Monday, November 07, 2016

Truest statement of the week

In fact, as it turns out, there are very sound reasons to oppose Clinton, including -- if not especially -- from a feminist perspective.
Many feminists have offered extensive critiques of Hillary Clinton’s record, notably Zillah Eisentein and the authors in False Choices, the anthology on the faux feminism of Hillary Clinton edited by Liza Featherstone. The arguments are too numerous to repeat here, but consider one example: Walmart.
When Clinton was brought onto the board of Walmart, the company was facing serious problems of gender discrimination. At every level, women were paid less than men, leading to the largest sex discrimination class-action lawsuit in history. As Featherstone wrote, while “Clinton’s presence on the board helped to make the company look like a better place for women, there is no evidence that she took any measures as a board member to address Walmart’s systemic sexism.”
This example captures the essence of neoliberal feminism — the placement of women in leadership positions of institutions dedicated to maintaining unequal, sexist, and discriminatory practices. While it is sold as a “trickle-down theory,” in reality, women in these positions -- Hillary Clinton, Madeleine Albright, Condoleezza Rice, Carly Fiorina -- only serve to reproduce the unjust and unequal institutions they head.
Building on the buzz of corporate feminism spurred by women like Sheryl Sandberg, author of Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, the Clinton campaign has masterfully deployed feminist tropes and identity politics to promote Clinton as a feminist icon. However, Sandberg’s claim that conditions for all women will improve as women enter high-level positions is simply not borne out by reality.


--  Deepa Kumar and Patrick Barrett, "The Art of Spin: How Hillary Clinton backers deployed faux feminism and privilege politics to divert attention from her destructive politics" (JACOBIN).





















Truest statement of the week II

Clinton’s Big Tent is not a temporary, election season dwelling. It is how she plans to govern. The exodus from the GOP has suddenly transformed the Democratic Party into the primary political instrument of the ruling class, while at the same time the party nominally represents most of the folks who are abused and misused by that ruling class. It is an inherently unstable arrangement, and will soon be wracked by splits, as a post-Trump GOP attempts to lure its fat cats back and the darker and poorer constituencies consigned to the latrine area of Hillary’s high class tent break to the Left for air.
But in the interim, Clinton will have a unique opportunity to cut grand austerity deals with all the “big elements” of Simpson-Bowles, to renege on her corporate trade promises, and to wage war with great gusto in the name of a “united” country. Ever since the Democratic National Convention it has been clear that the Clintonites are encouraged to consider everyone outside of their grand circle to be suspect, subversive, or depraved. Their inclusive rhetoric is really an invocation of a ruling class consensus, now that Trump has supposedly brought the ruling class together under one banner. In Hillary’s tent, the boardrooms are always in session.

-- Glen Ford, "Hillary’s “Big Tent” is Obama’s “Grand Bargain” on Steroids" (BLACK AGENDA REPORT).






A note to our readers

Hey --



Sunday.


Let's thank all who participated this edition which includes Dallas and the following:







The Third Estate Sunday Review's Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess and Ava,
Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude,
Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man,
C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review,
Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills),
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz),
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
Ruth of Ruth's Report,
Wally of The Daily Jot,
Trina of Trina's Kitchen,
Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ,
Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends,
Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts,
and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub.



What did we come up with:




Peace,






-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I







Editorial: The war's supposed to help who again?

Thirteen years later, the Iraq War continues.


: Children are paying a heavy price for a conflict not of their making.



And what have we learned.

Clearly, not one thing.

Yet again, the military moves on a city and no one has properly planned for the civilians.

Supposedly, the operation on Mosul is about freedom and rescuing the civilians (Mosul has been held by the Islamic State since June of 2014).

But if that's the case, why wasn't time spent preparing for an obvious reality: Attacking a city creates refugees?





















TV: FOX struggles with Sundays

Is FOX the new NBC?

Actually, it's much, much worse.

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NBC owned Thursday nights in the 90s through the early '00s with its line up which included hits such as FRIENDS, SEINFELD, WILL & GRACE, JUST SHOOT ME and MAD ABOUT YOU.

For the first two hours of prime time Thursday, the comedy block ruled.

