Don't think the Democratic party is going to save us......
Joe Biden’s insistence on running for re-election was certainly disastrous. It kept credible contenders out of the Democratic presidential primaries and prevented the selection of a nominee who had gained momentum in the winnowing process. Even after his stunningly feeble debate performance on 27 June last year, Biden took several weeks before finally opting out of the race. That left Kamala Harris a mere 107 days between the launch of her campaign and election day.
Ample evidence shows that the Biden team was riddled with obstinate denial and misrepresentation aimed at the public. But tales of tragic egomania in high places can take us only so far. What’s essential is to scrutinize how – and why – the Democratic party, its leaders and its prominent supporters enabled Biden and his inner circle to get away with such momentous stonewalling for so long. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/apr/04/democrats-biden-disaster
The bigly "mind" at work.....
Bob Lefsetz on tariffs.....
Let me be a Republican here…
WHY DO I HAVE TO PAY?
I’m a law-abiding citizen, I pay my bills and my taxes, why should I support exactly who by paying more for my goods?
Yes, that’s the Republican ethos. Screw the takers. I earn my salary, I should pay few taxes and the government should be shrunk.
Not that I’m not pissed at the Democrats here… If I hear one more dyed-in-the-wool left wing baby boomer tell me that we need to bring manufacturing back to America… Yeah, and are you willing to pay $1000 for a flat screen?
We’re addicted to cheap goods made in developing countries oftentimes where workers are underpaid. Sure, there are sweat shops, sure there are abuses, but the bottom line is people want these jobs, to advance their economic status. Whereas…
Good luck finding an Anglo cleaner in Los Angeles. Or a citizen to pick grapes. Because Americans don’t want to do those jobs. They don’t want to do back-breaking work for almost no money. https://lefsetz.com/wordpress/2025/04/02/tariffs/
The unlikeliest couple you will ever see......Marcello Hernandez and Jane Wickline on SNL......
Why didn't anyone take the car keys from Grandpa?
Andrew Sullivan on Biden's non-existent legacy....
By April of last year, the health of the president had clearly declined. As with many older men in their eighties, this didn’t happen in a slow, predictable glide-path down — but in swift, turbulent declines. Suddenly he took a while to get out of his limo, and then would emerge “with a blank look in his face,” according to the new campaign book, Fight, by Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes. By early summer, Biden was suddenly freezing up in public, staring motionless into the air. At a fundraiser in Los Angeles, Obama had to jump in to answer some questions, and then had to guide Biden off the stage by hand. We had already seen Joe wander weirdly off the set of MSNBC and during a Medal of Honor ceremony. His memory lapses mounted. Everyone around him saw this. Everyone close to him had seen it for over a year by then. Everyone in his campaign knew that upwards of 86 percent of Americans thought he was too old to serve another term. And no one did anything about it. https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/the-man-who-brought-us-here?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=61371&post_id=160202134&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=2cwgv&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
Ego Nwodim on Weekend Update......her version of the Correspondents dinner......
Bob Lefsetz on the nationwide protests that happened Saturday Apr. 5th.....
He got a lot of blowback for this post.....
I’m sure they made the participants feel good, but they didn’t move the needle an iota.
This is what happens when old school people employ old school methods and expect the same result they got fifty or sixty years ago.
The reason the anti-Vietnam protests had an impact, to the degree they even did, was they woke up the rest of the country and made people aware of how many were against the war. It brought the issues to the forefront, it made people question their beliefs. And I know, because I was THERE! Yesterday I read a review in the “Wall Street Journal” of the new book, “John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs.” Its author is Ian Leslie, who is only FIFTY THREE YEARS OLD! In other words, he didn’t live through Beatlemania, his work is based on research. Which is no match for firsthand experience.
Today’s America is different. It’s deeply divided and people are steadfast in their beliefs. I’m sure no one sat at home and watched yesterday’s protests and changed their mind…
Assuming they were aware of them at all. https://lefsetz.com/wordpress/2025/04/06/saturdays-protests/
Vance.....I shudder to think of him as President.....
A health insurance exec is suing John Oliver for defamation.....read the article, watch what Oliver says on the Video
included in the story, then make sure you are on the jury!
A US healthcare director is suing John Oliver for defamation following a Last Week Tonight episode on Medicaid in which the British-American comedian quoted him as saying it was OK for a patient with bowel issues to be “a little dirty for a couple of days”.
