1/ We seem to be heading to a crisis with North Korea, and the likely approach for Trump now he has a taste for blowing stuff up is to threaten Kim Jong Il. This will be a waste of time, because the Korean dictator is prepared for war and will destroy South Korea and Japan the first time the US bombs them.
Great story from New York Magazine, and they talk to an expert on North Korea.....yes, an expert.
Very interesting....
President Trump and his advisers have taken a more and more threatening stance toward North Korea since January, and the isolated dictatorship has responded with threats of its own. Foreign-policy experts say a breaking point could be looming. Saturday marked the 105th anniversary of the birth of North Korea’s founder, Kim Il-sung, and the regime there commemorated the holiday with displays of military force — though, thankfully, not with a nuclear test, as many experts feared. Still, there is a sense of a collision course. Several days ago, the U.S. military moved a brigade of warships to the Korean Peninsula, as a show of force. Then on Friday, the North Korean government threatened to attack major American military bases in South Korea, saying it could destroy them almost instantly.
2/ John Oliver on Geraldo.....a very good two minutes....
On the latest issue of Last Week Tonight, host John Oliver went after Fox News mainstay Geraldo Rivera.
During an appearance on Fox & Friends, a show Donald Trump is known to regularly watch, Geraldo said he didn’t’ just approve of the recent MOAB drop but that such strikes were one of his “favorite” things to experience.
“One of my favorite things in the 16 years I’ve been here at Fox News is watching bombs drop on bad guys,” he said. That didn’t sit well with Oliver.
“That’s a coincidence because one of my favorite things in four season on this show is getting to look into the camera and say ‘fuck you Geraldo, I hope your mustache gets caught in a box fan.'” He added that, “that felt absolutely amazing.”
3/ America is changing the way shopping is done, and malls are the losers in this struggle for your dollar. A very informative analysis on retail, Amazon and zombie malls in 2017 - from the Times.....
The way we choose to shop, and the way retailers decide to sell us things, is an ever evolving relationship. And as new ideas emerge and come to dominate (“It’s one place with everything — a department store!”) they inevitably fall out of favor and give way to the next brainstorm (think Amazon’s 1-Click).
In central New Jersey, monuments to retail’s changing fortunes can be found within a short drive of each other, helping document the past, present and the future of shopping.
When the Burlington Center Mall opened in Burlington Township in 1982, it meant shoppers did not have to travel to downtown Trenton or even Philadelphia for the latest fashions, children’s high chairs or gas-powered lawn mowers. Thirty-five years later, the edifice still stands, but the mall is barely there. After Macy’s and J. C. Penney closed, it was only a matter of time before smaller stores began shutting their doors for good.
About 20 miles to the south, on what was once farmland, there is a beehive of activity. In the predawn light, buses pick up and drop off workers who enter a gigantic low-slung building.
4/ This coming Sunday will be the first round of the French elections, and the EU and indeed the world waits to see if France is going to do a Trump.....all you need to know from the Guardian....
What’s the story and why is it important?
France elects a new president in two rounds of voting on 23 April and 7 May. Polls have forecast for more than two years that the populist, nationalist, authoritarian Marine Le Pen will advance to the run-off.
The polls also suggest Le Pen, who has promised to take France out of the euro and hold a referendum on France’s EU membership, would then lose to Emmanuel Macron, a former Socialist economy minister running as an independent centrist.
But the race is very tight. Both François Fillon, a former rightwing prime minister hit by an alleged corruption scandal, and Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a far-left veteran with a radical economic programme, could also make the final two.
In fact, with an estimated one-third of voters yet to make up their minds, polling inconsistencies and margins of error make it impossible to predict with certainty which two of the top four will face off in the final round.
After Britain’s Brexit vote and the election of Donald Trump in the US, a President Le Pen would deal a heavy symbolic blow to Europe, send markets into turmoil, and be seen as the next step in a populist, nativist insurgency.
5/ John Oliver on the French elections, and you have a clear choice folks - the Guardian story above with the facts from an excellent newspaper, or watch Oliver for 17 minutes and get the same information with lots of jokes thrown in.......
Personally I'd watch the video.....
On Sunday's Last Week Tonight, John Oliver pleaded with French voters not to "fuxk up" and elect their own President Trump in the country's upcoming election.
The first round of France's presidential election begins next Sunday, and the comedian echoed the grave sentiments of many political commentators: "It is not an exaggeration to say that, post-Brexit and with a wave of far-right populism sweeping Europe, the fate of the EU may hang on this election," he warned. "Multiple candidates support a French Brexit, and the consequences of that would be steep."
6/ The wonderful Tom Tomorrow.....
7/ A Christian Southerner on why devout Christians voted for Trump....and how culture overrides faith.....
NASHVILLE — In the world of apostolic betrayals, it’s Judas who gets the headlines, but the everyday believer is more apt to fall in line behind Peter. Coldly handing Jesus over to his death in exchange for 30 pieces of silver was an over-the-top, cartoon-level move, but Peter’s terrified denial of the man he believed to be the savior of the world? That one seems immensely human to me.
I have a lot of sympathy for Peter these days. Here it is nearly Easter, and for the first time in my life I don’t want anyone to know I’m a believer. To many, “Christian” has become synonymous with angry white voters in red hats, personally responsible for handcuffing all those undocumented mothers and wrenching them out of their sobbing children’s arms.