Despite the fact that the network couldn't serve up two hours of quality most Thursdays.

THE SINGLE GUY, UNION SQUARE, VERONICA'S CLOSET, SUDDENLY SUSAN, CAROLINE IN THE CITY, UNION PARK, DADDIO, BATTERY PARK, CURSED, HOPE AND GLORIA and STARK RAVING MAD are just some of the travesties NBC aired on Thursdays during fourteen or so years of success.

It shouldn't have been so hard to build a successful block of programming.

But year after year, NBC struggled to provide a two hour block of solid programming.

FOX has had its problems on Sunday nights.

While THE SIMPSONS has provided FOX with a hit for 28 seasons and over 600 episodes, FOX has repeatedly struggled to effectively build a block of solid programming.


In the last ten years, the big problems have included THE CLEVELAND SHOW, GOLAN THE INSATIABLE, BORDERTOWN and SIT DOWN SHUT UP on the animation side and MULANEY, COOPER BARRETT'S GUIDE TO SURVIVING LIFE and THE WINNER on the live action side.

It's been a disaster.

Show after show that led viewers to switch to other channels.

It didn't have to play out that way.

KING OF THE HILL was a hit show when FOX axed it (to make room for the hideous CLEVELAND SHOW).


Currently, we've heard grumbles about SON OF ZORN.

But this show -- a blend of animation and live action -- is actually funny.

It's also delivering ratings.

The lowest rated show for Sunday nights on FOX remains the live action LAST MAN ON EARTH.

Unlike BOB'S BURGERS, it doesn't have to pull in an audience due to being a lead in show.

In fact, LAST MAN ON EARTH follows the highly rated FAMILY GUY.

But week after week, it is the lowest rated program on FOX's Sunday night schedule.

Now in it's third season, the hope that adding more characters would round out the show and make it more entertaining has vanished.

The show is not new, viewers do not need time to get to know it.

Viewers know the show and, most importantly, they avoid it.

SON OF ZORN remains new -- both in that this is the debut season and that the blend of animated and live action is a new are for a TV series.  ZORN is at its best when Jason Sudeikis' Zorn is completely over the top and being pulled back down to earth by his ex-wife Edie (Cheryl Hines) or his boss Linda (Artemis Pebdani) or when his son Alan (Johnny Pemberton) has reached his exasperation limit with his father.

Tim Meadows, as Edie's new loves, deserves praise for hitting all the right notes in a role that could easily go wrong and alienate viewers.

His Craig is a better earner than Zorn, a better father figure than Zorn, a better romantic partner than Zorn -- just about better in every way.

Strutting through the role would turn the audience against Craig.  Meadows manages to hit the humor notes with a light but sure touch.

There's nothing light or sure about LAST MAN ON EARTH.

The on camera talent is solid -- Will Forte, Kristen Schaeal, Mary Steenburgen, etc.  But the premise was over the top from the start.

Possibly with scripts that also went over the top, the show would be a merry, comic ride.

Instead, the scripts focus n the mundane.

Each episode plays out like a SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE skit that was heavily padded instead of trimmed.

The alleged humor never materializes.

And it's been given plenty of time to find an audience.

What the ratings explain is that this show loses more viewers each season.

The answer for FOX might be another animated show -- though not from Seth MacFarlane.  If so, the answer isn't to clone/rip-off THE SIMPSONS.  That's been done repeatedly (mainly by Seth).  It hasn't worked.  KING OF THE HILL and BOB'S BURGERS resulted in loyal viewers because they were something different.

But if it's going for a live action show, it might need to copy.

Specifically, it should probably copy the most popular Sunday night live action show it ever had: MARRIED WITH CHILDREN.

A live action, multi-camera comedy about a family might work the trick -- provided it had strong female characters engaged in the comedy (Peg and Kelly Bundy and Marcy Rhoades D'Arcy were strong characters who delivered laughs -- a far cry from what FOX tried repeatedly after with programs like THE WAR AT HOME).

Can THE MICK be that sitcom?

Probably not.

FOX is going to debut that program Sunday, January 1st.


IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA star Kaitlin Olson stars (and gets an executive producer credit) as an aunt stuck with her sister's kids due to a financial scandal.

