1/ Every few months Frank Rich writes a major article for New York Magazine, and this one is wonderful..... love the title....
On the morning after, traumatized liberals set out hunting for answers as if Election Day were 9/11 all over again. The ubiquitous question of 15 years earlier — “Why do they hate us?” — was repurposed for Donald Trump’s demolition of the political order. Why did white working-class voters reject Hillary Clinton and the Democrats? Why did they fall for a billionaire con man? Why do they hate us?
There were, of course, many other culprits in the election’s outcome.Comey, the Kremlin, the cable-news networks that beamed Trump 24/7, Jill Stein, a Clinton campaign that (among other blunders) ignored frantic on-the-ground pleas for help in Wisconsin and Michigan, and the candidate herself have all come in for deserved public flogging. But the attitude among some liberals toward the actual voters who pulled the trigger on Election Day has been more indulgent, equivocal, and forgiving. Perhaps those white voters without a college degree who preferred Trump by 39 percentage points — the most lopsided margin in the sector pollsters define as “white working class” since the 1980 Ronald Reagan landslide — are not “deplorables” who “cling to guns and religion” after all. Perhaps, as Joe Biden enthused, “these are good people, man!” who “aren’t racist” and “aren’t sexist.” Perhaps, as Mark Lilla argued in an influential essay in the New York Times, they were turned off mostly by the Democrats’ identity politics and rightfully felt excluded from Clinton’s stump strategy of name-checking every ethnicity, race, and gender in the party’s coalition except garden-variety whites. Perhaps they should hate us.
2/ Sam Bee slams the Republicans - "governing is hard"....six very good minutes....
What happens when you have two branches of Congress and can’t even muster enough votes to repeal the law you’ve been trying to repeal since it was enacted? You blame the other party. That’s what “Full Frontal” host Samantha Bee took from last week’s American Health Care Act debacle.
“It’s not their fault,” Bee said. “They spent 17 whole days trying to reform one-sixth of the nation’s economy. And they tried everything! Making the bill shorter, issuing empty threats, moving the bill to the right and just kinda crossing their fingers that moderates wouldn’t notice. They even made victory commercials before the bill even passed and forgot to not run them after it didn’t.
“Your bill was killed by friendly fire,” Bee noted, pointing to the House Freedom Caucus, which was not going to vote for Paul Ryan’s bill. But Bee also had strong words for President Donald Trump, who is now using a “government is hard” defense to gloss over the fact that he billed himself as a dealmaker.
3/ A bonus this week - TWO Frank Rich articles, and this is his summary of the week's news....
Most weeks, New York Magazine writer-at-large Frank Rich speaks with contributor Alex Carp about the biggest stories in politics and culture. Today: snags in the House’s Russia investigation, the GOP’s health-care fail, and George W. Bush’s artistic endeavors.
With a hastily postponed public hearing, a mysterious trip to the White House “grounds,” and widespread suspicion that he is coordinating with the Trump administration, Devin Nunes has effectively brought the House Russia investigation to a screeching halt. Is the Russia probe too big for Congress?
Let’s start by stipulating that anything is too big for this Congress, whose Republican majority could not move a health-care bill that it claimed to have been working on for seven years. But even by that standard, Nunes is either exceptionally stupid, incompetent, duplicitous, or perhaps all three. With his bizarre nocturnal I Spy antics, his nakedly partisan attempts to vindicate Trump’s invented claims of Obama wiretapping, and his cancellation of yesterday’s hearing (where the witnesses would have been the fired acting attorney general Sally Yates as well as Obama’s heads of National Intelligence and the CIA), he has in essence ended the House investigation into the Trump-Russia connection. And despite all the moaning about it by editorialists as well as by both Democratic and Republican lawmakers, over the long term this may be a good thing.
4/ An Italian auction for a precious Ming Vase.....the bidding is fast, and the piece is sold for a million Euros in 44 seconds.....you just have to watch it!
5/ Stephen Colbert on the recent bill to let internet providers sell your data.....six funny minutes....
The knives were out on last night’s edition of The Late Show. Host Stephen Colbert took aim at the recent passage of a bill through theHouse and Senate that would allow Internet providers to sell private user data without their consent.
