Year End CHEERS and JEERS for 2012!
Dec. 31st, 2012 08:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
maxomaiAnd now, ladies and gents, here are the CHEERS and JEERS for 2012.
CHEERS to Nate Silver. Fifty states predicted, fifty states got. In the weeks up to the election, Silver gave Obama a three-to-one shot at winning, which eventually converged on 90%. The Romney campaign, desperate to have some other narrative to keep their voters motivated, came up with this fiction of skewed polls; what's worse, they believed their own press, so that their loss, rather than expected, was actually shocking. Silver became a genius hero for millions of progressives. Statistics - that subject for which I used to be a teaching assistant at Loyola University - became cool. Flawless victory. Needless to say, I gave my mom a copy of his book.
JEERS to Nate Silver's evil counterpart, Karl Rove. Apparently, having "the math" isn't so great when "the math" is founded on bullshit. It led to one of the great meltdowns in political broadcasting history:
Needless to say, Rove has been benched by Fox.
DOUBLE JEERS to every asshat that has decided to validate their existence by shooting up a public place; may their names be forgotten. Now we're having a national batshit crazy primal scream about falsely so-called "assault weapons." We're also, for reasons that are entirely self-serving for the NRA, having a nonetheless long overdue national conversation about mental health care reform. We're talking about an armed response in schools. A long-overdue conversation about how our society accepts violence as a way to affirm one's masculinity? Not so much. Without that conversation, it doesn't really matter what we ban or how many police we add; it's only a matter of time before the next emasculated asshole shoots up - or blows up, or sets on fire - the next mall, school, church, etc.
DOUBLE CHEERS to incoming Senator Elizabeth Warren. In 2011, a Republican House Committee Chair accused her of lying about the hearing schedule. In 2012, she beat GOP darling Scott Brown for Ted Kennedy's old Senate seat. In 2013, she'll be on the Senate Banking Committee. Now the real effort to fix 2008 can begin.
CHEERS to FaceBook stock. Yeah, yeah, I know, at $38/share, the IPO was WAY overvalued. Those of us who don't get to participate in IPOs, on the other hand, got to buy at $20/share. Now it's up to $28/share. So, while you assholes are crying about your losses, some of us are making bank. Thanks! Now, if only FaceBook can find a way to monetize their services without creeping the rest of us the fuck out. Maybe with some tweaks to their gifts service?
JEERS to CNN and Fox News, both, for their inglorious, perverse botch of the Obamacare ruling. On the bright side, we had a good laugh at your expenses. Maybe from now on you'll take your time and read the fucking ruling before trying so hard to get the scoop.
JEERS to Michelle Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain, Rick Santorum, and all the other little idiots that were also-rans to Mitt Romney. Congrats on making Mitt look moderate and sane in comparison.
DOUBLE JEERS to the last remnants of the vaccine conspiracy theorists. Look, Andrew Wakefield's research has been thoroughly debunked. The man's even won a lifetime achievement award for quackery. Can you please admit you're wrong and give your kids their fucking shots already?
DOUBLE JEERS to Keith Olbermann. Look, getting fired from Fox Sports is praiseworthy. Getting let go from MSNBC after single-handedly rebuilding their brand is regrettable. Getting fired in a grand hissy fit from Current TV? That's just pathetic. Good luck searching your soul; your career, if you ever have one again, is going to need it.
TRIPLE JEERS to NBC Sports, Bob Costas, Meredith Viera, and Matt Lauer, for the absolute worst Olympics coverage you could imagine, particularly at the opening and closing ceremonies. Sometimes, the best thing to do is to tell your falsely-so-called talent to Shut The Fuck Up and let us enjoy the show. Thanks for making this once every four years event completely unwatchable, you idiots.
QUADRUPLE JEERS to all the crazy-making anti-woman shit that seemed to fill every nook and cranny of 2012. Whether it's Binders Full Of Women, Legitimate Rape, sexual harassment of gamers, or the death of a rape victim in India, one can only hope that enough horrible shit has happened in the public view for the mainstream to Wake The Fuck Up.
JEERS to Climate Change for making the lives of friends and loved ones in the UK, Pacific Northwest, and New York City that much more stressful.
JEERS to President Obama for making hunter-killer robots roaming the skies above us somehow acceptable. Seriously, what the fuck?
JEERS to KPOJ management for switching formats from Progressive Talk to Sports. Because, you know, we needed another sports station. Screw you guys, and I hope terrestrial radio finally dies out.
JEERS to the entire cast of The Jersey Shore (and good goddamn riddance); The Learning Channel for being anything but; Dianne Feinstein for actively seeking to undermine the Second, Fourth and Fifth Amendments; Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock for raising the bar on incredible batshit craziness; the Kony 2012 movement for giving hipsters something to feel self-righteous about; and the 2012 Mayan Calendar Conspiracy for making the "New Age" hold on just that much longer.
CHEERS to Milagro Theater for their kick-ass production of Oedipus El Rey. True magic. Deserving of every award it received, which was a lot of them.
DOUBLE CHEERS to Sam Adams, outgoing Mayor of Portland, for some damn fine work. Gonna miss you.
CHEERS to Sylosis for the kick-ass album Monolith; Breaking Bad for the best show on television; Dr. George Seig for his collected essays; Jeremy Robert Johnson for We Live Inside You; David Shoemaker for his excellent treatment of Phyllis Seckler's writings; The Oatmeal for this awesome smack-down of a lawsuit troll; The Roots for being able to make even the shittiest music good; and the Chicago Bears for a hell of a run this year.
CHEERS a dozen or so close friends who made this year bearable. Most of them aren't on LJ, but a few of them - includingnowgoesquickly and victorine - are. Thank you.
CHEERS toednoled on his victorious return to Cascadia.
