1/ David Wallace-Wells [author of the incredible story below "The Uninhabitable Earth"] on climate change......the extreme weather is just starting folks.....
This Isn’t ‘the New Normal’ for Climate Change — That Will Be Worse
It’s been a terrifying season for what we used to call natural disasters. For the first time in recorded history, three hurricanes arose simultaneously in the Caribbean. Harvey and Irma ravaged a series of islands then turned north and hit the U.S. mainland. Days later came Maria, the third storm this season to register among the top-four most devastating hurricanes in dollar terms to ever make landfall in the U.S. (Maria seems likely to be remembered as among the worst humanitarian disasters America has ever seen, with 40 percent of Puerto Rico still without running water, power out for likely six months, and native agriculture devastated for a full year.) For years, we’ve conceived of climate change in terms of sea level, meaning it was often possible to believe its devastating impacts would be felt mostly by those living elsewhere, on the coasts; extreme weather seems poised to break that delusion, beginning with hurricanes. And then the unprecedented California wildfires broke out over the weekend
In case you missed it in July.....
2/ Sam Bee on the Harvey Weinstein scandal....
On Wednesday night, Samantha Bee held nothing back against disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein.
Bee tackled his “apology-like statement” when he said “I have got to change, I’ve got to grow… I know a lot of people would like me to go into a facility.”
“Oh my God, I’m so behind on the slang. Is a ‘facility’ what people call hell?” Bee asked.
The Full Frontal host went after Weinstein’s remarks about growing up in the ’60s and ’70s as an excuse for his behavior.
“Oh give me a break, white Cosby!” Bee reacted. “Nobody asked for your ‘all about me mea culpa.’ Don’t blame the ’60s and ’70s for your sh*tty decision-making. It’s serial sexual harassment, not a Monkees tattoo.”
3/ Frank Rich with his insights on the news of the week.....excellent as always.....
Most weeks, New York Magazine writer-at-large Frank Rich speaks with contributor Alex Carp about the biggest stories in politics and culture. Today: Bob Corker’s revolt, the potential of a Bannon-backed run for Blackwater founder Erik Prince, and the Republican hypocrisy over the Harvey Weinstein allegations.
Stating that his “most important public service” could occur in the 15 months between announcing his retirement and the end of his term, Bob Corker has unleashed some of the most direct attacks ever to come from a senator about his own party’s president. Virtually no Republican senators have spoken out in Trump’s defense — will they eventually have to pick sides?
It’s a watershed moment that even when the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee invokes World War III, it is not enough to get the Vichy Republicans in Washington to speak up. The senators who remain silent while privately nodding in agreement with Corker don’t seem to understand the urgency of the situation.
4/ Stephen Colbert with a very funny five minutes on Trump.....by the way he has some Trump footage on North Korea that will give you chills.....
Stephen Colbert opened The Late Show – available on your local CBS station until President Donald Trump figures out a way to make good on his threat to revoke the licenses of the TV networks’ stations – looking at the latest way in which the country has “shambled” toward the brink since Trump became POTUS.
Over the summer, Trump met with top military officials and said he wanted a bigger nuclear stockpile by a factor of 10, after being shown a graphic about the steady decline since the ’60s. While some in attendance said they did not take him literally, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was heard to say afterwards that Trump was a “moron,” NBC News reported.
Trump on Wednesday tweeted that was “Fake News” but later “reaffirmed his commitment to the First Amendment,” Colbert said. By which, the late night comic meant Trump called it “disgusting the way the press is able to write whatever they want to write,” suggesting “people should look into it.”
5/ Paul Krugman on the national disgrace that is our response to the disaster in Puerto Rico.....
The situation in Iowa remains horrifying. More than a third of the population has been without clean water for three weeks, and waterborne diseases appear to be spreading. Only a sixth of the population has electricity. The health care system is a shambles, and sheer hunger may be a problem in some remote areas.
Fortunately, the federal government is going all out to aid its citizens in distress. The president is making disaster relief a top priority, while praising the often heroic efforts of Iowa residents to help themselves. And generous aid, he promises, will continue as long as it’s needed.
O.K., I lied.
6/ Seth Meyers with an excellent 9 minutes on male domination......he's on great form for this one.....
President Trump suggested on Thursday that U.S. troops may soon have to leave hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico. Seth Meyers responded with indignation.
“Following the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, President Trump tweetedthis morning that the White House cannot keep FEMA, the military and first responders in Puerto Rico ‘forever.’ Forever? It’s been three weeks! That’s like saying you worked with Scaramucci forever.” — SETH MEYERS“Look, we can afford to keep troops in Puerto Rico until long after you’ve left the White House — maybe even until Christmas.” — SETH MEYERS
Later in the show, Mr. Meyers did an extended segment on what he said were similarities between Mr. Trump and Harvey Weinstein. He said that there is pervasive and systemic sexism across the upper echelons of American society.
7/ A fascinating interview with the author of the new book "Democracy In Chains".....she paints a frightening scenario....
Historian Nancy MacLean: We’re under attack “by a right-wing machine”
Nancy MacLean on her hot book “Democracy in Chains” and the evil genius of the Koch brothers’ donor network
American democracy is in crisis. Across almost every issue, from the environment to the economy to gun control, the policies advocated by Donald Trump and the Republican Party are widely unpopular with the American people.
Yet Republicans now enjoy a near-monopoly on political power, with control of the White House, both houses of Congress and a large majority of state legislatures and governorships. How did this happen?
