Jim: Roundtable time again. . Remember our e-mail
address is thethirdestatesundayreview@yahoo.com. Participating in our roundtable are The Third Estate Sunday Review's Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava, and me, Jim; 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); Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix; Mike of Mikey Likes It!; Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz); Ruth of Ruth's Report; Trina of Trina's Kitchen; Wally of The Daily Jot; Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ; Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends; Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub. Betty's kids did the
illustration. You are reading a rush transcript.
Jim (Con't): So this is sort of a clarifying roundtable. Elaine, it was your idea, so let's start with you.
Elaine: September 8th, "I don't believe Goldberg" went up. Hours after it did, I corrected it. I was tired when I wrote it and I slipped and started calling Goldberg Turley. I corrected it, noted the correction and noted it in my next post "Turley and Ronald Bell" as well. Despite this, I am getting e-mails claiming I hate Jonathan Turley. I do not hate him. I love his writing, he thinks a great deal like C.I. does, they both analyze the law in a similar manner with similar conclusions. He's the most cited person at my website this year. I do not hate him, I do not dislike him. I don't know how else to clear that up.
Jim: Stan, you had a similar issue, but with THE GOLDEN GIRLS?
Stan: Yes. It started with "THE GOLDEN GIRLS" where I again noted that I'm sick of table reads. They're not entertainment. And I said that if Tracee Ross and the rest would do an actual reboot of THE GOLDEN GIRLS, I'd love that and I'd watch. Somehow that became that I am offended that an all Black version of the show was being produced. I'm African-American. I write about the need for diversity. This wasn't someone misunderstanding what I wrote, this was people actively distorting what I'd written. I explained that in "One more time on THE GOLDEN GIRLS" and how tired I am of this nonsense. If you disagree with me, fine. I don't get upset over that. I often write posts about how people disagree with me and they may have a point. But I do get upset if you lie about what I wrote.
Jim: Understood. And I agree it is awful.
Stan: And it's awful that Elaine corrects her post and notes in the next post that she corrected the previous post and people still can't grasp it.
Jim: Ruth, you cover a lot at your website. Among your topics -- regular topics -- would be General Michael Flynne.
Ruth: I believe the general was railroaded by the FBI. POLITICO had a story last week that I did not have time for at my site where they noted that General Flynn had an FBI agent who did not feel the general was trying to cover up an involvement with Russia and that:
A 13-page summary
of an interview with Flynn case agent William Barnett, made public in a
court filing by prosecutors just before midnight Thursday, also
revealed that the veteran agent harbored deep doubts and skepticism
about the merits of the investigation into Flynn’s potential ties with
Russia — at least in its early stages — and questioned the Mueller
team’s tactics in the broader probe of the Trump campaign’s contacts
with Russians, known as Crossfire Hurricane.
Ruth (Con't): Again, I feel the general was railroaded.
Jim: Trina, no recipe last week at your site.
Trina: No. I wrote "Why does Oliver Stone lie?" instead of my usual recipe post and I did so because I am sick of Oliver Stone's sexism. COMING HOME was a successful film. It made twelve times its budget -- domestically, it did that. It was a top 15 box office hit for 1978. Despite Oliver Stone pretending THE DEER HUNTER was a huge hit, it wasn't. WIKIPEDIA lies as well and claims that TDH was a top ten hit of 1978. No, it wasn't. It made almost no money in 1978. It made it's money in 1979 and came in number 11 for that year's box office. And I'm really tired of his efforts to strip Jane Fonda of credit that she's earned.
Jim: Jane Fonda. Ava and C.I. have a rather explosive piece this edition calling out Jane and her book. Want to talk about how that evolved?
Ann: We didn't plan to write it. We were going to cover the TV show FILTHY RICH. Dona asked us to participate in Book Talk for this edition. We said we would. We spoke to her about Jane's book for about three minutes. Dona?
Dona: And I stopped them. I said, "You know what, this already seems like an article you need to write and not a transcript piece." They had the whole thing. It seemed silly for me to use it for a Book Talk.
