1/ The excellent insider Frank Rich on the weeks news.....most interesting....
Photo: Nicholas Kamm/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, Trump’s trade war with China, what Jeffrey Epstein’s death means for his accomplices, and Elizabeth Warren’s rise in the polls.
Economists and investors are growing increasingly wary that Donald Trump’s push for tariffs on China could lead the U.S. into a recession. Will the markets force Trump to back down from his trade war?
Trump has already started to back down, abruptly postponing tariffs on China until at least mid-December, lest American consumers and merchants be stuck with the bill during Christmas shopping season.
2/ John Oliver with a wonderful one minute rant....Trump and Greenland....
3/ Occasionally we read something that qualifies as an epiphany, and this is one of those articles. It's from the Times, and looks at the roots of American Capitalism and attitudes to work and finds their origins in slavery.....
This is our modern corporate world rooted in the past....an excellent, insightful and eye-opening article....
A couple of years before he was convicted of securities fraud, Martin Shkreli was the chief executive of a pharmaceutical company that acquired the rights to Daraprim, a lifesaving antiparasitic drug. Previously the drug cost $13.50 a pill, but in Shkreli’s hands, the price quickly increased by a factor of 56, to $750 a pill. At a health care conference, Shkreli told the audience that he should have raised the price even higher. “No one wants to say it, no one’s proud of it,” he explained. “But this is a capitalist society, a capitalist system and capitalist rules.”
This is a capitalist society. It’s a fatalistic mantra that seems to get repeated to anyone who questions why America can’t be more fair or equal
4/ Matt Taibbi with a story about the 2020 election titled - "Be Very Afraid"
In his wonderful Hunter S. Thompson-ish style he describes a Trump rally, Trump's supporters and the hapless Democrats trying to cope with this monster. He also demolishes the media....
Taibbi is right - we should be afraid.....
Early evening, August, Cincinnati. The Queen City’s many bridges are sealed off, its sky is dirty with helicopters, and seemingly every cop for 100 miles is patrolling Pete Rose Way along the Ohio River. A crowd of 20,000 or more stands in punishing heat, waiting to enter U.S. Bank Arena. The evil rumor buzzing down the line of MAGA hats is that not everyone will get in to see Donald Trump.
“Can we just get in for a minute?” complains a boy of about 10 to his mother. There are a lot of kids here.
Donald Trump doesn’t visit Middle America. He descends upon it. His rallies are awesome spectacles. Gawkers come down from the hills. If NASA traveled the country holding showings of the first captured alien life-form, the turnout would be similar. The pope driving monster trucks might get this much attention.
5/ Seth Meyers takes "A Closer Look" at Trump's deranged conspiracy theories.....Trump has been doing this a long time....
A very good seven minutes...
6/ Michelle Goldberg in the Times with an excellent column, detailing the long term damage Trump has
done to our foreign policy and credibility.....depressing....
Earlier this week, Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States, Asad Majeed Khan, visited The New York Times editorial board, and I asked him about the threat of armed conflict between his country and India over Kashmir. India and Pakistan have already fought two wars over the Himalayan territory, which both countries claim, and which is mostly divided between them. India recently revoked the constitutionally guaranteed autonomy of the part of Kashmir it controls and put nearly seven million people there under virtual house arrest. Pakistan’s prime minister compared India’s leaders to Nazis and warned that they’ll target Pakistan next. It seems like there’s potential for humanitarian and geopolitical horror.
7/ Simone Biles with an incredible triple-double on the floor exercise.....what I love
is that she seems to be having a great time doing these ground-breaking things!
Two amazing minutes...
8/ Paul Krugman on Trumponomics.....sad....
Last year, after an earlier stock market swoon brought on by headlines about the U.S.-China trade conflict, I laid out three rulesfor thinking about such events. First, the stock market is not the economy. Second, the stock market is not the economy. Third, the stock market is not the economy.
But maybe I should add a fourth rule: The bond market sorta kinda is the economy.
An old economists’ joke says that the stock market predicted nine
of the last five recessions.
9/ Trevor Noah mocks Fox News hosts who take "vacations" when things get a little controversial.....a decent five minutes....
10/ Trump magazine covers over the years.....amusing and disgusting....
11/ This is a judge in Rhode Island dealing with a 96 year old man who got a speeding ticket......
two heartening minutes in a world full of BS.....nice...
12/ A very good Trevor Noah with an amazing story - Trump is trying to deport
Melania.....most amusing, six minutes....
13/ Interesting story on 5 shows Netflix shouldn't have cancelled this year....
Netflix keeps making me angry.
The company has canceled a Netflix Original show that I love seemingly every month of 2019. It stings every time, but it hurts even more when the shows earned massive critical acclaim and seemed like surefire candidates for renewal. I never would have guessed Netflix would cancel “Tuca & Bertie” ― a show I consider one of the very best shows of the year ― and so the shock of the cancellation hit hard.
