1/ Andrew Sullivan with his weekly essays....this one is about Boris, and how similar we are to Britain politically...it's disturbing....
Photo: Chris Ratcliffe/Getty Images
The sea of Tory blue seats that now envelop Labour’s heartlands on the electoral map of Britain is one kind of future for Western democracies. Unleashed by a revolt by ordinary people to take back control of their own laws and rebuild national sovereignty, and by their insistence that their decision to leave the E.U. be respected and implemented, it may have changed Britain’s politics in a structural way. Three political parties were decimated yesterday: the Labour Party, the Liberal Democratic Party, and the Brexit Party. Each party’s defeat tells you something more about a potential realignment of new politics.
2/ This week's SNL cold open with a look at Christmas through the eyes of three families.....plus a cameo from Greta!
A pretty good seven minutes....
3/ Last week's SNL cold open with some interesting guest stars......it's Trump at the NATO conference with
his "friends"....a funny seven minutes....
4/ If you read the columns by Umair [one is below], you might suspect the problems in our society are caused by our American form of Capitalism, so it was illuminating to read this story from the Times on Finland, a country where capitalism works for everyone...
HELSINKI, Finland — Two years ago we were living in a pleasant neighborhood in Brooklyn. We were experienced professionals, enjoying a privileged life. We’d just had a baby. She was our first, and much wanted. We were United States citizens and our future as a family should have seemed bright. But we felt deeply insecure and anxious.
Our income was trickling in unreliably from temporary gigs as independent contractors. Our access to health insurance was a constant source of anxiety, as we scrambled year after year among private employer plans, exorbitant plans for freelancers, and complicated and expensive Obamacare plans. With a child, we’d soon face overwhelming day-care costs. Never mind the bankruptcy-sized bills for education ahead, whether for housing in a good public-school district or for private-school tuition. And then there’d be college. In other words, we suffered from the same stressors that are swamping more and more of Americans, even the relatively privileged.
As we contemplated all this, one of us, Anu, was offered a job back in her hometown: Helsinki, Finland.
5/ Stable genius....
6/ Last week's SNL featured J. Lo, and they used her beauty to create some great jokes.....this skit is "Surprise Home Makeover",
a very funny five minutes.....for me the best skit of the night...
7/ Matt Taibbi is highly skeptical about the Steele report and the entire Russia investigation, and since it's good
to read other viewpoints see what you think....
The Guardian headline reads: “DOJ Internal watchdog report clears FBI of illegal surveillance of Trump adviser.”
If the report released Monday by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz constitutes a “clearing” of the FBI, never clear me of anything. Holy God, what a clown show the Trump-Russia investigation was.
Like the much-ballyhooed report by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, the Horowitz report is a Rorschach test, in which partisans will find what they want to find.
Much of the press is concentrating on Horowitz’s conclusion that there was no evidence of “political bias or improper motivation” in the FBI’s probe of Donald Trump’s Russia contacts, an investigation Horowitz says the bureau had “authorized purpose” to conduct.
8/ The SNL Weekend Update lads with three funny minutes of jokes....
9/ The excellent Tom Tomorrow....
10/ A frankly scary story on why the "Christian" right supports and adores Trump. It's power....
On the morning of September 29th, six weeks before the 2016 election, Donald Trump was in a conference room at Trump Tower in New York talking to leaders of the religious right about sex-reassignment surgery. In a way, he was bringing about his own transformation. Having quashed the idea that his run for president was a lark or a publicity stunt, having come from behind to take the Republican nomination, and having fought his way up the polls to the extent that he was within striking distance of Hillary Clinton, Trump was now trying to seal the deal. And that involved something he would soon become much more known for: a discussion of other people’s genitalia.
“With the operation or without the operation?” Trump asked the conservative Christian leaders gathered specifically to ascertain whether to grant him their support. In other words, would HB2 — North Carolina’s so-called bathroom bill — apply to transgender people who had not undergone surgery to alter their sex?
11/ The right wing slime machine mercilessly attacks Greta Thunberg, but she is immune to their trolling.....good story....
To her considerable and growing list of accomplishments, 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg can now add another mark of distinction: She has been attacked by the troll-in-chief.
In September, in response to Thunberg’s coruscating, impassioned speech to the UN, President Trump tweeted sarcastically, “[s]he seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!” (Thunberg promptly edited her Twitter bio to read: “A very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future.”)
Trump’s sneering attack came amid a torrentof often misogynist and ableist a
12/ Really interesting story from the Times on how medical billing is rife with fraud, especially in serious cases....and if you don't
have insurance, you are totally screwed....
Much of what we accept as legal in medical billing would be regarded as fraud in any other sector.
I have been circling around this conclusion for this past five years, as I’ve listened to patients’ stories while covering health care as a journalist and author. Now, after a summer of firsthand experience — my husband was in a bike crash in July — it’s time to call out this fact head-on. Many of the Democratic candidates are talking about practical fixes for our high-priced health care system, and some legislated or regulated solutions to the maddening world of medical billing would be welcome.
13/ Stephen Colbert on Guiliani's defense of Trump.....an amusing five minutes....
14/ Umair with a look at a normal persons life.....and how it isn't sustainable.....
There’s a strange and terrible thing that’s happened to our societies. You already know it, because you might well be living it. And yet it goes largely unremarked upon. It’s become more or less impossible to live a decent life by doing an honest day’s or even career’s work anymore — let alone a good one. You can’t live a decent life anymore just by being an average, regular, normal person, with an average, regular, normal career, job, income, at all — not even close — the way that past generations could.
15/ Not a huge fan of Adam Sandler, but this movie sounds like it might change my mind...."Uncut Gems"....
Adam Sandler is Hollywood’s biggest contradiction. Though
his comedies range from pretty good (Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore) to god-awful (Grown Ups, Jack and Jill), they have amassed more than $3 billion at the box office. The SNL-alum-turned-
And then there’s the other Adam Sandler, the actor who makes fools of his detractors. In the annals of the Golden Raspberrys — think the Oscars but for gross cinematic incompetence — only Sly Stallone has more wins than Sandler’s nine. But what about the guy who had critics raving in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch-Drunk Love (2002)? Or the performer who went above and beyond the call of duty in James L. Brooks’ Spanglish(2004), Judd Apatow’s Funny People (2009), and especially Noah Baumbach’s The Meyerowitz Stories (2017)? Oscar voters pretend not to see that Sandler’s a clown who can, almost by an act of will, stand toe-to-toe with the best we’ve got.
Todays Middle Eastern joke
A Jew and an Arab go into a bakery. The Arab steals 3 pastries and puts them
in his pocket. He says to the Jew, "See how good I am? The owner didn't see
anything!"
The Jew says to the Arab, "I am going to show you there is nobody better
than a Jew."
He goes to the owner and says, "Give me a pastry and I will
show you a magic trick.''
Intrigued, the owner accepts and give him a pastry. The Jew swallows it and
asks for another one. The owner gives him another one. Then the Jew asks for
another one and swallows it just the same.
The owner is starting to wonder where the magic trick is and says, "What did
you do with the pastry? Are you trying to fool me?"
The Jew answers, "Look in the Arab's pocket."
Todays old lady joke
Two little old ladies, Connie & Evelyn were sitting on
a park bench outside the local town hall where a
flower show was in progress.
a park bench outside the local town hall where a
flower show was in progress.
The short one, Connie,
leaned over and said, 'Life is so boring. We never
have any fun anymore. For $10.00 I'd take my clothes
off and streak through that stupid, boring flower show!'
'You're on!' said Evelyn, holding up a $10.00 bill.
So Connie slowly
fumbled her way out of her clothes and, completely
naked, streaked (as fast as an old lady can) through
the front door of the flower show.![]()
Waiting outside, her
friend soon heard a huge commotion inside the hall,
followed by loud applause and shrill whistling.
leaned over and said, 'Life is so boring. We never
have any fun anymore. For $10.00 I'd take my clothes
off and streak through that stupid, boring flower show!'
'You're on!' said Evelyn, holding up a $10.00 bill.
So Connie slowly
fumbled her way out of her clothes and, completely
naked, streaked (as fast as an old lady can) through
the front door of the flower show.
Waiting outside, her
friend soon heard a huge commotion inside the hall,
followed by loud applause and shrill whistling.
Finally, the smiling Connie
came through the exit door surrounded by a cheering,
clapping crowd.
'What happened?' asked Evelyn.
'I won $1,000 as 1st prize for 'Best Dried Arrangement..
came through the exit door surrounded by a cheering,
clapping crowd.
'What happened?' asked Evelyn.
'I won $1,000 as 1st prize for 'Best Dried Arrangement..
Todays parenting jokes
