!/. Thomas Edsall is a NYT columnist, and is quite wordy, but this column I found fascinating
because he nails Trump's behavior and psyche.
And yes, he is mentally unfit for anything.....we have a mad king running the country.....
President Trump is showing symptoms of an addiction to power, evident in his compulsion to escalate claims of dominion over domestic and international adversaries. The size and scope of his targets for subjugation are spiraling ever upward.
Trump began his second term with his administration clamping down on law firms and universities. More recently he has focused his sights on an entire country, Venezuela, with Cuba, Colombia and Greenland also high on his current list — not to mention his claim to the Western Hemisphere in the 2025 National Security Strategy: “After years of neglect, the United States will reassert and enforce the Monroe Doctrine to restore American pre-eminence in the Western Hemisphere, and to protect our homeland and our access to key geographies throughout the region.” https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/13/opinion/trump-presidential-power-addiction.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
2/. From the desk of the real Presidents.....
3/. Ross Barkan in New York Magazine on the Democrats hiding their autopsy report.....
The report is still buried, Kamala has written a book and floated the idea of another Presidential run.....
These are no longer such dark times for the Democratic Party. Donald Trump’s rank incompetence and the economy’s stubborn inflation have handed Democrats an obvious opening. Almost every election result in November was good for them, and Republicans no longer seem to have the upper hand in the gerrymandering wars. All signs point to a brutal midterm for the GOP: It’s the party in power, and Trump is not popular. Barring a remarkable shift in the national mood and the dynamics underlying modern American politics, Republicans will lose control of the House. They’ll probably keep the Senate because Democrats have lost so much ground in rural states, but a flip of the upper chamber is no longer beyond the realm of possibility.
4/. In case you missed it, here is the [one-way] Weekend Update joke swap...really bad this year.....2 minutes....
5/. And our spineless media does nothing.....
6/. Historian Heather Cox Richardson reminds us of the events of the last five years....
Worth reading, you've probably suppressed most of these memories....
A wonderful perspective, you have probably forgotten a lot of the outrages they [and he] have done.....
Five years ago, on January 6, 2021, more than 2,000 rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol to try to stop the process of counting the electoral votes that would make Democrat Joe Biden president of the United States. They tried to hunt down House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and chanted their intention to “Hang Mike Pence,” the vice president. They fantasized that they were following in the footsteps of the American Founders, about to start a new nation. Newly elected representative Lauren Boebert (R-CO) wrote on January 5, 2021: “Remember these next 48 hours. These are some of the most important days in American history.” On January 6 she wrote: “Today is 1776.” https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/january-5-2026-monday?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=20533&post_id=183645083&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=2cwgv&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
7/. Tom Tomorrow looks at 2026.....
8/. The curse of history is that nobody learns from it.....
Think back to 9/ll, when NATO mobilized to go into Afghanistan after Osama Bin Laden arranged for some flight attacks. There really wasn’t a need for a war. There was a need to go after the man and stop him from doing the kind of things he did.
Remember when Bush decided that Iraq must be invaded as well, and when Hillary Clinton voted for that war? Remember when most of America agreed that Iraq must go? The rest of the world didn’t.
I was in London at the time. Parliament voted not to assist America. Tony Blair said yes — he subsequently lost his premiership and remains one of the most hated people in the UK .https://tessaschlesinger.medium.com/the-enshittification-of-america-in-2026-fbfc4f650458
9/. How do MAGA stay as stupid as we think they are......Jimmy Kimmel has the answer......
10/. Bob Lefsetz on Venezuela, and what's coming down the pike.....
This lunatic's cruelties are coming to middle class America.....like the ICE thug that shot the lady in Minneapolis......
What now?
The problem with getting old is you’ve seen this movie before. Even though America reveres youth, with Boomers and Gen-X’ers getting plastic surgery in order to look like their children, as if they are truly fooling anybody, there are many benefits to getting old, other than being closer to death and possible frailty old age is a golden era, one of happiness (this has been well-documented) and one of wisdom.
But no one gives a sh*t about what old people have to say.
Now my head is spinning because this is exactly what us oldsters protested against for decades, involvement in foreign wars, messing with foreign governments, regime change. And what is even more confounding is that Trump ran on a doctrine of America First, isolating our nation from the rest of the world, stopping our investments elsewhere, just focusing on the U.S. Saving money and taking care of our brethren all at the same time. https://lefsetz.com/wordpress/2026/01/03/venezuela/
11/. And speaking of Venezuela.......
12/. This is an influencer-ish mini tour of Mount Dora......you can see who paid up! One minute.....
13/. Dementia Don and the real President.....
14/. Watching CBS News? You are seeing what the billionaire class want you to see.....
15/. A MAGA queen hits a bump in the road.
