1/. Frank Rich with his insights on the week's news....
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 meaning of the Sean Hannity–Michael Cohen revelation, James Comey’s new book, and the evolution of Nikki Haley.
Now that he’s been named as a client of Trump fixer Michael Cohen, we know that Sean Hannity’s pro-Trump agenda is inseparable from his closeness to Cohen, at least two other Trump-connected lawyers, and Trump himself. Fox News, betting that its viewers won’t care, has agreed with its star that no disclosure was needed. Are they right?
If there turns out to be a Michael Cohen dossier proving that it was Hannity and Trump who had urinated on each other in that Moscow Ritz-Carlton bedroom, Hannity’s audience would still remain loyal to him, and Fox News would still remain loyal to its biggest star.
2/. An informative but depressing article by a neuroscientist, explaining the way Trump supporter's brains work......as I said, really interesting but there's no hope of changing a Trumpy's mind...ever.
You should read it anyway....at least you will know why they are so inflexible.
There’s no doubt that Donald Trump has said many things that would have been political suicide for any other Republican. And almost every time he made one of these shocking statements, political analysts on both the left and the right predicted that he’d lose supporters because of it. But as we have clearly seen over the past year, they were dead wrong every time. Trump appears to be almost totally bulletproof.
The only thing that might be more perplexing than the psychology of Donald Trump is the psychology of his supporters. In their eyes, The Donald can do no wrong. Even Trump himself seems to be astonished by this phenomenon. “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK? It’s, like, incredible.”
3/. The very funny SNL cold open with Michael Cohen [Ben Stiller] and Robert Muller [Robert De Niro].....five excellent minutes....
Ben Stiller lampooned Michael Cohen tonight as Saturday Night Livetook on the Trump lawyer after his office was raided by the FBI.
The cold open begins with Jeff Sessions and Mike Pence at the Department of Justice, talking about how the raid is the latest bit of bad news for the Trump Administration. Cohen eventually arrives and gives them the full details on why they ought to be worried after how much stuff federal agents took from him.
“I have an entire hard drive that’s just labeled ‘yikes,’” the lawyer said.
Cohen is eventually told to go down the hall…and he ends up walking into a room where Robert Mueller is waiting for him with a lie detector. Who played Mueller? None other than Stiller’s old co-star, Robert De Niro.
4/. Samantha Bee "proves" Hannity is a serial killer, just like Hannity "proves" everything he hates.....seven very clever, very funny minutes....
Is Sean Hannity, who recruited Michael Cohen’s legal skills for “real estate” reasons, actually a serial killer in the grand scheme of this 2018 train wreck? Samantha Bee isn’t saying that exactly, but she’s not not saying that either, especially since Hannity, gasp, exhibits all of the classic traits of a modern day serial killer, average intellect et al. What, you think this segment is “deceitful editing to reach an outrageous conclusion” to prove Bee’s point? “His whole show is just an hour-long list of lies and conspiracy theories,” she muses, “but people think it’s news because he doesn’t sweat as much as Alex Jones and he’s on a channel that calls itself news.” You gave us all the clues, Mr. Potato Neck.
5/. And before you start joining the James Comey fan club, read this column from Charles Blow in the Times.....
We are now in the midst of an epic clash between Donald Trump and fired F.B.I. Director James Comey, neither of whom I hold in high esteem, both men with raging egos and questionable motives.
The depth of my contempt differs between the two, but there is contempt for both.
Comey is now making the rounds promoting his new book, which will no doubt be a monster best seller. Good for him. But Comey for me is a complicated character, a man of honorable service and flashes of horrendous judgment.
His inexplicable handling of the investigations into Clinton’s emails is unforgivable.
6/. Fly United? You might want this new class of ticket.....30 seconds of wicked parody....
7/. Insightful article from Rolling Stone on the teachers revolts in red states, and how Democrats are [as usual] not joining the movement....
Striking school workers in West Virginia have sparked similar protests in Kentucky, Oklahoma, Arizona and Colorado.
What the hell has happened to Trump Country? That vast imaginary region of hate-fueled, white-trash Donald Trump dittoheads – a joint creation of hillbilly-bashing memoirist J.D. Vance, The New York Times, and coastal liberals who need somebody to blame – has been behaving very strangely of late. Kansans electing progressives and raising taxes? Yep. Teachers in West Virginia walking out for two weeks in the first mass strike that America has seen in eons? Uh-huh. Republican governors in deep-red Kentucky, Arizona and Oklahoma being publicly humiliated and forced to pony up billions of dollars for schools, health care and public employees? Believe it. The Resistance is fully underway in Trump Country, and it's a humdinger – not to mention a serious mind-fuck for people on both the right and the left.
8/. Bill Maher with his opener from last Friday......the headline is Trump's Syrian missile attacks were called "Operation Desert Stormy".....an amusing six minutes...
Some media pundits and one comedy host suggested Friday night that President Donald Trump’s decision to launch military strikes in Syria could be driven in part by his desire to distract America from the mounting scandals plaguing his White House.
Bill Maher quipped on “Real Time” that the military action against Syria should be called “Operation Desert Stormy” — for Stormy Daniels, the adult entertainment actress who says she had an affair with Trump.
Maher joked that Trump got the “go-ahead” for the strikes from “Fox & Friends.” Program co-host Ainsley Earhardt had asked early Friday, “If the president and France and the U.K. decide to strike Syria, don’t you think that story would be a bigger story than [former FBI Director James] Comey’s book that’s going to be released on Tuesday?”
9/. John Oliver on the tax cuts....and who benefits....