Jim: TV, Mike, you're writing about an AMAZON show now, "THE BOYS."
Mike: I really like the show, I like it a lot. I like season two even better than season one. I miss Elisabeth Shue, but otherwise season two is a lot stronger. And, Stan and I have talked, we like the show better as a weekly release.
Stan: Exactly. I prefer a new episode each Friday. For one thing, it gives me something to look forward to. And, in the midst of a pandemic, that's no minor thing.
Marcia: I felt that way when BLINDSPOT was airing its last season this summer on Thursday nights. There's not been a lot of new content on TV.
Ann: I'd include BLINDSPOT, ABC's UNITED WE FALL sitcom, MARVEL'S AGENTS OF SHIELD, AT HOME WITH AMY SEDARIS and THE ALIENIST and that's it. It would have been nice to have had TV as a distraction. But that didn't really happen. And I'm with C.I., table reads are not entertainment.
Jim: Agreed. Isaiah, you're going to do a comic that you've talked about.
Isaiah: I was holding off on the whole Nancy Pelosi maskless hair scandal because I thought she was working on a stimulus. But it's been a few weeks now so I'll probably draw that Sunday night or Monday morning and it'll go up Monday night. No, I wasn't trying to give her a pass but I did think there were other things to focus on. Now, it's obvious that there were not other things to focus on.
Jim: Anybody else relate?
Rebecca: It's always making choices when you blog. Sometimes you choose a topic and look like you were ahead of the game, sometimes you don't. You never know.
Betty: True. And I did only one "Science post" last week because there were topics that I felt other people wouldn't grab. I'm glad I grabbed those topics but, looking back, I do wish that I had done at least one more science post.
Jim: Climate change? Betty covers it, Rebecca covers it -- both of them cover it regularly. Do we have any hope in the current election?
Ann: Only if you're voting Howie Hawkins.
Jess: I agree with Ann. Ann and I are Greens, we both have parents who are Greens and we were raised Green. While Joe Biden is selling fracking, Howie is opposed to it and has a Green New Deal. If you care about the climate, you're voting for Howie.
Jim: Kat, where's the Alicia Keys review?
Kat: I knew you were going to put me on the spot. I knew it. I was going to do it a weekend ago but the the RBG news left me too depressed to write it. Then I was going to do it this weekend but I was just so tired and also just in a Joni Mitchell mood. She's all I listened to this week. Her entire collection except for her first album. CLOUDS through SHINE was my weekend. Maybe next weekend.
Jim: Okay. Cedric and Wally, you posted "Sometimes a crook marries a crook" and "THIS JUST IN! DIFI'S CROOKED HUSBAND!" on Friday. The college admissions schedule now includes Board of Regents Richard Blum who violated the rules. Blum is the husband of Senator Dianne Feinstein.
Cedric: He's a crook. It's that simple. The rules he broke -- he admits he broke them but insists he did nothing wrong -- have been in place the entire 18 years he's been a regent. If Lori Loughlin has to face jail time, then Richard Blum needs to be held accountable.
Wally: Here's PEOPLE magazine on the scandal -- PEOPLE magazine:
California Sen. Dianne Feinstein's husband Richard Blum was named by the state auditors office for playing a "particularly problematic" role in the college admissions scandal, which has brought charges against celebrities, business leaders, college coaches, and wealthy parents alike.
The report by California State Auditor Elaine M. Howle released this week cites a university Board of Regents member, who the Associated Press confirmed was, in fact, Blum.
According to the state audit, Blum, 85, was among the university officials who played a role in helping students get accepted into the University of California school system. The audit report also claims students were “inappropriately admitted" based on personal connections while more qualified students had applications rejected.
In one instance described in the state audit, Blum sent an "inappropriate letter of support" to UC Berkeley's chancellor, advocating for one student on the university's applicant waiting list, according to the audit, which reported that the student had a 26-percent chance of being accepted.
Cedric: Dianne's a disgrace.
Jim: She really is. Okay, this was a quick roundtable and it's a rush transcript. Thank you to Ava and C.I. for taking notes.