CHEERS toskeletoncrew for continuing to kick ass.
CHEERS to you for reading this. Happy New Year!
CHEERS to Nate Silver. Fifty states predicted, fifty states got. In the weeks up to the election, Silver gave Obama a three-to-one shot at winning, which eventually converged on 90%. The Romney campaign, desperate to have some other narrative to keep their voters motivated, came up with this fiction of skewed polls; what's worse, they believed their own press, so that their loss, rather than expected, was actually shocking. Silver became a genius hero for millions of progressives. Statistics - that subject for which I used to be a teaching assistant at Loyola University - became cool. Flawless victory. Needless to say, I gave my mom a copy of his book.
JEERS to Nate Silver's evil counterpart, Karl Rove. Apparently, having "the math" isn't so great when "the math" is founded on bullshit. It led to one of the great meltdowns in political broadcasting history:
Needless to say, Rove has been benched by Fox.
DOUBLE JEERS to every asshat that has decided to validate their existence by shooting up a public place; may their names be forgotten. Now we're having a national batshit crazy primal scream about falsely so-called "assault weapons." We're also, for reasons that are entirely self-serving for the NRA, having a nonetheless long overdue national conversation about mental health care reform. We're talking about an armed response in schools. A long-overdue conversation about how our society accepts violence as a way to affirm one's masculinity? Not so much. Without that conversation, it doesn't really matter what we ban or how many police we add; it's only a matter of time before the next emasculated asshole shoots up - or blows up, or sets on fire - the next mall, school, church, etc.
DOUBLE CHEERS to incoming Senator Elizabeth Warren. In 2011, a Republican House Committee Chair accused her of lying about the hearing schedule. In 2012, she beat GOP darling Scott Brown for Ted Kennedy's old Senate seat. In 2013, she'll be on the Senate Banking Committee. Now the real effort to fix 2008 can begin.
CHEERS to FaceBook stock. Yeah, yeah, I know, at $38/share, the IPO was WAY overvalued. Those of us who don't get to participate in IPOs, on the other hand, got to buy at $20/share. Now it's up to $28/share. So, while you assholes are crying about your losses, some of us are making bank. Thanks! Now, if only FaceBook can find a way to monetize their services without creeping the rest of us the fuck out. Maybe with some tweaks to their gifts service?
JEERS to CNN and Fox News, both, for their inglorious, perverse botch of the Obamacare ruling. On the bright side, we had a good laugh at your expenses. Maybe from now on you'll take your time and read the fucking ruling before trying so hard to get the scoop.
JEERS to Michelle Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain, Rick Santorum, and all the other little idiots that were also-rans to Mitt Romney. Congrats on making Mitt look moderate and sane in comparison.
DOUBLE JEERS to the last remnants of the vaccine conspiracy theorists. Look, Andrew Wakefield's research has been thoroughly debunked. The man's even won a lifetime achievement award for quackery. Can you please admit you're wrong and give your kids their fucking shots already?
DOUBLE JEERS to Keith Olbermann. Look, getting fired from Fox Sports is praiseworthy. Getting let go from MSNBC after single-handedly rebuilding their brand is regrettable. Getting fired in a grand hissy fit from Current TV? That's just pathetic. Good luck searching your soul; your career, if you ever have one again, is going to need it.
TRIPLE JEERS to NBC Sports, Bob Costas, Meredith Viera, and Matt Lauer, for the absolute worst Olympics coverage you could imagine, particularly at the opening and closing ceremonies. Sometimes, the best thing to do is to tell your falsely-so-called talent to Shut The Fuck Up and let us enjoy the show. Thanks for making this once every four years event completely unwatchable, you idiots.
QUADRUPLE JEERS to all the crazy-making anti-woman shit that seemed to fill every nook and cranny of 2012. Whether it's Binders Full Of Women, Legitimate Rape, sexual harassment of gamers, or the death of a rape victim in India, one can only hope that enough horrible shit has happened in the public view for the mainstream to Wake The Fuck Up.
JEERS to Climate Change for making the lives of friends and loved ones in the UK, Pacific Northwest, and New York City that much more stressful.
JEERS to President Obama for making hunter-killer robots roaming the skies above us somehow acceptable. Seriously, what the fuck?
JEERS to KPOJ management for switching formats from Progressive Talk to Sports. Because, you know, we needed another sports station. Screw you guys, and I hope terrestrial radio finally dies out.
JEERS to the entire cast of The Jersey Shore (and good goddamn riddance); The Learning Channel for being anything but; Dianne Feinstein for actively seeking to undermine the Second, Fourth and Fifth Amendments; Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock for raising the bar on incredible batshit craziness; the Kony 2012 movement for giving hipsters something to feel self-righteous about; and the 2012 Mayan Calendar Conspiracy for making the "New Age" hold on just that much longer.
CHEERS to Milagro Theater for their kick-ass production of Oedipus El Rey. True magic. Deserving of every award it received, which was a lot of them.
DOUBLE CHEERS to Sam Adams, outgoing Mayor of Portland, for some damn fine work. Gonna miss you.
CHEERS to Sylosis for the kick-ass album Monolith; Breaking Bad for the best show on television; Dr. George Seig for his collected essays; Jeremy Robert Johnson for We Live Inside You; David Shoemaker for his excellent treatment of Phyllis Seckler's writings; The Oatmeal for this awesome smack-down of a lawsuit troll; The Roots for being able to make even the shittiest music good; and the Chicago Bears for a hell of a run this year.
CHEERS a dozen or so close friends who made this year bearable. Most of them aren't on LJ, but a few of them - including
nowgoesquickly and victorine - are. Thank you.CHEERS to
ednoled on his victorious return to Cascadia.CHEERS to
skeletoncrew for continuing to kick ass.CHEERS to you for reading this. Happy New Year!