Dr Brian Morley, the former medical director of AmeriHealth Caritas, argues that Oliver – an outspoken comic whose show has not only addressed muzzling lawsuits but been subject to them – took the quote out of context in an April 2024 episode on Medicaid.
The suit against Oliver and the Last Week Tonight producers Partially Important Productions seeks unspecified damages “in an amount to be determined and in excess of $75,000”, according to Deadline. It does not name Last Week Tonight’s broadcaster, HBO.
Fox News is why you cannot argue, discuss or agree on anything with a MAGA.....
They have been fed lies and half-truths for so long they are impervious.....
There’s been a lot of doom-mongering about tariffs recently, hasn’t there? Oh no, my life savings are going to get wiped out and I’m never going to be able to retire! Oh no, grocery prices are going to triple! Oh no, it looks suspiciously as if Donald Trump has used ChatGPT to guide his fiscal policy and now we’re going to see another Great Depression! Moan, moan, moan.
While it might be true that much of these predictions are coming from highly credentialed economists and people who tend to know what they’re talking about, I’d like to remind you that there are two sides to every story – and it’s always worth looking at both of them. You’ve already heard from voices who reckon Trump’s tariffs are misguided and dangerous. Now it’s time to focus on the people who support the president’s assessment that tariffs are a “very beautiful thing” that will usher in a new golden age.
Where do we find such people? Fox News, of course. The place where up is down, left is right, and Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia if King Trump says that’s the case. As the stock market plunges, Fox News has wheeled out a bunch of pundits and anchors to explain how your savings getting obliterated is a good thing, actually.
Last week - a white Canadian detained by ICE for a month......this one is a British girl, in ICE prison for three weeks....
Cruelty is the point.....
Just before the graphic artist Rebecca Burke left Seattle to travel to Vancouver, Canada, on 26 February, she posted an image of a rough comic to Instagram. “One part of travelling that I love is seeing glimpses of other lives,” read the bubble in the first panel, above sketches of cosy homes: crossword puzzle books, house plants, a lit candle, a steaming kettle on a gas stove. Burke had seen plenty of glimpses of other lives over the six weeks she had been backpacking in the US. She had been travelling on her own, staying on homestays free of charge in exchange for doing household chores, drawing as she went. For Burke, 28, it was absolute freedom.
Within hours of posting that drawing, Burke got to see a much darker side of life in America, and far more than a glimpse. When she tried to cross into Canada, Canadian border officials told her that her living arrangements meant she should be travelling on a work visa, not a tourist one. They sent her back to the US, where American officials classed her as an illegal alien. She was shackled and transported to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) detention centre, where she was locked up for 19 days – even though she had money to pay for a flight home, and was desperate to leave the US. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/05/i-was-a-british-tourist-trying-to-leave-america-then-i-was-detained-shackled-and-sent-to-an-immigration-detention-centre
Short, badly written and biased but will also make you think too......
"It's time to admit most of humanity is profoundly stupid"
Another day and yet another capsized boat with migrants from sub-Saharan Africa.
Despite the fact that thousands have perished, these people made the decision to embark on the crossing, fully aware of the perils along the way.
In their heads, serfdom in Europe is better than poverty and strife at home, and migration is/was the only way out.
They chose to hand over thousands of Euros to the Libyan gangsters who held them captive in a manner not dissimilar to the millions who undertook the middle passage, centuries ago.
Most do not survive the leaky boats and strong waves and those that do learn the hard way that the streets of Europe aren’t paved with gold and are condemned to a life of servitude, with little hope for advancement, but there are still many more, back home, hoping to undertake the same journey.
The English white working class, for as long as we can remember, have nursed an incredible grievance against the system.
Weekend Update #1......a good one!
Weekend Update #2 - even better......some wicked zingers!
The slow decline of the middle class restaurants.....
When Daniel Cox was growing up in Rochester, N.Y., he spent every Saturday night at Pizza Hut with his father and two brothers. The server got to know the family so well that when she saw their blue Dodge Caravan roll up, she would put their order in: two cheese pan pizzas and two pitchers of Pepsi.
