Did you watch the Republican debate last night? If so, here are three stories on the spectacle......I managed to stay through the whole thing, and I felt like I needed a shower afterwards......awful, slimy and unpleasant men seeing who could be the more bombastic.....
1/ Who won? The consensus is Trump, but Cruz isn't far behind.....
Donald Trump (Credit: AP/Chuck Burton)
Thursday night’s Fox Business Network debate was, from the first moment to its last flourishes, a terrifying spectacle. We’re not far removed from the Iowa caucuses and the field is still crowded, so extra effort was put in by the candidates to distinguish themselves and maybe take a well-timed, late-stage bite out of Donald Trump’s lead in the polls. No one managed to do that. Quite the opposite, in fact. Trump had probably the best debate performance he’s turned in to date, while the candidates beneath him busied themselves with tearing each other apart in a grim display of prevarication and fearmongering nonsense.
The one big development we saw was Ted Cruz finally – finally – attacking Trump on the big stage. After months and months spent flattering Trump and refusing to say so much as one negative syllable about the man in the hopes that Trump’s supporters would jump ship, Cruz has come to the conclusion that he can no longer wait for the Trump collapse to happen on its own and has to start taking matters into his own hands. And Trump gave him the opening he needed by questioning Cruz’s eligibility for office owing to the accident of his Canadian birth. Cruz argued that the issue only came up because “Donald is dismayed that his poll numbers are falling in Iowa,” and said to Trump: “You’re an American, as is everybody else on this stage, and I would suggest we focus on who’s best prepared to be commander- in-chief.” It was one of the more effective rebuttals to Trumpism we’ve seen to date.
2/ Frank Bruni's column from the Times.....
Remember that phase of the campaign when Ted Cruz spoke no ill of Donald Trump, who returned the favor?
You may now forget it. Bury it. Write its obituary, in a pen dipped in acid.
At Thursday night’s Republican debate, the two frontrunners didn’t merely spar, as was expected. They glared at and scolded each other with a venomousness that was initially mesmerizing, then horrifying and finally just sad—very, very sad.
The trajectory of the Republican primary has been one of growing pessimism, intensifying acrimony and abundant pettiness, and it reached its ugly nadir on the stage in North Charleston, S.C.
3/ An overview of the collapse of intelligence in Republican politics.....excellent comments.....
A total embarrassment: 3 takeaways from a GOP debate that brushed rock bottom in American politics
There is no single word in the English language capable of describing the embarrassing display the GOP just put on
Donald Trump (Credit: AP/Chuck Burton)
It may not represent the absolute nadir of modern American politics, but the presidential debate held by the Fox Business Network in South Carolina on Thursday night surely ranks among the very worst.
Indeed, if you were to try to describe what transpired on that stage in a single word, you couldn’t do it. We have no word for such a garish combination of frivolity, crassness, belligerence, dogma, and ignorance. It is beyond the English language. “Traveshamockery,” perhaps, comes close.
And, yes, this is more or less what you hear from lefties such as myself after everyGOP presidential debate. In our defense, however, that’s because it’s true! Similar to the way that, thanks to climate change, nearly every Summer is the hottest in recorded history, the life-zapping nothingness of these presidential debates appears to have no upper-limit. It does not get better, no sir.
4/ Megan Kelly is one of the few smart anchors in Foxland, which is why it was wonderful to see Tavis Smiley put her in her place as she trots out the Fox talking points on race.....a delicious five minutes....
Smiley is sooooo articulate....
On “The Kelly File” Monday evening, host Megyn Kelly spoke to PBS’s Tavis Smiley about the state of race relations in America today, which according to a recent Gallup poll are worse now than when the president first took office.
Smiley opened by noting that this is largely the Republican’s fault, as they have made the president’s race a divisive issue by other means.
“But people were crying the night he was elected in Chicago,” Kelly replied, “and I don’t want to say he was ‘The Messenger,’ but this was a guy who could change things.”
Smiley said that we will “debating unto time immemorial whether or not the right move was to go after jobs or healthcare first.”
5/ Did you watch SOTU on Tuesday? If so, you might be interested in this story from Salon.....nails it.....
Barack Obama is welcomed by Paul Ryan and Joe Biden prior to delivering his final State of the Union address, January 12, 2016. (Credit: Reuters/Evan Vucci)
In the days and hours before President Obama’s final State of the Union address, the White House was sending signals that he planned to go out in style, releasing a dramatic movie trailer-style video, complete with a sly reference to the smash Broadway hit “Hamilton.” And sure enough, the song “One Last Time,” about Washington’s farewell address to the nation, seemed to have its influence, with its themes about blowing off critics who say you are weak and the wariness of partisan divisiveness.
