1/. The United Nations has a special Monitor looking at poverty in America, the 41 million living in extreme deprivation in the wealthiest country in the world......a harrowing story from the Guardian that will make you ashamed [if you aren't Republican].....
“You got a choice to make, man. You could go straight on to heaven. Or you could turn right, into that.”
We are in Los Angeles, in the heart of one of America’s wealthiest cities, and General Dogon, dressed in black, is our tour guide. Alongside him strolls another tall man, grey-haired and sprucely decked out in jeans and suit jacket. Professor Philip Alston is an Australian academic with a formal title: UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights.
General Dogon, himself a veteran of these Skid Row streets, strides along, stepping over a dead rat without comment and skirting round a body wrapped in a worn orange blanket lying on the sidewalk.
The two men carry on for block after block after block of tatty tents and improvised tarpaulin shelters. Men and women are gathered outside the structures, squatting or sleeping, some in groups, most alone like extras in a low-budget dystopian movie.
We come to an intersection, which is when General Dogon stops and presents his guest with the choice. He points straight ahead to the end of the street, where the glistening skyscrapers of downtown LA rise up in a promise of divine riches.
Heaven.
Then he turns to the right, revealing the “black power” tattoo on his neck, and leads our gaze back into Skid Row bang in the center of LA’s downtown. That way lies 50 blocks of concentrated human humiliation. A nightmare in plain view, in the city of dreams.
2/. You may know the name of Senator Bob Corker, but you don't know what a corrupt scumbag he is.....Matt Taibbi has his number, and what an evil bastard.....
So Tennessee Senator Bob Corker is in trouble now, because he flip-flopped to vote for Donald Trump's tax bill after a provision was included that reportedly helps him personally.
Color me not shocked. I spent most of this past summer investigating Corker, whose personal finances have been an open scandal for years. Everything you need to know about the Senator can be discerned from this chart.
Color me not shocked. I spent most of this past summer investigating Corker, whose personal finances have been an open scandal for years. Everything you need to know about the Senator can be discerned from this chart.
Click on that link and you'll see: Corker went from having an estimate net worth of zero when he entered the Senate in 2007, to being (as of 2015) the fourth-wealthiest man in the Senate, worth $69 million.
How do you increase your net worth by 69 million dollars while you're working full-time as a Senator? That is not an easy story to explain.
How do you increase your net worth by 69 million dollars while you're working full-time as a Senator? That is not an easy story to explain.
3/. Seth Meyers shows the pathetic groveling of Trump's cabinet, and especially Mike Pence.....a sickening but still funny six minutes....
Seth Meyers lampooned Vice President Mike Pence for lavishing praise on President Donald Trump during a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
“Even [Trump] is like, ‘Dude, I’m married,’” Meyers said Thursday night in response to Pence going on for minutes about how much the president has bolstered America and its citizens.
“You’ve spurred an optimism in this country that’s setting records,” Pence said. “I’m deeply humbled as your vice president.”
The “Late Night” host mocked Pence’s gushing compliments.
“After that Cabinet meeting, Pence showed up at Trump’s door holding cue cards,” Meyers said in a reference to the 2003 romcom “Love Actually.”
4/. There is a new strain of Christian evangelicals closely tied to Fox News....religion and politics are becoming one.
To hear the Christian right tell it, President Trump should be a candidate for sainthood — that is, if evangelicals believed in saints.
“Never in my lifetime have we had a Potus willing to take such a strong outspoken stand for the Christian faith like Donald Trump,” tweeted Franklin Graham, the son of the evangelist Billy Graham. The Dallas pastor Robert Jeffress sees a divine hand at work: “God intervened in our election and put Donald Trump in the Oval Office for a great purpose.”
Testimonials like this confound critics who label conservative evangelical figures like Mr. Graham and Mr. Jeffress hypocrites for embracing a man who is pretty much the human embodiment of the question “What would Jesus not do?”
But what those critics don’t recognize is that the nationalistic, race-baiting, fear-mongering form of politics enthusiastically practiced by Mr. Trump and Roy Moore in Alabama is central to a new strain of American evangelicalism. This emerging religious worldview — let’s call it “Fox evangelicalism”
5/. On the same theme Sam Bee went to church to find out why evangelicals still support Trump.....a good six minutes...
