1/ Some of our readers may feel the same way about Hillary Clinton as I did a few months ago......resentful that she beat Bernie, we were prepared to hold our noses and vote for her because of the odious orange one......but the more I have seen of her performance in the debates and the Democratic Convention, the more I have been impressed....
So this article from the LA Times was particularly interesting to me.....and maybe to you.....written by a writer who watched the third debate last week.....
Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump
I fought through deep internal resistance to watch the debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump on Wednesday night. There were no snacks or drinks or good company that could make it otherwise. I dragged myself to a viewing party, dutifully jotted down the wilder bits, and wondered what on Earth there was left to write, five months into covering the clearest contest in modern memory.
By summer’s end, I’d already been convinced that Clinton was not only the superior candidate, but the only reasonable one; that Trump was a xenophobic, racist, sexist, mediocre flesh lollipop in Italian suits subsidized by unearned tax write-offs; that Jill Stein’s thirst for relevance was so strong that she’d take any opportunity to push Clinton and Trump into a homogenous category of ”evil power,” regardless of the mental acrobatics and false equivalences that required; that Gary Johnson was good for getting a beer with, and not much else. That assessment has not changed.
I did not watch the final debate for mind-expanding exchanges such as the following.
Trump: Look. She's been proven to be a liar on so many different ways. This is just another lie.
Clinton: Well, I'm just quoting you when —
Trump: There is no quote. You won't find a quote from me.
I watched because this dumpster fire is our political system, and it matters.
2/ A wonderfully sung and very amusing song - "Make Our Country Great Again"......two charming minutes.....
Many of us have pondered what era Trump’s slogan “Make America Great Again” is alluding to. The early days of “burning witches?” Eradicating Native Americans? Enslaving African-Americans? Ignoring the Holocaust? Throwing gays into mental institutions? Back when only white men could vote? The 50s, when segregation was still practiced and schoolchildren across the country were crawling under their desks for fear of atomic annihilation? The 80s, when Ronald Reagan was snidely removing solar panels from the White House roof, demonizing “welfare queens,” fighting to undermine the middle class at every turn and laying out the red carpet for the wealthy? Who the hell even knows what period in this country’s history these people want to return to when they screech they want to “Take OUR country back.” Take it back from whomexactly? And who is this “our” you are referring to? I think I speak for many out there when I say that I much prefer living in 2016 despite the myriad problems we continue to face and the battles we still have left to fight.
3/ Frank Rich on the Republicans trying to distance themselves from Trump.....the master of political analysis.....
Most weeks, New York Magazine writer-at-large Frank Rich speaks with contributor Alex Carp about the biggest stories in politics and culture. Today: Trump’s dangerous rhetoric, the last presidential debate, and the potential future of the GOP.
Despite the protestations of his party, his campaign, and his family, Donald Trump still refuses to state outright that he will unconditionally accept the results of the election. Could he be too isolated for this stance to be dangerous?
It’s true that Trump has virtually no allies at the top of the GOP when it comes to his new crusade to delegitimize the results of a presidential election. When Charles Krauthammer, a conservative pundit who gave Trump more rope to hang himself than many, calls his stand “political suicide,” and when a proven right-wing nutcase like Maine’s governor Paul LePage tells Trump to “get over yourself,” you know you’re out on the fringe.
It’s true that Trump has virtually no allies at the top of the GOP when it comes to his new crusade to delegitimize the results of a presidential election. When Charles Krauthammer, a conservative pundit who gave Trump more rope to hang himself than many, calls his stand “political suicide,” and when a proven right-wing nutcase like Maine’s governor Paul LePage tells Trump to “get over yourself,” you know you’re out on the fringe.
4/ The Times with a two minute video of the zingers from Debate #3......a refresher for you, after all it was at least a week ago!
Final Presidential Debate Zingers
Highlights of the best zingers, one-liners and comebacks from Donald J. Trump and Hillary Clinton at the third and final presidential debate.
