1/ Paul Krugman with an amusing but frightening analogy of the White House to a "Twilight Zone" episode.......there's a little boy in there!
Fans of old TV series may remember a classic “Twilight Zone” episode titled “It’s a Good Life.” It featured a small town terrorized by a 6-year-old who for some reason had monstrous superpowers, coupled with complete emotional immaturity. Everyone lived in constant fear, made worse by the need to pretend that everything was fine. After all, any hint of discontent could bring terrible retribution.
And now you know what it must be like working in the Trump administration. Actually, it feels a bit like that just living in Trump’s America.
2/ Bill Maher with a very good nine minute opener.....he calls Trump a "whiney little bitch".....good one....
Bill Maher took the stage on Friday night with an opening monologue about President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office, and how it’s been rough on everybody. “Give yourselves a hand for surviving Trump’s first 100 days,” he said to applause. “It’s like Lent, if we all gave up reality!”
The “Real Time” host mocked Trump over his complaints about how much work being president actually is, versus what he perhaps imagined. “Nobody knew that presidenting would be so hard,” said Maher, doing a Trump impersonation. “It looked so easy in the movies when Morgan Freeman does it.” He went on to call Trump a “whiny little bitch”.
3/ Henry Giroux with a dark essay on the future of America....
Philosopher Henry Giroux on the culture of cruelty and Donald Trump: America is “a democracy on life support
— it can’t breathe”
(Credit: Getty/Jim Watson/Shutterstock)
Next week we will mark the 100th day that Donald Trump has been president of the United States. Tens of millions of Americans are still in a state of shock. These 100 days have made them feel like enemy outsiders in their own country.
It was said some years ago that “when fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” This left the American people unprepared for how neofascism came instead in the form of Donald Trump, a reality TV star, racist, bigot, con artist and professional wrestling aficionado.
How did the United States arrive at this moment?
The American news media betrayed its sacred role as guardians of democracy who inform the public so that they can be responsible citizens who make informed political decisions.
There is a deep crisis of faith and trust in America’s political and social institutions. America’s political culture is highly polarized and divisive. The Republican Party has embraced a strategy of destroying the existing political rules and norms that make effective governance possible. Today’s conservatism is regressive and reactionary. It is an enemy of the commons and of the very idea of government.
Racism, bigotry and nativism compelled Donald Trump’s voters to act out in a nihilistic temper tantrum.
Voter demobilization and gerrymandering have subverted democracy and given Republicans a political chokehold on the country.
4/ Three funny and clever commercials - "It's Better To Travel in Groups"....one minute.....
5/ Interesting article about how the Republican Party has been redefined to the "America First" party by the forces that elected Trump.....
For most of my career, the Republican Party was pretty easy to define. It stood for small government, an internationalist foreign policy, free trade, and moral and religious conservatism. Ronald Reagan was the party’s North Star. Of course, there have always been Republicans who veered from that line — but everyone understood what the party meant.
Of all the people still trying to process Donald Trump’s rise to the presidency, perhaps none are more confused than my generation of conservatives, who came of age under Mr. Reagan and drank deeply of that old orthodoxy. We are, by now, the establishment — the senators, governors, think-tank presidents and columnists who, until Mr. Trump came along, got to define what “Republican” and “conservative” meant. My cohort simply cannot accept that Mr. Trump has taken away that coveted role and revolutionized not just our party, but also the very terms of the American political divide.
But we need to. Because as Mr. Trump recognized, the new schism in American life is not about big versus small government, or more or less regulation. It is about immigration, free trade and the broad and deep impacts of globalization on America’s economy and culture. “Americanism, not globalism, will be our credo,” he told the Republican National Convention.
6/ Samantha Bee with her six minute opener of "Not The White House Correspondents Dinner"......the show was uneven, but in parts exceptionally edgy and funny.....
Bee, the acerbic host of TBS’s Full Frontal, had her event staff wear shirts that said “Free Press,” donated $200,000 in proceeds from the evening to the Committee to Protect Journalists, and gave shoutouts to the staff of small local newspapers like the Flint Journal, which broke the story of the Michigan city’s lead-polluted water.
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one of which is to suggest it was an evening of highbrow conversations about the importance of a free press. There was a bit of that, but Bee also took the opportunity to joke that “CNN gives you news like your shitty boyfriend gives you orgasms.”
The entire event — recorded Saturday afternoon to air that night — had a meta vibe. Rather than be the latest in a long line of comedians to needle a president at the actual White House Correspondents’ Dinner (Trump famously skipped this year's dinner), Bee skewered the entire conceit of the “other” event, with targets including — but definitely not limited to — the president himself.
7/ A very good "New Rules," where Bill Maher tells liberals to stop pandering to the right! An amusing five minutes.....
During tonight’s New Rule segment on Real Time, host Bill Mahertook aim at liberals once again. But in this instance, rather than chastising them for hindering free speech on college campuses or getting too worked up over “b*llshit issues,” he wanted to tell them to stop trying to convince Trump voters to abandon the president by using facts.
Why? Because those who voted for Donald Trump don’t care about any of them.
“Liberals need to stop trying to win over Trump voters with facts,” he stated. “You’re wasting your breath and you’re going to need it because the air’s not getting any better.”
After noting that they aren’t changing their minds because it is all about emotion, Maher pointed out that Trump’s appearance and behavior are other things they don’t care about.
“The jury is in,” Maher said. “He looks and acts like a man who’s been painting his face with orange lead for forty years. His people know — they don’t care.”
