Monday, October 29, 2018
We liked you so much better before Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift's telling people to vote.
We used to like her so much better.
Sure she's probably just a hit maker and not a real artist but before her conforming to the herd mentality, we could pretend she was focused on her music, on her art.
"New Year's Day" gave us hope.
That's gone now.
The biggest group of adults in the US?
Non-voters as of 2016.
Wouldn't it be great if an artist or two could rise above?
Could be something more than a "whatever the crowd says" cow, slowly walking behind everyone else?
Or even better, someone with the guts to see the corruption in both major political parties and call it out?
Instead, we get a lot of dumb people telling us how to vote.
How to vote? Are you kidding us?
Did you notice that lately whenever people get together to demand their freedom there are new symbols of repression flying overhead, the helicopter, the symbol of 20th century repression. We are right now, at this moment in history, locked in a struggle for survival against a monster which has been created and which we are perpetuating if we allow it to exist; and that monster is the American society. Put that on television, you'll be arrested for free speech! If you strip away the facade and the false sense of freedom and social justice and comfort that lulls the White middle class into thinking they're safe, you can see the system for what it is: racist, oppressive, totalitarian and monstrous. And the only way that the system is going to change, particularly the courtroom system, is if we the people throw our weight entirely against it. We must denounce the unjust laws, we must denounce the unjust justice, and we must bring the system to a halt until it is again working for the people to protect the people. Rigged criminal trials for the purpose of wiping out anybody that the authorities don't want around, for the purpose of repressing political ideas and organizations, by eterminating the leaders and by intimidation, is nothing new in this country. If we are silent this time, we are the enemy and eventually, we are the victims.
That's Jane Fonda in 1970.
Jean Seberg was destroyed by the CIA for speaking out. Is that why Fonda now offers us the ridiculous choice of voting?
She once saw the system as it was and spoke out against it. Does she really think it ever changed?
Taylor, we liked you so much better when you offered no advice on how people should conduct their lives.
We used to like her so much better.
Sure she's probably just a hit maker and not a real artist but before her conforming to the herd mentality, we could pretend she was focused on her music, on her art.
"New Year's Day" gave us hope.
That's gone now.
The biggest group of adults in the US?
Non-voters as of 2016.
Wouldn't it be great if an artist or two could rise above?
Could be something more than a "whatever the crowd says" cow, slowly walking behind everyone else?
Or even better, someone with the guts to see the corruption in both major political parties and call it out?
Instead, we get a lot of dumb people telling us how to vote.
How to vote? Are you kidding us?
Did you notice that lately whenever people get together to demand their freedom there are new symbols of repression flying overhead, the helicopter, the symbol of 20th century repression. We are right now, at this moment in history, locked in a struggle for survival against a monster which has been created and which we are perpetuating if we allow it to exist; and that monster is the American society. Put that on television, you'll be arrested for free speech! If you strip away the facade and the false sense of freedom and social justice and comfort that lulls the White middle class into thinking they're safe, you can see the system for what it is: racist, oppressive, totalitarian and monstrous. And the only way that the system is going to change, particularly the courtroom system, is if we the people throw our weight entirely against it. We must denounce the unjust laws, we must denounce the unjust justice, and we must bring the system to a halt until it is again working for the people to protect the people. Rigged criminal trials for the purpose of wiping out anybody that the authorities don't want around, for the purpose of repressing political ideas and organizations, by eterminating the leaders and by intimidation, is nothing new in this country. If we are silent this time, we are the enemy and eventually, we are the victims.
That's Jane Fonda in 1970.
Jean Seberg was destroyed by the CIA for speaking out. Is that why Fonda now offers us the ridiculous choice of voting?
She once saw the system as it was and spoke out against it. Does she really think it ever changed?
Taylor, we liked you so much better when you offered no advice on how people should conduct their lives.
It was Rhoda's wedding (Ava and C.I.)
This is a repost of a piece Ava and C.I. did for THE COMMON ILLS on October 17, 2018.
It was Rhoda's wedding (Ava and C.I.)
Heaven help us. Channing Dungey is desperate and on the ropes but she's
still got a few whores who will lie for her. (EW, what gift did your writer get because three ABC execs tell us there was gifting and kudos
involved in the last two write ups.)
THE CONNERS is dead.
As it should be. (Marcy Carsey was right.)
