Zoom-In at the Bain Center: 2017

Tuesday, December 26, 2017

Understanding Trump

Thursday, December 28, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

For the past year, pundits have been trying to figure-out Trump. Is he just a Dotard, or is there a method to his madness, or is he being used by some puppet master. In any case how do you counter someone whose missteps seems to be the source of his strength. Maybe the trick is to just laugh.

Here are the videos for the next meeting:

Tuesday, December 19, 2017

Tax Cuts, Infrastructure and China

Thursday, December 21, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

This should have been the week where we focused on the Republican tax bill, but then two major failures in infrastructure, a power failure in Atlanta's airport and an Amtrak derailment south of Seattle, happened within days of each other. Then Trump, as part of his national security strategy, warned of global completion from China. So will the tax cuts further degrade our infrastructure, can we compete globally without fixing it.

Here are videos to tie these themes together:

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

MeToo Alabama

Thursday, December 14, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

As of this writing the polls in Alabama will close in a few hours. By Thursday, we should know if the MeToo movement was enough to affect the result of the special Senate election. No matter who wins, the MeToo movement is about to shift its target from Moore to Trump. So unless Moore wins in a landslide, we can expect Trump's lewd behavior with women to be a major factor in 2018 midterms.

For our next meeting we will discuss the results of the Alabama election and the continuing MeToo movement. Here are some of the videos for the meeting:

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Mo' Trump

Thursday, December 7, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

It appears that I lost my opportunity to have a No Trump meeting. With what happen on Friday, there is no way to avoid Trump. So instead of a No Trump meeting, we are having a Mo' Trump meeting. Here is a video to to summarize the situation:

Weekend Update on the GOP Tax Plan

----------------------------------- Updated 12/8/17 ---------------------------------------------------

Here are the other videos shown at the meeting:

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

News Without Trump

Thursday, November 30, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

Just got back from Hawaii and I completely ignored the news while I was there. Since I am totally unprepared we are going to have an open session. We can talk about any news as long as there is no relation to Trump. If you draw a blank, I will show a TED Talk that have nothing to do with Trump or anything else upsetting. Here is an example:

How to engineer a viral music video

Due to the flu, I had to let Norm substitute for me. Without the videos. a non Trump meeting would not have worked. We may try this format later this year.

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Showdown at COP23

Thursday, November 16, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

The 2015 Paris Climate Accord was threaten when Trump announced his intension to withdraw. COP23 in Bonn Germany, November 6 to 17, will be the first test of the resolve of the rest of he world. The Paris Accord has been severely criticized for being ineffective and Trump has encouraged the nations of the world to act in their self-interest. But Trump has seemed to unite the rest of the world to stay in the Paris agreement. In fact, Nicaragua and Syria, the only two holdouts have now joined, totally isolating the US.

Here are the videos for the next meeting:

----------------------------------- Updated 11/16/17 ----------------------------------

Here are the other videos shown at the meeting:

Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Bad Guy with a Gun

Thursday, November 9, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

We talked about mass shootings before; last time after the Las Vegas shooting just five weeks ago. Last SundaySutherland Springs became the fifth worse shooting in modern US history, pushing Columbine out of the top ten. An assault rifle was once the again the weapon of choice, but in spite of the outcry no action is expected. However, Sutherland Springs had others elements that became the focus of media attention.

This time there was outside intervention by a private citizen, which stopped the shooter from escaping. This played into the pro-gun rallying cry, "only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun". Meanwhile, gun-control advocates focused on the shooters history of domestic abuse, which should have kept this bad guy from getting a gun.

Here are the videos for the meeting, note that the comedy videos were made before the shooting:

----------------------------------- Updated 11/9/17 --------------------------------------

Here are the other videos shown ay the meeting:

While not shown at the meeting, HERE are the 10 most deadly shootings. Note that Columbine which had 13 victims, excluding the two shooters, is no longer on the list.

