GOP Debate without Trump Hangover....

Here are some leftover tweets from last night's Republican debate in which Donald Trump pretended he was Matthew Broderick in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," as well as some nifty tweets that were posted today on Twitter:

1) John Fuselgang (liberal): GOP debate was like The Suicide Squad without their Joker.

2) Ian Cioffi (libertarian): If watch CNN you'd think Rand Paul had a good night. If you watch Fox News, you'd think Rand Paul never attended the debate.

3) Hugh Hewitt (conservative): I'm going to sleep because I'm agreeing with David Axelrod too much.

4) Donna Brazile (liberal): A GOPDebate can still provide winners and losers even without Trump there to proclaim himself the winner and call everyone else losers.

5) Michelle Malkin (black Republican): In case you missed Jeb last nite Immigration pandering__check. Generational pandering__check. The Cringe. It burns.

6) Markos Moulitsas (liberal): So Donald Trump is taking down the Republican Party, now he's trying to do the same for Fox? Best primary ever.

7) Michael Crowley (Politico): Gonna be a lot of 'Hey, maybe we wrote off Jeb Bush too soon' overnight and tomorrow. Might be too late though....

8) Bernie Sanders: EqualPayCantWait when women in America who do the same work earn 79 cents on the dollar compared to men.

9) John Robinson (UNC journalism professor): Politics as bloodsport is fun to watch, but I do wish presidential candidates acted with dignity and intended, at least, to be presidential.

That makes a cool nod to our Luca Libre (Mexican wrestling image) along with a still from the movie "The Hangover" with Bradley Cooper and an image of Iowa State cheerleaders. Go Cyclones! Well, we don't live close to Iowa at all actually.....

GOP Debate from Iowa Minus Trump Tweets (3 of 3): Everyone Hates Bernie.......

Wow! This is somehow our 2,750th entry. Of course, when we started this blog, it was in 2005 and Steve Jobs was still alive and perhaps still parking his Mercedes in handicapped parking spaces.

Since we adore irony here, we are starting with an image of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) the democratic socialist who has somehow become Hillary Clinton's main Democratic challenger and nemesis; yes, Bernie is not a Republican, in fact, they really seem to hate him.

The image in the middle is an Iowa wind farm, and the guy in the last photo is Gov. John Kasich, whom the average seventh grader at Stillwell Junior High School in West Des Moines, Iowa, has probably still never heard of.

Here are the tweets:

1) Benjamin Freed (Washingtonian magazine): Sweden is a constitutional monarchy with a prime minister.

2) Brian McFadden (liberal): I'll risk Sweden and it's Seasonal Affective Disorder over the no-government Republican ideal of Somalia.

3) Matthew Yglesias (liberal): Bernie is probably not left-wing enough to lead the Swedish social democrats.

4) Jonah Goldberg (conservative): I think Kasich should have a costume change between every answer, Roman centurion, cowboy, French maid, Klingon warrior........etc.

5) Jonathan Chait (liberal): The immigration round was like The Departed.

6) Marco Rubio (he tweeted during the debate??!!! Oh, it's from his helpers, right....): Let me be clear, there is only one Savior, and it's not me.

7) Dan Zak (Washington Post): Kasich was raised Catholic, but is now Anglican, has a brother who has dealt with mental health issues.

8) Dave Rubin: Solid answer by Christie. Your personal faith should doesn't trump the law. Simple as that.

9) Secular Talk: Chris Christie asked about Kim Davis*, deflects and attacks ISIS. Of course....

*-Davis is the controversial country clerk in Kentucky who refused to issue marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples.

Debate from Iowa Minus Donald Trump Tweets (2 of 3)

Wow! That photo of Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky at the bottom took all night to download, but it is in the public domain. The image at the top, also in the public domain (we hope), is of Donald Trump who decided he was too big for tonight's Republican debate. And, in the middle, since the GOP always aims to win over evangelicals, is an image of the Cathedral of the Epiphany in Sioux City, Iowa,.........oh, we forgot some evangelical Baptists don't like Catholics..........oh well...........!

Here are the tweets:

1) Chris Cillizza (Washington Post): Best to worst so far.....1. Rand 2. Jeb 3. Rubio 4. Christie 5. Cruz 6. Kasich 7. Carson

2) Chuck Todd (NBC): But the more muddled this debate is it ends up helping one candidate.....the elephant not in the room.....(great pun, Chuck!)....

