1/ Another excellent column by Andrew Sullivan, this time on the UK and the disastrous decision to Brexit. He opines on why it happened and draws parallels to the US of elites not just indifferent, but hostile to working people......and their understandable frustration with the status quo.
An excellent read, and will give you some perspective on the danger we [and the Brits] are in....
Home is where one starts from. And like many English families, mine is still there, my brother and father still living in the very town I grew up in, my sister and mother a short drive away. So much remains exactly the same, and at this time of year this is especially true. On the cusp of spring, when the new leaves begin to unfold as specks of newborn green in the woodlands, a small miracle occurs.
The bluebells arrive, like an iridescent blue carpet below, spreading along hedgerows, suddenly swamping forests and copses, emerging out of the rotten, sodden leaves of last autumn. If you really want to disappear into an eternal miasma of Englishness, you can even take a ride on the Bluebell Railway. It’s an old-school steam train, running from my hometown just four stops on a rail line long since abandoned for actual travel. When April comes, its puffs of steam hang briefly in the moist, nippy air, surrounded by as much blue as a ship on a sea. By the time I leave at the end of next week, the bluebells will have wilted and disappeared, but for now, they are like a million little madeleines of my other life in another country.
And yet England, as I have found it, suddenly feels deeply familiar to my American self.
2/ Seth Meyers interviews Kate McKinnon in a five minute segment from last year......she does some wonderful characters, and her favorite one is Jeff Sessions....boy she's funny.....
3/ Republicans hate the poor.....in his column in the Times this is Paul Krugmans only explanation for the vicious way the right is punishing the poor, sick and elderly.....
President Trump and his administration lack empathy for the poor.
America hasn’t always, or even usually, been governed by the best and the brightest; over the years, presidents have employed plenty of knaves and fools. But I don’t think we’ve ever seen anything like the collection of petty grifters and miscreants surrounding Donald Trump. Price, Pruitt, Zinke, Carson and now Ronny Jackson: At this point, our default assumption should be that there’s something seriously wrong with anyone this president wants on his team.
4/ A Republican running for Governor of Georgia.....he points a gun at a teen in this 30 second commercial......yes this is a real ad....
5/ The news on Monday has been consumed with commentators who were "outraged" at comedian Michelle Wolf's act at the White House Correspondents Dinner, so if you haven't watched it here it is in it's 19 minutes of glory....
What the pundits fail to mention is that she is really, really funny....Mary and I were cracking up at her zingers......
6/ Matt Taibbi on the Correspondents dinner, and how it has become an event where the media sucks up to politicians shamelessly, which is why sone talking heads were so insulted by Wolf's jokes -.....they upset the pols that the "journalists" depend on.
Excellent story from Taibbi.....
Michelle Wolf provides the entertainment at the 2018 White House Correspondents Association Annual Dinner at the Washington Hilton Hotel.
After the annual mutual congratulation session known as the White House Correspondents' Dinner concluded Saturday, NBC News White House reporter Kelly O'Donnell distanced herself from the program. O'Donnell thought Daily Show comedienne Michelle Wolf had been too rough on Trump press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
"The spirit of the event had always been jokes that singe but don't burn," O'Donnell wrote.
Like your reporting, you mean?
Like your reporting, you mean?
The White House Correspondents' dinner has always been a bad aristocratic joke, the punch line obvious to everyone but the participants. "Make a joke – but not a real one" has been its unofficial motto since forever.
7/ And a spirited defense of Michelle Wolf by Erin Gloria Ryan in the Daily Beast.....I totally, completely agree with this article....
The White House Correspondents’ Association dinner is a celebration of the role of the press in upholding American democracy. The day after the dinner, however, has evolved to be a celebration of a different sort: a circle jerk of self-serious bad comedy opinions, and an annual reminder that the political press is, collectively, a gaggle of unfunny dorks who should probably be forced to watch somebody smarter than they are make fun of them more often.
There’s been a lot of whining since Saturday. Some observers have whined that the night’s headliner, Daily Show correspondent Michelle Wolf, was “mean” to White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders by saying that her makeup was made of lies, that she was like Uncle Tom (but for women who disappoint other white women), that she was softball coach-like.
“Watching a wife and mother be humiliated on national television for her looks is deplorable,” whined Mika Brzezinski, via Twitter. “I have experienced insults about my appearance from the president. All women have a duty to unite when these attacks happen and the WHCA owes Sarah an apology.” (This is the sort of feminist criticism a person might level if their only experience with feminism was watching an ad for Dove soap with the sound turned off.)
8/ Bill Maher with a different "New Rules" - an open letter to Roseanne....amusing, sincere and almost [ok just a smidge] touching.....five minutes...
