1/ Matt Taibbi interviews Bernie Sanders.....excellent article....
Sanders at a November rally on Capitol Hill for economic and social justiceSanders at a November rally on Capitol Hill for economic and social justice
It feels like a bomb went off in Washington. In less than a year, the leaders of both major parties have been crushed, fundamentally reshaping a political culture that for generations had seemed unalterable. The new order has belligerent outsider Donald Trump heading to the White House, ostensibly backed in Congress by a tamed and repentant majority of establishment Republicans. Hillary Clinton's devastating loss, meanwhile, has left the minority Democrats in disarray. A pitched battle for the soul of the opposition party has already been enjoined behind the scenes.
2/ Alec Baldwin continues to nail his impression of Trump, to the point that orange head is angrily tweeting about it.....he's never heard of irony....
Saturday Night Live took on Donald Trump again, this time focusing on how the mogul can’t help but retweet random people when he has bigger things to do as president-elect.
As he is known to do from time to time, Trump has recently been retweeting his random supporters during his various online tangents. In tonight’s cold open, Alec Baldwin depicted Trump being so pre-occupied with his Twitter activity, that he can’t pay attention in the middle of a security briefing.
Recent reports indicate that Trump has been turning away security briefings ever since he won the election. Trump eventually promises to put down the phone and focus, but he can’t resist getting back on Twitter for more than two minutes.
3/ Found this on FB.....and this pretty well sums up what many of us think....
Here is what I think.
For years we have not lived in a true democracy, we have lived in an evolving corporate state. Government no longer influences business, business now clearly controls government.
When we become consumers instead of citizens, then our only purpose is as consumers. We are no longer to be informed, only marketed to.
All social fabric, all common ownership, is dissolving. Anywhere there is a common fund of money, education, Healthcare, there are a small group of people who want to control that potential Revenue source and exploiting the people who depend upon the services.
Experts warned 50 years ago that news would become entertainment and the purpose would become to entertain rather than inform.
Power and money are driving the bus. That also includes the churches who get tied in by faith-based initiatives. They pick up power by supporting the existence of the government structure the way it is, as long as they get fed.
This works very well with a republican model, because there they can just forfeit all of the social problems over to the churches.
The problems created with separation of church and state are major. In all points in history religion has stood behind the throne and help to control the people.
What we have is the ultimate manifestation of this corporate mentality. Everything is marketing instead of informing. All is based upon the profit margin or outcome and all is Justified if the person is economically successful.
Now we have stripped police departments while certain groups hire security. We have privatized the prison system while saying we're going to "get tough on crime"
If you want to understand problems don't look at who is having difficulty, look at who is making money.
And by the way, there is a Reliance on maintaining a large group of poorly paid individuals as a work force source. The poor are looked at as a commodity and when they become inconvenient or embarrassing we just blame them.
This has been true in degrees for a long time. We started to swing away from it for a while but now unfortunately we are losing any ground we had gained.
4/ Frank Rich and how Trump will never walk away from his businesses...
Most weeks, New York Magazine writer-at-large Frank Rich speaks with contributor Alex Carp about the biggest stories in politics and culture. Today: Trumpian conflicts of interest and culture wars. And, making up with Mitt.
With the potential conflicts of interest surrounding Donald Trump (and his family) inciting calls for everything from a congressional investigation to an Oval Office “corporate monitor,” Trump has announced that next month he’ll hold a press conference to explain how he’ll be “leaving” his “great business in total.” Do you expect to see any distance put between a Trump administration and the Trump Organization by Inauguration Day?
Are you kidding? Not by Inauguration Day, and not ever. Trump may reverse his stand on any issue in any given hour depending on whom he last talked to or which talking head he last caught on cable. But he does have one ideological imperative that has been and always will be sacrosanct: making money any way he can without regard for ethics, propriety, the suckers on the other end of his “deals,” or the rule of law. Trump Universitywas merely a preview of the Trump White House’s coming attractions. He’ll leave his “great business in total” on that same day he releases his tax returns.
5/ Scott Adams who writes "Dilbert" the comic got a lot of flak before the election for saying Trump was going to win.....here he makes a very good case in his Blog for why he saw this coming....
Very persuasive story....
When Trump started his historic run for the White House last year, I blogged that he would change more than politics. I said he would forever change how we view reality. And so he has.
The mainstream media and the public now accept the idea that Trump ignored facts, science, and even common decency… and still got elected. I have been telling readers of this blog for a year that facts don’t matter. Policies don’t matter. The only thing that matters is persuasion. And Trump has plenty of persuasion.
To be perfectly clear, when I say facts don’t matter, I mean that in the limited sense of decision-making. If you make the wrong decision, the facts can kill you. That’s not in debate. I’m talking about the process or arriving at a decision – whether it is a good decision or not. The decision-making process is largely divorced from facts and reason. We live under a consistent illusion that facts and logic guide our decisions. They don’t.
