1/. Andrew Sullivan on how to cope with Trump 2.0......
“It’s so sad to watch our new Government slowly dismantling all the Freedoms we have been fighting for and WON over the years,” tweeted Madonna, summing up much of the vibe in deep-blue America this week. She didn’t specify which freedoms, of course, but no one will mind. Her point was, to many, an obvious one: this democratically elected president is doing exactly what he said he’d do. And that is the end of democracy! For ten years now, the resistance has echoed Madonna, and opposed Trump as a fascist, racist, un-American harbinger of democratic collapse. That ended up as Kamala Harris’ final argument in 2024. And in 2025 … it’s exactly the same! The DNC tweets that Trump is “Rolling back 60 years of progress on civil rights.” Top Dems are bringing in psychologists to cope with Trump’s “authoritarian behavior.” Turn on MSNBC — and it is forever 2017. Nicolle Wallace and Joy Reid are still trotting out Hitler comparisons — though this time, on Holocaust Remembrance Day. Trump is still putting non-whites in cages — though this time, it’s federal workers.
2/. But it's going to be difficult to follow Sullivans advice....
Heather Cox Richardson explains exactly what Trump and his cabal are up to this week......
During the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump distanced himself from Project 2025, a plan for a second Trump term prepared by a number of right-wing institutions led by the Heritage Foundation. The plan called for dismantling the nonpartisan civil service and replacing it with officers loyal to an extraordinarily strong executive. It called for that strong executive to take control of the Department of Justice and the military and then, once firmly in power, to impose Christian nationalism on the country.
The members of the Heritage Foundation who wrote Project 2025 are closely aligned with Hungarian president Victor Orbán’s Danube Institute, and their plan looks much like his erosion of democracy to create a dictatorship that enforces white male Christian patriarchy. On Monday, Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times reflected on the influence of Hungary on the American right wing, posting: “it has always been wild to me that the model these guys have for the united states is a country that would rival mississippi for poorest state if it became part of this country.” https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/january-28-2025?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=20533&post_id=155990347&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=2cwgv&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
3/. Boy I wish this was funny....
4/. And following on from #2 Heather tells us of the disaster that is Musk, and what he is doing.
This is really really disturbing....
Billionaire Elon Musk’s team yesterday took control of the Treasury’s payment system, thus essentially gaining access to the checkbook with which the United States handles about $6 trillion annually and to all the financial information of Americans and American businesses with it. Apparently, it did not stop there.
Today Ellen Knickmeyer of the Associated Press reported that yesterday two top security officials from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) tried to stop people associated with Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, from accessing classified information they did not have security clearance to see. The Trump administration put the officials on leave, and the DOGE team gained access to the information.
Vittoria Elliott of Wired has identified those associated with Musk’s takeover as six “engineers who are barely out of—and in at least one case, purportedly still in—college.” They are connected either to Musk or to his long-time associate Peter Thiel, who backed J.D. Vance’s Senate run eighteen months before he became Trump’s vice presidential running mate. Their names are Akash Bobba, Edward Coristine, Luke Farritor, Gautier Cole Killian, Gavin Kliger, and Ethan Shaotran, and they have little to no experience in government. https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/february-2-2025?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=20533&post_id=156354706&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=2cwgv&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
5/. Bob Lefsetz nails it......this should be read by every Democrat......
Can the Democrats admit they lost?
Can they stop blaming the election of Trump on THOSE people, continue to refuse to accept any responsibility for his election?
I don’t want to talk to one more Democrat who wants to explain away perception. That really, most people are not woke, that trans… This never works, never mind living in a world where facts are secondary to feelings. Remember when Biden tried to convince the public that the economy was good, that didn’t work, you can’t explain away my shock at grocery store prices with a chart.
This election was a realignment…
You can no longer cancel someone for using the wrong pronouns. You can no longer assume trans women can compete in sports with biological women. You can no longer stake your claim on DEI. That ship has sailed. I’m not saying these are not important issues, they’re just not the MAIN issues. Instead of being fearful of offending someone, the Democrats have to unite the troops and march forward.
And so far they are doing nothing of the sort.
6/. His Canadian and Mexican tariffs have already backfired.....
7/. Per Lefsetz above, this is Stephen A Smith on the Bill Maher show......excellent. One minute....
