Frank Rich on Trump.....concentrating on the politics of Herr Trump....
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: Donald Trump's ban on Muslims entering the U.S., Obama's national address, and Spotlight and the state of investigative journalism.
Donald Trump's call for a Muslim exclusion act (which drew cheers at the rally where Trump proposed it) has drawn an almost-universal backlash nationwide, yet Trump is sticking to his guns. Is there any way this helps him?
Doesn’t it seem a century ago when Trump committed what was supposed to be a cardinal sin, particularly to Republicans, and insulted the war hero John McCain? Trump was pronounced politically dead back then — this was in July — and we needn’t catalogue all of the times he’s risen like Lazarus since, after each racist, xenophobic, misogynist, or just plain lunatic pronouncement theoretically ended his campaign. So when people talk now, as you put it, of “an almost-universal backlash” to his latest and perhaps most outrageous thunderbolt of bigotry, it depends on how you define universal. That universe does not include Trump’s fans. In a USA Today/Suffolk University poll released yesterday, some 68 percent of respondents said they would bolt the GOP if their hero decided to run as an independent.
Wow! A great clip from "The Voice" when an unknown guy [Jordan Smith] sings and crushes Sia's "Chandelier".....it actually sounds better than the original! Three minutes.....
Matt Taibbi on how the media is turbocharging the Trump campaign, falling into every trap he sets for them.....willingly, because it's all about ratings. But it's also about news and TV because as Taibbi says, Americans get almost all of their news from TV, and it's garbage - ESPECIALLY if they are watching Fox.....
Excellent article, and challenging....
"Trump represents something of a quandary for the media," says an article recently published by the 'LA Times.'
Some people in the news business are having second thoughts this week about their campaign strategy. They're wondering if they created a monster in Donald Trump.
The LA Times published a piece about how the tone of Trump's TV appearances has changed, now that's he's fully out of the closet as an aspiring dictator, with his plans to ban all Muslims and close the Internet and whatever else he's come up with in the last ten minutes.
The paper noted that the candidate had unusual trouble on Morning Joe, a show that usually doubles as Trump's weekly spa treatment:
"Typically, the billionaire TV personality is able to bluster his way through morning talk shows. But Trump had an unusually contentious appearance Tuesday morning on MSNBC's 'Morning Joe,' where co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski grilled him on his proposals to keep Muslims out of the U.S....
"'It certainly puts the burden on the people conducting the interviews to be tougher the more controversial his comments are,' Scarborough told The Times after the exchange."
The paper went on to dig in to the ethics of covering Trump:
"Trump represents something of a quandary for the media, especially TV networks. Privately, TV news producers acknowledge that Trump has turbocharged their ratings…"
Essentially, TV news producers are wondering: "How do we keep getting the great ratings without helping elect the Fourth Reich?"
One of Colbert's ["The Late Show"] best segments so far, with LOL moments.....six minutes of clever humor.....
Donald Trump is so obscene and horrific even Republican candidates for president are going out of their way to criticize him. Stephen Colbert announced on Wednesday night’s “Late Show” that he stands with Lindsey Graham who said that “Trump can go to hell.”
Just practically speaking, Colbert doesn’t know how the TSA could even test Muslims for their religion when entering the country. “Though I will say their pat-downs are thorough enough to tell if you’re Jewish,” he joked. “Maybe we could casually ask them, ‘Hey I’m trying to recalibrate my compass, do you know which direction Mecca is?” and then flashed a wide-eyed serious-face. Trump is insulting every major group of Americans except one: white people. “And, frankly, I feel left out,” Colbert said.
A fascinating story from Salon's Amanda Marcotte who argues Trump is merely articulating what the disenfranchised white lower middle class wants to hear, and he is making their bigotry and stupidity acceptable.....
He's not leading the bigotry, he's articulating hate and fear that's already there and making it OK for them to be bigots....
(Credit: AP/John Amis)
Monday night, Arianna Huffington caved and wrote an open letter, explaining that The Huffington Post would stop covering the Donald Trump campaign in the entertainment section, moving coverage to where it belongs: the politics section.
The move was long overdue. Putting Trump in the entertainment section may have been a funny stunt, but it had some rather disturbing implications about the role of journalism in the political process. It’s one thing for journalistic enterprises to share opinion and data that helps voters make better informed choices, but it’s another thing entirely for journalists to appoint themselves gatekeepers. It’s not just undemocratic, but, as the Trump campaign shows, it doesn’t work.