A good number of Southern Christians tend to vote Republican, but in truth the values of the rural South are not incompatible with the policies of the Democratic Party. Our famed Southern hospitality is just an illustration of Jesus’ exhortation to welcome the stranger. And consider what happens here whenever there’s a flood or a tornado: Long before the government agencies mobilize, local churches are taking up donations, cooking hot meals, helping people pick through the wreckage — helping everyone, no matter their religion or the color of their skin or the language they speak at home.
8/ John Oliver has been making TV ads to be aired in DC and New York Fox stations, specifically targeting Trump. There are three so far featuring the "Catheter Cowboy", and here are a summary of the ads.....
So far, "Last Week Tonight" host John Oliver's “Catheter Cowboy” has discussed sexual harassment,
the GOP's health-care bill and the nuclear triad in ads aimed at President Trump.
9/ Some very bad things are happening under the radar, and as Timothy Egan tells us you had better eat organic, and if you can't, wash your veggies thoroughly so you get at least some of the poison off the leaves....
When you bite into a piece of fruit, it should be a mindless pleasure. Sure, that steroidal-looking strawberry with a toothpaste-white interior doesn’t seem right to begin with. But you shouldn’t have to think about childhood brain development when layering it over your cereal.
The Trump administration, in putting chemical industry toadies between our food and public safety, has forced a fresh appraisal of breakfast and other routines that are not supposed to be frightful.
One of the first things this administration did was to rescind a government proposal to ban a pesticide used on much of the fresh food we eat — a chemical compound, chlorpyrifos, found to be harmful to the brain and nervous system of children. This move didn’t get a lot of attention. But when you’re throwing out a half-dozen major lies and missteps a day, it’s tough to compete for airtime.
10/ What to do if you are dragged off a United flight......one athletic minute!
Ju-Jitsu Instructor Gives A Defense Lesson Against United Police!
11/ A Floriduh story if there ever was one.....until we get at least a Democratic Governor this state is screwed....
Racist Rich Man Gets to Rewrite the Florida Constitution
Thanks to Rick Scott
Carlos Beruff has virtually no political qualifications. He's rich, openly racist, and good friends with Florida's governor. The real-estate developer and major political donor ran for U.S. Senate against Marco Rubio last year and lost. In that time, he called Barack Obama an "animal," called for a ban on all immigration from the Middle East, and reveled in being dubbed the "Cuban-American Donald Trump." Voters heavily rejected him.
So, naturally, Gov. Rick Scott placed Beruff in charge of rewriting the state constitution. Last night, Beruff held a "listening meeting" with voters at Florida International University in Miami to hear what residents want out of their government.
Todays video - Pentatonix with their wonderful acapella version of John Lennon's "Imagine".....listen to the words, it's like another era away..........
Todays retiree [sort of] jokes....
You can retire to Phoenix, Arizona where
1. You are willing to park three blocks away from your house because you found shade.
2. You've experienced condensation on your rear-end from the hot water in the toilet bowl.
3. You can drive for four hours in one direction and never leave town.
4. You have over 100 recipes for Mexican food.
5. You know that "dry heat" is comparable to what hits you in the face when you open your oven door at 500 degrees.
6. The four seasons are: tolerable, hot, really hot, and ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
OR
You can retire to Southern California where.. .
1. You make over $450,000 and you still can't afford to buy a house.
2. The fastest part of your commute is going down your driveway.
3. You know how to eat an artichoke.
4. When someone asks you how far something is, you tell them how long it will take to get there rather than how many miles away it is.
5. The four seasons are: Fire, Flood, Stupidity and Drought.
OR
You can retire to New York City where...
1 You say "the city" and expect everyone to know you mean Manhattan.
2. You can get into a four-hour argument about how to get from Columbus Circle to Battery Park, but can't find Wisconsin on a map.
3. You think Central Park is "nature."
4. You believe that being able to swear at people in their own language makes you multilingual.
5. You've worn out a car horn. (IF you have a car.)
6. You think eye contact is an act of aggression
OR
You can retire to Minnesota where...
1. You only have three spices: salt, pepper and ketchup.
2. Halloween costumes have to fit over parkas.
3. You have seventeen recipes for casserole.
4. Sexy lingerie is anything flannel with less than eight buttons.
5. The four seasons are: almost winter, winter, still winter, and road repair.
6. The highest level of criticism is "He is different," "She is different," or "It was different!"
OR
You can retire to The Deep South where...
1. You can rent a movie and buy bait in the same store.
2 "Y'all" is singular and "all y'all" is plural.
3. "He needed killin" is a valid defense.
4. Everyone has two first names: Billy Bob, Jimmy Bob, Joe Bob, Betty Jean, Mary Beth, etc.
5. Everything is either: "in yonder," "over yonder" or "out yonder."
6. You can say anything about anyone, as long as you say "Bless his heart" at the end!
OR
You can move to Colorado where...
1. You carry your $3,000 mountain bike atop your $500 car.
2. You tell your husband to pick up Granola on his way home, so he stops at the day care center.
3. A pass does not involve a football or dating.
4. The top of your head is bald, but you still have a pony tail.
OR
You can retire to Nebraska or Kansas where...
1. You've never met any celebrities, but the mayor knows your name.
2. Your idea of a traffic jam is three cars waiting to pass a tractor.
3. You have had to switch from "heat" to "A/C" on the same day.
4. You end sentences with a preposition; "Where's my coat at?"
OR
FINALLY you can retire to Florida where...
1. You eat dinner at 3:15 in the afternoon.
2. All purchases include a coupon of some kind - even houses and cars.
3. Everyone can recommend an excellent cardiologist, dermatologist, proctologist, podiatrist, or orthopedist.
4. Road construction never ends anywhere in the state.
5. Cars in front of you often appear to be driven by headless people.
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