Wednesday, September 26, 2018
Truest statement of the week
Moore’s response is superficial and sidesteps the central questions. He takes note of the obvious shift to the right by the Democratic Party hierarchy. Proceeding farther along this “left” path, he suggests that the Trump presidency has been “decades in the making” and points to the right-wing records of both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. He argues that Trump “outflanked” Hillary Clinton to the left on various social issues and war during the 2016 presidential campaign, but observes that, in any event, nonvoters, 100 million of them, were the single biggest bloc on Election Day.
Moore’s voiceover continues: “As the Democrats became more like the Republicans, so did the entire liberal establishment, led by the paper of record [the New York Times ]: catering to Big Business, minimizing social movements like Occupy Wall Street and cheerleading every war we got into, while also trying to dictate elections.”
Fahrenheit 11/9 gives far too much credit to the individual figures of Bill Clinton and Obama, whose administrations not only pushed the Democratic Party to the right but reflected the shift of the entire political establishment. The source of the reactionary turn by both big-business parties lies in the objective crisis of American and global capitalism. The Republicans and Democrats have tactical differences and divergent political styles, but the American ruling class is united in its determination to impose the consequences of the intractable crisis on both its economic rivals and “allies” abroad and the working population at home.
The implication of Moore’s viewpoint is that the Democratic Party’s decades-long repudiation of its reformist–New Deal past is a mere policy choice carried out by misguided individuals that can be corrected by pressure exerted from below. This is a reactionary and utopian fantasy.
In his voiceover, Moore argues that Obama “paved the way” for Trump and offers a partial list of the Obama Administration’s “accomplishments”: the locking up of whistle-blowers, the murderous drone program, the deportation of a record number of immigrants, enhanced surveillance, endless wars, etc. Why doesn’t the filmmaker call a halt right there? Why should any worker or anyone with a conscience support a party capable of such filthy acts? But Moore, like the entire liberal-left, can stomach anything by now.
-- David Walsh, "Fahrenheit 11/9—Filmmaker Michael Moore clings to the Democratic Party" (WSWS).
Truest statement of the week II
The US National Press Club, Overseas Press Club of America, Reuters, and Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press all deserted Assange in 2011 ,
two years into Obama's presidency. After more than six years of
political asylum inside London’s Ecuadorian Embassy, he is in poor
health and in danger of extradition to stand trial in the US for
publishing leaked confidential documents, many of which were also
published by the New York Times, the London Guardian,
and other prominent media outlets. He could even be tried and sentenced
“in camera,” with neither press nor human rights observers present.
Pacifica was founded by pacifist Lew Hill in the 1940s after World War II. It has a long, proud history as a radical, edgy alternative to corporate and state media that has opposed most US wars and austerity measures since. So one might think that passing this resolution would be a slam dunk, but it hasn’t been. As I wrote in “We Love the CIA!—Or How the Left Lost its Mind,” Pacifica has incrementally moved to the right, along with the rest of the country, ever since Ronald Reagan’s presidency, and during the neoliberal, hawkish presidencies of Democrats Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg and other whistleblowers, writers, editors and union and media activists have endorsed the resolution, but majorities on the Berkeley board and the national board have prevented roll call votes or any votes at all without explaining why. If you’d like to see this resolution passed by the Pacifica National Board and the KPFA Local Station Board, please write to pnb@pacifica.organd lsb@kpfa.org.
-- Ann Garrison, "Standing With Julian Assange" (BLACK AGENDA REPORT).
Pacifica was founded by pacifist Lew Hill in the 1940s after World War II. It has a long, proud history as a radical, edgy alternative to corporate and state media that has opposed most US wars and austerity measures since. So one might think that passing this resolution would be a slam dunk, but it hasn’t been. As I wrote in “We Love the CIA!—Or How the Left Lost its Mind,” Pacifica has incrementally moved to the right, along with the rest of the country, ever since Ronald Reagan’s presidency, and during the neoliberal, hawkish presidencies of Democrats Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg and other whistleblowers, writers, editors and union and media activists have endorsed the resolution, but majorities on the Berkeley board and the national board have prevented roll call votes or any votes at all without explaining why. If you’d like to see this resolution passed by the Pacifica National Board and the KPFA Local Station Board, please write to pnb@pacifica.organd lsb@kpfa.org.
-- Ann Garrison, "Standing With Julian Assange" (BLACK AGENDA REPORT).
A note to our readers
Hey --
Wednesday. 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.
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?
- Truest statement of the week
- Truest statement of the week II
- Editorial: Stand up before the people or crawl out...
- TV: It feels not funny which is worse than bad
- Illustrations (Dona)
- Basra
- From The TESR Test Kitchen
- Tweet of the week
- Why can't ROLLING STONE do corrections?
- Read a book?
- Just because you're a total ass . . .
- This edition's playlist
- Green Party of Michigan, Women's Caucus is Officia...
- Highlights
Peace,
-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.
Editorial: Stand up before the people or crawl out the door
Life is melodramatic enough, no one needs additional drama.
SNOPES notes, "Dr. Christine Blasey Ford publicly alleged on 16 September 2018 that U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her at a party when both of them were high schoolers in 1982, she has been the target of a relentless campaign to try to discredit her and cast aspersions on her motivation for coming forward."
We'd argue that she's invited aspertions.
We were Team Christine.
Were.
We went against the presumption of innocence for the accused (Kavanaugh). We were for Blasey all the way.
Because we don't believe people normally make up charges like these.
