1/. I am convinced just about every problem we have globally is caused by the gross
inequality of our system, and how it's rigged for the rich.
You may have forgotten by now, but there was a brief moment during the pandemic when hopes were raised for a new “roaring 20s”. The Yale sociology professor Nicholas Christakis predicted that as in the 1920s, after the 1918 Spanish flu, society would embrace indulgence, with a rise in “sexual licentiousness” as well as a “reverse of religiosity”. We were poised to emerge from lockdown randy and flush. We certainly weren’t supposed to plunge, as we have in Britain, right into political crises and strikes, have three prime ministers in as many months, and sit at home too skint to turn on the heating or socialise.
2/. Tom Tomorrow and the chaos monster....
3/. Trump's comeback isn't working.....interesting story!
‘The Trump speech the public was another self-inflicted nothingburger – a waste of time and attention, a lost opportunity.’ Photograph: Randall Hill/Reutersnce again, the legal pitfalls and enthusiasm deficit that plague Donald Trump’s bid for the 2024 Republican nomination are on display. On Thursday, a federal judge imposed $938,000 in sanctions on Trump and his lawyers. Meanwhile, an appearance touted by Trump as a major campaign event was nothing more than a closed-door speech to deep-pocketed election-deniers at a Trump property.
4/. And Jimmy Kimmel shows us why Trump is in trouble - very funny segment....
Trump's funeral address at Diamond's memorial service....he's demented!
5/. Madness in Brexit Britain.....how the elites are screwing the whole country.....
Nadhim Zahawi has faced criticism for his tax arrangements. Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty ImagesMon 23 Jan 2023 12.45 EST
“Let me tell you about the very rich,” F Scott Fitzgerald once wrote. “They are different from you and me … Even when they enter deep into our world or sink below us, they still think that they are better than we are.” For that reason they will always be an awkward fit in the world of democratic politics.
The past few days have provided ample reminders of what happens when the very rich take control. The stench emanating from this government reprises John Major’s last days of “sleaze”. But the sums of money back then look paltry compared to the extraordinary finances of the multimillionaires who now fill the Tory benches.
6/ Very funny - George Santos supporters have their say.....
7/. Paul Krugman on how any time a Republican mentions the debt ceiling, just say BS!
Good column.....
In March 2011 Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, chairs of a White House deficit-reduction commission, issued a frightening warningabout U.S. government debt. Unless America took major steps to rein in future deficits, they warned, a fiscal crisis could be expected within around two years.
Bowles described what he thought would happen: Foreigners would stop buying our debt. And then, he asked: “What happens to interest rates? What happens to the U.S. economy? The markets will absolutely devastate us.”
8/. A "Film Noir" from SNL, with Sharon Stone no less.....
Strange but worth your three minutes....
9/. Paul Krugman on the debt limit, and how it's complete BS for the Republicans to hold it hostage....
A few days ago I received an automated text from my bank. For some reason the bank’s algorithm flagged a valid charge on my debit card as potentially questionable; the text asked me to verify the purchase.
In a rational world raising the federal debt limit would be regarded as the equivalent of typing “1” in response to that text — acknowledging a purchase that you have already made.
10/. It's just as you perceive - the MAGA wing of the Republican Party is rural residents.....
Rural America has become the Republican Party’s life preserver.
Less densely settled regions of the country, crucial to the creation of congressional and legislative districts favorable to conservatives, are a pillar of the party’s strength in the House and the Senate and a decisive factor in the rightward tilt of the Electoral College. Republican gains in such sparsely populated areas are compensating for setbacks in increasingly diverse suburbs where growing numbers of well-educated voters have renounced a party led by Donald Trump and his loyalists.
The anger and resentment felt by rural voters toward the Democratic Party are driving a regional realignment similar to the upheaval in the white South after Democrats, led by President Lyndon Johnson, won approval of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
11/. Do you vote by mail in Florida? Did you know your request expires every election, thanks to our Governor Ron's attempt to disenfranchise as many voters as possible.
You must renew every election cycle.....
This below is from Lake County FL - if this isn't your residence, go to your County Supervisor of Elections to renew.....
A Vote-by-Mail ballot (formerly known as an absentee ballot) enables a voter to vote from the comfort of their home. Voting has never been easier!
Any registered voter may request a Vote-by-Mail ballot.
- Vote-by-Mail ballot requests do expire. Requests made before November 8, 2022 have expired.