Obama hit all the requisite marks for a State of the Union address: Cataloging past successes, describing current obstacles, outlining bold plans for the future. But, at its heart, the speech was ultimately a lengthy rebuttal to — and a warning about — the metastasizing ugliness and hatred that is pouring out of the conservative movement and the Republican Party that relies on this increasingly vitriolic, hateful conservative base.
6/ And a great Colbert commentary on SOTU......a good one! About six minutes.....
Everyone was at Tuesday’s State of the Union, with the exception of a very happy John Boehner “who was at home watching a Property Brothers marathon,” Stephen Colbert joked on Wednesday’s show.
The president’s speech was, in part, a record of accomplishments from the economy he saved, to the auto industry he saved, to Osama bin Laden who he killed. “He just put them on the table,” Colbert pantomimed dropping something more personal than a mic. But while the speech made Colbert feel “a little misty, cause it was a little listy,” it did cause him to break into the Billy Joel song “We Didn’t Start The Fire” a few times.
The hardest thing about the speech, however, was Paul Ryan’s need to seem both engaged and enraged as the head of the opposition party. He even told CNN he was practicing his poker face in the mirror beforehand.
7/ You may have seen the kerfuffle around Sean Penn's interview with El Chapo for Rolling Stone....here Seth Meyers has some comments and jokes....
On Late Night Monday, host Seth Meyers dedicated his desk segment to taking square aim at the bizarre circumstances surrounding actor Sean Penn‘s secret interview with Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán in Mexico.
“He bursts out of jail the way other people wear khakis on a Friday,” joked Meyers, referring to the seeming ease with which El Chapo has escaped authorities in the past. His last escape over the summer was part of an elaborate plan that involved a mile-long tunnel and a secretly-hidden motorbike.
Meyers mocked CNN’s coverage of the hotel that Mexican authorities reportedly brought the drug kingpin, asking “Is [CNN’s Martin Savage] reporting on the hotel or advertising for it?”. And when Meyers pivoted to reveal the Hollywood ambitions that El Chapo had to make a movie based on his life, the host played a little inside baseball; he joked, “So bad news, the El Chapo movie is probably on hold. But the good news is, if you want to see what it would have looked like, you can just edit together scenes of Scarface, Shawshank Redemption, and Horatio Sanz sketches,” referring to his longtime Saturday Night Livecastmember and friend.
8/ There are mixed reviews of Ricky Gervais's hosting of the Golden Globes, so here it is - judge for yourself.....it's about 9 minutes of Gervais's smutty British humour.....
I found it pretty funny, but I thought Tina and Amy did a better job last year.
British comic and provocateur Ricky Gervaisdelights in making people nervous with anticipation for his Golden Globes monologues. After hosting in 2010, 2011, and 2012, Gervais took his fourth go-round Sunday night, and couldn’t even wait for the show to begin to start offending people. Several hours before the show, Gervais sent this eye-opening tweet as an offensive amuse bouche, if you will:
The monologue didn’t quite reach that level of explicitness, but Gervais did stick to his usual mix of lowbrow sexual humor, broadsides at the awards themselves, shocking jabs like his comparison of Pixels to Schindler’s List, and red-hot topical jokes like the Sean Penn interview with El Chapo.
9/ If you are a liberal you may find yourself confounded with some of the conservative beliefs - but it turns out science has a reason for it.....our brains.
So it turns out that Liberals and Conservatives are different in more ways than just our ideology. We actually have very different brains. And according to scientists the neo-Con brain is ruled primarily by one thing….FEAR.
Have you ever wondered exactly what it is that makes you a Liberal instead of a Conservative? Did you just make a decision one day that your feelings and beliefs lean left? Were you raised by Democratic parents who taught you Liberal values? Or could there be more to it? Maybe you were just born with a predisposition to be a Lib.
Well as it turns out, there have been several studies which reveal that the brains of Liberals and Conservatives are actually very different. And these differences really are a good thing. It’s like nature has given us a built-in system of checks and balances. It’s what makes Conservatives prone to want stability and order, while the Liberals go after progress and reform.
One thing that the researchers have found is that Liberals have larger and more active anterior cingulate cortex, or ACC, than our Conservative counterparts. And while they are lacking in the ACC department, they actually have larger amygdala than we do.
What this means is that basically the more developed ACC allows the Liberal to be a better problem solver. It helps us to cipher through difficult information and make educated decisions.
No apologies for putting this again.....love it!
10/ A video from the German producer Zedd - featuring Foxes, "Clarity".....one of the best EDM songs and indeed videos of 2013.....
