1/ Interesting story about the Republicans and climate denial - they realize outright denial is stupid, so now it's "let's do some cosmetic stuff and it's still business as usual - but Trump has thrown a wrench into their plan....
Change he can’t believe in. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images
The American people believe climate change is real, and they want their government to do something about it.
A record 72 percent of voters said global warming was an “important” issue for them personally in a Yale/George Mason University poll released earlier this year. That same poll found a majority of Republican voters favored government action to combat warming, with 56 percent endorsing “strict carbon-dioxide emission limits on existing coal-fired power plants to reduce global warming and improve public health, even if the cost of electricity to consumers and companies would likely increase.” This finding is broadly consistent with other recent surveys. Last year Gallup found that 62 percent of voters believed the government was “doing too little” to protect the environment — the highest that figure has been in more than a decade.
2/ It's definitely time for this three minute clip from the Newsroom again, where Jeff Daniels explains why America isn't the greatest country in the world any more......this was made in 2014, and watch it now in the third year of the Trump era....
3/ Andrew Sullivan on Theresa May and the right wing populism spreading throughout the EU.....not good news....
The center did not hold. Photo: Leon Neal/Getty Images
If you were hoping that the recent wave of global right-wing populism might be declining, it has not been a very good couple of weeks. In India, the Hindu nationalist, Narendra Modi, was just reelected handily — with a hefty majority in the Parliament, despite expectations that he’d do far worse. Buoyed by resurgent nationalism and his standing up to China and Pakistan, as well as appealing to the left-behinds, he achieved something historic: the first full second term for a prime minister in nearly 50 years. But it’s impossible to understand Modi’s success without seeing his exploitation of Hindu anti-Muslim religious bigotry at the heart of it. This was a victory for illiberal democracy — one in which Muslims are used as a classic minority threat.
4/ Sam Bee on Mayor Pete going on Fox News....an amusing six minutes....
5/ The excellent Tom Tomorrow...
6/ Matt Taibbi explains the awful implications of the Trump DOJ warrants for Julian Assange....
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange today sits in the Belmarsh High Security prison in southeast London. Not just for his sake but for everyone’s, we now have to hope he’s never moved from there to America.
The United States filed charges against Assange early last month. The case seemed to have been designed to assuage fears that speech freedoms or the press were being targeted.
That specific offense was “computer hacking conspiracy” from back in 2010. The “crime” was absurdly thin, a claim that Assange agreed (but failed, apparently) to try to help Chelsea Manning develop an administrative password that could have helped her conceal identity as she downloaded secrets. One typewritten phrase, “No luck so far,” was the damning piece of evidence.
7/ A SNL piece with Sandra Oh you haven't seen...."Admissions Police".....reasonably amusing, and in this news cycle relevant....
8/ Wonderful!
9/ You may have read about the doctored Nancy Pelosi video - in case you haven't seen it the Times has the original and the doctored versions side by side. This is just the beginning of malicious fake videos...
Manipulated videos of Speaker Nancy Pelosi that made it seem as if she were stumbling over and slurring her words continued to spread across social media on Friday, fueled by President Trump’s feud with the Democratic leader.
One of the videos, which showed Ms. Pelosi speaking at a conference this week, appeared to be slowed down to make her speech sound continually garbled.
The video has been viewed millions of times on Facebook and was amplified by the president’s personal lawyer,
Rudolph W. Giuliani, who shared the video Thursday night on Twitter.
10/ If you are connected to the cruise industry this story from the Times will be of interest.....Park West Galleries who do the Art Auctions on ships are in trouble.....
The scene played out for years. Twice a week, in the late afternoon, above the Shun Lee Chinese restaurant on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, a creaky elevator would open, and out would step an elderly man. Thin as a rail, with a sparse mustache, he would sometimes have little idea about where or who he was. A pair of security doors would buzz unlocked once surveillance cameras identified him as the artist Peter Max.