5/ This campaign is the gift from heaven for SNL, and they have nailed the debates for the last three weeks with Alec Baldwin and Kate McKinnon playing Mr. Orange and Hillary.....a wonderful 8 minutes.....
America witnessed its final debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trumpthis week, so there was no way that Saturday Night Live was going to pass up a chance to address it with their cold open.
Kate McKinnon brought the heat right away, emulating Clinton’s remarks at the debate about Russia, WikiLeaks, and her defense of her political record. When asked if she would ever stop pivoting away from the revelations made about her due to WikiLeaks, McKinnon answered “No, but it was very cute to watch you try.”
The bit also made reference to Trump’s most recent controversy, as “Chris Wallace” (played by tonight’s host Tom Hanks) questioned Alec Baldwin‘s Trump over his rants about the election being rigged against him.
6/ A fascinating video essay on how climate change is making the deserts in China encroach on farmland, displacing millions....
It's beautiful photography.....and I love geography, so I found this most interesting.....
IN THE TENGGER DESERT, CHINA — This desert, called the Tengger, lies on the southern edge of the massive Gobi Desert, not far from major cities like Beijing. The Tengger is growing.
For years, China’s deserts spread at an annual rate of more than 1,300 square miles. Many villages have been lost. Climate change and human activities have accelerated desertification. China says government efforts to relocate residents, plant trees and limit herding have slowed or reversed desert growth in some areas. But the usefulness of those policies is debated by scientists, and deserts are expanding in critical regions.
7/ This is the full video of the Al Smith dinner last week, the night after the debate, and it is supposed to be a lighthearted event where the candidates politely and gently poke fun at one another.....but of course Trump didn't get that memo......
Trump's full speech starts at 7 1/2 minutes and lasts for about 13 embarrassing minutes.......he does however get in a couple of pretty good jokes before things start to detioriate.
Hillary's speech starts at the 25 minute mark, and lasts about 18 minutes....she is actually very funny and gets in multiple zingers......
The hottie in the red dress behind Trump is Maria Bartiromo of CNBC....
Donald Trump turned what was supposed to be a lighthearted, introspective roast into a vitriolic stump speech, and got booed because of it.
Only 24 hours after their final presidential debate on Wednesday, Trump was within arms’ length of Hillary Clinton at the annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner in New York City.
As part of the proceedings, both candidates delivered a set of pre-written jokes. And though the Republican nominee’s roast of Hillary Clinton began a little clunky at worst, he lost the audience when he called her corrupt.
“Hillary is so corrupt,” Trump set up, prompting boos, “she got kicked off the Watergate Commission.”
“We’ve learned so much from WikiLeaks,” he said later. “For example, Hillary believes that it’s vital to deceive the people by having one public policy and a totally different policy in private.”
8/ Why are Americans so scared? Conservatives in particular but also everyone else seems to be living with a subcurrent of fear that isn't justified by facts.....
But as usual it's all about money, so read this story from Rolling Stone and you will learn how your fear is profitable to the media and the elites.....it's called control....
"We start recieving notifications as soon as these disasters happen," one sociologist says. "There's a false sense of involvement that we didn't have 150 years ago.
Jen Senko believes that her father was brainwashed. As Senko, a New York filmmaker, tells it, her father was a "nonpolitical Democrat." But then he transferred to a new job that required a long commute and began listening to conservative radio host Bob Grant during the drive. Eventually, he was holing himself up for three hours every day in the family kitchen, mainlining Rush Limbaugh and, during commercials, Fox News.
"It reminded me of the movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers," Senko says. "He used to love talking to different people to try to learn their language, but then he became angry about illegal immigrants coming to the country, that they were taking jobs from Americans, and that English was becoming the secondary language."
Senko is not alone. A California schoolteacher says her marriage fell apart after her husband started watching Fox News and yelling about government plots to take away his guns and freedom. On the left, my friend Phoebe has had to physically remove her mom, who she describes as a "Sam Seder news junkie," from family functions for raging against relatives about the "dark place" this country is going to.
