1/. Michelle Goldberg with a spirited defense of the media coverage of the coming election.....
Sorry Ms. Goldberg, but the media needs to stop pretending both sides are equivalent....
These are the men that try The Times’s soul.
With the disreputable Donald Trump challenging the disfavored President Biden, the 2024 race has become the embodiment of Oscar Wilde’s witticism about fox hunting: “the unspeakable in pursuit of the inedible.”
Bleeding young and nonwhite voters, the president finally heeded Democrats urging him to “get out there,” as Nancy Pelosi put it, and throw some haymakers at Trump.
Biden flew to Pennsylvania on Friday to visit Valley Forge and make a pugnacious speech invoking an earlier moment when we were fighting against despotism and clinging to a dream of a democracy.
2/ Boy is this Tom Tomorrow true....
3/. Frank Bruni in the Times with an insightful look at the way Trump is presenting the 2024 election.....
"The Final Battle"....
Like many other Americans struggling to find scraps of calm and slivers of hope in this anxious era, I resolved a while back not to get overly excited about Donald Trump’s overexcited utterances. They’re often a showman’s cheap histrionics, a con man’s gaudy hyperbole.
But I can’t shake a grandiose prophecy that he made repeatedly last year as he looked toward the 2024 presidential race. He took to calling it the “final battle.”
4/. Unfortunately this is not a joke.....
5/. Thomas Edsall's columns in the Times are hard to read because he goes on and on
with repetitive facts.....but this column is different.
He poses the question to experts [paraphrased] "Are We Fxxked?" The answers aren't hopeful....
The coming election will be held at a time of insoluble cultural and racial conflict; a two-tier economy, one growing, the other stagnant; a time of inequality and economic immobility; a divided electorate based on educational attainment — taken together, a toxic combination pushing the country into two belligerent camps.
I wrote to a range of scholars, asking whether the nation has reached a point of no return.
The responses varied widely, but the level of shared pessimism was striking.
6/. The billionaire is Troy Aikman.....
7/. A really interesting story - how a British TV show brought home to the Brits what their revered
Post Office had done to hundreds of Subpostmasters.....
The power of sunlight.....
More than 700 people convicted of a crime they didn’t commit. At least four suicides. A woman sent to jail while pregnant. Bankruptcies. Marriages broken, lives ruined.
The shocking details of one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British history have been reported for years yet somehow stayed below the radar for most of the public, despite intense efforts by campaigners and investigative journalists.
Until last week. A gripping ITV drama series, “Mr. Bates vs. the Post Office,” which began airing on Jan. 1, achieved something that eluded politicians for a decade, cutting through a morass of bureaucratic and legal delays and forcing government action.
8/. This is not a joke - a deranged Trump supporter made this bizarre video "God Made Trump", so Trump of course put it out on Truth Social.....
It is truly astonishing.....
The Trump one is a ripoff from this Casey DeSantis ad she put out a year ago....but since Republicans have minimal brains they won't remember....
9/. Some common sense ways to improve your quality of life.....
Humans have searched for the secret to immortality for thousands of years. For some people today, that quest includes things like sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber, experimenting with cryotherapy or blasting oneself with infrared light.
Most aging experts are skeptical that these actions will meaningfully extend the upper limits of the human life span. What they do believe is that by practicing a few simple behaviors, many people can live healthier for longer, reaching 80, 90 and even 100 in good physical and mental shape. The interventions just aren’t as exotic as transfusing yourself with a young person’s blood.
10/. A really funny Stephen Colbert.....some wonderful jokes in this one....
11/. Michelle Goldberg on the extremists in Israel's government.....
Two far-right members of Israel’s cabinet — the national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, and the finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich — caused an international uproar this week with their calls to depopulate Gaza. “If in Gaza there will be 100,000 or 200,000 Arabs and not two million the entire conversation on ‘the day after’ will look different,” said Smotrich, who called for most Gazan civilians to be resettled in other countries. The war, said Ben-Gvir, presents an “opportunity to concentrate on encouraging the migration of the residents of Gaza,” facilitating Israeli settlement in the region.
12/. Just a funny commercial......Geico of course.....
13/. What a relief......salmon is still good for you!
Salmon is good for you — that part we know.
“Fish is one of the few animal foods consistently linked to health benefits, and salmon is at the top of my list when I recommend fish to people,” said Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, a distinguished professor and the director of the Food is Medicine Institute at Tufts University.
But choosing which type to eat for your health — sockeye or coho, wild or farmed — isn’t so obvious. Researchers have found that the nutritional value of salmon can vary depending on the species. And there is a consumer perception that farmed and wild-caught salmon differ in terms of their nutrients and levels of contaminants — beliefs that research partly supports.
14/. This may be worth a shot.....
Such a warm pleasure … Sarah Lancashire in Julia. Photograph: HBO/2023 Home Box Office, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Icould watch Sarah Lancashire and Isabella Rossellini argue about the propriety of fish-shaped pastry for much longer than an hour, but apparently Julia has other characters and would like us to spend some time with them. Lancashire’s performance as the chef and author Julia Child is one of this arch, twinkly show’s main draws, but by the time we rejoin her in season two, her TV show The French Chef has triumphed over the odds, making her a star, so now the drama must find other sources of tension. Franco-American disagreements about what constitutes a cassoulet seem as good a place to start as any.
15/. Bob Lefsetz loves "Berlin", on Netflix.....
Not the city, not “Babylon Berlin,” but the prequel to “Money Heist.”
Did you know about it?
I didn’t even hear they were making it, but earlier in the week I saw a listing in the “New York Times” saying it was premiering on Friday and made a mental note to check it out.
Last time we left “Money Heist” it was done, over, history, there was nowhere to go. This is the story of Berlin, you remember that each character had a city name, and a whole new cast of criminals.
