1/ Jonathan Chait on how Trump keeps confessing to his misdeeds by tweet.....
Donald Trump Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images
The smooth and congenial relationship between President Trump and William Barr went through a brief patch of turbulence last night, when Barr complained openly that Trump’s highly public tweets about criminal cases make it “impossible to do my job.” Barr is deeply committed to a Trumpian program of using his powers to protect Trump’s allies and harass Trump’s adversaries, but he also understands that the process requires a sheen of public legitimacy.
2/ The absolute best bit of last weeks SNL was Chloe Fineman on Weekend Update.....she is wonderful!
Four delicious minutes....
3/ Matt Taibbi on the rolling disaster that is the Democratic party.....Iowa is the tip of the iceberg.....
Depressing but essential reading....
Monday, February 3rd, just before 9 p.m., the airport Holiday Inn, Des Moines, Iowa. A crowd of supporters and volunteers for Sen. Bernie Sanders is buzzing. After four years of being shat upon by party officials and media allies alike (CNN and MSNBC are seen in Sanders crowds as Goebbels-ian arms of the Democratic National Committee), Vermont’s anti-corporate crusader has defied odds and soared in polls. All that remains is the schadenfreude orgasm of a victory speech.
A young animal-rights lawyer named Colin Grace is explaining how he got turned on to Bernie. “Honestly, it started by looking into some of the causes of 2008,” he laughs. “Well, then I found weed and became a libertarian.”
4/ And for relevance watch the SNL cold open of last week, the Democratic debate. It's [in my opinion] not particularly funny but rather reflects what Taibbi is saying above....nine minutes....
5/ The funniest bit from the Oscars was Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph presenting the award
for Production Design.....2 most amusing minutes....
6/ How did the Republicans become the Trump party? Steve Israel explains.....and it's pathetic....
During my 16 years in Congress, from 2001 to 2017, I worked closely with Republicans in the House and, occasionally, in the Senate. Still, as I watched my former colleagues defend the president during his impeachment trial, I was struck by the same question that baffles many: Why didn’t more Republican senators convict President Trump, or at least allow additional witnesses in his impeachment trial? My conversations with lawmakers, and my own experiences in Congress, offer up a theory.
Republican members of Congress broadly fall into two types: those who, on principle,
have always supported the president, and those who, fearing electoral consequences,
have rationalized their decision to stick with him.
7/ Scary fact - Republicans are winning the digital war, and they are refining the techniques used by dictators around the world.
And it's just beginning....
one day last fall, I sat down to create a new Facebook account. I picked a forgettable name, snapped a profile pic with my face obscured, and clicked “Like” on the official pages of Donald Trump and his reelection campaign. Facebook’s algorithm prodded me to follow Ann Coulter, Fox Business, and a variety of fan pages with names like “In Trump We Trust.” I complied. I also gave my cellphone number to the Trump campaign, and joined a handful of private Facebook groups for MAGA diehards, one of which required an application that seemed designed to screen out interlopers.
8/ Sam Bee on Trump's revenge spree.....six very good minutes....
9/ A long and meticulously researched story on white collar crime and the corruption that permeates our public and corporate life from Huffpost.
This blatant unfairness is to my mind one of the main factors of how divided we are.....
OVER THE LAST TWO YEARS, nearly every institution of American life has taken on the unmistakable stench of moral rot. Corporate behemoths like Boeing and Wells Fargo have traded blue-chip credibility for white-collar callousness. Elite universities are selling admission spots to the highest Hollywood bidder. Silicon Valley unicorns have revealed themselves as long cons (Theranos), venture-capital cremation devices (Uber, WeWork) or straightforward comic book supervillains (Facebook). Every week unearths a cabinet-level political scandal that would have defined any other presidency. From the blackouts in California to the bloated bonuses on Wall Street to the entire biography of Jeffrey Epstein, it is impossible to look around the country and not get the feeling that elites are slowly looting it.
10/ Trevor Noah with a very funny commentary on Joe Biden's feud with Mayor Pete.....a great six minutes....
11/ Interesting story on how difficult it is to get people to eat properly.....read this Google corporate experience....
Tina Williams eats greens for breakfast every day. She didn’t always. There was a time when the only vegetables she regularly ate were canned corn or potatoes. But Williams works at Google in New York City, where the food is free and her favorite kale-quinoa-avocado salad is available starting at 8 a.m. each workday.
Growing up, Williams would never have believed that she would one day eat salad for breakfast. Her middle-class family lived outside of Boston, and she remembers feeling sorry for the kid she knew whose mom always bought whole-wheat bread. But over nine years at Google, where she eats breakfast and lunch five days a week, she has learned to like bok choy, a vegetable she previously wouldn’t have recognized in the supermarket, and Brussels sprouts, of which she says, “It turns out I really like when they are well-prepared.”
12/ And having read the Google article, ponder these frightening statistics - 50% of Americans will be clinically obese by 2030....
Climate change is not the only source of dire projections for the coming decade. Perhaps just as terrifying from both a health and an economic perspective is a predicted continued rise in obesity, including severe obesity, among American adults.
A prestigious team of medical scientists has projected that by 2030, nearly one in two adults will be obese, and nearly one in four will be severely obese. The estimates are thought to be particularly reliable, as the team corrected for current underestimates of weight given by individuals in national surveys. In as many as 29 states, the prevalence of obesity will exceed 50 percent, with no state having less than 35 percent of residents who are obese, they predicted.
13/ If you have time, and want to give these fine corporations a freebie watch their commercials
again in a compilation of the best Super Bowl ads.........
14/ The 100 best movies on Amazon......trust me, you've missed a few good ones....
Todays video - the 100 best movie quotes, compiled by the American Film Institute.....you should recognise most of these, and it's great to see there are lots of older movies in this collection, including many from "Casablanca".....
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..