Channing's lies are many but the two biggest one she pimps are (1) the show is a hit and (b) this is a new show.
Let's deal with (b) first. MODERN FAMILY, to pump its ailing ratings, is doing a death on the show shortly. When that character dies, MODERN FAMILY will not be a new show. Channing's a liar trying to save her own ass.
Why? THE CONNERS debuted last night and the audience? Half what it was for the debut of ROSEANNE last season.
Half the audience is gone. And she's trying to spin this as good. It's ABC highest rated sitcom!
It's a show that lost half the audience, that's what it is. And stockholders (including us) are not pleased. We're not pleased at all with Channing's inability to program effectively. It's not just THE CONNERS, she is failing big time and everyone under her wants her fired. She's destroying the network.
The problem, the really big one, for Channing right now?
That's the highest rated THE CONNERS are going to get (as we noted earlier this week in "TV: Roseanne didn't kill ROSEANNE, ABC did").
MODERN FAMILY is killing off a character as a ratings stunt.
THE CONNERS episode explaining where Roseanne Conner is now? That was what aired last night.
That was the stunt episode.
It was episode eight of RHODA, the episode where Mary Tyler Moore and others from THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW (Cloris Leachman, Ed Asner, Gavin MacLeod and Georgia Engel) show up because . . . Rhoda (Valerie Harper) is getting married ("Rhoda's Wedding," written by James L. Brooks, Allan Burns, David Davis, Lorenzo Music, David Lloyd, Normal Barasch and Carroll More).
That's all it was, Rhoda's wedding. And now that's over. The curiosity factor only works once.
THE CONNERS now, like every other sitcom on ABC currently, will dip each episode. If it only loses two million viewers between the first episode and episode ten, it will be like the other ABC sitcoms who start out each season with a stronger debut than everything that follows.
It's over. Channing killed the number one show on TV. That's on her. She needs to answer for it. She also needs to answer for refusing to protect the spin-off by telling Sara Gilbert to STFU. Sara's comments fueled the anger more than anything else. And it doesn't help that Sara herself could have been fired. ABC wanted her fired throughout the run of the original series. They thought she came off "dykey" and that she had a lesbian vibe. Roseanne Barr refused to replace Sara. She stood by Sara. The same, of course, can't be said of Sara. And her attempt in the last two weeks to erase the remarks she made and pretend only made her look like even bigger jerk.
No man would have been fired for what Roseanne did. No man would have. It's a sign of how little value women have that the star of the number one program on TV gets fired.
And Roseanne was told, "Leave it alone, we're handling it." No. They were firing her. There's a whole back story that people don't even know.
Equally true, Channing has a very trashy life. ABC execs keep leaking to us on that, they even provided us pictures. Well let others cover that, though. Our point is ABC sucks and that's because Channing can't program a network. There are no hits for ABC and that falls on Channing.
She lost Shonda Rhimes. That falls on Channing.
Shonda Rhimes, who's provided more content for ABC than anyone. She's now at NETFLIX. How do you lose Shonda Rhimes? (By not treating her with respect and by not paying what she's worth.)
Channing is an idiot and she needs to be fired. Immediately, she needs to be fired. ABC needs someone new as president who will look at the schedule and (a) realize a lot of dead weight needs to be cancelled immediately and (b) new programs need to be airing no later than March, new shows because ABC's current line up is crap.
-- Ava and C.I.
P.S. To be clear, those photos we have of Channing? We're not publishing them online. But we are sharing them within the industry so everyone can know just how trashy that woman is. We're sharing them and we're all laughing together at Channing.
THE CONNERS is dead.
As it should be. (Marcy Carsey was right.)
Channing's lies are many but the two biggest one she pimps are (1) the show is a hit and (b) this is a new show.
Let's deal with (b) first. MODERN FAMILY, to pump its ailing ratings, is doing a death on the show shortly. When that character dies, MODERN FAMILY will not be a new show. Channing's a liar trying to save her own ass.
Why? THE CONNERS debuted last night and the audience? Half what it was for the debut of ROSEANNE last season.
Half the audience is gone. And she's trying to spin this as good. It's ABC highest rated sitcom!
It's a show that lost half the audience, that's what it is. And stockholders (including us) are not pleased. We're not pleased at all with Channing's inability to program effectively. It's not just THE CONNERS, she is failing big time and everyone under her wants her fired. She's destroying the network.