And for a second opinion on "Berlin", here's the Guardian.....
The Berlin (centre) of the prequel is as elegant, arch, snobbish and manipulative as ever.Photograph: Tamara Arranz/Netfli After a busy few years chronicling fatal Balearic excess in White Lines and crafting the pulpy trafficking drama Sky Rojo, the Spanish screenwriter and producer Álex Pina is returning to one of his most famous criminal creations.
La Casa de Papel, known in English as Money Heist, grew into a global TV phenomenon after Netflix picked it up from the Spanish network Antena 3 in late 2017. By 2020, Pina’s pacey, violent and stylish series about a gang of red-overalled, Salvador Dalí-masked robbers who target the royal mint and then the Bank of Spain had become the platform’s most watched non-English-language series.
16/. Rolling Stone previews the movies coming in 2024.....and an interesting bunch of films!
17/. The Guardian also looks at the movies coming, and between them you've got them all!
This is Lady Gaga and Joaquim Phoenix....
Today's Dave joke.....
Dave was bragging to his boss one day, "You know, I know everyone famous there is to know. Go on - Just name someone, anyone, and I bet that I know them"
Tired of his boasting, his boss decides to call Dave's bluff, "OK, Dave, how about Tom Cruise?"
"Not a problem boss. Tom and I are old friends, and I can prove it"
So Dave and his boss fly out to Hollywood and knock on Tom Cruise's door.
Tom Cruise is at home and answers the door himself and shouts,
"Dave! What's happening? Great to see you! Come on in for a beer! Although shocked and more than a little impressed, Dave's boss is still sceptical and he tells Dave that he thinks him knowing Cruise was just pure luck.
"No, no, just name anyone else then", Dave says.
"President Biden!", his boss quickly retorts.
"Yep"Dave says, "We're buddies from years ago. Let's fly out to Washington and I'll show you"
So they fly out to Washington and go on the White house tour"
"While walking through the White House, Biden himself appears, spots Dave on the tour and motions him and his boss over, saying,
"Dave, what a surprise, it's great to see you again after all this time.
I was just on my way to a meeting but you and your friend come on in and let's have a cup of coffee first and catch up"
After they leave the White House grounds the boss tells Dave that he's still not entirely convinced.
Dave again implores him to name another famous person.
After thinking about it for a long time the boss replies with, "The Pope!"
"Sure thing!", says Dave, "I've known the Pope for years - since before he became Pope in fact"
So off they fly to Rome.
Dave and his boss are assembled with the masses in Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican.
Dave says, "This will never work, I can't catch the Pope's eye among all these people.
Tell you what, I know all the Pope's guards here as well so let me just go upstairs and I'll come out on the balcony with the Pope."
Sure enough, half an hour later Dave emerges with the Pope on the balcony, but by the time Dave returns, he finds that his boss has had a heart
attack and is surrounded by paramedics.
Making his way to his boss' side, Dave asks him,
"What happened?"
His boss looks up and says, "It was the final straw. You and the Pope came out on the balcony and a Japanese tourist next to me said,... "
"Who the hell is that on the balcony with Dave?"
1. When one door closes and another door opens, you are probably in prison.
2. To me, "drink responsibly" means don't spill it. 3. Age 60 might be the new 40, but 9:00 pm is the new midnight.
4. It's the start of a brand new day, and I'm off like a herd of turtles.
5. The older I get, the earlier it gets late.
6. When I say, "The other day," I could be referring to any time between yesterday and 15 years ago.
7. I remember being able to get up without making sound effects.
8. I had my patience tested. I'm negative.
9. Remember, if you lose a sock in the dryer, it comes back as a Tupperware lid that doesn't fit any of your containers.
10. If you're sitting in public and a stranger takes the seat next to you, just stare straight ahead and say, "Did you bring the money?"
11. When you ask me what I am doing today, and I say "nothing," it does not mean I am free. It means I am doing nothing.
12. I finally got eight hours of sleep. It took me three days, but whatever.
13. I run like the winded.
14. I hate when a couple argues in public, and I missed the beginning and don't know whose side I'm on.
15. When someone asks what I did over the weekend, I squint and ask, "Why, what did you hear?"
16. When you do squats, are your knees supposed to sound like a goat chewing on an aluminum can stuffed with celery?
17. I don't mean to interrupt people. I just randomly remember things and get really excited.
18. When I ask for directions, please don't use words like "east."
19. Don't bother walking a mile in my shoes. That would be boring. Spend 30 seconds in my head. That'll freak you right out.
20. Sometimes, someone unexpected comes into your life out of nowhere, makes your heart race, and changes you forever. We call those people cops.
21. My luck is like a bald guy who just won a comb."
Today's tech joke.....
The young woman who submitted the tech support message below (about her relationship with her husband) presumably did it as a joke.
Then she got a reply that was way too good to keep to herself. The tech support people's love advice was hilarious. Dear Tech Support,
"Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct slowdown in overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewelry applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.
In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5, and then installed undesirable programs such as NBA 5.0, NFL 3.0, and Golf Clubs 4.1.
Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and House cleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system.
Please note that I have tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems but to no avail.
What can I do?
The response (that came weeks later out of the blue)
First, keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an Operating System.
Please enter the command: I thought you loved me.html and try to download Tears 6.2.
Do not forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update. If that application works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5.
However, remember, overuse of the Tears application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0, or Beer 6.1.
Please note that Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the Snoring Loudly Beta version.
Whatever you do, DO NOT, under any circumstances, install Mother-In-Law 1.0 as it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources.
In addition, please do not attempt to re-install the Boyfriend 5.0 program.
These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0.
In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly.
You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance.
We recommend Cooking 3.0.
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