1/ Frank Rich with his usual insightful analysis of the Fox Business debate....."rigged and boring" was his conclusion.....
Mary and I tried to watch the whole thing, but only managed an hour before we became totally disgusted.....
Most weeks, New York Magazine writer-at-large Frank Rich speaks with contributor Alex Carp about the biggest stories in politics and culture. This week: the fourth GOP debate.
After the last GOP debate, when Marco Rubio outshone his former mentor in a key exchange, Jeb Bush and his allies talked a good game about mounting new attacks on him. But the widely predicted scenario of Bush taking down Rubio never materialized at the debate. Since that didn’t happen, what did?
Heaven knows Bush didn’t happen — yet again. He began the evening by complaining that he “got about four minutes” last time and then went on to be his usual earnest, wonky, inarticulate self. This time he did get more than four minutes — but more Bush, he doesn’t seem to realize, is less. And rather than go after Rubio, as promised, he again insisted on talking about Iraq, still unaware that Americans regard the war and his brother’s instigation and management of it as a calamity. To his credit, he did challenge Trump on the absurdity of deporting all of America’s undocumented immigrants — but he’ll get no credit from a GOP primary electorate that agrees with Trump and is appalled by Bush’s embrace of “amnesty.” Whatever.
Heaven knows Bush didn’t happen — yet again. He began the evening by complaining that he “got about four minutes” last time and then went on to be his usual earnest, wonky, inarticulate self. This time he did get more than four minutes — but more Bush, he doesn’t seem to realize, is less. And rather than go after Rubio, as promised, he again insisted on talking about Iraq, still unaware that Americans regard the war and his brother’s instigation and management of it as a calamity. To his credit, he did challenge Trump on the absurdity of deporting all of America’s undocumented immigrants — but he’ll get no credit from a GOP primary electorate that agrees with Trump and is appalled by Bush’s embrace of “amnesty.” Whatever.
2/ Remember "Isn't It Ironic" from Alanis Morissette? She updated the lyrics for a duet with James Corden [late night host], and it's pretty amusing......she still has an amazing voice!
It’s a traffic jam, when you tried to use Waze. A no smoking sign, when you brought your vape. It’s like swiping left on your future soul mate.
On the Late Late Show with James Corden, Alanis Morissette gamely gave the lyrics of her 1995 hit “Ironic” a 2015 spin. Appearing in a red ski hat and braids in a wink at the original music video, Morissette was joined by a similarly coiffured Corden to sing refrains like “An old friend sends you a Facebook request / and you only find out they’re racist after you accept.”
3/ The Daily Show checked some of the "facts" from the Republican debate, with the expected results......a good five minutes....
The Daily Show fact-checked the Republican debate last night and agreed that it was definitely more full of substance because “bullshit is also a substance.”
Correspondent Desi Lydic called out Ben Carsonon the minimum wage and found it a little sad that Donald Trump thinks he knows Vladimir Putinwell because they both appeared on 60 Minutes. She rated that “wrong but adorable.”
She brought up Carly Fiorina contradicting herself on meeting Putin in a green room, which was “such a weird thing to lie about” that Lydic gave her a “Rachel Dolezal.”
4/ Another story on the despair felt by undereducated middle aged white males and their dropping life expectancy from scuicide and drugs.....Paul Krugman with his take on this problem....
A couple of weeks ago President Obama mocked Republicans who are “down on America,” and reinforced his message by doing a pretty good Grumpy Cat impression. He had a point: With job growth at rates not seen since the 1990s, with the percentage of Americans covered by health insurance hitting record highs, the doom-and-gloom predictions of his political enemies look ever more at odds with reality.
Yet there is a darkness spreading over part of our society. And we don’t really understand why.
There has been a lot of comment, and rightly so, over a new paper by the economists Angus Deaton (who just won a Nobel) and Anne Case, showing that mortality among middle-aged white Americans has been rising since 1999. This deterioration took place while death rates were falling steadily both in other countries and among other groups in our own nation.
5/ Larry David again nails Bernie Sanders in the cold open to last week's SNL show....note I am not putting in any of the Trump bits, as they weren't funny at all.....he just came across as a dick....
SNL kicked off tonight’s show with a cold open mocking Rachel Maddow‘s Democratic forum and LARRY DAVID IS BACK, PEOPLE!
After getting through Martin O’Malley, “Maddow” talked to a laid-back Hillary Clinton and promised her some tough questions––”not actually tough, just MSNBC tough.”