Normally.
But nothing about Blasey has been normal. And we're honestly tired of her bulls**t. This edition was finished on Monday morning. Everything. Except the editorial. (A) We always do Iraq. Why not this time? Because a number of us had moved to the 'enough' column on Dr. Blasey. But not all of us. It took the nonsense claims that she was now insisting that she would not agree to be put under oath if she testitified before the Senate. If. That really did it.
Ava and C.I., for example, had told us, "Write whatever you want. We don't have to take part." But some felt that if everyone (Ruth also didn't want to take part in the editorial) wasn't on board, we shouldn't do it. Betty offered that there could be two editorials, with two different positions, like USA TODAY loves to do.
For Ava and C.I., the nonsense about testifying, all the time later, did it. The whole 'not under oath.' They remember that b.s. during the Bully Boy Bush administration. They remember a cowardly Democratic controlled Congress that repeatedly failed to put witnesses under oath. Known liars in the administration -- multiple -- being allowed to lie in their Congressional testimony. But, as many Democratic Party committee leaders repeatedly explained to Ava and C.I., it didn't matter whether they were sworn in or not, lying to Congress is a crime -- oath or not.
Of course, those same Committee leaders never went after anyone for lying to them.
But that's really it, it's the latest crap in what has been a turdfest all along.
Oh, look, it's the is-she-a-man Jamie Lee Curtis of the 'how dare you!' infamy -- 'in front of children!' nonsense. The rumor has always been that Jamie was born with both genders. We've tried to be respectful of her. Until her meltdon in public that the quotes are from. It's one thing to look the other way and pretend it's just her business when she's not talking. When her actions and statements, however, imply that this is something shameful that needs to be hidden? F**k the hag. She presents as a champion of children but in public screeches that certain things must be hidden "in front of children!" Shut up, you hag. A three-year-old dealt with this topic with maturity in 2015 in public. So just shut up, hag. It's one thing not to talk about the topic by your own choice, it's another to insist that it should not be spoken of because of children -- by a supposed children's rights advocate. Then there's Alyssa Milano CCA hag wife (CAA where so many of the predators remain -- only one finally got fired) who emerges from her bad plastic surgery (that right eye is scary, it's like a lizard eye now) to insist that there is no reason Dr. Blasey would lie. So Alyssa never learned acting and now she's showing that she never learned human nature either. Yes, when you've got Jamie Lee Curtis and Professional Outrage Debrta Messing and Alyssa Milano and Michael Avenatti on your side, you're going to see a large number in the room moving to the other side just to escape the crazy.
Bob Somerby. Sometimes we agree with him, sometimes we don't. In looking at the issue of Dr. Blasey's accusations/claims/assertions, he feels the big issue is that Senator Dianne Feinstein is being attacked for not going public.
We agree that's an issue. Not the issue Bob thinks.
As a member of the Senate, she's required to report crimes. She's not a f**king priest.
It appears that Dr. Blasey's original intent was to raise the accusation of assault with her U.S. House Representative Anna Eschoo. Did she intend for Eschoo to pass it on? Apparently, it was under her direction that Blasey made a formal complaint to Senator Dianne Feinstein. From everything in the public record, after that point, Dr. Blasey thought a whisper campaign among the Senate Judiciary Committee would 'take care' of everything.
She needs to answer for that because that's not how it works -- not in a US court of law, not in a democracy. We're talking about the highest court in the land. If you have an accusation to make, you make it publicly.
Repeating, as a member of the US Senate, as the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Dianne Feinstein had an obligation to go public. She could have told Dr. Blasey that she either step forward publicly or she shut up -- that it the choice that Dr. Blasey always had. But whether Feinstein outlined that to her or not, Feinstein was required to go public.
She's not a priest, she's not Dr. Blasey's attorney. She's a member of the US Senate being informed that a crime has taken place. She needs to go public.
Feinstein was wrong to have repeated it privately. THE INTERCEPT outed her, and good for them. Democracy dies in darkness -- isn't that what THE WASHINGTON POST keeps insisting?
So why the f**k is someone being allowed to mount a whisper campaign out of public sight in an attempt to derail a Supreme Court nomination.
Again, we were Team Christine. Were. And that wasn't really fair. Ruth wrote about it at her site repeatedly. Was that wrong of her? Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't but she was being honest that she was on Dr. Blasey's side. Anyone reading her site knew completely where she stood. And that's fine. She disclosed it.
Looking at our own prejudices and biases, we think we're going to have to modify it. We're not going to believe all victims automatically. We are going to instead believe that all victims have a right to make their case. There's a difference and we need to move towards it because we need to eventually get to the point where we are at "innocent until proven guilty."
We thank Dr. Blasey for helping us get to that point but that's all we're thanking her for.
She claims she was assaulted by Kavanaugh. If that accusation is true, this grown woman should be able to make it publicly. Not in a few days, or weeks, but right damn now. Not if she gets to choose who asks her questions, not if she gets to do so without being placed under oath.
This is a serious charge.
We need to create an environment where serious charges can be raised and discussed and debated.
That's not happening with Dr. Blasey.
If she wants to stand up in public, we're happy to listen. If she's convincing, we'll even applaud her.
But if she's thinking she can dicate terms, she needs to crawl out the door. She's not doing anyone a favor.
If she was assaulted by someone nominated to the Surpeme Court, she has a civic duty to disclose that. Her civic duty does not allow for a whisper campaign. Now if it's not important enough for her to make her claim in public, if it's not important enough for her to speak in public and face the accused, that's fine. Keep your mouth shut. It's cowardly. But keep your mouth shut.