One hundred days ago, Miriam Adelson was on top of the world. The billionaire and far-right mega-donor was in the Capitol Rotunda, dressed in an all-white version of a Sgt. Pepper’s coat and her signature round sunglasses, standing next to Laura Bush and Barack Obama, watching her chosen candidate, the man she had spent more than $100 million on, be sworn in as president. Her basketball team, the Dallas Mavericks, was fresh off of a run to the NBA finals, thanks to Luka Dončić, the league’s most talented young superstar. Las Vegas Sands, the gambling company founded by her late husband and fellow kingmaker Sheldon Adelson, was making slow progress toward its long-term goal of building a casino about 20 minutes’ drive from the squad’s home court. Perhaps most exciting, at least from a pure profit perspective, was the firm’s potential to land a license to operate a casino on Long Island, just outside of New York City, widely believed to be the one of the most lucrative untapped gambling markets on the planet. If Sands could secure it, the MAGA queen would have a cash register that would never stop ringing. Of course she was happy. But that was 100 days ago.
16/. Think you've got a fair shot at a decent life? Think again........
17/. Something is brewing in Russia's far East and Siberia.....China is moving in!
The Russia-Ukraine war is now almost four years old, yet Russia has not gained anything from Ukraine that it can proudly say, “Yes, we have won.”Instead, these days, Russia is trying to put international pressure on Ukraine.
Anyway, if we keep the Ukraine war aside, the one who has gained the most from this war is China — something I have talked about many times before.
From the Ukraine war, China has clearly understood one thing: Russia’s military is not as powerful as Moscow shows to the world, and the people of Russia’s Far East and western regions do not have any special attachment to Moscow.
18/. In our area they are building like crazy, but it's mostly rental apartments and cookie cutter houses.
Thom Hartmann on the rental economy.
The billionaire class don't want the young to own anything - they want renters they can control.
Yesterday, both Trump and his Secretary of Housing and Urban Development told usthat 50-year home mortgages may soon be a thing. While seemingly insane (you could end up paying more than three times the cost of the house and never escape the burden of debt before you die), this is just the latest iteration of one of American businesses’ most profitable scams: the rental economy. It’s a growing threat to the American middle class that rarely gets named, even as it reshapes our lives every day. Over the past two decades, it’s snuck in quietly, disguised as convenience, efficiency, and “innovation.”
As a result, nothing is “ours” any more. Instead, we’re renting our lives away.
There was a time when you bought things. https://hartmannreport.com/p/nothing-is-ours-anymore-is-the-rental-32d?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=302288&post_id=182657660&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=2cwgv&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
19/. One of our alert readers sent this story from a Ft Wayne, Indiana newspaper.
Interesting story from a paper in a deep red state, but then again the Indiana State legislature refused to be bullied by Trump into gerrymandering......
I have not been to the meetings at 135 W. Main St. I do not know what kind of toasts are being made behind the closed doors of the Allen County Republican headquarters.
But I can tell you what I see on the streets of this county.
I see a leadership that has gone stone blind. https://www.journalgazette.net/opinion/columnists/public-can-no-longer-abide-local-republican-complicity/article_84adae6a-05f3-4e91-be6d-5093517b19fe.html
20/. The New Yorker rates the best movies of 2025.....
More than once, 2025 has struck me as a brilliant, dazzling year for movies and a terrible one for damn near everything else. Perhaps my working life as a critic has conditioned me into such a response; the movies have long been not just my cultural sustenance but also a personal wellspring of sanity. I don’t know how to reconcile my unfashionable optimism about the state of the medium—my sense that I saw more good and even great movies this year, from all over the world, than I have in any year since the pandemic—with the dismal box-office reports, the rumors of impending studio mergers, and various other doomsday laments that have dominated Hollywood headlines. As we prepare to ring in a new year of moviegoing, the best encouragement I can offer is to shrug and note that art finds a way .https://www.newyorker.com/culture/2025-in-review/the-best-films-of-2025
21/. You missed these! This year's TV.....
From the most beautiful show Netflix has ever made to a thriller about a menopausal hitwoman and a dazzling documentary set in outer space, here are some TV gems that may have passed you by this year
22/ The first series of the Night Manager was amazing......series 2 sounds pretty good too.....
Prime Video this week......
Finesse was the selling point of The Night Manager when it debuted in 2016. It was a class above other spy thrillers, setting itself among moneyed elites – rotten ones, but elites nonetheless – and furnishing itself with luxury locations. In Tom Hiddleston it had a lead with a reputation that signalled that the often tacky espionage genre was looking to improve itself. Based on a book by John le Carré and airing on the BBC in the dying days of the era when that carried heavyweight global cachet, its pedigree was impeccable.
A large part of the rarefied atmosphere the series created, though, was in being one and done: it swept in, won a ton of awards, then swooshed away, leaving behind a delicate waft of something impossibly exclusive. Lesser shows would have hastily cashed in with an inferior second season, but The Night Manager could not be so vulgar. https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/jan/01/the-night-manager-review-tom-hiddleston-john-le-carre-bbc-one-iplayer-prime-video?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Today's Navy joke
A US Navy cruiser anchored in Mississippi for a week's shore leave.
The first evening, the ship's Captain received the following note from the wife of a very wealthy and influential plantation owner:
'Dear Captain, Thursday will be my daughter's Debutante Ball. I would like you to send three well-mannered, handsome, unmarried officers in their formal dress uniforms to attend the dance.
