1/ Matt Taibbi on why Michael Wolff's book on the moron is good news.....
Most of the world seems to have concluded that the lunatic chaos described in Fire and Fury, the "bombshell" new book about the Trump White House by Michael Wolff, foretells the end of civilization.
The book certainly doesn't seem like good news. Wolff tells us our president is probably a neurotic illiterate, incapable of focus beyond a few seconds, and thought of as a deranged simpleton by even his most trusted advisors.
The excerpt in New York Magazine describes an idiot who didn't expect to win and spends his evenings locked in the White House bedroom wolfing down cheeseburgers – Trump reportedly has a Woody Allen-esque phobia about being poisoned and therefore loves the wholesome safety of premade McDonald's – while watching news about himself and descending into fugue states of rage and self-pity.
The excerpt in New York Magazine describes an idiot who didn't expect to win and spends his evenings locked in the White House bedroom wolfing down cheeseburgers – Trump reportedly has a Woody Allen-esque phobia about being poisoned and therefore loves the wholesome safety of premade McDonald's – while watching news about himself and descending into fugue states of rage and self-pity.
2/ And similar sentiments from Andrew Sullivan.......Trump's first year was a disaster for the country, but Sullivan has hope.....
There are times when I wonder how on earth historians will cover this era in American politics. Maybe they will simply follow Dickens and pronounce that this is the best of times and the worst of times simultaneously. But that wouldn’t quite capture the surrealism of the moment, would it?
I don’t need to tell you about the worst.
3/ Good column from Michelle Goldberg in the Times.....
One of the more alarming anecdotes in “Fire and Fury,” Michael Wolff’s incendiary new book about Donald Trump’s White House, involves the firing of James Comey, former director of the F.B.I. It’s not Trump’s motives that are scary; Wolff reports that Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner were “increasingly panicked” and “frenzied” about what Comey would find if he looked into the family finances, which is incriminating but unsurprising. The terrifying part is how, in Wolff’s telling, Trump sneaked around his aides, some of whom thought they’d contained him.
“For most of the day, almost no one would know that he had decided to take matters into his own hands,” Wolff writes. “In presidential annals, the firing of F.B.I. director James Comey may be the most consequential move ever made by a modern president acting entirely on his own.” Now imagine Trump taking the same approach toward ordering the bombing of North Korea.
4/ Stephen Colbert on Bannon and the new book......this is one of his best segments for a while.....eight minutes of hilarity....excellent....
The publication of some juicy excerpts from Michael Wolff's tell-all book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House about the administration of President Donald Trump is such a gift to Stephen Colbert.
The Late Show host laid into the president in his opening monologue, with some hilarious thoughts on former advisor Steve Bannon ("expired hamburger meat that wished to be a real boy"), and the revelation that Trump often goes to bed with a cheeseburger (OK, this one is kind of gross).
All this, and the full book hasn't even come out yet. Get your popcorn ready, kids.
5/ And finally an excerpt from the explosive Michael Wolff book on Trump......the reality of the White House.....a 'wow' read....
On the afternoon of November 8, 2016, Kellyanne Conway settled into her glass office at Trump Tower. Right up until the last weeks of the race, the campaign headquarters had remained a listless place. All that seemed to distinguish it from a corporate back office were a few posters with right-wing slogans.
Conway, the campaign’s manager, was in a remarkably buoyant mood, considering she was about to experience a resounding, if not cataclysmic, defeat. Donald Trump would lose the election — of this she was sure — but he would quite possibly hold the defeat to under six points. That was a substantial victory. As for the looming defeat itself, she shrugged it off: It was Reince Priebus’s fault, not hers.
6/ A Republican Christmas card! From our local artist Taylor Jones - a little vicious, but pretty accurate....
7/ A fascinating [and depressing when you think of the contrast] story from the Times about robots and AI coming to Sweden.....where there is no anxiety about this because the Swedish people still have faith in their government that the State will help and protect them.....
GARPENBERG, Sweden — From inside the control room carved into the rock more than half a mile underground, Mika Persson can see the robots on the march, supposedly coming for his job here at the New Boliden mine.
He’s fine with it.
