1/. Sydney Blumenthal with Trump's secret sauce of how he keeps his cult mesmerized.....
Time after time, with predictable regularity, never missing a beat, Donald Trump proclaims his innocence. He always denies that he has done anything wrong. The charge does not matter. He is blameless. But this is only the beginning of the pattern. Then, he attacks his accusers, or anyone involved in bringing him to account, usually of committing the identical offense of which he stands accused.
But it is not enough for him to lash out. Then, he declares himself to be the victim. Whatever it is, he is falsely accused. But his self-dramatization as the wounded sufferer is only half his story: he insists that whoever has accused him is in fact the offender. He emerges triumphant, the martyr, the truth-teller, courageously unmasking the real villain. J’accuse!
2/. Only mildly amusing, but quite clever - a new SNL game show....
3/. Time for Biden to go......Andrew Sullivan politely makes the case for Joe to retire
with honors....he titles it the RBG syndrome.....
The Special Counsel’s report into misplaced classified documents is, on the surface, good news for President Biden. He won’t be indicted, even though it’s clear he “willfully” retained classified documents and shared some of them with a ghostwriter. We will thereby be spared the indignity of choosing between two indicted presidents this November. The reason for dropping the case is that it likely could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Biden did this deliberately, and he cooperated fully with the inquiry, and returned the materials promptly. The report is persuasive and thorough, it seems to me. But in some ways it would have been better for the president if he had been indicted. Because among the reasons he wasn’t is that he’s “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
4/. And here Bob Lefsetz makes a more forceful case for Biden to retire......
The President of Mexico?
This press conference proves the point.
I’ve stopped commenting on politics, everyone is baked into their position, all political speech does is alienate people. But this memory event begun today with the report of the Special Counsel… How do you defend yourself against that?
By having a press conference. Wherein Biden came across as a doddering old man with experience who you indulge, but don’t let drive.
This is what I was worried about. This is what happens when you play it safe.
I know, all my fellow baby boomers will be telling me to STFU, just get in line and vote for Biden. I’ll tell them I will, vote for Biden, that is, but I’ll also say that my vote in California is irrelevant. But in a handful of states, like Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Arizona and Georgia, every vote counts. And this revelation about Biden’s memory, that he couldn’t remember when his son died, when he was Vice President, is enough to persuade people not to vote for him in those states, to the detriment of his presidential hopes.
This guy has got to go. He’s not only putting the Democratic Party at risk, but the entire nation.
https://lefsetz.com/wordpress/2024/02/08/bidens-memory/
5/. 60 Minutes did a piece on the border, with the surprising revelation that a growing number of the immigrants coming across are Chinese.....
6/. Florida Republicans - owned by big corporations, and cruelty to the poor is the point......they are disgusting.....
Cheered on by lobbyists for some of the state’s biggest corporations, Republican lawmakers in Florida are poised to cut off access to unemployment insurance for more Floridians who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own.
The state House of Representatives will hold an initial hearing Tuesday morning on a bill (House Bill 1289) that would give state officials more power to deny unemployment benefits to laid-off workers. A similar bill (Senate Bill 1260) is already moving through the Florida Senate. https://jasongarcia.substack.com/p/prodded-by-business-lobbyists-lawmakers?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=687064&post_id=141415172&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=2cwgv&utm_medium=email
7/. The Lincoln Project with a new Biden ad......pretty good!
8/. Bill Maher "New Rules", looks at our democracy vs Brazil's.....very good....
9/. Heather Cox Richardson with a very disturbing piece on the real reasons Republicans and Trump are behaving so badly - they are setting up the next coup.
Something HAS to change - Biden must step down, he can't deal with this evil......
Amidst the Republican meltdown in Washington, a disturbing pattern is emerging.
Under pressure from former president Donald Trump, Republican senators today killed the $118 billion Emergency National Security Supplemental Appropriations Act that provided funding for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan and humanitarian assistance for Gaza and also included protections for the border that Republicans themselves had demanded.
Senator Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), one of the team of senators who had negotiated the bill, called out the Republicans who had staged photo ops at the border and insisted that Congress must address the rise in migration across the border… until Trump told them the opposite: “After all those trips to the desert, after all those press conferences, it turns out this crisis isn’t much of a crisis after all. Sunday morning, it’s a real crisis,” she said. “Monday morning it magically disappeared.” https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/february-7-2024?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=20533&post_id=141486277&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=2cwgv&utm_medium=email
10/. Tom Tomorrow discovers the truth about Taylor Swift!
11/. Love the title of Jason Garcias' newsletter - "The Florida legislature - Where Shopping
Is A Pleasure".....and all the other BS bills coming...