"All of these emotions, especially fear, whip people up into a state of alarm and they become angry and almost evangelical about what they believe," says Senko. "It's like a disease infecting millions of people around the country."
9/ Weird Al Yankovic and the Gregory Brothers with the strangest version of the third debate you will ever see........the song is called "Bad Hombres, Nasty Women"....
"Weird Al" Yankovic teamed with Songify to relive the insult-laden third presidential election in the key of Bb minor for "Bad Hombres, Nasty Women."
Named after two of Donald Trump's more quotable moments, Yankovic serves as moderator for the Autotuned showdown, with Trump and Hillary Clinton "singing" about Russia, the Supreme Court and how "our country is dying big league, big league."
"Can everyone achieve for the American dream, or should they sign up for my Ponzi scheme," the parodist sings as moderator. "To stop a Cold War, what should we be doin'?/ Would you go thumb-wrestle Vladimir Putin?/ We have so many adversaries overseas/ Can we all agree to be frenemies?"
"Bad Hombres, Nasty Women" also features many of the third debate's better burns, from Clinton's quip about "Chinese steel" and Trump being Putin's puppet to the Republican nominee's proclamation that the election is "rigged." Still, Trump's quintessential "bad hombres" line gets the most play.
10/ Samantha Bee with her unique take on the debate.....she gives us a civics lesson, and the Republican party an enema.....Part 1, six minutes and Part 2, three minutes.....
.In this week’s episode of Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, the host discussed the Republican candidate’s poor performance last week, claiming that his policy positions were decided “by dumping out Risk on to the floor and reading the pieces like tea leaves”.
She also discussed the inaccurate way in which he spoke about abortion after he claimed that they could be conducted one day before the due date. “Removing a baby from a woman’s womb in the ninth month isn’t an abortion, it’s a birth,” she said.
She went on to praise Hillary Clinton’s defense of women who deserve the right to take control over their own bodies.
“Men, if you don’t get why it’s important to have a woman as a major party nominee, check your social media feed,” she said. “Actually, log in as your wife. You’ll see that all week, women have been sharing deeply personal stories of pregnancies that went wrong.”
11/ A billboard in Michigan.....
The roadside sign was posted in Dearborn, home to the most Arab-American residents per capita of any city in the United States.
Translated, it reads: "Donald Trump can't read this, but he's scared of it."
12/ John Oliver on great form, where he puts forward a great idea to get Trump to concede.....a very good 4 minutes....
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Last Week Tonight host John Oliver has a plan to get Donald Trump to concede the election if he loses.
At the final presidential debate, Trump told the country he will keep us "in suspense" about whether he’ll concede if he loses. But he also complained about something else: that the Emmys treated him unfairly. "I should have gotten it," Trump said when Hillary Clinton brought up Trump’s past tweets claiming the TV awards were rigged because he didn’t win an Emmy.
"Of course," Oliver said. "Of course he wants an Emmy. It’s a woman, it’s gold, and it’s proportionate to his tiny hands. It’s basically Trump’s ideal mate."
Oliver added, "Here’s the problem here: It increasingly seems like if Donald Trump loses, we are not going to get the concession speech that the country badly needs, because he is medically incapable of accepting that he is a loser."
So Oliver offered Trump a bet. "I think I might have the answer here, because I have a proposition for Donald Trump: Let’s bet on the outcome of this election. I will take the side that you win. You take the side that you lose. That way, if you lose, you still win. As for the stakes of the bet, I have something I know that you want."
13/ Bill McKibben on what we can do to help stop what appears to be inevitable and catastrophic climate change, in our lifetimes....
The questions come after talks, on twitter, in the days' incoming tide of email—sometimes even in old-fashioned letters that arrive in envelopes. The most common one by far is also the simplest: What can I do? I bet I've been asked it 10,000 times by now and—like a climate scientist predicting the temperature—I'm pretty sure I'm erring on the low side.
