1/. Debbie Muscarsel-Powell, running for Senate in Florida has a chance to get rid of the scumbag Rick Scott......
Why? Abortion.....
Around table on abortion rights, hosted by Florida’s Democratic Senate candidate Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, has only just begun, and already she finds herself comforting a woman in tears with a very personal story to tell.
The woman is from Colombia, and speaks softly in Spanish as she tells the intimate gathering of the Miami-Dade Hispanic Democratic Caucus about the distressing decision her daughter had to make to terminate a pregnancy after learning the fetus was not developing.
2/. A really good Jimmy Kimmel, on Trump's trial and one of his street interviews where people hear a
new song from Lara Trump......very amusing........
3/. It's not often I post anything from David Brooks, the washed up right wing Times columnist, but this one is an exception.
It puts Andrew Sullivan's article of last week about Transgender treatments in simpler terms.....
Hilary Cass is the kind of hero the world needs today. She has entered one of the most toxic debates in our culture: how the medical community should respond to the growing numbers of young people who seek gender transition through medical treatments, including puberty blockers and hormone therapies. This month, after more than three years of research, Cass, a pediatrician, produced a report, commissioned by the National Health Service in England, that is remarkable for its empathy for people on all sides of this issue, for its humility in the face of complex social trends we don’t understand and for its intellectual integrity as we try to figure out which treatments actually work to serve those patients who are in distress. With incredible courage, she shows that careful scholarship can cut through debates that have been marked by vituperation and intimidation and possibly reset them on more rational grounds. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/18/opinion/transgender-carcassreport.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
4/. Although written a few years ago this British writer nails his description of the orange monster......
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. https://www.redlakenationnews.com/story/2019/10/21/features/british-writer-pens-the-best-description-of-trump-ive-read/84189.html
5/. Elon Musk is not as brilliant as he thinks he is.....and BTW all 5000 cybertrucks have been recalled!
What even is Tesla anymore? For about as long as the company has existed, Elon Musk’s car-manufacturing giant has been known for making luxury electric vehicles — big, expensive, fun cars that doubled as statement pieces about their owners. The brand should have reached its apex last year when the company finally released the Cybertruck, its nearly $100,000 Joe Rogan–proof moon buggy for crypto nerds. It was striking, the kind of futuristic design that Musk’s biggest fans would endlessly apologize for. And why not? It was fast, wild, and got a lot of attention.
But on Monday, just a few months after the Cybertruck launched, Tesla started retrenching.
6/. On Taylor Swift's new album she has a song "Florida", and the lyrics are, let's say less than complimentary to this state.....
Turn it up!
7/. Most interesting column from the Times on the differences in Evangelical Christians.....not all of them are MAGA, but most.....
I’m afraid that an exit poll question has confused America.
Every four years, voters are asked, “Are you a white evangelical or born-again Christian?” And every time, voters from a broad range of Protestant Christian traditions say yes, compressing a diverse religious community into a single, unified mass.
It’s not that the question is misleading. People who answer yes do represent a coherent political movement. Not only do they vote overwhelmingly for Republicans; they’re also quite distinct from other American political groups in their views on a host of issues, including on disputes regarding race, immigration and the Covid vaccines.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/21/opinion/christianity-fundamentalist-evangelical-pentacostal.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
8/. Bill Maher with a "New Rule", on exploitation of kids.....averagely funny, more like comedic reporting....
9/. I don't think there is any question that in November Republicans at Trump's urging will do anything to win, including cheating and ruthless
suppression of the vote. Are we ready for this?
A scary analysis from Thom Hartmann of how they are getting ready to get Trump back in, no matter what the votes are...
Republicans know most Americans aren’t fans of tax cuts for billionaires, more pollution, deregulation of polluting industries, high-priced drugs, privatizing Medicare, ending Social Security, criminalizing abortion and birth control, student debt, hating on Black and queer people, and the GOP’s war on unions and working people.
