1/. Trump's coming trials are his election campaign and will galvanise his cult members and the Republicans......excellent story from Sidney Blumenthal in the Guardian....
‘Republicans are not prisoners of Trump’s narcissistic rage. They don’t reject it. They mirror it. They mimic it. They exult in it.’ Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP n 16 or perhaps 17 July 2024, in Milwaukee, the Republican national convention will likely nominate as its presidential candidate a convicted criminal. When Donald Trump ascends the podium to accept the nomination for his third time he will probably have been found guilty months earlier of having staged an attempted coup to overthrow American democracy – “conspiring to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election, obstruct the certification of the election results, and discount citizens’ legitimate votes”, in the words of special counsel Jack Smith.
2/. Tom Tomorrow gives us a scoop.....
3/ Trump is beyond reason, and won't stop no matter what the legal issues he has.
But did you know conservative legal scholars have just announced that in their reading of the Constitution;
Trump is disqualified from running?
Most interesting.....
I’m going to begin this column with a rather unusual reading recommendation. If you’ve got an afternoon to kill and want to read 126 pages of heavily footnoted legal argument and historical analysis, I strongly recommend a law review article entitled “The Sweep and Force of Section Three.” It’s a rather dull headline for a highly provocative argument: that Donald Trump is constitutionally disqualified from holding the office of president.
4/ Influencers are often idiots.....
5/ Ron DeSantis's most awkward moments , selected by Vanity Fair.....
Now he's down in the polls is no reason to stop kicking.....he's still Governor of Floriduh.....
As 45th president of the United States, Donald Trump was impeached twice and incited a deadly insurrection as part of a plot to steal a second term in office. Since leaving Washington, he’s been indicted three times (and counting) on dozens of criminal charges, including obstruction of justice and conspiring to defraud the US. All of these things should have led to a situation in which Trump had absolutely no chance whatsoever of returning to the White House. Yet somehow, he’s not only the leading candidate for the GOP nomination, he’s beating his second-closest rival, Ron DeSantis, by dozens of points. (And beating DeSantis among people who believe he committed “serious federal crimes”!) How to explain such a baffling phenomenon?
6/ I can't fault Sam Harris's logic......"Respect for Religion - Why?".....
7/ This country [mostly Southern Red states] is deliberately cruel to the poor, especially blacks, and this story will make you sick.
Just disgusting....
A mother who was convicted of murder after giving cow’s milk to her malnourished infant son while fleeing from Hurricane Katrina could have her life sentence commuted.
The Louisiana Board of Pardon and Parole has recommended release for 43-year-old Tiffany Woods who has been behind bars for the past 17 years for second-degree murder in the November 2005 malnutrition death of her five-month-old baby, Emmanuel.
The decision of whether or not she’ll be released is now up to Governor John Bel Edwards https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/hurricane-katrina-tiffany-woods-cow-milk-b2395711.html
8/ Bob Lefsetz reads us the riot act......stop being afraid of Trump - laugh at him and ignore his followers.....
Very good dose of [hopefully] reality....
And despite the Top Ten being published every week in news outlets, it’s only oldsters and those in the business who care about charts, the fans care not a whit. They’re fervent believers willing to take on all comers, defending the object of their affection, such that one might get a skewed view of the overall marketplace.
Just like Trumpers.
If you were aware during Watergate the Trump indictments are a head-scratcher. News for a day and then they disappear. And on Fox, it’s not even the main story. In a world where Hillary Clinton is President and Hunter Biden the Democratic Minority Leader of the House, there are more important fish to fry. But you can’t tell a Fox fan, a Trumper, any different. But how many Trumpers are there?
This is where media falls down. Basing its info on polls that have been notoriously inaccurate for nearly a decade. Why trust them now?
https://lefsetz.com/wordpress/2023/08/15/the-niche/
9/ Nicolas Kristof in the Times with an in-depth look at American Health Care, and what can be done to fix our broken system.
