1/. How to get anything through the Senate will be a challenge - this is an interesting story - think small....
Don’t Chuck this up. Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Last week, Joe Biden proposed a $1.9 trillion COVID-relief package that included $350 billion in fiscal aid to states (or, as conservatives call it, “a blue-state bailout”) and a $15 federal minimum wage (or, as conservatives call it, “Stalinism”). The president-elect then declared his intention to pass this bill through Congress on a bipartisan basis.
2/. Bill Maher with a piece called "Hello Douchebags" where he welcomes the new crop of Republicans to the
House and Senate....a mildly amusing 6 minutes....
3/. Good column from Jamelle Bouie in the Times titled "We have to make the Republican Party less dangerous"....
In his Inaugural Address on Wednesday, Joe Biden said that after four years of Trumpian chaos — including two months of thrashing against the results of the election, culminating in an attack on the Capitol itself — “democracy” had “prevailed.” But it might have been better, if inappropriate to the moment, for the new president to have said that democracy had “survived.”
4/. If you ever wondered what a firework display with unlimited funds looks like, here it is.....and the bonus is the
lovely Katy Perry singing her hit song "Firework".....a wow....
5/. Ezra Klein in the Times telling Democrats not to blow it.....Joe, be bold....
President Biden takes office with a ticking clock. The Democrats’ margin in the House and Senate couldn’t be thinner, and midterms typically raze the governing party. That gives Democrats two years to govern. Two years to prove that the American political system can work. Two years to show Trumpism was an experiment that need not be repeated.
Two years.
This is the responsibility the Democratic majority must bear: If they fail or falter, they will open the door for Trumpism or something like it to return, and there is every reason to believe it will be far worse next time. To stop it, Democrats need to reimagine their role. They cannot merely defend the political system. They must rebuild it.
6/. So true....
7/. You have to watch Lady Gaga sing the Star Spangled Banner even if you saw it live....I've never heard it sung better....she is wonderful
What pipes - which reminds me to watch "A Star Is Born" again soon....
Marvel at her huge dove of peace pin, and for you nerds she has earpieces so she can hear the Band down below
live, which is at least a second ahead of her up there on the podium...
8/. The best story of the week is this one from David Leonhardt in the Times, that the vaccines for Covid work and that you have been fed misinformation about their effectiveness, albeit with the best of intentions.
Remember a year ago? When life was 'normal"? Get vaccinated and that life will gradually come back, so the message is whatever it takes, 5 hour lines, hovering over booking sites waiting to book a slot - it's worth it. For Lake County residents don't forget you can also register with Orange, Marion, Seminole Counties too....
Let's get 'er dun folks!
Early in the pandemic, many health experts — in the U.S. and around the world — decided that the public could not be trusted to hear the truth about masks. Instead, the experts spread a misleading message, discouraging the use of masks.
Their motivation was mostly good. It sprung from a concern that people would rush to buy high-grade medical masks, leaving too few for doctors and nurses. The experts were also unsure how much ordinary masks would help.
But the message was still a mistake. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/
9/. "Quarantine Through Art"....a very nice video....one minute.... https://www.youtube.com/
10/. Tom Tomorrow with his final[?] Trump toon....
11/. Stephen Colbert had Melania Trump [the wonderful Laura Benati] on his show one last time.....fast forward to the three minute
mark to see where Melania will spend her life....
12/. Umair gets a little OTT in most of his writings, but this column is quite interesting....before you dismiss it, read the segment about how the British are screwing up vaccinations....
If you’re reading this, the overwhelming odds are that — since you speak English — you’re American or British. And there’s a sad, uncomfortable, and frightening obvious truth that has to be told: our societies have destroyed themselves.
Let me not begin with the obvious example — Trumpism. Though I’ll come to that, but with a different one, which is related in an intimate way.
Brits don’t know it, but right about now, they are guinea pigs in the world’s biggest lab experiment https://eand.co/our-societies-
13/. Jimmy Kimmel with a clever video - Bye Donald! An amusing one minute.....
14/. One of the best modern dance routines ever.....and the song they perform to is a toe tapper
too......a great three minutes....
15/. To our DDD readers - is this you?
From Steve Schmidt, via one of the Georgia runoff pages:
"No, Biden’s rallies weren’t bigger. No, you didn’t see many Biden flags on houses or Biden bumper stickers on cars. No, you don’t know a single person on your street or at your church who supports Biden. But guess what? We’re here.
Biden’s rallies were small because people who live in reality don’t want to expose themselves to the coronavirus you continue to downplay or deny. We don’t fly Biden flags because we don’t want our houses burned down. We don’t put Biden bumper stickers on our cars because we want to avoid becoming targets for road rage. We don’t trust you. We’ve decided to minimize our interactions with people who cannot be reasoned with. This is for our own safety.
In private groups - where you’re not invited - we share our bewilderment of your descent into madness. We all have stories about how we’ve cut ties with you, our family and former friends, because we don’t want your hatred poisoning our social media streams. We can’t stand to listen to you vomiting the lies of your cult, day after day. You used to be different. We liked you. But now that we know what was inside your heart all along, we’ve decided you don’t deserve to know about our lives.