Publix Super Markets is now the largest corporate donor in Florida politics, according to a review of state campaign-finance data.
Records show the Lakeland-based grocery giant has showered roughly $2.4 million on state-level politicians, political committees and political parties since the end of last year’s legislative session, which concluded in May. That’s about $400,000 more than U.S. Sugar Corp., the No. 2 corporate donor over the same span.
Publix made nearly $3.2 million in Florida campaign contributions for all of 2023. That also led all corporate donors — if you exclude marijuana producer Trulieve, which is financing a proposed constitutional amendment to legalize recreational marijuana.
What makes Publix stand out even more is the size of the gifts it has given directly to individual lawmakers. https://jasongarcia.substack.com/p/the-florida-legislature-where-shopping?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=687064&post_id=141348432&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=2cwgv&utm_medium=email
12/ It's here!
13/. And more Florida corruption - Publix again.....
Publix pharmacies are one of biggest abusers of opioid pharmacy prescriptions.....and they got off scot free.....
Elected officials should not do the bidding of corporate donors; they should act in the best interests of their constituents. It is often difficult, however, to prove a politician's motivation. A politician can generally claim that an act or omission that benefits a corporate donor is also in the best interest of their constituents. But powerful politicians in Florida are acting in a manner that is extremely difficult to justify.
In the early 2000s, powerful opioids like oxycodone were being widely abused in Florida and across the country, and addicts were routinely obtaining prescriptions from unscrupulous doctors. But from 2011 to 2019, the number of opioid prescriptions dispensed by pharmacies in Florida declined by 56%. Pharmacy chains, facing criticism and lawsuits, began to scrutinize prescriptions a bit more carefully.
14/. A toon that's a little disturbing.....
15/. Wow! WOW! The Asheville Watchdog compared grocery prices across 8 chains, and the results were really interesting.....
Yes it's North Carolina based but also applies to our major chain in Florida......actually worse, because Publix has no major competitor
herel, so imagine how they're hosing us......yech....
Grocery prices have increased 25 percent in four years, outpacing inflation and staying high as the cost of other products such as gasoline and appliances have come back down.
As Asheville Watchdog reported earlier this week, some food companies have taken advantage of inflation and the pandemic to boost profits and reward executives and shareholders.
The CEO of Ingles Markets received a 55 percent pay increase to $3.3 million in fiscal year 2023 from $2.1 million in 2021, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing in January. The board chairman received nearly $8 million last year, including a $6.6 million bonus. https://avlwatchdog.org/which-asheville-grocery-store-has-the-best-prices/
16/. Funny SNL skit about dating in New York....good one....
17/. Paul Krugman with a very good column....love the first paragraph!
A few days ago, Kristi Noem, the Republican governor of South Dakota — a MAGA hard-liner sometimes mentioned as a potential running mate for Donald Trump — warned that President Biden is “remaking” America, turning us into Europe. My first thought was: So he’s going to raise our life expectancy by five or six years? In context, however, it was clear that Noem believes, or expects her audience to believe, that Europe is a scene of havoc wrought by hordes of immigrants. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/29/opinion/trump-maga-fear.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
18/. Weekend Update #1 - the lads have the occasional good groaner.....
Weekend Update #2.....Sarah Sherman is wonderful.....she thinks Colin Jost is her dad.....very very funny.....
19/ Based on Bob Lefsetz's rave review, Mary and I watched this documentary "American Nightmare"....it's riveting.....
20/. And based on a friend's recommendation [thanks V] we watched "All The Light You Cannot See" on Netflix.....
Amazing, moving and inspirational.....incredible TV....
21/. Vanity Fair rates 25 movies on Netflix worth watching.....some interesting choices here....
Today's newlywed joke....
A newlywed couple had only been married for two weeks.
The husband, although very much in love, couldn't wait to go out on the town and party with his old buddies .
So, he said to Rivkah his new wife, "Honey, I'll be right back."
"Where are you going, coochy cooh?" asked the wife.
"I'm going to the bar, pretty face. I' m going to have a beer."
The wife said, "You want a beer, my love?"
She opened the door to the refrigerator and showed him 25 different kinds of beer brands from 12 different countries: Germany , Holland , Japan , India ,etc.
The husband didn't know what to do, and the only thing that he could think of saying was, "Yes, lolly pop...but at the bar...you know...they have frozen glasses..."
He didn't get to finish the sentence, because the wife interrupted him by saying,
"You want a frozen glass, puppy face?"
She took a huge beer mug out of the freezer, so frozen that she was getting chills just holding it.
The husband, looking a bit pale, said, "Yes, tootsie roll, but at the Bar they have those hors d'oeuvres that are really delicious...
I won't be long, I'll be right back. I promise. OK?"