Those are your choices. You speak publicly -- without dictating conditions because the US Senate doesn't require your rules -- or you don't.
Dr. Blasey -- and that is her name, though the press has trouble grasping it. They'll call the porn actress Stormy Daniels because she made some flicks by that name. But Dr. Blasey has built her professional reputation with that name and they instead want to call her "Dr. Blasey Ford." The sexism in that choice reeks but no one wants to comment on that either.
Dr. Blasey is a grown up. She's a psychologist. She states she's been in therapy for the allegead assault. If her claim is true, she was nearly raped over 35 years ago. It's not saying much for therapy or for Dr. Blasey that all this time later she's still not comfortable discussing it in public. Therapy is supposed to heal. Ann notes that she was actually raped and that she took her rapist to court. She endured everything in the courtroom and her rapist went to prison, "I don't have a lot of sympathy for a professional therapist who (a) wants to dictate the terms under which she'll air her accusations publicly and (b) refuses to get the help that -- if she's telling the truth -- she needs. She's a failure in not reporting it, she's a failure in not getting the needed therapy, she's a failure in refusing to step forward publicly. None of that means she's lying. All of it does mean she's not hero and deserves no praise. As a woman of color, I'm really offended that White girl thinks she deserves all these extras that my Black ass didn't get."
And on the issue of the FBI? They can't investigate. There's no physical proof. It's not their job to investigate. But here comes Demanding White Girl insisting that before she testifies the FBI must launch an investigation.
It must be wonderful to feel so entitled.
Dr. Blasey can stand up and testify openly before the Senate -- with no preconditions -- or she can crawl on out the door. We're sick of her drama, we're sick of her bulls**t.
SNOPES notes, "Dr. Christine Blasey Ford publicly alleged on 16 September 2018 that U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her at a party when both of them were high schoolers in 1982, she has been the target of a relentless campaign to try to discredit her and cast aspersions on her motivation for coming forward."
We'd argue that she's invited aspertions.
We were Team Christine.
Were.
We went against the presumption of innocence for the accused (Kavanaugh). We were for Blasey all the way.
Because we don't believe people normally make up charges like these.
Normally.
But nothing about Blasey has been normal. And we're honestly tired of her bulls**t. This edition was finished on Monday morning. Everything. Except the editorial. (A) We always do Iraq. Why not this time? Because a number of us had moved to the 'enough' column on Dr. Blasey. But not all of us. It took the nonsense claims that she was now insisting that she would not agree to be put under oath if she testitified before the Senate. If. That really did it.
Ava and C.I., for example, had told us, "Write whatever you want. We don't have to take part." But some felt that if everyone (Ruth also didn't want to take part in the editorial) wasn't on board, we shouldn't do it. Betty offered that there could be two editorials, with two different positions, like USA TODAY loves to do.
For Ava and C.I., the nonsense about testifying, all the time later, did it. The whole 'not under oath.' They remember that b.s. during the Bully Boy Bush administration. They remember a cowardly Democratic controlled Congress that repeatedly failed to put witnesses under oath. Known liars in the administration -- multiple -- being allowed to lie in their Congressional testimony. But, as many Democratic Party committee leaders repeatedly explained to Ava and C.I., it didn't matter whether they were sworn in or not, lying to Congress is a crime -- oath or not.
Of course, those same Committee leaders never went after anyone for lying to them.
But that's really it, it's the latest crap in what has been a turdfest all along.
Oh, look, it's the is-she-a-man Jamie Lee Curtis of the 'how dare you!' infamy -- 'in front of children!' nonsense. The rumor has always been that Jamie was born with both genders. We've tried to be respectful of her. Until her meltdon in public that the quotes are from. It's one thing to look the other way and pretend it's just her business when she's not talking. When her actions and statements, however, imply that this is something shameful that needs to be hidden? F**k the hag. She presents as a champion of children but in public screeches that certain things must be hidden "in front of children!" Shut up, you hag. A three-year-old dealt with this topic with maturity in 2015 in public. So just shut up, hag. It's one thing not to talk about the topic by your own choice, it's another to insist that it should not be spoken of because of children -- by a supposed children's rights advocate. Then there's Alyssa Milano CCA hag wife (CAA where so many of the predators remain -- only one finally got fired) who emerges from her bad plastic surgery (that right eye is scary, it's like a lizard eye now) to insist that there is no reason Dr. Blasey would lie. So Alyssa never learned acting and now she's showing that she never learned human nature either. Yes, when you've got Jamie Lee Curtis and Professional Outrage Debrta Messing and Alyssa Milano and Michael Avenatti on your side, you're going to see a large number in the room moving to the other side just to escape the crazy.
Bob Somerby. Sometimes we agree with him, sometimes we don't. In looking at the issue of Dr. Blasey's accusations/claims/assertions, he feels the big issue is that Senator Dianne Feinstein is being attacked for not going public.
We agree that's an issue. Not the issue Bob thinks.
As a member of the Senate, she's required to report crimes. She's not a f**king priest.
It appears that Dr. Blasey's original intent was to raise the accusation of assault with her U.S. House Representative Anna Eschoo. Did she intend for Eschoo to pass it on? Apparently, it was under her direction that Blasey made a formal complaint to Senator Dianne Feinstein. From everything in the public record, after that point, Dr. Blasey thought a whisper campaign among the Senate Judiciary Committee would 'take care' of everything.