Taxes are due on April 17 this year, giving you a little extra time to get yours done.
Whatever you’re paying in taxes, there’s a good chance it’s at a higher rate than corporate America, John Oliver pointed out on Sunday’s “Last Week Tonight.”
Last year’s tax cuts didn’t change that. In fact, Oliver said, they made it worse.
“We just had a huge chance to reform our tax code and we absolutely blew it,” Oliver said.
10/. Amy Chua in New York Magazine with a story titled:
Can America’s Two Tribes Learn to Live Together
?
Nearly everyone writing about politics today seems anxious about tribalism. Although trends toward greater political polarization have been in place for decades, the chaos of the Trump era has made the country’s divisions seem starker and more dangerous than at any time since at least the 1960s. And no wonder: Geographical mobility, racial and ideological sorting along party lines, and the segmentation of media mean that for many Americans, their political opponents are no longer friends and neighbors but a nation of hostile foreigners with whom they happen to share a country — they look and speak differently, live in different places, and cling to strange and potentially malevolent beliefs with all the irrational fervor of a doomsday cult.
11/. SNL Weekend Update with Laura Ingraham.....since I have never have watched this harridan I can't tell if this is a good impersonation of her by Kate McKinnon, but I'm sure it is.....three minutes....
Astounding chameleon Kate McKinnon claimed one more victim on “Saturday Night Live” with her slinky impersonation of Fox News host Laura Ingraham.
McKinnon’s Ingraham complains to Colin Jost on “Weekend Update” about attacks on her for “trolling a traumatized teen,” referring to mocking Parkland, Florida, shooting survivor David Hogg for not getting into all the colleges he applied to.
The “totalitarian left can attack me all they want,” she says. “But I will continue to defend the First Amendment. That’s my right to bully people without being bullied in return.”
Our “country’s so divided now, and I’m an important part of that,” she oozes, admitting that she’s been “spewing venom for decades.”
McKinnon boasts about new sponsors she has concocted for her program to make up for the several that dropped her show after attacking Hogg. They include “Carl’s Sr. — leftover Carl’s Jr. food ground to mush for old people,” “Lady Bump Stock — the lightweight bump stock for delicate hands” and “Cream Soda, the soda for whites.”
“What do you want me to say? I’m getting ‘pwned’ by teenagers!” says McKinnon. “I don’t understand anything anymore.”
12/. Above and Beyond featuring Justine Suissa with "Can't Sleep".....some of the worlds finest musicians, with a beautiful song live from Dorchester Hall in London....full orchestra, just lovely...
13/. John Oliver on Trump's tweets.....an amusing five minutes....
HBO
On Sunday, John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight aired mere moments after the conclusion of James Comey’s hotly anticipated 20/20 interview with George Stephanopoulos. And so, while Oliver wasn’t able to comment on the exclusive sit-down—owing to his show taping at 7 p.m. ET—he was able to riff on the numerous “tantalizing” teaser clips from the chat.
“I honestly never thought [these] words would come out of my mouth, but I don’t know whether the—the—current president of the United States was with prostitutes peeing on each other in Moscow in 2013. It’s possible, but I don’t know,” Comey told Stephanopoulos, adding that he found the Trump briefing to be “really weird.”
14/. SNL with "Diner Lobster".....clever, a take off of "Les Miserables".....very funny, and the cast sing pretty well....four minutes....this skit was rated among the best pieces SNL has ever done....
“Who am I?” It’s a line famously sung by Jean Valjean in the musical Les Misérables. It’s also, now, a probing question of self, asked by a crustacean preparing to be boiled alive in one of Saturday Night Live’s best recent sketches. On last weekend’s episode, which was hosted by the comedian John Mulaney, “Diner Lobster” stood out for its goofy surrealism, its high production values, and the fact that it featured a cast member breaking character halfway through (Pete Davidson openly laughing as the camera cut back to him). It also felt like a reminder of the show’s last great, and unfortunately bygone, era of comedy.
15/. You either love these.....or not.....more Bad Lip Reading NFL....
16/. Lauren Ritchie with another great column, looking at a new book "Beneath a Ruthless Sun", about Lake County's checkered history of civil rights, a la "Devil In The Grove".....same author [Gilbert King], another shameful tale....
the curtain of silence over the 28-year reign of notoriously racist Lake CountySheriff Willis McCall with a startlingly honest account that won the Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction.
Gilbert King searched through never-before-released records to write “Devil in the Grove,” the sickening but true story of the Groveland Four, young black men falsely accused of raping a 17-year-old white woman in a community where they could have no hope of being found innocent — regardless of actual guilt.
While interviewing, King heard the tale of another horrific story of justice perverted, and he was hooked. Five years later, King’s newest book is being released April 24: “Beneath a Ruthless Sun: A True Story of Violence, Race and Justice Lost and Found.”
Todays Middle Eastern joke
A Jew and an Arab go into a bakery. The Arab steals 3 pastries and puts them in his pocket.
He says to the Jew, "See how good I am? The owner didn't see anything!"
The Jew says to the Arab, "I am going to show you there is nobody better than a Jew."
He goes to the owner and says, "Give me a pastry and I will show you a magic trick.''
Intrigued, the owner accepts and give him a pastry. The Jew swallows it and asks for another one.
The owner gives him another one. Then the Jew asks for another one and swallows it just the same.
The owner is starting to wonder where the magic trick is and says, "What did you do with the pastry? Are you trying to fool me?"
The Jew answers, "Look in the Arab's pocket."
Todays parenting jokes
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