1/ One of the wisest men in politics, Billl Moyers with a very insightful story....
Ask Yourself: Will Donald Trump EVER Become President?
As our institutions bend and buckle and approach the breaking point, the president bombs Syria and is hailed by an obeisant media.
President Donald Trump delivers a statement on Syria from the Mar-a-Lago estate in West Palm Beach, Florida, on April 6, 2017. Trump ordered a massive military strike against Syria in retaliation for a chemical weapons attack they blame on President Bashar al-Assad. (Photo by Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)
It’s been a week now since Donald Trump once again became our president.
Here’s how it happened.
After he unleashed missiles on a Syrian airfield, members of Washington’s national security establishment and elite pundits swooned. Top Democrats and Republicans led the way. Good soldiers all in the military-industrial-political complex, they stood smartly at attention and saluted the commander-in-chief for sending a message to the world, although exactly what the message meant remains far from clear.
The headline above Glenn Greenwald’s story at The Intercept summed up the response: “The Spoils of War — Trump Lavished with Media and Bipartisan Praise for Bombing Syria.” The hawkish Hillary Clinton, who long had been critical of Barack Obama for not bringing Bashar Assad to heel, “appeared at an event” — and this was before the bombing even happened! — “and offered her categorical support for what Trump was planning.”
2/ SNL was back on great form last night, and Alec Baldwin and Jimmy Fallon were wonderful in the cold open.....some good zingers in this five minutes.....
A power play between Stephen K. Bannon and Jared Kushner, and a widely condemned news briefing by Sean Spicer from the past week, did not escape the notice of “Saturday Night Live,” which satirized the tribulations of these White House staff members in a new episode hosted by Jimmy Fallon.
3/ Even though Obamacare still exists, it's vulnerable to Trump and Paul Krugman in the Times points out how in a pretty good column....
Three weeks have passed since the Trumpcare debacle. After eight years spent denouncing the Affordable Care Act, the G.O.P. finally found itself in a position to do what it had promised, and deliver something better. But it couldn’t.
And Republicans, President Trump very much included, had nobody but themselves to blame. Basically, the party has been lying all this time, and the lies finally caught up with the liars. Mr. Trump promised health care that would be “far less expensive and far better”; in the event, all he and his allies had to offer were surging premiums, higher out-of-pocket expenses and mass loss of coverage.
4/ Melissa McCarthy dressed as the Easter Bunny as Sean Spicer with a very funny holidaymessage.....she nails him.....a wonderful three minutes....
Melissa McCarthy brought her Sean Spicer impression back to Saturday Night Live, and she poked fun at the press secretary’s troubles over what he said about the Holocaust this week.
Appearing in Spicer’s infamous bunny costume (yes, that one), McCarthy yelled at Easter egg hunters about how everyone got their wish for Spicer to apologize for favorably comparing Adolf Hitler to Bashar al-Assad.
“Spicey finally made a mistake,” said the press secretary. “I know they’re not really called the ‘Holocaust centers’…I clearly meant to say ‘concentration club,’ okay? Let it drop!”
5/ Stephen Colbert with a collection of Trumpies alternative names......an amusing two minutes....
CBS
host Stephen Colbert regularly mocks the members of President Donald Trump’s administration during his monologues by giving them hilarious alter-egos.
Since he’s off the air this week, Colbert’s team compiled a video montage of his finest put-downs. Watch the clip above to see who he described as the “alien-Sasquatch love child” and the “step-mom who is trying to replace your mother.”
6/ The partisan divide in this country is partially geographical, as Thomas Edsall explains in a very good article in the Times.....
The devastating recession that began at the end of 2007 and officially ended in June 2009 was the most severe downturn since World War II.
The political, social and even medical consequences of this recession have been duly noted, but even so the depths of its effects are only now becoming clear. One we’re still learning more about is how the rural, less populated regions of the country (known among demographers as nonmetropolitan counties), which already suffered from higher than average poverty rates, recovered from the recession at a far slower pace than more populous metropolitan counties.
The fact that people living outside big cities were battered so acutely by the recession goes a long way toward explaining President Trump’s victory in the last election.
7/ A good John Oliver look at gerrymandering....comedic reporting at it's best....I know it's 19 minutes, but you will learn something as well as laughing!