3) Ken Rudin (NPR): Oooops. Paul makes case against abortion. But if he were a true libertarian would he not leave to the states and stay out of it?

4) Bill Mitchell (conservative): The callers to CSPAN are VERY positive about Trump!

5) Doug Aus (liberal): Nabela Noor tells the GOP the truth....Islamophobia is radicalizing ISIS.

6) Mark Cuban (owner of the Dallas Mavericks): I propose we do a debate where every candidate has to do a shot of liquor before every question. That's the only way we'll get real answers.

7) Dan Speerin (liberal): My plan is to starve all Iranians.....because peace.....Marco Rubio....

8) Daniel Ashford (conservative): I believe we need a unifier on the right. I believe that person is Carson. He is the American dream and he is in this for America and not for himself.

9) Matt Soleyn (fiscal conservative): Rand Paul thinks people having sexual relations with an intern would lead to them being fired. He needs to visit Wall Street.

Debate Tweets from Iowa Debate......Minus Donald Duck....We Mean Donald Trump......

Here are some tweets about tonight's Fox News Republican Party Debate moderated by Megyn Kelly, which caused Donald Duck/Trump not to attend; one of his main rivals Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida is pictured top. That's a cow from the Iowa State Fair in the middle. And, of course, Donald Duck is at the bottom:

1) John Fugelsang (liberal): Carly Fiorina will make a great president as soon as she's done catching the DALMATIANS!!!

2) Hind Makki (Muslim woman activist): Does Ben Carson remember that many of the Founding Fathers were also slave-owners?

3) Megan McArdle (The Atlantic): Ben Carson closes by reading the preamble to the Constitution. Sadly, this is the strongest answer he has ever given in a debate.

4) Peter Suderman (Reason magazine): Rubio delivers every line as if it's part of an epic monologue. He's like Aaron Sorkin if Aaron Sorkin were a Republican.

5) Ana Marie Cox (liberal): Interesting, Fox News outsourced almost all of its questions about race and immigration to Youtube.

6) Meghan McCain (conservative): I like Jeb Bush for the first time in any debate.

7) Sally Kohn (CNN): Overall I thought the the debate questions were refreshing. The answers unsurprisingly less so.

8) Theodore R. Johnson: Ben Carson closed with a Constitutional Easter Special.

9) Jonathan V. Last (conservative): Can't believe moderators let that BS 'climate of hatred' Islamophobia question into the debate. Advantage Trump.

Normally, we try to keep these things a tad bit objective, but we liked the first tweet the best! 

Remembering David Bowie (1947-2016)...........with a list of his ten best records according to NME

David Bowie passed away just two days after his 69th birthday from liver cancer. His death shocked the world as he had not publicly disclosed his 18-month bout with his illness. Duncan Jones, Bowie's filmmaker son, was among the first to confirm that the bad news was true on Twitter. Bowie worked with a number of legendary producers including Tony Visconti and Brian Eno.

Here is a list of Bowie's ten best records according to Tim Chester of NME (Jan. 2012):

1. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust..... (1972)

2. Let's Dance (1983; pict. top)

3. Young Americans (1975; pict. center)

4. Hunky Dory (1971)

5. Heroes (1977)

6. The Man Who Sold the World (1970, pict. bottom)

7. Low (1977)

8. Scary Monsters..... (1980)

9. Aladdin Sane (1973)

10. Heathen (2002)

http://www.davidbowie.com

http://www.bowiewonderland.com

A Pictorial Tribute to Istanbul.........

In lieu of yesterday's ISIS-likely terrorist attack in the Sultanahmet tourist district in Istanbul which killed nine Germans and one Peruvian visitor to Istanbul, we are presenting a pictorial tribute to one of the world's great cities, which stretches across two continents.

For this entry, we had many ideas and we regret that we could not fit all of them in, including ones depicting many of the Armenian and Greek Orthodox churches in Istanbul as well as tourist meccas like the Grand Bazaar and the Topkapi Palace as well as landmarks like the Haydar Pasha train station on the Asian side.

