1/ Excellent article from the Washington Post on how Trump supporters really think, and how no amount of shame and scandal will ever shake the faith of his fanatical followers.....
Most interesting, and very insightful....
President Trump at the White House in December.
Almost a year later, Donald Trump is still president. Powerful men in entertainment, media and even politics have seen their public lives implode under scandal almost instantly for months now, but Trump holds on.
If you’re among the majority of Americans who oppose Trump, you can’t understand why. And it’s making you furious. I saw the same thing happen in my native Venezuela with the late Hugo Chávez, who ruled as precisely the sort of faux-populist strongman that Trump now loves to praise. Chávez’s political career (which only ended with his untimely death) seemed not only immune to scandal, but indeed to profit directly from it. Why? Because scandal is no threat to populism. Scandal sustains populism.
2/ Benjamin Studebaker writes some intelligent articles in his blog, and this is especially interesting.....how Dems can win in the South!
Since Donald Trump’s election I have increasingly become interested in how the left engages with white America. The left isn’t getting enough white support. Even with over 90% of the African-American vote, alleged pedophile Roy Moore came absurdly close to winning in Alabama. This can’t just be because white Americans are racist, stupid, or evil. There has to be more to it. In the past I’ve identified many things wrong with our approach–we’re too condescending and patronising toward white voters, and too quick to blame and shame them. We don’t spend enough time talking about and emphasizing programs and policies that help all marginalized people, including poor, working, and middle class whites.
3/ Bad Lip Reading has a Trump Christmas carol for you......pretty funny, 2 minutes....
It’s deeply weird and unnerving ... which is also why it’s great.
In addition to Trump, the video also features first lady Melania Trump asking for someone to “please help.” The scene is from Melania Trump’s real Christmas address this week, where she actually says, “At this time of year, we see the best of America and the soul of the American people.”
4/ Do you have family members you won't speak to? That were missing over Christmas?
You are not alone......most interesting story from the Times on estrangement....
It’s the classic image of the holidays: Parents, siblings and their children gather around the family table to feast and catch up on one another’s lives. But it doesn’t always work that way.
After years of discontent, some adults choose to stop talking to their parents or returning home for family gatherings, and parents may disapprove of a child so intensely that he or she is no longer welcome home.
In the past five years, a clearer picture of estrangement has been emerging as more researchers have turned their attention to this kind of family rupture. Their findings challenge the deeply held notion that family relationships can’t be dissolved and suggest that estrangement is not all that uncommon.
5/ Great French commercial.....one minute.....
6/ Thomas Frank comes to Donna Brazile's defense......saying she told too much truth about the Democratic Party......interesting read.....
Donna Brazile has spent most of her life as a good soldier of the Democratic party, managing presidential campaigns, supporting the Clinton family, and (last year) stepping in to take over the Democratic National Committee after its chair was felled by scandal. But with the publication of her campaign memoir Hacks, this woman with a fondness for old-style cooking metaphors has finally succeeded in pissing off every last group on the country’s political spectrum.
Supporters of Bernie Sanders were furious last year when a hacked email revealed that Brazile, then a popular CNN commentator, had supplied a primary debate question in advance to Hillary Clinton. Donald Trump went at Brazile constantly during the 2016 campaign as a matter of partisan course. Now it is Clinton supporters and mainstream liberals who are heaping the abuse.
7/ Interesting story from the Times on how late night TV has changed in the era of Trump......of course readers of DDD know this because on all the clips you have been watching....
8/ Tom Tomorrow channelling Harvey Weinstein.....this is satire ladies....
9/ Hmmmm.....we may have a city of 30 million people disappearing soon, due to a combination of stupidity and climate change.....Jakarta.....
A Times interactive story with amazing pictures....
A tsunami of human-made troubles in the Indonesian capital poses an imminent threat to the city’s survival. And it has to deal with mounting threats from climate change.
10/ I'm sure this will be a VERY interesting article for some of you, especially you helicopter parents and grandparents.....
Dear Sugars,
My spouse and I supported our two now-“grown” children through college. One graduated; one moved back home due to failing grades. It’s now five years later, but we’re still paying for their cell phones, cars and health insurance. The one who graduated got a good job, but she’s about to be fired and she wants to move back home. We’re saying no. Are we mean parents? Should we continue to support our children well past their teenage years? When should we cut the strings and let them fend for themselves?
Still Paying
Cheryl Strayed: You are not mean parents. You are parents who have supported your children beyond the age that you are either legally or morally obligated to do so. You’ve been deeply generous because you wanted to provide your children with an education, security, comfort and ease. Well done.
11/ A beautiful song from Above and Beyond, Live at Porchester Hall......soft, wistful and for me one of the best from this live performance. It uses all three of the singers, violins, trumpet and even a broom.....wonderful!
12/ Some good news for a change - a Judge has stopped development of a unique habitat in Miami, home to some endangered species......
Of course this is a temporary ban, and they will probably get to put up yet another bloody Walmart in a year or so.....
A judge has halted the destruction of a vanishing South Florida forest that environmentalists say is home to more than a dozen endangered and threatened species, blocking for now plans to bulldoze it for a development that includes a Walmart.
An emergency injunction was issued Friday against the proposed Coral Reef Commons shopping center and apartment complex located outside of the Everglades National Park and Zoo Miami, the Associated Press reported.
13/ The medical industry is at it again - they have just lowered blood pressure guidelines which will, of course, lead to more prescriptions for blood pressure meds.....protect yourself - read this before your next checkup so you can argue with your doctor!
In the week before Thanksgiving, the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology released new guidelines for the diagnosis and management of high blood pressure. This, probably more than anything else, made my blood pressure go up over the holiday.