BTW did you know there are tens of thousands of amputations from complications with diabetes/poverty? Thought not....
It’s not just that life expectancy in Mississippi (71.9) now appears to be a hair shorter than in Bangladesh (72.4). Nor that an infant is some 70 percent more likely to die in the United States than in other wealthy countries.
Nor even that for the first time in probably a century, the likelihoodthat an American child will live to the age of 20 has dropped.
All that is tragic and infuriating, but to me the most heart-rending symbol of America’s failure in health care is the avoidable amputations that result from poorly managed diabetes.
A medical setting cannot hide the violence of a saw cutting through a leg or muffle the grating noise it makes as it hacks through the tibia or disguise the distinctive charred odor of cauterized blood vessels. That noise of a saw on bone is a rebuke to an American health care system that, as Walter Cronkite reportedly observed, is neither healthy, caring nor a system.
10/ Tom Tomorrow sees the future.....
11/ The title of this article is "If I Lived In Florida I Wouldn't be Too Happy"........gets your attention, n'est ce pas?
CNN Business, DeSantis’ ‘anti-woke’ bills are costing Florida millions of dollars in business
Last night I had a very pleasant dinner with the girl and her upstairs neighbors, who are here for the summer from Florida. Here is Rochester, NY in western NY. We talked a bit about climate issues and they assured me they weren’t worried because they live in Central Florida and their home is 200’ above sea level.
I wish I shared that security with that astounding altitude but I don’t. They said they were Democrats but, after a few drinks, they were praising Ron DeSantis mainly because they pay no state taxes, though that policy far predates the current governor.
https://martinedic.medium.com/if-i-lived-in-florida-i-wouldnt-be-too-happy-cad906c01759
12/ Thinking of getting a hybrid? Car and Driver lists the best ones......
Hybrids are no longer fringe players in the automotive world. Rather, gasoline-electric powertrains are trending toward the norm, with many automakers offering multiple hybrid options in their vehicle lines. Some are traditional setups that rely solely on a vehicle's internal combustion engine to charge the battery pack, which then subsequently powers one or more electric drive motors. Others include external charge ports and relatively large-capacity battery packs as a means of offering some degree of electric-only driving. These vehicles, known as plug-in hybrids or PHEVs, are also capable of performing like run-of-the-mill hybrid vehicles.
13/ Wow - remember this from 1972? Olga Korbut with her "Dead Loop"....amazing....
14/ Charles Blow on our Governors rewrite of history.....
Gov. Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign may be floundering as he struggles to win over Republican voters with his deadpan robotic demeanor, and he may be shuffling campaign staff like he’s taking a mulligan, but the damage he did to Florida to get himself to this moment is still rippling through the state.
Last month, the Florida Department of Education announced that grade-school teachers could use videos produced by Dennis Prager’s PragerU Kids in their classrooms.
15/ Interesting - "The 50 Worst Decisions In TV History".....from Rolling Stone....
16/ And 45 TV series to look for this year......from Vanity Fair......
Music Video
It's a weird one, Japanese men in suits acting robotically.....but go figure, it's got 30 million views.....
Today's One Liners from the Edinburgh Festival.....clever!
Olaf Falafel: Getting mythology wrong is my Hercules ankle.
Leila Navabi: I have an unconscious bias. I’m biased firmly towards being unconscious.
Sikisa: Cats are like strippers – they sit on your lap and make you think they love you.
Liz Guterbock: The UK is so small, they’ve got to keep all their lakes in one district.
Richard Stott: I have a suntanning addiction, so only go on holiday in winter. I went cold Turkey last year.
Ginny Hogan: Everyone says your 20s are all about finding yourself. If that’s true, your 30s are about wishing you’d found somebody else.
Alison Spittle: What does Kylie sing while counting sheep? I can’t get ewe out of my head.
Eric Rushton: There’s a lot of shame surrounding sex. After I have sex with someone, they often whisper “that’s a shame”.