Inside, he would see painters — some of them recruited off the street and paid minimum wage — churning out art in the Max aesthetic: cheery, polychrome, wide-brushstroke kaleidoscopes on canvas. Mr. Max would be instructed to hold out his hand, and for hours, he would sign the art as if it were his own, grasping a brush and scrawling Max. The arrangement, which continued until earlier this year, was described to The New York Times by seven people who witnessed it.
11/ Some good movies and shows coming up.....I love a good trailer, and here are some great ones....
Has it really been less than a week since HBO dropped that wonderfully cryptic, Pink Floyd-scored Westworld teaser? It feels like several months have passed since then. Trailer-wise, it’s been a busy six days: We got an extended look at Quentin Tarantino’s latest, a teaser for the upcoming Star Trek: TNG spinoff, a peek at Linda Hamilton’s return to the Terminator franchise and yes, that aforementioned clip about the show HBO is betting the farm on now that Game of Thrones is over. Plus some previews of docs, TV shows and what may be the best exploitation film of the year. It’s your trailers-of-the-week round-up.
12/ Summer TV from Rolling Stone....looks like some excellent shows to sit out the heat.....
Remember when Fall was the season when the rush of new TV series and returning favorites kept you glued to your coach? That was sodecades ago. Now, thanks to streaming platforms and basic-to-premium cable channels and sub-boutique cable channels and an overall post-Peak TV glut, it’s premiere season all year round! The summer used to be for reruns and the occasional variety special. Flash-forward to 2019, and you’ve got megahit shows about ’80s teens, Oscar-winning actors fretting over murders and the sort of big-budget blockbuster-ish stuff you used to have to go to air-conditioned multiplexes to see. Who needs the beach when you have a new season of Big Little Lies, now with 100% more Meryl Streep?https://www.
13/ HBO shows ranked from worst to best.....not many surprises, but interesting nevertheless.....and you'll probably find a
series to go back to....
During the rapid expansion of cable and satellite television in the 1980s, HBO was one of the new services’ biggest selling points, thanks to a lineup that featured uncut recent theatrical movies, concerts, stand-up-comedy specials, and even the occasional Broadway show … and not the same ol’ sitcoms and dramas. These days, HBO is still one of pay TV’s top draws, but it’s mostly because of shows like Game of Thrones and Veep and not because subscribers are eager to catch up with Ocean’s 8 and The Predator.
Todays farming joke
PEPPERMINT
I recently spent $6,500 on a young registered Black Angus bull.
I put him out with the herd but he just ate grass and wouldn't even look at a cow.
I was beginning to think I had paid more for that bull than he was worth.
Anyhow, I had the Vet come and have a look at him.
He said the bull was very healthy, but possibly just a little young, so he gave me some pills to feed him once per day.
The bull started to service the cows within two days, all my cows!
He even broke through the fence and bred with all of my neighbor's cows!
He's like a machine!
I don't know what was in the pills the Vet gave him ............
But they kind of taste like peppermint.
Todays English language lesson
You think English is easy?
1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
2) The farm was used to produce produce.
3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4) We must polish the Polish furniture..
5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert..
7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10) I did not object to the object.
11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13) They were too close to the door to close it.
14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear..
19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
20) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?
Todays religious joke
A Priest and a Rabbi were sitting next to each other on an airplane. After a while, the Priest turned to the Rabbi and asked,
"Is it still a requirement of your faith that you not eat pork?"
The Rabbi responded, "Yes, that is still one of our laws."
The Priest then asked, "Have you ever eaten pork?"
To which the Rabbi replied, "Yes, on one occasion I did succumb to temptation and tasted a ham sandwich."
The Priest nodded in understanding and went on with his reading.
A while later, the Rabbi spoke up and asked the Priest, "Father, is it still a requirement of your church that you remain celibate?"
The Priest replied, "Yes, that is still very much a part of our faith."
The Rabbi then asked him, "Father, have you ever fallen to the temptations of the flesh?"
The Priest replied, "Yes, Rabbi, on one occasion I was weak and broke my faith."
The Rabbi nodded understandingly and remained silent, thinking, for about five minutes.
Finally, the Rabbi said, "Beats the shit out of a ham sandwich, doesn't it?"
Awkward!
