Another "Suck Up To Power" article from Thomas Friedman - Plus More

Click here for an article at Alternet.org by Adam Johnson, entitled "5 Worst Media Moments of Last Week. The #1 spot goes to a frequent sarcasm-on/favorite/sarcasm-off of mine, Thomas Friedman, for his NYT article entitled “Saudi Arabia’s Arab Spring, at Last."

Give me a break, Tom. Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman is the new kingpin of the absolute monarchy that is Saudi Arabia; as Johnson points out, this is "despite the entire point of the Arab Spring being to oppose such forces."

Johnson's #2 pick goes to -- who else but the ubiquitous *President Trump: "Trump plays media like fiddle over bogus Iran-HBO hack case."

Whistleblowers have made it known that the White House is pressuring the DOJ to search for anything it can use to smear Iran, in hopes of thwarting the nuclear deal and starting the war with Iran so earnestly desired by administration hawks.

#3 is the revelation that the far-right Wellspring Committee donated more than $23 billion last year to push the appointment of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. It's too bad that groups like this are able to buy a Supreme Court seat, but it's downright shameful that it can remain hidden for such a long period of time.

Thanksgiving -- A Working Holiday For Donald Trump

Donald Trump decamped to Mar A Lago for the Thanksgiving weekend. An early-morning White House press release said it was to be a low-key, restful day for the *president. Apparently that didn't go over well, because it was soon followed by a correction: It was to be a full working day of meetings and phone calls.

Trump arrived at Mar A Lago at 8:30 a.m. He was on the first tee at 9:30.

Happy Thanksgiving, Mr. *President.

Colonias: An American Disgrace

I've read about colonias -- dirt-poor settlements along the U.S./Mexico border, mostly in Texas -- before. It's grinding poverty, of third-world proportions, among citizens of the U.S. Flood survivors in Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico are in a bad way? In colonias, no access to clean water, power, or sewage disposal is permanent.

Click here for an article in The Washington Post by Parker Abt, entitled "There’s a third-world America that no one notices."