Mr. Cox’s parents were divorced, and the Pizza Hut ritual was centering for the family. “It was a time when we were all together and everyone was enjoying the experience,” he recalled. “Who doesn’t like pizza?”
Now a father himself, Mr. Cox rarely goes out to eat with his kids. They’re in travel-soccer practice three nights a week, and his family can’t get out of the local pizzeria for less than $100. He couldn’t think of an affordable, sit-down meal they’d shared recently.
Bob Lefsetz on Kat Abughazaleh.....WHO?
Watch the video and you will be impressed.....
WHO?
I saw the headline online, something about an influencer running for Congress. That’s all I needed to know, I didn’t have to peruse the article.
And then someone sent me the video.
What do they say about stardom? You know it when you see it?
Kat Abughazaleh is a star. Just watch. You’ll get it.
First and foremost she’s running against an 80 year old incumbent. Just by posting on YouTube she shows up the ancient Democrats still in control.
But it’s the way she speaks, directly to the camera, the way she delineates the issues, the way she radiates INTELLIGENCE! And PASSION!
I don’t care which side of the political fence you’re on, you’ll get it. She’s going straight for the jugular, with no B.S. And she’s not talking down to the audience, rather she does a good job of conveying she’s on their side.
Ezra Klein just doesn't get it......
Last week, Abundance co-author Ezra Klein went viral on social media. In a widely shared video clip from Jon Stewart’s podcast, Klein described the maddeningly bureaucratic process for deploying rural broadband funding under the Biden administration’s bipartisan infrastructure bill — a procedure so cumbersome that barely any of the entities seeking these grants have even finished the application process, years after the bill’s passage. The anecdote hit hard — Stewart groaned and cursed as Klein elegantly demonstrated the central thesis of his book, Abundance: Red tape and overregulation, allegedly the outgrowth of progressives’ obsession with process over outcomes, have become primary drivers of scarcity in America. Boosted by Fox News, Elon Musk, and thousands of retweets, the soundbite was the kind of fable of inefficient liberal government that Ronald Reagan told throughout the 1980s.
Funny ad.....
Now it's Vanity Fair's version of the best shows on Netflix.....
We’ve all been overwhelmed by streaming TV choices, only to give up and watch something we’ve already seen. But this curated list of the best shows on Netflix is here to narrow down your decision-making and help you figure out exactly which titles you want to sample next. https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2023/01/best-shows-netflix?utm_source=nl&utm_brand=vf&utm_mailing=VF_CH_040325&utm_medium=email&bxid=5be9d5dd3f92a40469e409a5&cndid=24450331&hasha=757da4c757bd7d86b040a18975d30c93&hashb=2bad61b1bd19c0a6a3a4a38617b56bc8e87c94e9&hashc=fbbe473f5037f7de779a9b352866aaa97ce40dede88d542358cbe645dd211019&esrc=OIDC_SELECT_ACCOUNT_PAGE&mbid=mbid%3DCRMVYF012019&source=EDT_VYF_NEWSLETTER_0_COCKTAIL_HOUR_ZZ&utm_campaign=VF_CH_040325&utm_term=VYF_Cocktail_Hour
"What They Found".....a powerful documentary about the liberation of Bergen-Belsen.....not streaming yet!
What They Found, the first documentary by the film and theatre director Sam Mendes, is a short, stark shock. The film straightforwardly combines two precious artefacts held at the Imperial War Museum in London: 35mm film, shot by Sgt Mike Lewis and Sgt Bill Lawrie of the British Army Film and Photographic Unit, before and during the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp near the town of Celle in northern Germany in April 1945; and audio interviews given by the cameramen in the 1980s. Lewis and Lawrie did not record sound when they visited Belsen; the words they spoke years later are the only sounds we hear. https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/apr/07/what-they-found-review-sam-mendess-debut-documentary-has-the-power-to-change-viewers-for-ever?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
And Vanity Fair picks the 11 best shows of 2025....
We’re only three months into 2025, but this young year is already chock-full of incredible television. The best TV shows of 2025 (so far) can be found on streaming, premium cable, and even (even!) public television. They’re funny; they’re dramatic; they’re both at the same time. They’re animated, in both the figurative sense and, in one case, the literal sense. Some reunite us with beloved familiar faces; some introduce us to compelling new performers. All are well worth your time, particularly as Emmy season gets underway, with performers and series from this very list likely to be singled out. Read on to see our picks for the 11 best TV shows 2025 has to offer—so far, anyway.
