1/ Andrew Sullivan on Trump and Boris......a very interesting commentary....
Photo: Erin Schaff/AFP/Getty Images
The year 2016 was a watershed in Anglo-American politics. Brexit narrowly passed; Trump, while losing the popular vote, still legitimately won the U.S. presidency. Both countries were deeply and rather evenly divided over both epochal events, and the bitterness and polarization has only deepened since.
But how epochal have they actually been?
http://nymag.com/
2/ The SNL cold open with Alec Baldwin as you know who.....five amusing minutes.....
3/ The excellent Frank Rich on what the impeachment process actually means......a good column.....
Photo: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via 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 strategy behind the impeachment proceedings, the widening circle of the Ukraine cover-up, and how the media might aid in Trump’s defense.
The Democrats’ impeachment strategy seems to be shaping up to focus on Donald Trump’s interactions with Ukraine only, leaving aside any other potentially impeachable conduct, including the findings of the Mueller report. Is this the right way forward?
Two principles apply here: (1) When a runaway boulder is heading toward you, get out of its path. (2) When Nancy Pelosi commits herself fully to a strategy, ditto.
4/ If you haven't seen Greta Thunberg's response to the climate question at the conference, here it is - five minutes of passion and quiet outrage. She makes more sense at 16 than any politician...
5/ Watch this one minute clip of a handover from Hannity to Laura Ingraham.....you can almost see the frost coming off the screen....what a prick Hannity is....
6/ This story is counter-intuitive....Trump has more small donors than Democrats.....huh? Read this, and then note a story I saw today that the Wall Street boys who support Dems are threatening to give to Trump if Elizabeth Warren gets toe nomination....
Money is the mother’s milk of politics, as the old saying goes, and the slow motion realignment of our two major political parties has changed who raises more money from the rich and who raises more from small donors.
A pair of major developments give us a hint about how future trends will develop on the partisan battleground.
First: Heading into the 2020 election, President Trump is on track to far surpass President Barack Obama’s record in collecting small donor contributions — those under $200 — lending weight to his claim of populist legitimacy.
Second: Democratic candidates and their party committees are making inroads in gathering contributions from the wealthiest of the wealthy, the Forbes 400, a once solid Republican constituency. Democrats are also pulling ahead in contributions from highly educated professionals — doctors, lawyers, tech executives, software engineers, architects, scientists, teachers and so on.
7/ Bill Maher's monologue....six amusing minutes....he's happy about impeachment....
8/ What happens when most of Europe puts in air conditioning? It won't be good....
When Alison Fullerton and her husband Jay lived in Europe for three years, it was gripped by a series of summer heatwaves. The couple ― who have since moved back to Tennessee ― bought a cute, portable air conditioner they called R2D2 because their house in Stuttgart, Germany, had no air conditioning.
“There was just an attitude that we all have to do our part to take care of mother earth,’’ Alison Fullerton said. “If we complained, they’d say, ‘It’s not bad. It’s only a couple weeks of the year.’ Americans want everything to be easy.”Much of Europe, especially northern Europe, is notorious for its lack of air conditioning — notorious, at least, among the occasional Americans who book a trip during a summer heatwave and come to regret it.
9/ SNL apple picking skit, with Kate McKinnon and Aidy Bryant.....Woody Harrelson too....four minutes....
But this sketch truly belongs to Bryant and McKinnon, who have all-time SNL chemistry together. For many seasons, the show paired Bryant with Cecily Strong, and while both are individually excellent, the Bryant/McKinnon pairing just works much better. There’s a comfort and a camaraderie that extends past the material. The delight they take in one another casts a warm glow over whatever they do, even if what they are doing is showing gourds that came out “extra penis” this year.
10/ I like this guy Umair, he really makes you think. Read this and see if you disagree....
11/ David Wallace-Wells looks at the phenomenon this is Greta Thunberg....and it gives him some hope....
When Greta Thunberg stepped onboard the Malizia II— a 60-foot racing yacht owned by the royal family of Monaco — it had been less than a year since she first walked out of school as an unknown, awkward, nearly friendless 15-year-old making a lonely protest outside the Swedish Parliament against her country’s absolute indifference to the climate crisis, which she saw in uncannily black-and-white terms. She painted her now-iconic sign in those colors, which she carried across the Atlantic on the two-week carbon-free journey she documented periodically on social media. Black capital letters on white: SKOLSTREJK FÖR KLIMATET (or “School Strike for Climate”).
By the time she stepped off the yacht in New York on August 28, two weeks after she’d set sail from Plymouth, England, wobbly legged from the weeks at sea as she walked to address a crowd of many hundreds, she had become something even more unusual than an adolescent protester or even a generational icon. She was the Joan of Arc of climate change, commanding a global army of teenage activists numbering in the millions and waging a rhetorical war against her elders through the unapologetic use of generational shame.
12/ Bill Maher's "New Rules".....Catch 23...
