1/ Frank Rich on the madness in the White House....
Expect more of this. Photo: Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post/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, what to make of Trump’s increasingly erratic behavior, Joe Biden’s gaffes, and a conservative resistance in the U.K.
Some Washington reporters have begun to observe that, in the face of lagging economic indicators, North Korean progress on missile tests, GOP retirements in Congress, and other setbacks, Donald Trump’s ever-more-erratic outbursts over the past month are a sign that he feels his presidency is in danger in the run-up to 2020. Are they right?
America’s First Baby is certainly acting like someone put him in the corner. To call Trump erratic right now is a compliment. He makes Roseanne Barr look like Theresa May.
2/ John Oliver with a one minute montage of Fox's Stuart Varney gushing over Trump....will make you want to puke....
3/ Bill McKibben on climate change - "Winning Slowly Is The Same As Losing".....the always optimistic McKibben
is losing faith we humans are capable of limiting the damage from climate change....
If we don’t win very quickly on climate change, then we will never win. That’s the core truth about global warming. It’s what makes it different from every other problem our political systems have faced. I wrote the first book for a general audience about climate change in 1989 — back when one had to search for examples to help people understand what the “greenhouse effect” would feel like. We knew it was coming, but not how fast or how hard. And because no one wanted to overestimate — because scientists by their nature are conservative — each of the changes we’ve observed has taken us somewhat by surprise. The surreal keeps becoming the commonplace: For instance, after Hurricane Harvey set a record for American rainstorms, and Hurricane Irma set a record for sustained wind speeds, and Hurricane Maria knocked Puerto Rico back a quarter-century, something even weirder happened. Hurricane Ophelia formed much farther to the east than any hurricane on record, and proceeded to blow past Southern Europe (whipping up winds that fanned record forest fires in Portugal) before crashing into Ireland.
4/ Part of the catastrophe in the Bahamas you didn't know about....oil tanks with the roofs ripped off....2 minutes...
5/ Bill Maher on eating healthier, fat shaming and obesity....it's a "New Rules" segment but is actually comedic reporting....six most interesting minutes...
Note the leftie Twitterverse is enraged at Maher for this....
6/ The Dick Cheney-like evil genius behind Brexit - Dominic Cummings....
Really insightful and explains a lot of the political chaos in the UK...
LONDON — One of the rare occasions on which I’ve encountered Dominic Cummings, who may be the most important man in Britain right now, was at a private political dinner in 2016, just after the plan to hold a referendum on Britain’s membership in the European Union had been announced. Mr. Cummings, who a few years earlier had been a political adviser at the education ministry, had been invited to outline the argument that the Brexiteers would be making; a counterpart from the fledgling Remain campaign was there to present his.
7/ Yup...every one...
8/ This story is excellent, and explains the loonies behavior very well....he is a reality Tv star.....
On Sept. 1, with a Category 5 hurricane off the Atlantic coast, an angry wind was issuing from the direction of President Trump’s Twitter account. The apparent emergency: Debra Messing, the co-star of “Will & Grace,” had tweeted that “the public has a right to know” who is attending a Beverly Hills fund-raiser for Mr. Trump’s re-election.
“I have not forgotten that when it was announced that I was going to do The Apprentice, and when it then became a big hit, Helping NBC’s failed lineup greatly, @DebraMessing came up to me at an Upfront & profusely thanked me, even calling me ‘Sir,’ ” wrote the 45th president of the United States.
It was a classic Trumpian rage tweet
9/ Jimmy Kimmel thinks Mike Pence is an alien....it's pretty persuasive...3 painfully funny minutes....
10/ Andrew Sullivan on how Boris could eventually triumph and get a disastrous hard Brexit....
Blindness or vision? Photo: Danny Lawson/AFP/Getty Images
“Floppy Johnson Can’t Get an Election” was the rather genius front pageheadline of the right-wing Sun in Scotland yesterday. And yes, it did appear that Britain’s new prime minister, Boris Johnson, just proved one of Machiavelli’s points: that being seen as devious is the opposite of actually being devious.
11/ John Oliver on one of his excellent comedic reporting segments, this time on the Filibuster in the Senate....19 minutes....
12/ Matt Taibbi on how the Pentagon wants to regulate the news.....what could possibly go wrong?
If there’s a worse idea than the Pentagon becoming Editor-in-Chief of America, I can’t remember it. But we’re getting there:
From Bloomberg over Labor Day weekend: Fake news and social media posts are such a threat to U.S. security that the Defense Department is launching a project to repel “large-scale, automated disinformation attacks,” as the top Republican in Congress blocks efforts to protect the integrity of elections.
One of the Pentagon’s most secretive agencies, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), is developing “custom software that can unearth fakes hidden among more than 500,000 stories, photos, video and audio clips.”
13/ A strange but also quite amusing music video....
Weezer with "Pork and Beans"....
14/ Excellent story from The Atlantic on our political Supreme Court......
The Supreme Court as we once knew it—as a national institution that could at least sometimes stand apart from partisanship—died last year. The ongoing fight over its corpse spilled into public view last week.
On Thursday, 53 United States senators—every member of the Republican caucus—wrote a “letter” to the clerk of the Supreme Court assuring the justices that the Republican Party has their back. The Democrats, the senators told the Court, pose “a direct, immediate threat to the independence of the judiciary.”
The spat is about guns.
15/ The Alabama hurricane!
16/ The best fall TV from New York Magazine.....
The twin forces of Peak TV and the streaming era ensure that a massive TV event is always looming, no matter what month it is. Yet the allure of the traditional fall TV season remains strong, with broadcast networks saving their (potentially) best and brightest for an autumn bow, and streaming purveyors rising to the occasion with their own high-profile shows … or their own high-profile programming slates, as this year sees the addition of two major players to the streaming game.
Todays blond joke
A blonde made several attempts to sell her old car. She was having a lot of problems finding a buyer because the car had 340,000 miles on it. She discussed her problem with a brunette that she worked with at a bar.
The brunette suggested, "There may be a chance to sell that car easier, but it's not going to be legal."
"That doesn't matter at all," replied the blonde. "All that matters it that I am able to sell this car."
"Alright," replied the brunette. In a quiet voice, she told the blonde: "Here is the address of a friend of mine. He owns a car repair shop around here. Tell him I sent you, and he will turn the counter back on your car to 40,000 miles. Then it shouldn't be a problem to sell your car."
The following weekend, the blonde took a trip to the mechanic on the brunette's advice.
About one month after that, the brunette saw the blonde and asked, "Did you sell your car?"
"No!" replied the blonde. "Why should I? It only has 40,000 miles on it."
The brunette suggested, "There may be a chance to sell that car easier, but it's not going to be legal."
"That doesn't matter at all," replied the blonde. "All that matters it that I am able to sell this car."
"Alright," replied the brunette. In a quiet voice, she told the blonde: "Here is the address of a friend of mine. He owns a car repair shop around here. Tell him I sent you, and he will turn the counter back on your car to 40,000 miles. Then it shouldn't be a problem to sell your car."
The following weekend, the blonde took a trip to the mechanic on the brunette's advice.
About one month after that, the brunette saw the blonde and asked, "Did you sell your car?"
"No!" replied the blonde. "Why should I? It only has 40,000 miles on it."
Todays bar joke
I couldn't help but over-hear two guys in their mid-twenties while sitting at a bar.
One of the guys says to his buddy, "Man you look tired."
His buddy says, "Dude I'm exhausted. My girlfriend and I have sex all the time. I just don't know what to do."
A fellow about my age (65), sitting a couple of stools down had also overheard the conversation. He looked over at the two young men and with the wisdom of years says,
"Marry her. That'll put a stop to that shit"
Todays old dude joke
An 86-year-old man went to his doctor
for his quarterly check-up...
The doctor asked him how he was feeling, and the
86-year-old said ,'Things are great
and I've never felt better.'
I now have a 20 year-old bride
who is pregnant with my child.
"So what do you think about that Doc ?"
The doctor considered his question for a minute
and then began to tell a story.
"I have an older friend , much like you, who is an avid hunter and never misses a season."
One day he was setting off to go hunting.
In a bit of a hurry , he accidentally picked up his
walking cane instead of his gun."
"As he neared a lake , he came across a very large male beaver sitting at the water's edge..
He realized he'd left his gun at home and so he couldn't shoot the magnificent creature.
Out of habit he raised his cane , aimed it at the animal as if
it were his favorite hunting rifle and went 'bang, bang'."
"Miraculously , two shots rang out and the
beaver fell over dead.
Now, what do you think of that ?" asked the doctor.
The 86-year-old said ,
"Logic would strongly suggest that somebody else
pumped a couple of rounds into that beaver."
The doctor replied , "My point exactly."
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