Actually, if you have HBO, watch the entire show, one of his best for a long time.
The panel discussion is especially intelligent, with Stephen A Smith making all kinds of sense.
And he's a sports commentator, mostly the NBA....
8/. Fox News - reminds us all of the book "1984"
9/. Like many of you we haven't watched Cable at all since November......just can't stand it.
However this story says give Rachel another chance.....she is now on every weekday.....
On Monday, when MSNBC’s cameras cut back to the studio directly after Donald Trump’s second inaugural speech, our first glimpse was of an exhausted-looking Rachel Maddow. It’s hard to recall what she said, but her face was unforgettable – she wore the countenance of someone ready to go full Rip Van Winkle and check out for a century. (Stars: they're just like us!)
Maddow, the host of “The Rachel Maddow Show” is in the same boat as everyone else in the United States, maybe in a worse position depending on how far the Leader decides to take his vengeance threats.
On CNN, as media analyst Oliver Darcy noted in his Status newsletter, an extremely muted version of Jake Tapper described the ceremonial proceedings without mentioning that the current president is a twice-impeached convicted felon.
10/. Tom Tomorrow on the return of the king.....
11/. Andrew Sullivan with a blog you will either quietly agree with, or vehemently hate....
This is a "we report, you decide" story......
To say I have conflicted feelings after a week or so of Trump’s return to power would be an understatement. Some of his early decisions remind me why I couldn’t vote for him. His decision to pardon even those among the J6 mob who assaulted cops jibes with his own instinctual love of vigilante justice against anyone in his way. That’s why his egregious withdrawal of security detail from John Bolton and Mike Pompeo is so instructive. Trump is no longer fond of these men, so he has all but invited a foreign hostile government to murder them. His embrace of anti-police vigilanteism at home is matched by his removal of sanctions on the violent settlers in the West Bank this week. He’s a thug who loves thugs. But for all this, a large part of me is exhilarated by this first week. Yes, exhilarated. Liberated even. I wasn’t quite expecting this, but I can’t deny it. I suddenly feel more oxygen in the air as the woke authoritarianism of the last four years begins finally to lift. And let me put the core reason for this exhilaration as simply as I can. On the central questions of immigration and identity politics, what Trump is proposing is simply a return to common sense — a reflection of the sane views of the vast majority of Americans, who support secure borders and oppose unfairness in sports and medical experiments on children. My conservative soul is glad.
12/. Corporate media? Already happening.....
13/. When your Republican relatives say "if there's global warming, then why is it so cold"?
Feed them the gist of this story......the collapsing polar vortex.....
The unusual gust of frigid air extending down from the North Pole has brought the first-ever blizzard warning to southern Louisiana and grounded flights in Houston. The cold spell could blast the country with heavy snowfall from the Northeast down to the Gulf Coast this week.
What’s responsible for the sudden chill? The polar vortex. And it might be acting strangely because of climate change, though not all researchers agree.
The polar vortex is a large, whirling mass of cold air that usually extends across the Arctic. It becomes stronger in the winter, when the Northern Hemisphere leans away from the sun. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/21/climate/why-is-the-south-so-cold-right-now.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
14/. A Trunk Monkey compilation......some new ones too! Most amusing......
15/. Tom Tomorrow with an amusing one today.....
16/. Florida is doomed......and the picture is NOT Kimberly Guilfoyle
Today, the State Executive Committee of the Florida Democratic Party met to elect new officers for the next four years. With 78% of votes cast on the first ballot, Nikki Fried has been re-elected Chair of the Florida Democratic Party.
“I’m honored to serve another term as Chair of the Florida Democratic Party,” said FDP Chair Nikki Fried. “I thank the members of the State Executive Committee for the faith they have placed in me to continue to lead the Florida Democratic Party. Over the next four years, Florida Democrats will continue to organize, mobilize and hold Republicans accountable. We’ll focus on winning local races, push our state legislators to pass policies that support hard-working Floridians and make our state more affordable for all, and stand up to Republicans in Washington who want to take Florida’s extreme policies nationwide. We’re just getting started, and we won’t back down.”
17/. Want to see what AI can do?
Watch this amazing video.....the future.....or is it the past?
18/. Bob Lefsetz on a new show on Hulu - "Paradise"......