13/ A Rolling Stone reporter goes to the Amazon forest in Brazil, and finds out why and how the land is being burned and cleared......a global disaster, caused by criminals.....
I’m on a highway called BR-163, a rutted road from hell that has been in some state of construction since Brazil was ruled by a military dictatorship 40 years ago. I’m deep in the northern state of Pará — 1,500 miles from the Atlantic coast, and a three-day drive to Rio de Janeiro. For the past two hours we’ve been navigating potholes the size of moon craters and swerving around a caravan of tractor-trailers. Winding south through the Xingu basin, BR-163 starts in Santarém, a muggy port city on an Amazon tributary, and ends 1,000 miles south, in Brazil’s breadbasket, the state of Mato Grosso. Literally translated as “thick jungle,” Mato Grosso is where Colonel Fawcett disappeared looking for the Lost City of Z. Now almost entirely denuded, a lot of it looks like Kansas.
14/ Holy shit! A back to school ad like you've never seen before....one horrifying minute....
15/ A really good article about the Asheville food scene....it's better because although the places they mention are wonderful, it's the more affordable restaurants that are much, much better than usual....
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — If you were wagering on two of the most unlikely words to be paired in the English language, “Appalachian” and “bagel” would be a pretty good bet. And yet, that is exactly what you find at Button & Co. Bagels here in Asheville.
The chef Katie Button, a native of New Jersey who made her name cooking Spanish food at her nearby restaurant Cúrate, makes the dough with locally milled, soft wheat flour — bolstered, because it must be, by higher-gluten stuff from the North — and sorghum syrup. The rings are hand-shaped, then boiled in water laced with more sorghum to give them a shiny, chewy crust.
16/ Worth another look - Katy Perry and Jodi DiPiazza sing a duet for Autism.....tune in about halfway.....sniffle....
17/ Possible good TV on Netflix....."Mind hunter".....well good if you like serial killers....
Netflix’s serial killer drama “Mindhunter” has become the streaming giant’s new must-binge series. Executive produced and co-directed by David Fincher, the show is inspired by the stories of real criminal profilers John E. Douglas and Robert K. Ressler, who headed the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit and interviewed dozens of America’s most infamous serial killers throughout their careers.
Todays golf joke
This guy brings his best golf buddy home, unannounced, for dinner at 6:30 after golf. His wife screams her head off while his friend sits open mouthed and listens to the tirade.
"My bloody hair and makeup are not done, the house is a f****** mess, the dishes aren't done. Can't you see I'm still in my f****** pyjamas and I can't be bothered with cooking tonight! Why the f*** did you bring him home unannounced you stupid idiot?"
"My bloody hair and makeup are not done, the house is a f****** mess, the dishes aren't done. Can't you see I'm still in my f****** pyjamas and I can't be bothered with cooking tonight! Why the f*** did you bring him home unannounced you stupid idiot?"
"Because he's thinking of getting married."
Todays Mensa joke
Several of the Mensa members went out for lunch at a local cafe.When they sat down, one of them discovered that their salt shaker contained pepper, and their pepper shaker was full of salt.How could they swap the contents of the two bottles without spilling any, and using only the implements at hand?Clearly -- this was a job for Mensa minds.
The group debated the problem and presented ideas and finally, came up with a brilliant solution involving a napkin, a straw, and an empty saucer.They called the waitress over, ready to dazzle her with their solution."Ma'am," they said," we couldn't help but notice that the pepper shaker contains salt and the salt shaker contains pepper."
But before they could finish .......... the waitress interrupted. "Oh -- sorry about that." She leaned over the table, unscrewed the caps of both bottles and switched them.
There was dead silence at the Mensa table.
Todays Jewish joke
A Catholic, a Protestant, a Muslim, and a Jew were in a discussion during dinner.
Catholic: "I have a large fortune....I am going to buy Citibank!"
Protestant: "I am very wealthy and will buy General Motors!"
Muslim: "I am a fabulously rich prince.... I intend to purchase Microsoft!"
They then all wait for the Jew to speak....
The Jew stirs his coffee, places the spoon neatly on the table, takes a sip of his coffee, looks at them and casually says: "I'm not selling."
A bonus joke - the Apple Watch
A Navy pilot walks into a bar and takes a seat next to a very attractive woman.
He gives her a quick glance then casually looks at his new Apple watch for a moment.
The woman notices this and asks, "Is your date running late?"
No,” he replies, “I just got this state-of-the-art Apple watch, and I was just testing it.”
The intrigued woman says, “A state-of-the-art watch? What’s so special about it?”
The pilot says, “It uses alpha waves to talk to me telepathically.”
The lady says, “What’s it telling you now?”
Well, it says you're not wearing any panties.”
The woman giggles and replies, “Well it must be broken because I am wearing panties!”
The pilot smirks, taps his watch and says, “Darn thing’s an hour fast.”