Kuan-Wen Huang: My relationship with my mum is like the evolution of payment technology – we went from physical contact to electronic only, then it was contactless.
Amos Gill: Last year, I had a great joke about inflation. But it’s hardly worth it now.
Today's marriage joke.....
A young couple moved into a new house.
The next morning while they were eating breakfast the young woman saw her neighbour hanging the washing outside…
that laundry is not very clean; she doesn’t know how to wash correctly!! Perhaps she needs better soap powder!!
Her husband looked on, remaining silent.
Every time her neighbour hung her washing out to dry, the young woman made the same comments. A month later, the woman was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband, "Look, she’s finally learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this?
The husband replied, "I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows."
Today's husband joke....
The wife came home early and found her husband in their bedroom making love to a very attractive young woman:
And she was somewhat upset. "You are a disrespectful pig!" She cried. "How dare you do this to me? A faithful wife, the mother of your children. I'm leaving you. I want a divorce right away!"
And the husband replied. "Hang on just a minute, so at least I can tell you what happened?" "Fine, go ahead. "She sobbed. "But they'll be the last words you'll say to me!"
And the husband began. "Well, I was getting into the car to drive home and this young lady here asked me for a lift.
She looked so down
and out and defenseless that I took pity on her and let her into the car.
I noticed that she was very thin, not well dressed and very dirty.
She told me that she hadn't eaten for three days.
So, in my compassion, I brought her home and warmed up the enchiladas I made for you last night, the ones you wouldn't eat because you're afraid you'll put on weight.
The poor thing devoured them in moments.
Since she needed a good clean-up, I suggested a shower and while she was doing that, I noticed her clothes were dirty and full of holes, so I threw them away.
Then, as she needed clothes, I gave her the expensive designer jeans that you bought a couple years back, but don't wear because you say they
not the "in" name this year.
I also gave her the underwear that was your anniversary present, which you don't wear because I don't have good taste.
I found the sexy blouse my sister gave you for Christmas that you don't wear just to annoy her, and I also donated those boots you bought at the expensive boutique and don't wear because someone at work has a pair the same."
The husband took a quick breath and continued - "She was so grateful for my understanding and help that as I walked her to the door, she turned to me with tears in her eyes and said.
"Please, do you have anything else that your wife doesn't use?"
Today's "Boy is this one true" joke....
Four old guys are walking down a street
They turn a corner, and see a sign that says, "Old Timers Bar - ALL drinks 10 cents."
They look at each other and then go in, thinking this is too good to be true
The old bartender says in a voice that carries across the room, "Come on in and let me pour one for you! What'll it be gentlemen ?
“There’s a fully stocked bar, so each of the men orders a martini
In no time the bartender serves up four iced martinis shaken, not stirred, and says, "That's 10 cents each, please." The four guys stare at the bartender for a moment , then at each other
They can't believe their good luck ! They pay the 40 cents, finish their martinis, and order another round
Again, four excellent martinis are produced, with the bartender again saying, "That's 40 cents, please.“
They pay 40 cents, but their curiosity gets the better of them
They've each had two martinis , and haven't even spent a dollar yet
Finally, one of them says, "How can you afford to serve martinis as good as these for a dime apiece?"
"Well I'm a retired tailor from Phoenix," the bartender says, "and I always wanted to own a bar
Last year I hit the Lottery Jackpot for $125 million and decided to open this place
Every drink costs a dime Wine, Liquor, beer it's all the same"
"Wow! That's some story!" one of the men says
As the four of them sip their martinis, they can't help noticing seven other people at the end of the bar who don't have any drinks in front of them and haven’t ordered anything the whole time they've been there.
Nodding at the seven at the end of the bar, one of the men asks the Bartender, "What's with them?"
The bartender says, " Oh yeah , they're retired people from Florida ; they’re waiting for Happy Hour when drinks are half price....
No comments:
Post a Comment