"All The President's Men" meets "The Producers"

After a two-week descent into the maelstrom, let's settle back a bit and ramble through some random observations gleaned from this past week.

As usual, there was an enormous amount of news and malarky. But what stuck with us was the hilarious and terrifying interview of President Trump and his core advisors, conducted by a truly surprised and disbelieving Olivia Nuzzi, of New York Magazine. Plucked unexpectedly from the press gaggle, she was escorted into the Oval Office for a lengthy session with, well, ya gotta read it to believe it. This is a remarkable and jaw-dropping interview; nearly every line is worth a king's ransom:

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/10/my-private-oval-office-press-conference-with-donald-trump.html

It all comes off like a poorly-produced TV Reality Show: "Oh, look who's behind Door Number Three!! And Wow, here's a surprise guest star we have walking in!" It's so very weird, as if David Lynch has taken over the Trump Administration, which has morphed into a bizarre dreamland mashup version of The Executive Branch and Mulholland Drive. It reads like a speed freak's fever dream, chattering away about nothing, over and over. Oh, the author, Olivia Nuzzi, bears a passing resemblance to Ivanka. Maybe that's why he went head-over-heels throughout the interview.

Going further into movie comparisons, the present administration is really more like "All The President's Men" meets The Producers. What began as a Not-Serious Presidential campaign that would have set Trump up with an easy and lucrative Major Media Platform in 2017 ended with a shocking electoral turnabout, the equivalent of "Springtime For Hitler" becoming a hit. As the Mueller investigation continues, Trump's fortunes will probably end with the imprisonment of various family and staff, and the collapse of his businesses. Life can be funny sometimes.

Speaking of humor, the Conservative funnybone was on full display this week. In a Thank You editorial to Senator Susan Collins, who provided the "Yes" vote to confirm Kavanaugh, the Wall Street Journal editorial board decided upon "Susan Collins Consents" as its headline. Oh, Ha Ha, it's a rape joke double entendre! Those scamps! You can almost hear them hooting in their work space...

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/10/6/17945228/wsj-editorial-board-members-susan-collins

Well, boys will be boys. And some girls, too. Drinking beer to celebrate the Kavanaugh confirmation became a thing, because, you know, he's now Justice Kegger. The following quick read is quite a carnival ride. After a brief summation of events, we experience a rapid pass-through of the Pro-Kavanaugh crowd, as the bubbles rise. Quite a rogue's gallery of supporters, hoisting their suds:

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/remysmidt/beers-for-brett-kavanaugh-supreme-court-confirmation

In another attempt at Funny, GOP Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas), longtime party leader and member of Senate Judiciary Committee, tweeted: "Not quite #Beers4Brett but #Bubbly4Brett instead" Ha Ha, I get it! The guy who by most accounts was a sloppy drunk who'd drink to extreme excess is now on the Supreme Court! Conservative humor is sooo funny:

https://twitter.com/JohnCornyn/status/1048696008513925120/photo/1

Not to be outdone, Chairman of Senate Judiciary Committee Chuck Grassley (R-Trumpistan) said that female Republican senators haven't asked to be on the Senate Judiciary Committee, ever, because they don't want to do it. There's just too much work involved and the poor dears don't have the time:

https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/05/politics/chuck-grassley-judiciary-committee-women/index.html

Meanwhile, Senator Susan Collins (R-Patriarchy), delivered her own deep thoughts. She attempted to put a pro-Women spin on her vote, but fell headlong into the Land of Farce by declaring it a vote with a "silver lining":

https://www.bustle.com/p/susan-collins-believes-theres-a-silver-lining-to-the-kavanaugh-allegations-12181696

"The one silver lining that I hope will come from this is that more women will press charges now when they are assaulted,"Collins said. Yes, that's the message millions of women embraced from last week's shitshow - women should no longer be concerned about not being believed like Dr. Ford (who Collins "believes" but doesn't believe was correct in ID-ing Justice Kegger). After the last two week's worth of escalating verbal assaults against Dr. Ford, and other accusers, by President Trump and the Republican firmament, resulting in death threats and forced relocation, women everywhere should take heart that they can now step forward with their stories. It just could be that Susan Collins is simply trolling us.

Then there were more wild and wooly Trump rally claims... "You don't hand matches to an arsonist and you don't give power to an angry left-wing mob, and that's what they've become. Democrats have become too extreme and too dangerous to govern. Republicans believe in the rule of law, not the rule of the mob." Actually, Republicans believe in the minority's Law of Rule over the majority:

http://theweek.com/articles/800880/gops-sneaky-attempt-paint-majority-angry-leftwing-mob

Also, too, there was this mysterious moment after Kavanaugh's swearing-in ceremony, where now-retired Justice Anthony Kennedy, Kegger's sponsor, seemed to be unpleasantly shocked by something Trump said to him as they walked off camera. It set DC conspiracy theorists over the top:

https://twitter.com/Eleven_Films/status/1049449309790322688

Yes, it is curiouser and curiouser... something about Kennedy's son? Prolly more like "I like big butts and I cannot lie."

Also, there was the President's Guest Editorial on Health Care that USA Today published. It was a thing of beauty, one where the Washington Post exulted that nearly every line of it was false:

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/10/10/fact-checking-president-trumps-usa-today-op-ed-medicare-for-all/?utm_term=.44025f683402

On a related note, there was Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer's wickedly funny analysis of the same piece:

https://twitter.com/SenSchumer/status/1050053956993503232/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1050053956993503232&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fthehill.com%2Fpolicy%2Fhealthcare%2F410763-schumer-rips-trump-medicare-for-all-op-ed-as-smears-and-sabotage

Yes, it was quite a week. The First Lady claimed to be "the most bullied person in the world." Trump spent Thursday morning with Kid Rock and the afternoon with Kanye West. Kanye wants the 13th Amendment repealed, the one that abolished slavery. I'm sure that his new White House friends can get behind that. It's too bad he couldn't have walked in, special guest-star style, on the Olivia Nuzzi thing the day before!

Finally, we found out that if massive, radical and unprecedented globally-coordinated changes in energy consumption are not implemented within 10 years, we are forever doomed:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/energy-environment/2018/10/08/world-has-only-years-get-climate-change-under-control-un-scientists-say/?utm_term=.a3e0660af43b

Oh, and a record-setting hurricane hit Florida as an exclamation mark for that study, too.

Our final finally, this week was All Time Favorite Musician Thelonious Monk's 100th Birthday. Check out this ebullient three minute dip into bliss. Also, watch the dancing otter up at the top while listening to it!! He's got it going!