6/ An incredible and award winning 2 minute ad about gun violence.....wow....you won't ever see it coming.....
7/ Barbara Kingsolver with a great story in the Guardian....
If you’re among the majority of American voters who just voted against the party soon to control all three branches of our government, you’ve probably had a run of bad days. You felt this loss like a death in the family and coped with it as such: grieved with friends, comforted scared kids, got out the bottle of whisky, binge-watched Netflix. But we can’t hole up for four years waiting for something that’s gone. We just woke up in another country.
It’s hard to guess much from Trump’s campaign promises but we know the goals of the legislators now taking charge, plus Trump’s VP and those he’s tapping to head our government agencies. Losses are coming at us in these areas: freedom of speech and the press; women’s reproductive rights; affordable healthcare; security for immigrants and Muslims; racial and LGBTQ civil rights; environmental protection; scientific research and education; international cooperation on limiting climate change; international cooperation on anything; any restraints on who may possess firearms; restraint on the upper-class wealth accumulation that’s gutting our middle class; limits on corporate influence over our laws. That’s the opening volley.
8/ This is a fascinating story from the Times, because it pinpoints what is wrong with news coverage overall - it's always about what's wrong.....and how this negativity over decades has eroded trust....
Great article.....
The election of Donald J. Trump has led to considerable soul searching in the news business, as journalists confront the role we played in his triumph. Much has been written about the billions of dollars of free media coverage Trump received, journalists’ lapses in challenging his outrageous falsehoods, and our clumsy grappling with how to treat his unconventional candidacy.
But the news coverage that helped Trump the most wasn’t about the campaign. It began long before it — decades before his candidacy, in fact. Trump was the beneficiary of a belief — near universal in American journalism — that “serious news” can essentially be defined as “what’s going wrong.”
9/ Amusing yes, but a little sad too.....SNL with "The Hunt For Hillary".......
Hillary Clinton hasn’t done many public events since the election, but since people keep randomly spotting her in the woods, Saturday Night Live decided to launch a wilderness hunt and pursue her like the elusive sasquatch.
“The Hunt for Hil” stars Beck Bennett and Kyle Mooney, who set out for upstate New York in order to track down the former presidential candidate and thank her for all she’s done for America.
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10/ Thomas Frank with a blueprint of how the Democrats can win again.....read it, then ask yourself how likely it is the solutions he wants will happen. He should head up the DNC!
How the Democrats could win again, if they wanted
What makes 2016 a disaster for Democrats is not merely the party’s epic wipeout in Washington and the state capitals, but that the contest was fought out on a terrain that should have been favorable to them. This was an election about social class –about class-based grievances – and yet the Party of the People blew it. How that happened is the question of the year, just as it has been the question of other disastrous election years before. And just like before, I suspect the Democrats will find all manner of convenient reasons to take no corrective action.
But first let us focus on the good news. Donald Trump has smashed the consensus factions of both parties. Along the way, he has destroyed the core doctrine of Clintonism: that all elections are decided by money and that therefore Democrats must match Republican fundraising dollar for dollar. This is the doctrine on which progressive hopes have been sacrificed for decades, and now it is dead. Clinton outspent Trump two-to-one and it still wasn’t enough.
Neither were any of the other patented maneuvers of Clintonism. With Hillary carrying their banner, the Democrats triangulated themselves in every way imaginable. They partied with the Wall Street guys during the convention in Philadelphia, they got cozy with the national security set, they reached out to disaffected Republicans, they reminisced about the days of the balanced federal budget, they even encouraged Democratic delegates to take Ubers back and forth from the convention to show how strongly Democrats approved of what Silicon Valley was doing to America. And still they lost.
11/ Paul Krugman on the corruption in out politics and gub'mint.....but wait for the next four years! You ain't seen nothin yet!
Remember all the news reports suggesting, without evidence, that the Clinton Foundation’s fund-raising created conflicts of interest? Well, now the man who benefited from all that innuendo is on his way to the White House. And he’s already giving us an object lesson in what real conflicts of interest look like, as authoritarian governments around the world shower favors on his business empire.
Of course, Donald Trump could be rejecting these favors and separating himself and his family from his hotels and so on. But he isn’t. In fact, he’s openly using his position to drum up business. And his early appointments suggest that he won’t be the only player using political power to build personal wealth. Self-dealing will be the norm throughout this administration. America has just entered an era of unprecedented corruption at the top.
The question you need to ask is why this matters. Hint: It’s not the money, it’s the incentives.
12/ Want to see Australian millennials partying to OceanLab/Above and Beyond at a live concert in Sydney? Then this is for you.......great song.....pretty people! This will make you feel young again.....maybe....
13/ Learn these breathing techniques to take some of the Trump stress out of your body and mind........ommmmmm......
Take a deep breath, expanding your belly. Pause. Exhale slowly to the count of five. Repeat four times.
Congratulations. You’ve just calmed your nervous system.
