1/. Andrew Sullivan with a long but fascinating story comparing Trump's reign with the fall of the Roman Empire, and he goes
into the structural damage this animal has done to our Democracy, perhaps irrevocable damage.
A must read folks....
Four years after Donald Trump emerged as the most nakedly authoritarian candidate in American history, it’s tempting to view the threat he once seemed to pose as overblown. Upon his election, some panicked that he would be a proto-dictator, trampling every democratic institution in the fascist manner imported from Mussolini’s Italy and Hitler’s Germany. Others saw merely a malign, illiberal incompetent who would probably amount to nothing too threatening — or believed that America’s democratic institutions and strong Constitution would surely survive Trump’s strongman posturing, however menacing it appeared in the abstract. Many contended that his manifest criminality meant he would be dispatched in short order, with impeachment simply a matter of time.
It was all, unavoidably, unknown and unknowable — and so we cast around for historical analogies to guide us. Was this the 1930s, along the lines of Sinclair Lewis’s It Can’t Happen Here? Or the 19th century in Latin America, with Trump an old-school caudillo? Was he another demagogue like George Wallace or Huey Long — but in the White House?
Well, we now have a solid record of what Trump has said and done.
2/. Bill Maher's opening monologue and he eviscerates Tucker Carlson, among others....a good six minutes...
3/. As soon as Epstein was found the conspiracy theories started....blaming the Clintons of course. Personally I have no doubt Trump hinted about getting rid of the Epstein problem, and someone in the gub'mint got it done....
But will we ever get the truth? Of course not....
Within hours — maybe even minutes — of news breaking that hedge fund manager and convicted sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein had died by suicide in his jail cell, discussion had turned to one of Epstein’s most powerful former friends: former President Bill Clinton.
As of this writing, “Clintons” is the No. 2 trending term on Twitter, with basically every top tweet promoting, rebutting, or otherwise discussing conspiracy theories that Bill and/or Hillary Clinton had Epstein murdered. The hashtag #ClintonBodyCount blew up as well, complete with a competing #TrumpBodyCount hash
4/. A John Oliver on great form - he tackles Trump in El Paso, and NRA's troubles.....most amusing....six minutes....
5/. Most interesting quiz from the Times....the key question is #2...
Quiz: Let Us Predict Whether
You’re a Democrat or a Republican
You’re a Democrat or a Republican
Tell us a few details about you and we’ll guess which political party you belong to. It shouldn’t be that simple, right? We’re all complex people with a multiplicity of identities and values. But the reality is that in America today, how you answer a handful of questions is very likely to determine how you vote.
This quiz, based on recent surveys with more than 140,000 responses, presents a series of yes-or-no questions to predict whether someone is more likely to identify as a Democrat or a Republican. It captures divisions that should make you worried about the future of American democracy.
6/. The wonderful Simone Biles on the beam.....wow.....2 minutes of athletic stardom...
7/. A very interesting essay from Benjamin Studebaker about the differences between Elizabeth Warren and Bernie
Sanders...having read this, I'm leaning towards Bernie....
In the second round of Democratic primary debates, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders were in the same room, but the two of them were surrounded by centrist Democrats who poll at almost nothing. Stephen Bullock, John Delaney, John Hickenlooper, Amy Klobuchar, and Tim Ryan all clock in at 1% or less. Together, they spoke for more than 50 minutes, and they used most of their time to insinuate that policies like Medicare are a socialist pipe-dream. Sanders and Warren each received about 18 minutes, combining for about 36. By including all these centrists that poll at negligible numbers in the debates, the Democratic Party drowned the progressive candidates in a cacophony of establishment hand-wringing. There was never an opportunity for Sanders and Warren to argue with each other, and now many in the media are portraying Sanders and Warren as if they were on a progressive “team”. This obfuscates the very real differences between these candidates, so let me do the job that the Democratic Party and the moderators failed to do, and illustrate those differences for you.
Sanders and Warren both criticise the Democratic Party establishment, but from very different directions. Think about America in terms of four classes:
8/. Tom Tomorrow on guns....