The problem, the really big one, for Channing right now?
That's the highest rated THE CONNERS are going to get (as we noted earlier this week in "TV: Roseanne didn't kill ROSEANNE, ABC did").
MODERN FAMILY is killing off a character as a ratings stunt.
THE CONNERS episode explaining where Roseanne Conner is now? That was what aired last night.
That was the stunt episode.
It was episode eight of RHODA, the episode where Mary Tyler Moore and others from THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW (Cloris Leachman, Ed Asner, Gavin MacLeod and Georgia Engel) show up because . . . Rhoda (Valerie Harper) is getting married ("Rhoda's Wedding," written by James L. Brooks, Allan Burns, David Davis, Lorenzo Music, David Lloyd, Normal Barasch and Carroll More).
That's all it was, Rhoda's wedding. And now that's over. The curiosity factor only works once.
THE CONNERS now, like every other sitcom on ABC currently, will dip each episode. If it only loses two million viewers between the first episode and episode ten, it will be like the other ABC sitcoms who start out each season with a stronger debut than everything that follows.
It's over. Channing killed the number one show on TV. That's on her. She needs to answer for it. She also needs to answer for refusing to protect the spin-off by telling Sara Gilbert to STFU. Sara's comments fueled the anger more than anything else. And it doesn't help that Sara herself could have been fired. ABC wanted her fired throughout the run of the original series. They thought she came off "dykey" and that she had a lesbian vibe. Roseanne Barr refused to replace Sara. She stood by Sara. The same, of course, can't be said of Sara. And her attempt in the last two weeks to erase the remarks she made and pretend only made her look like even bigger jerk.
No man would have been fired for what Roseanne did. No man would have. It's a sign of how little value women have that the star of the number one program on TV gets fired.
And Roseanne was told, "Leave it alone, we're handling it." No. They were firing her. There's a whole back story that people don't even know.
Equally true, Channing has a very trashy life. ABC execs keep leaking to us on that, they even provided us pictures. Well let others cover that, though. Our point is ABC sucks and that's because Channing can't program a network. There are no hits for ABC and that falls on Channing.
She lost Shonda Rhimes. That falls on Channing.
Shonda Rhimes, who's provided more content for ABC than anyone. She's now at NETFLIX. How do you lose Shonda Rhimes? (By not treating her with respect and by not paying what she's worth.)
Channing is an idiot and she needs to be fired. Immediately, she needs to be fired. ABC needs someone new as president who will look at the schedule and (a) realize a lot of dead weight needs to be cancelled immediately and (b) new programs need to be airing no later than March, new shows because ABC's current line up is crap.
-- Ava and C.I.
P.S. To be clear, those photos we have of Channing? We're not publishing them online. But we are sharing them within the industry so everyone can know just how trashy that woman is. We're sharing them and we're all laughing together at Channing.
This edition's playlist
1) Cat Powers' WANDERER.
2) Cher's DANCING QUEEN.
3) Cat Powers' THE GREATEST.
4) Alicia Keys' HERE.
5) Sam Smith's THE THRILL OF IT ALL.
6) The Beatles' SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND.
7) John Mellencamp's SCARECROW.
8) Sting and Shaggy's 44/876.
9) Janet Jackson's UNBREAKABLE.
10) The Cowboy Junkies' ALL THAT RECKONING.
Highlights
This piece is written by Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude, Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix, Kat of Kat's Korner, Betty of Thomas Friedman is a Great Man, Mike of Mikey Likes It!, Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz, Ruth of Ruth's Report, Marcia of SICKOFITRADLZ, Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends, Ann of Ann's Mega Dub, Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts and Wally of The Daily Jot. Unless otherwise noted, we picked all highlights.
"Iraq snapshot" -- most selected highlight by readers of this site.
"oh poor hillary! poor barack!." "Amen," and "I'm with Rebecca on this" -- Rebecca, Ann and Ruth offer perspective.
"Alyssa Milano remains stupid" and "THIS JUST IN! ALYSSA MILANO THINKS WOMEN HAVE BALLS!" -- Cedric and Wally continue to chart Alyssa Milano's stupidity.
"Rice, foods that help if you have Type II Diabetes...," "Butter Roasted Chicken with Roasted Vegetables in the Kitchen," "Sheet-Pan Orange-Apricot Drumsticks in the Kitchen" and "Magic Potion Punch" -- recipes from Ann, Trina and Kat.
