The White House correspondents’ dinner is a fixture of the Washington scene, a spring event at which the cream of political journalism shares bonhomie, fine food and comedy roasting with the politicians it reports on – including the president. Under Donald Trump, however, the dinner is facing uncertainty.

Trump, who has repeatedly attacked “the very dishonest press” and accused leading news outlets of peddling “fake news” about him, is expected nonetheless to attend the dinner, at the Washington Hilton on 29 April.

Many news outlets, however, are planning to give the event a miss. The New York Times has not sent journalists to the dinner since 2008. The Guardian, which normally attends, will not be represented there this year. Jeff Mason, a Reuters journalist and president of the WHCA, has been obliged to confirm that the event will happen.

read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/12/white-house-corresponden...

 

From Nick Cohen at the Guardian...

Three types dominate extremist movements: crazies, cynics and creeps. The true crazies are always at the bottom of the heap. Cynical propagandists stoke their righteous fury, without which the extremist movement would collapse. Creeps rise to the top, in extremist movements as elsewhere. They are cynical, too, of course. They know how to manipulate their base. But they must show signs of authentic craziness as well or their grip on leadership would weaken and others would take their place.

Crazies, cynics and creeps. Of the three, the cynics are the easiest to understand. They live in the conspiratorial world of clickbait journalism where charlatans churn out fantasies for sites as various as the Telegraph and the Canary. Asking if they believe their propaganda is like asking a lawyer if she believes her client is innocent. It helps, but it is beside the point. What matters is not whether they are sincere, but whether they can fake sincerity like any other salesman or woman with a product to market.

Cynics now manipulate the fate of nations. But once they were dismissed. From the fall of the Berlin Wall until 2016, polite society believed it could safely allow the extremes to fester. The far left would never take over the Labour party. The nationalist right would never take over the US Republicans or British Conservatives. If they did, sensible voters would reject them. Hillary Clintonwould always beat Donald Trump. The British would always prefer the European devil they knew to a dangerous, uncertain future.

In this complacent environment, mainstream politicians and commentators assumed that every variety of cynic – and crazy and creep – could be bought off. David Cameron assumed he could appease the right by giving them a referendum “everybody” knew he would win. The centre left never bothered to fight the far left because “everybody” was equally certain that it was an irrelevance.

read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/feb/11/how-the-lunatic-fr...

 

Sure but the crasiest, creepiest, more cynical of them all are opinionated journos like Nick Cohen who only see one side of a story with one eye while pissing into the wind. 

 

Did I forget to tell you? Donald Trump is a monster. He’s an idiot, a liar, a narcissist, a sex maniac, a torturer, a xenophobe. Come to that, he is a bully, a nepotist, an adulterer, thin-skinned, corrupt and fat. I should add that he is also a tiny-handed, Putin-loving, hateful, rightwing populist. And have you seen his hair?

Does that make you feel better? Is that OK? How is the weather round at your place? Free for lunch?

.....

Almost nothing Trump said in his progress to office seems reliable, if only because his “policy” was mostly shot from the hip. As he said in his memoirs: “The day I realised it can be smart to be shallow was, for me, a deep experience.” Much of his platform, and of what he has so far attempted in office, was repellent or stupid. But some was sensible, at least in intent.

Trump’s desire for term limits in Congress and his assault on Washington lobbyists was overdue. His remarks about Wall Street seemed at times to echo the Occupy movement. His concern for rust-belt jobs, for “urban carnage” and for spending on infrastructure was welcome.

Trump was also bold in demanding Nato rethink its core purpose and budget. He was belatedly outspoken against America’s wars of intervention and its craven links to the Gulf states. The wish to re-set relations between the west and Russia was more sensitive to Europe’s evolving balance of power than Nato’s belligerent provocations. The antagonism towards the eurozone is refreshing after the frozen, illiberal mindset of his Washington predecessors.

We may puzzle at how a man so hostile towards Mexicans, Muslims and gun control can be equally hostile to the CIA, the FBI, the Federal Reserve and the Iraq war. That is the new politics, the tearing up of tribal beliefs and identities.

 

read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/feb/15/yes-donald-trump-i...

World stock markets hit record highs – business live

All the day’s economic and financial news, as shares continue to hit new peaks 

• Introduction: MSCI World Index hits new high
• Economic optimism and rising inflation push shares up
• Are shares overvalued? Maybe....

