1/ Andrew Sullivan on how Elizabeth Warren has transformed the abortion issue, by drafting legislation for Congress instead of relying on the Courts.....excellent column....
Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images
Elizabeth Warren is not afraid. Today, she set out a proposal to integrate Roe v. Wade’s provisions for access to abortion into federal law. She even framed her proposal this way: Congress Can Protect Choice. And she’s right. Congress can legislate on abortion; the matter can be settled through politics, rather than through a strained parsing of the Constitution by the courts. Political arguments can be made, and countered. Voters can go to the polls to support candidates who will vote for such a law, which will make any previous Supreme Court ruling irrelevant.
This is the process called politics. And America, for 46 years, has tried to keep abortion out of it. It’s encouraging to see Warren jump into the fray to bring legislative politics back to the subject — and to call the right’s bluff on taking that approach. It’s amazing it has taken this long.
2/ Emma Thompson and Leslie Jones on SNL's "Etiquette Lesson".....four minutes....amusing and in bits a little shocking....
3/ David Wallace Wells on the California fire season - which will be worse and worse....
You could see the smoke from space. The plume from last November’s Woolsey fire swept out toward Catalina and into the Pacific beyond by the same Santa Ana winds that had carried the flames all the way down the Malibu mountainside to the beach. The aftermath was eerie, the sunsets gorgeous, toxic ash falling from the sky in heavy lumps. Horses and alpacas and a giraffe wandered the sand, having fled flames that tore through local stables and ranches and a vineyard’s private zoo. The burn scar on the land, when the smoke cleared, stretched 152 square miles through Point Dume and Malibu and up to Calabasas and Westlake Village: 96,000 densely populated acres burned, 300,000 people evacuated from 100,000 homes, a city of 10 million terrorized in ways both familiar and unprecedented.
4/ Seth Meyers with his usual excellent comedic reporting......11 intelligent minutes on Elizabeth Warren, reproductive rights..........
5/ Trump hates California and the West Coast....this is why - they're winning....
LOS ANGELES — A big crowd showed up for the festive unveiling of President Barack Obama Boulevard here last weekend, at the intersection of “hope and resistance,” as one news outlet put it. Sure, it’s just a three-and-a-half-mile stretch of road, a living ex-president’s name added to streets honoring Jefferson and Washington.
But the ceremony also marked the latest, and one of the most joyous, of the not-so-subtle ways in which the West Coast continues to live free and prosper under a president doing everything he can to hurt the 51 million Americans in the three lower-48 states that hug the Pacific shore.
President Trump hates the West Coast.
6/ The SNL cold open "Meet The Press" with Chuck Todd and Republicans....not especially funny [amusing more like it], but brutally accurate and worth watching....a good five minutes....
Saturday Night Live opened with a Meet the Press sketch that teased Republican leadership over their unimpeachable support of Donald Trump, even as the president’s actions conflict with their own political beliefs.
For instance, all three GOP members – Beck Bennett’s Mitch McConnell, Kate McKinnon’s Lindsey Graham and Cicely Strong’s Susan Collins – were opposed to tariffs against China until Trump’s attempts to enforce them.
“When you have a president who is a financial genius and a business Jesus like Donald Trump, you just got to trust him,” McKinnon’s Graham said. “This man has lost a hundred times more money than I have ever made.”
7/ The books about the future with climate change keep on coming, and this one is by Jared Diamond [interviewed by David Wallace-Wells] titled "Upheaval".....doesn't sound like a knee-slapper....
Jared Diamond: There’s a 49 Percent Chance the World As We Know It Will End by 2050
Today, the risk that we’re facing is not of societies collapsing one by one, but because of globalization, the risk we are facing is of the collapse of the whole world.
How likely do you think that is? That the whole network of civilization would collapse?
I would estimate the chances are about 49 percent that the world as we know it will collapse by about 2050. I’ll be dead by then but my kids will be, what? Sixty-three years old in 2050. So this is a subject of much practical interest to me. At the rate we’re going now, resources that are essential for complex societies are being managed unsustainably.
8/ A story from Fast Company about solar engineering which would cool the earth but has major risks....most interesting....
The UN Environment Assembly recently considered a proposal to research solar geoengineering, as it’s known, an outlandish scheme to cool the Earth by blanketing the heavens with aerosols –chemicals that would reflect a small measure of sunlight back into space, lowering the average global temperature. The measure failed, not because countries were wary of investigating geoengineering, but because some, like the United States, feared the plan would unduly limit research.
