Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Truest statement of the week

Unfortunately, Shaun King didn’t learn very much, after all. When it comes to the powerful denizens of the FBI and the CIA, or federal special prosecutors, or corporate communications outlets like the New York Times, the Washington Post, MSNBC and CNN, King is a true believer -- if the target is Trump or Putin. Grand juries that routinely fail to indict killer cops, even when the murders are caught on video, become paragons of justice and virtue in King’s mind when manipulated to indict Russians. Intelligence agencies that tell galactic lies about non-existent Iraqi “weapons of mass destruction,” setting the stage for the extermination of millions, or whose top spies brazenly (and feloniously) lie to Congress about spying on the entirety of the U.S. population, become vectors of truth when they offer “assessments” -- but no proof, whatsoever -- that Russia “meddled” in the U.S. electoral process.



-- Glen Ford, "Shaun King is 'All In' with the FBI and CIA" (BLACK AGENDA REPORT).




Truest statement of the week II

Nobody told me there’d be days like these. Strange days indeed—the most dangerously Orwellian days I can remember. Absolutist authoritarians dominate both the Trump and anti-Trump camps inside and outside Congress, and both are committed to the new McCarthyism. Devin Nunes, head of the House Intelligence Committee, insists that Trump didn't collude with Russians, but that he, Nunes, repeatedly warned of Russian interference in US elections during Obama’s second term. I suppose that the rival accusations of the Democratic and Republican parties make this a little better than a monolithic, absolutist authoritarianism, but not much since both claim that the Russian Bear is everywhere.Whichever party is in power will bait the Bear, then say we have to expand domestic surveillance, the military budget, and the empire of bases,despite enormous potential for shared abundance. We can look forward to more murder, poison, and privation within our own borders and beyond.

-- Ann Garrison, "Strange Days Indeed" (BLACK AGENDA REPORT).





A note to our readers

Hey --

Tuesday night.  And we're done.


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.


And what did we come up with?


Glen Ford gets another truest.
As does Ann Garrison.
We love that Tweet.
Ava and C.I. address AMAZON, NETFLIX, HULU and USA.
She is simply disgusting.

C.I. was doing jokes on a phone call with me (Jim) and Rebecca and the idea for this feature was born.
You can't be in charge of the job if you're under investigation for alleged harassment.
Ava and C.I. take on the public affairs programs.
Continuing the community book coverage.
Trina and Ann brought this idea to the edition.
What we listened to while writing.
Press release from Senator Patty Murray's office.
Press release from Senator Johnny Isakson's office.
A look at the week's best!



See you next week.


Peace,





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











Editorial: Iraq's falling apart


is like Abadis pants, once the belt is broken there is no chance of holding it together.

 
 Sometimes a Tweet really can say it all.












TV: USA takes Abigail Adams' words to heart

AMAZON has ended their pilot season -- where they toss out various pilots online and let people vote on them.  It didn't produce anything of value.  And, in November of 2017, they didn't even bother to greenlight a single pilot.

a new illst

Year after year, it was crap.  ALPHA HOUSE, for example, was pretty much the typical crap AMAZON offered and sported.  The show wasn't funny and exactly what decade was this show -- with an all male cast -- supposed to be taking place in.  As we observed in the 2013 pilot week, the show opened with a woman's bouncing breasts as she jogged.  They couldn't create a female lead for the show but they could bring in the T&A.  For that 'accomplishment,' they got a two season run from AMAZON -- even though no one watched.


This happened over and over.  The following year, the 'great' find was HAND OF GOD -- one of the worst shows ever -- and we called it out long before The Water Cooler Set noticed how awful the show as -- once it started season one.  Raunchy trash that even CBS wouldn't stoop to was what AMAZON served up over and over -- hiding behind the claim that it was picked by viewers.

On and on it went for years.  In March of 2017, we noted:


It's funny how women make up 50% of the population but no one ever thinks they should have that same percentage of shows revolving around them.

It's not at all funny that AMAZON's doing yet another pilot season where the best show is the one with a female lead (THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL) but you just know that, yet again, AMAZON will ignore the women and pick yet another substandard piece of crap to greenlight.


Amy Sherman-Palladino's THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL stars Rachel Brosnahan and it's like nothing else TV has to offer.  But by all means, let's listen to a lot of boys who mistake their drool and cum stains for actual critiques.



For once, sexism lost and THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL got picked up.

Guess what?

People streamed.

Guess what else?

The show won the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Comedy Series and Rachel Brosnahan won the award for Best Actress in a Comey Series.  Wait, we're not done.  Amy Sherman-Palladino was nominated for a Director Guild of America Award for her direction on the pilot.  Still not done.  The show won the Golden Globe for Best Television Series -- Musical or Comedy and Rachel Brosnahan won the Golden Globe for Best Actress -- Television Series Musical or Comedy.  Wait, we're still not done.  The show won the Peabody Award.  And it won a Producers Guild of America Award.  Yet still, we are not done.  It is nominated for 14 Emmys -- including Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, Outstanding Directing and Outstanding Writing (Amy Sherman-Palladino -- again for the pilot) and Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (Alex Borstein).

Why is it that NETFLIX, HULU and AMAZON repeatedly have to be reminded that women are out there, waiting to stream, looking for characters they can relate to?


HULU finally won Emmys . . . because of THE HANDMAID'S TALE.

NETFLIX?  Established film director David Fincher already had nominations and awards (GOLDEN GLOBE, BAFTA, etc) when he won an Emmy in 2013 for directing HOUSE OF CARDS.  Their first real win -- for talent, not track record -- was Uzo Aduba for ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK -- and she went on to win two Emmys.  Lily Tomlin (GRACE AND FRANKIE) has garnered four Emmy nominations, Jane Fonda has been nominated once and won the OFTA for her performance, and both women have been twice nominated for Screen Actors Guild Awards for Best Actress.  Four seasons in, GRACE AND FRANKIE is one of NETFLIX's most streamed series. 

Critical awards and audiences.  Shows that value women can win both.

It's a lesson SUITS should be learning right now.  The seventh season saw multiple cast losses -- the soft eyes of Meghan Markle (who left the show to marry someone -- you might have heard about that wedding over the summer), the soft ass of Patrick J. Adams and, most of all, the loss of the amazing Gina Torres.  Some may argue Adams' Mike was more important as the young sidekick to Gabriel Macht's Harvey.  But it was Torres' Jessica who clashed with Harvey and had a deeper friendship.

Those are some serious losses.  The new addition this season?  Katherine Heigl as Samantha Wheeler.  She and Macht already have strong chemistry.  She's also playing a character unlike anyone SUITS has offered so far.  Most of all, she's delivering a riveting performance.


It happens.  And it's a shame so many have to be constantly reminded of what Abigail Adams advised her husband John Adams in a March 31, 1776 letter, "Remember the ladies."



Tool of Empire Patricia Arquette


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