1/ Frank Rich on the news of the week......excellent as always....
A mass-market villain. Photo: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images
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 fallout of Jamal Khashoggi’s apparent murder by the Saudis, Donald Trump’s seeming defense of the Kingdom, and what the polls are telling us about the midterms.
The U.S. has a history of largely looking the other way when allegations that raise questions about its relationship with Saudi Arabia appear — of a war-crimes cover-up in Yemen, of endangered dissidents, of complicity in the 9/11 attacks. As the details increasingly point to Jamal Khashoggi’s death being directed from the highest levels of Saudi Arabia’s government, why has this case been different?
2/ Sam Bee on the Republican ads flooding the airwaves.....an amusing 8 minutes.....
Samantha Bee picked apart the attack ads pumped out by some GOP candidates, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), ahead of November’s midterm elections.
The comedian began Wednesday’s broadcast of “Full Frontal” by asking why Republicans continue to play “the victim card” when they “control all three branches of government.”
Bee then aired a montage of some of their weirdest campaign promos, but not before issuing this warning:
3/ Andrew Sullivan, the conservative commentator with his weekly story in New York Magazine.....his lead story? What Trump has actually done....
Don’t laugh. Photo: John Moore/Getty Images
If you can think back through the mists of Trump time, before Kanye and Khashoggi and even Kavanaugh — a whole couple of weeks back, even — you might remember what was, for me, one of the most cathartic moments of the Trump presidency. There the president was at the United Nations, breathing heavily through his nose, crooning in that strange mournful cadence of his to convey some sense of gravity as he squinted at the teleprompter. He droned on, sighing almost, as if he were bored with saying it: “In less than two years, my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country, America’s — so true.” And they laughed. As well they should have. It’s a preposterous claim by a preposterous figure. Why don’t we laugh at him? Why does no interviewer simply burst into giggles when he unveils his latest absurd fib?
And yet there comes a point at which laughter begins to falter, under the simple, steady weight of events.
4/ I'm liking Trever Noah again....he's good! Here he goes after Fox News....
Fox News has been in outrage overdrive since former Attorney General Eric Holder encouraged Democrats this week to get tougher against Republicans.
But “Daily Show” host Trevor Noah was having none of it on Thursday, instead relabeling the network “Fox News: Phony Victims Unit.”
While campaigning for Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, Holder riffed on the famous Michelle Obama quote “When they go low, we go high” ― giving it what many on the left have seen as a much-needed revision.
“No, when they go low, we kick them,” Holder said. “That’s what this new Democratic Party is about.
5/ This story from Matt Taibbi certainly seems logical....not good news at all, but logical.....
Three Colliding Problems Leading to a New Economic Disaster
Last week’s stock sell-off was merely the beginning of what’s to come
The soaring stock market has been the crux of Donald Trump’s argument for the competence of his reign. It might be his favorite tweet subject, outside the “Failing New York Times.”
Trump on August 18th: “Longest bull run in the history of the stock market, congratulations America!” August 24th: “Our economy is setting records on every front.” September 11th: “Where are the Democrats coming from? The best economy in the history of the country would totally collapse if they ever took control!”
But since the market hit an all-time high on October 3rd, Trump has shifted his tweets to other subjects. This makes sense, given that it took a nasty dive. The worst was a two-day sell-off in the middle of last week, during which the Dow Jones Industrial average dropped 1,377 points
On Friday, the Dow opened with a big round of buying, then plunged again, then wobbled all day before finally ending 287 points up. This allowed the financial world to spend the weekend relief-boozing instead of planning for The End.
Maybe the stock market isn’t about to crash in the next 10 minutes. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be scared to our marrow over the future.
6/ The second "Ted" 30 second ad.....Teyd maybe? Anyway Ted Cruz should be worried with ads like this around.....funny and powerful.
7/ A frightening story from the Guardian about the raw power of the firestorms that are hitting California's forests.....I was not aware of how destructive these fires are....
The worst case scenario plays out the same way everywhere, whether you are in southern California or northern Alberta. A nascent wildfire – driven by extreme heat, high winds, drought conditions and a century of largely successful fire suppression – explodes into a juggernaut and takes over the countryside.
Any houses in the way are simply more fuel. Preheated to 932F by the 100ft flames of the advancing blaze, homes don’t so much catch on fire as explode into flames. In a dense neighborhood, many homes may do this simultaneously. The speed of ignition shocks people – citizens and firefighters alike – but it is only the beginning.
Because the temperatures achievable in an urban wildfire are comparable to those in a crucible, virtually everything is consumed as fuel. What doesn’t burn, melts: steel car chassis warp and bend while lesser metals – aluminum engine blocks, magnesium wheels – will liquify.
In turn, the ferocious heat generates its own wind that can drive sparks and embers hundreds of meters ahead of the fire. Conflagrations of this magnitude are virtually unstoppable.
8/ The funny SNL cold open, set in Trump's office with Kanye West.....six minutes....
9/ Another frightening climate story about the old saying "it's not the heat, it's the humidity". Turns out this is true, and it's going to make some parts of the world uninhabitable....
After enduring another scorching summer — the fourth-hottest on record for the contiguous United States — it may be hard to imagine conditions getting much worse. But as a new report from the United Nations’ panel on climate change warns, we are locked in to additional warming and other changes like sea level rise. And we are running out of time to avert potentially catastrophic outcomes.
One critically important and underreported fact is that as temperatures rise, absolute humidity, the total amount of moisture in the air, will also increase. That may create combinations of heat and humidity so extreme that the evaporation of human sweat won’t sufficiently cool our bodies, leaving even healthy adults at risk of death from overheating.
Our research suggests that in about 50 years, these deadly conditions — almost unknown on the planet today — could occur once per decade in parts of the world.
10/ SNL Weekend Update with guest host Seth Meyers.....some pretty good zingers in this one and an amazing N-word moment.....a very good five minutes....
Meyers oversaw what might have been the show’s strongest sustained “Weekend Update” run. In many ways, his “A Closer Look” segment on Late Night With Seth Meyers is still the best version of “Update” on television. So it’s no surprise that he came most alive last night when behind the desk once again to do this segment. (I actually placed money on “Meyers will be the first host to do an SNL monologue from behind a desk” earlier in the week and lost, so we can blame him not only for Trump becoming president but also for my inability to pay for groceries this week.)
While Meyers’ skill at this type of comedy overshone Colin Jost and Michael Che in this segment, both men also landed some solid comedic punches here as well. Jost’s joke about Trump’s overly clean desk yielded one of the biggest laughs of the night, and Che’s negotiation of four uses of a certain word not only provided a cathartic reaction in the moment but also builds curiosity about when the next three might be deployed.
11/ Our climate stories this week are all depressing.....this one explains why half a degree of warming is important.....
12/ You either like these or you don't - Bad Lip Reading NFL 2018.....I find these hulking brutes with funny voices most amusing, but whatever floats your boat!
13/ Elizabeth Warren 2020 - an interesting story that says "why not!"
The only Democrat who appears fully equipped at this point to vanquish Donald Trump in a presidential election made it perfectly clear late last month that she fully intends to do so. (And she got out ahead of Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), who all-but-announced his own bid in Iowa this past Saturday.)
For the last two years, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has been steadily building toward this vital rescue mission, readying herself for the one election in all our lifetimes (let us hope) that will actually live up to the quadrennial “most important election in American history since 1860” hype. “Warren’s early moves position her as a clear front-runner,” Jonathan Chait wrote last month at New York, thanks to “a well-designed strategy to compete across the spectrum of the Democratic Party without risking her viability in a general election.”
14/ Very clever one minute ad.....get those millennials out to vote! Really good!
15/ Hurricane Florence is a month old, and already completely out of the news cycle.....but millions have had their lives ruined.....
A Times interactive story on the devastation suffered mainly by the poor....
With each new hurricane, the story of recovery becomes increasingly familiar: rebuild houses, fortify the coast, and wonder why people still live in such treacherous areas. Through all these calamities, we have learned little about how to respond with long-term fixes and how to help people hardest hit by the storms — not just coastal residents, but impoverished rural Americans in flood-prone areas.
Hurricane Michael is the latest storm to devastate the South, coming nearly one month after Hurricane Florence swept through the Carolinas, and two years after Hurricane Matthew did exactly the same.
16/ On the same note [how flooding causes the worst damage], here is a 60 Minutes interview with a Dutch Government Minister whose job it is to prevent flooding. Waaaay too smart for America, where Republicans insist the gub'mint is incapable of doing anything right......
An excellent interview, about 14 minutes...
17/ A reporter went to six Trump rallies [poor bastard!], and turned in this interesting article.....
From the start of the Trump Presidency, many Beltway wise men, and more than a few of Donald Trump’s own advisers, said, Don’t pay attention to the tweets; forget the overheated language and the alarming one-liners coming out of Trump’s constant campaign-style rallies. Pay attention to the policy. They repeated this even after Trump fired his White House chief of staff and Secretary of State on Twitter, and started making policy announcements to his followers that his advisers didn’t know about. They are still, essentially, telling us to disregard what the President says. On Thursday, that was exactly the response offered by Trump’s chief economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, when he was asked about a series of attacks by the President on the “loco” Federal Reserve, which Trump said had “gone crazy” by raising interest rates and, in his view, causing the week’s precipitous stock-market decline. “The President says a lot of things,” Kudlow told reporters on the drive outside the White House, where Trump’s advisers are often found in the mornings, cleaning up this or that remark from the President. “He has a lot of fun.”
18/ Stephen Colbert with a very funny four minutes.....he's on form in this clip!
