1/ Matt Taibbi on the country we have become, and why....one of his better articles....
Taibbi: The Legacy of the Iraq War
The invasion is no longer just one of the great crimes of this or any age – it's become a crossroads event
in the history of America's decline
Fifteen years ago this week, George W. Bush invaded Iraq. It was an awesome drama, made more thrilling by the seemingly obvious craziness of it all.
People were looking at each other out of the corners of their eyes, shrugging, and asking: Can we really do this without a reason? That was the dramatic subtext of the invasion.
In the press, no one could really make sense of the supposed justification for the invasion. That it was compelling, no one could deny. Hell, just look at the fonts. We all used the biggest ones we had! The New York Timessaid it all with its dramatic banner:
"BUSH ORDERS START OF WAR ON IRAQ; MISSILES APPARENTLY MISS HUSSEIN"
GOON BOMBS CITY ON HORSESH#T PRETEXT would have been more accurate, but editors were giving everyone the benefit of the doubt back then, and getting on board, for patriotic reasons. The Gray Lady, who was playing such a key role in what was going on, was certainly getting in the spirit, giving in to the adrenaline rush of Bush's evil gambit.
2/ Seth Meyers with "A Closer Look" at Trump and the special counsel.....a funny and informative seven minutes.....this includes clips from Trump's new lawyer Joe DiGenova appearing on Fox News that you won't believe. No wonder "the base" is so stupid and gullible.....watching this BS all day....
The growing legal issues against Trump, including his lawyer John Dowd quitting, multiple women suing him, and the latest updates from Robert Mueller’s investigation. “Following this presidency is like trying to binge-watch entire seasons of Days of Our Lives, Law & Order: SVU, and Survivor on three TV screens at the same time,” Meyers says. “Trump has so many legal problems, I wouldn’t be surprised if we started seeing commercials for lawyers targeted specifically at him: ‘Did you collude with a foreign adversary? Are you being sued by a porn star? Is your name Donald Trump? Then call the law firm of DiGenova & Cobb. We have no standards!'
3/ Benjamin Studebaker with a lucid blog on how the Facebook story shouldn't surprise any of us - it's what giant corporations do......most interesting insights....
Facebook isn’t that Different from News Corp or Standard Oil
by Benjamin Studebaker
My Facebook is flooded with folks talking about Cambridge Analytica, the firm that bought access to Facebook user data and used it to help design political propaganda for organisations seeking to help the Trump campaign. But you know what I find most surprising about this story? The fact that people find it surprising in the first place. This possibility was always implied by Facebook’s business model. It creates a platform that makes communicating with people easier. We don’t have to pay money to use it, but in exchange Facebook takes our data and sells it to whoever wants to buy. Did we really think that political organisations wouldn’t be interesting in buying Facebook data? Did we really think that Facebook wouldn’t sell it to them?
4/ "Teenagers - Saving Our Country So You Don't Have To".....great faux commercial from Seth Meyers.....two amusing minutes....
5/ Thomas Friedman with an excellent column [for a change]....quite a bit of wisdom in this one..."Find My Turkey"..
Many years ago, the Israeli Bedouin expert Clinton Bailey told me a story about a Bedouin chief who discovered one day that his favorite turkey had been stolen. He called his sons together and told them: “Boys, we are in great danger now. My turkey’s been stolen. Find my turkey.” His boys just laughed and said, “Father, what do you need that turkey for?” and they ignored him.
A few weeks later the Bedouin chief’s camel was stolen. His sons went to him and said, “Father, your camel has been stolen. What should we do?” And the chief answered, “Find my turkey.”
A few weeks later the chief’s horse was stolen, and again his sons asked what they should do. “Find my turkey,” the chief said.
Finally, a few weeks later his daughter was abducted, at which point he gathered his sons and told them: “It’s all because of the turkey! When they saw that they could take my turkey, we lost everything.”
I retell that story today because it’s helpful in understanding how and why we failed to contain the egregious behavior of both Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
6/ Bill Hader as Stefon is one of the funniest pieces of comedy we have seen for a while....we have watched it twice, it was just as good the second time......five LOL minutes....
Then, of course, Stefon kills it in his big return to Studio 8H. (It certainly helps that John Mulaney swings by to help write this segment, and he makes an appearance as Stefon’s leopard-print-tie wearing lawyer, Shy.) Among Stefon’s name drops: Verne Troyer, Roman J. Israel Esq. and Farrah-cauns — that is, leprechauns that look like Farrah Fawcett. (“But also, yes, Minister Farrakhan will be there.”)
7/ This article is disgusting on two fronts - one is how the Chinese are buying farms in the US and exploiting us, the second is how Republicans in North Carolina are allowing the hog farms to destroy the environment.....and note there is no mention of how they treat the animals, that would be another story...
Some 9 million hogs are warehoused in Eastern North Carolina; the 15.5 million tons of waste they produce each year are typically kept in unlined open-air lagoons
How lax regulation made it cheaper for China to outsource pork production – and all of its environmental and human costs – to the U.S.