Tuesday, October 31, 2017

The Reckoning - Mueller, Whitefish and Virginia

Thursday, November 2, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

The Trump brand was seriously tarnished this week. On Monday, Special Councel Mueller released the first three indictments in the Russian investigation. One of the targets, has pleaded guilty and is cooperating with the investigation. Meanwhile in Puerto Rico, the grid repair contract awarded to Whitefish Energy has exposed blatant corruption with possible links to Trump. This investigation is just starting, but the leaked contract foreshadows a major scandal. How the voters react to this, will be reflected in the Virginia gubernatorial election next week. Here are the videos for the meeting:

------------------------------ Updated 11/2/17 ----------------------------------

Here are the other videos shown at the meeting:

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Ambush in Niger

Thursday, October 26, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

It has been over 20 days since four American soldiers were slain in Tongo Tongo, Niger, but only now has the Pentagon released a preliminary report on what actually happen. Before that the press was focused stupid statements made by Trump to deflect attention from the serious questions of the incident. Right now the questions are about the specifics of the ambush and why the US troops were in Niger.

Rachel Maddow raised the question of how the ambush was related to the travel ban on Niger's neighbor, Chad. Here is her report and the response by Fox.

---------------------------------- Updated 10/26/17 ----------------------------------------

Here are the other videos shown at the meeting:

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Hell on Earth

Thursday, October 19, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

The past few days have been horrific, from the blasts in Somalia, to the days of wildfires in California, to the painfully slow recovery of Puerto Rico. Here are the videos for the meeting;

-------------------------------------------- Updated 10/19/17 -----------------------------------------

Here are the other videos shown at the meeting:

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Trump Stunts

Thursday, October 12, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

Without another huge national disaster, Trump once again dominated the news. His latest stunts over Puerto Rico, the NFL and Bob Corker are summarized by Seth Meyers:

Pence's NFL stunt, Trump vs. Bob Corker and Puerto Rico

Other examples of Trump stunts will be presented at our next meeting.

-------------------------------------------- Updated 10/12/17 ------------------------------------------

Here are the other videos shown at the meeting:

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

No Laughing Matter

Thursday, October 5, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

To say that the events of last week in Las Vegas, North Korea and Puerto Rico were disheartening would be a gross understatement. It sometimes helps to see the humor in these events in spite of their seriousness. Here is a video from the Daily Show which covers all three events:

Trevor Responds to the Las Vegas Shooting & Trump Tweets the Weekend Away

I will gather other videos from the late night talk shows before the Thursday meeting.

------------------------------------ Updated 10/5/17 --------------------------------------------

These are the other video shown at the meeting:

Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Puerto Rico and Dominica

Thursday, September 28, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

With so much of the attention on Trump's feud with the NFL, it seemed that the US had forgotten about the suffering in Puerto Rico hit by hurricane Maria. But once Monday Night Football was over, Puerto Rico became the focus of attention. Trump said he would visit Puerto Rico next week. In spite of what Trump said, Puerto Rico was not hit by the full furry of Maria. As devastating as it was, Maria had degraded to a Cat 4, before it made landfall.

Two days earlier, on the evening before Trump's America First speech at the UNGA, Maria hit the island nation of Dominica as a Cat 5. The entire island was devastated and the Prime Minister of Dominica went to the UNGA to appeal for world aid.

Here are the videos for this meeting:

--------------------------------------------- Updated 9/28/17 ------------------------------

Here are the other Videos show at the meeting:

Also we talked much of the earthquakes which occurred during the hurricanes, both in Mexico and Japan. HERE is an article which links earthquakes and volcanic eruptions to hurricanes and typhoons, and to climate change.

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Hurricane Donald Blows Into the UN

Thursday, September 21, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

Trump's changing of positions is like a hurricane which current models cannot predict. Trump's statements after Charlotte was like the eye wall of a hurricane where the winds blow strongest. Trump's response to Hurricane Harvey was like the calm of the eye where he acted Presidential. Then came the reverse winds with budget and DACA deals with the Democrats. This all lead to Trump's appearance at the UN General Assembly annual debate where world leaders take the stage. HERE is a background video.