9/. Another quiz - are you wealthy or just rich? Which percentile are you in? Interesting article from the Times....
If you missed it, try our income-rank quiz. Today, it’s time to consider wealth.
What’s your net worth? Take all your assets (your house, stocks, bonds, 401(k)s and savings), and subtract all your debts (mortgage, student loans, car loans and credit card debt). Come up with a ballpark figure, or go here for detailed help on how to arrive at a realistic number. Don’t worry, we’re not recording your responses.
10/. A surreal and edgy skit from SNL...."Met Your Second Wife" with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.....
a painful but very funny five minutes....
11/. Evangelicals have gone all in on Trump, and in the short turn it's ginned up their base but in the long term it's
disastrous for this Trump cult....good story from the Atlantic...
Last week, Ralph Reed, the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s founder and chairman, told the group, “There has never been anyone who has defended us and who has fought for us, who we have loved more than Donald J. Trump. No one!”
12/. A wonderful Sam Bee on guns and Trump.....a great six minutes....
13/. Not often we put in business news, but this is a most interesting article about the book industry and
how a Brit is now in charge of Barnes and Noble....save our bookshops from Amazon!
James Daunt, the man who will soon try to revive Barnes & Noble, once spent weeks in a noisy, arm-waving debate about the ideal angle of tilt for bookstore shelving. His opponent was an Italian showroom designer who argued, in a series of otherwise congenial meals in some of London’s best restaurants, that the shelf should be tilted four degrees.
Wrong, countered Mr. Daunt. The right answer is three degrees. Yes, the cover of a book catches a bit more light, and attention, if tilted at four degrees, especially on shelves below eye level. But the spine of a book starts to bend, ever so slightly.
“He prioritized presentation. I prioritized the condition of the book,” Mr. Daunt said, grinning to acknowledge just how wonky this discussion was. “These are my stores, so I went with three degrees.”
Mr. Daunt is talking about Waterstones, Britain’s largest bookstore chain, which
he began to run in 2011, when it was on the verge of bankruptcy.
14/. Umair Haque with one of his essays that may be a little OTT, but are a definite harbinger of trends....
But read this one, and when was the last time you said Trump is a fascist thug to anyone but your closest friends? Speak up!
I have to warn you — you won’t like this essay. You’re going to find it harsh, mean, maybe even unfair. So if you’re not in the mood for a little reality check — go read a nice book or something for a while.
I read recently that Americans were being forced to take dog insulin — because of course insulin for humans costs an astronomical amount — that’s how badly American society has broken down. Can you imagine what would happen in any other rich country if people were forced to take dog insulin? The cities would be shut down by mass protests. Life would grind to a halt. People would refuse to work. The government would fall.
But not in America. There, no matter what indignity people suffer, no matter how people are made to suffer, no matter how absurdly dystopian society becomes — life just goes on as usual.
15/. It's tough to find good TV because of all the choices that are being thrown at us ever week, so we really need some filters.....here are two, one from the Times and one [much more informal] from Buzzfeed....
Netflix adds original programming at such a steady clip that it can be hard to keep up with which of its dramas, comedies and reality shows are must-sees. And that’s not including all the TV series Netflix picks up from broadcast and cable networks. Below is our regularly updated guide to the 50 best shows on Netflix in the United States, ranked alphabetically. Each recommendation comes with a secondary pick, too, for 100 suggestions in all. (Note: Netflix sometimes removes titles without notice.)
16/. We recently asked members of the BuzzFeed Community to tell us what streaming shows are severely underrated. Here are the bingeable results:
1. The OA (Netflix)
It's one of the most original, bizarre, and thought-provoking shows to exist. The characters are wonderful and flawed.
Todays homespun joke....
An Ellisville school teacher called the local phone company to report her telephone failed to ring when her friends called - and that on the few occasions, when it did ring, her dog always moaned right before the phone rang.
The telephone repairman proceeded to the scene, curious to see this psychic dog or senile lady. He climbed a telephone pole, hooked in his test set, and dialed the subscriber's
The phone didn't ring right away, but then the dog moaned and the telephone began to ring.