In July 2013, Larry Pope, the CEO of Smithfield Foods, the largest pork producer in America, was called to testify before a U.S. Senate committee about the pending sale of his company to a Chinese conglomerate now known as WH Group. The $7.1 billion purchase, the largest-ever foreign takeover of its kind, had attracted concerns. The Chinese pork manufacturer had a checkered health record, allegedly feeding its hogs illegal chemicals, and Smithfield had a long history of environmental problems at its farms, including a $12 million fine for several thousand clean-water violations. But the worries did not stop there. The Chinese government had a track record of using nominally private entities as proxies for state power. "To have a Chinese food company controlling a major U.S. meat supplier, without shareholder accountability, is a bit concerning," said Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley. "A safe and sustainable food supply is critical to national security. How might this deal impact our national security?"
8/ Sam Bee with "F##k You Hope Hicks"....a funny five minutes....
“I cannot let another week go by without saying, ‘Fu#k you, Hope Hicks,’” Bee began.
The late-night host said she’d “never talked much about Hope,” who quit her job in February, because “unlike every other member of the Trump orbit she doesn’t careen onto our television screens lobbing lies and racial invective every damn day.”
“But that doesn’t mean she should get a pass,” Bee added, before imagining how St. Peter would welcome Hicks at the gates of “nice white Protestant heaven: “You think you’re getting in here? You helped burned down democracy, bitch.”
9/ Mike Pence.....John Oliver looks at his beliefs and experience, and it's funny but also really scary......an excellent primer on our next President after Trump has his breakdown....
Reality star and former White House staffer Omarosa Manigault once warned on Celebrity Big Brother that "we would be begging for the days of Trump back if [Mike Pence] became president." John Oliver summarized the vice president's narrow, evangelical vision for the U.S. – including his opposition to abortion and gay rights – on Sunday's Last Week Tonight.
The comedian opened by reminding viewers that, unlike many other fired members of the Trump administration, our vice president is here for the long haul. "While in many ways, Pence is like any Trump employee – ethically compromised, creeped the fuck out by Jared and subjected to all sorts of unwanted physical contact – Pence is constitutionally the only official in the White House that Trump can't fire," he said. "And that is worrisome because he is synonymous with some extreme positions."
And a follow up from Oliver's show - the book he mentions is now #1 on Amazon.....
The first, “Marlon Bundo’s Day in the Life of the Vice President,” is a picture book written by Mr. Pence’s daughter Charlotte that focuses on the bunny’s observations of the vice president, with illustrations by his wife, Karen.
The other, “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver Presents a Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo,” is a gay romance between two bunnies that was the brainchild of the HBO comedy host John Oliver.
So far, that is the more popular of the two.
10/ Paul Krugman with his take on the Trump administrations latest appointments....titled "Trump and Trade and Zombies"....
Almost four decades have passed since Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously declared, “Of a sudden, the G.O.P. has become a party of ideas.” And his statement still holds true, with one modification: These days, Republicans are a party of zombie ideas — ideas that should have died long ago, yet still keep shambling along, eating politicians’ brains.
The most important of these zombies is the “supply side” insistence that cutting taxes on the rich reliably produces economic miracles, and conversely that raising taxes on the rich is a recipe for disaster. Faith in this doctrine survived the boom that followed Bill Clinton’s tax hikes, the lackluster recovery and eventual catastrophe that followed George W. Bush’s tax cuts, the debacle in Kansas, and more.
11/ SNL Weekend Update last week, news on McCabe and more and includes Kate McKinnon as Betsy DeVos......
it's very good.....seven minutes....
“What if it’s good?” asks Michael Che of a potential Trump sex tape featuring Stormy Daniels. “Are you prepared to see Donald Trump tear up some ass?” As the audience ponders this big question, the rest of Update’s first half considers White House turnover and the media’s treatment of all things Trump. “Stop teasing us if there’s no payoff,” Colin Jost says of bold headlines about Daniels and the Mueller investigation. “I’ll tell the media the same thing I told my high school girlfriend: I’m totally fine waiting, but then you’ve got to stop rubbing the outside of my pants.” Then Betsy DeVos (McKinnon) makes an appearance to defend her terrible 60 Minutes interview: “I may not be very good on camera, but behind the scenes my ideas are much worse.” The text of the monologue is straightforward and to the point, while McKinnon’s portrayal of a chipper idiot speaks volumes.
If you just want the Betsy DeVos segment, here it is.....three minutes....
Chameleon Kate McKinnon again played an uncanny Betsy DeVos on “Saturday Night Live,” admitting with a smile on her vacuous face that she’s not good at her job.
The “Weekend Update” bit was a play on DeVos’ disastrous appearance last week on “60 Minutes,” when she admitted she lacked facts on school performance and said she never “intentionally” visits poorly performing schools to try to determine what isn’t working.
Asked to explain the awkward interview, a cheerful McKinnon explained to anchor Colin Jost: “I think the problem is that the words that were coming out of my mouth were bad, and that is because they came from my brain.”
12/ Yes, Republicans actually believe Trump is innocent of anything to do with Russia....I know, I know....