So, to win elections across the country this fall and secure the White House for Donald Trump, they’re removing millions of mostly Black and Brown voters from the rolls. This started in a big way with Georgia and Texas, but the practice has now metastasized to nearly 30 Republican-controlled states across the country.
https://hartmannreport.com/p/can-voter-suppression-hand-the-2024-a65?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=302288&post_id=143586869&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=2cwgv&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
11/. Interesting - 7 underrated Costco products....
12/. Hope you don't get paywalled by The Atlantic, but a rather sad review of the Icon Of The Seas, the new monster from Royal Caribbean.
It's a sad review because the guy they sent to take the cruise was incapable of enjoying the experience......
It's an interesting read, and it illustrates Cruising Rule #1 - never go alone....
my first glimpse of Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas, from the window of an approaching Miami cab, brings on a feeling of vertigo, nausea, amazement, and distress. I shut my eyes in defense, as my brain tells my optic nerve to try again.
The ship makes no sense, vertically or horizontally. It makes no sense on sea, or on land, or in outer space. It looks like a hodgepodge of domes and minarets, tubes and canopies, like Istanbul had it been designed by idiots. Vibrant, oversignifying colors are stacked upon other such colors, decks perched over still more decks; the only comfort is a row of lifeboats ringing its perimeter. There is no imposed order, no cogent thought, and, for those who do not harbor a totalitarian sense of gigantomania, no visual mercy. This is the biggest cruise ship ever built, and I have been tasked with witnessing its inaugural voyage https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/05/royal-caribbean-cruise-ship-icon-of-seas/677838/?utm_medium=cr&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=04_13_2024_tta_shteyngart_engaged_prospects_medium_subject_line_10_10_80_winner&utm_content=Final&utm_term=prospects_expires_cancels_45_day_engagement
13/. Tom Tomorrow on just about every right wing talking head......
14/ Bob Lefsetz on Taylor Swift, the music business and TikTok....
She’s not going to sacrifice her new album, she’s not going to shoot herself in the foot, in a world where it’s nearly impossible to reach everybody you don’t want restrictions, you want the advantage of every outlet of distribution and promotion possible.
But Taylor Swift, as a result of her success, has a unique deal. The rest of the Universal artists? They’re working on Maggie’s Farm, and most won’t say anything for fear the company will stop promoting them.
Now Swift stood up for artists against streaming services. But those are distributors, not the label itself. She ain’t gonna piss on Universal. Sure, she pissed on Big Machine, but that was after the fact.
So, Swift has earned her freedom, all the rest of the Universal acts are indentured slaves.
15/. This looks......words fail me....
"Fallout", an apocalyptic adventure.....
The scream was just right — bloodcurdling, if also very funny — and the practical effects crew had finally found the proper volume and trajectory of the water cannon. The idea was to film what might happen if you ripped a man from the throat of a mutant salamander, exploding its guts like a giant water balloon.
All that remained was to decide what color of bile to slather on the actor (Johnny Pemberton) and on the salamander’s many teeth, which nuclear radiation had transformed into rows of humanlike fingers.
Based on observations made during a visit to the Brooklyn set of “Fallout” in early 2023, Amazon had spared no expense to make the show, the latest genre-bending series from Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, the creators of “Westworld.” So it was no surprise when Nolan, on set to direct that chilly afternoon, was presented with not one but some half-dozen buckets of bile to choose from, in a variety of revolting hues. He settled on a pukey pinkish yellow.
Today's wine tasting joke
At a winery, the regular taster died and the director started looking for a new one to hire.
A drunkard with a ragged, dirty look came in to apply for the position.
The director of the winery wondered how to send him away.
He gave him a glass to drink.
The drunk tried it and said: 'It's a Muscat , three years old, grown on a north slope, matured in steel containers. Low grade, but acceptable.'
"That's correct", said the boss.
Another glass....
This is a Cabernet, eight years old, a south-western slope, oak barrels, matured at 8 degrees.