This dispute isn’t confined to diplomatic meetings.
9/ Michelle Goldberg in the Times with a very good column.....
In their best-selling 2018 book “How Democracies Die,” the Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt wrote about the concept of “constitutional hardball,” in which politicians “deploy their institutional powers as broadly as they can get away with.” One example they gave was the way that Nicolás Maduro, the Venezuelan president, responded when the opposition party won control of the country’s legislature in a landslide 2015 election.
10/ A really funny Bill Maher "New Rules" where he urges Melania to divorce Trump and Jerry Hall to dump Murdoch....starts slow, but he really gets going in this one...a very good five minutes....
11/ Irony time - it's just like you imagine,Trump's biggest supporters in rural America are his biggest victims.....
Good column from Paul Krugman....
Economists, reports Politico, are fleeing the Agriculture Department’s Economic Research Service. Six of them resigned on a single day last month. The reason? They are feeling persecuted for publishing reports that shed an unflattering light on Trump policies.
But these reports are just reflecting reality (which has a well-known anti-Trump bias). Rural America is a key part of Donald Trump’s base. In fact, rural areas are the only parts of the country in which Trump has a net positive approval rating. But they’re also the biggest losers under his policies.
12/ The abortion loonies are on a roll, and Michelle Goldberg sees the very real dangers ahead for women, all women.....
This week, Alabama’s governor signed legislation banning most abortions without exceptions for rape or incest, with sentences of up to 99 years in prison for abortion providers. It follows a measure that Georgia’s governor signed last week effectively banning most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy and that is worded in a way that could lead to prosecutions of women who terminate their pregnancies after that point.
13/ Of the medical providers all of us use I think hospitals are the most crooked [OK maybe drug companies] and this excellent story from the Times shows how greedy they are.....all I can say is thank you Medicare...
In Indiana, a local hospital system, Parkview Health, charged private insurance companies about four times what the federal Medicare program paid for the same care, according to a study of hospital prices in 25 states released on Thursday by the nonprofit RAND Corp.
Colorado employers were shocked to learn they were paying nearly eight times what the federal government did for outpatient services like an emergency room visit, an X-ray or a checkup with a specialist at Colorado Plains Medical Center, northeast of Denver.
Across the nation, hospitals treating patients with private health insurance were paid overall 2.4 times the Medicare rates in 2017, according to the RAND analysis. The difference was largest for outpatient care, where private prices were almost triple what Medicare would have paid.
14/ This Rolling Stone reviewer really, really likes the John Wick series.....
It was just a guy’s name. You could guess that he was played by Keanu Reeves, given that we’d seen laughing with a woman over a meal and kissing her against a picture-postcard vision of Manhattan’s skyline. Then we go from Sad Keanu sitting bedside in a hospital to Sadder Keanu standing graveside as a coffin is lowered into the ground. Later, he gets his wife’s posthumous gift to him: a puppy. The man and his dog, who is indeed adorable by any standard, tool around in his vintage Mustang. We know something else happened, because we’ve also briefly glimpsed Bloody Keanu, lying battered on a warehouse floor. But as far we knew, this was a movie about a gentleman — he’s called John — who lives in an exceedingly well-furnished apartment, is deep in the throes of grief and has only his faithful companion to help him move on. Maybe the pooch will teach him how to love again. Maybe he’ll meet someone nice at the dog park. The title told you nothing. It was just a guy’s name.
Todays redneck joke
Billy Bob and Luther were talking one afternoon when Billy Bob tells Luther,
"Ya know, I reckon I'm 'bout ready for a vacation. Only this year I'm gonna do it different.
The last few years, I took your advice about where to go.
Three years ago you said to go to Hawaii. I went to Hawaii and Earlene got pregnant.
Then two years ago, you told me to go to the Bahamas, and Earlene got pregnant again.
Last year you suggested Tahiti and darned if Earlene didn't get pregnant again."
Luther asks Billy Bob, "So, what you gonna do this year that's different?"
"I'm taking Earlene with me."
Three years ago you said to go to Hawaii. I went to Hawaii and Earlene got pregnant.
Then two years ago, you told me to go to the Bahamas, and Earlene got pregnant again.
Last year you suggested Tahiti and darned if Earlene didn't get pregnant again."