They should arrive promptly at 8:00 PM prepared for an evening of polite Southern conversation.
They should be excellent dancers, as they will be the escorts of lovely refined young ladies. One last point: No Jews please.'
Sending a written message, the captain replied:
'Madam, thank you for your invitation. In order to present the widest possible knowledge base for polite conversation, I am sending three of my best and most prized officers.
One is a lieutenant commander, and a graduate of Annapolis with an additional Masters degree from MIT in fluid technologies and ship design.
The second is a Lieutenant, one of our helicopter pilots, and a graduate of Northwestern university in Chicago, with a BS in Aeronautical Engineering.
His Masters Degree and PhD. In Aeronautical and Mechanical Engineering are from Texas Tech University and he is also an astronaut candidate.
Finally, the third officer, also a lieutenant commander, is our ship's doctor, with an undergraduate degree from the University of Georgia and his medical degree is from the University of North Carolina .
We are very proud of him, as he is also a senior fellow in Trauma Surgery at Bethesda .'
Upon receiving this letter, the mother was quite excited and looked forward to Thursday with pleasure.
Her daughter would be escorted by three handsome naval officers (and the other women in her social circle would be insanely jealous).
At precisely 8:00 PM on Thursday, Melinda's mother heard a polite rap at the door which she opened to find, in full dress uniform, three very handsome,
smiling Black officers.
Her mouth fell open, but pulling herself together, she stammered, 'There must be some mistake.'
'No, Madam,' said the first officer, 'Captain Goldberg never makes mistakes.'
Today's HR joke
Jennifer, a manager at a local Aldi. store, had the task of hiring someone to fill a job opening.
After sorting through a stack of resumes she found four people who were equally qualified.
Jennifer decided to call the four in and ask them only one question. Their answer would determine which of them would get the job.*
The day came and as the four sat around the conference room table, Jennifer asked, 'What is the fastest thing you know of?' The first man replied, 'A THOUGHT.' It just pops into your head. There's no warning.
'That's very good!' replied Jennifer. 'And, now you sir?', she asked the second man.
'Hmmm...let me see 'A blink! It comes and goes and you don't know that it ever happened. A BLINK is the fastest thing I know of.'
'Excellent!' said Jennifer. 'The blink of an eye, that's a very popular cliché for speed.'
She then turned to the third man, who was contemplating his reply.
'Well, out at my dad's property, you step out of the house and on the wall there's a light switch.
When you flip that switch, way out across the pasture the light on the barn comes on in less than an instant.
'Yep, TURNING ON A LIGHT is the fastest thing I can think of'.
Jennifer was very impressed with the third answer and thought she had found her man. 'It 's hard to beat the speed of light,' she said.
Turning to Wally, the fourth and final man, Jennifer posed the same question.
Old Wally replied, 'After hearing the previous three answers, it's obvious to me that the fastest thing known is DIARRHOEA.'
'WHAT !?' said Jennifer, stunned by the response.
'Oh sure', said Wally. 'You see, the other day I wasn't feeling so good, and I ran for the bathroom, but before I could THINK, BLINK, or TURN ON THE LIGHT, I had already shit myself..'
Wally is now working at an Aldi near you!
At Friday night services, Morris went to his friend Irving and said, "I need a favor. I'm sleeping with the Rabbi's wife.
Can you hold him in the synagogue for an hour after services for me?"
Irving was not very fond of the idea, but being Morris' lifelong friend, he reluctantly agreed.
After services, he struck up a conversation with the Rabbi, asking him all sorts of stupid questions - just to keep him occupied.
After some time the wise Rabbi became suspicious and asked, "Irving what are you really up to?" Irving, filled with feelings of guilt and remorse confessed to the Rabbi, "I'm sorry, Rabbi.
My friend is sleeping with your wife right now, so he asked me to keep you occupied."
The Rabbi smiled, put a brotherly hand on Irving's shoulder and said, "You'd better hurry home, Irving. My wife died two years ago."
A Rabbi is walking slowly out of a Shul in New York when a gust of wind blows his hat down the street.
He is an old man with a cane and can't walk fast enough to catch his hat.
Across the street a man sees what has happened and rushes over to grab the hat and returns it to the Rabbi.
"I don't think I would have been able to catch my hat." the Rabbi says. "Thank you very much."
The Rabbi places his hand on his shoulder and says, "May God bless you." The young man thinks to himself, "I've been blessed by the Rabbi, this must be my lucky day!"
So he goes to the racetrack and in the first race he sees there is a horse named Stetson at 20 to 1.
He bets $50 and sure enough the horse comes in first.
In the second race he sees a horse named Fedora at 30 to 1 so he bets it all and this horse comes in first also.
Finally at the end of the day he returns home to his wife who asks him where he's been.
He explains how he caught the Rabbi's hat and was blessed by him and the went to the track and started winning on horses that had a hat in their names.
"So where's the money?" she says.
"I lost it all in the ninth race. I bet on a horse named Chateau and it lost."
"You fool!" she said, "Chateau is a house, Chapeau is a hat."
"It doesn't matter," he said, "the winner was some Japanese horse named Yamulka."
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