Controlled breathing, like what you just practiced, has been shown to reduce stress, increase alertness and boost your immune system. For centuries yogis have used breath control, or pranayama, to promote concentration and improve vitality. Buddha advocated breath-meditation as a way to reach enlightenment.
14/ Ten movies coming this month.....reviews and a couple of trailers....
As the year-end cutoff for awards consideration approaches, studios trot out their highest-brow releases in hopes of snagging some new golden hardware. The critical darlings – a faithfully adapted landmark of the American theater, a gorgeous look into the interior life of a political/cultural icon, an old-school musical, a new movie from Martin freaking Scorsese — are out in full force. And yes, there's still room at the mulitplex for a video-game action potboiler, an offbeat horror flick and the latest addition to the Star Wars franchise. Here are the 10 titles that need to be on your filmgoing radar as we bid adieu to this most wretched of years.
15/ Rolling Stone lists the 20 best TV shows of 2016.....scroll past the ones you haven't heard of to the real gems.....
20 Best TV Shows of 2016
From Samantha Bee and John Oliver raging against the machine to the greatest hip-hip sitcom ever, the year's small-screen winners
Todays video - a short western film that's clever, funny and a little violent all at the same time.....excellent.....
Todays judicial joke....
A forest ranger sees a campfire burning in a no-camping area and goes to investigate. To his horror, he sees a man sitting by the fire, eating a bald eagle, roasted on an open spit. The ranger arrests him on the spot.At the trial, the judge asks, "Do you know that eating a bald eagle is a federal offense?"He launches into his tale of woe: "Well, you see, I got lost and I was wandering in circles for two weeks. I was so hungry. Next thing I see is a giant bird swooping down at the lake for some fish. I was hoping I could steal some fish and I was trying to scare the eagle into dropping the fish, so I threw a rock at it. Unfortunately, my aim was off, and the rock hit the eagle right between the eyes, and he dropped dead, then I thought long and hard, but figured that since it was dead already, I might as well eat it as it would be a shame for it to have died in vain."The judge is moved by this harrowing account, and decides to dismiss all the charges. Before it, he leans across the bench and whispers, "If you don't mind my asking, what does a bald eagle taste like?"The defendant replies: "Well, your honor, the flavor is basically a cross between a california condor and a spotted owl."
Todays blonde jokes
A blonde stormed up to the front desk of the library and with a screaming voice said, “I have a complaint!”
“How can i help you?” said the librarian looking up at her.
“I borrowed a book last week and it was horrible!”
Puzzled by her complain the librarian asked “What was wrong with it?”
“It had way too many characters and there was no plot!” said the blonde.
The librarian nodded and said, “Ahhh. So YOU must be the person who took our phone book."
We went to see a movie the other night. I sat in an aisle seat as I usually do because it feels a little roomier.
Just as the feature was about to start, a blonde from the center of the row got up and started working her way out.
“Excuse me, sorry, oops, excuse me, pardon me, gotta hurry, oops, excuse me.”
By the time she got to me, I was trying to look around her and I was a little impatient, so I said, “Couldn’t you have done this a little earlier?”
“No!” she said in a loud whisper. “The ‘TURN OFF YOUR CELL PHONE PLEASE’ message just flashed up on the screen and mine is in the car.”
Todays wonderful Steven Wright quotes.
The Quotes of Steven Wright:
1 - I'd kill for a Nobel Peace Prize.
2 - Borrow money from pessimists -- they don't expect it back.
3 - Half the people you know are below average.
4 - 99% of lawyers give the rest a bad name.
5 - 82.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
6 - A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good.
7 - A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.
8 - If you want the rainbow, you got to put up with the rain.
9 - All those who believe in psycho kinesis, raise my hand.
10 - The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
11 - I almost had a psychic girlfriend, ..... But she left me before we met.
12 - OK, so what's the speed of dark?
13 - How do you tell when you're out of invisible ink?
14 - If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.
15 - Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.
16 - When everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.
17 - Ambition is a poor excuse for not having enough sense to be lazy.
18 - Hard work pays off in the future; laziness pays off now.
19 - I intend to live forever ... So far, so good.
20 - If Barbie is so popular, why do you have to buy her friends?
21 - Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.
22 - What happens if you get scared half to death twice?
23 - My mechanic told me, "I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder."
24 - Why do psychics have to ask you for your name
25 - If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.
26 - A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking.
27 - Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.
28 - The hardness of the butter is proportional to the softness of the bread.
29 - To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research.
30 - The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifeguard.
31 - The sooner you fall behind, the more time you'll have to catch up.
32 - The colder the x-ray table, the more of your body is required to be on it.
33 - Everyone has a photographic memory; some just don't have film.
34 - If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you.
35 - If your car could travel at the speed of light, would your headlights work?
36 - I played poker last night with tarot cards. three people died
37 - I had to change shirts this morning. I lost a button hole
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