1/ Great story in Vox on how removing Trump won't solve the problems of American democracy's decline....
The myth of an ending: why even removing Trump from office won’t save American democracy
It feels like this moment in history deserves a definitive ending. It won’t get one.
2/ Samantha Bee with a blistering and extremely funny takedown of Mike Pompeo, who is about to become the next Secretary of State....six excellent minutes...
Samantha Bee pulled no punches as she broke down why she believes President
Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of state is the wrong person for the job.
On Wednesday’s broadcast of “Full Frontal,” the comedian began her monologue by describing CIA Director
Mike Pompeo as “a pretty typical Trump pick.”
“It would be unfair to simply call Mike Pompeo a raging Islamophobe, because he’s also a raging homophobe,” said Bee, as she pointed to Pompeo’s past comments about Muslims and LGBTQ communities as proof. “It’s what Republicans call intersectionality.”
3/ John Oliver with a comedic reporting piece on Iran.....he gives us a primer on the history of Iran-US relations, and why Trump is trying to kill the nuclear deal....
Again, comedic reporting....you learn something, and laugh while you are doing it....
“Last Week Tonight” host
John Oliver isn’t on Fox News, but he’s not letting that stop him.
4/ Melania was at the funeral for Barbara Bush, and this photo of her smiling with Obama has gone viral on Twitter.....some pretty telling tweets in this story from HuffPo.........
5/ Our mainstream media certainly doesn't inform us how the rest of the world sees us and out gun policies, so this clip from Dutch TV is both interesting and amusing........
Sunday with Lubach, which is sort of like the Dutch version of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, looked at guns — specifically, the US’s love of firearms. And it’s very telling.
For one, the satirical Dutch video describes America’s love of guns as so bad that it is an illness: Nonsensical Rifle Addiction, or NRA — a reference to the biggest gun lobby group in the country.
“Dear fellow Europeans,” the video’s narrator begins, “a devastating humanitarian crisis is threatening a small country on the coast of North America: the United States of America.”
6/ Bad Lip Reading has done a piece on Zuckerberg's testimony......very funny, and they really nail the old white Senators....
7/ The media mantra on the elections in November is that the Dems will win the House but not the Senate, so this story from the Times on the Senate races is especially interesting....
The Senate is supposed to be the staid chamber of Congress.
But just as nobody got that message to the Republicans in Alabama who rallied around Roy Moore, no one has filled in the Republicans in West Virginia who have taken a shine to Don Blankenship.
Blankenship is running in a primary there for the chance to go head-to-head in November with Senator Joe Manchin, the Democratic incumbent, whose seat Republicans were once confident they could snatch. President Trump won the state by 42 points.
But Blankenship, a former coal magnate,
has serious blemishes. Make that pocks. Actually, gaping, oozing sores: He served a year in federal prison for
conspiring to violate safety rules, after 29 of his miners died in a 2010 explosion. He’s campaigning while on probation.
8/ Bill Maher "New Rules", on the next wedge issue the Democrats should run on.....legalising weed.....
In honor of 4/20, Bill Maher closed his show by giving some highlycritical advice to Democrats ahead of the 2018 midterms.
He began by mocking former House Speaker John Boehner, one once was opposed to legalizing marijuana but has recently joined on the board of directors of one of the largest marijuana growing companies in the country.
“You’d think Boehner cried a lot before, wait until he gets stoned and sees a sunset,” Maher quipped.
The Real Time host then warned Democrats that they’re “going to lose this issue” because some Republicans “smell the money.” He also expressed skepticism of the “blue wave” that many are predicting in November.
“Blue Wave, sounds like an off-brand aftershave at The Dollar Store,” Maher joked. “‘Blue Wave,’ from the makers of Hillary Clinton‘s ‘Inevitable.'”
9/ And a very good story about Bill Maher's show and how he has become vilified by some factions on the left for daring to criticize them while of course continuing to extoricate Republicans.....if you believe in free speech, this is an article for you....
‘F*CKING LIBERALS’
Why Liberals Need Bill Maher’s Tough Love
Many progressives have written off the ‘Real Time’ host, but his importance to the late-night landscape should not be dismissed.