You want hors d'oeuvres, poochi pooh?"
She opened the oven and took out 5 dishes of different hors d'oeuvres: chicken wings, pigs in blankets, mushroom caps, pork strips, etc.
"But my sweet honey... At the bar... You know...there's swearing, dirty words and all that..."
"You want dirty words, Dickhead?
Drink your fucking beer in your Goddamn frozen mug and eat your motherfucking snacks, because you are married now, and you aren't fucking going anywhere!
Got it, Asshole?"
Today's retiree joke
Morty Rosenthal is a new member of the Golden Goose retirement community and is passing the morning sunning himself on a bench near the garden.
Rebecca, out for her morning constitutional, sees Morty, and says "Do you mind?"
"Not at all," Morty says.
So Rebecca sits down on the opposite end of his bench.
"So nu, you're new here?" Rebecca asks rhetorically.
"Yes," Morty affirms.
"So now, you are from?" Rebecca inquires. "Washington" Morty answers.
"The capitol or the state?" asks Rebecca.
"The state" replies Morty.
"So nu, how old are you?" Rebecca asks.
"I'll be 72 in October," Morty replies.
Not yet satisfied with the answers, Rebecca presses on with "What did you do in Washington?"
"I was in prison" Morty retorts.
"Oy vey! Really?" says Rebecca. "What were you in prison for?"
"My wife of twenty years was always asking stupid questions, so I murdered her and put her down the garbage disposal," he says.
"Sooo," purrs Rebecca, "you're single?"
Today's Klan Joke....
A pastor said to his congregation, “Someone in this congregation has spread a rumor that I belong to the Ku Klux Klan.
This is a horrible lie and one which a Christian community cannot tolerate.
I am embarrassed and do not intend to accept this.
Now, I want the party who said this to stand and ask forgiveness from God and this Christian family.”
No one moved.
The preacher continued, “Do you have the nerve to face me and admit this is a falsehood?
Remember, you will be forgiven and in your heart, you will feel glory. Now stand and confess your transgression.” Again, all was quiet.
And then comes the blonde moment.
Then, slowly, a drop-dead gorgeous blonde with a body that would stop a runaway train rose from the third pew.
Her head was bowed and her voice quivered as she spoke, “Reverend there has been a terrible misunderstanding.
I never said you were a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
I simply told a couple of my friends that you were a wizard under the sheets.”
The preacher fell to his knees, his wife fainted, and the congregation roared.
Today's Monk joke....
A man is driving down the road and his car breaks down near a monastery.
He goes to the monastery, knocks on the door, and says, "My car broke down. Do you think I could stay the night?"
The monks graciously accept him, feed him dinner, even fix his car.
As the man tries to fall asleep, he hears a strange sound.
A sound unlike anything he's ever heard before.
The Sirens that nearly crashed his ship comes to his mind.
He didn't sleep that night.
He tosses and turns trying to figure out what could possibly be making such a sound.
The next morning, he asks the monks what the sound was, but they say, "We can't tell you. You're not a monk."
Distraught, the man is forced to leave.
Years later, after never being able to forget that sound, the man goes back to the monastery and pleads for the answer again.
The monks reply, "We can't tell you. You're not a monk."
The man says, "If the only way I can find out what is making that beautiful sound is to become a monk, then please, make me a monk."
The monks reply, "You must travel the earth and tell us how many blades of grass there are and the exact number of grains of sand.
When you find these answers, you will have become a monk."
The man sets about his task.
After years of searching he returns as a gray- haired old man and knocks on the door of the monastery.
A monk answers. He is taken before a gathering of all the monks.
"In my quest to find what makes that beautiful sound, I traveled the earth and have found what you asked for:
By design, the world is in a state of perpetual change.
Only God knows what you ask.
All a man can know is himself, and only then if he is honest and reflective and willing to strip away self deception."
The monks reply, "Congratulations. You have become a monk. We shall now show you the way to the mystery of the sacred sound."
The monks lead the man to a wooden door, where the head monk says, "The sound is beyond that door."
The monks give him the key, and he opens the door.
Behind the wooden door is another door made of stone.
The man is given the key to the stone door and he opens it, only to find a door made of ruby.
And so it went that he needed keys to doors of emerald, pearl and diamond.
Finally, they come to a door made of solid gold.
The sound has become very clear and definite.
The monks say, "This is the last key to the last door."
The man is apprehensive to no end.
His life's wish is behind that door!
With trembling hands, he unlocks the door, turns the knob, and slowly pushes the door open.
Falling to his knees, he is utterly amazed to discover the source of that haunting sound......
But, of course, I can't tell you what it is ....... because you're not a monk !!