8/ Our favorite "Science Day" poster...
9/ In the midst of all the other noise don't forget this Administration is one of the most corrupt in history - and they don't care.....
They dress nice and probably smell good and most of them don’t even muss the furniture. Wealth gives them the patina of respectability — the American reflex of deference to the rich. But make no mistake: The Trump family and assorted cronies are using the highest office in the land to stuff their pockets.
The presidential sleaze involves everything from using public money to promote and enrich Trump properties to pay-to-play schemes that allow companies to buy influence at many levels. At its core is a nepotistic operation that puts family interests ahead of country.
Donald Trump’s presidency may look like a theater of incompetency: armada going in the wrong direction, forgetting what country he bombed but remembering what he had for dessert, major promises broken with a shrug.
But one thing Trump has accomplished in his first 100 days is ensuring that his family can use the vast reach of the federal government for private gain. By God, they seen their opportunities and they took ’em.
10/ This is an amusing four minutes - Seth Meyers attends a briefing from Spicey in the White House....
Seth Meyers has questions that just aren't being asked by reporters during the daily White House press briefings — like "How long until President Trump causes the end of the world?" — so he brought Sean Spicer on his show to face a barrage of inquiries from the Late Night press corps.
Well, kind of. Thanks to the magic of editing, Meyers fired off such important questions as "Where did you guys find Steve Bannon?" with responses carefully culled from remarks Spicer has made at past briefings. (The answer, by the way, is "a system of tunnels and caves.") What really makes the video are the faces Spicer makes when Meyers "asks" certain questions and sets up dorky dad jokes for him ("How easy is it to buy lettuce in Washington?" "I think getting ahead of that could be an issue."). Watch the video — complete with Spicer's shout out to His Holiness Vladimir Putin — below.
11/ And Floriduh got an Editorial from the Times on how Rick Scott and the rest of the clowns don't care what we think.....they know better.....
Florida Republicans Squelch the Voice of the People
Florida voters who heartily approved important amendments to the state Constitution can only wonder how the will of the people is being strangled by the obstructionist toils of the Republican-led Legislature.
Lawmakers insist they are merely refining details for measures approved by voters on the environment, medical marijuana, solar power, education and anti-gerrymandering rules affecting their own districts. But it’s increasingly clear that legislators are trying to foil and blunt the ballot-approved initiatives.
12/ Every now and then you need to watch a music video with an unlimited budget, which is what Katy Perry's "Chained to the Rhythm" is - in spades. It's also subversive.....a subtle dig at Trump's America.....
Watch the video, which is really good by the way, and then read this article from the BBC below that explains all of the images....
CAPITOL RECORDS
Pop star turned human emoji Katy Perry has just released her new video, Chained to the Rhythm - and its message is hard to ignore.
Set in a futuristic theme park, it finds the star seduced by the delights and distractions of modern life. Then slowly, like Katharine Ross in The Stepford Wives, she begins to realise something is terribly wrong with the (American) dream.
Adhering to Katy's new mantra of "purposeful pop", it's political without being polemic.
The BBC analysis....
13/ There's an irony here that if you are familiar with the politics of The Villages you will appreciate.....
Local tearoom beloved by Villagers forced to close after work visas pulled
Polly and John Bennett say they must close Polly’s Pantry Restaurant and Tearoom after 10 years because the U.S. government would not renew their work visas.
The United States government is shutting down Polly’s Pantry Restaurant and Tearoom, its owners claim. The popular Wildwood eatery must close Saturday, after a decade of operation due to work visa problems of English owners Polly and John Bennett.
They will lose their business, their home and adopted country.
“On Good Friday (April 14) we received notice from the Department of Homeland Security that we had two weeks to close because our work visas would not be renewed,” said a crestfallen Tricia “Polly” Bennett.
They will lose their business, their home and adopted country.
“On Good Friday (April 14) we received notice from the Department of Homeland Security that we had two weeks to close because our work visas would not be renewed,” said a crestfallen Tricia “Polly” Bennett.
She and her husband are from England and renovated the building at 819 S. Main St. (near U.S. 301 and State Road 44) in Wildwood, about 10 years ago. Over that time thousands of Villagers have been served there.
Todays Beer jokes
BEER: HELPING UGLY PEOPLE HAVE SEX SINCE 3000 BC!
--- W. C. Fields
Sometimes when I reflect on all the beer I drink I feel ashamed. Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the brewery and all of their hopes and dreams. If I didn't drink this beer, they might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered. I think, "It is better to drink this beer and let their dreams come true than be selfish and worry about my liver."
--- Babe Ruth
I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day.
--- Lyndon B. Johnson
When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading.
--- Paul Hornung
24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence? I think not!
---James Meinken
When we drink, we get drunk. When we get drunk, we fall asleep. When we fall asleep, we commit no sin. When we commit no sin, we go to heaven. So, let's all get drunk and go to heaven!
--- George Bernard Shaw
Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.
--- Benjamin Franklin
Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza.
--- Dave Barry
Remember, "I" before "E", except in Budweiser.
--- Professor Irwin Corey
To some it's a six-pack, to me it's a "support group". Salvation in a can!
--- Leo Durocher
One night at Cheers, Cliff Clavin explained the "Buffalo Theory" to his Buddy Norm: "Well ya see, Norm, it's like this. A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members. In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, as we know, kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine! That's why you always feel smarter after a few beers."
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