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 Jon Stewart's mocking of Donald Trump's Art of the Deal ( from a recent post ) reminded me of the time Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt mocked reporters in the aftermath of the US-China Tariff War for not reading the Art of the Deal, as if President Trump was applying the "strategies" in that book to geopolitical affairs (and with success).  And that reminder led to a thought: Is the "Art of the Deal" really being used in regards to the US (and Israel) handling Iran, and if it is, is the strategy working? Let's break this down by the supposed 11 Points , shall we? Think Big : Aim for the highest possible goals, as limitations often stem from fear of success or growth . The Administration has not been publicly clear on its goals. If you believe the Policy Papers, Iran is but a speed bump to dismantling Russia and China. If you have listened to the Trump White House, the "goals" have included: regime change, liberating women, preventing the d...

 

Case in point : Karine Jean-Pierre, who served as White House press secretary under former President Joe Biden, has switched her party affiliation to independent, according to a publishing company’s description of her forthcoming book. Jean-Pierre, who has worked in Democratic politics for decades, is set to release a new book that will discuss Biden’s decision to bow out of the 2024 election and encourage voters to look beyond the two-party political system. The description of her book, titled Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines,” says she “didn’t come to her decision to be an Independent lightly.” The book, which will be released in October, will examine “the three weeks that led to Biden’s abandoning his bid for a second term and the betrayal by the Democratic Party that led to his decision,” according to a book description from Legacy Lit, an imprint of Hachette Book Group. Of course there's book (that no one will read). UPDATE:

" Killing Jesus " is set to broadcast on the History Channel in a few days. It's based off a book co-written by Bill O'Reilly. Yes, that Bill O'Reilly . Suffice it to say, there's some skepticism being cast on the program. Not really surprising, considering that some early reviews were not positive. And I don't mean because of the co-author's political philosophy; I mean because of things like lack of fact-checking and being historically inaccurate .

Here's my take: if you're OK with your state/county/district/town banning books, than you shouldn't get all huffy about gun restriction in the least. And if you're best comeback is, "Books aren't guaranteed in the Constitution!" then you're completely missing the point. A world where we can shoot anyone with anything but can't read Catcher in the Rye is a twisted world.

Just in case you were wondering .

Well, paint me green and call me Gumby : Surprise, surprise, historians have found glaring errors in a textbook claiming that African Americans fought in large numbers for the South during the Civil War. A number of additional errors have been found in other textbooks being used in some Virginia classrooms, since the state ordered a review of the books, the Washington Post reports . Among the textbooks' errors are claims that the Confederacy included 12 states and the U.S. entered World War I in 1916. Five professional scholars reviewed the books, with three of them finding "disturbing" results. State officials are scheduled to meet January 10 to review the results. "I absolutely could not believe the number of mistakes -- wrong dates and wrong facts everywhere. How in the world did these books get approved?" said Ronald Heinemann, a former history professor at Hampden-Sydney College who reviewed "Our Virginia: Past and Present." The other book ...

Some guy has a self-publicized book called, "The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure." Amazon.com is selling it, and defending the fact that they sell it . Why do I call this "capitalism?" Because the Amazon story represents the core of this economic philosophy: as long as you can make some money doing it, go for it . There is no moral imperative when you take capitalism at its purest form, which is why you need laws and policies to regulate it. Otherwise, some company would be selling candy-flavored cigarettes to five-year-olds.

Anyone wanna buy Barnes & Noble ?

Companies associated with Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld (and the guys themselves) can profit off of two wars (one unnecessary, the other mismanaged) and Republicans barely say a peep, but when Michael Steele wants a little coin from his new book the GOP cries ?

seems to be pretty much what people expected it to be : a motivator for her fans, a joke for her detractors and convoluted for everyone else. P.S.: Yes; the best (and quickest) way to fact check a book is to split it up amongst different reporters , not force one person to read the whole thing.

Because it will sell cheap .

Because Arenas has not put out a crazy-ass book ...yet.

Will apparently address his 12 biggest decisions . Wonder if that includes things like Redefining torture as "enhanced interrogation techniques" Allowing Valerie Plame to be outed as a covert agent Blaming Iraq for 9/11 Not firing Donald Rumsfeld earlier Not firing Alberto Gonzales earlier Not firing Karl Rove earlier Pushing for tax cuts in the middle of two wars Trying to make his personal lawyer a Supreme Court Justice Making the unqualified Mike Brown the face of FEMA and the Katrina rescue efforts Blaming the souring economy on the Clinton Administration Giving a speech about "combat operations in Iraq has ended" under a banner that read, "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED." Saying that working three jobs is "uniquely American" while being on vacation 40% of his presidency.

This is too much . Anyone with have a brain can see that this was a humor book. Of course the beauty of American jurisprudence is that you can sue anyone for practically anything, including claiming that you are a hot-looking woman who loves the douchebags.

After reading this quote by Steven Spielberg on the late Michael Crichton , I came to a startling conclusion: Crichton is responsible for Jar Jar Binks. Follow me here: Crichton writes Jurassic Park (which becomes a hit). Spielberg decides to adapt the novel into a movie blockbuster . Spielberg's pal George Lucas watches some scenes, asks Spielberg who he used for the dinosaur special effects . Spielberg replies, " Industrial Light and Magic " (Lucas' own company. Lucas decides to do three more Star Wars after all , but chooses to do prequels instead of sequels. Needing a catalyst for Chancellor Palpatine's rise to power, he creates the character Jar Jar Binks . See?

He goes up against a guy from Media Matters and tries to defend his Barack Obama smear book: Funny how outlets like FoxNews painted former Press Secretary Scott McClellan as someone trying to make a buck selling books, yet treat Corsi as someone trying to inform the public. UPDATE: Crooks & Liars has more . UBER-UPDATE: Via Daily Kos , Camp Obama has a rebuttal for Mr. Corsi. I think that for any future shows, if the host can't say, "Have you seen Sen. Obama's response, Mr. Corsi?" than Corsi should be dragged away.

As since " The Prisoner of Azkaban ," this Harry Potter promises to be darkest one yet. Methinks all of this "new, darker Potter" talk is a not-too-subtle message to Chris Columbus (who directed the first two). Any chance we can get Christopher Nolan to direct the last book/movie? He can even re-name it "The Dark Wizard." Just kidding.

I'm making this announcement because the media has apparently decided to ignore the guy who prosecuted Charles Manson and wrote about the O.J. Simpson Trial and about those JFK conspiracy theorists . It's one thing when media bobble heads try to pre-debunk an author (usually it means that they know people are reading the book, and they have to address it). It's another thing to act like something this controversial was never written (by someone with some credibility, no less).