We are watching it - it's really good!
Are you watching this Hulu show “Paradise”?
I take notice of the volume of hype. If a show is reviewed everywhere, that means the producer/distributor has a lot invested in it, and I need to pay a modicum of attention.
I usually look at the last paragraph of the review. And maybe the first. Oftentimes that’s all you need to tell you whether it’s the worth the investment of your time. And if I’m getting a good feeling, I’ll go to RottenTomatoes for the ratings…well, oftentimes the foreign shows don’t even have ratings, but if it’s a popular American production, you’ll see numbers right away, which can fluctuate, up or down, but right this very second “Paradise” has a 79/80, and you know my threshold is 80, so…
19/. The Times rates the best movies on Amazon......
As Netflix pours more of its resources into original content, Amazon Prime Video is picking up the slack, adding new movies for its subscribers each month. Its catalog has grown so impressive, in fact, that it’s a bit overwhelming — and at the same time, movies that are included with a Prime subscription regularly change status, becoming available only for rental or purchase. It’s a lot to sift through, so we’ve plucked out 100 of the absolute best movies included with a Prime subscription right now, to be updated as new information is made available. https://www.nytimes.com/article/best-movies-amazon-prime.html
20/. Vanity Fair gives us the best TV and movies coming in February.....
There’s a lot to love on Netflix in the month of February, which brings a mix of time-honored classics and brand-new titles to the platform. Beloved romantic comedies like Miss Congeniality and The Wedding Planner make their arrivals, as do a new film from Amy Schumer, February 5’s Kinda Pregnant, and a fresh release from Mean Girls director Mark Waters, La Dolce Villa, out on the 13th.
21/. This looks good! "Prime Target".....
Leo Woodall is the first to admit that he doesn’t know a lot about math.
In the new mini-series “Prime Target,” streaming on Apple TV+, the 28-year-old British actor stars as Edward Brooks, a graduate student in mathematics at Cambridge whose visionary work places him in the cross hairs of a shadowy government agency. When he isn’t on the run, Brooks spends much of his time jotting down arcane equations and scrawling algebra on chalkboards — “not a single lick of which did I understand,” Woodall admitted with a laugh. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/22/arts/television/prime-target-leo-woodall.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
Today's church joke
The pastor asked if anyone in the congregation would like to express praise for answered prayers.
Suzie stood and walked to the podium.
She said, "I have a praise. Two months ago, my husband, Phil, had a terrible bicycle wreck and his scrotum was completely crushed.
The pain was excruciating and the doctors didn't know if they could help him."
You could hear a muffled gasp from the men in the congregation as they imagine the pain that poor Phil must have experienced.
"Phil was unable to hold me or the children," she went on, "and every move caused him terrible pain." We prayed as the doctors performed a delicate operation, and it turned out they were able to piece together the crushed remnants of Phil's scrotum, and wrap wire around it to hold it in place."
Again, the men in the congregation cringed and squirmed uncomfortably as they imagined the horrible surgery performed on Phil.
"Now," she announced in a quivering voice, "thank the Lord, Phil is out of the hospital and the doctors say that with time, his scrotum should recover completely."
All the men sighed with unified relief.
The pastor rose and tentatively asked if anyone else had something to say.
A man stood up and walked slowly to the podium.
He said, "I'm Phil." The entire congregation held its breath.
"I just want to tell my wife the word is sternum."
Today's lawyer joke
A lawyer married a woman who had previously divorced five husbands.
On their wedding night, she told her new husband, “Please be gentle, I’m still a virgin.”
“What?” said the puzzled groom. “How can that be if you’ve been married five times?”
“Well, Husband 1 was a sales representative; he kept telling me how great it was going to be.
Husband 2 was an engineer; he understood the basic process but wanted three years to research, implement, and design a new state-of-the-art method. Husband 3 was in marketing; although he had a nice product, he was never sure how to position it.
Husband 4 was a psychologist; all he ever did was talk about it.
Husband 5 was a stamp collector; all he ever did was… God! I miss him!
But now that I’ve married you, I’m really excited!"
“Good,” said the lawyer, “but why?”
“You’re a lawyer!” she replies. “This time I know I’m going to get screwed.”
Today's intelligent jokes