Given Trump's past animosity to the UN, it was surprising that he hosted a session on Monday and gave a speech on Tuesday. As it turned out, Trump did not change any of his positions, including on Climate Change, but at least he seemed to acknowledge the importance of the UN. For most of us, this is a given, but for him it's progress.

Here are the videos for the next meeting:

------------------------------------------ Updated 9/21/17 -----------------------------------------

Here are the other videos shown at the meeting:

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

More Storms on the Way

Thursday, September 14, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

The current conditions seems to favor more storms after Harvey and Irma. Jose is still out there and will approach near our Northeast coast by next week. Even if Jose does not make landfall, more hurricanes are expected to form this season. Climate change says that this year is the new normal and storms will get worse in the coming years.

Here are the videos for the next meeting:

----------------------------------------------- Updated 9/14/17 ----------------------------------------------

Here are the other videos shown at the meeting:

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Between the Storms

Thursday, September 7, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

We are between storms, recovering from Harvey and anticipating Irma. In this period of "calm", we are still fighting the fires in the western states. LA is having its biggest fire in history. Yet, the media still does not discuss climate change. Instead the focus is on the budget battles in Congress which came back from recess this Tuesday. Without any media coverage, it is unlikely that any of Trump's cuts to climate science will be reversed.

Here are the videos for the meeting:

There will be a video about Irma, but I will wait until just before the meeting to select it. In the meanwhile, if you want to track the storm you can try THIS website.

---------------------------------------- Updated 9/7/17 ------------------------------------

These are the other videos shown at the meeting:

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Harvey

Thursday, August 31, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

We would have had a full news week even without Hurricane Harvey, but the epic proportion of the flooding caused by Harvey on the Houston area has made every thing else seem minor. So for our next meeting we will focus on Harvey even though the storm may continue beyond Thursday.

All the problems of Harvey were predicted by the weather models before it hit on Friday. In our first video, below, Shepard Smith does an excellent analysis of how the flood formed, but he leaves out any mention of climate change. The climate models have been predicting the rise of stalled weather patterns causing more floods and droughts. The second video is a repeat from this April about the Potsdam study which showed how climate change led to increased flooding. The third video shows that even worse flooding is now happening in South Asia.

HERE is a website which records the major flooding events around the world. Harvey is the latest entry; the South Asia flood is the entry before that. There are 170 other entries for the past 12 months.

---------------------------------------- Updated 8/31/17 -------------------------------------

Here are the other videos shown at the meeting:

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

More on Charlottesville

Thursday, August 24, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

So much was left unsaid last week about Charlottesville, that we need to continue the discussion. It was only last Tuesday since Trump ranted about fault on both sides, but this is old news in the age of Trump. While the news has moved on to Afghanistan and Arpaio, we will take the time to look at the origins of the conflict in Charlottesville.

If you have not already seen it, there is a documentary from Vice News that shows the violent nature of right wing extremist. Clips from this documentary have been used in other news programs as evidence that these groups were primarily to blame. Because of its length, we will not show it at the meeting, but we will discuss it. Here is the link if you have not yet seen it:

Charlottesville: Race and Terror

While the Vice News piece countered Trump's assertion that there were good people on the Right, it did not address Trumps's other claim that there was bad people on the Left. Another piece from ABC 20/20 takes a more balanced view, showing extremism on both sides. We will review the 20/20 piece at our meeting. Here are the three parts:

--------------------------------- Updated 8/24/17 --------------------------------------------

These are the other videos that were shown at the meeting:

Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Charlottesville

Thursday, August 17, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

During the campaign, Trump was accused of being a beholden to his racist supporters, but that could be dismissed as campaign rhetoric. But the events in Charlottesville last Saturday has seemed to confirm that Trump, as President, is still reluctant to condemn the white supremacists groups.

Here is a video which summarizes the issue. As a serious statement by a well known comedian, it is overtly political without the cover of comedy.