Another disturbing documentary - "Bad Influence" on Netflix looks at the world of child influencers.....
The title of the new documentary Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing is interesting. It could be said to presuppose the existence of a good side to allowing, encouraging or coercing young children and early teens to put their lives online for attention and validation (or deliberately creating content to attract subscribers, brand interest and sponsorship deals). But perhaps, you think, I am being hopelessly old-fashioned. Perhaps this is the way forward. Perhaps it is the way things are these days. Who am I to say how youngsters should connect, spend their time, be raised in 2025?
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/apr/09/bad-influence-the-dark-side-of-kidfluencing-review-nothing-about-this-shocking-tale-feels-ok?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Today's video - the "Shave and a Bath" scene from High Plains Drifter....
Today's married joke
Wife's Diary: Tonight, I thought my husband was acting weird.
We had made plans to meet at a nice restaurant for dinner.
I was shopping with my friends all day long, so I thought he
was upset at the fact that I was a bit late, but he made no
Conversation wasn't flowing, so I suggested that we go
somewhere quiet so we could talk.
He agreed, but he didn't say much.
I asked him what was wrong; He said, 'Nothing.' I asked him if it
was my fault that he was upset.
He said he wasn't upset,
that it had nothing to do with me, and not to worry about it.
On the way home, I told him that I loved him. He smiled slightly, and kept driving.
I can't explain his behaviour. I don't know why he didn't say, 'I love you, too.'
When we got home, I felt as if I had lost him completely,
as if he wanted nothing to do with me anymore.
He just sat there quietly, and watched TV. He continued to seem
distant and absent.
Finally, with silence all around us, I decided to go to bed. About 15
minutes later, he came to bed. But I still felt that he was distracted,
and his thoughts were somewhere else.
He fell asleep; I cried. I don't know what to do.
I'm almost sure that his thoughts are with
someone else. My life is a disaster.
Husband's Diary: A two-foot putt.. who the hell misses a two-foot putt!
Today's Japanese sex joke
A Japanese couple is having an argument over ways of performing highly erotic sex:
Husband: “Sukitaki”.
Wife replies: “Kowanini!”
Husband says angrily: “Toka a anji rodi roumi yakoo!”
Wife on her knees literally begging: “Mimi nakoundinda tinkouji!”
Husband replied angrily: “Na miaou kina tim kouji!”
I can't believe you just sat and tried to read this -- as if you understand Japanese!
You'll read anything as long as it is about sex. I worry about you sometimes!!!
Today's best insults
Alfred Hitchcock responded to actress Mary Anderson who asked him “What is my best side,” while filming “Lifeboat.”
“You’re sitting on it, my dear.”
Bette Midler on Princess Anne:
“She loves nature, in spite of what it did to her.”
Elizabeth Taylor:
“Some of my best leading men have been dogs and horses.”
Frank Sinatra on Robert Redford:
“Well at least he has found his true love – what a pity he can’t marry himself.”
Mahatma Gandhi asked by a reporter in a crowd “What do you think of Western civilization?”
“I think it would be a good idea.”
Pierre Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, responding to hearing that President Richard Nixon had called him an “asshole.”
“I’ve been called worse things by better people”
Pope John XXIII, when asked “How many people work at the Vatican,” by a journalist:
“About half.”
Valentino Liberace to a critic:
“Thank you for your very amusing review. After reading it I laughed all the way to the bank.”
Winston Churchill and Bessie Braddock:
Bessie Braddock: “Winston, you are drunk, and what’s more you are disgustingly drunk.”
Winston Churchill: “Bessie, my dear, you are ugly, and what’s more, you are disgustingly ugly. But tomorrow I shall be sober and you will still be disgustingly ugly.”
Frank Zappa and TV talk show host Joe Pyne, a decorated WWII hero who lost one of his legs in combat:
Joe Pyne: “So I guess your long hair makes you a woman.”
Frank Zappa: “So I guess your wooden leg makes you a table.”
BONUS INSULT:
Winston Churchill and Lady Nancy Astor:
Lady Nancy Astor: “Winston, if you were my husband, I’d put poison in your coffee.”
Winston Churchill: “Nancy, if you were my wife, I’d drink it.”
