1/ Andrew Sullivan with three provocative pieces.....his last one shreds the Democrats running for President, but it's also most interesting....
Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
So much has happened in the time since I last wrote in this space. And yet so very little. Things are proceeding very, very quickly in these fetid times. And yet, beneath the surface, they are also going very, very slowly.
Let’s start with Britain (I’ll get to the U.S. in my next item). In the U.K., we now have a second Brexit deal negotiated with the E.U., which, unlike the previous one by Theresa May that lost by 230 votes, actually won a preliminary 30-vote majority when the House of Commons took a first look at it this week. (The majority included 19 votes from Labour MPs in Leave districts, mainly in the industrial north.) Woohoo! A breakthrough, surely.
2/ You can't reason with "the Base".....which basically includes anyone who watches Fox News....
A new survey of the country’s cultural and political landscape found that support for impeaching and removing President Trump from office is rising among most Americans, but that Republicans remain almost unanimously opposed, leaving Mr. Trump with a loyal but shrinking core of supporters.
The findings, released on Monday by the Public Religion Research Institute, a nonpartisan nonprofit based in Washington, also pointed to striking divisions among Republicans themselves, with white evangelical Christians and those who regularly get their information from Fox News forming a distinct and exceedingly devoted base of support for the president — many of whom say that there is virtually nothing he could do to make them lose faith in him.
Ninety-nine percent of white evangelicals and 98 percent of Republicans who rely on Fox News as their primary news source do not believe Mr. Trump should be impeached and removed
3/ Especially the "Floriduh" base....
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A few weeks ago, I sat on a park bench, watching my 11-year-old twins pass a soccer ball and push their friends on a tire swing. I turned to the mother of my daughters’ classmate to talk about the second whistle-blower coming forward about President Trump’s dealings with Ukraine.
“Oh, I don’t care about that,” she said. “I’m just glad he’s standing his ground during this witch hunt.”
I’ve been in this state for almost a decade, yet its politics still surprise me. Fox News tag lines come out of real people’s mouths
4/ Strange but quite amusing SNL sketch - "Barbie".....four minutes....
5/ This Brit nails the orange madman....excellent writing....
Someone on Quora asked “Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?” Nate White, an articulate and witty writer from England wrote the following response:
A few things spring to mind.
Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem.
For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace – all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed.
So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump’s limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief.
6/ Taylor Swift on SNL with "False God".....wonderful jazzy song....
7/ Umair really writes some depressing articles, and I read them and think "he's OTT again", but this one is especially disturbing as he
lays out how our society is going to collapse, and why. He doesn't have a timeline but I'll bet it's faster than we think.....
Here’s a tiny question. Does it feel a little bit like the end of the world these days? Go ahead and be honest. No one else is listening in. In your darker moments — do you wonder if, well, in some elemental sense, the world around us seems to be ending? Doesn’t something deep down in your gut whisper that to you? Mine does.
8/ Bill Maher with "New Rules"...."Prickstarter", about Trump of course...seven funny minutes....
9/ Remember Sandra Bland? The cop who shot her says he was afraid for his safety, but this 40 second video filmed by the victim
shows the cop knows she has a phone in her hand.
Here's the story....AUSTIN, Tex. — As Trooper Brian Encinia angrily threatened her with a stun gun from just outside her car window, Sandra Bland recorded the encounter on her cellphone, shown in a newly-released, 39-second video that has prompted Ms. Bland’s family to call for a renewed investigation into her arrest and death nearly four years ago.
Ms. Bland, a 28-year-old African-American from the Chicago area, was taken into custody in southeast Texas following the confrontational 2015 traffic stop and was found hanging in a jail cell three days later in what was officially ruled a suicide.
10/ Every show Bill Maher does a sit down interview with a celebrity/politician, and this one with Howard Stern is one of the best
Maher has ever done.....it's 17 minutes, but just wonderful how Stern almost takes over the interview. Mary and I loved this!
11/ Found this in the comments section of a story about Russia and our elections.....most interesting, and think about the Base....
Capitol building
34 years ago, a KGB defector chillingly predicted modern America
A disturbing interview given by a KGB defector in 1984 describes America of today and outlines four stages of mass brainwashing used by the KGB.
PAUL RATNER
18 July, 2018
Bezmenov described this process as "a great brainwashing" which has four basic stages.
The first stage is called "demoralization" which takes from 15 to 20 years to achieve.
According to the former KGB agent, that is the minimum number of years it takes to re-educate one generation of students that is normally exposed to the ideology of its country.
