Today is Thanksgiving day in the US where family and friends get together to set aside differences and share food in a spirit of harmony. So what could be more appropriate than to hear Donald Trump rant in an unhinged manner about a non-existent war on Thanksgiving?
Seth Meyers walks us through this latest nonsense as well as update us on the impeachment process.
The multi-talented Miller died yesterday at the age of 85. His obituary describes the wide range of activities that he was involved with in his life, including being a doctor, writer, and theatre and opera director.
I first came across him as one of the four people (along with Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, and Alan Bennett) that made up the sketch comedy team whose performance of Beyond the Fringe broke with traditional British comedy and set the stage for later acts like Monty Python.
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Rob Beschizza explains where following the Persian tradition of tarof can end up.
Tarof is the Persian etiquette of deference, wherein one must both yield to others (you first!) and decline the offer (no, you!). One may not insist or accept until the end of the line–at least in this hilarious parody by Simon Garshasebi–so what happens when a circle forms?
Metaphors can be great things. But at some point, you have to stop dragging it out and return to the reality, something that this coach of a rugby team after they lost a match seems unable to do.
This rugby interview is one of the best sports interviews I’ve seen, as it keeps getting delightfully weirder as it goes on. pic.twitter.com/6ua2P5FxET
— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) November 21, 2019
That many televangelists are vampires who suck the blood out of people who are gullible enough to believe the tripe dished out that their god will richly reward those who give money to these grifters is, or should be, obvious to anyone who gives these bloodsuckers even the most cursory look. Of these Paula White is a particularly vicious specimen so it should be no surprise that Donald Trump has recognized a fellow grifter and hired her as the White House faith advisor.
Samantha Bee exposes her.
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First up, Seth Meyers brings us up to speed on the testimony by Gordon Sondland, Donald Trump’s ambassador to the European Union, who was at the center of Trump’s effort to extort an investigation of Hunter Biden by the Ukrainian president in return for releasing military aid.
Seth Meyers tries to bring us up to date on the fast-moving impeachment investigation into Donald Trump’s attempts at bribery and extortion with the Ukrainian president. This sets the stage for this week’s public testimony by many more witnesses, including Trump’s Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland who has a whole lot of explaining to do to reconcile his earlier testimony with that of career officials in the state department who have contradicted him.
I am not following the impeachment process live but Samantha Bee is.
In the UK and some countries of the Commonwealth, the poppy symbol began to be used after World War I to commemorate the deaths of soldiers in wars on Remembrance Day, their equivalent to Memorial Day in the US. Little red plastic poppies are given out in return for a charitable contribution and then worn on the clothing to signify that the person has donated money to the cause. Collectors will stop you in the street or come to offices (with permission) with little tin cans into which you drop your money and get a flower in return.
In the US, we do not have charities going up to people and asking for a charitable donation in return for a token but the pressure can be similar. Here it is the flag pin or the flags flown on cars and houses especially when wars are begun, or demands that stores say ‘Merry Christmas’, and to a lesser extent, the ‘I voted today’ stickers that have become ostentatious symbols that one is on the ‘right’ side. This can have the effect that those who do not publicly conform are somehow lesser people.
Jonathan Pie rails about how what were once harmless symbols have now become weaponized and used to stoke nationalism and pressure people. (Language advisory)