On Samantha Bee's "Full Frontal" Wednesday night, the late-night comedian examined the close-knit relationship between devout evangelicals and the less-than-devout leader of the free world, President Donald Trump. Specifically, she focused on how evangelicals' unconditional worship of him may have influenced his decisions, such as recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Certainly, she says, millennialist strains of the movement are loving it.
Bee rolled a clip of Steve Cioccolanti, the leader of Discover Ministries, who is among evangelicals that believe Trump "has truly signaled the end times."
"You heard them right, this bunch of fringe-dwelling internet lunatics think that Trump’s gambit might hasten the end of the world, and they are into it!" Bee said.
6/. Andrew Sullivan on Putin's first year in the White House....yes, read it again.....Putin's first year in control.....
What are we to make of Vladimir Putin’s first year in the White House? How has he done?
I’m only slightly kidding. Or rather I’m just channeling a CNN interview earlier this week with James Clapper, former director of National Intelligence. Here’s what Clapper said: “I think this past weekend is illustrative of what a great case officer Vladimir Putin is. He knows how to handle an asset, and that’s what he’s doing with the president […] You have to remember Putin’s background. He’s a KGB officer. That’s what they do. They recruit assets. And I think some of that experience and instincts of Putin has come into play here in his managing of a pretty important account for him, if I could use that term, with our president.”
Clapper clarified his statement by saying he was being figurative, rather than literal. So let’s just ask a figurative question, shall we? How successful has the Kremlin’s figurative investment been this past year? Pretty damn impressive.
7/. The fires still raging in Southern California are a climate change emergency.....and are here to stay according to this story in Rolling Stone.
California resident waters a roof as the Thomas Fire approaches the town of La Conchita early Thursday morning.
In the hills above the Pacific Ocean, the world crossed a terrifying tipping point this week.
As holiday music plays on the radio, temperatures in Southern California have soared into the 80s, and bone-dry winds have fanned a summer-like wildfire outbreak. Southern California is under siege.
As holiday music plays on the radio, temperatures in Southern California have soared into the 80s, and bone-dry winds have fanned a summer-like wildfire outbreak. Southern California is under siege.
As the largest of this week's fires skipped across California's famed coastal highway 101 toward the beach, rare snowflakes were falling in Houston, all made possible by a truly extreme weather pattern that's locked the jet stream into a highly amplified state. It's difficult to find the words to adequately describe how weird this is. It's rare that the dissonance of climate change is this visceral.
8/. Jimmy Fallon with his opener, including counting down his favorite Trump moments.....an amusing three minutes....
President Donald Trump’s first year in office has been something of a roller coaster ride.
So on Friday’s broadcast of “The Tonight Show,” host Jimmy Fallon counted down his five favorite POTUS-themed gaffes of 2017.
Nominations include Trump barging past world leaders and sipping water like a little kid.
9/. Frank Rich [the Master] on the news of the week.....
Most weeks, New York Magazine writer-at-large Frank Rich speaks with contributor Alex Carp about the biggest stories in politics and culture. Today: the political effects of the GOP tax cuts, the state of relations between the Trump White House and Special Counsel Bob Mueller, and Steven Spielberg’s The Post.
As the Republican tax bill hurtles toward being a done deal, opposition to it has soared, with two-thirds of the public now seeing it as a boon to the wealthy, according to a CNN poll. What will be the consequences of pushing through something that’s so deeply unpopular?
You don’t need to hear from me all the ways in which this egregious bill is a boon to the wealthiest Americans at the expense of everyone else. But the immediate political consequences of the bill are less clearcut. Yes, as things stand now, the bill has the “lowest level of public support for any major piece of legislation enacted in the past three decades,” as USA Today put it; even Obamacare polled higher upon passage in 2009. But it would be foolish for Democrats to assume this makes 2018 a slam dunk:
10/. Democrats are riding a wave right now, but could easily blow it.....
There's no denying that the modern GOP is more successful than the Democratic Party at getting what it wants – Republicans fire up their voting base during elections, and then they deliver. That's why the GOP is unified in support of its horribly unpopular tax plan right now. America as a whole might not like it, but the people Republicans count on to get them elected sure do.
Imagine if the Democratic Party could adopt the same mindset.