She needs to answer for that because that's not how it works -- not in a US court of law, not in a democracy. We're talking about the highest court in the land. If you have an accusation to make, you make it publicly.
Repeating, as a member of the US Senate, as the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Dianne Feinstein had an obligation to go public. She could have told Dr. Blasey that she either step forward publicly or she shut up -- that it the choice that Dr. Blasey always had. But whether Feinstein outlined that to her or not, Feinstein was required to go public.
She's not a priest, she's not Dr. Blasey's attorney. She's a member of the US Senate being informed that a crime has taken place. She needs to go public.
Feinstein was wrong to have repeated it privately. THE INTERCEPT outed her, and good for them. Democracy dies in darkness -- isn't that what THE WASHINGTON POST keeps insisting?
So why the f**k is someone being allowed to mount a whisper campaign out of public sight in an attempt to derail a Supreme Court nomination.
Again, we were Team Christine. Were. And that wasn't really fair. Ruth wrote about it at her site repeatedly. Was that wrong of her? Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't but she was being honest that she was on Dr. Blasey's side. Anyone reading her site knew completely where she stood. And that's fine. She disclosed it.
Looking at our own prejudices and biases, we think we're going to have to modify it. We're not going to believe all victims automatically. We are going to instead believe that all victims have a right to make their case. There's a difference and we need to move towards it because we need to eventually get to the point where we are at "innocent until proven guilty."
We thank Dr. Blasey for helping us get to that point but that's all we're thanking her for.
She claims she was assaulted by Kavanaugh. If that accusation is true, this grown woman should be able to make it publicly. Not in a few days, or weeks, but right damn now. Not if she gets to choose who asks her questions, not if she gets to do so without being placed under oath.
This is a serious charge.
We need to create an environment where serious charges can be raised and discussed and debated.
That's not happening with Dr. Blasey.
If she wants to stand up in public, we're happy to listen. If she's convincing, we'll even applaud her.
But if she's thinking she can dicate terms, she needs to crawl out the door. She's not doing anyone a favor.
If she was assaulted by someone nominated to the Surpeme Court, she has a civic duty to disclose that. Her civic duty does not allow for a whisper campaign. Now if it's not important enough for her to make her claim in public, if it's not important enough for her to speak in public and face the accused, that's fine. Keep your mouth shut. It's cowardly. But keep your mouth shut.
Those are your choices. You speak publicly -- without dictating conditions because the US Senate doesn't require your rules -- or you don't.
Dr. Blasey -- and that is her name, though the press has trouble grasping it. They'll call the porn actress Stormy Daniels because she made some flicks by that name. But Dr. Blasey has built her professional reputation with that name and they instead want to call her "Dr. Blasey Ford." The sexism in that choice reeks but no one wants to comment on that either.
Dr. Blasey is a grown up. She's a psychologist. She states she's been in therapy for the allegead assault. If her claim is true, she was nearly raped over 35 years ago. It's not saying much for therapy or for Dr. Blasey that all this time later she's still not comfortable discussing it in public. Therapy is supposed to heal. Ann notes that she was actually raped and that she took her rapist to court. She endured everything in the courtroom and her rapist went to prison, "I don't have a lot of sympathy for a professional therapist who (a) wants to dictate the terms under which she'll air her accusations publicly and (b) refuses to get the help that -- if she's telling the truth -- she needs. She's a failure in not reporting it, she's a failure in not getting the needed therapy, she's a failure in refusing to step forward publicly. None of that means she's lying. All of it does mean she's not hero and deserves no praise. As a woman of color, I'm really offended that White girl thinks she deserves all these extras that my Black ass didn't get."
And on the issue of the FBI? They can't investigate. There's no physical proof. It's not their job to investigate. But here comes Demanding White Girl insisting that before she testifies the FBI must launch an investigation.
It must be wonderful to feel so entitled.
Dr. Blasey can stand up and testify openly before the Senate -- with no preconditions -- or she can crawl on out the door. We're sick of her drama, we're sick of her bulls**t.
TV: It feels not funny which is worse than bad
The first three episodes of I FEEL BAD go a long, long way towards explaining why TV is frequently so bad, so awful.
The NBC sitcom is supposed to be funny. It's not but it's worse than that. Yes, there is worse than not funny.
Sarayu Rao is 43-years-old. Few people get to star in their first sitcom at that age -- especially not a woman. So you'd think she'd run with it. And maybe she would if she weren't so loaded down with dialogue.
Did we say dialogue?
We meant monologue.
She doesn't speak, she riffs. And she's just oh-so-so smart and isn't she impressive with every one of her cultural references? Don't we feel like we're watching Patty and Lauren of SQUARE PEGS come to life -- or at least rebooted?
No.
Monologues are best left in acting classes. And that's what I FEEL BAD feels most like, a scene prepared for an acting class. The point's never to be funny. And you keep waiting for Sarayu to take a seat on the edge of the stage and explain, "What I was going for . . ."
She has to have been going for something because funny wasn't it and building a character wasn't it. She's about as effective as Candice Bergen was on the CBS FALL PREVIEW. "They say in comedy, timing is everything," a lifeless Candice read from the cue card while decked out in Captain Kangaroo's old costume. And that was before we saw something really frightening -- Candice and 'youngsters' like Tyne Daily preparing for a table read when all the clips were from episodes that were over 20 years old. Why is Tyne in the cast, by the way? Ask Diane English and Candice about how they whored to Leslie Moonves to get this show back on the air. Better yet, ask why network people who've seen THE NEIGHBORHOOD think it's going to be huge and network people who have seen MURHPY BROWN are shaking their heads and saying, "Well it was just a thirteen episode gamble."