But, really, the real star of the segment was David as Bernie Sanders yet again to brag about his commitment to not ruining America’s infrastructure––when he gets to bridges he gets out of his car and kayaks across––and said he’s so committed on the issue of campaign finance, all he wants is the pennies that get caught up in your vacuum.
6/ This is one of John Oliver's better comedic documentaries.....how we treat people coming out of prison.....an excellent 19 minutes, and some funny bits too....
John Oliver’s best piece ever: This brilliant expose on our endless prison cycle is an absolute must
In 20 perfect minutes, he explains why our recidivism rate is 50 percent -- and we're spending $80 billion to fail
In just one year, John Oliver has covered several facets of the U.S.’s truly jacked-up criminal justice system from mandatory minimums, to how bail punishes the poor, to over-stretched public defenders and small municipal violations putting you in the fuckbarrel. It’s so depressing, Oliver encouraged viewers Sunday evening during “Last Week Tonight” to eat their feelings at Dairy Queen.
Instead of discussing the depressing ways in which we lock people away, Oliver addressed what happens when people leave prison. Since President Obama commuted the sentences of the largest number of federal prisoners, this is particularly relevant.
7/ I was very happy to come across this column in the Times from Timothy Egan - apparently people are paying attention to what they are eating, and it's freaking out Big Food......woop woop.....
IT’S easy to make fun of people in big cities for their obsession with gluten, or chia seeds, or cleanses.
But urbanites are not the only ones turning away from the products created by big food companies. Eating habits are changing across the country and food companies are struggling to keep up.
General Mills will drop all artificial colors and flavors from its cereals. Perdue, Tyson and Foster Farm have begun to limit the use of antibiotics in their chicken. Kraft declared it was dropping artificial dyes from its macaroni and cheese. Hershey’s will begin to move away from ingredients such as the emulsifier polyglycerol polyricinoleate to “simple and easy-to-understand ingredients” like “fresh milk from local farms, roasted California almonds, cocoa beans and sugar.”
Those announcements reflect a new reality: Consumers are walking away from America’s most iconic food brands.
8/ Stephen Colbert on great form......in four minutes he evicerates not just Ben Carson but Marco Rubio.....
The election is just one year away, “so that means it’s 11 months before Americans start paying attention,” “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert said Monday night.
Ahead of Tuesday’s Fox Business News debate, Colbert has some concerns, mild questions really, mostly about Ben Carson, history and Ben Carson’s history.
“Of course, the stakes of the debate are highest for the two GOP frontrunners, Donald Trump and Ben Carson,” but Colbert didn’t want to focus on Trump. A first.
“Now, personally, I think the media should let this pyramid nonsense go and focus on the issues that affect us,” Colbert said, “like, did he really try to stab a dude when he was 14?” Inquiring minds want to know. Since no one will verify the Carson stabbing story, it’s causing the presidential candidate some problems.
9/ This story and another one about the Kentucky Governor race have sunk without trace in the corporate media.....but it's pretty clear that the Ohio vote on legalizing weed was hacked by the Republican state gub'mint......
The Kentucky Governor vote was weird, because selecting the Tea Party dipshit as Governor was contrary to both the polls and the Democratic votes for other candidates.....
If it's looking like they might lose local elections, Republicans are stealing them.....
Photo Credit: www.facebook.com/
Televised screen shots taken Tuesday night of live election returns in Ohio provided by the Secretary of State's office showed hundreds of thousands of votes flipping from the "yes" to "no" column of Issue 3, the ballot measure to legalize marijuana.
When seen against the backdrop of Ohio's longstanding history of Republicans manipulating the vote count to obtain the outcome they seek, such as in the 2004 presidential election when Ohio returns elected George W. Bush to a second term, there are compelling reasons to question the official result where the pot measure went down to defeat.
To understand the context for this likely chicanery, you have to understand the backdrop of current Ohio politics.
According to the election night returns provided by Secretary of State Jon Husted, the people of Ohio defeated a November 3 proposition to legalize marijuana by a tally of nearly two-to-one.
The controversial measure would have established an oligarchy of 10 licensed growers operating regulated indoor grow sites of up to 300,000 square feet each. The pro-marijuana activist community was divided on the measure.
Husted was not a neutral election administrator.
10/ Excellent column from Scott Maxwell on Central Florida's largest employer - Disney, and how locals can't afford to visit the park any more....
