Fire and Fury – Michael Wolff
Fire and Fury by Michael Wolff is a gob-smacking account of the shambles in the White House during the first year of the Trump presidency and of the unsuitability of Trump for the position of president. What a monster!
Highly recommended for anyone interested in American politics.
Mister 45
There was an excellent interview with the film director Wim Wenders on Thursday’s Channel 4 News. In it he talks about the Polaroid snapshots he has taken throughout his life. He also comments on the part he played in the career of the now disgraced Harvey Weinstein, as well as taking a dig at Trump whom he refuses to call by his name, preferring instead to call him Mr. 45. (Trump is the 45th American president).
[Wim Wenders’ best known film is Paris Texas, which I was a huge fan of, though whenever I tried to watch it again I always fell asleep. It’s long and slow-moving.]
Trump is in the news today because it seems that the Renoir painting that he has on display is in fact a fake, the original being in the Art Institute of Chicago! Worse still, he insists it isn’t a fake!! There’s an interesting Vanity Fair article on this by Trump’s biographer Tim O’Brien.
In other news about fakes, Marina Hyde writes in the Guardian about how she may have unwittingly started the false claim, which has fooled social media, that Trump was accompanied on a recent trip by a look-alike wife.
Strange times!
Greatness is within Trump’s reach
This article isn’t about what you think!
A terrific Trump cartoon by Ben Jennings in today’s i
There’s an article about the cartoon, on the i website at
https://inews.co.uk/distractions/offbeat/ben-jennings-cartoon-trump-becoming-isolated-shunned/
The Clown
“Trump is a menace, both ignorant and chaotic. His saving grace is his incompetence. In his first six months in office, he has made a hash of our foreign policy, set back efforts to contain global warming, exploited public land and depopulated the State Department. But these efforts — as bad as they might be — have been so far confined to the margins. Trump has not passed any major legislation or, for that matter, built any walls. On the other hand, his most significant and appalling contribution has been to normalize lying as an ordinary tool of the presidency. He has ghettoized truth, confining it to something characterized as the lying and disloyal mainstream media. He lies for purpose and he lies just for the hell of it. His lying is such that it ought to be a mental ailment. Call him politically insane.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/whos-worse-for-the-nation–trump-or-pence…..
Where I get the news
First port of call for finding out if the world is about to end is the BBC website. After that I check out the Guardian, sometimes the Telegraph, sometimes Sky News. I also pop into Mail Online for a laugh. The New York Times and Washington Post web sites are great sources for finding out what the clown has been up to and to read the articles shredding him to pieces.
I buy the i newspaper daily because its subscription is incredibly cheap. I used to get the Guardian occasionally until it became expensive. The Times is an occasional treat and has become the choice on Saturdays. (The big crossword is challenging but enjoyable)
When I wake in the morning I listen to BBC Radio’s Today programme usually to discover that I read about today’s news, yesterday. It’s usually possible to listen for about an hour, before repetition kicks in or because of some intensely annoying item or interviewee.
In the evening the Channel 4 news is always dependable and good on analysis, and the ITV News can be fun when Tom Bradby is the presenter. BBC Newsnight is required viewing for its varied, though variable, output.
I never knock the BBC because it would be the end of civilisation if it were to disappear, and I never get worked up about things I can do nothing about.
Sean Spicer – gone, but not forgotten
Today, Sean Spicer resigned as press secretary, telling President Trump he vehemently disagreed with his choice for a new communications director.
For many, Sean Spicer will be remembered for a brilliant portrayal by Melissa McCarthy in this Saturday Night Live sketch.
Why the Mexico / USA wall has to be transparent
“When they throw large sacks of drugs over, and if you have people on the other side of the wall, you don’t see them — they hit you on the head with 60 pounds of stuff? It’s over. As crazy as that sounds, you need transparency through that wall.”Donald Trump, July 2017
Genius
things change 