Having hit a one-month high yesterday, London’s stock market is slightly spoiling today’s narrative by dipping in early trading.

Mining companies and oil producers are falling, pulling the FTSE 100 down by 30 points to 7272.

That’s partly due to the pound gaining against the US dollar; up half a cent to $1.25, cutting the value of revenues earned overseas in dollars.

Other European markets are a little lower, after posting seven days of gains in a row - helping to drive global markets to record highs.

read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2017/feb/16/world-stock-market...

The ratings are in, and they are bad news for President Trump. Alec Baldwin’s Trump impression is so popular that it led the program to six-year ratings high and easily bested the ratings for the episode that Trump guest hosted in 2015. 

CNN reported:
The NBC comedy series, which Baldwin was hosting for a record 17th time, brought in a 7.2 overnight rating, according to NBC. That is the show’s highest overnight rating since 2011.

Baldwin, who again played Trump, brought in a bigger rating than the real thing. When Trump hosted the show as a presidential candidate in November 2015, the episode brought in a 6.6 overnight rating.

read more:

http://www.politicususa.com/2017/02/12/alec-baldwin-blows-trump-ratings-...

It was an extraordinary use of the bully pulpit, yet accounts calling it a nonstop rant don’t do it justice. Some of it was playful and teasing, and Trump wasn’t alone in finding humor on several occasions. Many journalists clearly enjoyed the raucous informality, which included back-and-forth exchanges where some freely talked over the president.

Contrast that with the previous eight years of news conferences, where President Barack Obama generally delivered long lectures to an amen chorus.

There was contrast, too, in Trump spending 50 minutes taking more than 40 questions, all spontaneous and none arranged in advance. It was a scrum to be called on, and no topic was off-topic — he answered them all.

He also made errors, repeated himself frequently and some answers raised more questions. But the overall performance was incredibly effective at creating a very different narrative about his tenure for the TV audience — the people he cares about most.

Expect those two themes — he is putting America First and much of the media is dishonest — to be the pillars of his presidency, as they were the pillars of his campaign. That’s why he’s taking his show on the road, and likely will do so regularly.

Predictably, his prime media targets reacted with feverish claims that Trump was “unhinged” and his ­attacks were “un-American.” Some said he is a threat to the First Amendment.

On the contrary, he’s embracing it. As legendary New Yorker Ed Koch often said about his own criticisms of the press and judges, he didn’t lose his First Amendment rights when he became mayor.

So it is with Trump. He’s free, like all Americans, to speak his mind. His words carry more weight as president, but attempts to silence him are truly un-American. The White House is not a coddled college safe space.

Something else Koch said also is relevant. He once called a journalist who was a partisan critic a “politician with a press pass.”

That’s how Trump sees much of the media, and he’s more right than wrong. Many tried to block his election, and now are trying to destroy his presidency.

They have a choice: get back to being journalists, or get used to being a piñata.

read more:

http://nypost.com/2017/02/19/the-media-doesnt-call-the-shots-trump-does/

This week’s cold open of Saturday Night Live sees the return of Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump, this time facing the possible extinction of Earth due to aliens from the planet Zorblatt 9.

The sketch purports to show how Trump would handle himself in the midst of a global – heck, universal – crisis, and finds that he’d be the same guy the show has been parodying all along – which is a nice way of saying that recent reports indicting Baldwin might be winding down his Trump portrayal on SNL might be coming just in time.

read more:

http://decider.com/2017/03/12/snl-recap-scarlett-johansson-alec-baldwin-...

How Trump could put an end to Baldwin's relentless mockery

The White House Correspondents’ Association has joined in on the criticism of comedian Michelle Wolf— releasing a statement on Sunday, denouncing her routine.

“Last night’s program was meant to offer a unifying message about our common commitment to a vigorous and free press while honoring civility, great reporting and scholarship winners, not to divide people,” said WHCA President Margaret Talev.

“Unfortunately, the entertainer’s monologue was not in the spirit of that mission.”

Talev, a reporter for Bloomberg News, wrote that many journalists in attendance on Saturday night for the annual correspondents’ dinner reached out to her and expressed their “dismay” with Wolf’s monologue, which was widely panned by people on both sides of the aisle.

The former “Daily Show” writer, at times, targeted White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her appearance — saying things like, “She burns facts and then she uses that ash to create a perfect smokey eye.”