During the final competitive stages of the 2016 presidential primary, Ted Cruz was all that stood between the Republican Party and nominating a candidate who called Cruz “Lyin’ Ted,” insulted his wife’s appearance, and accused his father of possibly helping to assassinate JFK. Jeff Roe, Cruz’s campaign manager, has never been one to let a thing like pathologically dishonest bullying affect his political judgment. In a New York Times op-ed this weekend, Roe urges his party to stand behind its president. “No, you don’t have to support the president’s tweet storms,” he wrote. “But you do have to defend his policy accomplishments.”
What Roe has defined here is the mainstream stance of the Republican Party.
13/ Stephen Colbert as a comedic reporter.....on Cambridge Analytica, with some of the undercover footage too.....an interesting five minutes and this and Part 2 are a must watch........
Stephen Colbert ripped Cambridge Analytica, a data company that has been linked to President Trump's 2016 election campaign, on Monday. The firm is accused of stealing Facebook information from over 50 million users without their permission.
More distressing, Colbert noted, was that Facebook knew about the breach but failed to make the information public.
"Really?" he said sarcastically. "The one time I actually wanted a Facebook alert [I didn't get one]? Perhaps that could have replaced the four messages I get a day about my ex-roommate's college girlfriend's one-woman show. I'm a maybe, Sarah! That means no!"
Cambridge Analytica used Facebook data to create models that would allow the company to influence voter preferences and impact election outcomes – or so they told their clients. The company denied swaying voters over the weekend on Twitter, writing, "advertising is not coercive; people are smarter than that."
Part 2 of Colbert on Cambridge Analytica......I have not seen this undercover footage anywhere else....
14/ Bill Hader on SNL with a strange but amusing sketch called "Girlfriends Game Night" about....Cialis? Girlfriends? Five funny minutes, and read the review below first...
It's probably odd to say that the "less is more" approach works in a sketch in which Bill Hader uses an electric scooter like a battering ram, but it's precisely how little he does here that makes it work. His elderly character Horus is the eye of a hurricane, casually destroying anything and everything around him. But like a much-happier Herb Welch, he's in his own reality at all times, one in which the concerns of others are distractions to be ignored.
There's nothing profound about this sketch, but I like how 90% of it would still work exactly as is were it a silent film. Everything you need to know about everyone's intent is in the facial expressions of the performers, and no audio could augment the image of Hader accidentally backing Melissa Villaseñor up from stage right to stage left like a deleted scene in a Mad Max car chase. (Props to Heidi Gardner for protecting the back of the set as if she was making the last stand in a Marvel movie.) This probably won't be a sketch people remember in a month, but it's a great example of what Hader, the 13th best SNL cast member, could bring to the show each week during his eight-year run.
15/ I'm sure you have read how your Facebook data has been sold......so take the time to use the steps in this Times article to try to protect yourself....
O.K., so what do I do now?
There is a multipronged approach you can take to protect yourself from data-harvesting apps and programs. That includes tools you can install in your browser and settings you can tweak on Facebook. Here’s a run down of what you should do:
• Audit your Facebook apps. If you used Facebook to sign in to a third-party website, game or app, those services may continue to access your personal data.
16/ Carl Hiaasen on the Everglades cleanup.....such as it is....good update...
If you care about what’s left of the Everglades, here’s what passes for a victory these days:
The state is moving ahead with plans for a reservoir and a cleansing marsh to handle some of the fertilizer-tainted, algae-spawning deluge that gets dumped from Lake Okeechobee to both coasts every rainy season.
In theory the collected water will be scrubbed and sent south to nourish parched stretches of the Everglades, and ultimately, imperiled Florida Bay.
Take a moment to celebrate, but don’t go wild...
Todays guy joke
After my prostate exam, the doctor left and the nurse came in.
As she shut the door, she asked me a question I didn't want to hear….
She asked, "Who was that guy?"
An oldies joke
Every night after dinner, Harold goes to a secluded garden behind the Center to sit and ponder his accomplishments and long life.
One evening, Mildred, age 87, wanders into the garden. They begin to chat and before they know it, several hours have passed.
After a short lull in their conversation, Harold turns to Mildred and asks, “Do you know what I miss most of all?”
She asks, “What?”
“Sex!!” he replies.
Mildred exclaims, “Why you old fart. You couldn't get it up if I held a gun to your head!”
“I know,” Harold says, “but it would be nice if a woman could just hold it for a while.”
“Well, I can oblige,” says Mildred, who unzips his trousers, removes his manhood and proceeds to hold it. Afterward, they agree to meet secretly each night in the garden where they would sit and talk and Mildred would hold Harold's manhood.
Then one night Harold didn't show up at their usual meeting place. Alarmed, Mildred decided to find Harold and make sure he was O.K.
She walked around the Old Folks Home where she found him sitting by the pool with Ethel, another female resident, who was holding Harold's manhood!
Furious, Mildred yelled, “You two-timing son-of-a-bitch! What does Ethel have that I don't have?”
Old Harold smiled happily and replied, “Parkinson's.”