It'll be cute to see how certain writers try to spin 'feminist' Diane and Candice -- who kept supporting Leslie until CBS fired him. Maybe it will remind people of 'feminist' Diane who felt her leads didn't have chemistry so she fired the woman (Susan Dey) and not the man. She fired the TV star, the three time Emmy nominee, the six time Golden Globe Award nominee (and one time winner). Susan Dey was fired, not Jay Thomas. Now Jay did win two Emmys -- for guest appearances. Not for being a regular character and certainly not for being a lead. At the time, he and Susan Dey starred in LOVE AND WAR -- on CBS. And one got fired. The woman. Not the man, who'd never carried a show. But the woman who'd starred in THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY and L.A. LAW. Way to support women, Diane English.
But that's CBS (and that's how Diane English got ahead there). Despite this and so many other faults, CBS appears to do comedy better than anyone these days -- thanks in part to the temporary president of ABC Channing Dungey. "Temporary"? That's what everyone's calling her behind her back. There was a glimmer of hope back in mid-June that she'd be able to stay president despite axing ABC's biggest hit (the ROSEANNE reboot). But then the scripts were filmed and she doesn't have a hit on her hands -- nothing on the schedule appears breakout ready. Little appears even worth watching. That alone would mean you'd be shown the door. But when you've got nothing to offer and you also just killed the only hit show you had? Dungey's rages are understandable when you factor all that in. She's throwing things at walls and screaming at subordinates. It's not a happy time at ABC.
However, if they'd film all that, it would certainly be more watchable than what they're planning to air. And it would be more watchable than I FEEL BAD.
The show, in the first episode, does sexual harassment as 'normal.' Sarayu Rao's character, the boss, asks her underlings -- four men -- if she's still "doable."
Possibly the only thing worse than that scene was the interview that writer Aseem Batra gave to REFINERY29 attempting to justify it and REFINERY29 having Aseem's back -- but not the backs of women who actually have to endure moments like that in real life:
Batra stresses that the scene is “a comedy beat,” she knows not everyone will enjoy it. “I know there will be backlash, but it made me laugh out loud,” the writer admits. “In a way you to kind of have to have been in an all-male environment to get it a little. If you’ve ever been, you do get it. That stuff happens.”
Oh, it made her laugh out loud? And "she knows not everyone will enjoy it"? How nice of her to use NBC money to make herself laugh and to not care whether or not others would enjoy it.
No, Aseem Batra, there's no getting it. You're just a whore.
There's no need for niceness, niceness doesn't work. Let's call it like it is, she's a whore.
She's had this little vengeance fantasy since 2005 and, thirteen years later, she puts it in play.
It's the most a limited mind like she could think of.
Which is why, in 2018, this scene plays with the female boss asking her 4 male employees if she's 'doable.'
Her four male employees.
Her. Four. Male. Employees.
A woman can't design a video game? Games are all men? We kind of thought that backward thinking died via Gamergate. But here's Aseem Batra making it the norm all over again.
We call her "whore" for a reason, do you get it now?
It's not just that bad "doable" it's the fact that she's placed the main character in an all male environment as though this is the norm.
Nothing on NBC's hideous show is the norm.
If the boss is offended that the four employees (three in later episodes) keep designing women with big breasts for the game, why doesn't she just tell them to stop? It's really not that hard. And it's really not that hard for her to have hired a woman or two to work for her.
It's just hard for Aseem Batra to grasp that the world has changed and we don't need her talky -- and not funny -- sitcom in 2018. Yes, Aseem, the world passed you by. If you're honest, Aseem, you'll admit that you allowed it to pass you by.
Does anything about the show work?
The Water Cooler Set has taken to using terms like "schlubby" to describe Paul Adelstein who plays the husband. Schlubby? Schlubby doesn't land Abby which, for the record, he did as Leo on SCANDAL. More to the point, 49-year-old Adelstein has a solid body. It's not flabby. He's also gotten eye brow shaping for this role and some sort of blow out for the hair. We're not making fun of him, we're noting that he's good looking and, yes, hot. He's not given much to do -- we see him through his wife's eyes -- but he does hold your interest. As Emet's parents, Madhur Jaffrey's Maya and Brian George's Sonny deliver many laughs -- especially when you grasp how little they do each episode.
But that's really about it.
It's a shame that Amy Poehler produced this series. While PARKS AND RECREATION was a single camera show, she spent just as much time on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE working before an audience. (She spent more time on SNL if you count in all of her returns after leaving.) A live audience might have saved I FEEL BAD. It certainly would have made clear that the monotone monologues were a failure.
And she clearly needs the help. As a producer, she's able to place pilots, she's just not able to develop shows that people really want to watch. Her kill list thus far includes THE MIGHTY B!, WELCOME TO SWEDEN, DIFFICULT PEOPLE (a real producer might have been able to talk HULU into a fourth season -- this was a show worth watching), and BROAD CITY which airs its last season early next year. That last show started off with close to a million viewers an episode but two years later, around the time Hillary Clinton starts showing up as a guest star, they're lucky to cross half-a-million viewers an episode.
Her sometime partner and co-host Tina Fey hasn't done any better. THE UNBREAKABLE KIMMY SCHMIDT wraps up its fourth -- and final -- season early next year, GREAT NEWS lasted only two seasons, and THE KICKER never even got its pilot aired.