But, we have these six images, they are of 1) The Bosporus Bridge which connects Europe and Asia; 2) the Atlas Cinema, built in 1948, in Beyoglu; 3) horse carriages in Buyukada, the largest of the four Princess Islands; 4) a fish meal in Kumkapi (in Turkey, the heads are kept on the fish unless you ask a server otherwise); 5) a view of the Blue Mosque; and 6) a view of Sariyer on the Asian side.

http://wikitravel.org/en/Istanbul

http://www.dailyistanbultours.com

http://www.turkeyplanner.com

SOTU Tweets Blogathon: Good Morning Dubai....

Good morning, Dubai! Where it is now 10:00 a.m. Kudos to Aston Villa, the last place team in the English Premiere League for their 1-0 triumph over Crystal Palace.

Here is our final list of tweets, which does NOT involve any commentary from the likes of George F. Will and Fozzie the Bear.(pict. center).......

1) Taz Ahmed (American Muslim female comedian, activist): Can you PLAY INTO THE MODEL MINORITY STEREOTYPE any harder, Nikki Haley ?!?!?!

2) Catholic Democrats: So Nikki Haley is just repeating GOP talking points w/a clenched jaw and a southern accent? Cool, it's not like we expected anything else.

3) Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va., pict. top): As POTUS noted the scourge of opioid addiction  cuts across party lines. Let's come together to lift up communities hurt by this epidemic.

4) Andrea Mitchell (NBC, she is mentioning Sen. Ted Cruz R-Tex.,pict. bottom; he was campaigning for president in New Hampshire today instead of being at the SOTU): Ted Cruz rejects POTUS criticism of his threat to carpetbomb ISIS, says Obama and Hillary Clinton are putting their head in the sand regarding terrorism.

5) Jonathan Scott (Huffington Post): Wolf Blitzer also thought Jesus was born in Jerusalem on Celebrity Jeopardy.

6) Maryland Dem Party: Nikki Haley literally said nothing. Nothing of substance, and no answers.

7) Chuck Todd (NBC): If it's possible for Haley to actually rise up on the VP short list, she accomplished that as well tonight. Strong showing for SCGOV.

8) Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY): POTUS is right, vote. Speak out. Stand up for others, esp the vulnerable, knowing each of us is only here 'cause somebody stood up for us.

9) Josh Kraushaar (National Journal): Donald Trump is providing a rare moment of bipartisanship tonight.

10) Liz Mair (conservative new media adviser): "Judging by Twitter, it appears that continuing to watch 'Making a Murderer' (a Netflix doc series) was the right call."

11) 9NewsDenver: "SC Gov. Nikki Haley sounds optimistic tone in GOP SOTU response."

http://www.lizmair.com

http://www.goodmuslimbadmuslim.com/tazandzahra/

http://www.catholicdemocrats.org/

http://www.9news.com/

SOTU Blogathon: Republicans Against Cancer Prevention

We bring back an image of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan to make fun of the new house speaker who failed in his attempt to unseat Julia Louis-Dreyfus as vice president of the United States (for those of you in Romania: yes, we are kidding. Joe Biden is our veep)....

You will figure out why we dumped an image of Thomas Jefferson (pict. top) when you read this. As for Miss Piggy, even though her presence may hurt our hits coming from Dubai, we think it is a great way to make fun of Congressional pork and the fact that her show was on right before the State of the Union (SOTU).

Here are the tweets:

1)  WNYC: Obama: It's one of the few regrets of my presidency--that the rancor has gotten worse instead of better.

2) Roll Call: Obama: We've got to make it easier to vote, not harder, and modernize it for the way we live now.

3) Talking Points Memo: Obama: ISIL doesn't threaten our national existence.

4) Washington Post Politics: Obama: This isn't a matter of political correctness. It's a matter of understanding what makes us stronger.

5) Peter Sagal (NPR talk show host): This is true! Our Founders were a bunch of jerks who hated each other! (Yeah, that's the reason for TJ).

6) Colorado Avalanche: Tampa scores again. (the Tampa Bay Lightning won the hockey game 4-0).

7) Colorado Dems: Obama: We need to reject any politics that target people because of race or religion.

8) Cong. Mark Sanford (R-SC): Obama mentions closing Gitmo while he lacks the legal authority to take such actions.