It's the right question or almost: It implies an eagerness to act and action is what we need. But my answer to it has changed over the years, as the science of global warming has shifted. I find, in fact, that I'm now saying almost the opposite of what I said three decades ago.
14/ Stephen Colbert had a special guest on his show last week - "Melania Trump".....seven most amusing minutes.....
SCOTT KOWALCHYK/CBS
Melania Trump has rarely come out of the shadows of this presidential election to speak up on her husband Donald Trump’s behalf, making her recent interview with Anderson Cooper a unique moment — and it was all to do damage control for Trump bragging to Billy Bush in 2005 about how he could sexually assault women whenever he wants because he’s famous.
The interview itself was a puzzler, thanks to Melania Trump justifying her husband’s behavior by saying that it was Bush who made the whole thing happen, and that her focus as first lady would be to combat negativity on social media, an interest her husband currently relishes. But it at least gave The Late Show With Stephen Colbert an opportunity to tap Laura Benanti’s Melania impression one more time.
"There is no one else in the room coaching me," Benanti-as-Melania promised at the top of the segment, winking off camera.
15/ Interesting story about retirement communities, and how a non-car environment is really valued......
When I read this I thought about how brilliant the Villages concept is, and the genius is the golf cart access to everything, including stores and bars....
Anyway food for thought....
Ben and Christine Brown in West Asheville, N.C., which they says is a more walkable community than their previous home in Franklin, N.C
FEW people in America walk to work. Most of us drive to the supermarket. But more older people these days are looking for a community where they can enjoy a full life without a car.
Ben Brown and his wife, Christine, say they weren’t thinking about retirement when they moved to Franklin, N.C., a small, lovely town nestled in the Smoky Mountains near Asheville, a haven for many East Coast and Midwest retirees.
“We loved the idea of living in a small town in a rural mountain area,” Mr. Brown recalled. “And we converted a summer house to a year-round home to suit our tastes.”
Yet Mr. Brown, a 70-year-old writer, and his 66-year-old wife said they had second thoughts as they made the transition toward retirement.
“We realized ‘aging in place’ means a lot more than just a comfortable house,” Mr. Brown said. “So we began thinking more about ‘aging in community.’ That means an urban neighborhood where you can walk or take transit to just about everything you need.”
16/ This looks like a really good movie.....
To describe “Moonlight,” Barry Jenkins’s second feature, as a movie about growing up poor, black and gay would be accurate enough. It would also not be wrong to call it a movie about drug abuse, mass incarceration and school violence. But those classifications are also inadequate, so much as to be downright misleading. It would be truer to the mood and spirit of this breathtaking film to say that it’s about teaching a child to swim, about cooking a meal for an old friend, about the feeling of sand on skin and the sound of waves on a darkened beach, about first kisses and lingering regrets. Based on the play “In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue” by Tarell Alvin McCraney, “Moonlight” is both a disarmingly, at times almost unbearably personal film and an urgent social document, a hard look at American reality and a poem written in light, music and vivid human faces.
Todays video - a wow.....it's a short film made by BMW starring Clive Owen, directed by Neil Blomkamp, called "The Escape"......it's 10 minutes, but feels like a real movie with a plot etc, and lots of action with [of course] a BMW! Really good.....