Sweden’s famously generous social welfare system makes this a place not prone to fretting about automation — or much else, for that matter.
Mr. Persson, 35, sits in front of four computer screens, one displaying the loader he steers as it lifts freshly blasted rock containing silver, zinc and lead. If he were down in the mine shaft operating the loader manually, he would be inhaling dust and exhaust fumes. Instead, he reclines in an office chair while using a joystick to control the machine.
8/ Trump tweeted he is awarding "Dishonest Media Awards" next Monday, so of course Stephen Colbert wants one.....two amusing minutes....
Comedian Stephen Colbert took out a billboard in Times Square mocking President Donald Trump’s “media awards.”
9/ 2018 predictions.....cartoon from Matt Bors....
10/ Stephen Colbert with three minutes on weed and Jeff Sessions....good comedy....
The Trump administration on Thursday authorized prosecutors to go after marijuana offenders even in states where consumption of the drug is legal. Mr. Colbert said the decision revealed something about Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who spearheaded the move.
“This new directive from Sessions can mean only one thing: He still doesn’t know that white people smoke pot, too. ‘We can’t expose our delicate young ladies to the jazzman’s reefer stick. I said good day, sir! Beauregard, bring the horses around!’ I’m paraphrasing, obviously.” — STEPHEN COLBERT
11/ A photo essay of some of the natural disasters that hit the world in 2017....the truly scary thing is I had not heard of most of these, thanks to our media who have been laser focused on the American disaster in the White House.....
For those in the United States, 2017 will probably always be associated with the record hurricanes that caused widespread damage in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico. In California, raging wildfires destroyed thousands of structures.
But around the world, millions faced other natural disasters as well, including volcanic eruptions in Indonesia and massive flooding in Peru.
Scroll down to see photos of these events from across the globe last year:
12/ The acapella group Pentatonix with a medley of Daft Punk songs....hard to believe all of the sound in this clip is from their mouths.....amazing....
13/ Benjamin Studebaker with an essay on the media and Trump.....some excellent observations.....
Trump Welcomes the Hatred of the Press
by Benjamin Studebaker
Remember back during the 2016 campaign when the media couldn’t stop covering Donald Trump? It hasn’t really changed, has it? The press hasn’t adapted much. Yes, there’s a lot of content about how bad Trump is, and some of it is even policy-oriented, focusing on some of the more odious bits and pieces of the Trump tax plan. But this is having no impact on Trump’s approval rating, which has hovered in the mid to upper 30s for most of the first year of his presidency–higher than the low 30s figures he suffered from throughout most of the 2016 campaign. Why is it that nothing the media says or does seems to seriously harm Trump?
Todays slightly raunchy jokes.....
1. I was devastated to find out my wife was having an affair, but, by turning to religion, I was soon able to come to terms with the whole thing. I converted to Islam, and we're stoning her in the morning.2. My wife suggested I get myself one of those penis enlargers, so I did. She's 25 and her name is Monique.3. Went to our local bar with my wife last night. Locals started shouting "pedophile!" and other names at me, just because my wife is 24 and I'm 50. It completely spoiled our 10th anniversary.4. My son was thrown out of school today for letting a girl in his class give him a hand-job. I said, "Son, that's three schools this year! You'd better stop before you're banned from teaching altogether."5. The cost of living has now gotten so bad that my wife is having sex with me because she can't afford batteries.6. A man calls 911 and says "I think my wife is dead." The operator says, "How do you know?" The man says, "The sex is about the same, but the ironing is piling up!"7. I was explaining to my wife last night that when you die you get reincarnated, but must come back as a different creature. She said she would like to come back as a cow. I said, "You obviously haven't been listening."8. My wife has been missing a week now. The police said to prepare for the worst. So, I had to go down to Goodwill to get all of her clothes back.9. The Red Cross just knocked on my door and asked if we could contribute towards the floods in Pakistan . I said, "We'd love to, but our garden hose only reaches the driveway."10. If you get an email entitled, "Nude Photo of Hillary Clinton", don't open it. It contains a nude photo of Hillary Clinton.
Todays clever jokes......
Todays puns....
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