“Anybody here use the Internet?” Colbert queried his audience. “Might want to knock that off. Congress has now voted to allow internet providers to sell your web browsing history”
Colbert said he had gone one step further. “I’ve got nothing to hide, I burned my computer this morning.”
Joking (but not really), the late night host then moved in for the kill suggesting that the bill was emblematic of everything wrong in government.
6/ Interesting story.....and true if it wasn't for the fact Trump is crazy and might kill us all....
Why In the World Would Democrats Want President Trump Removed From Office?
While liberals are busy reacting like a school girl at a boy band concert over the apparent “Mike Flynn May Have Flipped on Trump” story, let’s stay for a moment in the semi-rational world of things we actually know, as opposed to things that some are desperately hoping will come to be. If liberals had the discipline to stay in the realm of reality, they might actually see that Donald Trumpsomehow being forced from office — while a fun fantasy — may actually be the worst thing that could possibly happen for them.
Of all of my many objections to the Trump candidacy, the one which I felt most strongly about was that, in the long term, a Trump presidency would be worse for conservatism and the country than even a Hillary Clinton presidency would likely have been. I also felt that we conservatives would pay FAR too high a price (in the form of lost principles and credibility) to warrant the relatively meager short-term gains we would likely reap from the improbable victory of a person I view as liberal conman.
While there is (seemingly) a long way to go in the Trump presidency, these concerns are in the process of being completely vindicated.
7/ "The Handmaids Tale" is coming this month on Hulu, and it's a must see....trailer is in the story....
I was asleep before. That’s how we let it happen,” Elisabeth Moss (as Offred) says in the official trailer for Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” an update to Margaret Atwood’s dystopian classic, out next month.
“When they blamed terrorists and suspended the constitution, we didn’t wake up [...],” her voiceover continues. The trailer shows a montage of familiar images: protestors crowding streets, religious fundamentalists bluntly saying their piece.
Margaret Atwood, the author of the 1985 book that the show is based on, has already drawn comparisons between the beginning of her story and current affairs in America. In a letter distributed by PEN America in January, she cautioned against “dictators of any kind”; this month on Twitter she agreed with a fan who wrote that The Handmaid’s Tale novel doesn’t seem “unrealistic.”
Then, the story takes a turn. Abruptly, women are dismissed from their jobs and members of targeted groups try to flee the country on foot. Those women who don’t make it out are assigned as surrogates to couples who aren’t able to conceive, made to wear uniforms, and forced to have sex with certain men.
8/ If you appreciate the phrase "he doesn't know what he doesn't know" you will like this column from Thomas Edsall in the Times...
How prepared is our president for the next great foreign, economic or terrorist crisis?
After a little more than two months in office, President Trump has raised doubts about his ability to deal with what the former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld famously described as the “known unknowns” and the “unknown unknowns.”
“President Trump seems to have no awareness whatsoever of what he does and does not know,” Steven Nadler, a professor of philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, wrote me. “He is ignorant of his own ignorance.”
During his first 63 days in office, Trump made 317 “false or misleading claims,” according to The Washington Post.
The FBI, the Treasury Department and two congressional committees are probing whether Trump’s campaign aides and advisers — including Paul Manafort, Carter Page, Roger Stone and Michael Flynn — were complicit in alleged Russian interference.
9/ Stephen Colbert is getting better and better.....here he nails the Trump administrations "deep state" theories....five amusing minutes...
theorists like Alex Jones and Roger Stone have hatched yet another explanation for the Trump’s Administration’s chaos. But the “deep state,” as explained by Colbert, was inevitable.
“You know who has a bad case of the Mondays this Tuesday?” Stephen Colbert opened Tuesday night. “The Trump administration, because apparently paranoia has seized the Trump White House.”
“I’m surprised,” the “Late Show” host quipped. “I thought Russia was going to seize it.”
White House officials’ “deep state” concerns are deeply troubling. For example, staffers’ paranoia has caused them to “stay mum” in meetings, for fear that their comments “could be leaked to the press by foes,” Politico reported.
Initially Colbert thought the “deep state” was “what you achieve after doing three bong hits and watching Planet Earth.”
10/ It's going to be a nasty four years folks.....