That’s because The Huffington Post, and many other journalistic outlets, continue to make a category error when it comes to Trump, assuming that the main reason all this is happening is Trump himself. The assumption is that he’s somehow an idiot savant of American politics, the man who cracked the code, broke all the rules and is rallying voters around his cult of personality. That Trump is a fascist pied piper, playing a beguiling racist song on his flute and leading huge numbers of Americans over the cliff.
But the Trump phenomenon isn’t really about him, as fascinating (and orange) of a character as he is. Trump is better understood not as the creator of a movement, but the expression of a popular will, a cipher through which huge numbers of Americans communicate what looks an awful lot like fascist sympathies. He is a symptom of a larger problem, not the cause of it.
Wow - a hi-def trip in the Himalayas to see Mt. Everest via a specially equipped helicopter......two amazing minutes.....
Teton Gravity Research released the first ultra HD footage of the Himalayas shot from above 20,000 ft. with the GSS C520 system, the most advanced-gyro-stabilized camera system in the world. It was filmed from a helicopter with a crew flying from Kathmandu at 4,600 ft. up to 24,000 ft. on supplemental oxygen, these are some of the most stable, crisp, clear aerial shots of these mountains ever released, which include Mt. Everest, Ama Dablam, and Lhotse.
Sasha Baron Cohen has a new movie out, and was on Jimmy Kimmel's show to promote it as his character Borat.....rude, crude but quite funny! Six amusing minutes [if you saw "Borat"].....and the movie looks totally wacko....
Sacha Baron Cohen revived his "Borat" persona Wednesday night on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, with Kazakhstan's greatest comedic export making a surprise Hanukkah appearance to blast Donald Trump and debut the trailer for The Brothers Grimsby.Things got meta quickly when Borat told Kimmel that he's visiting the show to call for a boycott of Cohen's upcoming film The Brothers Grimsby."I have come very serious, I come to make warning to U.S. and A., the frivolous nincompoops Sacha Cohen has returned. This man is a real pain in my exit holes," Borat said. "His characters are very, very offensive. Ali G, Bruno, and his new one, Donald Trump."
Kimmel explained to Borat that the Republican presidential frontrunner is actually a real person, but Borat doesn't believe it. "The only person who would ban Muslims is someone with brain like female chicken. It is clearly a parody of the rich American racist," Borat told Kimmel. "He does not look even real. Cohen spent all the money on orange paint for face and leave no money for wig."
Borat then called for a boycott of The Brothers Grimsby, an action film about a pair of orphaned brothers separated during their childhood; one grows up to become an elite spy, the other grows up to become an oafish soccer fan.
Most interesting story from Robert Parry on how Obama's credibility on foreign policy is shot, because no one with any brains [like DDD readers!] believes the official line about anything.....from ISIS, to Ukraine, Libya, TPP it's all "official" bullshit.
A very good article......
Like the old story of the little boy who cried wolf, the U.S. government is finding out that – just when its credibility is most needed – it doesn’t have any. With all its “soft power” schemes of “perception management,” funding “citizen bloggers” and sticking with “narratives” long after they’ve been discredited, the U.S. government is losing the propaganda battle against ISIS.
That was the conclusion of outside experts who examined the State Department’s online campaigns to undercut ISIS, according to an article by The Washington Post’s Greg Miller who wrote that the review “cast new doubt on the U.S. government’s ability to serve as a credible voice against the terrorist group’s propaganda.”
President Obama and King Salman Arabia stand at attention during the U.S. national anthem as the First Lady stands in the background with other officials on Jan. 27, 2015, at the start of Obama’s State Visit to Saudi Arabia. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza).
In other words, even when the U.S. government competes with the creepy head-choppers of ISIS, the U.S. government comes in second. Of course, the State Department remains in denial about its collapse of credibility – and typically won’t release the details of the critical study.
Jon Stewart returned to the Daily Show with Trevor Noah to make a plea for the first responders bill......a great segment, some jokes but also some serious moments, which shows why we miss him.
A "nice" seven minutes.....
Jon Stewart made a pretty huge return to The Daily Show tonight to lobby on behalf of 9/11 first responders for a health care bill being held up in Congress.
He riffed a bit with Noah about how messed up it is that there are senators who actually have a problem with legislation taking care of those first responders before showing off his trip to D.C. with a group of them.
