1/ The insightful Frank Rich with his take on the weeks 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: why there’s no such thing as a post-Scaramucci era in White House communications, Trump helping Don Jr., and Republican senator Jeff Flake critiquing his own party.
After an adventurous 11 days, Anthony Scaramucci followed Sean Spicer and Reince Priebus out of the White House, with General John Kelly — and possibly former Fox News executive Bill Shine — on the way in. How will this change the way the White House communicates?
Here’s one thing I can say without fear of contradiction: The removal of Scaramucci, like that of Spicer before him, will have no impact at all on White House “communications.” The default setting will still be All Lying All the Time. It says all you need to know that Trump’s leakers floated the notion that the ousted Fox News executive Bill Shine, the former Roger Ailes deputy, might be the Mooch’s successor even as he is busy fending off lawsuits alleging that he was an enabler of his late boss’s serial sexual harassments. Billy Bush would be a better choice.
2/ Tom Tomorrow on Trump's extremely normal week....
3/ The healthcare debacle isn't over - Sam Bee explains how the Republicans are planning to sabotage Obamacare......an excellent six minutes....
Obamacare repeal appears to be dead in the legislature, but the dream to kill the health care law is still alive and well, Samantha Bee warned her “Full Frontal” audience Wednesday night.
“Obamacare lives another day. But before you go deliberately injuring yourselves so that you can cash in on that sweet government subsidized health care, you should know that our president has one more trick up his sleeve,” she said to open her monologue.
For years, Obamacare opponents have taken drastic steps to sabotage the current health care system. From filing countless lawsuits to attaching riders to random, non-health care related bills, Republicans have been steadfast in their efforts to sabotage Obamacare.
“Marco Rubio secretly undermined Obamacare by using a spending bill to get rid of the so-called risk corridors, which is not what Mike Pence calls a West Wing hallway with a woman in it,” Bee explained to her audience. “Risk corridors are like insurance for the insurance companies, lowering their risks in the exchanges.”
4/ Matt Taibbi with the inside story of the White House chaos....
The body of former White House Director of Communications Anthony Scaramucci was discovered on the White House lawn Monday. Scaramucci's neatly-coiffed head, along with the mushier, more panicked capitulum of former chief of staff and freshly-resigned rival Reince Priebus, was found a short distance away, gored on the White House gates as a message to their replacements.
The heads – you're looking at the heads – are beginning to pile up in number. Donald Trump rose to fame as a TV star with his cruel punchline firings of hapless reality-show contestants. As chief executive of the world’s mightiest nuclear superpower, he has now spent most of his first term sowing panic around the world with an ever-tightening pattern of purges and forced resignations.
Like Soviet Commissars promoted during the Great Terror, Trump appointees begin composing their last words from the moment they ascend to high office. The fallen include an FBI Director (James Comey), an NSC Senior Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs (Craig Deare, escorted off the White House grounds for criticizing Trump in off-the-record comments at the Woodrow Wilson Center), the first female White House usher (Angella Reid), a top Middle East adviser (Derek Harvey, a longtime intelligence official quietly whacked last week in what was seen as a message to Steve Bannon), an Acting Attorney General (Sally Yates), and a host of others.
5/ Alex Jones is an insane right wing media ranter on Infowars, but did you know he sells his own brands of pharma products to his audience of stupids and occasionally Trump?
Watch John Oliver tell you about this "crazy like a fox" huckster.....excellent comedic reporting again....22 minutes and very funny too....
Alex Jones peddles more than bogus conspiracies on his radio show and website Infowars.com.
On Sunday’s broadcast of “Last Week Tonight,” John Oliver explained how the conspiracy theorist ― who has ties to President Donald Trump ― spends a considerable amount of time on the air promoting a range of products. Jones tells viewers that he sells these items to help fund his program.
“At the start of this piece, I promised Alex Jones that I would put his statements in context, because he is right, that if you play small clips in isolation he looks like a loon,” Oliver said. “But if you play them in context, he looks like a skilled salesman spending hours a day frightening you about problems like ‘refugees spreading disease’ and then selling you an answer.”
6/ Aye aye Captain.....
7/ Did you know a gentleman called Bill Browder testified to the Senate last week? Of course you didn't, because the day he spoke the Mooch gave his crazy interview, and Trump tweeted about transgenders in the military so Browder got zero coverage.
Intentional distraction? Of course....
However HuffPo UK had a story on it.....it's explosive....
The new White House Communications Director was so busy causing a scene he even reportedly missed the birth of his baby son on Monday, congratulating his recently-estranged wife by text message.
Whilst barely any type of behaviour from the Trump administration surprises anymore, it’s worth asking if The Mooch’s outbursts were spontaneous or designed to distract from something else.
