To executives at MSNBC, however, the book's statements were indefensible and, though they did not say so publicly, incongruent with a channel that has branded itself as progressive and forward-thinking and has a disproportionately high share of African-American and Hispanic viewers.
Some offenses, though, are indefensible.
The president of the Russian Olympic Committee, Alexander Zhukov, meanwhile said clean Russian athletes would appeal against the "legally indefensible" ban at Cas though he ruled out any boycott of the Games.
Skiing is indefensible, in many ways.
Bonus pools based on profits (though not revenues, an indefensible practice) may be seen as a problem now but are clearly more closely tied to performance than a fixed base salary.
All in all, though, there is no point defending the indefensible: I could not have got it more wrong.
From another perspective, though, the rather lawless and in some ways indefensible business of boxing can seem gloriously, refreshingly unconstrained, especially compared to the increasingly anxious, eager-to-please world of narrative entertainment.
Upholding this discrimination, as though it were the will of God, is simply indefensible.
It's telling, though, that when the Republicans brandished the nuclear option eight years ago, their target was the least indefensible use of the filibuster — the "best" use, you might say.
In tweets following the "Fifty Shades" post, though, he did allow that Trump's comments about women were "indefensible" and that Trump is "a pig to women".