Stewart traveled around to a few senators’ offices “to see if shame works.” He eventually managed to confront Senator Rob Portman, who ended up supporting the legislation.
Brazil is in deep shit environmentally.....the severe drought that have been experiencing is worse than you have been told....disturbing story from the Daily Kos. Actually you haven't been told by our wonderful corporate media - this story was news to me too.....
Women are being told not to get pregnant because of the Zika virus, which can cause brain damage in the womb...and Brazil has managed to pollute huge parts of the S. Atlantic ocean....
The Brazilian government recently released the largest and most comprehensive report that has been done on the climate change impacts to their country. Despite the critical importance of the issues raised in the study entitled Scenarios and Alternatives for Adaption to Climate Change (Monga Bay highlights the study in English here ), it "was published with surprising discretion at the end of October and might have passed unnoticed, had it not been for the watchful eyes of the OC (Observatório do Clima), a civil society network that promotes discussion on climate change”.
The report highlights the severe drought that has been torturing Brazil ( particularly impacted is the mega-city of Sao Paulo with it’s 11.8 million residents). It warns that staple agricultural crops currently under cultivation such as corn, rice and beans will suffer serious decline. Brazil will become hotter, and drier with regional differences, “the south receiving more rain while the Amazon and the north-east get considerably less, particularly in the summer”. Electrical output is threatened throughout Brazil.
The Times TV critics list their best TV of 2015......
If you haven't watched "The Americans" and "The Jinx" you are in for a treat....
Was 2015 the best TV year ever? It was, at least, the most TV year ever. There are more original shows every year. Choosing 10 shows annually, then, becomes a crueler and crueler process. As it should be. A list only means something to the extent that it leaves something off. It should hurt. But inevitably, any best TV show list will omit some of what was best about TV.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/
Todays video - a 41 shot table tennis rally....amazing....one minute.
Todays Christmas joke
1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Holiday spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they're serving rum balls.
2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. It's rare... You cannot find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It's not as if you're going to turn into an eggnog-alcoholic or something. It's a treat. Enjoy it. Have one for me. Have two. It's later than you think. It's Christmas!
3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole point of gravy. Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat.
4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they're made with skim milk or whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother? It's like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission.
5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. The whole point of going to a Holiday party is to eat other people's food for free. Lots of it. Hello?
6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year's. You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which you'll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog.
7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourself near them and don't budge. Have as many as you can before becoming the center of attention. They're like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them behind, you're never going to see them again.
8. Same for pies. Apple, Pumpkin, Mincemeat. Have a slice of each. Or if you don't like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? Labor Day?
9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it's loaded with the mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost. I mean, have some standards.
10. One final tip: If you don't feel terrible when you leave the party or get up from the table, you haven't been paying attention. Re-read tips; start over, but hurry, January is just around the corner.
Remember this motto to live by: "Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand and wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!"
Have a great holiday season!!
Todays guy jokes
What deep thinkers men are...I mowed the lawn today, and after doing so I sat down and had a cold beer.
The day was really quite beautiful, and the drink facilitated some deep thinking.
My wife walked by and asked me what I was doing, and I said 'nothing'.
The reason I said 'nothing' instead of saying 'just thinking' is because
she then would have asked 'about what?'.
At that point I would have had to explain that men are deep thinkers
about various topics, which would lead to other questions.
Finally I pondered an age old question:
Is giving birth more painful than getting kicked in the nuts?
Women always maintain that giving birth is way more painful than
a guy getting kicked in the nuts, but how could they "know"?
Well, after another beer, and some more heavy deductive thinking,
I have come up with an answer to that question.
Getting kicked in the nuts is more painful than having a baby,and even though I obviously couldn't really "know", here is the reason for my conclusion.A year or so after giving birth, a woman will often say,
"It might be nice to have another child."
On the other hand, you never hear a guy say,
"You know, I think I would like another kick in the nuts."I rest my case.Time for another beer, and then maybe a nap in that hammock.
Todays wry joke for matures.....
Life is Great being a Seenager (senior teenager)
I have everything that I wanted as a teenager only 60 years later:
I don't have to go to school or work.
I get an allowance every month.
I have a driver's license and have my own car.
I have my own pad and I don't have a curfew.
The people I hang around with aren't afraid of getting pregnant and don't have acne.
Life is Great!
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