Seth Meyers' Statement on Charlottesville

---------------------------------------- Updated 8/18/17 ----------------------------------------

Here are the videos that were shown at the meeting:

Monday, August 7, 2017

Legal Immigration

Thursday, August 10, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

With his administration under siege, Trump has returned to the issue of immigration to rally support from his base. But instead of attacking illegal immigration, he wants to change our legal immigration policies. Here are the videos for the meeting:

---------------------------------- Updated 8/10/17 -----------------------------------------

Here is the breaking news video shown at the beginning of the meeting:

Trump's Twitter War of Words with North Korea

Here is the TED Talk on English in China shown at the end of the meeting:

The world's English mania

Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Chaos

Thursday, August 3, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

The Trump administration has reached a new level of chaos, while foreign and domestic issues move toward crisis. Just when we thought that Trump could not surprise us, we get surprised with the dismissal of Communications Director Scaramucci, just ten days after he was hired. There may be more developments in the two days before our meeting, but here are some videos to get started:

------------------------------------------------- Updated 8/3/17 --------------------------------------------------

Here are the other videos shown at the meeting:

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

The Healthcare Vote

Thursday, July 27, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

The senate healthcare bill is going to the floor without the votes to pass any of its various forms. Right now the plan is just to start debate and allow amendments and hope that some kind of consensus will be reached. Is this an act of desperation or a back-door way to get the Democrats involved? Over the next two days before our meeting, a lot could happen or nothing at all, if the Republican leadership decides to delay again. We will cover the floor fight if anything interesting develops. If not we will cover how healthcare could be solved. We will start with this video:

Confusion and mystery shroud health care bill ahead of Senate vote

------------------------------------------ Updated 7/27/17 ----------------------------------------

Here are the other videos shown at the meeting:

Monday, July 17, 2017

The Donald Trump Jr. Emails

Thursday, July 20, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

Yes, we will talk about the Donald Trump Jr. emails. At first, this story seemed to be another tempest that would blow over. But then on Friday, while Trump was in France for Bastille Day, the story broke that there was also a former Russian spy in the meeting, that Trump Jr. had not mentioned. So the story continued over the weekend and into this week. With Jared Kushner's security clearance in jeopardy, the story has least a few more days to play.

Here are the videos for the coverage before Friday:

There are a lot more videos to cover the events since Friday. The videos will be selected before our meeting.

--------------------------------- Updated 7/20/17 -------------------------------

Here are the other videos shown at the meeting:

Monday, July 10, 2017

Missile Defense for the North Korean Threat

Thursday, July 13, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

For our next meeting, we will talk about the missile treat from North Korea, the diplomatic efforts to thwart it, and the state of missile defense. Here are the videos:

Tuesday, July 4, 2017

A Tweet Too Far

Thursday, July 6, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

Last Thursday, Trump tweeted an insult to Joe and Mika, cohosts on the MSNBC talk show "Morning Joe", which went too far and was condemned by many Trump supporters. In spite of all the pressing issues, such as the Senate healthcare bill and the G20 summit, the nation's attention was focused on the fallout from this Trump tweet. At least until Sunday, when another Trump tweet, this time against CNN, shifted the discussion to violence against the media.

I am still going through the videos so I do not have a complete agenda, but we will start with these video from last Thursday:

------------------------------------------- Updated 7/7/17 -----------------------------------------

Here are the other videos shown at the meeting:

Monday, June 26, 2017

The Russian Hack

Thursday, June 29, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

For the next meeting, we will return to the Russian Hack of the 2016 presidential election. Earlier this months, new leaks revealed that several state election sites were under attack, and last Friday the Washington Post published new information on how Obama responded to the attack. Here are the videos for the meeting:

------------------------------------ Updated 6/29/17 ---------------------------------------

Here are the other videos shown at the meeting:

Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Elections Here and There

Thursday, June 22, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

This year we have all learned that elections truly have consequences. Trump definitely knows this and can't stop talking about his election victory. But other elections, here and abroad, have had impacts of their own. Elections in the UK, France and South Korea have all had major consequences that are still playing out. We are also aware of that special Congressional elections in this country can for shadow the 2018 midterms.

