I gotta be honest, 2016 was a complete and utter annus horribilis. A real sh*t show. For as much as I will miss some of these icons from my childhood, there is nothing that has wrecked me as badly as losing my mom to cancer. I still find that reality hitting me at unexpected moments and the grief is still so raw. For an arbitrary construct, this year just sucked. And while I am happy to shut the door on 2016, 2017 does not appear to be shaping up to be any better. We're going to lose more of those icons from our childhood (except Keith Richards, who apparently is immortal). We're going to have a new president who makes George W. Bush look like a statesman. Our faith in institutions and norms will be daily challenged.
One of the things I'm hearing more and more from my liberal friends is how they can't bring themselves to keep updated on the news any more. It's just too stressful. But please, don't. Don't isolate and don't keep yourself ignorant. We need each and every one of you to keep yourself engaged, informed and active. We may have a new president who thinks that Twitter works as an acceptable substitute for press conferences, but we need to be able to disseminate information smartly and to organize accordingly.
I know you know that you're not necessarily getting information from these Sunday shows or any other televised news shows. But these shows do frame the debate and that's something we need to keep an eye on. And we need to push back on it as much as possible. We're not going to win every battle. But we will win some, and as long as we commit to it, we WILL win the larger war. Our future rests on it.
Just as a heads up, we're going on holiday schedule today, so expect fewer posts. Please use this thread to introduce us to some of the information outlets you think will be reliable in the coming year.
ABC's "This Week" - Sean Spicer, spokesman for President-elect Donald Trump; Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. DNC chair Donna Brazile and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Roundtable: ABC News congressional correspondent Mary Bruce, host of NPR’s Morning Edition Steve Inskeep, senior adviser and national spokesperson for MoveOn.org Karine Jean-Pierre, and Republican strategist and Hamilton Place Strategies partner Kevin Madden.
NBC's "Meet the Press" - Journalists Claire Atkinson of the New York Post, David Folkenflik from NPR, Gabe Sherman of New York Magazine and Hal Boedeker of the Orlando Sentinel discuss Trump's relationship with the media. Panel: Ari Fleischer, Nicolle Wallace and Joe Lockhart.
CBS' "Face the Nation" - Isabel Wilkerson, the author of “The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration,” J.D. Vance, the author of “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis,” Diane Guerrero, the author of “In the Country We Love: My Family Divided,” and Amani Al-Khatahtbeh, the author of “Muslim Girl: A Coming of Age.” Panel: Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, journalist Michele Norris of the Race Card Project, Michael Gerson of the Washington Post, and David Frum of the Atlantic.
CNN's "State of the Union" - Reps. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Darrell Issa, R-Calif.; House members-elect Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del.; and Charlie Crist, D-Fla.
"Fox News Sunday" -Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark. Leonard Leo, Trump Transition Supreme Court Advisor. Austan Goolsbee, President Obama's economic advisor and Steve Moore of the Heritage Foundation. Panel: Charles Hurt, The Washington Times; Julie Roginsky, Democratic Strategist; Lisa Boothe, Republican Strategist; Daniel Halper, DC Bureau Chief, The NY Post.
So what's catching your eye this morning?