1/ A wonderful story about Elizabeth Warren and how she seems to be the only Democrat actually fighting back against Trump, and that she is running in 2020.....
It was unremittingly hot at the farm in Natick, Massachusetts, where 1,500 people had gathered on the Sunday after the Fourth of July. Remarkably, this crowd had assembled under a blistering sun not for a free concert, or outdoor theater, or even a protest, exactly. They’d come for an open-air town hall with their sitting senator, a 69-year-old woman widely expected to win reelection to her second term this fall. Standing at the back of the sweaty throng, I’d seen her introduced from the stage, then heard cheers greeting her entrance, but couldn’t for the life of me lay eyes on her. Not until I climbed onto the seat of my folding chair in the press section. There she was, jogging 75 yards down a hill in open-toed mules, her aqua cardigan flying behind her.
Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren is in constant motion.
2/ A passionate Stephen Colbert on Trump's crazy "reality" speech....five minutes....
Colbert opened his monologue by repeating Trump’s quip: “Just remember, what you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening … Oh good, I was worried because what I’m seeing and reading is that the president is a racist, horny, old burger goblin who literally steals children from poor people.
“Every day, just like that, Donald Trump gets a little more brazen,” Colbert said. “For instance yesterday, he announced he is considering stripping the security clearances from officials who have criticized him. Now, I don’t know if we’ve arrived at ‘dictatorship,’ but we’ve definitely made it to ‘dick.'”
Colbert also took aim at Rand Paul, the progenitor of the pulled security clearance idea, calling the Kentucky Senator a “man who asked his barber to make him look like a foaming mug of root beer.”
3/ Matt Taibbi on how Trump's attacks on the media should make journalists do a better job, and push back....
Over the weekend, Mark Weinberg, former assistant press secretary to Ronald Reagan, became the latest prominent figure to denounce President Trump’s treatment of the press. Ripping Trump’s description of the media as “the enemy of the people,” Weinberg wrote:
We all know why Trump attacks the press as he does. He wants its credibility to be so broken that whenever it reports negative stories about him it will not be believed. That has ominous implications. If the President succeeds in his effort to discredit the press, then from whom will the people get the truth?
4/ Michelle Wolf with an amusing recruitment video for ICE....
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, better know as ICE, has been under fire for aggressively rounding up immigrants for deportation, many of whom have committed no crime.
However, like any organization, it still needs people to make it work.
Michelle Wolf, host of Netflix’s “The Break,” created this video to entice potential recruits, especially those with little education or experience ― even people with previously diagnosed anger issues.
It all adds up to a pretty ruthless take on what ICE is.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com
5/ Does this apply to you? I'm not quite there yet, but.....
Retro cartoon of a Democrat vs. Republican. (iStockphoto)
Liberals don't just hate President Trump; lots of them don't even like the idea of being in the company of his supporters.
That's the big takeaway from a new Pew Research Center survey, which is just the latest indicator of our remarkably tribal and partisan politics. And when it comes to Trump, it's difficult to overstate just how tribal the left is and how much distaste he engenders. Indeed, that distaste apparently extends even to people who decided they would like to vote for Trump.
6/ Spot on.....
7/ Jimmy Kimmel reviews at the Michael Cohen/Trump tape.....five pretty good minutes....
Jimmy Kimmel went all-in on the newly released tape of Michael Cohen and Donald Trump discussing a hush payment to Playboy playmate Karen McDougal on Wednesday night. And while he didn’t want to dwell on whether or not the president suggested making the payment in “cash,” he did want to talk about how insane it is that a story like this is not a bigger scandal for the man occupying the Oval Office.
“Really for any other president, a tape like this, on which we hear his voice, his married voice, suggesting that his lawyer pay a Playboy bunny $150,000 in cash to keep her quiet,” Kimmel told his audience, “for any other president, there would be an address to the nation tonight.”
Any other president would “apologize to his wife, his family, possibly Jesus, I don’t know, we might even have to get Barbara Walters involved,” the host added. “But for this president, there’s no statement. For him, it’s just Wednesday.”
8/ Insightful analysis in the Times on why wages are at best stagnant, while the rich keep getting richer....it's not that the system is rigged per se, it's that forces were set in motion that make corporations become quasi monopolies which is awful for working people....
Interesting background column from Thomas Edsall in the Times........
