1/. The always interesting Andrew Sullivan on MAGA Mike and the Christian Nationalist movement.....
The fundamentalists are running the Republican Party....
A long time ago now, toward the end of the Bush era, I wrote a book called The Conservative Soul. Reeling from big-government, neoconservative, war-mongering, torture-loving Cheneyism, I tried to sketch out the essence of an actual conservative sensibility and politics: one of skepticism, limited government and an acceptance of human imperfection.
My point was that this conservative tradition had been lost in America, in so far as it had ever been found, because it had been hijacked by religious and political fundamentalism. I saw the fundamentalist psyche — rigid, abstract, authoritarian — as integral to the GOP in the Bush years and beyond, a phenomenon that, if sustained, would render liberal democracy practically moribund. It was less about the policy details, which change over time, than an entire worldview.
https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/the-resilience-of-republican-christianism?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=61371&post_id=138494702&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=2cwgv&utm_medium=email
2/. Some not so fun facts about MAGA Mike....
After an embarrassing 22-day stalemate, House Republicans finally found a guy they can all at least tolerate as Speaker: Mike Johnson. If you’d never heard of the Louisiana representative before this week, you’re not alone. Multiple Senate Republicans said they had no idea who he was: John Cornyn described him as “pretty anonymous,” and Susan Collins admitted she needed to Google him. Hours before his election on Wednesday, learning more about Johnson required some serious digging. At the time, Googling “Mike Johnson” brought up hits for a Bachelorette contestant, a retired NHL star, and the owner of a North Carolina Toyota dealership before the congressman appeared in the search, as the Washington Post reported.
3/. This is our new Speaker folks....
4/. Acapulco has been destroyed, and David Wallace-Wells says this is the future weather we can expect.....
As of last Monday night in Acapulco, Mexico, no formal hurricane warning had been issued for what would become, barely a day later, the first Category 5 storm ever to make landfall on the Pacific Coast of North or South America.
Forecasts from 36 hours before landfall had projected maximum winds of 60 miles per hour. Sixteen hours before landfall, the National Hurricane Center still forecast only a Category 1 hurricane. Within hours, what had been a quotidian tropical storm grew into a record-breaking, city-splintering Category 5 monster. The wind reached 165 miles per hour, more than 100 miles per hour greater than had been forecast around bedtime on Monday. Dozens died. The resort city, home to one million people, was left “in ruins”: the electricity cut out, as did water and internet service. The damage was almost certain to make the storm the most expensive one in Mexican history.
5/. Bill Maher with an excellent "New Rule"....bureaucracy.....
One of his better ones....
6/. Bob Lefsetz on electric cars.....interesting discussion....
He's never going to buy a Tesla....
I don’t know anyone who will buy another Tesla. And I know a lot of people with Teslas, and they LOVE their Teslas!
But they don’t like Elon Musk.
If you’ve been following the news, it’s getting hard to sell electric cars. The Big 3, not so big anymore, are slowing development and production. Which is the exact wrong thing to do, because that will only put them further behind when the revolution comes, and it’s inevitable, and it will be gradual, then all at once.
Gasoline cars are a right wing cause célèbre. They don’t like that the government is subsidizing electric cars, even though it subsidizes oil companies, and electrics are seen as a left wing thingy, and if the left loves them, the right hates them.
Now don’t tell me I’m pulling this out of my rear end, I’ll just point you to this recent story in the “Wall Street Journal,” and it’s a free link:
7/. Tom Tomorrow on Republicans....
8/. Remember Anthony Pratt, the Australian billionaire who Trump gave nuclear sub secrets to?
60 Minutes Australia obtained secret tapes of Pratt talking about Trump.....
Will this make any difference to the Cult members? None whatsoever.....
"Washington's Dream", an amusing piece from SNL.....
9/. Even though his national dreams have cratered, he is still our awful Governor....
A crackdown by Ron DeSantis and Florida Republicans has spent millions pursuing rare voter fraud, hampered voter registration and weakened Black voters’ influence
Since taking office in 2019, Governor Ron DeSantis and the Republicans who control the Florida legislature have led one of the most aggressive efforts to restrict voting – particularly in Black communities – in the United States.
It’s an attack that has unfolded on many fronts. The state has prosecuted people confused about their eligibility to vote. DeSantis’s administration has levied significant fines against voter registration groups, in some cases for minor errors. Republicans have rewritten Florida’s election laws to create new voting barriers, weakened Black political power in the state, and used a new state agency to intimidate voters.