Climbing down from the pole, the telephone repairman found:
1 . The dog was tied to the telephone system's ground wire with a steel chain and collar.
2. The wire connection to the ground rod was loose.
3. The dog was receiving 90 volts of signaling current when the number was called.
4.. After a couple of jolts, the dog would start moaning and then urinate.
5. The wet ground would complete the circuit, thus causing the phone to ring.
Which demonstrates that some problems CAN be fixed by
pissing and moaning.
The telephone repairman proceeded to the scene, curious to see this psychic dog or senile lady. He climbed a telephone pole, hooked in his test set, and dialed the subscriber's
The phone didn't ring right away, but then the dog moaned and the telephone began to ring.
Climbing down from the pole, the telephone repairman found:
1 . The dog was tied to the telephone system's ground wire with a steel chain and collar.
2. The wire connection to the ground rod was loose.
3. The dog was receiving 90 volts of signaling current when the number was called.
4.. After a couple of jolts, the dog would start moaning and then urinate.
5. The wet ground would complete the circuit, thus causing the phone to ring.
Which demonstrates that some problems CAN be fixed by
pissing and moaning.
Todays Lawyer jokes....
As such, we have compiled a list of ten of the world's best (or worst) lawyer jokes. But just a warning - by the end of this list you may get the impression that lawyers aren't the most popular people on earth, but we knew that already, right?
Joke 1:
A lawyer dies and goes to Heaven. "There must be some mistake," the lawyer argues. "I'm too young to die. I'm only 55." "Fifty-five?" says Saint Peter. "No, according to out calculations, you're 82." "How'd you get that?" the lawyer asks. Answers St. Peter, "We added up your time sheets."
Joke 2:
What's the difference between a good lawyer and a bad lawyer?
A bad lawyer can let a case drag out for several years. A good lawyer can make it last even longer.
Joke 3:
One day in Contract Law class, the professor asked one of his better students, "Now if you were to give someone an orange, how would you go about it?"
The student replied, "Here's an orange."
The professor was livid. "No! No! Think like a lawyer!"
The student then recited, "Okay, I'd tell him, 'I hereby give and convey to you all and singular, my estate and interests, rights, claim, title, claim and advantages of and in, said orange, together with all its rind, juice, pulp, and seeds, and all rights and advantages with full power to bite, cut, freeze and otherwise eat, the same, or give the same away with and without the pulp, juice, rind and seeds, anything herein before or hereinafter or in any deed, or deeds, instruments of whatever nature or kind whatsoever to the contrary in anywise notwithstanding..."
Joke 4:
As the lawyer awoke from surgery, he asked, "Why are all the blinds drawn?" The nurse answered, "There's a fire across the street, and we didn't want you to think you had died."
Joke 5:
A woman and her little girl were visiting the grave of the little girl's grandmother. On their way through the cemetery back to the car, the little girl asked, "Mummy, do they ever bury two people in the same grave?"
"Of course not, dear," replied the mother, "Why would you think that?"
"The tombstone back there said... 'Here lies a lawyer and an honest man.'"
Joke 6:
Santa Claus, the tooth fairy, an honest lawyer and an old drunk are walking down the street together when they simultaneously spot a hundred dollar bill. Who gets it? The old drunk, of course, the other three are fantasy creatures.
Joke 7:
At a convention of biological scientists, one researcher remarks to another, "Did you know that in our lab we have switched from mice to lawyers for our experiments?" "Really?" the other replied, "Why did you switch?" "Well, for three reasons. First we found that lawyers are far more plentiful, second, the lab assistants don't get so attached to them, and thirdly there are some things even a rat won't do."
Joke 8:
What does a lawyer get when you give him Viagra?
Taller.
Joke 9:
The lawyer's son wanted to follow in his father's footsteps, so he went to law school and graduated with honors. Then he went home to join his father's firm.
At the end of his first day at work, he rushed into his father's office and said, "Father, father! In one day I broke the Smith case that you've been working on for so long!"
His father yelled, "You idiot! We've been living on the funding of that case for ten years!"
Joke 10:
How many lawyer jokes are in existence?
Only three. All the rest are true stories.
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