9) Rachel Blevins (conservative college student from Texas): For his 8th and final SOTU, Obama promises to shut down Gitmo yet again....

10) Paul Ryan: For too many, the American dream is slipping. Nothing I've heard tonight is very reassuring.

11) The Onion (satire news): Obama Praises Own Resiliency in the Face of Hardship During the SOTU.

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/

http://www.rollcall.com

https://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/

http://www.theonion.com

SOTU Tweets Blogathon (1 of 3): Enter Paul Ryan

With the new House Speaker Cong. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) getting a new job that 'nobody in Washington wants' according to Chris Cillizza of "The Washington Post" simply because both his Republican Party and Congress as a whole is a frigging mess.

Our images are of Cong. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.), Kermit the Frog (since "The Muppets" aired on ABC right before the SOTU), and Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC), who gave the GOP response to President Barack Obama's speech.

We must thank WNYC-FM, New York City's NPR station for airing the SOTU which was not aired on my local public radio station.

For those of you in Albania, SOTU stands for State of the Union.

Here are the tweets:

1) Tom Tomorrow (liberal cartoonist): "Guys, I think they drugged Paul Ryan."

2) Audra Sparks (progressive activist): You won't be remembered as the president who fought for the environment.

3) WBTV-News (Charlotte, NC): SC Governor Nikki Haley to deliver GOP response after SOTU.

4) Cong. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.): We need to continue our economy and make it work for everyone.

5) Cong. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC): Ok.....the first thing I can agree with. Figuring out ways to help people up and out of poverty should be a priority.

6) National Zoo (we couldn't resist): Orangutans are the largest tree-dwelling animals in the world.

7) Andrea Mitchell (NBC News): POTUS hits climate deniers saying when Russians beat us into space we didn't deny Sputnik was up there, we raced to the moon.

8) Zeke Miller (Time): Obama: We're every immigrant and entrepreneur from Boston to Austin to Silicon Valley racing to shape a better world.

9) Nerdy Wonka: Pres. Obama: 'Look if anybody still wants to dispute the science around climate change have at it,  you'll be pretty lonely.

10) Cong. Gerry Connolly (D-Va): POTUS tells GOP that their climate change denial will make 'em pretty lonely given business, military, science international consensus.

11) Katrina vanden Heuvel (chief editor of "The Nation"): YES__ We spend more on our military than the next 8 nations combined, but why?

http://www.wnyc.org

http://www.thenation.com

http://www.cq.com

10 Films in Our Netflix Streaming List: Lots of Imports...

Here are ten films from our Netlix Streaming list, hopefully they will not disappear without notice!

Netflix announced they are now available around the world, including countries such as Turkey, Brazil and India.

1. Girlhood (France 2014, bottom image)

2. The Lesson (Bulgaria 2013,center image)

3. Moonrise Kingdom (2012, pict. top)

4. Bluebird (2013)

5. In Bloom (Georgia 2013)

6. 6 Years (2015)

7. Heavenly Creatures (New Zealand 1994), featuring Kate Winslet who won a Golden Globe Award tonight for her supporting role in "Steve Jobs."

8. Beyond the Hills (Romania 2012)

9. Being Flynn (2012)

10. Mr. Nobody (2009)

http://www.netflix.com

The Best Films of 2016 That We Haven't Seen............

While many respectable film critics have posted their top ten films of 2015 lists, we are once again faced with the fact that we missed films that may have played for eight weeks at multi-plexes or four days at local art houses. Some films never opened here; others have not even opened in major markets like Atlanta or Cleveland, but they qualify as 2015 films because they did open in New York and Los Angeles.

Here are 20 films we really want to see:

1. Room

2. Carol

3. Brooklyn

4. The Martian (pict. top)

5. Mustang (pict. center)

6. Eden

7. The Tribe

8. Black Panthers: Vanguard to a Revolution (documentary, pict. bottom)

9. The Assassin

10. Clouds of Sils Milas

11. American Ultra

12. Timbuktu

13. Sleeping with Other People

14. Irrational Man

15. It Follows

16. Taxi

17. Saint Laurent

18. 45 Years

19. Heart of a Dog

20. Inside Out

http://www.filmcomment.com

http://www.rottentomatoes.com