With the constant barrage of bad news coming out of the White House these days, sometimes it seems like the late-night shows can barely keep up. Night after night, hosts like
Stephen Colbert,
Seth Meyers, and
Trevor Noahstruggle to find what they hope is a unique comedic point of view on the latest Donald Trump outrage.
But in the year and a half since Trump was elected president, Bill Maher has taken a different approach. Yes, there is still plenty of
anti-Trump material in his weekly Real Time monologues, but unlike pretty much every other late-night host on TV, he spends almost equal time holding liberals to account.
10/ Great T-shirt, and also look at his weird walk....
11/ Good story from the Times on the true achilles heel of Trump - his corrupt financing for his business.....
A Russian émigré with a checkered past helped develop what was known as Trump SoHo until last December.
Put aside Russian collusion for a moment. Press pause on possible presidential obstruction of justice. Forget Stormy Daniels. The most significant recent development involving the president may be that the special counsel, Robert Mueller,
has subpoenaed Trump Organization business records as part of his inquiry into Russian interference in the presidential election.
Those documents — and records recently
seized by the F.B.I. from the president’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen — might answer a question raised by the president’s critics: Have certain real estate investors used Trump-branded properties to launder the proceeds of criminal activity around the world?
12/ Tom Tomorrow on Trumpies.....
13/ An amusing and practical way to negotiate with Comcast......
I Used Sun Tzu's 'The Art of War' to Lower My Internet Bill
"All warfare is based on deception."
At around $65 per month, my internet bill is too high. I've tried to get it reduced in the past, but Xfinity's army of customer service agents have outwitted and outmaneuvered me time and again. Admittedly, my tactics have been unsophisticated. My resolve, weak. And while my monthly fee is pricey, it isn't quite exorbitant enough to warrant drastic action (i.e. cancellation and/or self-immolation), which leaves me with little leverage or will to fight this fight. That is, until I picked up The Art of War.
Few texts have shaped human history as much as this fifth-century BCE military manual.
Todays kid joke....
Todays lawyer joke....
The United Way realized that it had never received a donation from the city's most successful lawyer.
So a United Way worker paid the lawyer a visit in his lavish office.
The United Way guy opened the meeting by saying, 'Our research shows that
even though your annual income is over two million dollars, you don't give a
penny to charity. Wouldn't you like to give something back to your community
through the United Way ?'
The lawyer thinks for a minute and says, 'First, did your research also
show you that my mother is dying after a long, painful illness and she has
huge medical bills that are far beyond her ability to pay?'
Embarrassed, the United Way rep mumbles, 'Uh... no, I didn't know that.'
'Secondly,' says the lawyer, 'did it show that my brother, a disabled
veteran, is blind and confined to a wheelchair and is unable to support his
wife and six children?
The stricken United Way rep begins to stammer an apology, but is cut off
again.
'Thirdly, did your research also show you that my sister's husband died in a
dreadful car accident, leaving her penniless with a mortgage and three
children, one of whom is disabled and another that has learning disabilities
requiring an array of private tutors?'
The humiliated United Way rep, completely beaten, says, 'I'm so sorry. I
had no idea.'
And the lawyer says, 'So, if I didn't give any money to them, what makes
you think I'd give any to you?
Todays Trump joke....
The Trump entourage, wife, VP and all were on a campaign junket in an upper midwestern wintery, snowy city.
After a rousing speech, Trump returned to his suite. Standing and paused proudly looking out of the suite to the balcony, he noticed that written in ‘yellow’ in the snow drift outside was, “Trump is an ass.”
Exploding into a rage, Trump calls his Secret Service people to immediately get a sample of the ‘yellow snow’, and find out whose urine it was. The Secret Service jumped into action taking samples and pictures.
The Secret Service returned shortly. Trump jumped up angrily and demanded an immediate report.
The Secret Service agent, a little ‘wilted’ said, “Mr. President, we know whose urine was used in the message.” “Who was it!” demanded Trump. The agent responded, “The urine is VP Pence’s sir.” Trump flew into another rage.
The agent then even more wilted said, “Mr. President, there’s more information.”
“What the hell could be worse”, replied Trump.
The agent replied, “The handwriting was Melania’s!”