Luther asks Billy Bob, "So, what you gonna do this year that's different?"
"I'm taking Earlene with me."
Todays senior joke
A married couple is traveling by car from Victoria to Prince George. Being seniors, after almost eleven hours on the road, they were
too tired to continue, and decided to take a room. But they only planned to sleep for four hours and then get back on the road.
too tired to continue, and decided to take a room. But they only planned to sleep for four hours and then get back on the road.
When they checked out four hours later, the desk clerk handed them a bill for $350.00
The man explodes and demands to know why the charge was so high. He told the clerk although it's a nice hotel; the rooms certainly aren't worth $350.00 for four hours. Then the clerk tells
him that $350.00 is the 'standard rate'. He insisted on speaking to the Manager.
The Manager appears, listens to him, and then explains that the hotel has an Olympic-sized
pool and a huge conference center that were available for us to use.'
pool and a huge conference center that were available for us to use.'
But we didn't use them," the husband said.
''Well, they are here, and you could have," explained the Manager.
The Manager went on to explain that the couple could also have taken in one of the shows for which the hotel is famous. "We have the best entertainers from New York, Hollywood, and Las Vegas perform here," the Manager says.
"But we didn't go to any of those shows," the husband said.
"Well, we have them, and you could have," the Manager replied.
No matter what amenity the Manager mentioned, the husband replied, "But we didn't use it!"
The Manager was unmoved, and eventually the husband gave up and agreed to pay. Since he didn't have the check book he asked his wife to write the check. She did and gave it to the Manager.
The Manager is surprised when he looks at the check. "But ma'am, this is only made out for $50.00.."
''That's correct! I charged you $300.00 for sleeping with me," she replied.
"But I didn't!" exclaims the Manager.
"Well, too bad, I was here, and you could have."
Don't mess with senior citizens. They didn't get there by being stupid!
Jimmy Kimmel did a presentation at the upfront meeting for new shows for 2020, and he really is an outstanding comedian....bear in mind these are the insidest of inside jokes....
Here are Kimmel's best lines from the ABC upfront presentation:
1. "How about our new network president Karey Burke — isn’t she terrific? This is Karey’s first upfront as president. She’s only been on the job since November. And privately she asked me to make it clear to you that the shows you’ve been seeing today are not her fault. She said, and I quote, 'Blame [former ABC president] Channing [Dungey].'"
2. "I can’t believe Channing left us for Netflix. Who does she think she is — our viewers?"
3. "Channing leaving us to work at Netflix was — to borrow a Yiddish term — such a Shonda."
4. "This is my 16th upfront, and it’s great to be here again. That was a lie, but I’ve been doing this so long, I remember when we previewed Lost and Alias and D
5. "This is a historic upfront for this company. For years I’ve been flying out here to tell you that the new ABC shows suck, but this year is different. This year I’m here to tell you that the new FX shows, the new Nat Geo shows — they all suck, too. It’s all coming together."
6. "We finally sealed the deal with Fox. We now own 20th Century Fox, Nat Geo, Fox Searchlight, Hulu, FX, FXX and later this year we are proud to announce FXXX: It’s just Vin Diesel movies and porn, and you’re going to love it."
7. "It really is amazing. We own Disneyland, we own Iron Man and we own Star Wars. At this point, the only cherished memory of your childhood we don’t own is jerking off. And what a year it has been for Bob Iger. What a year."
8. "What a year it’s been for all of us. I mean, Roseanne is gone and the measles are back. Remember last year when you got you all excited for Take Two and The Kids Are Alright and Roseanne and Speec
9. "But we still have the Bachelor franchise. Like the genital herpes it thrives on, The Bachelor will never go away. Last year, we had a virgin bachelor, which was great, so next year to kind of mix things up, we’re going the other way. We got ourselves a real live truck-stop prostitute."
10. "As Karey mentioned, Fresh Off the Boat has been renewed for season number six. She also mentioned that moment after the renewal was announced, one of the stars of the show, Constance Wu tweeted, “So upset right now that I’m literally crying. Ugh. Fuck.” Only on ABC is getting your show picked up the worst thing that could happen to you. Sorry, Constance. At least you got 9,300 likes."
11. We have a new comedy from Kenya Barris called Mixed-ish that you saw and it looks like a really good show, but I don’t know about the title. I feel like before you name a show you should be able to say it five times fast. It sounds like an old Polish woman clearing her throat. But that’s the title, I guess. So now we have Black-ish, Grown-ish, Mixed-ish and Jew-ish — I’m sorry, The Goldbergs."