John Oliver (Credit: HBO)
On HBO’s “Last Week Tonight,” John Oliver tackled an issue that many consider the most pressing threat to our democracy: gerrymandering. As he often does, Oliver explained the intricacies of this complex policy issue with wit and humor, much to the alarm of voters everywhere. After explaining how politicians help their own party win seats by “packing and cracking” voters into districts, Oliver left viewers with a glimmer of hope by introducing the idea of independent redistricting commissions. These commissions, he says, wouldn’t solve all our problems but would take self-interested politicians out of the process.
8/ This is what's called a groaner....
9/ Andrew Sullivan with his thoughts on the news, similar to Frank Rich....his first subject [Hillary] will be controversial, but read it and think about what he is saying.........
Part 2 is a look at Trump and his policies, and Part 3 is Dr. Dao and United Airlines....
Why Do Democrats Feel Sorry for Hillary Clinton?
I’ve done what I could in this space to avoid the subject of Hillary Clinton. I don’t want to be the perennial turd in the punchbowl. I’d hoped we’d finally seen the last of that name in public life — it’s been a long quarter of a century — and that we could all move on. Alas, no. Her daughter (angels and ministers of grace defend us) seems to be positioning herself for a political career. And Clinton herself duly emerged last week for a fawning, rapturous reception at the Women in the World conference in New York City. It simply amazes me the hold this family still has on the Democratic Party — and on liberals in general.
10/ Sometimes the Internet is wonderful.....have a look at the new corporate slogans the creative minds have come up with for United Airlines.....very amusing.....
In the pictures below are Negan from "The Walking Dead", and Lake County's own Sheriff Grinnell for United's customer service.....
People Are Making Up Brutal New Slogans For United Airlines
And They’re Absolutely Hilarious
Some people have bombarded the United Airlines page with angry tweets over treatment of a passenger clearly in distress. But others have gone for a wittier response, preferring to mock the airline for their part in the incident. The United Airlines motto is “Fly the Friendly Skies”, but in light of this passenger’s experience at O’Hare International Airport, Twitter has been brainstorming some new slogans that they think might be a better fit.
11/ And speaking of airlines, here is a long but informative analysis of the airline industry and why what just happened with United will continue to happen.....it because they are effectively monopolies.....interesting....
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After what amounts to a decades-long series of disasters, the American aviation industry is finally in a good place. Overcapacity and fare wars have been eliminated, redundant staff is gone, and with the economy improving, people are buying plane tickets again.
Which is exactly how United Airlines found itself dragging an unwilling customer off an overbooked flight to Louisville, Kentucky, incurring a massive PR fiasco and reminding us that the industry is likely to bounce forever between exploitative and unprofitable.
This particular case resonated with the public because it was unusual and egregious — a sumptuous blend of a moderately rare edge case doused with a hefty dose of poor judgment.
But it also resonated because it felt, in many ways, not so unusual. Anyone who flies regularly has experienced the endless indignities of modern air travel — the security theater, the cramped seats, the delays, the missed flights, and all the rest. Making it particularly egregious is the reality that the crucial ingredient of consumer choice seems to be missing. Most of us have at one time or another sworn to ourselves that we will “never” again fly on one airline or another, only to discover that there are very few airlines one can switch to and that they all seem dismal in their own way.http://www.vox.com/new-mon
12/ Stephen Colbert with a collection of Trumpies alternative names......an amusing two minutes....
CBS
host Stephen Colbert regularly mocks the members of President Donald Trump’s administration during his monologues by giving them hilarious alter-egos.
Since he’s off the air this week, Colbert’s team compiled a video montage of his finest put-downs. Watch the clip above to see who he described as the “alien-Sasquatch love child” and the “step-mom who is trying to replace your mother.”
Todays video - Above and Beyond with Zoe Johnston, "Fly to New York".....a really nice video, tear jerker story and great music....
Todays Irish joke.....
AN IRISHMAN'S FIRST DRINK WITH HIS SONWhile reading an article last night about fathers and sons, memories came flooding back to the time I took my sonout for his first pint.Off we went to our local pub only two blocks from our house.I got him a Guinness. He didn't like it, so I drank it.Then I got him a Kilkenny's, he didn't like that either, so I drank it.Finally, I thought he might like some Harp Lager? He didn't. So I drank it.I thought maybe he'd like whiskey better than beer, so we tried a Jameson's, nope!In desperation, I had him try that rare Redbreast, Ireland's finest. He wouldn't even smell it. What could I do but drinkit!By the time I realized he just didn't like to drink, I was so fookin' shit-faced I could hardly push his stroller back home.
Todays random thoughts....
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