Red flags: 4 ways Trump and the GOP still
wield tremendous power to do lasting damage
to America
Yes, the attack on Obamacare failed and millions will keep their health care. But Trump and the GOP still rule
This article originally appeared on AlterNet.
For millions of Americans, last week’s collapse of the House Republican leadership’s bill to defund Obamacare, take $880 billion out of Medicaid and give the wealthiest hundreds of millions in tax cuts they don’t need, was a spot of good news. As Saturday dawned, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee began airing TV ads attacking House members for wanting to deny health care to tens of thousands of voters in their districts. The odor of corruption around Trump’s Russia troubles was growing stronger, even as Republicans were doing their best to change the topic. Trump’s second round of executive orders banning travelers from Muslim countries was tied up in court. To opponents of Trump and the GOP Congress, it was time to exhale and exult.
But as a new week begins in Washington, it’s time to take a deep breath and realize that Trump and Republicans in Congress, as dysfunctional as they appear, still have great power to wield.
11/ A good Bill Maher opener....Trump as a drama queen, and Nunes too....seven pretty good minutes....
“Remember the Cold War?” asked Bill Maher on last night’s Real Time? ” Well, it is back. But one thing is different. In the old Cold War, the White House was on our side!” he said. “There’s so many strands and smoke to this Russia connection,” quipped Maher on last night’s Real Time. “Michael Flynn is asking for immunity to sing, and I cannot wait to hear what he has to sing. He’s the one who led the chants at the convention, “Lock her up!”” Maher continued. “He’s also the one who said, “If someone is asking for immunity, they are probably guilty!” Maher paused for a laugh. “If you think Hillary’s a bitch, try karma!”
Maher then went on to say Nunes, who is head of the House Intelligence Committee – “it’s almost cruel to give him that title”, joked Maher – this week went to the White House to tell them what they had already told him.
12/ We here at DDD try to keep our readers up to date with trends among the young, and this caught our eye this week.....2 million hits a day is a lot!
It's a hip hop music video, nasty and violent.....but with a very powerful message.
A still from "Tunnel Vision" by Kodak Black (Credit: YouTube/Kodak Black)
The ongoing beef between President Trump and virtually all of hip hop flared up a couple of weeks ago, when Snoop Dogg’s “Lavender” video, which depicts Snoop cartoonishly “shooting” a Trump-like clown, drew a firestorm of reaction from right-wing media, Republican politicians and eventually Trump himself. “Can you imagine what the outcry would be if Snoop Dogg, failing career and all, had aimed and fired the gun at President Obama? Jail time,” Trump tweeted. Senators Cruz and Rubio joined in to attack Snoop, alongside Fox News, Breitbart and much of the rest of conservative media.
It should be noted that Snoop’s “violent” imagery is made safe by literal clown makeup and a Wile E. Coyote-style gun that merely unfurls a flag reading “BANG” when fired. Whether it’s proper or not, there’s a safety to the imagery, even a jocularity. Nevertheless, the firestorm of reaction and defense spread from Breitbart to the New York Times and the Washington Post and onto cable news.
But while pundits and politicians debated the propriety of the video’s brief comic violence, a vastly more popular, far more radical and thought-provoking anti-Trump rap video was being watched by young fans at an unreal clip of 2 million views per day (despite all of the attention it’s received in the national media, Snoop Dogg’s video has garnered a fraction of that). South Florida rapper Kodak Black’s video for his hit song “Tunnel Vision” is a full anti-white supremacy narrative, with Klansmen hung in quasi-effigy from burning crosses and a white man in a red Trump-style hat and Confederate flag jacket engaged in hand-to-hand combat with a black man under an upside-down American flag. The flag symbolism is further complicated and intensified when the black man grabs the flag during the struggle and winds it around the neck of the white man to strangle him in the final seconds before the video’s surprise ending.
13/ SNL has had some great Trump sketches - so Rolling Stone has them listed in order, worst to best.....I have to say I mostly agree with them...
YOUTUBE
“Saturday Night Live” is currently enjoying its most successful season in decades, thanks in no small part to the the country’s ravenous appetite for political commentary in the lead up to and fallout from the president election.