I find this interesting because the film makes absolutely no sense whatever, with half set in a beautiful desert, the hero is a hippie loser you move across the sidewalk to avoid, the singer is the first JAP I've seen in a music vid, there are amazing graphics and it's got a convertible GTO.....
Song is pretty good though......very passionate and catchy.....
11/ This looked like an interesting story, so I opened it - and about half an hour later I had seen 15 or so trailers for movies coming next year, and a few of these movies look amazing!
Be warned - these trailers are addictive......start with the first one from the Coen Brothers 'Hail Caesar".....
(Illustration by Brittany Falussy)
Chances are good that most folks are still a little hungover from all the lightsaber fights, superhero flights of fancy, Western revivals and "bear rapes" that characterized filmgoing in the Year of Our Lord 2015. But the movies, like time and Black Friday shoppers, wait for no man, and the first few weeks of 2016 has already started to bring on new horror flicks, Kevin Hart comedies and, at long last, Michael Bay's take on Benghazi.
It's the beginning of what should be an interesting 12 months in the dark, which promises everything from the usual blockbuster suspects (superhero movies, sequels, star vehicles, another Star Wars movie) to big-name director projects (new films from the Coen brothers, Malick, Linklater, Spielberg, Stone — though Martin Scorsese's Silence is now looking like a 2017 release) to a handful of indie/foreign/arthouse/genre movies that border on the unclassifiable (see Green Room and The Witch by any means necessary).
So we're counting down 50 of the most anticipated movies coming out in 2016, from big-studio releases to some under-the-radar, oddball movies we're looking forward to catching. Mark your calendars and stock up on Visine. Here's what you'll be seeing at theaters near you for the next year.
Todays video - a size comparison of the planets and stars......two minutes of awesome....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XE0aAZE0kp4&feature=player_embedded
Todays blonde joke
A blonde finds herself in serious trouble. Her business has gone bust and she’s in dire financial straits.
She’s desperate, so she decides to ask God for help.
She begins to pray… ‘God, please help me. I’ve lost my business and
if I don’t get some money, I’m going to lose my house as well. Please let
me win the lottery’
Lottery night comes, and somebody else wins.
She again prays… ‘God, please let me win the lottery! I’ve lost my business, my house and I’m going to lose my car as well.’
Lottery night comes and she still has no luck.
Once again, she prays… ‘My God, why have you forsaken me? I’ve lost
my business, my house, and my car. My children are starving. I don’t
often ask You for help, and I’ve always been a good servant to You.
PLEASE let me win the lottery just this one time so I can get my life back in order.’
Suddenly there is a blinding flash of light as the heavens open.
The blonde is overwhelmed by the Voice of God, Himself…
‘Sweetheart, work with Me on this…. Buy a ticket.’
Todays sensitive male joke
The room was full of pregnant women with their husbands.
The instructor said, "Ladies, remember that exercise is good for you. Walking is especially beneficial. It strengthens the pelvic muscles and will make delivery that much easier. Just pace yourself, make plenty of stops and try to stay on a soft surface like grass or a path."
"Gentlemen, remember -- you're in this together. It wouldn't hurt you to go walking with her. In fact, that shared experience would be good for you both."
The room suddenly became very quiet as the men absorbed this information.
After a few moments a man, name unknown, at the back of the room, slowly raised his hand.
"Yes?" said the Instructor.
"I was just wondering if it would be all right if she carries a golf bag?
Brings a tear to your eye, doesn't it? This level of sensitivity can't be taught.
Todays golf jokes
David Feherty is a CBS and Golf Channel announcer, who finds very unique, colorful and uninhibited ways of explaining or describing whatever is on his mind...(probably always on time delay these days).Feherty Quotes:"It would be easier to pick a broken nose, than a winner in that group.""Fortunately, Rory is 22 years old so his right wrist should be the strongest muscle in his body.""That ball is so far left, Lassie couldn't find it if it was wrapped in bacon."" I am sorry Nick Faldo couldn't be here this week. He is attending the birth of his next wife."Jim Furyk's swing "looks like an octopus falling out of a tree."Describing VJ Singh's prodigious practice regime - "VJ hits more balls than Elton John's chin." (Thought I was going to hurt myself laughing at this one.)"That's a great shot with that swing.""It's OK - the bunker stopped it."At Augusta 2011 - "It's just a glorious day. The only way to ruin a day like this would be to play golf on it.""That was a great shot - if they'd have put the pin there today.""Watching Phil Mickelson play golf is like watching a drunk chasing a balloon near the edge of a cliff.""That green appears smaller than a Pygmy's nipple".
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