- Vote-by-Mail ballot requests made after the November 2022 General Election will cover all elections through the end of 2024.
- Vote-by-Mail requests must be renewed every two years
12/. SNL's version of White Lotus......"Black Lotus"! Amusing....
13/. How our profit driven medical system has ended up screwing the nurses.....
It is enraging but not particularly surprising that our health care system is failing the most essential of its workers. Nurses are the keystone holding up our rickety and raggedly uneven health care system. We desperately need more of them, but we have created a health care system — indeed, a broader society — that, as if by design, devalues them and takes them for granted. Like workers in other female-dominated professions in the care economy, nurses are spoken of, often with a whiff of condescension, as heroes. But just like teachers, social workers, health aides, day care workers and mothers, we sure don’t treat them that way.
14/. Weekend Update #1....pretty good....
Weekend Update #2....really good....
15/. Frankly frightening story on how the Gulf Stream is collapsing, and the consequences if it does.....
You've heard of the invisible hand of the market, the supposedly unseen force that drives an economy. Well, meet the unseen hand of the weather: the Gulf Stream. The powerful current that runs through the Atlantic Ocean helps to regulate temperatures across the Northern Hemisphere and serves as a vital sign of the planet's global health.
New research that checks in on the pulse of the Gulf Stream suggests that it might be on life support. According to a study published this week in the journal Nature and Climate Change, the current known as the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) has experienced "an almost complete loss of stability" over the last 100 years and is showing signs of approaching a complete collapse.
16/ I love a good magician, and this guy is amazing......on America's Got Talent....
17/. Ron DeSantis has an army of Twitter influencers, all MAGA and right wingnuts.....
As Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis soaked up the crowd’s adulation during a surprise appearance at last Sunday’s NFL playoff game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Kansas City Chiefs, a lesser-known team was on hand to run a very different kind of play.
By the time the governor took his seat at Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium, video of his smile-and-wave routine—smoothly filmed in vertical mode, perfect for sharing—was already circulating online.
18/. Bill Maher with a "New Rule" on George Santos.....
19/. Amy Poehler and Aubrey Plaza revive their "Parks and Recreation" characters on Weekend Update......quite good.........
20/. David Crosby died last week, and this story summarises his mercurial life and his incredible musical talent...
By all accounts, including his own, David Crosby could be a tricky and difficult character. His career was regularly punctuated by angry arguments, bitter fallings-out, sackings, general discord. Joni Mitchell once waspishly suggested he was “a human-hater”. His former bandmate Roger McGuinn described his behaviour while a member of the Byrds as that of a “little Hitler”. Perhaps the best way to describe him was mercurial. He could be utterly charming and mischievously funny – fans gave him the affectionate nickname the Old Grey Cat – and incredibly generous to other musicians: Mitchell, among others, owed him a great deal. He could also be impossible: overbearing, mouthy, convinced of his own brilliance.
21/. How the MAGA's distort everything.....
Today's Villages joke
A Florida couple, both well into their 80's, go to a sex therapist's office.
The doctor asks, 'What can I do for you?'
The man says, 'Will you watch us have sexual intercourse?'
The doctor raises both eyebrows, but he is so amazed that such an elderly couple is asking for sexual advice that he agrees.
When the couple finishes, the doctor says, 'There's absolutely nothing wrong with the way you have intercourse..' He thanks them for coming, wishes them good luck, charges them $50 and he says good bye.
The next week, the same couple returns and asks the sex therapist to watch again. The sex therapist is a bit puzzled, but agrees.
This happens several weeks in a row. The couple makes an appointment, has intercourse with no problems, pays the doctor, then leave.
Finally, after 3 months of this routine, the doctor says, 'I'm sorry, but I have to ask. Just what are you trying to find out?'
The man says, 'We're not trying to find out anything. She's married; so we can't go to her house. I'm married; and we can't go to my house. The Holiday Inn charges $98. The Hilton charges $139. We do it here for $50, and Medicare pays $43 of it, leaving me a net cost of $7.
I wonder if your supplemental insurance would pick up the $7.00?
Today's religious jokes
A Nun Grading Papers
Can you imagine the nun sitting at her desk grading these papers, all the while trying to keep a straight face and maintain her composure!
PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION TO THE WORDING AND SPELLING. IF YOU KNOW THE BIBLE EVEN A LITTLE, YOU'LL FIND THIS HILARIOUS! IT COMES FROM A CATHOLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEST.
KIDS WERE ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS ABOUT THE BIBLE WERE WRITTEN BY CHILDREN. THEY HAVE NOT BEEN RETOUCHED OR CORRECTED. INCORRECT SPELLING HAS BEEN LEFT IN.
1. IN THE FIRST BOOK OF THE BIBLE, GUINESSIS. GOD GOT TIRED OF CREATING THE WORLD SO HE TOOK THE SABBATH OFF.
2. ADAM AND EVE WERE CREATED FROM AN APPLE TREE. NOAH'S WIFE WAS JOAN OF ARK. NOAH BUILT AND ARK AND THE ANIMALS CAME ON IN PEARS.
3. LOTS WIFE WAS A PILLAR OF SALT DURING THE DAY, BUT A BALL OF FIRE DURING THE NIGHT.
4. THE JEWS WERE A PROUD PEOPLE AND THROUGHOUT HISTORY THEY HAD TROUBLE WITH UNSYMPATHETIC GENITALS.
5. SAMPSON WAS A STRONGMAN WHO LET HIMSELF BE LED ASTRAY BY A JEZEBEL LIKE DELILAH.
6. SAMSON SLAYED THE PHILISTINES WITH THE AXE OF THE APOSTLES.
7. MOSES LED THE JEWS TO THE RED SEA WHERE THEY MADE UNLEAVENED BREAD WHICH IS BREAD WITHOUT ANY INGREDIENTS.
8. THE EGYPTIANS WERE ALL DROWNED IN THE DESSERT. AFTERWARDS, MOSES WENT UP TO MOUNT CYANIDE TO GET THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
9. THE FIRST COMMANDMENTS WAS WHEN EVE TOLD ADAM TO EAT THE APPLE.
10. THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT IS THOU SHALT NOT ADMIT ADULTERY.
11. MOSES DIED BEFORE HE EVER REACHED CANADA THEN JOSHUA LED THE HEBREWS IN THE BATTLE OF GERITOL.
12. THE GREATEST MIRICLE IN THE BIBLE IS WHEN JOSHUA TOLD HIS SON TO STAND STILL AND HE OBEYED HIM.
13. DAVID WAS A HEBREW KING WHO WAS SKILLED AT PLAYING THE LIAR. HE FOUGHT THE FINKELSTEINS, A RACE OF PEOPLE WHO LIVED IN BIBLICAL TIMES.
14. SOLOMON, ONE OF DAVIDS SONS, HAD 300 WIVES AND 700 PORCUPINES.
15. WHEN MARY HEARD SHE WAS THE MOTHER OF JESUS, SHE SANG THE MAGNA CARTA.
16. WHEN THE THREE WISE GUYS FROM THE EAST SIDE ARRIVED THEY FOUND JESUS IN THE MANAGER.
17. JESUS WAS BORN BECAUSE MARY HAD AN IMMACULATE CONTRAPTION.
18. ST. JOHN THE BLACKSMITH DUMPED WATER ON HIS HEAD.
19. JESUS ENUNCIATED THE GOLDEN RULE, WHICH SAYS TO DO UNTO OTHERS BEFORE THEY DO ONE TO YOU. HE ALSO EXPLAINED A MAN DOTH NOT LIVE BY SWEAT ALONE.
20. IT WAS A MIRICLE WHEN JESUS ROSE FROM THE DEAD AND MANAGED TO GET THE TOMBSTONE OFF THE ENTRANCE.
21. THE PEOPLE WHO FOLLOWED THE LORD WERE CALLED THE 12 DECIBELS.
22. THE EPISTELS WERE THE WIVES OF THE APOSTLES.
23. ONE OF THE OPPOSSUMS WAS ST. MATTHEW WHO WAS ALSO A TAXIMAN.
24. ST. PAUL CAVORTED TO CHRISTIANITY, HE PREACHED HOLY ACRIMONY WHICH IS ANOTHER NAME FOR MARRAIGE.
25. CHRISTIANS HAVE ONLY ONE SPOUSE. THIS IS CALLED MONOTONY. |
Today's Atheist joke [we have to be fair and balanced!]
The Atheist in the Woods
An atheist was walking through the woods, thinking to himself,"How beautiful the animals are!"
"How majestic the trees are!"
"How powerful the rivers are!"
As he walked along the river, he heard rustling in the bushes behind him. He turned and saw an 8-foot grizzly bear charging towards him. He ran along the path as fast as he could, but when he looked over his shoulder, he saw that the bear was closing in on him.