12. "The bad news is we’re losing one of the funniest and most award-winning comedies of all time. This will be the final season of Modern Family. Modern Family was the rarest of ABC shows — a hit. We don’t see many of them around these parts."
13. "I love that show and I love the cast and I’m going to miss those guys. But you know what? Times change, and you have to stay relevant and you have to be fresh. If we want to engage a younger generation, we’ve got to deliver content that speaks to them. That’s why we’re so excited to announce the show we’ve lined up to replace Modern Family. It’s called A Guy From New Zealand Playing Fortnight. And wait until you see it. It's a guy from New Zealand … and you can guess the rest."
14. And let that be a lesson to CBS, because they are about to lose their longest-running comedy, too. CBS will say goodbye to The Big Bang Theory after 279 episodes. Don’t spoil it for me, I’m 276 episodes behind. It’s weird to think we live in a world where Johnny Galecki has more money than all of us combined."
15. "Speaking of saying goodbye to a beloved television institution, remember last year when you guys gave Les Moonves a standing ovation? That was funny. Whoops. That I still don’t understand. I mean, how is it possible that a network whose logo is literally an eye did not see that coming?"
16. "CBS, if you’re listening, out of respect for what you’ve been going through, this year I’m not going to make jokes about how old your audience is. (Yells.) “I said, this year I’m not going to make jokes about how old your audience is!” They are old, though. Even their young people are named Sheldon at CBS.
17. "CBS has a new drama named All Rise, which sadly is something most of their viewers cannot do."
18. "Meanwhile, over at Fox, The Masked Singer will be back for a second season. And here’s Terry Bradshaw to tell us more about that. I am so bummed I missed that yesterday. Was that some kind of a concussion-awareness PSA? Terry Bradshaw and The Masked Singer — what a stupid time to be alive."
19. "Poor Fox, though. They have nothing left. Fox is now the network equivalent of a divorced dad’s refrigerator. 18-to-49 isn’t even their demo anymore — it’s the number of people who still work there. But they do have wrestling."
20. "And did you know that NBC has the Olympics? Did they mention that? Congratulations, NBC. Once again we get to watch you ride the Olympics to No. 1. You are the pudgy orthodontist with a Maserati of broadcast networks. They’re so pleased with themselves marching out the Tara Lipinski’s and whatnot. We get it. You have the Olympics. What do you want, a medal?"
21. "But that’s not all NBC has. They have This Is Us, which was so popular it was renewed for three years. Or as Constance Wu would call it, a death sentence."
22. "NBC also renewed Law & Order: SVU, which is coming back for a 21st season. And that is amazing, think about it. That means that babies born the year that show started are now old enough to commit sex crimes of their own."
23. "Of course, the big question for all of us is how do we get the so-called Generation Z to watch network television, and I have the answer. Two words: vape-able content."
24. "The good news is that here at ABC we’ve been running a lot of focus groups and we know exactly what Gen Z-ers want. The bad news is it’s Netflix."
25. "Fucking Netflix. They even signed the Obamas. The Obamas are making TV shows and Trump is running the country. If this isn’t some Freaky Friday-type bullshit, I don’t know what is."
26. "Of course, we’re very excited about our new streaming service, Disney+. Or, as I’ve always read it, Disney-Positive. As in, I just got my test results back and I’m Disney-Positive. Disney-Positive sounds like a disease you get from having sex with Aladdin’s money."
27. "There will be no commercials on Disney+ and, like you, I enjoy commercials. When I turn on the TV and see Ray Liotta talking about his struggles with nicotine, it’s the only time I don’t feel alone."
28. "But the new service isn’t free. Basically, parents, you have a choice: You can either pay $7 a month for Disney+, or you can raise your children yourselves."
29. "Apple is making shows now, too. They have Apple TV+. And none of these services have commercials. This is getting bad. I mean, by the end of the year, 34 percent of homes won’t even have traditional ad-based TV. But the good news is if you look under your seats, you’ll find a cyanide capsule. Wash it down with some Whiskey Cavalier."
30. "[ABC’s ad sales chief] Rita Ferro said the future of TV is TV. Even [White House Press Secretary] Sarah Huckabee Sanders is like, “What the fuck kind of horseshit is that?”
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