There's more than just Oklahoma.

Hint: some might call it the greatest shoal on Earth.

Sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down in episode 36...

NASA’s Perseverance has captured the celestial event from Jezero Crater.

However, it was not associated with better mental health measures – unlike exercise.

North becomes South and South becomes North – what the heck?

Bob Woodward took his book tour to CBS and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Thursday, where he declared that it is “journalism” and not opinion to declare that Donald Trump is unfit to be president. Colbert asked, “You also say that Donald Trump is unfit to lead the country. Is that journalism? Or is that your pure opinion?” Woodward falsely replied, “That is journalism.”     To justify himself, Woodward essentially blamed Trump for COVID, “I got to know Trump really well. I did three books on him. The last year of his presidency, 2020, I did 19 interviews with him. This is the year of COVID and if you look at what Trump did, he was warned, ‘It's coming. It's going to kill 600,000 people in your country.’” Woodward further accused Trump of having “covered it up” and claimed, “I was talking to him and I'd say when it finally became clear that ‘this is a real problem, people are dying in the country,’ he said, ‘don't worry, it's going to go away. It's going to go away.’”  He also claimed, “And so, what's the plan? He said, ‘Well, I'll tell you the plan. I'll tell the world the plan in 106 days. And 106?’ That was the election day. This is a day, this is a time when the country is on fire, dealing with this plague. It's like you're sitting at home and somebody says, you know, ‘The house is on fire’ and you say, ‘Let's call the fire department in 106 days.’ A little late.” As Woodward’s book is called War, there are plenty of stories about the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, and on the latter, Colbert asked in an earlier segment, “You always ask in your writing, ‘What are the bastards hiding?’ Okay, one of the things that you find out here is what Biden really feels about Netanyahu. So, what is he hiding from the rest of us? What’s the real feeling there?’” Woodward declared, “He says to associates, he said some things I can't use on the air here.”     Colbert jumped in to clarify, “I can. He said ‘he's a bad [bleep] guy’ is what he says.” Eventually, Woodward added, “What makes him angriest is that he can't control Netanyahu, and the war has, its escalated in the last month; it is something Biden can't control, and Netanyahu is going to do what he wants to do, not just for what he deems in Israel's interests but the prime minister, I mean, he's under indictment. He's hanging by his political fingers and so he is conducting the war not just in the interests of Israel but his own political interests.” Colbert extrapolated, “To stay out of jail,” and after Woodward echoed the sentiment, added, “Could you imagine a politician doing anything they could to stay out of jail?” The truth is the war “escalated in the last month” because Netanyahu, despite all sorts of domestic pressure, listened to Biden and was content to fight one war at a time and allow for the possibility of a diplomatic solution in the north, but Hezbollah wasn’t interested. However, he was not prepared to wait forever, and now Hezbollah is reaping what it spent 11 months sowing. Here is a transcript for the October 17-taped show: CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert 10/18/2024 12:08 AM ET STEPHEN COLBERT: Let's start with the Middle East. You always ask in your writing, "What are the bastards hiding?" Okay, one of the things that you find out here is what Biden really feels about Netanyahu. So, what is he hiding from the rest of us? What’s the real feeling there? BOB WOODWARD: Well, he says to associates, he said some things I can't use on the air here. COLBERT: I can. He said “he's a bad [bleep] guy” is what he says. WOODWARD: Exactly right COLBERT: He's quoted as saying "a bleep] guy" WOODWARD: I mean, he's very angry at Netanyahu. COLBERT: What makes him angriest? WOODWARD: What makes him angriest is that he can't control Netanyahu, and the war has, its escalated in the last month; it is something Biden can't control, and Netanyahu is going to do what he wants to do, not just for what he deems in Israel's interests but the prime minister, I mean, he's under indictment. He's hanging by his political fingers and so he is conducting the war not just in the interests of Israel but his own political interests.  COLBERT: To stay out of jail. WOODWARD: Stay out of jail. COLBERT: Could you imagine a politician doing anything they could to stay out of jail? … COLBERT: Hey, everybody. We are back with the author of the new book War, Bob Woodward. You also say that Donald Trump is unfit to lead the country. BOB WOODWARD: Yes. COLBERT: Is that journalism? Or is that your pure opinion? WOODWARD: That is journalism. I got to know Trump really well. I did three books on him. The last year of his presidency, 2020, I did 19 interviews with him. This is the year of COVID and if you look at what Trump did, he was warned, "It's coming. It's going to kill 600,000 people in your country." I did not know that at the time it happened on June 28 precisely, 2020.  But he covered it up and I was talking to him and I'd say when it finally became clear that "this is a real problem, people are dying in the country,” he said, “don't worry, it's going to go away. It's going to go away.”  In the summer, 140,000 people have died of that virus in our country, in the country he's president of and I said, asked, “what’s your plan?” I'd been asking him for months. What's your plan, what are you going to do? "Oh, no. It's going to go away. It's going to go away" and he was sort of trying to say "Be calm, don't worry. I have a plan."  And so, what's the plan? He said, “Well, I'll tell you the plan. I'll tell the world the plan in 106 days. And 106?” That was the election day. This is a day, this is a time when the country is on fire, dealing with this plague. It's like you're sitting at home and somebody says, you know, “The house is on fire” and you say, "Let's call the fire department in 106 days." A little late.

Behold tax-funded PBS’s idea of balanced election coverage: A Republican campaign strategist who endorsed the Democrat was interviewed on Tuesday night’s show, and a die-hard Democratic partisan strategist on Wednesday night. That hardly fulfills the “strict adherence to objectivity and balance” mandated by Congress when it created the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in 1967. Former John McCain campaign strategist Mike Murphy had already signed a letter endorsing Harris over Trump, yet somehow appeared as a “Republican Strategist” on the News Hour, which didn’t mention his endorsement of the Democrat while going through what Harris had to do to beat Republican Trump. The next night, partisan Democratic strategist and fully committed Harris supporter James Carville did the same thing. Some balance! Geoff Bennett: Let's turn now to a veteran Republican strategist to take a closer look at how the Trump and Harris teams are navigating the weeks that remain in this election. Mike Murphy is a veteran GOP adviser and media consultant who served as a senior strategist on John McCain's presidential campaign and has also worked on campaigns for Mitt Romney and Arnold Schwarzenegger….What's your assessment of this race three weeks out from Election Day? “Republican” Murphy cared more about what the Democrat needed to do to beat the Republican. Mike Murphy: ….in the last seven or eight days, he's gone from a tiny bit behind to a tiny bit ahead in many of those states. Some, he's always been ahead. So they're upshifting at the Harris campaign, and they need to. I think they have kind of -- this is all within the margin, but they have run out of steam a little and they know it. So you're seeing her doubling down, increasing aggression, doing all the things the smart campaign does in this situation to close the race. And she needs to. Later he emphasized: Murphy: ….I think the biggest factor between now and Election Day is getting Kamala out of a little bit of this bubble they have had her on. Let her campaign. Create the music of the campaign that she is a happy warrior out there working hard dawn until dusk earning it. That's been missing the last 10 days. I think in the last two or three days they're doing it. And I applaud that, because, without it, I don't think they're going to win. No doubt which side Republican Murphy is on. The very next night, PBS doubled down on the disparity by interviewing veteran Democratic strategist James Carville, who was naturally a strong Harris supporter. Carville declared himself a “big fan” of the show, which shouldn’t surprise, before telling anchor Amna Nawaz that the Harris “campaign is getting sharper,” before letting loose with personal insults of Trump. Carville: And, frankly, he's getting, if anything, less attached to reality, even for him, than I have seen before. I mean, some of the stuff that he's out there saying is really wild. And then you had that weird rally, 39-minute, I don't know what you call it, but there's some -- I think he's suffering from what I call my mamentia, madness and dementia at the same time. There's considerable evidence that he's in pretty severe state of deterioration right now, and we will just have to keep monitoring it. But -- and I think she's doing a little better. I really do. Nawaz didn’t question that irresponsible characterization (though she surely would have, if a conservative had dared talk of Kamala Harris in such fashion), merely followed up with Carville about an op-ed he’d written. Nawaz: You wrote this: "To be the certified fresh candidate, Ms. Harris must clearly and decisively break from Mr. Biden on a set of policy priorities she believes would define her presidency." In your view, has she done that enough? Carville praised Harris’s performances at the convention and debate and her new spate of interviews on various platforms: “And she's doing it quite well, frankly.” These two pro-Democrat segments were brought to you in part by BDO. Transcripts are available, click “Expand.” PBS News Hour 10/15/24 7:07:46 p.m. (ET) Geoff Bennett: Let's turn now to a veteran Republican strategist to take a closer look at how the Trump and Harris teams are navigating the weeks that remain in this election. Mike Murphy is a veteran GOP adviser and media consultant who served as a senior strategist on John McCain's presidential campaign and has also worked on campaigns for Mitt Romney and Arnold Schwarzenegger. …. Geoff Bennett: So, Donald Trump sounded pretty comfortable today about his Election Day prospects, that his campaign is doing really well in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona. Democrats acknowledge that they're going to have to fight for every vote. Kamala Harris, in speaking with Charlamagne today, said that this will be a tight race, but she says, "I'm going to win." What's your assessment of this race three weeks out from Election Day? Mike Murphy: Well, I think it is an absolute 50-50 coin toss. She's a little bit ahead in the national vote, but in our modern era, it's quite possible to win the national popular vote and lose the presidency because of the way the Electoral College works. So when you look at those key states, Georgia, Arizona, Nevada, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and potentially North Carolina, Trump's doing better there than he is nationally. And I think in the last seven or eight days, he's gone from a tiny bit behind to a tiny bit ahead in many of those states. Some, he's always been ahead. So they're upshifting at the Harris campaign, and they need to. I think they have kind of — this is all within the margin, but they have run out of steam a little and they know it. So you're seeing her doubling down, increasing aggression, doing all the things the smart campaign does in this situation to close the race. And she needs to. PBS News Hour 10/16/24 7:08:10 p.m. (ET) Amna Nawaz: We're now joined by longtime Democratic strategist James Carville. He served as a lead adviser on Bill Clinton's presidential campaign, and he's the subject of a new documentary called "Carville: Winning Is Everything, Stupid," which chronicles his efforts to get President Biden to step down from the top of the Democratic ticket. James Carville, welcome back to the "News Hour." James Carville, Democratic Strategist: Well, thank you. Always a privilege to be on the show. I'm big fan, been a fan of it for a long time. Amna Nawaz: Thank you, sir. Well, let me just start by getting your take on the state of the race. There's a new NPR analysis out today, in the seven battleground states, that it looks now like Mr. Trump has his first lead in the polling average in those specific battleground states since Harris moved to the top of the ticket. It's a microscopic lead, less than half-a-percentage point, but I just wonder what you make of that.   James Carville: You know, everybody says this, but it's actually true. In every election but one in this century, both candidates have gone about thinking they have a chance to win the election, 2008 being the only kind of exception to that. And there's just kind of — the polling is tight. But what generally happens is, the election breaks one way or another toward the end. And so we will — but we will wait and see. I have no prediction or anything like that. I'm just trying to work as hard as I can But it's — everything indicates that there's tight polling everywhere. Amna Nawaz: Well, with 20 days left, what do you think it would take to break one way or the next? There's no sort of big events left on the calendar, right? James Carville:Well, I think that — I mean, to be honest, I think that vice president, the campaign is getting sharper. It's getting more visible. And, frankly, he's getting, if anything, less attached to reality, even for him, than I have seen before. I mean, some of the stuff that he's out there saying is really wild. And then you had that weird rally, 39-minute, I don't know what you call it, but there's some — I think he's suffering from what I call my mamentia (ph), madness and dementia at the same time. There's considerable evidence that he's in pretty severe state of deterioration right now, and we will just have to keep monitoring it. But — and I think she's doing a little better. I really do. Amna Nawaz: I want to ask you about one piece of advice you offered specifically to the Harris campaign in an op-ed last month.

Vice President Kamala Harris is on a collision course with the very man she owes both her office and her candidacy to: the 46th president of the United States, one Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. There’s really no way around it, though to her credit, she’s been actively looking for any other way. The public polls are bad, and all D.C. knows the Democrats’ better and more expensive internal polling is even worse. Personality aside, what is she selling? She keeps promising to 'turn the page,' but from where to what? Two weeks ago today, those numbers forced the campaign to ditch its bunker strategy, but even the safe ground campaign operatives chose to host their debutante debut failed to help. Social media clips of her gaffes reached far beyond original audiences and undermined Harris with the very voters she’d been trying to reach. When her numbers continued to decline after the blitz, the campaign tried the next thing: Fox News, which CNN and MSNBC like to sneer at but which earns far more politically independent viewers than they do. Harris has CNN on her side — she needs those independents. Her staff members did everything they could to keep Bret Baier’s interview under their control. They showed up late and then waved their arms like crazy people to cut it short. When it was over, Democratic partisans awarded their candidate a participation trophy, claiming she did well by showing up at all. Republicans cheered Harris’ televised demolishing. Corporate media called it a Rorschach test, with each side claiming it won. But notice: Democrats couldn’t point to a single place where she actually did well. Republicans, on the other hand, filled the airwaves with clip after clip of her frantic implosion under Baier’s pointed and persistent questioning. By Thursday afternoon, one Team Trump TikTok had already been watched 10.5 million times. It was the one where Baier asked her how she could represent "a new way forward” when she’s been in power three and a half years now. "Come on,” she laughed, leaning in and smiling. “You and I both know what I'm talking about. You and I both know what I'm talking about." “I actually don't,” he replied coolly. “What are you talking about?" Viral gold. But more, the question highlights her failure to branch out. Who cares about Republicans, Democrats, and Rorschach’s ink blots? Wednesday night was about winning over disaffected partisans and undecideds. In this, she failed completely. And really, how could she have succeeded? Personality aside, what is she selling? She keeps promising to “turn the page” (“A new way forward” is literally written on the side of her campaign bus), but from where to what? As Baier pointed out, 79% of the country thinks it’s going in the wrong direction, and painting words on the side of the bus isn’t enough when you’ve had an office in the West Wing for four years now. Democrats must face that the elephant in the room isn’t the Grand Old Party but that they themselves might be the direction Americans are rejecting. So why can’t she say it? Why can’t she say she’s thankful for ol’ Joe but that she’s going to chart a different path on the economy and that the administration made mistakes on the border too? Is the final betrayal too much for Biden to bear? Was a deal made when the crown was passed? There’s no doubt he could lash out more publicly than how he’s been acting up these past few weeks. If Biden ever had deeply held, core beliefs, he betrayed them long ago in service to personal ambition and the demands of the Democratic Party. Then in 2016, the party he lived in service to betrayed him and shunted him aside for her. He came back and succeeded where she’d failed, and then they did it again, shunting him aside for the second time in eight years. He’s angry enough to gripe about it in private and at funerals. What happens if his own vice president betrays him in public? Does he go gently into that good night, or does he burn and rave at close of day? But the Harris-Walz campaign is out of options. That’s why Harris talked to Baier in the first place. She's taking risks because she has to. Why else would the campaign float an hours-long conversation with Joe Rogan, where Kamala is as weak as it gets, if not out of desperation? Sooner or later, aides will conclude that she has to twist the knife in the boss if she’s ever going get her chance to start a new life. It won’t be pretty, but it will be necessary. Blaze News: Harris' Achilles' heel: The one question Kamala can't seem to answer Blaze News: Stelter spins Harris' brutal interview as a win, claiming Bret Baier was a Trump surrogate Blaze News: Can Republicans take back the Senate? Dem strategist reveals Midwest may be the key. Sign up for Bedford’s newsletter Sign up to get Blaze Media senior politics editor Christopher Bedford's newsletter.