For anyone who is still wondering, the Mueller Report makes it clear that Russian operatives played a role in the American elections of 2016 that resulted in the Presidency of Donald Trump. The true impact of that role is certainly open to debate. Since then, Trump has on occasion been quite nice to the Russian President Putin, occasionally seen as capitulating on important matters. Whether you believe Putin really has some kind of compromising material to make Trump do his bidding or if Trump is simply being nice to people who partially helped get him elected, or if you somehow believe, despite ample evidence to the contrary, that all this is much ado about nothing, the fact is President Putin is a very experienced former KGB officer.
34 years ago, a KGB defector chillingly predicted modern America
A disturbing interview given by a KGB defector in 1984 describes America of today and outlines four stages of mass brainwashing used by the KGB.
PAUL RATNER
18 July, 2018
Bezmenov described this process as "a great brainwashing" which has four basic stages.
The first stage is called "demoralization" which takes from 15 to 20 years to achieve.
According to the former KGB agent, that is the minimum number of years it takes to re-educate one generation of students that is normally exposed to the ideology of its country.
For anyone who is still wondering, the Mueller Report makes it clear that Russian operatives played a role in the American elections of 2016 that resulted in the Presidency of Donald Trump. The true impact of that role is certainly open to debate. Since then, Trump has on occasion been quite nice to the Russian President Putin, occasionally seen as capitulating on important matters. Whether you believe Putin really has some kind of compromising material to make Trump do his bidding or if Trump is simply being nice to people who partially helped get him elected, or if you somehow believe, despite ample evidence to the contrary, that all this is much ado about nothing, the fact is President Putin is a very experienced former KGB officer.
He has both the know-how and the intelligence to carry out very far-sighted and ingenious operations. We don't know his endgame and neither do we know how much of his KGB training he still employs, but in light of current events, there may be a way for us to get a deeper understanding by studying the words of Yuri Alexandrovich Bezmenov, a former KGB agent who defected to Canada in 1970.
In 1984, Bezmenov gave an interview to G. Edward Griffin from which much can be learned today. His most chilling point was that there's a long-term plan put in play by Russia to defeat America through psychological warfare and "demoralization". It's a long game that takes decades to achieve but it may already be bearing fruit.
Bezmenov made the point that the work of the KGB mainly does not involve espionage, despite what our popular culture may tell us. Most of the work, 85% of it, was "a slow process which we call either ideological subversion, active measures, or psychological warfare."
What does that mean? Bezmenov explained that the most striking thing about ideological subversion is that it happens in the open as a legitimate process. "You can see it with your own eyes," he said. The American media would be able to see it, if it just focused on it.
Here's how he further defined ideological subversion:
"What it basically means is: to change the perception of reality of every American to such an extent that despite of the abundance of information no one is able to come to sensible conclusions in the interest of defending themselves, their families, their community, and their country."
Bezmenov described this process as "a great brainwashing" which has four basic stages. The first stage is called "demoralization" which takes from 15 to 20 years to achieve. According to the former KGB agent, that is the minimum number of years it takes to re-educate one generation of students that is normally exposed to the ideology of its country. In other words, the time it takes to change what the people are thinking.
He used the examples of 1960s hippies coming to positions of power in the '80s in the government and businesses of America. Bezmenov claimed this generation was already "contaminated" by Marxist-Leninist values. Of course, this claim that many baby boomers are somehow espousing KGB-tainted ideas is hard to believe but Bezmenov's larger point addressed why people who have been gradually "demoralized" are unable to understand that this has happened to them.
Referring to such people, Bezmenov said:
"They are programmed to think and react to certain stimuli in a certain pattern [alluding to Pavlov]. You can not change their mind even if you expose them to authentic information. Even if you prove that white is white and black is black, you still can not change the basic perception and the logic of behavior."
Demoralization is a process that is "irreversible". Bezmenov actually thought (back in 1984) that the process of demoralizing America was already completed. It would take another generation and another couple of decades to get the people to think differently and return to their patriotic American values, claimed the agent.
In what is perhaps a most striking passage in the interview, here's how Bezmenov described the state of a "demoralized" person:
"As I mentioned before, exposure to true information does not matter anymore," said Bezmenov. "A person who was demoralized is unable to assess true information. The facts tell nothing to him. Even if I shower him with information, with authentic proof, with documents, with pictures; even if I take him by force to the Soviet Union and show him [a] concentration camp, he will refuse to believe it, until he [receives] a kick in his fan-bottom. When a military boot crashes his balls then he will understand. But not before that. That's the [tragedy] of the situation of demoralization."
Todays oldies jokes
Getting Older
A mechanic was removing a cylinder head from the motor of a Harley motorcycle when he spotted a well-known heart surgeon in his shop.
The surgeon was there, waiting for the service manager to come and take a look at his bike.
The mechanic shouted across the garage, "Hey, Doc, can I ask you a question?"
The surgeon a bit surprised, walked over to the mechanic working on the motorcycle. The mechanic straightened up, wiped his hands on a rag and asked, "So Doc, look at this engine. I open its heart, take the valves out, fix 'em, put 'em back in, and when I finish, it works just like new. So how come I get such a small salary and you get the really big bucks, when you and I are doing basically the same work?"
