We start with an amusing quote from Gail Collins in the Times...
What do you think would happen, people, if an actual business had a C.E.O. this out of whack? Well we sort of know, since we’ve had an opportunity lately to watch Elon Musk. Making a disastrous attempt to take his car company, Tesla, private. Then giving an interview in which he cried, told reporters he’d been working up to 120 hours a week and had a special relationship with Ambien. Then doing a nearly three-hour live podcast interview during which he drank whisky, smoked a little weed and confided, “It’s hard to run companies, especially car companies.”
Who do you think is worse, Elon Musk or Donald Trump? Well, Trump doesn’t drink or do drugs. On the other hand, Elon Musk does not have access to nuclear weapons.
1/ Frank Rich on the news of this crazy week......
Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images
Most weeks, New York Magazine writer-at-large Frank Rich speaks with contributor Alex Carp about the biggest stories in politics and culture. Today, the meaning of Bob Woodward’s new book and the New York Times op-ed by an anonymous administration official, the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearings, and John McCain’s legacy.
Despite the depiction of a “nervous breakdown” of the American presidency — senior aides interfering with presidential duties and ignoring direct orders, claiming to protect Donald Trump from himself — in Bob Woodward’s new book and yesterday’s anonymous Times op-ed, the wider GOP has been slow to push back against either the claims or the president. Is the party betting that these revelations will blow over?
2/ Bill Maher tells Democrats to forgive Al Franken and get him back in the game.....an excellent 5 minutes....
On Friday night, Bill Maher called for a restoration of former Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) in order to defeat President Donald Trump in 2020.
Last year, Franken was swept up in by the #MeToo movement after multiple women accused him of inappropriate touching in various photo ops and ultimately resigned from the Senate.
Maher believes Trump’s “kryptonite” is “ridicule.”
“The one thing that gets under his skin, besides red dye #2, is being made fun of,” Maher said. “Remember how he seethed when Obamamade fun of him at the Correspondents Dinner? The hair on the back of his hair stood up, which was fascinating to watch since it’s been transplanted to the front of his head.”
3/ Andrew Sullivan with his take on Trumpworld, the Pope and LGBT rights in India....
If the author believes Trump is dangerously unhinged, why provoke him unnecessarily? Photo: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images
Is there anything we know now that we didn’t know, say, a month ago? Or a year ago? Or two years ago?
The Bob Woodward book has some astounding details — including evidence of outright subordination by senior officials — but in its essence, it’s just a much more reliable confirmation of the basic thrust of Michael Wolff’s picture of complete chaos and near-insanity in the cockpit of the world’s most powerful nation. The New York Times’ anonymous op-ed falls into the same camp. From the moment very early on when we learned about the content of the deranged conversation between the president and Malcolm Turnbull, then prime minister of Australia, we knew that people in the White House had leaked it, in both an astonishing betrayal of confidence, and a clear attempt to warn the country of the unique danger this unfit president poses. Almost all the excellent reporting of the last year and a half has also been fed by constant distress signals from within the White House, where grown-ups have had to contend with a psychologically disturbed, delusional, and hugely ignorant president, who has no capacity or willingness to learn.
4/ The Real Trump.....
5/ Seth Meyers with "A Closer Look".....a very good 9 minutes.....
This week, as members of the Trump administration anonymously trash the president both on The New York Times op-ed page and in Bob Woodward’s book Fear, Seth Meyers is throwing cold water on the notion that these so-called defenders of America should be considered heroes.
“Trump is being allowed to fill a lifetime seat to the nation’s highest court despite constant leaks about how dangerous and erratic he is,” the Late Night host said Thursday. Thanks to Woodward’s book, he added, we now know Trump is “as vulgar and petulant in private as he is in public.”
6/ Thomas Edsall with an insightful column about how the Koch Brothers have corrupted our government.....and don't believe for a minute the reports there is a split between them and Trump....
President Trump at a fundraiser in North Carolina last week.
President Trump and the Koch brothers have made it clear that they don’t like each other. Politically speaking, they are in fundamental disagreementover trade, tariffs and immigration.
Nonetheless, there is a functional Trump-Koch alliance, and the Republican Party has capitalized handsomely on it. Trump’s racially freighted, anti-immigrant rhetoric has been essential to persuading white voters to agree to Republicans’ long-sought tax and regulatory policies. These policies are inimical or irrelevant to the interests of low- and moderate-income Americans. They have been promulgated by the Trump administration, but many of them have been meticulously prepared and pack
7/ Jimmy Kimmel is now convinced the Op-Ed leaker is Jared - whether he's right or not some wonderful zingers along the way! Five minutes....