Do you feel the laughs?

We don't either.

Nor has anyone who saw the original edit of the pilot.

Every moment seemed leaden and wrong-footed.

That tends to happen when you're doing a single-camera sitcom -- especially with actors not used to doing sitcoms.  A live audience could have helped tremendously.

Instead, a drastic re-edit of the pilot was done in an attempt to create comedy beats that weren't present.

The show is now deemed watchable by the suits but no one's expecting it to take off.

Which begs the question: When will FOX get it together?

We were told it's really hard to build a successful bloc of programming.

Even if it's really, really, really hard, it's also their job.

And it's one they better get good at pretty quick.  Viewers have indulged FOX on Sundays much longer than they did NBC on Thursdays but that can't last forever.





Film Classics of the 20th Century




In this ongoing series on film classics of the last century, we've looked at BUT I'M A CHEERLEADERTEA WITH MUSSOLINITHE LATE SHOW, SUMMER STOCKTHE FULLER BRUSH GIRL,  The Net,  Your Friends & Neighbors,  Shampoo,  The Player,  Dick Tracy,  How To Marry A Millionaire,  Blow OutYou Only Live TwiceSleeper,  Diamonds Are Forever,  Sleepless In Seattle,  My Little Chickadee,  Tootsie,  After Hours,  Edward ScissorhandsChristmas in Connecticut, Desk Set,  When Harry Met Sally . . .,  Who Done It?,  That Darn Cat!,  Cactus Flower,  Family Plot, House Sitter,  and Outrageous Fortune.   Film classics are the films that grab you, even on repeat viewings, especially on repeat viewings.


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NEVER BEEN KISSED is a romantic comedy starring Drew Barrymore as journalist Josie Geller.  High school was a living hell for her where she was dubbed "Josie Grossie" while her brother Rob (David Arquette) had no problem fitting in.


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In the script written by Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein, Josie has to confront her demons and fears of high school by returning there when her editor assigns her the task of going undercover as a student.


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Undercover, she meets various students including James Franco in his film debut and the amazing (but now retired) Leelee Sobieski (above) in a magical performance.


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Josie falls for her English teacher Sam played by Michael Vartan.

Barrymore, Franco, Sobieski, Jessica Alba, Vartan and Arquette are just some of the great actors in the film.


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Molly Shannon and Gary Marshall are two more.

At the prom, Josie's crowned prom queen and her date prom king.

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But Josie's heart only really comes to life when she dances with Sam.


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Outing herself at the prom to keep another student from being picked on, Josie is left alone.

She finishes her article for the newspaper, noting that she's never been kissed -- not even at the most recent prom.  But she'll be on the baseball field, hoping that Sam shows up.


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Sam does show.

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The comedy was a hit with ticket buyers in 1999, making back over double its $25 million production budget and it has remained a comedy staple in the years since.




 





















Giant terrorizes London


kerryjohnkerry


Secretary Kerry Arrives at London Mayor Khan's Office at City Hall U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrives at the office of London Mayor Sadiq Khan before they met and held a question-and-answer session about foreign affairs with young Londoners, British residents, and American visitors on October 31, 2016, at London City Hall in London, U.K. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]




Tweet of the Week




















Whiny ass Gloria Steinem

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Last month, the woman who slept with Henry Kissinger felt the need to whine publicly to the editors of THE NEW YORK TIMES:

In a titillating lead into an otherwise accurate article about why I love New York, John Leland writes that I started my career as “a C.I.A. operative,” got my “break as a Playboy Bunny” and married the father of a movie star.


Get over it, Gloria Steinem.

You were a CIA operative.

For years, you and your harridans have managed to distort and silence that reality.

Your hold over the conversation has vanished.

You should have gotten honest on your own and honest long ago.

You and your clique demonized women who told the truth.

Sad thing for you is that you and your clique no longer control the discourse.

You have been outed.

There is no going back in.

Last month, THE SACREMENTO BEE ran a column entitled "The Feminist Was A Spook."


Get used to it.

And grasp that when you die, even more truth will be told -- truths you won't be able to silence.










THE YOUNG TURKS: The REAL reason for war in Syria












This edition's playlist

pretenders


1) Pretenders' ALONE.