The show’s depictions of public figures like Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Kellyanne Conway and Sean Spicer have helped many to digest the world in which we find ourselves. Some of the bits have become instant classics. Some never quite got the due they deserved. Some, frankly, weren’t that great.
So, since this is the internet, we decided to rank 32 Trump-related sketches this season.
14/ John Oliver with his take on the Devin Nunes scandal.....
John Oliver opened his show, Last Week Tonight, with an exploration of the growing scandal surrounding Republican House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes — something he has taken to calling “Stupid Watergate”
It’s “a scandal that we’ve been referring to as ‘Stupid Watergate,'” said Oliver because it had “all the potential consequences of Watergate but everyone involved is really stupid.”
Oliver described Nunes bizarre trip to the White House last week to receive classified intelligence from White House sources in no uncertain terms.
“Devin took what appears to be an unnecessary trip to tell what appears to be unimportant news to what may have been the source of the news itself.”
15/ This is a textbook example of how right wing media generates hysteria and hate.....and we fall for it over and over....great column from Scott Maxwell.....
Wednesday’s Orlando Sentinel contained a story about a student who claimed his professor had discriminated against him because he was an outspoken Christian who challenged his Muslim professor’s beliefs.
The accusation certainly sounded fiery. But legitimate news organizations don’t simply parrot fiery claims. So the Sentinel began investigating.
Meanwhile, however, bloggers took the accusation at face value — and ran with it.
“Florida College Suspends Christian Student for Defending Christ,” said one site.
“Muslim Prof Insists Jesus Wasn’t Crucified,” said another.
Others upped the ante even further, accusing the humanities professor of being a “Radical Islamic Supremacist.”
Yet another suggested she had connections to terrorism.
Yes, terrorism.
At Rollins College.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com
16/ Really Good TV
A new series "13 Reasons" is on Netflix, and as this article says it's supposed to be addictive.....
13 REASONS WHY(Credit: Netflix/Beth Dubber)
Lately I’ve wondered whether watching certain films and TV shows during times of grief or anxiety serves as a perfect balm, or if it’s one of the worst things a vulnerable person can do.
I’m not referring to episodes or movies that announce themselves as tragedies — no, those works let you know precisely what you’re signing up for. Rather, it’s the diversions masquerading as relatively safe escapism that can sneak up and punch you square in the chest. Maybe such a shock to the system is just what you need. On the other hand, maybe life is hard enough without viewing entertainment that unexpectedly makes you wake up at 4:19 a.m. in a sobbing fit.
The 13-episode first season of “13 Reasons Why” is currently streaming on Netflix, and it looks like the next collective pop culture obsession you’ll be hearing and reading about for the foreseeable future.
It also has the potential to wreck a person. You have been warned.
Todays video - these bikers are crazy....look at the speedo - it says he's doing up to 160 mph.....I wonder if it's KPH not MPH....160 KPH is 99 MPH, which is more believable. The cop car that almost hit him ain't doing 130 mph....
Todays Mama jokes
Todays Italian joke
Mrs. Castranova comes to visit her son Anthony for dinner.
He lives with a female room-mate, Maria.
During the course of the meal, his mother couldn't help but notice how lovely Anthony’s roommate is.
Throughout the evening, while watching the two interact,
she started to wonder if there was more between Anthony and his roommate than met the
eye.
Reading his mom's thoughts, Anthony volunteered, "I know what you must be thinking, but I assure you, Maria and I are just roommates.''
About a week later, Maria came to Anthony saying,
"Ever since your mother came to dinner, I've been unable to find the silver sugar bowl. You don't suppose she took it, do you?"
"Well,I doubt it, butI'll email her, just to be sure."
So he sat down and wrote an email:
Dear Mama,
I'm not saying that you"did" take the sugar bowl from my house;
I'm not saying that you"did not" take it.
But the fact remains that it has been missing ever since you were here for dinner.
Your Loving Son, Anthony
A few days later, Anthony received a response email from
his Mama which read:
Dear son,
I'm not saying that you"do" sleep with Maria,
and I'm not saying that you "do not"sleep with her.
But the fact remains that if she was sleeping in her OWN bed,
she would have found the sugar bowl by now.
Your Loving Mama
Moral: Never Bulla Shita you Mama!
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