Bill O’Reilly is leaving Fox News.

“After a thorough and careful review of the allegations, the company and Bill O’Reilly have agreed that Bill O’Reilly will not be returning to the Fox News Channel,” 21st Century Fox, Fox News’s parent company, said in a statement.

O’Reilly lost more than 50 advertisers due to the allegations of sexual harassment and reports that some claims were settled with financial payments. O’Reilly denies the sexual assault allegations and his lawyers have said he is the victim of a left-wing smear campaign.

Financially, O'Reilly will probably never have to work again. [More...]

Chuck Berry has died at age 90. What a legend and what an enormous talent. In this video, watch him dance at about 1:17 in.

R.I.P. Chuck Berry

David Letterman weighs in on Donald Trump in a new interview with Vulture Magazine:

Say the head of the family, let’s say his name was Larry Wasserstein. If Larry behaved the way Donald behaves, for even a six-week period, the family would get together and say, “Jesus, somebody better call the doctor.” Then they’d ask him to step down.

But Trump’s the president and he can lie about anything from the time he wakes up to what he has for lunch and he’s still the president. I don’t get that. I’m tired of people being bewildered about everything he says: “I can’t believe he said that.” We gotta stop that and instead figure out ways to protect ourselves from him. We know he’s crazy. We gotta take care of ourselves here now.

[More...]

This may be the best SNL cold open of the Trump season yet -- Kate McKinnon as Jeff Sessions -Forrest Gump. Mediaite has the video.

"This is my best good friend Kelly Ann, she ain't got no legs....They don't let her talk any more.

On Russia: "My lawyer said, Run Jeff-ey Run. So I ran and ran...."[More...]

Arnold Schwarzenegger has had enough. He has told NBC he will not returng for another season of New Celebrity Apprentice, should the network renew the show. Ratings were low, for which he blames Donald Trump:

“With Trump being involved in the show, people have a bad taste and don’t want to participate as a spectator or as a sponsor or in any other way support the show,” Schwarzenegger said in that interview. “It’s a very divisive period now, and I think this show got caught up in all that division.”

He made it clear the show was not to blame:

“Everyone — from the celebrities to the crew to the marketing department — was a straight 10, and I would absolutely work with all of them again on a show that doesn’t have this baggage.”

[More...]

Update: If, like me, you intentionally skipped Trump's speech, here's a worthwhile recap.

Trump launched his campaign with lies—slandering Mexicans as rapists and criminals—and has continued to lie ever since. The only variation is the degree of cruelty with which he delivers his propaganda.

...Every autocrat flirts with benevolence, promoting themselves as the sole protector against threats, the strongman who remembers “the forgotten people.” Trump is actually worse at this game than most authoritarian leaders due to his erratic temperament, leak-prone staff, and combative relationship with the US press.

...But there is only one winner in an autocratic state: the autocrat and his lackeys. Citizens function as pawns and props, conned into complicity until their regret carries no weight. The US currently has an authoritarian-leaning government but is not yet an authoritarian regime, due in large part to the constant vigilance and pushback of citizens. If you seek to stop the slide into authoritarianism, do not let yourself get played.

Update: Steve Harvey must be delighted he's not the only one to blow the announcement of a winner at an awards show. Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway just joined the club. They announced the wrong winner for Best Picture. How did it happen? According to a 2016 LA Times interview:

"In an undisclosed location, the partners tabulate votes and stuff two sets of winning envelopes, partly as another security measure and also to aid the show's flow. Stationed with their signature briefcases on opposite sides of the stage, either [PricewaterhouseCoopers partners, Brian] Cullinan or [Martha] Ruiz can dispense envelopes to presenters. At the end of the evening, each accountant will have given out about half of the envelopes.

Another version is here. That would mean the blame would lay with PriceWaterhouse, who dispense the envelopes and bring duplicates on purpose. Here's what I saw, watching it live and re-watching once: [More...]

I don't know who Milo Y. is, but apparently he is with Breitbart News (which I never read.) Some old video of his that has popped up and is recirculating is apparently bad enough that Simon and Schuster has canceled his book deal and CPAC has canceled his speaking invitation.

What did he do in the video?

[He]criticiz[ed] age-of-consent laws and joking about a teenage sexual encounter he had with a Catholic priest.

I'm not sure why anyone cares about this guy, but apparently those who do think he endorsed ped*philia. He denies it (on his Facebook page which I haven't looked at). The Post repeats his comments:[More...]

The Grammys' red carpet starts here in 30 minutes. I'm sure it's already streaming online, but as usual, the online websites are so disorganized, cluttered and slow, I'm not bothering. I'll wait to watch the condensed version on live TV.

The Grammy Awards website says there are 59 reasons to watch. I can think of one (besides the musical performances): James Corden is hosting.

Esquire has a new feature profile on James in its March issue, which you can read now here.

This thread is for the Grammys (not an open thread.) [More...]

Too funny. El Nacional, a newspaper in the Dominican Republic carried an article on Donald Trump and Israel. But it mistakenly posted a photo of Alec Baldwin as Trump, next to a correct photo of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The paper has now issued a correction.

So will Trump add the Dominican Republic to his ban? Probably not, since Eric Trump just visited there last week, and may plan to relaunch a long ago stalled business project there called Cap Cana (that ended in lawsuits.)

Ivanka Trump merchandise will no longer be available to purchase online by Sears and KMart, due to lagging sales.

“As part of the company’s initiative to optimize its online product assortment, we constantly refine that assortment to focus on our most profitable items … Amid that streamlining effort, 31 Trump Home items were among the items removed online this week,” spokesperson Brian Hanover announced.

Thank you Sears and KMart. (They don't carry Trump branded items in their stores.)

The WSJ reports that sales of Ivanka Trump merchandise started slumping big time weeks before the election. Nordstrom's denies giving its sales data to the WSJ. [More...]

#GrabYourWallet is working. After Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus, TJ Maxx has decided to disassociate from the Ivanka Trump brand. Her father's tweet against Nordstrom didn't hurt Nordstrom, it's stock is slightly up today.

So where can you now find Ivanka's merchandise? According to AV Club, on EBay and in bargain bins.

Trump's actions are taking a toll on the Trump brand.

For more, go to GrabYourWallet. The companies on the left column (in green) are safe to shop at.