As of this writing, the most expensive Congressional election ever is taking place in the Georgia 6th district. This race is close and is viewed as a test for Trump support. Another race, South Carolina 5th, is considered a sure win for the Republicans, but the margin of victory may still be important.

For our next meeting, we will discuss these local and foreign elections. Here are the videos:

--------------------------------- Updated 6/22/17 ----------------------------------

Because of the additional videos about the special Congressional elections, the John Oliver video about the UK snap election was not shown. It may be shown at a future meeting about Brexit negotiations. Here are the others videos that were shown at the meeting:

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Trump Week in Review

Thursday, June 15, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

No matter how hard I try, I cannot ignore Trump. Last week was suppose to be about Infrastructure but Trump's tweets caused problems with the London mayor, his travel ban case, and the Pentagon over Qatar. All this before the Comey testimony. Here are the videos for the meeting:

------------------------------------------ Updated 6/15/17 -----------------------------------------

Here are the other videos shown a the meeting:

Monday, June 5, 2017

Trump Against the World

Thursday, June 8, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

A few hours after our last meeting on Thursday, Trump announced that he would pull out of the Paris Climate Accord. This was not a surprise, but the way he did it, the timing and his justification, strengthened the resolve of the opposition. He made his announcement right after he returned from a disastrous trip to Europe, where he alienated fellow members of NATO and the G7. The leaders of Germany and France were already showing their contempt for Trump, and his climate announcement solidified and broadened the opposition. On the following Saturday, in France, India's leader Modi used the previously scheduled trade meeting to show his solidarity with Europe on Climate.

Trump's justification for the withdraw showed that he had no comprehension of what was in the Paris agreement and his position on climate change seemed contradictory. On the following Friday, Trump's handlers refused to comment if Trump no longer thought Climate Change was a hoax. By the weekend, they finally said that Trump believes that the climate is changing and pollution plays a role but elaborated no further. The attempt to make sense out of Trump's nonsense echoes his recent 'covfefe' tweet.

Here is a video by John Oliver which we will use to start the conversation:

Paris Agreement

If we have time we can ponder the deeper meaning of the word COVFEFE.

----------------------------------- Updated 6/9/17 --------------------------------------------

Here are the other videos shown at the meeting:

Saturday, May 27, 2017

Man vs Machine

Thursday, June 1, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

Humankind has suffered another defeat in its battle against machines. Today, Google's AlphaGo swept a three games series against the world's best Go player, Ke Jie. AlphaGo also beat a team of 5 top ranked Go players in an exhibition match. Google has retired AlphaGo from matches with humans, since there is no challenge. HERE is a video which provides historical background, from Chess to Jeopardy to Go. For our next meeting, we will discuss if people are needed anymore. Here are the videos:

Monday, May 22, 2017

Trump Update

Thursday, May 25, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

Having avoided Trump for the last two meetings, we now need to take a quick peek in his latest self-generated crisis. Since our last meeting on Trump, he fired FBI director Comey, came close to admitting to obstruction of justice, revealed classified information to the Russians and complained to graduates on how unfairly he was being treated. A special counsel was appointed to oversee the Russia investigation and impeachment seems possible. Here are the videos for the meeting:

------------------------------------------------- Updated 5/25/17 --------------------------------------------------

Here is the other video shown at the meeting:

Removal of a President under the 25th Amendment

Saturday, May 13, 2017

The Good and Bad News of Clean Energy

Thursday, May 18, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

Two weeks ago we talked about how the Trump administration seems to be at war with science, particularly in their denial of climate change. However, it seems that many climate activists are in a denial of their own, that nuclear power is not needed as part of the solution for climate change. While most climate activists are against nuclear power, some activists have changed their mind about nuclear power.