Instead, Democrats have developed a habit over the last four decades of trying to get their voting base fired up during elections without delivering a whole lot once in power. They think Americans, and liberals in particular, want to see bipartisanship – lots of hand-holding and playing nice. By the time they wake up from that fantasy, it may be too late.
Instead, Democrats have developed a habit over the last four decades of trying to get their voting base fired up during elections without delivering a whole lot once in power. They think Americans, and liberals in particular, want to see bipartisanship – lots of hand-holding and playing nice. By the time they wake up from that fantasy, it may be too late.
11/. Sam Bee went to church to find out why evangelicals still support Trump and why one very articulate Pastor doesn't.....a good six minutes....
Samantha Bee ventured to church on Full Frontal to learn more about why evangelicals still support the president. She interviewed pas
Bernard said he originally took the position so that he could be "a minority voice at the table to help influence policy, ideas, initiatives." Bernard recalled a dinner with Trump in May where he was able to speak with the President about issues concerning the inner city, but the pastor suggested the President was hardly interested. "It was like a person who was so fascinated with being where they are, that that was the most important thing," he said.
However, Bernard said he realized during the second meeting of the advisory board that he would not be able to affect any change. While Bernard said he believed that the people would be able to properly judge the actions — or lack of action — of the advisory board, he urged his colleagues in the evangelical community to "hold [Trump] accountable.
12/. Peter Travers in Rolling Stone loves the new Star Wars movie....
This review is a no-spoilers zone, so let's cut to the chase: The Last Jedi – Episode VIII of the Star Wars saga – is simply stupendous, a volcano of creative ideas in full eruption. Writer-director Rian Johnson, known for indies such as Looper and Brick, eases into epic filmmaking like a pro. The Star Wars universe is the best toy box a fanboy could ever wish for, and Johnson makes sure that Jedi is bursting at the seams with knockout fun surprises, marvelous adventure and shocking revelations that will leave your head spinning. Even those few jaded doubters, the ones still reeling from the disastrous trilogy of prequels perpetrated by George Lucas, will roar like Wookies and holler, "Holy shit!"
Want lightsaber duels, X-wing dogfights, exotic creatures (oh, those crystal ice-critters!), criss-crossing family bloodlines ("Who's your daddy?" gets asked a lot), high-end FX and lowdown farce? It's all here. But Johnson takes it to the next level, leading us through so many trap doors and blind alleys that we can't tell the dark side from the light. Heroes die and villains thrive ... and then it's the reverse. That's the point of the movie, which brims over with characters on a tightrope.
The plot picks up where director J.J. Abrams left off in 2015's The Force Awakens.
13/. I just read this incredible article about Millennials again [the print version without the graphics] and it's just as powerful a second time.....
I suggest you set aside a few minutes and digest again this blueprint of how our young are being devoured by the system.....truly a "wow" story...
Like everyone in my generation, I am finding it increasingly difficult not to be scared about the future and angry about the past.
I am 35 years old—the oldest millennial, the first millennial—and for a decade now, I’ve been waiting for adulthood to kick in. My rent consumes nearly half my income, I haven’t had a steady job since Pluto was a planet and my savings are dwindling faster than the ice caps the baby boomers melted.
WHAT’S A MILLENNIAL ANYWAY?
Unless otherwise noted, we mean anyone born between 1982 and 2004
We’ve all heard the statistics. More millennials live with their parents than with roommates. We are delaying partner-marrying and house-buying and kid-having for longer than any previous generation. And, according to The Olds, our problems are all our fault: We got the wrong degree. We spend money we don’t have on things we don’t need. We still haven’t learned to code. We killed cereal and department stores and golf and napkins an
This is what it feels like to be young now. Not only are we screwed, but we have to listen to lectures about our laziness and our participation trophies from the people who screwed us.
14/. Seth Meyers imagines a "Christmas Carol for Trump.....painfully amusing, three minutes....
It’s A Christmas Carol, but not as you’ve likely seen it before.
“Late Night with Seth Meyers” has given the Charles Dickens classic novella a decidedly President Donald Trump twist.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Vice President Mike Pence both appeared in the parody released online Thursday, which flipped the story’s moral on its head.
15/. A fictional scenario of the future of South Florida set in 2037, but could happen well before then....by the environmental writer Jeff Goodall from his new book...