"Hillary Responds To Rumors" -- Isaiah dips into the archives.
"THE CONNERS flops even lower," "American Horror Story," "MODERN FAMILY and the Afghanistan War -- two things that need to end," "MODERN FAMILY spoiler," "That idiot Channing Dungey," "THE CONNERS flops more and THE GIFTED has lost its focus," "AMAZON PRIME, FILM STRUCK, THE GIFTED and BLINDSPOT," "palestinians, american horror story, etc," "dynasty" and "NYPD BLUE, HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER and more"
"That awful media," "Amy Goodman the fake ass" and "Amy Goodman is not our friend" -- media criticism from Betty and Ann.
"I NEVER LOVED A MAN THE WAY I LOVE YOU: ARETHA FRANKLIN, RESPECT, AND THE MAKING OF A SOUL MUSIC MASTERPIECE" and "Books" -- Elaine and Betty on books.
"Let's fix our own yards instead of trampling across the yards of others" -- some good advice from Elaine.
"Shuhada' Davitt. formerly Sinead O'Connor,." "Hejira," "Cat Power, Roberta Flack and Tracy Chapman" and "Joni Mitchell" -- music coverage from Kat and Betty.
"Michael Avenatti implodes" -- Ruth calls time of death.
"Iraq snapshot" -- most selected highlight by readers of this site.
"oh poor hillary! poor barack!." "Amen," and "I'm with Rebecca on this" -- Rebecca, Ann and Ruth offer perspective.
"Alyssa Milano remains stupid" and "THIS JUST IN! ALYSSA MILANO THINKS WOMEN HAVE BALLS!" -- Cedric and Wally continue to chart Alyssa Milano's stupidity.
"Rice, foods that help if you have Type II Diabetes...," "Butter Roasted Chicken with Roasted Vegetables in the Kitchen," "Sheet-Pan Orange-Apricot Drumsticks in the Kitchen" and "Magic Potion Punch" -- recipes from Ann, Trina and Kat.
"Hillary Responds To Rumors" -- Isaiah dips into the archives.
"THE CONNERS flops even lower," "American Horror Story," "MODERN FAMILY and the Afghanistan War -- two things that need to end," "MODERN FAMILY spoiler," "That idiot Channing Dungey," "THE CONNERS flops more and THE GIFTED has lost its focus," "AMAZON PRIME, FILM STRUCK, THE GIFTED and BLINDSPOT," "palestinians, american horror story, etc," "dynasty" and "NYPD BLUE, HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER and more"
"That awful media," "Amy Goodman the fake ass" and "Amy Goodman is not our friend" -- media criticism from Betty and Ann.
"I NEVER LOVED A MAN THE WAY I LOVE YOU: ARETHA FRANKLIN, RESPECT, AND THE MAKING OF A SOUL MUSIC MASTERPIECE" and "Books" -- Elaine and Betty on books.
"Let's fix our own yards instead of trampling across the yards of others" -- some good advice from Elaine.
"Shuhada' Davitt. formerly Sinead O'Connor,." "Hejira," "Cat Power, Roberta Flack and Tracy Chapman" and "Joni Mitchell" -- music coverage from Kat and Betty.
"Michael Avenatti implodes" -- Ruth calls time of death.
Monday, October 22, 2018
Truest statement of the week
In 2017, the top one percent of US wage earners received their
highest paychecks ever, according to a report by the Economic Policy
Institute (EPI).
Based on newly released data from the Social Security Administration, the EPI shows that the top one percent of the population saw their paychecks increase by 3.7 percent in 2017—a rate nearly quadruple the bottom 90 percent of the population. The growth was driven by the top 0.1 percent, which includes many CEOs and corporate executives, whose pay increased eight percent and averaged $2,757,000 last year.
The EPI report is only the latest exposure of the gaping inequality between the vast majority of the population and the modern-day aristocracy that rules over them.
The EPI shows that the bottom 90 percent of wage earners increased their pay by 22.2 percent between 1979 and 2017. Today, this bottom 90 percent makes an average of just $36,182 a year, which is eaten up by the cost of housing and the growing burden of education, health care and retirement.
Meanwhile, the top one percent has increased its wages by 157 percent during this same period, a rate seven times faster than the other group. This top segment makes an average of $718,766 a year.