For our next meeting, we will look at public attitudes toward nuclear power. Here are the videos:

Friday, May 5, 2017

The Coming Marijuana Battle

Thursday, May 11, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

The 2016 election continued the trend of marijuana legalization, but the new Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, has threatened a federal crackdown on marijuana in spite of state law. Here are the videos for the meeting:

------------------------------------------ Updated 5/11/17 ---------------------------------------

Here are the other videos shown at the meeting:

Monday, May 1, 2017

Trump's First 100 Days

Thursday, May 4, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

For our next meeting, we will review Trump's first 100 days. Here are the videos:

------------------------------------------- Updated 5/4/17 -------------------------------------------------

Here are the other videos shown at the meeting:

Sunday, April 23, 2017

Trump's First Earth Day

Thursday, April 27, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

From the moment Trump was elected, all of Obama's work on the environment was put into jeopardy. Trump's new policies dismissed the science of Climate Change, so scientists came out in force on Saturday, Earth Day, to march for science.

For our next meeting, we will explore Trump's battle with the environment. Here are the videos for the meeting:

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Trump's Other Nuclear Option

Thursday, April 20, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

Has the nuclear situation in North Korea finally come to ahead or is it just business as usual? In spite of all the threats over the weekend, it all culminated with a failed missile launch. Yet tensions continue to build and three carrier groups are expected to arrive next week. For our meeting, we will talk about the the never-ending crisis with North Korea.

I am still collecting video about the North Korean, but here is a start:

----------------------------------------- Updated 4/21/17 --------------------------------------

These are the other videos shown at the meeting:

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Trump's Move

Thursday, April 13, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

So, right after our last meeting Trump bombed Syria. That became the obvious topic for our next meeting, but the news kept on coming; so I decided to delay as long as I could to collect a proper sample of videos. What is below is some of what I have so far:

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Gorsuch's Expected Confirmation

Thursday, April 6, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

Next Friday, Neil Gorsuch is expected to be confirmed to the Supreme Court by "nuking" the Democrat filibuster. After that, the topic will be lost in the news cycle due to the many other Trump issues vying for attention. So next Thursday is probably our last chance to discuss this most important topic.

The issues surrounding this topic are mostly old news that we just did not have time to discuss because of all the other Trump stuff we covered. Rather than going back to old news clips, I found material from the late night comedians that we can use to setup our discussion. We will show excerpts from the following videos:

Sam Bee on the Biden Rule
Trevor Noah on Trump's Gorsuch announcement
Seth Meyers on the Senate hearings
Al Frankin on the case of the "Frozen Trucker", Part 1 and Part 2

Calling Senator Al Franken a comedian may be stretch, but his reputation as a comic follows him even in serious matters. When Franken was a comic, he exposed the absurdity of Rush Limbugh, and he continues his fight against nonsense in the Senate.

Coincidentally, a recent video on VOX, praises the role of comedians in the current political climate.

--------------------------------------- Updated 4/6/17 ------------------------------------

Here are the other videos shown at the meeting:

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Trump Fail

Thursday, March 30, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

Last Thursday, I said that we would cover Trump's NASA space initiative unless something else came up. Well, it didn't take long. On Friday, the TrumpCare bill was put on indefinite hold because it lacked sufficient support by Trump's own party. Trump said he has moved on to other issues. In fact. his weekly Saturday address was about NASA, but was completely ignored by the media which focused on the TrumpCare defeat. For our meeting, we will follow the media's lead. Here are the video's:

Monday, March 20, 2017

Trump's Budget

Thursday, March 23, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

So many things concerning Trump are happening this week that it was head to choose which to focus on. The few comments I received were about the national debt, so we will do a session on debt and Trump's budget.

The following videos show the magnitude of the national debt problem and how Trump's budget does not address it. Budget Director Mulvaney says that the current budget just addresses discretionary spending and a more complete budget is due later, but the even this partial budget is creating much alarm. Here are to videos for the meeting:

Sunday, March 12, 2017

TrumpCare

Thursday, March 16, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

The debate to repeal and replace ObamaCare has started in earnest. The replacement, proposed by Paul Ryan, is on the table and has been named TrumpCare by the press. Trump supports Ryan's plan but not the nickname.