“Every day we are working hard to advocate for our members and ensure coverage that benefits the public, and the dinner is an important opportunity to highlight and maintain our essential work.,” Talev said. “The White House Correspondents’ Association remains dedicated to that mission.”

Read more:

https://nypost.com/2018/04/29/correspondents-association-denounces-miche...

 

Read from top...

"I'm floating around and talking to all these powerful people. I'm talking to [Democratic Senator] Nancy Pelosi about [Julian] Assange. And then comes [Democratic Representative] Adam Schiff. He was very charming," Credico told hosts John Kiriakou and Brian Becker.

"And then I make it to the CNN table and I'm surrounded by the people promoting Russiagate there. And then I started thinking: these people are all partying it up and Julian Assange, the greatest journalist around these days, is suffering. He's holed up. He can't talk to anyone or see his mother and kids. He's a heroic man sitting by himself in isolation. As I'm thinking about the dichotomy, I started yelling, ‘We should be supporting Julian Assange,'" Credico explained.

"I shouted that in two different spots and then scary guys in white outfits grabbed me and threw me out really hard out of a side door. I feigned a heart attack because I thought my hand was going to break off. I thought they were going to lobotomize me," Credico said.

The comedian appeared before the US House Intelligence Committee in November 2017 after being given a subpoena to discuss his alleged involvement with Assange after American political consultant Roger Stone told the House Intelligence Committee that Credico was his intermediary with Assange to gather information on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. 

 

Read more:

https://sputniknews.com/us/201805011064045655-randy-credico-thrown-out-w...

see also:

https://sputniknews.com/world/201805031064108644-assange-clinton-media-p...

American political satire died on January 24, 2016.

It had sickened a little during the previous decade, but still looked as though it might be on the mend. Jon Stewart’s “Daily Show” may have gotten complacent during the Bush years, but during the Obama administration it was able to mock the Nobel Peace Prize recipient for going full “America f*ck yeah” on ISIS, while newcomer John Oliver mostly avoided national politics, opting instead to poke fun at legislative and regulatory oddities.

Then came Donald Trump and, more specifically, Sarah Palin’s endorsement of him on January 19, 2016. That Saturday, Tina Fey made her celebrated return to “Saturday Night Live” to parody the former Alaska governor by…um… repeating her speech almost word for word. The comedienne who bore much of the responsibility for turning Palin into the albatross of the McCain campaign seemed to have run out of material. Reality had outrun satire, and satire was left with nothing to do but look on in bemused disbelief.

 

Read more:

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/how-donald-trump-killed-...

 

Read from top...

Donald Trump has savaged Saturday Night Live as a “total Republican hit job” while calling for “retribution” and an investigation of the show after another unflattering portrayal of the president by Alec Baldwin.

Baldwin reprised his role as Donald Trump with blonde wig, characteristic pout and exaggerated imitation of the president’s speech-making style, for the show’s cold open on Saturday. This time the sketch parodied the president’s press conference in which he announced a national emergency over his plans to build a border wall with Mexico.

“We need wall. We have a tremendous amount of drugs coming in through the southern border, or the ‘brown line’ as many people have asked me not to call it,” said Baldwin.

“You all see why I gotta fake this emergency, right? I have to because I want to. It’s really simple. We have a problem. Drugs are coming into this country through no wall.

“Wall works, wall makes safe. You don’t have to be smart to understand that – in fact it’s even easier to understand if you’re not that smart.”

 

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/feb/18/donald-trump-talks-of-re...

 

 

 

Read from top.

 

It is obvious that Donald can do better impressions of Alec than Alec does imitations of Donald....

Actor Alec Baldwin has raised concerns about Donald Trump calling "rigged" media "the enemy of the people" in a tirade against Saturday Night Live, saying it could put him and his family in danger.

Key points:

• Mr Trump suggested the NBC should face retribution for airing "Republican hit jobs"
• Baldwin questioned whether the President's comments could be construed as a threat
• The actor said the national emergency declaration was "fake" while impersonating the President

 

Mr Trump lashed out after Baldwin, who regularly impersonates the President on the NBC comedy show, appeared in a sketch lampooning him for declaring a national emergency at the US-Mexico border.

"You can all see why I gotta fake this national emergency," Baldwin said in the skit.