Even as corporate America has unleashed insatiable consumer demand for innovative low-cost goods and technology, it has driven economic trends that continue to increase inequality, stall wage growth and strengthen the power of business.
That in the face of this onslaught Republicans now control the White House, both branches of Congress, both legislative branches in 32 states and the Supreme Court is a testament to the continuing electoral liabilitiesof the Democratic Party and the vulnerable spots of the liberal agenda.
Nearly half the country’s voters support a president who embraces upwardly redistributive policies that many of them do not benefit from.
Why? Because on race, religion, abortion, LGBTQ rights and immigration, President Trump — unlike previous Republican presidents — has given his voters exactly what they want.
9/ Stephen Colbert guesses the menu for the second Trump/Putin summit.... four pretty decent minutes...
Stephen Colbert scoffed at President Donald Trump’s White House invite to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday’s broadcast of “The Late Show.”
“It’s like that old saying, the enemy of my enemy is also my enemy because friends are for the weak,” the comedian quipped.
Colbert then imagined the invite that Trump had sent to Putin, and he speculated what would really on the menu during their meal.
10/ It's the quietly evil bastards in this administration that are doing some real damage, but up there at the top is Ryan Zinke, giving away our parks and public lands to the energy industry......
In May 2017, Ryan Zinke, the 52nd United States secretary of the Interior, traveled to Utah on a four-day fact-finding mission. A Montana native and former Navy SEAL, Zinke carries himself with the sort of distinctly American brand of swagger that Donald Trump, who favors Cabinet picks “out of central casting,” must have swooned over: a macho trifecta of cowboy, soldier and lifelong jock. He’s tall, and his voice, an adenoidal purr, has just a hint of John Wayne. He could wear a Stetson without looking ridiculous.
Zinke had come to Utah to tour a pair of national monuments, Bears Ears and Grand Staircase – Escalante, as part of a broader review ordered by the Trump administration. Prior to the visit, conservatives had derided the monuments as an example of federal overreach, mockingly referring to Bears Ears as a “midnight monument” because the designation came at the end of Barack Obama’s term.
11/ Oh lordy.....
12/ This headline says it all......good story....
Fox Is Horrified at the Idea of Americans Leading Dignified Lives
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shocked the Democratic establishment in June when she defeated 10-term incumbent Joe Crowley in the party’s primary for New York’s 14th district. The 28-year-old newcomer ran a grassroots campaign on a relatively simple platform. She called for universal healthcare. She called for fully funded public universities. She called for a federal jobs guarantee. Taken at face value, these are practical, common-sense measures. They also happen to be among the core tenets of Democratic Socialism, a perceived dirty phrase that Republicans and establishment Democrats have weaponized to throw dirt on Ocasio-Cortez and others like her.
13/ Why is Trump picking on Montenegro? Stephen Colbert tries to answer this question, and it's very good......four minutes.....
Last night Stephen Colbert mocked President Trump for his interview with Tucker Carlson knocking NATO.
Carlson at one point asked Trump, “Membership in NATO obligates the members to defend any other member that’s attacked. So let’s say Montenegro, which joined last year, is attacked. Why should my son go to Montenegro to defend it from attack?”
Trump said he’s asked the same question and talked about how “they’re very aggressive people.”
So Colbert last night asked, “Why is Trump picking on Montenegro?”
He said the President has some mighty big “huevos” to go after Montenegro like that before saying, “Trump is gonna be so mad when he finds out what idiot approved Montenegro’s membership in NATO last year…. and it’s Donald Trump.”
https://www.mediaite.com/tv/co
14/ This is exceptionally depressing.......we are close to the tipping point for fishing, where the Chinese and Spanish factory ships are destroying the feeding cycle......enjoy your fish while you can folks, wild caught aren't going to last too much longer.....
ALASSIO, Italy - If you hate those salted fishy slivers on pizza, Giuseppe Cormaci has encouraging news. Mediterranean anchovies tanked this year. But that means you won't find much succulent sea bass, branzino, let alone bluefin tuna. Try, perhaps, linguine alle jellyfish?
“The anchovy catch is down by half,” Cormaci told me. Adjusting his battered hat, he continued, with the rueful smile of an unconvinced optimist: “It might get better again. Then again, it might collapse entirely.”