9/ Richard Wolffe in the Guardian with a tongue in cheek report on Trump's call to "Fox and Friends"....
President Trump spoke with 'Fox & Friends' about Stormy Daniels, James Comey and more.
10/ Did you know Steve Bannon is touring Europe? Sam Bee tells us what he's up to....
Samantha Bee explained why Steve Bannon’s growing influence on Europe’s far-right political parties “should scare you” on Wednesday’s “Full Frontal.”
Bee noted how President Donald Trump’s former chief strategist has in recent weeks been conducting a “racist” “tour de creeps” across the continent, meeting with right-wing politicians in Italy, Germany and France.
“Am I the only one getting a weird sense of déjà vu?” Bee asked. “I can’t remember, but I feel like someone else once united the far-right parties of Italy and Germany and then invaded France with their ideas.”
11/ I'm sure you have heard of Devin Nunes, head of the House Intelligence Committee, but when you read this story from the Times you will be shocked, shocked to find he's wholly owned by Trump....
What a scumbag....
In Late August 2016, Donald Trump paid a visit to Tulare, Calif., a small city in the agricultural Central Valley and an unlikely stop for a Republican presidential campaign. California is a solidly blue state, and although Trump was in Tulare to speak at a fund-raiser, the $2,700 that most guests ponied up to attend hardly seemed substantial enough to justify the presence of a busy candidate. (At a fund-raiser Trump attended in Silicon Valley the day before, guests paid $25,000 a head.) At least one senior Trump campaign official argued against the trip, deeming it a colossal waste of time.
But Trump had one very good reason for visiting Tulare: It is the hometown of Representative Devin Nunes. While many Republican elected officials had maintained a wary distance from their party’s presidential nominee, Nunes, the chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, was one of the few, not to mention one of the most prominent, to offer Trump his unequivocal support — which included holding the fund-raiser. Better still, Trump liked Nunes.
12/ Bill Maher has some pretty good panel discussions, and this is one of them.....penalising liars like Trump!
Comedian Bill Maher thinks that it’s time America stops allowing liars like Donald Trump to go unpunished for their false remarks.
Maher began with his panel Friday night by talking about Trump’s off-the-rails phone interview with Fox & Friends.
“It was very disturbing to me and I just want to hone in on the lies,” Maher said, suggesting that Trump’s mistruths were so plentiful he broke his own record for lies within a single sentence.
He then stressed that in the age of Trump such lies have become “normalized” but they should not be.
Pointing out the defamation lawsuit Sandy Hook parents have against conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and Summer Zervos lawsuit against Trump, Maher said enough is enough.
“This is the most important thing we have to do in America right now, to start penalizing liars,” Maher say
13/ Tom Tomorrow, amusing as always.......
14/ Sinclair Broadcasting is the evil empire of TV, and runs stations in just about every state, including the CBS station in West Palm Beach [Ch. 12], and the ABC affiliate in Asheville...
An in depth investigation into this propaganda arm of the right wing media by Rolling Stone....
Now viewed more than 27 million times, a video by Deadspin layered the voices of dozens of Sinclair-employed anchors reading an identical script about "one-sided news stories plaguing our country."
The right-wing behemoth helped put Trump in the White House. Now the president's returning the favor – setting up Sinclair to be the next Fox News
One afternoon last December, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, was holding court at the lectern in the Brady Room, when a reporter raised a provocative question: Does President Trump understand the difference between Russian propaganda – the real "fake news" – and the American press? Sanders’ response elicited groans from the press corps, whom she charged were "purposefully putting out information that you know to be false."
The next day, at the headquarters of TV-WJLA, a drab, fluorescent-lit office space in Rosslyn, Virginia, the press conference was fashioned into a segment for the local nightly news: "Media Errors Lend Some Credence to Charges of 'Fake News.’" As the spot opened, WJLA correspondent Kristine Frazao told viewers that CNN was "walking back" a months-old story that revealed Attorney General Jeff Sessions had opted not to disclose meetings with a Russian official on a security-clearance form.
15/ Tim Dickinson in Rolling Stone with a summary of the scum in Trump's cabinet, and how there is now no accountability or rules for the senior political appointees in the gub'mint....
Protesters hold up signs and shirts behind EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, accompanied by Holly Greaves, EPA chief financial officer, as they testify on the department's budget during a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Capitol Hill, in Washington.
When Senator Al Franken faced a sexual misconduct scandal last fall, the outcome was painful accountability. Allegations of unwanted touching – and intense pressure from senior members of his own party – forced the Minnesota Senator to resign.
The contrast to the GOP of Donald Trump is striking. For Republican politicians, accountability has lost all meaning. In recent months, America has seen GOP leaders, appointees and candidates violate the public trust – and in several cases, likely the law – with zero accountability within the White House or the party.