Requires three more years for finest results'
"Correct."
A third glass...
"It's a Pinot Blanc Champagne , high grade and exclusive,'' the drunk said calmly.
The director was astonished.
He winked at his secretary, secretly suggesting something.
She left the room, and came back in with a glass of urine.
The alcoholic tried it.
"It's a blonde, 26 years old, three months pregnant and if I don't get the job I'll name the father."
Today's puns.....
PUNITIVE PUNS AND WORD PLAY
1. The fattest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.
2. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian.
3. She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still. 4. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because it was a weapon of math disruption.
5. No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.
6. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.
7. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart
8. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.
9. A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it.
10. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
11. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.
12. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other: 'You stay here; I'll go on ahead.'
13. I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.
14. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: 'Keep off the Grass.'
15. The midget fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.
16. The soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.
17. A backward poet writes inverse.
18. In a democracy it's your vote that counts. In feudalism, it's your count that votes.
19. When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.
20. If you jumped off the bridge in Paris, you'd be in Seine.
21. A vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons. The stewardess looks at him and says, 'I'm sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed per passenger.'
22. Two fish swim into a concrete wall. One turns to the other and says 'Dam!'
23. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft. Unsurprisingly it sank, proving once again that you can't have your kayak and heat it too.
24. Two hydrogen atoms meet. One says, 'I've lost my electron.’ The other says 'Are you sure?’ The first replies, 'Yes, I'm positive.’
25. Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocain during a root canal? His goal: transcend dental medication.
26. There was the person who sent ten puns to friends, with the hope that at least one of the puns would make them laugh. No pun in ten did.”
Today's pet store joke
Sadie goes into a pet shop, immediately spotting a large colourful parrot.
The price tag is $5.00. "Why so little, sir?," she asks.
The owner looks at her, says, "Look, Lady, I gotta tell ya - this bird used to live in a house of ill repute, so ta speak - and sometimes says some fairly vulga stuff."
The woman thinks about it, deciding she just has to have the bird anyway and takes it home, puts the bird cage in the living room waiting for it to say something.
The bird slowly looks around the room, then at her and says, "New house, new madam." The woman is just shocked at the implication but thinks, "Gee, that's not really so bad."
Her two teenage daughters return from school and the bird sees them come in and says, "New house, new madam, new girls."
They are a just a little bit offended - then begin to laugh about the situation.
A bit later Sadies husband Morris comes home from the pub. The bird looks at him and says, "Hi, Morris."
Today's joke for guys
The other night I was invited out for a night with the “girls".
I told my husband that I would be home by midnight, “I promise!”
As time went by, the hours flew and the margaritas disappeared far too quickly.
Around 3 a.m., a bit loaded, I headed for home.
Just as I got in the door, the cuckoo clock in the hallway started up and cuckooed 3 times.
Quickly, realising my husband would probably wake up, I cuckooed another 9 times.
I was really proud of myself for coming up with such a quick-witted solution, in order to escape a possible conflict with him. (Even when totally smashed… 3 cuckoos plus 9 cuckoos totals 12 cuckoos= MIDNIGHT!)
The next morning my husband asked me what time I got in, I told him “MIDNIGHT”…. he didn’t seem pissed off in the least.
Whew, I got away with that one!
Then he said “We need a new cuckoo clock.”
When I asked him why, he said, “Well, last night our clock cuckooed three times, then said “oh shit”
Cuckooed 4 more times, cleared its throat, cuckooed another three times, giggled, cuckooed twice more, and then tripped over the coffee table and farted.
Today's rabbi joke
Moshe goes to see his rabbi and asks, "Rebe, if you had a choice between having five million dollars or five lovely daughters, what would you choose?"
Without a second's hesitation, the rabbi replies, "That's an easy question, Moshe, I'd choose five daughters."
"So Rebe, why would you choose having five daughters?" asks Moshe.
"That's an easy choice for me, Moshe," replies the rabbi, "I already have eight daughters.