The hurricane hit Miami in 2037, a foot of sand covered the famous bow-tie floor in the lobby of the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach. A dead manatee floated in the pool where Elvis had once swum. Most of the damage came not from the hurricane’s 175-mile-an-hour winds, but from the twenty-foot storm surge that overwhelmed the low-lying city.
In South Beach, historic Art Deco buildings were swept off their foundations. Mansions on Star Island were flooded up to their cut-glass doorknobs. A seventeen-mile stretch of Highway A1A that ran along the famous beaches up to Fort Lauderdale disappeared into the Atlantic. The storm knocked out the wastewater-treatment plant on Virginia Key, forcing the city to dump hundreds of millions of gallons of raw sewage into Biscayne Bay.
Tampons and condoms littered the beaches, and the stench of human excrement stoked fears of cholera. More than three hundred people died, many of them swept away by the surging waters that submerged much of Miami Beach and Fort Lauderdale; thirteen people were killed in traffic accidents as they scrambled to escape the city after the news spread—falsely, it turned out—that one of the nuclear reactors at Turkey Point, an aging power plant twenty-four miles south of Miami, had been destroyed by the surge and had sent a radioactive cloud floating over the city.
The president, of course, said that Miami would be back, that Americans did not give up, that the city would be rebuilt better and stronger than it had been before. But it was clear to those not fooling themselves that this storm was the beginning of the end of Miami
Todays video - the funniest hot dog commercial ever.......of course it's Australian, I don't think they could show it here......
Today's quickies
Which sexual position produces the ugliest children?
Ask your mother.
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How do you embarrass an archeologist?
Give him a tampon and ask him which period it came from.
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What's the difference between a bitch and a whore?
A whore sleeps with everybody at the party; A bitch sleeps with everybody at the party except you.
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What's the difference between a Catholic wife and a Jewish wife?
A Catholic wife has real orgasms and fake jewelry.
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What makes men chase women they have no intention of marrying?
The same urge that makes dogs chase cars they have no intention of driving.
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What is the biggest problem for an atheist?
No one to talk to during orgasm.
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What do you call an Amish guy with his hand up a horse's ass?
A mechanic.
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Who is the most popular guy at the nudist colony?
The guy who can carry a cup of coffee in each hand and a dozen donuts.
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Who is the most popular girl at the nudist colony?
The one who can eat the last donut.
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Jewish dilemma:
Free PORK.
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The three words men hate to hear most during sex:
'Are you in?'
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The three words women hate to hear most during sex:
'Honey, I'm home!'
Todays linguistic joke
Did you know that, the words "race car" spelled backwards still spells "race car"?
And that "eat" is the only word that, if you take the first letter and move it to the last, spells its own past tense, "ate"?
And if you rearrange the letters in "Tea Party Republicans," and add just a few more letters, it spells: "Shut the hell up you free-loading, progress-blocking, benefit-grabbing, resource-sucking, violent, lie-to-start-war hypocrites, low-life pieces of crap and deal with the fact that you are wrecking the country under Trump and that the last president was black, so get over it."
Isn't that interesting?
Todays bonus Polish joke
What do Polish brides get on their wedding day that's long and hard?
A new last name.
Todays Wal-Mart joke
Wal-Mart announced that sometime in 2013 it will begin offering customers a new discount item: Wal-Mart's own brand of wine.The world's largest retail chain is teaming up with Ernest & Julio Gallo Winery of California to produce the wines at affordable prices in the $2 to $5 range.Wine connoisseurs may not be inclined to put a bottle of the Wal-Mart brand into their shopping carts but, 'There is a market for inexpensive wine,' said Kathy Micken, professor of marketing at University of Arkansas, Bentonville. 'However, branding will be very important.'Customer surveys were conducted to determine the most attractive name for the Wal-Mart wine brands and varieties.The top surveyed names in order of popularity were:10. Chateau Traileur Parc9. White Trashfindel8. Big Red Gulp7. World Championship Riesling6. NASCARbernet5. Chef Boyardeaux4. Peanut Noir3. I Can't Believe it's not Vinegar2. Grape Expectations1. Nasti SpumanteThe beauty of Wal-Mart wine is that it can be served witheither white meat (Possum) or red meat (Squirrel).
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