Like the name on his 24-foot boat — Lupo — he is a lone wolf. His son helped for two seasons but quit to tend bar on the beach. With the few euros' profit left after fuel, repairs and nets during a 90-hour week, he can't pay a crew. At 50, he belongs to an endangered species: the artisan fisherman.
The sea he knew so well is now full of surprise. Warming water brings jellyfish plagues, including the venomous Portuguese man o' war. A great white shark just cruised the Spanish island of Majorca. Mostly, he sees high-tech foreign trawlers scoop out whatever they find and destroy breeding grounds.
Change the language and Cormaci is any of countless old salts I've interviewed in Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Pacific in recent years. Climate shifts and pollution steadily worsen. Unchecked overfishing increases. Marketing spurs demand, and commercial fleets fish all the harder while they still can.
15/ Did you know rich people can now kick you off their beach? Thought not.....
16/ Good TV - the Times picks nine Netflix shows worth watching.....we are only following one of these, Michelle Wolf "The Break", but a couple look really good....
No, it’s not just your imagination: Netflix is stockpiling prestige programming at a dizzying rate. In the past several months, the streaming service has surpassed HBOin Emmy nominations, lured Ryan Murphy away from 21st Century Fox and even signed a multiyear production deal with the Obamas. Meanwhile, Netflix has said it want to create, acquire or distribute 1,000 original titles this year, according to a report in June by New York magazine.
This glut of programming is as overwhelming as it is exciting. So, to help you prioritize your virtually unlimited viewing options, we periodically survey the Netflix landscape in search of the best new shows and seasons the service has to offer. This second installment (read the first one here) features riveting true-crime documentaries, heartwarming reality series, an irreverent weekly talk show and a very angry cartoon panda.
Todays video - a sad but clever cartoon allegory of our times....worth watching....two minutes...
Todays collection of clever puns.....
·I changed my iPod name to Titanic. It's syncing now.
·I tried to catch some fog. I mist.
·When chemists die, they barium.
·Jokes about German sausage are the wurst.
·A soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.
·I know a guy who's addicted to brake fluid. He says he can stop any time.
·How does Moses make his tea? Hebrews it.
·I stayed up all night to see where the sun went. Then it dawned on me.
·This girl said she recognized me from the vegetarian club, but I'd never met herbivore.
·I'm reading a book about anti-gravity. I can't put it down.
·I did a theatrical performance about puns. It was a play on words .
·They told me I had type A blood, but it was a type-O.
·A dyslexic man walks into a bra .
·PMS jokes aren't funny, period.
·Why were the Indians here first? They had reservations.
·Class trip to the Coca-Cola factory-- I hope there's no pop quiz.
·The Energizer bunny arrested and charged with battery.
·I didn't like my beard at first. Then it grew on me.
·Did you hear about the cross eyed teacher who lost her job because she couldn't control her pupils?
·When you get a bladder infection, urine trouble.
·What does a clock do when it's hungry? It goes back four seconds.
·I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me!
·Broken pencils are pointless.
·What do you call a dinosaur with a extensive vocabulary? A thesaurus.
·England has no kidney bank, but it does have a Liverpool .
·I used to be a banker, but then I lost interest.
·I dropped out of communism class because of lousy Marx.
·All the toilets in New York 's police stations have been stolen. Police have nothing to go on.·I got a job at a bakery because I kneaded dough.
·Haunted French pancakes give me the crepes.
·Velcro - what a rip off!
·Cartoonist found dead in home. Details are sketchy.
·Venison for dinner? Oh deer!
·Earthquake in Washington obviously government's fault.
·I used to think I was indecisive, but now I'm not so sure.
Todays Vaseline joke
A man doing market research for the Vaseline Company knocked at the door and was greeted by a young woman with three small children running around at her feet.
“I’m doing some research for Vaseline. Have you ever used the product?”
She said, “Yes. My husband and I use it all the time.”
“If you don’t mind my asking,” he said, “what do you use it for?”
“We use it for sex,” she said.
The researcher was a little taken aback. “Usually people lie to me and say they use it on a child’s bicycle chain or to help with a gate hinge. But, in fact, I know that most people do use it for sex. I admire you for your honesty. Since you’ve been so frank so far, can you tell me exactly HOW you use it for sex?”
The woman said, “I don’t mind telling you at all. My husband and I put it on the doorknob and it keeps the kids out.”
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