He kept running, but when he looked over his shoulder again, and the bear was even closer. Then he tripped and fell on the ground. The bear was right on top of him with his right paw raised to strike him. At that instant, the atheist cried, "God help me!"
Time Stopped.
The bear froze.
The forest was silent.
A bright light shone upon the man and a voice from the sky said, "You've denied my existence for all these years and have taught others that I don't exist. You've even credited creation to a cosmic accident. Why would you expect me to help you out of this predicament? Are you now a believer?"
The atheist looked into the light and said, "Well, I would be hypocrite to suddenly ask You to treat me as a Christian now, but could you, maybe, make the BEAR a Christian?"
"Very Well," said the voice.
The light went out.
The sounds of the forest resumed.
The bear lowered his right paw and brought both paws together. He bowed his head, and said: "Lord, bless this food which I am about to receive from Your bounty through Christ our Lord, Amen."
Today's redneck jokes.....
Studies have demonstrated that one reason rednecks have low stress rates is because they do not understand the seriousness of most medical terminology:
Medical Term | Redneck Definition |
| Artery | The study of paintings |
| Bacteria | Back door to cafeteria |
| Barium | What doctors do when patients die |
| Benign | What you be, after you be eight |
| Caesarean Section | A neighborhood in Rome |
| Cat scan | Searching for Kitty |
| Cauterize | Made eye contact with her |
| Colic | A sheep dog |
| Coma | A punctuation mark |
| Dilate | To live long |
| Enema | Not a friend |
| Fester | Quicker than someone else |
| Fibula | A small lie |
| Impotent | Distinguished, well known |
| Labor Pain | Getting hurt at work |
| Medical Staff | A Doctor's cane |
| Morbid | A higher offer |
| Nitrates | Rates of Pay for Working at Night,
Normally more money than Days |
| Node | I knew it |
| Outpatient | A person who has fainted |
| Pelvis | Second cousin to Elvis |
| Post Operative | A letter carrier |
| Recovery Room | Place to do upholstery |
| Rectum | Nearly killed him |
| Secretion | Hiding something |
| Seizure | Roman Emperor |
| Tablet | A small table |
| Terminal Illness | Getting sick at the airport |
| Tumor | One plus one more |
| Urine | Opposite of you're out |
Today's lexophile jokes...
Lexophile describes those that have a love for words, such as "you can tune a piano, but you can't tuna fish", or "To write with a broken pencil is pointless." An annual competition is held by the New York Times to see who can create the best original Lexophilia
No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.
If you don't pay your exorcist you can get repossessed.
I'm reading a book about anti-gravity. I just can't put it down.
I didn't like my beard at first. Then it grew on me.
Did you hear about the crossed-eyed teacher who lost her job because she couldn't control her pupils?
When you get a bladder infection, urine trouble.
When chemists die, they barium.
I stayed up all night to see where the sun went, and then it dawned on me.
I changed my iPod's name to Titanic. It's syncing now.
England has no kidney bank, but it does have a Liverpool .
Haunted French pancakes give me the crepes.
This girl today said she recognized me from the Vegetarians Club, but I'd swear I've never met herbivore
I know a guy who's addicted to drinking brake fluid, but he says he can stop any time.
A thief who stole a calendar got twelve months.
When the smog lifts in Los Angeles U.C.L.A.
I got some batteries that were given out free of charge.
A dentist and a manicurist married. They fought tooth and nail.
A will is a dead giveaway.
With her marriage, she got a new name and a dress.
Police were summoned to a daycare center where a three-year-old was resisting a rest.
Did you hear about the fellow whose entire left side was cut off? He's all right now.
A bicycle can't stand alone; it's just two tired.
The guy who fell onto an upholstery machine last week is now fully recovered.
He had a photographic memory but it was never fully developed.
When she saw her first strands of gray hair she thought she'd dye.
Acupuncture is a jab well done. That's the point of it.
*Those who get too big for their pants will be totally exposed in the end.
* This year's NY Times winner.
Utilities cut service 1.5m times during the first 10 months of 2022, and an estimated 4.2m times nationwide in 30 states. Photograph: Thomas Shea/AFP/Getty Images
Top: All Quiet on the Western Front, Tar, Everything Everywhere All At Once Bottom: The Banshees of Inisherin, Elvis. Composite: Alamy
What women really mean in an argument