In a climate like this, you'd hope and pray that Aseem Batra would bring her A-game. Instead, she uses the pilot to amuse herself. She's got nothing wonderful to her credits. She's worked on garbage like ANIMAL PRACTICE, THE CLEVELAND SHOW and BAD JUDGE. Apparently, she's impressed herself with those credits and doesn't feel the need to turn out anything better. That's a sure sign that she shouldn't have been hired for I FEEL BAD and she certainly shouldn't have been trusted with writing the pilot.
She's captured . . . something. Maybe the world two decades ago? It's not a world of today, it's not even a recognizable world. It's also not funny, as we noted at the top. All of this helps to explain how two episodes aired last week, one after the other and how, by the time the second episode aired, nearly two million viewers had bailed.
Sound familiar? Bailing viewers was the story last season for GREAT NEWS and CHAMPIONS -- two shows that ended up cancelled, two shows NBC elected to waste the WILL & GRACE audience on.
SUPERSTORE hobbled to the end of last season with 2.97 million viewers tuning in for the season finale. THE GOOD PLACE limped to the end with 3.19 million viewers tuning in. Don't get us started on GREAT NEWS and CHAMPIONS or A.P. BIO. The point is NBC had WILL & GRACE for a new season and that first episode delivered 10.19 million viewers. But NBC had nothing to surround it with. You don't build MUST SEE TV around one program. Even at its most under achieving, NBC depended upon three strong programs for Thursday nights (FRIENDS, SEINFELD, ER or, later, FRIENDS, WILL & GRACE, ER). These days, they depend solely on one program -- WILL & GRACE. And they aren't even smart enough to pair it with another multi-cam sitcom -- despite the many ideas WILL & GRACE creators Max Mutchnick and David Kohan have pitched for other sitcoms. That also goes a long way towards explaining how TV can be so awful.
The NBC sitcom is supposed to be funny. It's not but it's worse than that. Yes, there is worse than not funny.
Sarayu Rao is 43-years-old. Few people get to star in their first sitcom at that age -- especially not a woman. So you'd think she'd run with it. And maybe she would if she weren't so loaded down with dialogue.
Did we say dialogue?
We meant monologue.
She doesn't speak, she riffs. And she's just oh-so-so smart and isn't she impressive with every one of her cultural references? Don't we feel like we're watching Patty and Lauren of SQUARE PEGS come to life -- or at least rebooted?
No.
Monologues are best left in acting classes. And that's what I FEEL BAD feels most like, a scene prepared for an acting class. The point's never to be funny. And you keep waiting for Sarayu to take a seat on the edge of the stage and explain, "What I was going for . . ."
She has to have been going for something because funny wasn't it and building a character wasn't it. She's about as effective as Candice Bergen was on the CBS FALL PREVIEW. "They say in comedy, timing is everything," a lifeless Candice read from the cue card while decked out in Captain Kangaroo's old costume. And that was before we saw something really frightening -- Candice and 'youngsters' like Tyne Daily preparing for a table read when all the clips were from episodes that were over 20 years old. Why is Tyne in the cast, by the way? Ask Diane English and Candice about how they whored to Leslie Moonves to get this show back on the air. Better yet, ask why network people who've seen THE NEIGHBORHOOD think it's going to be huge and network people who have seen MURHPY BROWN are shaking their heads and saying, "Well it was just a thirteen episode gamble."
It'll be cute to see how certain writers try to spin 'feminist' Diane and Candice -- who kept supporting Leslie until CBS fired him. Maybe it will remind people of 'feminist' Diane who felt her leads didn't have chemistry so she fired the woman (Susan Dey) and not the man. She fired the TV star, the three time Emmy nominee, the six time Golden Globe Award nominee (and one time winner). Susan Dey was fired, not Jay Thomas. Now Jay did win two Emmys -- for guest appearances. Not for being a regular character and certainly not for being a lead. At the time, he and Susan Dey starred in LOVE AND WAR -- on CBS. And one got fired. The woman. Not the man, who'd never carried a show. But the woman who'd starred in THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY and L.A. LAW. Way to support women, Diane English.
But that's CBS (and that's how Diane English got ahead there). Despite this and so many other faults, CBS appears to do comedy better than anyone these days -- thanks in part to the temporary president of ABC Channing Dungey. "Temporary"? That's what everyone's calling her behind her back. There was a glimmer of hope back in mid-June that she'd be able to stay president despite axing ABC's biggest hit (the ROSEANNE reboot). But then the scripts were filmed and she doesn't have a hit on her hands -- nothing on the schedule appears breakout ready. Little appears even worth watching. That alone would mean you'd be shown the door. But when you've got nothing to offer and you also just killed the only hit show you had? Dungey's rages are understandable when you factor all that in. She's throwing things at walls and screaming at subordinates. It's not a happy time at ABC.
However, if they'd film all that, it would certainly be more watchable than what they're planning to air. And it would be more watchable than I FEEL BAD.
The show, in the first episode, does sexual harassment as 'normal.' Sarayu Rao's character, the boss, asks her underlings -- four men -- if she's still "doable."
Possibly the only thing worse than that scene was the interview that writer Aseem Batra gave to REFINERY29 attempting to justify it and REFINERY29 having Aseem's back -- but not the backs of women who actually have to endure moments like that in real life:
Batra stresses that the scene is “a comedy beat,” she knows not everyone will enjoy it. “I know there will be backlash, but it made me laugh out loud,” the writer admits. “In a way you to kind of have to have been in an all-male environment to get it a little. If you’ve ever been, you do get it. That stuff happens.”
