulos, former Trump campaign aide: “Merry Christmas! And a special thank to all of you that supported us and believed in us! god bless you and your families! Let Jesus guide you . Happy Christmas to my haters too #jesusisborn #celebratelife #unionnotdivision.”
Bill Rehkopf, correspondent, CBS News radio: “Last year, when I tried to wish Twitter a Merry Christmas, the first reply was, “Don’t tell me what to do.” Another accused me of propagating naive Judeo-Christian fairy tales. Sure taught me a lesson. Merry Christmas anyway. Bless your hearts.”
Mother Jones journo muses on ‘dying alone in a ditch’
“An ex GF of mine is getting married to some shmuck and apparently they’re very happy and it’s a nice reminder that some of us will die alone in a ditch covered in piss and gasoline, and some other people won’t. …Dying alone in a ditch is actually a recurring motif in my life and I think about it a lot and in real life I say ‘die alone in a ditch covered in piss and cum’ but this is a family friendly twitter account so I replaced cum with gasoline but if you ever meet me irl I’ll say cum.”
— Ben Dreyfuss, editorial director, Mother Jones, on Christmas at 4:44 p.m.
Dreyfuss pulled out all the stops on Christmas Eve, writing, “Anyone who doesn’t like golden retrievers is fucked in the brain.”
Travel Bitches
Vintage suitcase/Shutterstock.
“Heads up to journos: we all care about your holiday travel experience please tweet from the airport about every single delay and also be sure to @ the airline hoping your blue checkmark gets you preferential treatment.” — @ComfortablySmug.
“PSA: Stop putting backpacks in overhead bins!” — Oliver Darcy, media reporter, CNN, three days before Christmas.
A nice little Christmas story from Carpe Donktum
“Took my kids to a little park that is right near my uncle’s house. On our walk back there was a Muslim family playing frisbee, the father said Merry Christmas. I said Merry Christmas back. That’s the whole story, just another day in Trump’s America. Yes, this is one of the few times I am not being sarcastic. This happened exactly as stated. There is nothing wrong with America. There is something seriously wrong with Washington.” — Carpe Donktum, a pro-Trump memer, whose name is Logan Cook.
Confessional: Journo attends Christmas AA meeting
“My dad took me to an AA meeting because he’s the best.” — Molly Jong-Fast, editor-at-large, The Daily Beast.
Speaking of which… “Merry Christmas… Happy Hanukkah… Happy Holidays. If you’re sober and struggling (or not sober but need to be), many of us are here.” — Jonathan Franks, Montel Williams‘ flack, who apparently decides to not be such an asshole on Christmas Eve. He has the rest of the year for that. He and Montel blasted The Daily Caller reporting staff for no apparent reason over the weekend, just to get themselves into the true giving spirit of Christmas. (RELATED: Montel’s Flack Admits That He ‘Runs His Mouth’ On Twitter)
MY PRAYERS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED!
Jonathan Franks gave The Mirror a Hanukkah present!
Menorah/Shutterstock.
Columbia Journalism Review writer chokes on pepper on New Year’s Eve
“I was choking on red pepper and begging for milk or bread and my FATHER BEGAN DEBATING ME AS TO WHETHER THAT WOULD ACTUALLY WORK MEANWHILE I COULDN’T SEE BECAUSE MY FACE WAS ON FIRE.” — Lyz Lenz, writer, Columbia Journalism Review.
Just Asking Questions…
“It’s 3:20am and I’m wide awake. What is wrong with me?” — Beth Baumann, associate editor, Townhall, on Christmas morning.
Confessional: Taffy cried in front of Tom Hanks
“2019: I didn’t write as many stories as I’ve done in the past, which I have some feelings about. But I wrote my first investigative piece, my first political profile, I PUBLISHED A FREAKING NOVEL and I cried in front of Tom Hanks. So all in all, a good year in these End of Days.” — Taffy Brodesser-Akner, staff writer, New York Times Magazine.
Condolences: HotAir weekend editor’s dog dies
“Jake Yapper passed away at 11 o’clock as we held him tightly. Nothing more could be done. He was a gentle soul until the end.” — Jazz Shaw, weekend editor, HotAir, whose dog was named after CNN’s Jake Tapper.
Tapper remarked, “Jazz did a good thing, giving so much love to such a good boy. …You made his life great.”
Gossip Roundup
Kathy Griffin posts pic of ‘phones down’ salon-type dinner party
Some political journos were in the mix, such as NBC News’s Jonathan Allen and The Daily Beast’s Molly Jong-Fast. Other reporters there included Jason Leopold, a senior investigate reporter for BuzzFeed News and Craig Marks, a music editor for the Los Angeles Times and Shane Michael Singh, former executive editor of Playboy. Political types included the former Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom, who serves in the California Assembly.(RELATED: Last Christmas, Kathy Griffin Wishes Trump A ‘Terrible’ Holiday)
“I’m loving hosting these dinner parlor/salon style dinners. I’m very strict. Phones down. Interesting combo of guests is essential! @JasonLeopold @AsmRichardBloom @TigNotaro @MollyJongFast, @jonallendc, @hilaryluros, @StephAllynne, @craigmarks, @mrShaneMichael.”
I’m loving hosting these dinner parlor/salon style dinners. I’m very strict. Phones down. Interesting combo of guests is essential! @JasonLeopold @AsmRichardBloom @TigNotaro @MollyJongFast @jonallendc @hilaryluros @StephAllynne @craigmarks @mrShaneMichael Randy took the pic❤️ pic.twitter.com/9Nu8SrL61E
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) December 24, 2019
— Kathy Griffin, professional Trump hater, comedian, ex-New Year’s Eve co-host, CNN.
Patrick Howley addresses the state of his soul
“I have NEVER under any circumstances threatened to harm myself or anyone else, unlike the threats that get directed toward me on a regular basis for exposing the Truth. I will continue telling the Truth, because it makes my soul grow. God Bless All of You!” — Patrick Howley, just after midnight Thursday. He has written for The Epoch Times, The Daily Caller, Washington Free Beacon and Breitbart News.
Dave Weigel reports live from a suburban Christmas party
“At a suburban Christmas party and everyone over 50 is, upon finding out what I do for a living, asking if Klobuchar has a chance.” — WaPo‘s Dave Weigel.
Two days before Christmas…
“Announcement: Today, rather abruptly, I was forced to make the difficult choice to leave The Christian Post. They decided to publish an editorial that positions them on Team Trump. I can’t be an editor for a publication with that editorial voice.” — Napp Nazworth, formerly, The Christian Post.
Touré rips off Santa Band-Aid on Christmas
This happened just after midnight on Christmas.
“The whole Santa myth is hard for city kids. We live in a walk up. There’s no chimney. You can’t open the windows from outside. You have to get buzzed in. There’s no way for Santa to get in at night w/o them hearing something. Santa demands more blind faith than Christianity.” — Touré Neblett, ex-MSNBCer, hosts show on YouTube, has a podcast.
He added, “I guess it’s finally time for me to eat the cookies that the kids left out for Santa.”
But maybe it’s time for him to just shut up?
Slate‘s Prudie is asked… a gross question about office flushing. Here.
Labor journo becomes Rachel Ray of the holidays
“tfw you are cooking with marijuana and you open your stove and omgggggggggggggggggggggggggggg
The President’s quietist child: Tiffany Trump. Washingtonian Mag manages to dig up what kind of pizza Tiffany eats. Points for effort. Here.
New York Mag’s Olivia Nuzzi‘s Rudy Giuliani story… Here.
On Christmas Eve, Olivia remarked, “Update: Giuliani is now texting me from a new phone number.”