Todays golf jokes
If you really want to get better at golf, go back and take it up at a much earlier age.The game of golf is 90% mental and 10% mental.Since bad shots come in groups of three, a fourth bad shot is actually the beginning of the next group of three.When you look up, causing an awful shot, you will always look down again at exactly the moment when you ought to start watching the ball if you ever want to see it again.Any change works for a maximum of three holes . . . or at a minimum of not at all.No matter how bad you are playing, it is always possible to play worse.Never try to keep more than 300 separate thoughts in your mind during your swing.When your shot has to carry over a water hazard, you can either hit one more club or two more balls.If you're afraid a full shot might reach the green while the foursome ahead of you is still putting out, you have two options: you can immediately shank a lay-up or you can wait until the green is clear and top a ball halfway there.The less skilled the player, the more likely he is to share his ideas about the golf swing.The inevitable result of any golf lesson is the instant elimination of the one critical unconscious motion that allowed you to compensate for all of your many other errors.If it ain't broke, try changing your grip.Golfers who claim they don't cheat also lie.Everyone replaces his divot after a perfect approach shot.A golf match is a test of your skill against your opponents luck.It is surprisingly easy to hole a fifty foot putt ......for an 8.Counting on your opponent to inform you when he breaks a rule is like expecting him to make fun of his own haircut.Nonchalant putts count the same as chalant putts.It's not a gimme if your still away.The shortest distance between any two points on a golf course is a straight line that passes directly through the center of a very large tree.There are two kinds of bounces; unfair bounces and bounces just the way you meant to play it.You can hit a two acre fairway 10% of the time and a two-inch branch 90% of the time.Every time a golfer makes a birdie, he must subsequently make two triple bogeys to restore the fundamental equilibrium of the universe.If you want to hit a 7 iron as far as Tiger Woods does, simply try to lay up just short of a water hazard.To calculate the speed of a players downswing, multiply the speed of his backswing by his handicap; i.e. backswing 20mph, handicap 15, downswing = 600mph.There are two things you can learn by stopping your backswing at the top and checking the position of your hands: how many hands you have, and which one in wearing the glove.Hazards attract, fairways repel.You can put "draw" on the ball, you can put "fade" on the ball, but no golfer can put "straight" on the ball.A ball you can see in the rough from 50 yards away is not yours.If there is a ball in the fringe and a ball in the bunker, your ball is in the bunker. If both balls are in the bunker, yours is in the footprint.Don't buy a putter until you've had a chance to throw it.Todays police joke
“A Florida senior citizen drove his brand new Corvette convertible out of the dealership. Taking off down the road, he pushed it to 80 mph, enjoying the wind blowing through what little hair he had left. "Amazing,” he thought as he flew down I-95, pushing the pedal even more.
Looking in his rear view mirror, he saw a Florida State Trooper, blue lights flashing and siren blaring. He floored it to 100 mph, then 110, then 120. Suddenly he thought, “What am I doing? I’m too old for this!” and pulled over to await the trooper’s arrival.
Pulling in behind him, the trooper got out of his vehicle and walked up to the Corvette. He looked at his watch, then said, “Sir, my shift ends in 30 minutes. Today is Friday. If you can give me a new reason for speeding – a reason I’ve never before heard – I’ll let you go..”
The old gentleman paused then said, “Three years ago, my wife ran off with a Florida State Trooper. I thought you were bringing her back.”
“Have a good day, Sir,” replied the trooper.
Todays little girl joke
"Hello?"
"Hi honey this is Daddy. Is Mommy near the phone?"
"No Daddy.
She's upstairs in the bedroom with Uncle Paul."
After a brief pause, Daddy says, "But honey, you haven't got an Uncle Paul."
"Oh yes I do, and he's upstairs in the room with Mommy, right now."
Brief Pause.
"Uh, okay then, this is what I want you to do. Put the phone down on the table, run upstairs and knock on the bedroom door and shout to Mommy that Daddy's car just pulled into the driveway."
"Okay Daddy, just a minute."
A few minutes later the little girl comes back to the phone. "I did it Daddy."
"And what happened honey?" he asked.
"Well, Mommy got all scared,jumped out of bed with no clothes on and ran around screaming.Then she tripped over the rug, hit her head on the dresser and now she isn't moving at all!"
"Oh my God!!! What about your Uncle Paul?"
"He jumped out of the bed with no clothes on, too. He was all scared and he jumped out of the back window and into the swimming pool. But I guess he didn't know that you took out the water last week to clean it. He hit the bottom of the pool and I think he's dead."
***Long Pause***
***Longer Pause***
***Even Longer Pause***
Then Daddy says, "Swimming pool? Is this 486-5731?"
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