Oh, it made her laugh out loud? And "she knows not everyone will enjoy it"? How nice of her to use NBC money to make herself laugh and to not care whether or not others would enjoy it.
No, Aseem Batra, there's no getting it. You're just a whore.
There's no need for niceness, niceness doesn't work. Let's call it like it is, she's a whore.
She's had this little vengeance fantasy since 2005 and, thirteen years later, she puts it in play.
It's the most a limited mind like she could think of.
Which is why, in 2018, this scene plays with the female boss asking her 4 male employees if she's 'doable.'
Her four male employees.
Her. Four. Male. Employees.
A woman can't design a video game? Games are all men? We kind of thought that backward thinking died via Gamergate. But here's Aseem Batra making it the norm all over again.
We call her "whore" for a reason, do you get it now?
It's not just that bad "doable" it's the fact that she's placed the main character in an all male environment as though this is the norm.
Nothing on NBC's hideous show is the norm.
If the boss is offended that the four employees (three in later episodes) keep designing women with big breasts for the game, why doesn't she just tell them to stop? It's really not that hard. And it's really not that hard for her to have hired a woman or two to work for her.
It's just hard for Aseem Batra to grasp that the world has changed and we don't need her talky -- and not funny -- sitcom in 2018. Yes, Aseem, the world passed you by. If you're honest, Aseem, you'll admit that you allowed it to pass you by.
Does anything about the show work?
The Water Cooler Set has taken to using terms like "schlubby" to describe Paul Adelstein who plays the husband. Schlubby? Schlubby doesn't land Abby which, for the record, he did as Leo on SCANDAL. More to the point, 49-year-old Adelstein has a solid body. It's not flabby. He's also gotten eye brow shaping for this role and some sort of blow out for the hair. We're not making fun of him, we're noting that he's good looking and, yes, hot. He's not given much to do -- we see him through his wife's eyes -- but he does hold your interest. As Emet's parents, Madhur Jaffrey's Maya and Brian George's Sonny deliver many laughs -- especially when you grasp how little they do each episode.
But that's really about it.
It's a shame that Amy Poehler produced this series. While PARKS AND RECREATION was a single camera show, she spent just as much time on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE working before an audience. (She spent more time on SNL if you count in all of her returns after leaving.) A live audience might have saved I FEEL BAD. It certainly would have made clear that the monotone monologues were a failure.
And she clearly needs the help. As a producer, she's able to place pilots, she's just not able to develop shows that people really want to watch. Her kill list thus far includes THE MIGHTY B!, WELCOME TO SWEDEN, DIFFICULT PEOPLE (a real producer might have been able to talk HULU into a fourth season -- this was a show worth watching), and BROAD CITY which airs its last season early next year. That last show started off with close to a million viewers an episode but two years later, around the time Hillary Clinton starts showing up as a guest star, they're lucky to cross half-a-million viewers an episode.
Her sometime partner and co-host Tina Fey hasn't done any better. THE UNBREAKABLE KIMMY SCHMIDT wraps up its fourth -- and final -- season early next year, GREAT NEWS lasted only two seasons, and THE KICKER never even got its pilot aired.
In a climate like this, you'd hope and pray that Aseem Batra would bring her A-game. Instead, she uses the pilot to amuse herself. She's got nothing wonderful to her credits. She's worked on garbage like ANIMAL PRACTICE, THE CLEVELAND SHOW and BAD JUDGE. Apparently, she's impressed herself with those credits and doesn't feel the need to turn out anything better. That's a sure sign that she shouldn't have been hired for I FEEL BAD and she certainly shouldn't have been trusted with writing the pilot.
She's captured . . . something. Maybe the world two decades ago? It's not a world of today, it's not even a recognizable world. It's also not funny, as we noted at the top. All of this helps to explain how two episodes aired last week, one after the other and how, by the time the second episode aired, nearly two million viewers had bailed.
Sound familiar? Bailing viewers was the story last season for GREAT NEWS and CHAMPIONS -- two shows that ended up cancelled, two shows NBC elected to waste the WILL & GRACE audience on.
SUPERSTORE hobbled to the end of last season with 2.97 million viewers tuning in for the season finale. THE GOOD PLACE limped to the end with 3.19 million viewers tuning in. Don't get us started on GREAT NEWS and CHAMPIONS or A.P. BIO. The point is NBC had WILL & GRACE for a new season and that first episode delivered 10.19 million viewers. But NBC had nothing to surround it with. You don't build MUST SEE TV around one program. Even at its most under achieving, NBC depended upon three strong programs for Thursday nights (FRIENDS, SEINFELD, ER or, later, FRIENDS, WILL & GRACE, ER). These days, they depend solely on one program -- WILL & GRACE. And they aren't even smart enough to pair it with another multi-cam sitcom -- despite the many ideas WILL & GRACE creators Max Mutchnick and David Kohan have pitched for other sitcoms. That also goes a long way towards explaining how TV can be so awful.
Illustrations (Dona)
THIRD started out with zero illustrations. Then we started using Isaiah's comics.
His "Making Dennis a Menace," "Rounding Up Lucy," "Shouting Down The Domestic Arts Czar," "Domestic Arts Czar" and "Al Distraction" were a part of a series sending up self-appointed judge of comics Al Sharpton.