2)  Sam Smith's IN THE LONELY HOUR DROWNING SHADOW EDITION.



4) Janet Jackson's UNBREAKABLE.


5) Nick Jonas' LAST YEAR WAS COMPLICATED.


6) Ben Harper's CALL IT WHAT IT IS.



7)  PJ Harvey's LET ENGLAND SHAKE.



8) Diana Ross' diana.





9) SupergrassLife On Other Planets.



10) The Mamas and the Papas' THE PAPAS & THE MAMAS.









No politician is entitled to your vote. Ask who has earned your vote by standing for you.

Jill Stein is running for president on the Green Party ticket.





  •  Pinned Tweet
    Your for the Green Party can unleash $10 million in federal matching funds. Build a party for the 99 percent.
  • We are seeing a war being waged against African American communities in the US via mass incarceration & violent policing.
  • While I spent the day going Green, Comey was busy falling inline! Stay vigilant people. We will never quit!
     
  • Meet more Green Party candidates like , who's running for Sheriff of Bexar County, Texas:
  • We stopped them from invading Syria, privatizing the Internet & building Keystone XL. When we the people mobilize together, we get it done.
  • Since Clinton/Trump got picked, we've welcomed so many people of intelligence, integrity & grit to . Our future looks bright.
  • The are in danger of losing ballot access. Help give voters an independent option every year.
  • How media props up Republicrats: Trump has gotten 35K times the media coverage we have; Clinton got 20K. Most of our coverage is hostile.
  • No politician is entitled to your vote. Ask who has earned your vote by standing for you. Otherwise, you're truly wasting your vote.
  • Fifty-seven percent of Americans say they want a new major party to rise up to take on the Dems and GOP.
  • The illusion of choice: we claim to have democracy, yet the establishment tells us we must be ruled by 1 of 2 people the majority dislike? 🤔
  • Trying to find the key differences between me and Clinton, Johnson and Trump? We've broken it down for you here!
     
  • We don't have to change minds. We just have to tell the truth & show people we're not powerless when we stand together.
  • Time to vote again! Tell us your favorite policy:
  • Enough said. Vote for the Greater Good. Reject the "Lesser" Evil. 🗳✅
  • It's incredible how many are stepping up now: the best, brightest, most moral & most awake. This is a transformative moment.
  • It's amazing how politics can actually bring people together when they feel respected, affirmed & uplifted. Our supporters inspire me.💚
  • Libertarians & Greens often disagree, but we both agree with 57% of Americans who think the 2-party system must end.
  • . is right: Our democracy has been stolen. Let's take it back.
  • Here's why attacking anyone who doesn't support Clinton as privileged is logically, strategically & morally wrong:
  • . stands w/ Standing Rock, so I stand w/ Dr. Jill Stein. Honor the treaties. Protect the water. Free Leonard Peltier.
  • Young Green runs the chapter. Start a campus chapter:
  • To the majority of Americans who don't want either Clinton or Trump to be president: and your dream will come true!
  • If we're not hopeless, we're powerful. The elites are scared. The 99% is waking up to their scam. and .
  • The establishment manufactures consent... and hopelessness. Media, polls, debates are all designed not to upset the elite power structure.
  • In 2002 I was voted the winner of a MA Gov debate with Mitt Romney and 2 others. They haven't allowed me to get near a stage since.
  • I helped build a coalition that passed a referendum to get money out of politics in MA. The Democratic legislature repealed it right away.
  • Iowa and Utah: If the Green Party earns just 2 percent of the vote on Election Day, it keeps ballot access.
  • In a system driven by profiteering, the problem isn't that corporations want to kill us - it's that they don't care if they're killing us.
  • If & oppose TPP, tell them to demand their parties stop lame-duck TPP push!
  • Just giving people pills does not create a healthy society. We need healthy food, air, water, transport, jobs - and .
  • If you're tired of hearing about "spoiler" candidates, help your state pass a Ranked Choice Voting law:
  • Big money environmentalists have been misinforming people about me. Here's why real friends of the Earth vote Green:
  • It's time to build a movement of movements that's willing to use electoral politics for desperately needed transformation and real change.





















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