10/. Amusing little parable of life.....
11/. Paul Krugman on how extreme the Republicans are, and how no one knows about it....
There are no moderate Republicans in the House of Representatives.
Oh, no doubt some members are privately appalled by the views of Mike Johnson, the new speaker. But what they think in the privacy of their own minds isn’t important. What matters is what they do — and every single one of them went along with the selection of a radical extremist.
In fact, Johnson is more extreme than most people, I think even political reporters, fully realize.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/26/opinion/mike-johnson-republican-party.html
12/. A most interesting essay on the role of class in America, written by a lady that grew up dirt poor, who got a degree and "made it", but is still saddled with student debt....
‘The idea of the American dream has been leveraged by profiteers.’ Illustration: Rita Liu/The I owe $120,000 to the American government, which I accrued chasing the American dream. Yes, I am yet another person who was taken in by the predatory lending practices of student loans.
The story of my education is classically American: problematic student is deemed talented, teacher with heart goes out of his way to invest in the student, turns out the student’s family is struggling financially. Teacher pays for testing fees, student excels on state test revealing they weren’t stupid after all – they were just broke, they were just working, they were just prioritizing their family. College accepts and welcomes student despite their checkered past, student reveals themself to be something of a savant, graduates summa cum laude, goes on to study at an Ivy League school, all ends happily ever after.
13/. A comedy classic - Nina Conti is a brilliant ventriloquist, and funny too......
Here is "Project Manager"....
14/. Israel with Dragons.....
15/. A really good documentary you may have missed on HBO - "All The Beauty And The Bloodshed"....
It's about the evil Sackler family....
The word Nan Goldin kept using to describe her presence at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, one night in February, for a screening of an Oscar-nominated documentary about her life and work, was surreal. It wasn’t that Goldin, a renowned photographer since the 1980s, was new to art-world accolades. But All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, a collaboration with Citizenfour director Laura Poitras, documents her crusade to get cultural institutions to cut ties with the Sackler family—the pharmaceutical dynasty that profited off America’s lethal opioid crisis. The film opens with a die-in that Goldin helped stage, in 2018, in the Met’s Sackler Wing.
16/. The best Fall TV, on now.....
As we do at the beginning of each fall, we previewed the 475 television series coming that season that you should watch. (OK, we managed to curate it down to 45 buzzy ones.)
But now that the fall TV season is in full swing, what are the shows that The Daily Beast’s Obsessed team is actually watching—and, maybe more important, loving? We asked some of our writers and editors to let us know what they think are, if not the best series of the fall so far, then at least the ones that they’ve been having the most fun keeping up with.
17/. Rolling Stone lists Martin Scorcese's films from worst to best......boy he's made some wonderful, powerful movies....
The list includes "Flowers Of The Harvest Moon'', which has been described as his masterpiece.....
Today's Heavenly joke
1st woman: Hi! My name is queenie
2nd woman: Hi! I'm clem. How'd you die?
1st woman: I froze to death. 1st woman: It wasn't so bad. After I quit shaking from the cold, I began to get warm and sleepy, and finally died a peaceful death.
What about you...?
2nd woman: I died of a massive heart attack. I suspected that my husband was cheating, so I came home early to catch him in the act.
But instead, I found him all by himself in the den watching TV...
1st woman: So, what happened...?
2nd woman: I was so sure there was another woman there somewhere that I started running all over the house looking.
I ran up into the attic and searched,and down into the basement.
Then I went through every closet and checked under all the beds.
I kept this up until I had looked everywhere, and finally I became so exhausted that I just keeled over with a heart attack and died...
1st woman: Too bad you didn't look in the freezer---we'd both still be alive !!!
Today's Vampire Bat Joke
A vampire bat came flapping in from the night, face all covered in fresh blood and parked himself on the roof of the cave to get some sleep.
Pretty soon all the other bats smelt the blood and began hassling him about where he got it.
He told them to piss off and let him get some sleep, but they persisted until he finally gave in.
OK, follow me, he said and flew out of the cave with hundreds of bats behind him.
Down through a valley they went, across a river and into a huge forest of trees. Finally he slowed down and all the other bats excitedly milled around him tongues hanging out for blood.
"Do you see that large oak tree over there?" he asked.
"YES, YES, YES!!!!" the bats all screamed in a frenzy.
"Good!" said the first bat, "Because I didn't"!
Today's 70s Jokes....