The surgeon paused, smiled and leaned over, and whispered to the mechanic... "Try doing it with the engine running."
******************************
GETTING OLDER? ME TOO.
A distraught senior citizen phoned her doctor's office.
"Is it true," she wanted to know, "that the medication you prescribed has to be taken for the rest of my life?"
"'Yes, I'm afraid so,"' the doctor told her.
There was a moment of silence before the senior lady replied, "I'm wondering, then, just how serious is my condition because this prescription is marked
'NO REFILLS'."
**********************
An older gentleman was on the operating table awaiting surgery and he insisted that his son, a renowned surgeon, perform the operation.
As he was about to get the anesthesia, he asked to speak to his son.
"Yes, Dad, what is it?" "Don't be nervous, son; do your best, and just remember, if it doesn't go well, if something happens to me, your mother
is going to come and live with you and your wife...."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Eventually you will reach a point when you stop lying about your age and start bragging about it.
------------------------------
The older we get, the fewer things seem worth waiting in line for.
------------------------------
Some people try to turn back their odometers.
Not me!
I want people to know why I look this way.
I've traveled a long way and some of the roads weren't paved.
********************
When you are dissatisfied and would like to go back to youth, think of Algebra.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You know you are getting old when everything either dries up or leaks.
------------------------------
One of the many things no one tells you about aging is that it is such a nice change from being young.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Ah, being young is beautiful, but being old is comfortable.
*********
First you forget names, then you forget faces.
Then you forget to pull up your zipper....
it's worse when you forget to pull it down.
````````````````
Todays relationships joke
How men and women record things in their diaries.
Wife's Diary:
Tonight, I thought my husband was acting weird. We had made plans to meet at a nice restaurant for dinner.
I was shopping with my friends all day long, so I thought he was upset at the fact that I was a bit late, but he made no comment on it.
Conversation wasn't flowing, so I suggested that we go somewhere quiet so we could talk. He agreed, but he didn't say much.
I asked him what was wrong; He said, 'Nothing.
I asked him if it was my fault that he was upset.
He said he wasn't upset, that it had nothing to do with me, and not to worry about it.
Wife's Diary:
Tonight, I thought my husband was acting weird. We had made plans to meet at a nice restaurant for dinner.
I was shopping with my friends all day long, so I thought he was upset at the fact that I was a bit late, but he made no comment on it.
Conversation wasn't flowing, so I suggested that we go somewhere quiet so we could talk. He agreed, but he didn't say much.
I asked him what was wrong; He said, 'Nothing.
I asked him if it was my fault that he was upset.
He said he wasn't upset, that it had nothing to do with me, and not to worry about it.
On the way home, I told him that I loved him.
He smiled slightly, and kept driving. I can't explain his behavior. I don't know why he didn't say, 'I love you, too.'
When we got home, I felt as if I had lost him completely, as if he wanted nothing to do with me anymore. He just sat there quietly, and watched TV. He continued to seem distant and absent.
Finally, with silence all around us, I decided to go to bed. About 15 minutes later, he came to bed. But I still felt that he was distracted, and his thoughts were somewhere else. He fell asleep; I cried. I don't know what to do. I'm almost sure that his thoughts are with someone else. My life is a disaster.
Husband's Diary:
He smiled slightly, and kept driving. I can't explain his behavior. I don't know why he didn't say, 'I love you, too.'
When we got home, I felt as if I had lost him completely, as if he wanted nothing to do with me anymore. He just sat there quietly, and watched TV. He continued to seem distant and absent.
Finally, with silence all around us, I decided to go to bed. About 15 minutes later, he came to bed. But I still felt that he was distracted, and his thoughts were somewhere else. He fell asleep; I cried. I don't know what to do. I'm almost sure that his thoughts are with someone else. My life is a disaster.
Husband's Diary:
A two-foot putt ... who the hell misses a two-foot putt ?
Todays golfer joke
Sal Wallerstein was at the country club for his weekly round of golf. He began his round with an eagle on the first hole and a birdie on the second.
On the third hole he had just scored his first ever hole-in-one when his cell phone rang... It was a doctor notifying him that his wife had just been in a accident and was in critical condition and in ICU.
The man told the doctor to inform his wife where he was and that he'd be there as soon as possible. As he hung up he realized he was leaving what was shaping up to be his best ever round of golf.
He decided to get in a couple of more holes before heading to the hospital. He ended up playing all eighteen, finishing his round shooting a personal best 61, shattering the club record by five strokes and beating his previous best game by more than 10. He was jubilant....
Then he remembered his wife. Feeling guilty he dashed to the hospital. He saw the doctor in the corridor and asked about his wife's condition.