Todays Chinese joke
While on a vacation in China, a man is very sexually promiscuous and does not use a condom all the time he is there.
A week after arriving back home in Sydney, he wakes one morning to find his penis covered with
bright green and purple spots.
A week after arriving back home in Sydney, he wakes one morning to find his penis covered with
bright green and purple spots.
Horrified, he immediately goes to see a doctor. The doctor, never having seen anything like this before,
orders some tests and tells the man to return in two days for the results.
orders some tests and tells the man to return in two days for the results.
The man returns a couple of days later and the doctor says, "I've got bad news for you, you've contracted
Mongolian VD. It's very rare and almost unheard of here, we know very little about it."
Mongolian VD. It's very rare and almost unheard of here, we know very little about it."
The man looks a little perplexed and says, "Well, give me a shot or something and fix me up, Doc."
The doctor answers, "I'm sorry, there's no known cure. We're going to have to amputate your penis"
The man screams in horror, "Absolutely not! I want a second opinion!!!"
The doctor replies, "Well, it's your choice. Go ahead, if you want, but surgery is your only option."
The next day, the man seeks out a Chinese doctor, figuring that he'll know more about the disease.
The Chinese doctor examines his penis and proclaims, "Ah, yes, Mongolian VD. Vewy ware disease."
The guy says to the doctor, "Yeah, yeah, I already know that but what can we do?
My doctor wants to cut off my penis!"
My doctor wants to cut off my penis!"
The Chinese doctor shakes his head and laughs. "Stupid Australian docttah, always want opawate.
Make more money dat way. No need amputate!"
Make more money dat way. No need amputate!"
"Oh, thank God!" the man exclaims.
"Yes,"says the Chinese doctor, "Wait two week. Fawl off by itself.
Todays pilot jokes....
Tower: "Delta 351, you have traffic at 10 o'clock, 6 miles!"
Delta 351: "Give us another hint! We have digital watches!"
A Cessna inbound at the reporting point over Manly Beach.
Tower (Female voice): "Cessna WYXD, congestion at airport approach. I’m going to have to hold you over the Manly area."
Cessna WYXD: "I love it when you talk dirty to me."
Tower (Female voice): "Cessna WYXD, congestion at airport approach. I’m going to have to hold you over the Manly area."
Cessna WYXD: "I love it when you talk dirty to me."
Tower: "TWA 2341, for noise abatement turn right 45 Degrees."
TWA 2341: "Center, we are at 35,000 feet... How much noise can we make up here?"
Tower: “Sir, have you ever heard the noise a 747 makes when it hits a 727?"
From an unknown aircraft waiting in a very long takeoff queue: "I'm f...ing bored!"
Ground Traffic Control: “Last aircraft transmitting, identify yourself immediately!"
Unknown aircraft: "I said I was f...ing bored, not f...ing stupid!"
O'Hare Approach Control to a 747: "United 329 heavy, your traffic is a Fokker, one o'clock, three miles, Eastbound."
United 329: "Approach, I've always wanted to say this...I've got the little Fokker in sight."
A student became lost during a solo cross-country flight. While attempting to locate the aircraft on radar, ATC asked, "What was your last known position?"
Student: "When I was number one for takeoff."
Student: "When I was number one for takeoff."
A DC-10 had come in a little hot and thus had an exceedingly long roll out after touching down.
San Jose Tower Noted: "American 751, make a hard right turn at the end of the runway, if you are able.. If you are not able, take the Guadalupe exit off Highway 101, make a right at the lights and return to the airport."
San Jose Tower Noted: "American 751, make a hard right turn at the end of the runway, if you are able.. If you are not able, take the Guadalupe exit off Highway 101, make a right at the lights and return to the airport."
Tower: "Eastern 702, cleared for takeoff, contact Departure on frequency 124..7"
Eastern 702: "Tower, Eastern 702 switching to Departure. By the way, after we lifted off we saw some kind of dead animal on the far end of the runway.”
Eastern 702: "Tower, Eastern 702 switching to Departure. By the way, after we lifted off we saw some kind of dead animal on the far end of the runway.”
Tower: "Continental 635, cleared for takeoff behind Eastern 702, contact Departure on frequency 124.7. Did you copy that report from Eastern 702?"
Continental 635: "Continental 635, cleared for takeoff, roger; and yes, we copied Eastern. We've already notified our caterers."
Continental 635: "Continental 635, cleared for takeoff, roger; and yes, we copied Eastern. We've already notified our caterers."
One day the pilot of a Cherokee 180 was told by the tower to hold short of the active runway while a DC-8 landed. The DC-8 landed, rolled out, turned around, and taxied back past the Cherokee. Some quick-witted comedian in the DC-8 crew got on the radio and said, "What a cute little plane. Did you make it all by yourself?”
The Cherokee pilot, not about to let the insult go by, came back with a real zinger: "I made it out of DC-8 parts. Another landing like yours and I'll have enough parts for another one."
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