The problem was not the guideline itself but some of the news coverage it prompted, with pronouncements that millions more Americans would need to lower blood pressure or that nearly half of Americans now had high blood pressure. A lot of the coverage made it sound as if something drastic had happened overnight.
Nothing had. We just changed the definition of hypertension.
14/ From Huffpo- the best movies of 2017.....some excellent films in this list.....
The movie year started when Allison Williams dangled those car keys in “Get Out.” The same weekend that Jordan Peele’s horror-satire become an instant phenomenon, “Moonlight” snatched the Best Picture trophy away from “La La Land.” It was a chaotic, thrilling moment that heralded what was to come: a batch of films that would provide prescient commentary on our chaotic, not-so-thrilling national mood. Of course, some instead offered needed respites, letting us laugh or swoon or scream to escape our collective woes.
All in all, it was a swell year for movies, even if Hollywood’s big blockbusters proved less and less reliable. Across many genres, filmmakers captured snapshots of humanity that rang out with poise: gay love stories, delicious battles of the sexes, testaments to overcoming adversity, odes to other species, meditations about poltergeists wearing bedsheets. If you knew where to look, the magic of cinema was all around, no matter the horrors pouring outof the industry that supports it.
15/ Here's a story from the Times for a slow afternoon - the 100 best movies on Netflix....
The sheer volume of films on Netflix (and the site’s less than ideal interface) can make finding a genuinely great movie there a difficult task. To help, we’ve plucked out the 100 best films currently streaming on the service — 50 major movies, along with 50 related titles that are also worth adding to your queue. (Note: Streaming services sometimes remove titles or change starting dates without giving notice.)
16/ Having worked in the cruise ship industry, I can verify this summary of what cruise ship workers won't tell you is reasonably accurate.....great GIF's too....
Todays videos - oldies but funny.....guy moments....
Todays sexist jokes.....
8 words with 2 meanings...
1. THINGY (thing-ee) n.
Female... Any part under a car's hood.
Male....... The strap fastener on a woman's bra.
2. VULNERABLE (vul-ne-ra-bel) adj.
Female... Fully opening up one's self emotionally to another.
Male....... Playing football without a cup.
3. COMMUNICATION (ko-myoo-ni- kay-shon) n.
Female... The open sharing of thoughts and feelings with one's partner.
Male...... Leaving a note before taking off on a fishing trip with the boys.
4. COMMITMENT (ko- mit-ment) n.
Female... A desire to get married and raise a family.
Male....... Trying not to hit on other women while out with this one.
5. ENTERTAINMENT (en-ter- tayn-ment) n.
Female... A good movie, concert, play or book.
Male....... Anything that can be done while drinking beer.
6. FLATULENCE (flach-u-lens) n.
Female... An embarrassing by-product of indigestion.
Male....... A source of entertainment, self-expression, male bonding.
7. MAKING LOVE (may-king luv) n.
Female... The greatest expression of intimacy a couple can achieve.
Male...... Call it whatever you want, just as long as we do it.
8. REMOTE CONTROL (ri-moht kon-trohl) n.
Female... A device for changing from one TV channel to another.
Male...... A device for scanning through all 375 channels every 5 minutes.
AND
He said..... I don't know why you wear a bra; you've got nothing to put in it.
She said.... You wear pants, don't you?
He said...... Shall we try swapping positions tonight?
She said.... That's a good idea - you stand by the ironing board while I sit on
the sofa and fart!
He said...... What have you been doing with all the grocery money I gave you?
She said.... Turn sideways and look in the mirror!
He said...... Why are married women heavier than single women?
She said.... Single women come home, see what's in the fridge and go to bed.
Married women come home, see what's in bed and go to the fridge.
1. THINGY (thing-ee) n.
Female... Any part under a car's hood.
Male....... The strap fastener on a woman's bra.
2. VULNERABLE (vul-ne-ra-bel) adj.
Female... Fully opening up one's self emotionally to another.
Male....... Playing football without a cup.
3. COMMUNICATION (ko-myoo-ni- kay-shon) n.
Female... The open sharing of thoughts and feelings with one's partner.
Male...... Leaving a note before taking off on a fishing trip with the boys.
4. COMMITMENT (ko- mit-ment) n.
Female... A desire to get married and raise a family.
Male....... Trying not to hit on other women while out with this one.
5. ENTERTAINMENT (en-ter- tayn-ment) n.
Female... A good movie, concert, play or book.
Male....... Anything that can be done while drinking beer.
6. FLATULENCE (flach-u-lens) n.
Female... An embarrassing by-product of indigestion.
Male....... A source of entertainment, self-expression, male bonding.
7. MAKING LOVE (may-king luv) n.
Female... The greatest expression of intimacy a couple can achieve.
Male...... Call it whatever you want, just as long as we do it.
8. REMOTE CONTROL (ri-moht kon-trohl) n.
Female... A device for changing from one TV channel to another.
Male...... A device for scanning through all 375 channels every 5 minutes.
AND
He said..... I don't know why you wear a bra; you've got nothing to put in it.
She said.... You wear pants, don't you?
He said...... Shall we try swapping positions tonight?
She said.... That's a good idea - you stand by the ironing board while I sit on
the sofa and fart!
He said...... What have you been doing with all the grocery money I gave you?
She said.... Turn sideways and look in the mirror!
He said...... Why are married women heavier than single women?
She said.... Single women come home, see what's in the fridge and go to bed.
Married women come home, see what's in bed and go to the fridge.
Todays dog joke....
This is Lexi, she's an 8 week-old German Shepherd.I bought Lexi as a surprise for my wife but it turns out my wife is allergic to long haired dogsso we are now looking to find her a new home.She is 65 years old, an attractive and caring woman who drives, is a great cook, and keeps a clean house.