"I have to because I want to, it's really simple."

Mr Trump took to Twitter after the episode aired in the US, saying there was "nothing funny" about Saturday Night Live.

"Question is, how do the networks get away with these total Republican hit jobs without retribution?" he said.

"Very unfair and should be looked into. This is the real collusion!"

He followed this up with a tweet calling "corrupt" media the "enemy of the people".

 

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-19/alec-baldwin-hits-back-after-dona...

 

 

 

Read from top.

 

It appears Baldwin drinks too much booze and Donald does not drink enough of it...

 

Jim Carrey finally gets laughs on ‘SNL’ while Alec Baldwin treads water

By Johnny OleksinskiOctober 18, 2020 | 1:14am

It took him three veeping weeks, but Jim Carrey was actually pretty funny as Joe Biden on “Saturday Night Live” this time.

Before tonight, I would not have bet on the actor budging a centimeter.

The first two episodes of the season creaked along like an Amtrak train as the famous funnyman, 58, leaned too heavily on his physical comedy schtick from “The Mask” to play a 77-year-old and was stuck in a mediocre sketch in which his DNA became combined with the vice presidential debate fly.

But Carrey waved good-Biden to his failures in the latest “SNL” cold open that took aim at this week’s “dueling town halls” — with Biden speaking to voters and George Stephanopoulos on ABC and President Trump appearing on NBC with Savannah Guthrie.

His Biden zingers, at least, tickled.

A voter in the audience asked the former vice president what his plan for coronavirus was.

“Unlike the president, I have plan,” Carrey’s Biden replied.

“What is it?” pressed the confused voter.

Carrey shot back, “It’s a detailed proposal for doing or achieving something.” Solid “Who’s On First?”, set ’em up, knock ’em down stuff.

Piling on, Carrey also sang “It’s A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood” while donning a red sweater, and later turned into TV painter Bob Ross.

“You see, each tree has its own personality, just like America. Does that answer your question?,” Carrey said, not answering the question.

None of this was incisive or notably smart, but the comedy show finally acknowledged Biden’s personality, instead of merely boosting his candidacy like a socially distant pep rally. Carrey was consistently fun to watch.

Alec Baldwin’s crummy Trump, however, remains a textbook case of plus ça change. As usual, none of the actor’s one-liners or pursed-lips mannerisms got guffaws. The writers seem more lost than ever on how to handle the president humorously.

His main gag was mispronouncing names: he called Guthrie “Serengeti” and judge Amy Coney Barrett “Conan O’Brien.” That’s recycling what Will Ferrell’s George W. Bush used to do much more lovably 20 years ago.

Baldwin’s Trump doesn’t work because it’s never risen above an impression to become a fleshed-out character. His irritating take has worn thin during this administration because the actor wears his contempt for the president on his sleeve. The actor is persistently awkward, and his moments all fell flat tonight.

The sketch ended with a WrestleMania bout — folding chairs and all — with Kate McKinnon’s combative Guthrie. Terribly clichéd.

Some say Baldwin, 62, has no other option than what he’s doing because of the president’s big personality. But it can be done.

The best Trump impression ever belongs to a British drag queen named The Vivienne who appeared on “RuPaul’s Drag Race UK.” It’s a knowledgable, quick-witted, lived-in performance.

Baldwin should go to YouTube and learn from that drag queen, instead of being a drag.

 

Read more:

https://nypost.com/2020/10/18/snl-jim-carrey-finally-gets-laughs-while-alec-baldwin-treads-water/

 

 

See toon at top.

American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show Saturday Night Live returned after a short break for its 47th Season on the weekend to poke fun at Virginia's tight gubernatorial race, the bickering inside the Democratic Party over the bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, and a new cast-member’s home-hitting impersonation of Joe Biden.  Saturday Night Live opened its Season 47 over the weekend with a new cast-member offering his parody of US President Joe Biden.  

And now, a message from the President of the United States. 

— Saturday Night Live - SNL  October 3, 2021  Johnson, known for online viral impressions of ex-President Donald Trump, appeared as Biden in the cold open with the Democrat looking back upon his summer as “bad — not Cuomo bad, but definitely not Afghanistan good”.  Biden is then shown desperately trying to get the Democrats to compromise on his $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. Two Democratic “moderates” that had opposed the Biden administration's proposed "Build Back Better" bill are then introduced, with Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) played by Cecily Strong, and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) played by Aidy Bryant. 