The deformation began at the top.
16/ A good ventriloquist act......a huge bearded man ends up as Cher.......a quite amusing five minutes....
17/ This is the NYT review of Gilbert King's new book about Lake County "Under The Ruthless Sun"......the review says he goes off into the weeds a little but if you live in Lake you will appreciate the detail....at least you might recognize some of the names!
Note there will be a talk on the book and a book signing by Gilbert King on Sunday May 6th at 4pm at the Mount Dora Community center......sponsored in part by Gary McKechnie, Democratic candidate for State Senator who is running against the appalling Dennis Baxley...
Worth reading.....
As the popular sheriff of Lake County, Fla., between 1944 and 1972, Willis McCall seemed to embrace the hallmarks of ignominy: a penchant for brazen cruelty and an unyielding commitment to an unjust cause. Punching a wayward horse in the head, as he did on at least one occasion, was the least of it; McCall enforced Jim Crow with a brutality that made even his fellow segregationists blanch.
In “Beneath a Ruthless Sun: A True Story of Violence, Race, and Justice Lost and Found,” Gilbert King recounts how the sheriff descended on the cabin rendezvous of two interracial couples in 1956 and arrested them for violating Florida’s anti-miscegenation statute — but not before trying to enlist his deputies to help him throw the black men “to the alligators” and daring one of the men to run. (“I want to get in some target practice,” McCall said.) The F.B.I. investigated, and then withdrew. McCall was re-elected to his fourth term as sheriff, celebrated by those who praised him for what one supporter called his “efficiency and untiring efforts” in punishing “the ravages of Negroes upon white women and girls.”
Todays Irish joke
The day after his wife disappeared in a kayaking accident, a Claddaghduff, Ireland man answered his door to find two grim-faced Constables.
"We're sorry, Mr. O’ Flynn, but we have some information about your dear wife, Maureen" said one of the officers.
"Tell me! Did you find her?" Michael Patrick O’Flynn asked.
The constables looked at each other and one said, "We have some bad news, some good news, and some really great news. Which would you like to hear first?"
Fearing the worst, Mr. O’ Flynn said, "Give me the bad news first."
The constable said, "I'm sorry to tell you, sir, but early this morning we found your poor wife's body in the bay."
"Lord sufferin' Jesus and Holy Mother of God!" exclaimed O’ Flynn. Swallowing hard, he asked, "What could possibly be the good news?"
The constable continued, "When we pulled the late, departed poor Maureen up, she had 12 of the best-looking Atlantic lobsters that you have ever seen clinging to her. Haven't seen lobsters like that since the 1960's, and we feel you are entitled to a share in the catch."
Stunned, Mr. O’ Flynn demanded, "Glory be to God, if that's the good news, then what's the really great news."
The constable replied, "We're gonna pull her up again tomorrow."
Todays Michelle Wolf jokes.....
• “It is kinda crazy that the Trump campaign was in contact with Russia, while the Hillary campaign wasn’t even in contact with Michigan.”
• “Mr. President, I don’t think you’re very rich. I think you might be rich in Idaho, but in New York you’re doing fine.”
• “Trump is racist, though. He loves white nationalists, which is a weird term for a Nazi. Calling a Nazi a ‘white nationalist’ is like calling a pedophile a ‘kid friend,’ or Harvey Weinstein a ‘ladies man,’ which isn’t really fair — he also likes plants.”
• “Mike Pence is what happens when Anderson Cooper isn’t gay.”
• On the #MeToo movement: “It’s probably the reason I’m here. They were like ‘A woman’s probably not going to jerk off in front of anyone, right?’ And to that I say: Don’t count your chickens.”
• “Al Franken was ousted. That one really hurt liberals. But I believe it was great Ted Kennedy who said ‘Wow! That’s crazy! I murdered a woman.’ Chappaquiddick, in theaters now.”
• “Mitch McConnell isn’t here tonight, he had a prior engagement. He’s finally getting his neck circumcised. Mazel.”
• On Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who was sitting right next to her: “I loved you as Aunt Lydia in The Handmaid’s Tale. Mike Pence, if you haven’t seen it, you would love it.”
• “I’m never really sure what to call Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Is it Sarah Sanders, Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Is it Cousin Huckabee? Is it Auntie Huckabee Sanders? Like, what’s Uncle Tom but for white women who disappoint other white women? Oh, I know, Aunt Coulter.”
• On CNN: “You guys love breaking news, and you did it, you broke it! Good work! The most useful information on CNN is when Anthony Bourdain tells me where to eat noodles.”
• “Megyn Kelly got paid 23 million dollars by NBC, then NBC didn’t let Megyn go to the Winter Olympics. Why not? She’s so white, cold, and expensive, she might as well be the Winter Olympics.”
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