Sometimes Isaiah would create an image for one of our stories.
We also started using public domain illustrations -- by scouring newspapers and magazines from the 1800s. But eventually we moved towards our own illustrations -- photos, sketches, paintings, etc.
Why?
I always argued that it was easy on the eye and broke up the same old same old of words, words, words.
The first illustration created by us for this site was created by Jess who felt Ava and C.I.'s TV pieces, being so popular, deserved their own illustration. This led to many illustrations -- usually a new one every two years for the TV pieces -- since Ava and C.i. have now been covering the media for 14 years.
Media coverage would also require screen snaps.
I always like our musical illustrations.
With some of our illustrations, they begged the question what did they mean?
Some, like the ones above, weren't even connected to an article they were matched with. That was okay with me. I was even for our brief comedy cards that popped up for a few weeks and were inspired, clearly, by the TV show LAUGH-IN.
Some pieces required illustrations specific to those features such as "Justice for Abeer and her family?"
Or a Judith Regan might end up in the news and we'd do an illustration.
Or someone important like Molly Ivins might pass.
Or we're doing a short story on the NSA spying and Ty says we should have the NSA employee online porn performers so we write the story and then go looking for an illustration. Guy below actually was (is?) an online porn performer. He was asking who wanted him to stick his finger up his ass and sniff it? We asked him if it was okay to take a screen snap, he said yes and we gave him a donation.
Or . . .
Somethings were historically important and demanded a photograph.
And others . . .
Of course we did illustrations of war resisters and Iraq Veterans Against the War members.
We covered a lot of products and that allowed us to use various images.
And some of the images we'd create ourselves.
We would gladly get the word out on an event.
We even ran an ad (that we tore out of a magazine, we weren't paid for running it) for a TV show we loved.
Mainly, we just covered things.
For regular features, we created illustrations. Mail bag, for example, resulted in this.
Other regular features resulted in these.
That last one was created by Betty's kids.
There were public domain photos released by The Library of Congress.
Above is Lena Horne, Greta Garbo in two pics, Ramon Navarro and Marlene Dietrich
There were other public domain photos.
Some photos were pure luck. A COMMON ILLS community member takes her kids to the downtown Dallas public library and, across the street, in front of City Hall, a group (the Tea Party) is staging one of its early rallies.
Wally, Kat, Ava and C.I. attend many Congressional hearings. They sometimes grab a quick snap.
And when the people's attorney Lynne Stewart was wrongly imprisoned, we created an image to run with our coverage of her.
And when Bully Boy Bush occupied the White House we did "My Fascist House" -- a collage -- regularly.
I'd prefer we do our own illustrations.
His "Making Dennis a Menace," "Rounding Up Lucy," "Shouting Down The Domestic Arts Czar," "Domestic Arts Czar" and "Al Distraction" were a part of a series sending up self-appointed judge of comics Al Sharpton.
Sometimes Isaiah would create an image for one of our stories.
We also started using public domain illustrations -- by scouring newspapers and magazines from the 1800s. But eventually we moved towards our own illustrations -- photos, sketches, paintings, etc.
Why?
I always argued that it was easy on the eye and broke up the same old same old of words, words, words.
The first illustration created by us for this site was created by Jess who felt Ava and C.I.'s TV pieces, being so popular, deserved their own illustration. This led to many illustrations -- usually a new one every two years for the TV pieces -- since Ava and C.i. have now been covering the media for 14 years.
Media coverage would also require screen snaps.
I always like our musical illustrations.
With some of our illustrations, they begged the question what did they mean?
Some, like the ones above, weren't even connected to an article they were matched with. That was okay with me. I was even for our brief comedy cards that popped up for a few weeks and were inspired, clearly, by the TV show LAUGH-IN.
Some pieces required illustrations specific to those features such as "Justice for Abeer and her family?"
Or a Judith Regan might end up in the news and we'd do an illustration.
Or someone important like Molly Ivins might pass.
Or we're doing a short story on the NSA spying and Ty says we should have the NSA employee online porn performers so we write the story and then go looking for an illustration. Guy below actually was (is?) an online porn performer. He was asking who wanted him to stick his finger up his ass and sniff it? We asked him if it was okay to take a screen snap, he said yes and we gave him a donation.
Or . . .
Somethings were historically important and demanded a photograph.
And others . . .
Of course we did illustrations of war resisters and Iraq Veterans Against the War members.
We covered a lot of products and that allowed us to use various images.
And some of the images we'd create ourselves.
We would gladly get the word out on an event.
We even ran an ad (that we tore out of a magazine, we weren't paid for running it) for a TV show we loved.
Mainly, we just covered things.
For regular features, we created illustrations. Mail bag, for example, resulted in this.
Other regular features resulted in these.
That last one was created by Betty's kids.
There were public domain photos released by The Library of Congress.
Above is Lena Horne, Greta Garbo in two pics, Ramon Navarro and Marlene Dietrich
There were other public domain photos.
Some photos were pure luck. A COMMON ILLS community member takes her kids to the downtown Dallas public library and, across the street, in front of City Hall, a group (the Tea Party) is staging one of its early rallies.
Wally, Kat, Ava and C.I. attend many Congressional hearings. They sometimes grab a quick snap.
And when the people's attorney Lynne Stewart was wrongly imprisoned, we created an image to run with our coverage of her.
And when Bully Boy Bush occupied the White House we did "My Fascist House" -- a collage -- regularly.
I'd prefer we do our own illustrations.
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