Cecily Strong as Senator Sinema is perfection! #SNL #SNLPremiere 

— Cathleen Healy  October 3, 2021 Strong's Sinema says: "I didn't come to Congress to make friends and so far, mission accomplished".  As they are joined by Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), played by Ego Nwodim, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), played by Melissa Villaseñor, Joe Biden flounders in a bid to negotiate a compromise between the moderate and progressive wings of the Democratic Party. “I wore a dress that said, 'Tax the rich’ and then spent all night partying with the rich,” says the stand-up comedian parodying Ocasio-Cortez.  When Biden asks Sinema what she likes, she replies, "Yellow starbursts, the film 'The Polar Express' and when someone eats fish on an airplane." 

Your Weekend Update! 

— Saturday Night Live - SNL  November 7, 2021  The infrastructure bill became central to the during the “Weekend Update” fake news segment of the show.  The passing of the bill on Friday “should be enough to clean as many as two of LaGuardia’s toilets", joked Weekend Update co-anchor Colin Jost.  Referring to the Dems’ pledges that the package would expand internet access across the country, Jost quipped against a backdrop oft January’s US Capitol riot: “Which is great news because when has internet ever been bad for America?" On the Victoria gubernatorial race, won last week by Republican Glenn Youngkin who ran against Democrat Terry McAuliffe, co-anchor Micheal Che pointed to a photo of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee and noted:  "But on the bright side, losers from Virginia usually get a statue."  James Austin Johnson followed up his debut impression of Biden with a portrayal of ex-POTUS Donald Trump in the cold open, congratulating Glenn Youngkin “and mostly myself” on victory in Virginia. "It’s great to be frankly winning again. How we love to win – And you know what? You’re going to see a lot more winning where that came from. Let me tell you, you’re going to see it a lot," Johnson, as Trump, told Youngkin, played by cast member Alex Moffatt. On Twitter, users were split in their reactions to the show, with some finding it “hilarious”. “So funny. America provides such good material for the writers."

 

So funny. America provides such good material for the writers.

— Marcia Demma  November 7, 2021

 

Hilarious! Finally comedians going back to making fun of ridiculous things regardless of political affiliation. Bout time SNL.

— Nef Jones  October 3, 2021

 

This is gold. Also: the right never make fun of themselves. Ever.

— kmnla  October 3, 2021Others on social media were less than enthusiastic.

 

SNL has become dry and to politically correct.. just like everything else. What happened to the good ole days of controversy and pushing the limits

— Tyler Young  November 7, 2021

Damn ….. the original cast must be rolling in their graves . It’s like watching a 3rd grade minstrel show

— Corps vet 0311 October 3, 2021

 

The real Joe Biden is literally more of a parody than this

— G October 3, 2021 Read more: https://sputniknews.com/20211107/snl-spoofs-dems-squabbling-over-infrastructure-bill-debuts-new-hire-impersonating-joe-biden-1090544763.html  Read from top.   save the world from madness: FREE JULIAN ASSANGE NOW !...

 

Speculation about Biden's senility started from the very first days of him running for president and has not quieted down since he assumed office, as quite frequently the 78-year-old has been filmed while seemingly falling asleep at important meetings or other events.

 

 

US President Joe Biden seems to have fallen a little ill at ease at the COP26 summit in Glasgow, with his own natural gas emission being loud enough to make the British Duchess of Cornwall blush, The Daily Mail reported.

 

 

During a reception at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery earlier this week, the president met the Duchess, who was accompanied by Prince Charles, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and British PM Boris Johnson.

An awkward moment reportedly occurred when Camilla Parker Bowles heard Biden break wind during polite small talk on the sidelines of the summit.

 

"It was long and loud and impossible to ignore," a source is quoted in the newspaper as saying. "Camilla hasn't stopped talking about it."

 

Just a couple of hours prior to this disconcerting moment, Biden appeared to be nodding off during the opening remarks. "Sleepy Joe," as some call the president, closed his eyes for 22 seconds at one point before being roused by an aide.

 

Read more:

https://sputniknews.com/20211107/duchess-camilla-cant-get-over-bidens-embarrasing-gas-problem-at-cop26-summit---report-1090551138.html

 

save the world from madness: FREE JULIAN ASSANGE NOW !...