Jimmy Kimmel has jumped ship from the conspiracy theory that Vice President Mike Pence was behind the scathing New York Times op-ed that trashed President Donald Trump.
Yesterday, Kimmel pointed out the speculation that went viral that Pence was the author who penned the op-ed for its use of the word “lodestar,” something the vice president has been heard saying in public quite often. But Pence’s strong denial seems to have convinced the comedian that someone else was the culprit.
Kimmel then sided with Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and his suggestion for everyone in the White House to take a lie detector test.
8/ Coming soon.....
9/ Paul Krugman says Kavanaugh will destroy our Republic, and he's probably right....
Judge Brett Kavanaugh holding a copy of the Constitution
At a fundamental level, the attempt to jam Brett Kavanaugh onto the Supreme Court closely resembles the way Republicans passed a tax cut last year. Once again we see a rushed, nakedly partisan process, with G.O.P. leaders withholding much of the information that’s supposed to go into congressional deliberations. Once again the outcome is all too likely to rest on pure tribalism: Unless some Republicans develop a very late case of conscience, they will vote along party lines with the full knowledge that they’re abdicating their constitutional duty to provide advice and consent.
True, Kavanaugh is at least getting a hearing, which the tax bill never did. But he’s bobbing and weaving his way through, refusing to answer even straightforward questions, displaying an evasiveness utterly at odds with the probity we used to expect of Supreme Court justices.
10/ Trevor Noah and the Nike Kaepernick ad.....five pretty decent minutes....
The Daily Show‘s Trevor Noah poked fun at conservatives who are burning their Nikes after the sneaker empire chose protesting quarterback Colin Kaepernick as the face of their new “Just Do It” campaign.
The poster featuring Kaepernick – which reads “Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything” – had Fox News pundits and their ilk furious at Nike. According to Noah, they have been burning their sneaks and ripping off logos on their clothes in protest.
“Wow, people are so angry they’re burning their own shoes,” Noah opined. “You realize Nike already has your money, right? You’re only hurting yourself.
11/ Michelle Goldberg with an excellent column about the alleged Trump "resistance".....and how it's actually making him stronger.....
Judge Brett Kavanaugh, seen at his Supreme Court confirmation hearing, has wide support from Republicans — even those who privately think President Trump is unfit
On Wednesday, the second day of Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing, Senator Kamala Harris, Democrat of California, asked him a straightforward question about Robert Mueller, the special counsel. “Have you discussed Mueller or his investigation with anyone at Kasowitz Benson and Torres, the law firm founded by Marc Kasowitz, President Trump’s personal lawyer?” Harris asked.
Kavanaugh stumbled. He repeated the firm’s name as if he wasn’t sure he’d ever heard it before. He told Harris he didn’t know everyone who works there, and asked her, in several different ways, who she was thinking of. “I think you’re thinking of someone and you don’t want to tell us,” said Harris, a former prosecutor. “Who did you have a conversation with?” Throughout the exchange, which continued for several minutes, Kavanaugh was evasive.
12/ Bill Maher with his opener Friday......six amusing minutes....
Bill Maher broke down the reality of what the last week has probably meant to President Donald Trump on Friday’s broadcast of “Real Time.”
Maher said the revelation that anonymous White House sources contributed to journalist Bob Woodward’s new tell-all book Fear: Trump in the White House, along with a senior official’s purported penning of a critical New York Times op-ed on Trump showed “this is the week that Trump found out that everyone hates him.”
“I don’t mean people like me,” added Maher, who has been a fierce critic of the commander in chief for years. “I mean the people who work for him.”
13/ A review of Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 11/9".....they really like it despite it's unevenness....
Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 11/9 opens with the word “Hillary.” It ends in silence. The in-between includes Hitler and Rashida Tlaib, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder and West Virginia high school teachers, Bernie Sanders and The New York Times.
It’s a surprise to report that a lot of the film, which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last night, catches you by surprise—not only because of the deja vu didacticism of so many contemporary political docs, but also because, by now, we think we know Moore’s shtick. Even Trump seemed to have an inkling as to what he would look like under Moore’s microscope: Back in 1998, on The Roseanne Show, Trump allegedly praised Moore’s work before expressing his hope that Moore never make one on him.
Trailer for Fahrenheit 11/9...
14/ A Rolling Stone review of "A Star Is Born", with Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga......looks like a must see movie.....wonderful review! And in case you hadn't noticed [being blinded by her costumes], Lady Gaga has an amazing voice....