We’ll skip family reunions, even after we get the vaccine. We’ll make up some excuse just to be polite. But in reality, we just don’t feel like sitting around eating potato salad and making small talk with people who have such monstrous beliefs.
To all the brothers and aunts and cousins and dads and neighbors out there who just can’t wrap their heads around what this means going forward, know that these scars aren’t going away anytime soon. We won’t be reaching out, and we won’t be mending fences. It’s not up to us to apologize for the wounds you have gleefully inflicted upon us and our friends. You poured the gasoline, you lit the match. You burned this to the ground.
So if we seem different from now on, I guess we are, in a way. We’ve seen your truth laid bare, and we’re horrified.
I hope Trump was worth it.
16/. This is so true....
17/. New Yorker reporter Luke Mogelson was inside the Capitol riot, and here is his new 12 minute footage....a wow.....
18/. A most interesting story explaining how the QAnon religion [and yes it is a religion] started.....and how it will end. It explains the phenomenon that has gripped a lot of Republicans, and I'll bet you know a few of them.
This article proves the adage "there's one born every minute"....
What’s the difference between a cult and a religion? Scale. Every religion begins somewhere in a basement or a backyard or a barn with a small group of people and some scrap of received wisdom. Most of them end that way. But occasionally an idea, a leader, a concept, just … catches fire. It spreads, and adapts, and invariably mutates as it passes from that original founder or founding group out to a larger set of believers.
When that happens, when a cult crosses over to religion, it becomes hard to kill. Just the sheer number of believers means it’s extremely unlikely that something is going to happen one day to make everyone involved just abandon those beliefs.
19/ Bill Maher is back, and this was his "New Rule" from last week.....an OK one, a few zingers and chuckles.....
20/. The Times take a look at the actual costs of owning an electric car.....good article, but the numbers are a little deceptive as they predicate a 15 year life to the car, which doesn't really happen. But read the comments, they are really interesting.....
21/. We have watched the first episode of Lupin, and it's really good. The star is a charmer....
Today's hand job joke
An elderly golfer comes in after a good round of golf at a new course and heads straight to the bar/restaurant area of the club house. As he passes through the swinging doors, he spots a sign hanging over the bar that reads:
COLD BEER: $5.00
HAMBURGER: $10.00
CHEESEBURGER: $15.50
CHICKEN SANDWICH: $18.50
HAND JOB: $250.00
HAMBURGER: $10.00
CHEESEBURGER: $15.50
CHICKEN SANDWICH: $18.50
HAND JOB: $250.00
Checking his wallet to be sure he has the necessary money, the old golfer walks up to the bar & beckons to the exceptionally attractive female bartender who is serving drinks to a couple of sun-wrinkled golfers.
She glides down behind the bar to the old golfer. “Yes?” she inquires with a wide, knowing smile. “May I help?"
The old golfer leans over the bar & whispers, “I was wondering young lady, are you the one who gives the hand-jobs around here?”
She looks into his wrinkled eyes & with a wide smile purrs, “Yes sir, I sure am.”
The old golfer leans in even closer & into her left ear says softly:
“Well then, be sure to wash your hands real good, because I want a cheeseburger.”
Today's Mensa jokes
The Washington Post's Mensa Invitational once again invited readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition.
Here are the winners:
1. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.
2. Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and an asshole.
3. Intaxicaton: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.
4. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.
5. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.
6. Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid
7. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.
8. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.
9. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.
10. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease.
11. Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.
12. Decafalon (n): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.
13. Glibido: All talk and no action.
14. Dopeler Effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
15. Arachnoleptic Fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.
16. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and
cannot be cast out.
17. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.
The Washington Post has also published the winning submissions to its yearly contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for common words.
And the winners are:
1. Coffee, n. The person upon whom one coughs.
2. Flabbergasted, adj. Appalled by discovering
how much weight one has gained.
3. Abdicate, v. To give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.
4. Esplanade, v. To attempt an explanation while drunk.
5. Willy-nilly, adj. Impotent.
6. Negligent, adj. Absent mindedly answering the door when wearing only a nightgown.
7. Lymph, v. To walk with a lisp.
8. Gargoyle, n. Olive-flavored mouthwash.
9. Flatulence, n. Emergency vehicle that picks up someone who has been run over by a steamroller.
10. Balderdash, n. A rapidly receding hairline.
11. Testicle, n. A humorous question on an exam.
12. Rectitude, n. The formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.
13. Pokemon, n. A Rastafarian proctologist.
14. Oyster, n. A person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.
15. Frisbeetarianism, n. The belief that, after death, the soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.
16. Circumvent, n. An opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish men.
Today's Wild West joke
A tough old cowboy from Montana counseled his granddaughter that if she wanted to live a long life, the secret was to sprinkle a
pinch of gunpowder on her oatmeal every morning.
The granddaughter did this religiously until the age of 103, when she died.
She left behind 14 children, 30 grandchildren, 45 great
grandchildren, 25 great-great-grandchildren, and
a 40-foot hole where the crematorium used to be.