-- Gabriel Black, "Record high income in 2017 for top one percent of wage earners in US" (WSWS).
Based on newly released data from the Social Security Administration, the EPI shows that the top one percent of the population saw their paychecks increase by 3.7 percent in 2017—a rate nearly quadruple the bottom 90 percent of the population. The growth was driven by the top 0.1 percent, which includes many CEOs and corporate executives, whose pay increased eight percent and averaged $2,757,000 last year.
The EPI report is only the latest exposure of the gaping inequality between the vast majority of the population and the modern-day aristocracy that rules over them.
The EPI shows that the bottom 90 percent of wage earners increased their pay by 22.2 percent between 1979 and 2017. Today, this bottom 90 percent makes an average of just $36,182 a year, which is eaten up by the cost of housing and the growing burden of education, health care and retirement.
Meanwhile, the top one percent has increased its wages by 157 percent during this same period, a rate seven times faster than the other group. This top segment makes an average of $718,766 a year.
-- Gabriel Black, "Record high income in 2017 for top one percent of wage earners in US" (WSWS).
Truest statement of the week II
Albury is not the first source to have been burned by poor journalistic practices and source protection methods at The Intercept. Just nine months ago, Reality Leigh Winner, a now 26-year-old federal contractor, was arrested for allegedly leaking a classified NSA document to The Intercept
that was related to an investigation of an alleged Russian military
intelligence hacking operation targeting the U.S. Ever since her initial
arrest, Winner has been held in pre-trial detention and has been denied bail. She faces up to 10 years in prison under the Espionage Act and her trial is set to begin in October of this year.
While The Intercept has long maintained that it was unaware that Winner was the source of the document, FBI documents have shown that negligence helped lead federal investigators straight to Winner.The Intercept’s scanned images of the intelligence report that Winner leaked contained tracking dots – a type of watermark – that, according to Rob Graham of the Errata Security blog, showed “exactly when and where documents, any document, is printed.” These dots make it easy to identify a printer’s serial number as well as the date and time a document was printed. As Graham noted, “Because the NSA logs all printing jobs on its printers, it can use this to match up precisely who printed the document.”
In addition, and perhaps most concerning of all, the FBI warrant also notes that the reporter in question – who is unnamed in the document – contacted a government contractor with whom he had a prior relationship and revealed where the documents had been postmarked from – Winner’s home of Augusta, Georgia – along with Winner’s work location. He also sent unedited images of the documents that contained the tracking dot security markings that allowed the document to be traced to Winner.
-- Whitney Webb, "Bad Track Record Gets Worse as New Whistleblower Outed by The Intercept" (MINT PRESS NEWS).
While The Intercept has long maintained that it was unaware that Winner was the source of the document, FBI documents have shown that negligence helped lead federal investigators straight to Winner.The Intercept’s scanned images of the intelligence report that Winner leaked contained tracking dots – a type of watermark – that, according to Rob Graham of the Errata Security blog, showed “exactly when and where documents, any document, is printed.” These dots make it easy to identify a printer’s serial number as well as the date and time a document was printed. As Graham noted, “Because the NSA logs all printing jobs on its printers, it can use this to match up precisely who printed the document.”
In addition, and perhaps most concerning of all, the FBI warrant also notes that the reporter in question – who is unnamed in the document – contacted a government contractor with whom he had a prior relationship and revealed where the documents had been postmarked from – Winner’s home of Augusta, Georgia – along with Winner’s work location. He also sent unedited images of the documents that contained the tracking dot security markings that allowed the document to be traced to Winner.
-- Whitney Webb, "Bad Track Record Gets Worse as New Whistleblower Outed by The Intercept" (MINT PRESS NEWS).
A note to our readers
Hey --
Early Monday morning except on the west coast (where we are -- where it's still Sunday). And we're done.
Let's thank all who participated this edition which includes Dallas and the following:
And what did we come up with?
Peace,
-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.
Early Monday morning except on the west coast (where we are -- where it's still Sunday). 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?
New truest voice.
And a second new truest voice.
In the end, that's what it it's about and what the DC March on the Pentagon was about.
Ava and C.I. take on ABC's latest bomb.
We doubt it.
Continued tracking of the book coverage in the community.
Our picks.
Remember this?
We don't know but we're not calling what's being described assault.
What we listened to while writing this edition.
Peace,
-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.
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