You can probably think of a few cover versions of songs off the top of your head that you like as much as, or maybe more, than the originals: There are the obvious ones, and the obscure ones, and the velvet-roped V.I.P. section reserved for “Hallelujah” and Dylan’s b
Trailer for "A Star Is Born"....
Todays funny video - a guy thing! One minute....
Todays religious joke
A few minutes before the church services started, the congregation was sitting in their pews and talking.Suddenly, Satan appeared at the front of the church.Everyone started screaming and running for the front entrance, trampling each other in a frantic effort to get away from evil incarnate.Soon the church was empty except for one elderly cowboy who sat calmly in his pew without moving, seemingly oblivious to the fact that God's ultimate enemy was in his presence..So Satan walked up to the man and said, 'Do you know who I am?'The old cowboy replied, 'Yep, sure do.''Aren't you afraid of me?' Satan asked.'Nope, sure ain't.' said the cowboy.'Don't you realize I can kill you with one word?' asked Satan.'Don't doubt it for a minute,' returned the old man, in an even tone.'Did you know that I can cause you profound, horrifying AGONY for all eternity?' persisted Satan.'Yep,' was the calm reply.'And you are still not afraid?' asked Satan.'Nope,' said the old cowboy.More than a little perturbed, Satan asked, 'Why aren't you afraid of me?'
The old cowboy calmly replied, "been married to your sister for 45 years".
Todays infidelity joke
A housewife takes a lover during the day, while her husband is at work.
She's not aware that her 9 year old son was hiding in the closet during
their meetings.
Her husband comes home unexpectedly, so she shoved her lover in the
closet. The boy now has company.
Boy: "Dark in here."
Man: "Yes it is."
Boy: "I have a baseball."
Man: "That's nice."
Boy: "Want to buy it?"
Man: "No, thanks."
Boy: "My dad's outside."
Man: "OK, how much?"
Boy: "$250."
In the next few weeks, it happens again that the boy and the mom's
lover are in the closet together again.
Boy: "Dark in here."
Man: "Yes, it is."
Boy: "I have a baseball glove."
Man: "How much?"
Boy: "$750."
Man: "Fine."
A few days later, the father says to the boy,"Grab Your glove. Let's go
outside and toss the baseball!"
The boy says, "I can't. I sold them."
The father asks, "How much did you sell them for?"
The son says, "$1,000."
The father says, "That's terrible to overcharge your friends like that.
That is way more than those two things cost.
I'm going to take you to church and make you confess."
They go to church and the father alerts the priest and makes the little
boy sit in the confession booth and closes the door.
The boy says, "Dark in here."
The priest says, "Don't start that shit again...
She's not aware that her 9 year old son was hiding in the closet during
their meetings.
Her husband comes home unexpectedly, so she shoved her lover in the
closet. The boy now has company.
Boy: "Dark in here."
Man: "Yes it is."
Boy: "I have a baseball."
Man: "That's nice."
Boy: "Want to buy it?"
Man: "No, thanks."
Boy: "My dad's outside."
Man: "OK, how much?"
Boy: "$250."
In the next few weeks, it happens again that the boy and the mom's
lover are in the closet together again.
Boy: "Dark in here."
Man: "Yes, it is."
Boy: "I have a baseball glove."
Man: "How much?"
Boy: "$750."
Man: "Fine."
A few days later, the father says to the boy,"Grab Your glove. Let's go
outside and toss the baseball!"
The boy says, "I can't. I sold them."
The father asks, "How much did you sell them for?"
The son says, "$1,000."
The father says, "That's terrible to overcharge your friends like that.
That is way more than those two things cost.
I'm going to take you to church and make you confess."
They go to church and the father alerts the priest and makes the little
boy sit in the confession booth and closes the door.
The boy says, "Dark in here."
The priest says, "Don't start that shit again...
Todays art joke
A thief in Paris planned to steal some paintings from
the Louvre.
After careful planning, he got past security, stole the paintings, and made it safely to his van. However, he was captured only two blocks away when his van ran out of gas.
After careful planning, he got past security, stole the paintings, and made it safely to his van. However, he was captured only two blocks away when his van ran out of gas.
When asked how he could mastermind such a crime and then make such an obvious error, he replied, 'Monsieur, that is the reason I stole the paintings.'
I had no Monet
To buy Degas
To make the Van Gogh..
See if you have De Gaulle
to send this on to someone else.
I sent it to you because I figured I had nothing Toulouse.