On Wednesday 26th July, financier Bill Browder was due to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
LEON NEAL VIA GETTY IMAGES
In pre-prepared remarks published by The Atlantic, he said: “I hope that my story will help you understand the methods of Russian operatives in Washington and how they use US enablers to achieve major foreign policy goals without disclosing those interests.”
On the same day Browder was due to testify, President Trump announced, seemingly out of nowhere, that transgender people will not be allowed to serve in “any capacity” in the US military.
Browder’s testimony was then postponed to the next day - the same day The Mooch made headlines when his expletive-ridden tirade was published.
8/ OK OK one more Mooch clip.....it's Stephen Colbert with his very funny tribute to Mooch.....Colbert LOVED the Mooch, so he sings him a song too....
Stephen Colbert bid farewell to Anthony "The Mooch" Scaramucci with a parody of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" on The Late Show Monday.
The host dedicated most of his opening monologue to the former White House Communications Director, who was relieved of his post after just 10 days. "Yes, the Mooch is toast," Colbert joked. "The front stabber has been back stabbed. He said he was going to fire everybody, and I gotta admit he delivered – that is thorough."
While Colbert showed some sympathy for the Mooch, he cracked, "It's been harder on me – the Colbooch! I've been a huge fan of the Mooch for over a week now." The host bemoaned having to dump all his "mooch-endise," such as his Scaramucci pin-up poster and "Mooch brand stabbing knife," though he also noted that the firing came just as The Late Show had completed its cartoon Scaramucci character.
9/ An interactive photo essay from the Times on the marble quarries of Italy......really interesting, and you see where your kitchen tops comes from....
10/ Hunters - Zucchini season is now open. Get your quota.....
11/ "Everything Now" from Arcade Fire.....this is their new sound, but the video is visually stunning and meaningful, I guess....let the Times tell you what it really means....
The title song of “Everything Now” is the album’s masterstroke. It takes on the information overload of the internet era — the frenetic consumption it invites and the human interactions it can’t quite replace. “Every inch of space in your head/is filled up with the things that you read,” Win Butler sings. But the track pulses with optimism: a cheerful melody bolstered by a chiming piano and thumping beat that reach back to Abba, topped with a hooting sample of African flute. The song finds a breezy balance between earnestness and exhilaration.
12/ Ho hum.....climate change again.....record heat on both coasts......but if you are a Republican this is just normal, nothing whatever to do with climate change....
Blistering Heat Wave Threatens Seattle, Where Only a Third Have Air-Conditioning
Miami just had its hottest month on record
Miami's scorching summer is only the beginning
Todays video - Haven't had one of these for a while - "People Are Awesome", amazing feats of physical skills without any pain.....
Todays golf joke
A golfer was involved in a terrible car crash and was rushed to the
hospital. Just before he was put under, the surgeon popped in to see
him. "I have some good news and some bad news," says the surgeon. "The
bad news is that I have to remove your right arm!"
"Oh God no!" cries the man "My golfing is over! Please Doc, what's the
good news?"
"The good news is, I have another one to replace it with, but it's a
woman's arm and I'll need your permission before I go ahead with the
transplant."
"Go for it doc," says the man, "as long as I can play golf again."
The operation went well and a year later the man was out on the golf
course when he bumped into the surgeon.
"Hi, how's the new arm?" asks the surgeon.
"Just great," says the businessman. "I'm playing the best golf of my
life My new arm has a much finer touch and my putting has really
improved."
"That's great," said the surgeon.
"Not only that," continued the golfer, "my handwriting has improved,
I've learned how to sew my own clothes and I've even taken up painting
landscapes in watercolors."
"That's unbelievable!" said the surgeon, "I'm so glad to hear the
transplant was such a great success. Are you having any side effects?"
"Well, just two," said the golfer, "I have trouble parallel parking
and every time I get an erection, I get a headache."
And a blonde joke!
An Alabama pastor said to his congregation, "Someone in this congregation has spread a rumour that I belong to the Ku Klux Klan. This is a horrible lie and one which a Christian community cannot tolerate.
I am embarrassed and do not intend to accept this. Now, I want the party who said this to stand and ask forgiveness from God and this Christian family."
No one moved.
The preacher continued, "Do you have the nerve to face me and admit this is a falsehood? Remember, you will be forgiven and in your heart you will feel glory. Now stand and confess your transgression."
Again, all was quiet.
Then, slowly, a drop-dead gorgeous blonde with a body that would stop a runaway train rose from the third pew. Her head was bowed and her voice quivered as she spoke, "Reverend there has been a terrible misunderstanding. I never said you were a member of the Ku Klux Klan. I simply told a couple of my friends that you were a wizard under the sheets."
The preacher fell to his knees, his wife fainted, and the congregation roared.
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