Just like everything else with Trump, things are moving fast; so I will wait until Thursday morning to make the final selection of videos. For now here are some videos to provide background:

------------------------ Updated 3/16/17 ---------------------------

Here are the additional video shown at the meeting:

Thursday, March 2, 2017

Trump's Court

Thursday, March 9, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

I will be away next week; Norm will lead the discussion on the Supreme Court and Trump's "originalist" criterion. Norm has worked out the technical difficulties which forced him to cancel two weeks ago.

Saturday, February 25, 2017

Trump Continues

Thursday, March 2, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

I honestly don't know what will be the trending Trump news when we meet, so I will not select the videos until the day before. I still have some left over Trumps videos from two weeks ago, particularly about the visits from the leaders of Japan, Canada and Israel. We still have not talked about the repeal of Obamacare, or the dismantling of federal regulations, or the war on the press, or the end of the separation of church and state, or global trade, or states rights, or tax reform, or infrastructure, public education, or climate change. Did I miss anything?

If you have a Trump topic you would like to cover please post it on this blog.

------------------------------------- Updated 3/2/17 ---------------------------------------

We dedided to talk about Trump's speech before Congress, with the focus on the requested increase on defense spending. Here are the videos that were shown:

Thursday, February 16, 2017

Trump Break

Thursday, February 23, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)
---- meeting was cancelled ----

We will take a break from Trump for the next meeting, not because we ran out of material, but because I will be on travel. Norm will be leading the discussion. He is thinking of doing a session on Supreme Court originalism. This is definitely a pertinent topic since it is one of Trump's primary criteria for nominating Judge Gorsuch.

Please feel free to use this blog page to air your thought about this topic. It is far easier to prepare for a meeting material when w know your concerns.

Monday, February 13, 2017

Trump - Week 4

Thursday, February 16, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

John Oliver is finally back on HBO for 2017 with THIS scathing attack on Donald Trump's detachment from reality. Normally, this video would be the basis for our discussion at out meeting, but with so many other Trump issues this week, you will just have to view Oliver's video at home. Here is a partial list of the videos for our meeting:

------------------------------------- Updated 2/16/17 ------------------------------------------

So much happened in the three day from the time of the blog post to the meeting that much of the video list was modified. Here sre the videos that were shown during the meeting:

Here are the videos shown during the overtime session:

Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Trump - Week 3

Thursday, February 9, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

The third week of Trump seems like a continuation of the second week with the news and protests still focused on the travel ban. So we will spend the meeting with deeper look into the travel ban and other aspects of Trump's foreign policy. Here are the video we will review at the meeting:

----------------------------- Updated 2/9/17 ------------------------------

In addition to the videos listed above, we showed at the meeting:

Kelly take the fall for the Travel Ban rollout

Thursday, January 26, 2017

Trump - Week 2

Thursday, February 2, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

I don't know what the second week of Trump will bring. In just the first week, he upset women rights groups, the mainstream media, environmentalists, supporters of sanctuary cities and the governments of China and Mexico. His Supreme Court nominee will not be revealed until the third week. So we will just have to see what he has in store this upcoming week. I can't wait.

If a topic comes up that you want to talk about, be sure to add a blog comment so we can reserve time for it in our next meeting.

----------------------------------------------- Updated 2/2/17 --------------------------------------------------

Here are the videos shown during the meeting:

Sunday, January 22, 2017

The First Days of Trump

Thursday, January 26, 2017, 10am to 11:30 in the Meeting Room (behind the fireplace)

Hope you all had a pleasant break. While in Hawaii, I spend absolutely no time thinking of Trump. Now that I am back and catching up with the news, I want to go back to Hawaii. But, as promised, we will talk about Trump for our first meeting of 2017, sorry.

It seems that Trump has escalated his war with the media, shaming CNN for breaking the story on Pee Gate, and then denouncing the press over the crowd size of his inauguration. This would be a good topic for a meeting, but there is three more days before we meet on Thursday, and Trump is just beginning. So I will not limiting the meeting to any specific topic. But if you want to cover a specific Trump issue, please post your topic as a comment and we will make time to discuss it.

-------------------------------------- Updated 1/26/17 ----------------------------------------------

Here are the videos shown at the meeting: