Rockets hit US embassy in Baghdad amid protests http://dlvr.it/RNpxYl
Monday, January 27, 2020
Truest statement of the week II
The public also needs the truth about the so-called whistleblower.
Real whistleblowers deserve to be treated like heroes. But the man
identified as the whistleblower by Judicial Watch and many media
accounts — Eric Ciaramella — is no hero.
To dignify Ciaramella with the term “whistleblower” misrepresents what he allegedly did. Let’s say he filed what is technically called a whistleblower complaint. He had no firsthand knowledge of Trump’s controversial July 25 phone call or motivations. Every allegation in the complaint begins with “I learned from multiple U.S. officials,” or “multiple officials told me” or “officials with direct knowledge informed me.” Just gossip. He never names any sources. Ciaramella acted as the anti-Trumpers’ frontman. As for courage, there’s not an ounce. He’s cowering from public view.
Compare him to real whistleblowers. Kansas’ top Transportation Safety Administration official, Jay Brainard, blew the whistle this month, warning the TSA is lowering metal detector sensitivity levels to shorten airport lines. He went on TV to warn against sacrificing safety for expedience.
Similarly, Boeing ex-employee Ed Pierson is blowing the whistle against the company for overworking assembly line employees, leading to production errors that could cause 737 Max planes to malfunction or crash.
Real whistleblowers speak from firsthand knowledge and don’t hide their identities. They muster the courage to expose dangers or abuses that would otherwise go unreported.
-- Betsy McCaughey, "Adam Schiff needs to be held accountable" (BOSTON HERALD).
To dignify Ciaramella with the term “whistleblower” misrepresents what he allegedly did. Let’s say he filed what is technically called a whistleblower complaint. He had no firsthand knowledge of Trump’s controversial July 25 phone call or motivations. Every allegation in the complaint begins with “I learned from multiple U.S. officials,” or “multiple officials told me” or “officials with direct knowledge informed me.” Just gossip. He never names any sources. Ciaramella acted as the anti-Trumpers’ frontman. As for courage, there’s not an ounce. He’s cowering from public view.
Compare him to real whistleblowers. Kansas’ top Transportation Safety Administration official, Jay Brainard, blew the whistle this month, warning the TSA is lowering metal detector sensitivity levels to shorten airport lines. He went on TV to warn against sacrificing safety for expedience.
Similarly, Boeing ex-employee Ed Pierson is blowing the whistle against the company for overworking assembly line employees, leading to production errors that could cause 737 Max planes to malfunction or crash.
Real whistleblowers speak from firsthand knowledge and don’t hide their identities. They muster the courage to expose dangers or abuses that would otherwise go unreported.
-- Betsy McCaughey, "Adam Schiff needs to be held accountable" (BOSTON HERALD).
A note to our readers
Hey --
Monday morning.
Let's thank all who participated this edition which includes Dallas and the following:
And what did we come up with? What we're calling the stripped down edition:
We're trying to get the editions up quicker -- as a number of you are requesting -- and as Ava and C.I. are insisting.
Peace,
-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.
Monday morning.
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,
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.
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? What we're calling the stripped down edition:
- Truest statement of the week
- Truest statement of the week II
- Editorial: BBC screws up again
- TV: What develops
- Ty's Corner
- Who the F**K asked you?
- Tweets of the week (international)
- Mustafa Habib reports on Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Si...
- Tweet of the week (domestic)
- This edition's playlist
- Iraq: Protest death toll surges as security forces...
- Highlights
We're trying to get the editions up quicker -- as a number of you are requesting -- and as Ava and C.I. are insisting.
Peace,
-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.
Editorial: BBC screws up again
Why does the BBC lie?
The following Tweets all contain a photo which isn't showing below.
This is the photo.
The photo can be seen at the BBC in the article linked to.
What's the problem?
That photo's not from today's protests. It's not from any protest. It's from a march that took place in Baghdad on Friday.
The protests have been going on for months. Surely, even if they couldn't obtain a photo of today's protests, they could have run one of past protests. The ongoing protests have nothing to do with the march on Friday. The ongoing protesters made the decision -- a week before the march -- that they would not take part in it because their objective was to end corruption in the Iraqi government.
It is an insult to these protesters -- including the over 600 who has been killed -- for the press to confuse them with marchers.
The following Tweets all contain a photo which isn't showing below.
Rockets hit US embassy in Baghdad amid protests - BBC News
This is the photo.
The photo can be seen at the BBC in the article linked to.
What's the problem?
That photo's not from today's protests. It's not from any protest. It's from a march that took place in Baghdad on Friday.
The protests have been going on for months. Surely, even if they couldn't obtain a photo of today's protests, they could have run one of past protests. The ongoing protests have nothing to do with the march on Friday. The ongoing protesters made the decision -- a week before the march -- that they would not take part in it because their objective was to end corruption in the Iraqi government.
It is an insult to these protesters -- including the over 600 who has been killed -- for the press to confuse them with marchers.
TV: What develops
A fetal ultrasound, more commonly referred to as a sonogram, provides an image of a developing fetus. Parents-to-be can find out many things including the gender of the developing fetus. The sonogram is not going to tell them the education level the eventual child will attain, it does not tell them the success in life that the child may have, etc. Pilots are a lot like fetuses, you don't know what they'll become as they grow.
OUTMATCHED debuted on FOX last week. The sitcom stars Jason Biggs and Maggie Lawson as a married couple with four kids -- three of which are geniuses. The fourth?
The fourth is not a genius. Why does that translate, as a writer on the show told us, to "dumb"?
We have no idea except maybe some members of The Water Cooler Set weren't paying attention when they watched the show. The two oldest as well as the youngest are geniuses. The second youngest? She's not stupid or dumb. The worst might be that she's average but you can argue that she's above average.
What's the worst that you can say about the show? That it's got good bones. If it were a house, that's what you'd say. It's a sitcom with a strong cast and an interesting premise. We're looking at a sonogram. It could live up to -- even surpass -- its potential and become a long running sitcom, an audience favorite. Or it could never develop beyond what it is.
NEWHART? We all remember that as a funny show. It wasn't always funny. The show really only came to life when Julia Duffy showed up as a guest. Making her character Stephanie a regular made NEWHART finally click. Mary Frann was not capable of providing serious laughs. Bob Newhart? Of course he was. But he needed people to work off of. Julia Duffy provided the spark the show needed. Later adding Peter Scolari helped the show as well. We would gladly watch any episode of the show -- provided it was from the second season forward. We especially love the episode where Bob does a sitcom on the show -- he's a single father of twins -- both played by Stephanie -- and Joanna (Mary Frann) plays death -- a character one of the twins asks, "Why so glum, Grim?"
CHEERS? A very funny show. But a show that gets better each episode into the first season, wrapping up that first season as a classic TV show. THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW? Did anyone know where Ted Baxter was headed when they watched the pilot "Love Is All Around"?
No.
Ted Knight played Ted Baxter. He also played Henry Rush on TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT. That is an example of a series that had promise but never lived it up to it. In fact, as each episode progressed, the show actually got worse and worse.
What will be the fate of OUTMATCHED? We don't know. No one does at this point. We hope FOX will give the show time to develop because it does have promise.
Our advice? Spend some more time developing the adult parents. Walton's character works in a casino with Rita (played by Tisha Campbell of MY WIFE AND KIDS and MARTIN fame). There's enough going on in their one scene to argue more time needs to go there. Jason Biggs is playing a contractor. We need to see some of that. The funniest physical bit was when Biggs had to address the two youngest and tossed the youngest son onto the couch with the child then rolling off. We'd argue bits are better for the kids. A lot of the comedic lines they're given are wasted due to pacing. Some may be wasted for other reasons. A line about Salieri ("I will not be a Salieri in my own home"), for example, may just be too fleeting and too obscure to deliver the intended laugh.
The show has a strong cast and a lot of promise.
WILL & GRACE still has promise and it is one of the best shows on TV currently. It was a groundbreaking sitcom when it debuted in the 90s. Even with a changing landscape, those episodes from its original run remain some of the funniest television ever produced. The reboot has been funny as well. It's now in its third season which is also its final season.
Why is it the final season? We already covered this: Debra Messing doesn't play well with others. She's destroyed the harmony of the cast and Megan Mullally has had enough. We learned that last season.
So why cover it again in this space?
Because two weeks ago, NBC felt the need to weigh in.
Why?
Because the ratings are down.
So NBC came along to lie that there was no feud. No problem.
Then why end the show?
More to the point, how stupid does NBC think people are?
If there was no feud, Megan and Debra are both capable of denying it themselves. In fact, Debra's not shy about social media. On Sunday alone, Debra Tweeted 26 times.
There is a feud.
And NBC should be thrilled there's a feud. It takes the attention off the execs who failed. They failed over and over.
WILL & GRACE, even with lower ratings this season, is a hit for NBC. NBC doesn't have a lot of hits. NBC used WILL & GRACE to prop up a bunch of floundering sitcoms that should have been cancelled long ago. We especially include SUPERSTORE on that list of sitcoms. Season five has found the show delivering even less viewers.
The execs should have taken that garbage off. In addition, the original plan was that David Kohan and Max Mutchnik, the team behind WILL & GRACE since the very first episode, would develop another sitcom that would be paired with the rebooted WILL & GRACE.
What happened?
Stick up their asses execs didn't like the studio audience factor of the new show. Viewers have no problem with studio audiences. The Water Cooler Set doesn't like a studio audience. They prefer to live their lonely lives without any laughter. But TV viewers have no problems with studio audiences. In the '00s, when this nonsense started, the biggest sitcoms were the ones with a studio audience (see TWO AND A HALF MEN and EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND, for two examples). The same was true in the '10s when THE BIG BANG THEORY ruled. NBC had a chance for an hour bloc of Kohan and Mutchnik sitcoms and passed.
What the execs went with instead? Failures. There's not one sitcom they've aired other than WILL & GRACE in the last three years that has delivered viewers. They wasted their chance. Now, because of a feud, their only sitcom worth watching is leaving the network.
NBC has a new sitcom that will debut the same night WILL & GRACE airs their final episode, February 6th. That sitcom's cast includes Adam Pally.
Pally was a star on HAPPY ENDINGS which was the only single-cam sitcom that did not rip off Christopher Guest. Christopher owns the mockumentary format after THIS IS SPINAL TAP, WAITING FOR GUFFMAN, BEST IN SHOW, A MIGHTY WIND, FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION and MASCOTS. He owns the genre and, whether its the team behind MODERN FAMILY, PARKS & RECREATION or THE OFFICE, they all owe Christopher Guest.
THE NANNY's Fran Drescher was in Christopher's THIS IS SPINAL TAP. She's also in the new sitcom with Adam Pally. INDEBTED teams her, Adam, Abby Elliott (SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE) and Steven Weber (WINGS). WINGS? Andy Ackerman directed on that show. He's a show runner on INDEBTED and his other production credits include THE ELLEN SHOW, CHEERS and THE NEW ADVENTURES OF OLD CHRISTINE.
INDEBTED should have been paired with WILL & GRACE as soon as NBC started airing this last season of WILL & GRACE. That's another mistake that NBC execs should be answering for. Meanwhile, maybe it's time for THE HISTORY CHANNEL to answer for PROJECT BLUE BOOK?
There was never a need for this so-so show that airs on THE HISTORY CHANNEL and pretends to be 'historical' should have aired in the first place, let alone started season two last week. The only thing that has developed on this show is the unintended homoerotic attraction between Michael Malarkey's Captain Quinn and Aidan Gillen's Dr. Hynek. It's hard to imagine that even in the developmental stage PROJECT BLUE BOOK looked like a potential winner.
OUTMATCHED debuted on FOX last week. The sitcom stars Jason Biggs and Maggie Lawson as a married couple with four kids -- three of which are geniuses. The fourth?
The fourth is not a genius. Why does that translate, as a writer on the show told us, to "dumb"?
We have no idea except maybe some members of The Water Cooler Set weren't paying attention when they watched the show. The two oldest as well as the youngest are geniuses. The second youngest? She's not stupid or dumb. The worst might be that she's average but you can argue that she's above average.
What's the worst that you can say about the show? That it's got good bones. If it were a house, that's what you'd say. It's a sitcom with a strong cast and an interesting premise. We're looking at a sonogram. It could live up to -- even surpass -- its potential and become a long running sitcom, an audience favorite. Or it could never develop beyond what it is.
NEWHART? We all remember that as a funny show. It wasn't always funny. The show really only came to life when Julia Duffy showed up as a guest. Making her character Stephanie a regular made NEWHART finally click. Mary Frann was not capable of providing serious laughs. Bob Newhart? Of course he was. But he needed people to work off of. Julia Duffy provided the spark the show needed. Later adding Peter Scolari helped the show as well. We would gladly watch any episode of the show -- provided it was from the second season forward. We especially love the episode where Bob does a sitcom on the show -- he's a single father of twins -- both played by Stephanie -- and Joanna (Mary Frann) plays death -- a character one of the twins asks, "Why so glum, Grim?"
CHEERS? A very funny show. But a show that gets better each episode into the first season, wrapping up that first season as a classic TV show. THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW? Did anyone know where Ted Baxter was headed when they watched the pilot "Love Is All Around"?
No.
Ted Knight played Ted Baxter. He also played Henry Rush on TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT. That is an example of a series that had promise but never lived it up to it. In fact, as each episode progressed, the show actually got worse and worse.
What will be the fate of OUTMATCHED? We don't know. No one does at this point. We hope FOX will give the show time to develop because it does have promise.
Our advice? Spend some more time developing the adult parents. Walton's character works in a casino with Rita (played by Tisha Campbell of MY WIFE AND KIDS and MARTIN fame). There's enough going on in their one scene to argue more time needs to go there. Jason Biggs is playing a contractor. We need to see some of that. The funniest physical bit was when Biggs had to address the two youngest and tossed the youngest son onto the couch with the child then rolling off. We'd argue bits are better for the kids. A lot of the comedic lines they're given are wasted due to pacing. Some may be wasted for other reasons. A line about Salieri ("I will not be a Salieri in my own home"), for example, may just be too fleeting and too obscure to deliver the intended laugh.
The show has a strong cast and a lot of promise.
WILL & GRACE still has promise and it is one of the best shows on TV currently. It was a groundbreaking sitcom when it debuted in the 90s. Even with a changing landscape, those episodes from its original run remain some of the funniest television ever produced. The reboot has been funny as well. It's now in its third season which is also its final season.
Why is it the final season? We already covered this: Debra Messing doesn't play well with others. She's destroyed the harmony of the cast and Megan Mullally has had enough. We learned that last season.
So why cover it again in this space?
Because two weeks ago, NBC felt the need to weigh in.
Why?
Because the ratings are down.
So NBC came along to lie that there was no feud. No problem.
Then why end the show?
More to the point, how stupid does NBC think people are?
If there was no feud, Megan and Debra are both capable of denying it themselves. In fact, Debra's not shy about social media. On Sunday alone, Debra Tweeted 26 times.
There is a feud.
And NBC should be thrilled there's a feud. It takes the attention off the execs who failed. They failed over and over.
WILL & GRACE, even with lower ratings this season, is a hit for NBC. NBC doesn't have a lot of hits. NBC used WILL & GRACE to prop up a bunch of floundering sitcoms that should have been cancelled long ago. We especially include SUPERSTORE on that list of sitcoms. Season five has found the show delivering even less viewers.
The execs should have taken that garbage off. In addition, the original plan was that David Kohan and Max Mutchnik, the team behind WILL & GRACE since the very first episode, would develop another sitcom that would be paired with the rebooted WILL & GRACE.
What happened?
Stick up their asses execs didn't like the studio audience factor of the new show. Viewers have no problem with studio audiences. The Water Cooler Set doesn't like a studio audience. They prefer to live their lonely lives without any laughter. But TV viewers have no problems with studio audiences. In the '00s, when this nonsense started, the biggest sitcoms were the ones with a studio audience (see TWO AND A HALF MEN and EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND, for two examples). The same was true in the '10s when THE BIG BANG THEORY ruled. NBC had a chance for an hour bloc of Kohan and Mutchnik sitcoms and passed.
What the execs went with instead? Failures. There's not one sitcom they've aired other than WILL & GRACE in the last three years that has delivered viewers. They wasted their chance. Now, because of a feud, their only sitcom worth watching is leaving the network.
NBC has a new sitcom that will debut the same night WILL & GRACE airs their final episode, February 6th. That sitcom's cast includes Adam Pally.
Pally was a star on HAPPY ENDINGS which was the only single-cam sitcom that did not rip off Christopher Guest. Christopher owns the mockumentary format after THIS IS SPINAL TAP, WAITING FOR GUFFMAN, BEST IN SHOW, A MIGHTY WIND, FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION and MASCOTS. He owns the genre and, whether its the team behind MODERN FAMILY, PARKS & RECREATION or THE OFFICE, they all owe Christopher Guest.
THE NANNY's Fran Drescher was in Christopher's THIS IS SPINAL TAP. She's also in the new sitcom with Adam Pally. INDEBTED teams her, Adam, Abby Elliott (SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE) and Steven Weber (WINGS). WINGS? Andy Ackerman directed on that show. He's a show runner on INDEBTED and his other production credits include THE ELLEN SHOW, CHEERS and THE NEW ADVENTURES OF OLD CHRISTINE.
INDEBTED should have been paired with WILL & GRACE as soon as NBC started airing this last season of WILL & GRACE. That's another mistake that NBC execs should be answering for. Meanwhile, maybe it's time for THE HISTORY CHANNEL to answer for PROJECT BLUE BOOK?
There was never a need for this so-so show that airs on THE HISTORY CHANNEL and pretends to be 'historical' should have aired in the first place, let alone started season two last week. The only thing that has developed on this show is the unintended homoerotic attraction between Michael Malarkey's Captain Quinn and Aidan Gillen's Dr. Hynek. It's hard to imagine that even in the developmental stage PROJECT BLUE BOOK looked like a potential winner.
Ty's Corner
Not a royal watcher here. And not overly concerned or interested in the monarchy in England. Also not really interested in Margaret Kimberley -- or any woman her age wearing those cheap, dime-store braids. If you're going to wear fake hair, make it fun hair, not trashy hair that looks cheap.
Keesha e-mailed, however, about Margaret Kimberley, "It's not just that she's useless, it's also that she ignores our needs and issues. As a rule, a princess in England has no impact on my life. However, when the princess is bi-racial and England's well know history of unhidden racism comes into play, this is an issue that applies to me. Those attacking Dianne Abbott, for example, have never felt that they needed to check their racism before publicly attacking her. They've just accepted it as a natural right or something. So Margaret's rude remarks about Meghan Markle are really getting on my nerves. She's a lunatic."
Sad, but true, Margaret Kimberley has become a public disgrace. She now traffics in nutty conspiracy theories and, when they don't pan out, she just moves on like she never Tweeted it.
In other words, no one was killed. A lie.
No contractor was killed, Trashy Maggie told us on January 4th, it was a lie.
Nawres Hamid is the US contractor (born in Iraq) who was killed in the attack. He was not "a lie" despite the cheap and tawdry Tweet of Nutty Maggie. He was 33-years-old, he had a wife and two young children.
Trashy Maggie, Nutty Maggie, Lying Maggie. She really should stop pimping her crazy conspiracy theories. There's no reason to believe her anymore. Her celebration (via reTweet) of someone who killed US troops in Iraq and conducted ethnic cleansing in Iraq goes to how stupid and uninformed a pathetic old woman can get.
She's insane.
- So Iran would shoot down a Ukrainian passenger jet while trying not to start a war? I don’t believe it. This incident must be investigated by a neutral nation. #PS752 #NoWarOnIran
"I don't believe it." Fool, it's true. Grow the hell up and stop worshiping foreign governments just because they oppose the US. You're as knee jerk as you are stupid. And you're really, really stupid.
Those protests in Iran are as phony as $3 bills. I knew something was up when the U.K. ambassador was caught in attendance. This is a long thread. Read it all.
Those protests weren't fake. What Margaret saw was the need to apologize for the Iranian government. What the Iranian people felt was outrage that their government had shot down a civilian airliner. But, again, Margaret identifies with oppressive governments, not the people who live under them.
On the topic of Markle, Maggie makes sport of the woman. She Tweets b.s. and then reTweets more b.s. and more b.s. The last one? A White woman mocking Meghan Markle. That's the way Margaret rolls.
Meghan Ma
Must read; @NYTimesOpinion Black Britons Know Why Meghan Markle Wants Out
Rubin's linking to a column by Afua Hirsch which notes:
With a new prime minister whose track record includes overtly racist statements, some of which would make even Donald Trump blush, a Brexit project linked to native nationalism and a desire to rid Britain of large numbers of immigrants, and an ever thickening loom of imperial nostalgia, many of us are also thinking about moving.
From the very first headline about her being “(almost) straight outta Compton” and having “exotic” DNA, the racist treatment of Meghan has been impossible to ignore. Princess Michael of Kent wore an overtly racist brooch in the duchess’s company. A BBC host compared the couple’s newborn baby to a chimpanzee. Then there was the sublimely ludicrous suggestion that Meghan’s avocado consumption is responsible for mass murder, while her charity cookbook was portrayed as somehow helping terrorists.
Those who claim frequent attacks against the duchess have nothing to do with her race have a hard time explaining these attempts to link her with particularly racialized forms of crime — terrorism and gang activity — as well as the fact that she has been most venomously attacked for acts that attracted praise when other royals did them. Her decision to guest-edit British Vogue, for example, was roundly condemned by large parts of the British media, in stark contrast to Prince Charles’s two-time guest editorship of Country Life magazine, Prince Harry’s of a BBC program and Kate Middleton’s at Huffington Post, all of which were quietly praised at the time.
Her treatment has proved what many of us have always known: No matter how beautiful you are, whom you marry, what palaces you occupy, charities you support, how faithful you are, how much money you accumulate or what good deeds you perform, in this society racism will still follow you.Margaret's not interested in the racism that Meghan faced or the fact that all Black people in the UK have to face this racism. Margaret's just interested in her own stank ass. Which is why she Tweets this garbage.
At first I said we shouldn't be upset about #KobeBryant because we didn't know him. But we have ties with famous people. We have shared memories and experiences with others through them. They become part of our lives, whether we want them to or not.
My condolences.
She can find ties with a rapist. But she feels nothing for the racism Meghan Markle had to endure? Shame on her. As an African-American, I find Margaret Kimberley disgusting.
She needs to find a nursing home quick. Whatever was left of her mind has gone.
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