On Tuesday night, Stephen Colbert slammed President Donald Trumpfor his recent attacks aimed at Stormy Daniels.
In his latest development of “Stormy Watch,” Colbert reacted to a judge’s decision to throw out Stormy’s defamation lawsuit against Trump and ordered her to pay his legal fees. He suggested to Stormy to start a GoFundMe called, “For $10,000,000 I will stop describing Trump’s penis.”
19/ The most difficult problem I have in talking to Republicans is their denial of climate change....it's such a blatant example of their indifference to reality, and I can't get past this stupid belief. I know it's tribal, but come on - there is evidence everywhere you look. Just don't get it.....
Anyway good column from Fred Grimm, right on point....
Don’t they have children?
Have climate change deniers forgotten that it’ll be their own children who’ll face the consequences?
I wrote “children” – not grandchildren or great grandchildren -- because the report issued Monday by the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns that the brutal ramifications of ignoring anthropogenic global warming will assail humanity (along with the world’s flora and fauna) much sooner than previously predicted. Perhaps by 2040, when deniers’ kids will still be around and wondering what the hell daddy was thinking.
20/ The new tax law that goes into effect in 2018 increasing the standard deduction for couples to $24,000 is having a negative effect on charitable giving, because over half the taxpayers who itemized last year don't have to this year and will instead take the new larger standard deduction. Unintended result? Less charitable giving....
Cynics will say this is precisely the intended result, as Republicans hate the poor....
Anyway see if this affects you....
TOUTED AS THE LARGEST tax overhaul in 30 years, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 is poised to have a significant effect on income tax returns next year. "Overall, everyone should get some type of tax savings," says Miguel Farra, chairman of the tax and accounting department for accounting firm MBAF in Miami.
However, it isn't all good news. The law will eliminate and change some deductions for the 2018 tax year. That means this year is the last time you'll see the following 10 deductions on your tax forms, at least until some provisions of the tax law expire in 2025.
Todays so true joke...
Todays Irish joke
An old Irishman, Paddy, is about to go to his eternal reward. He looks at his grieving friend, Mike, and says, "I have one last request, Mike."
"Anything, Paddy," Mike says. "What is it?"
"In me kitchen pantry you'll find a 100- year-old bottle of whiskey. When they put me in the ground will you pour it over me grave?"
"I will, Paddy," Mike says. "But would you mind if I passed it through me kidneys first?"
Todays guy joke - Classes for Women
THE ADULT LEARNING CENTER
REGISTRATION MUST BE COMPLETED
By Fri, January 27, 2012
NOTE: DUE TO THE COMPLEXITY AND DIFFICULTY LEVEL
OF THEIR CONTENTS, CLASS SIZES WILL BE LIMITED TO 8 PARTICIPANTS MAXIMUM .
Class 1
Up in Winter, Down in Summer - How to Adjust a Thermostat
Step by Step, with Slide Presentation.
Meets 4 weeks, Monday and Wednesday for 2 hrs beginning at 7:00 PM..
Class 2
Which Takes More Energy - Putting the Toilet Seat Down, Or Complaining About It for 3 Hours?
Round Table Discussion.
Meets 2 weeks, Saturday 12:00 for 2 hours.
Class 3
Is It Possible To Drive Past a Wal-Mart Without Stopping?--Group Debate.
Meets 4 weeks, Saturday 10:00 PM for 2 hours.
Class 4
Fundamental Differences Between a Purse and a Suitcase-- Pictures and Explanatory Graphics.
Meets Saturdays at 2:00 PM for 3 weeks.
Class 5
Curling Irons--Can They Levitate and Fly Into The Bathroom Cabinet?
Examples on Video.
Meets 4 weeks, Tuesday and Thursday for 2 hours beginning
At 7:00 PM
Class 6
How to Ask Questions During Commercials and Be Quiet During the Program
Help Line Support and Support Groups.
Meets 4 Weeks, Friday and Sunday 7:00 PM
Class 7
Can a Bath Be Taken Without 14 Different Kinds of Soaps and Shampoos?
Open Forum ..
Monday at 8:00 PM, 2 hours.
Class 8
Health Watch--They Make Medicine for PMS - USE IT!
Three nights; Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 7:00 PM for 2 hours.
Class 9
I Was Wrong and He Was Right!--Real Life Testimonials.
Tuesdays at 6:00 PM Location to be determined.
Class 10
How to Parallel Park In Less Than 20 Minutes Without an Insurance Claim.
Driving Simulations.
4 weeks, Saturday's noon, 2 hours.Class 11
Learning to Live--How to Apply Brakes Without Throwing Passengers Through the Windshield.
Tuesdays at 7:00 PM, location to be determined
Class 12
How to Shop by Yourself.
Meets 4 weeks, Tuesday and Thursday for 2 hours beginning at 7:00 PM.
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