One part of the answer is that Republican voters are very obedient. Today's version of conservatism functions almost as a religion, offering simple solutions to complex problems. There is a right-wing media machine that is without peer in its ability to distort reality by disseminating lies and disinformation. The Republican Party has used gerrymandering, voter suppression, and -- now, apparently -- aid from a hostile foreign country to manipulate the outcome of elections.
8/ Is this you - not sleeping well? Dealing with bouts of depression and hopelessness?
According to this article you have Trump Anxiety Syndrome......
The Enormous Emotional Toll of Trumpism
Every day it’s something. Or 10 somethings. Can we really live with three more years of this, let alone seven?
At a certain point, the distaste becomes exhaustion. Donald Trump’s presence in our national life has been alternately infuriating, embarrassing, revolting, gross and bizarre. His non-stop assaults on our political norms are testing our capacity to sustain constant outrage without giving in to despair.
I meet victims of Trump fatigue everywhere. They stop me in airports and restaurants and on the street and ask how long we’ll have to put up with this madness – when will Bob Mueller finally bring him down, and how much more can our systems bend before they break. When I tell them Trump is likely to clamor on until either the 2018 election slows him down or the 2020 election stops him (or if Russian interference, non-white voter suppression and liberal perfectionism succeed again, ‘til he terms out in 2024), the look on their faces is something akin to terror.
9/ A really insightful story that says it's a new world politically....ads, mail and even visits are useless in our tribal society. The only thing that matters is turnout. Democrats - ignore the highly paid consultants, you don't need to raise money and sell out your souls....
I'm sorry, but you're with the Party of Satanic Baby killers.
6.4 Billion American dollars were spent on campaign outreach during the last election (and we don’t know yet how many Rubles were spent). This money was poured out of each political party’s spigots as it has been for every election in recent memory, to pay for nasty TV ads, nasty mailings, nasty robocalls, and earnest, heartfelt door to door solicitation, all in a massive effort to convince voters that the opposing candidate is the absolute nastiest of human beings. Each party regularly spends more than the GDP of several African countries combined in the expectation that they are actually persuading people to take a particular position on “issues.”
But a new study suggests this has all been a colossal waste of money, at least from the standpoint of changing peoples’ minds.
10/ Dutch TV has a wonderful skit on our gun addiction....painfully accurate but very funny 3 minutes.....and it's how the Europeans really think about the US....
It’s the NRA ... but not the one you’re thinking of.
“Sunday with Lubach,” a Dutch news satire program hosted by comic Arjen Lubach, created a PSA for a problem facing the United States that they’re calling NRA, or Nonsensical Rifle Addiction.
In a mock charity appeal, the program called on Europeans to step up and help Americans dealing with NRA by providing funds for “water, blankets, facts, insights, statistics and truth bombs.”
11/ This is interesting......not having ever watched Fox News I never saw the "before" Megan, but NBC has [as they say] castrated her and her new show is a failure - this story says why....
We didn’t know it then, but August 2015 was a more innocent time. Donald Trump was still a punch line, Hillary Clinton was poised to become the first female president, and Megyn Kelly was still an uncompromising, unapologetic, take-no-prisoners Fox News rebel. As of last week, Donald Trump is president, Hillary Clinton is an also-ran, and you can catch Megyn Kelly on her new NBC program, “Megyn Kelly Today,” where she performs each morning as some horrific bizarro version of her former self.
Her appearance during her debut last Monday said it all: Wearing a pink pussy-bow blouse, her hair no longer slicked back in the trademark power bob of her later Fox News days, Ms. Kelly declared that she was “kind of done with politics for now.”
12/ John Oliver on the news of the week.....a good four minutes...
13/ "Star Wars - The Last Jedi" trailer is out......looks pretty good!
The next chapter in Star Wars’ ongoing saga is drawing nigh, and fans can now get a substantial taste of what’s to come with the arrival of the first full trailer for Star Wars: Episode VII: The Last Jedi, hitting theaters this December.
Directed by Rian Johnson, The Last Jedi is the follow-up to 2015’s Star Wars: Episode VII— The Force Awakens, and picks up where its characters left off: with Rey (Daisy Ridley) undergoing Jedi training at an ancient Jedi mountain temple in the care of an apparently much-changed Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill).
The trailer, which aired on ESPN during Monday Night Football, did little to dispel the mystery of the film’s title, nor that jarring dictum uttered by Luke in the teaser trailer — but it did give us tantalizing glimpses of the First Order’s vengeance against the Resistance after the action of The Force Awakens. The fight scenes have never looked better, and the stakes have never seemed higher. And there’s a glimpse of the adorable penguin-like porgs, with a cool fox-looking thing to boot — in other words, just what we came for.
Todays Italian joke
An elderly Italian gentleman lived alone in New Jersey.He wanted to plant his annual tomato garden,but it was very difficult work, as the ground was hard.His only son, Vincent, who used to help him, was in prison.The old man wrote a letter to his son and described his predicament:Dear Vincent,
I am feeling pretty sad because it looks like I won't be able to
plant my tomato garden this year.I'm just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot.I know if you were here my troubles would be over.I know you would be happy to dig the plot for me,like in the old days.
Love,
Papa
A few days later he received a letter from his son.
Dear Papa,
Don't dig up that garden.That's where the bodies are buried.
Love,
VinnieAt 4 a.m. the next morning,FBI agents and local police arrived and dug up
the entire area without finding any bodies.They apologized to the old man and left.
That same day the old man received another letter from his son.
Dear Papa,
Go ahead and plant the tomatoes now.That's the best I could do under the circumstances.
Love you,
Vinnie
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