Last month, Disney once again hiked its prices.
And once again, the world responded with shrieks.
It's too high! People won't pay! Disney is nuts!
None of that is true.
Disney is charging what the market will bear. And frankly, anyone who has been to Disney — and witnessed a two-hour wait for Soarin' or struggled six months out to get reservations at the Be Our Guest restaurant — knows that Disney not only can raise its prices, it actually needed something to thin the herd.
These are basic laws of supply and demand. And there is continued demand for the pixie dust Disney supplies.
But as true as it is that Disney is simply following basic business models, it's also true that Disney has priced out much of America.
Disney may be America's playground, but many Americans can't afford to play here anymore.
This is Disney's new reality.
11/ Carl Hiaasen is pissed - Florida's mental health programs are set up to abuse and torture mentally ill patients.....not for the squeamish....
Excellent column.....
Welcome backwards to the Dark Ages, Florida-style.
The term “torture chamber” is outdated, but torture still occurs in our state prisons and mental hospitals.
Some types are more subtle than others. One person might get beaten or raped. Another simply gets sick and is left to die.
Nobody in charge seems outraged or ashamed, least of all Gov. Rick Scott and Attorney General Pam Bondi, who’s too busy attacking clean-air and water regulations on behalf of industrial polluters. Human horrors inside state institutions aren’t a priority of this administration. What cannot be covered up is merely swept aside.
The latest exposé of abuse and neglect comes from the Tampa Bay Times and Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Not surprisingly, the culprit agency is the dysfunctional Florida Department of Children & Families, which among many responsibilities is supposed to oversee state-funded mental hospitals.
Bad things sometimes happen to patients in these facilities. Terrible things.
But you’ll seldom hear about them because DCF doesn’t want you to. Even victims’ families get stonewalled.
Using laws meant to protect the privacy of patients, DCF systematically shields employees and administrators who are involved in incidents that result in serious harm and even death to patients.
Todays video - a new Nina Conti, one of the best ventriloquists out there.....
Todays Australian joke
A recent article in a West Australia newspaper reported that a woman, Mrs.Maynard, has sued a Perth Hospital, saying that after her husband had surgery there he lost all interest in sex.
A hospital spokesman replied: "Mr. Maynard was admitted for cataract surgery. All we did was correct his eyesight."
Todays PC jokes
1. She is not a 'BABE' or a 'CHICK' - She is aBREASTED AMERICAN. '2. She is not 'EASY' - She is'HORIZONTALLY ACCESSIBLE.'
3. She is not a 'DUMB BLONDE' - She is a'LIGHT-HAIRED DETOUR OFF THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY.'
4. She has not 'BEEN AROUND' - She is a'PREVIOUSLY-ENJOYED COMPANION.'
5. She does not 'NAG' you - She becomes' VERBALLY REPETITIVE.'6. She is not a 'TWO-BIT HOOKER' - She is a' LOW COST PROVIDER.'HOW TO SPEAK ABOUT MEN AND BE POLITICALLY CORRECT:
1. He does not have a 'BEER GUT' - He has developed a'LIQUID GRAIN STORAGE FACILITY.'
2. He is not a 'BAD DANCER' - He is' OVERLY CAUCASIAN.'
3.. He does not 'GET LOST ALL THE TIME' - He' INVESTIGATES ALTERNATIVE DESTINATIONS.'
4. He is not 'BALDING' - He is in'FOLLICLE REGRESSION.'
5. He does not act like a 'TOTAL ASS' - He develops a case ofRECTAL-CRANIAL INVERSION.'(Loved this one!)
6. It's not his 'CRACK' you see hanging out of his pants - It's'TROUSER CLEAVAGE.'(Loved this one even more)
Todays guys joke
A woman goes to the Doctor, worried about her husband and his temper.The Doctor asks: "What's the problem?The woman says: "Doctor, I don't know what to do. Every day my husband seems to lose his temper for no reason. It scares me."The Doctor says: "I have a cure for that. When it seems that your husband is getting angry, just take a glass of water and start swishing it in your mouth. Just swish and swish but don't swallow it until he either leaves the room or calms down.Two weeks later the woman comes back to the doctor looking fresh and reborn.The woman says: "Doctor that was a brilliant idea! Every time my husband started losing it, I swished with water. I swished and swished, and he calmed right down! How does a glass of water do that?"The Doctor says: "The water itself does nothing. It's keeping your mouth shut that does the trick".
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