It's 1977, I'm 9 years old. My mom and dad are roaring with laughter and I don't understand what's so funny.
Q . Paul, what is a good reason for pounding meat?
A. Paul Lynde: Loneliness! (The audience laughed so long and so hard it took up almost 15 minutes of the show!)
Q. It is the most abused and neglected part of your body, what is it? A. Paul Lynde: Mine may be abused, but it certainly isn’t neglected.
Q. Do female frogs croak?
A. Paul Lynde: If you hold their little heads under water long enough.
Q. If you're going to make a parachute jump, at least how high should you be?
A. Charley Weaver: Three days of steady drinking should do it.
Q. True or False, a pea can last as long as 5,000 years?
A. George Gobel: Boy, it sure seems that way sometimes.
Q. You've been having trouble going to sleep. Are you probably a man or a woman?
A. Don Knotts: That's what's been keeping me awake.
Q. According to Cosmopolitan, if you meet a stranger at a party and you think that he is attractive, is it okay to come out and ask him if he's married?
A.. Rose Marie: No, wait until morning.
Q. Which of your five senses tends to diminish as you get older?
A. Charley Weaver: My sense of decency.
Q. What are 'Do It,' 'I Can Help,' and 'I Can't Get Enough'?
A.George Gobel: I don't know, but it's coming from the next apartment.
Q. As you grow older, do you tend to gesture more or less with your hands while talking?
A. Rose Marie: You ask me one more growing old question Peter, and I'll give you a gesture you'll never forget.
Q. Paul, why do Hell's Angels wear leather?
A. Paul Lynde: Because chiffon wrinkles too easily.
Q. Charley, you've just decided to grow strawberries. Are you going to get any during the first year?
A. Charley Weaver: Of course not, I'm too busy growing strawberries.
Q. In bowling, what's a perfect score?
A. Rose Marie: Ralph, the pin boy.
Q. During a tornado, are you safer in the bedroom or in the closet?
A. Rose Marie: Unfortunately Peter, I'm always safe in the bedroom.
Q. Can boys join the Camp Fire Girls?
A. Marty Allen: Only after lights out.
Q. When you pat a dog on its head he will wag his tail. What will a goose do?
A. Paul Lynde: Make him bark?
Q. If you were pregnant for two years, what would you give birth to?
A. Paul Lynde: Whatever it is, it would never be afraid of the dark..
Q. According to Ann Landers, is there anything wrong with getting into the habit of kissing a lot of people?
A. Charley Weaver: It got me out of the army.
Q. Back in the old days, when Great Grandpa put horseradish on his head, what was he trying to do?
A. George Gobel: Get it in his mouth.
Q. Jackie Gleason recently revealed that he firmly believes in them and has actually seen them on at least two occasions. What are they?
A. Charley Weaver: His feet.
Q. According to Ann Landers, what are two things you should never do in bed?
A. Paul Lynde: Point and laugh.
Today's Irish joke
Irish daughter had not been home for over 5 years.
Upon her return, her father cursed her heavily.
“Where have ye been all this time, child?
Why did ye not write to us, not even a line?
Why didn’t ye call?
Can ye not understand what ye put yer old Mother through?”
The girl, crying, replied, “Dad… I became a prostitute.”
“Ye what!? Get out a here, ye shameless harlot! Sinner!
You’re a disgrace to this Catholic family.”
“OK, Dad… as ye wish. I only came back to give mum this luxurious fur coat, title deed to a ten-bedroom mansion, plus a 5 million savings certificate. For me little brother, this gold Rolex.
And for ye Daddy, the sparkling new Mercedes limited edition convertible that’s parked outside plus a membership to the country club … (takes a breath) … and an invitation for ye all to spend New Year’s Eve on board my new yacht in the Riviera.”
“What was it ye said ye had become?” says Dad.
Girl, crying again, “A prostitute, Daddy!”
“Oh! My Goodness! Ye scared me half to death, girl!
I thought ye said a Protestant! Come here and give yer old Dad a hug!”
Today's Marriage joke
A young man excitedly tells his mother he’s fallen in love and is going to get married.
He says, “Just for fun, mum, I’m going to bring over three women and you try and guess which one I’m going to marry.”
The mother agrees.
The next day, he brings three beautiful women into the house and sits them down on the couch and they chat for a while.
He then says, “OK, guess which one I’m going to marry.”
She immediately replies, “The one in the middle.”
“That’s amazing, mum. You’re right. How did you know?” His mum replies, “I don’t like her.”
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