Wednesday, December 06, 2017

Truest statement of the week

As much as the recent partisan passage of the tax bill has been reviled, there was a recent defense budget that passed where, in a bi-partisan effort, the Senate gave Trump 60 billion more than he even asked for to expand and maintain the violent US Empire. Passing 88-8, the Senate was apparently worried that War Profiteers wouldn't have a Merry Christmas unless their corporate welfare was expanded.



-- Cindy Sheehan, "Millionaires, Molesters, and Monsters! Oh, my!" (CINDY SHEEHAN'S SOAPBOX).









A note to our readers

Hey --

It takes a Wednesday, sadly.

I (Jim) knew Ava and C.I. had another article in them.  I'll get to it.


Let's thank all who participated this edition which includes Dallas and the following:



The Third Estate Sunday Review's Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess and Ava,
Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude,
Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man,
C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review,
Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills),
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz),
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
Ruth of Ruth's Report,
Wally of The Daily Jot,
Trina of Trina's Kitchen,
Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ,
Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends,
Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts,
and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub.


And what did we come up with?


Cindy Sheehan gets another truest.
The question everyone needs to be asking regarding Iraq.
Ava and C.I. take on comedy.
And this is the piece I held the edition for.  Blame me.  They were exhausted Monday morning.  There were also doctors visits on Monday and medication changes so Monday was out.  Tuesday, they weren't sure they wanted to and kept saying, "Just publish it already."  But they had a Hillary story and after the reaction to last week's piece, I felt it was important we get it.  (They say next week will be just a standard TV review and nothing more.)  They wrote it this morning.  They're not thrilled with it but I think you will be.

I love General Tso's chicken and never knew where it started.
Yes, she did.
A piece I wrote.
Indeed.
What we listened to while writing.
Important press release from the Green Party.
IAVA press release.
Press release from Senator Tammy Baldwin's office.
Senator Bill Cassidy's office issued this press release.
And Mike and the gang wrote this.



See you next week.


Peace,





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








Editorial: Why?

When you read this Tweet, what's your first thought?

BREAKING: Pentagon announces approximately 5,200 in Iraq, and approximately 2,000 forces in Syria.

Our first thought?

Why?

At what point are we given a reason for this?

The illegal Iraq War was sold on lies.  It's going to hit the 15 year mark in March.

And it's still going.

We were all supposedly so offended when Senator John McCain declared that he was fine with troops being in Iraq for a hundred years.

So how is 15 okay with us?

Are you saying 99 years is the limit?

That's where we say, "Enough!"?

Because this war has no end in sight.

There is no planning for an expected outcome.

There are no efforts to improve the lives of the Iraqi people.

Why does this war still continue?



TV: When it's funny

If Amy Sedaris never did anything else but STRANGERS WITH CANDY, she would have earned her mark in the history of great TV.  It's that achievement that excites you when Amy appears on a TV show, like RAISING HOPE (where they underused her), even though she's not going to be allowed to really go for it and let her comedy genius run wild. She could have easily ended up like Milton Berle or Sid Caesar, a comedic talent that shined brightly once and was fondly remembered for those long ago days for the rest of her career.

a new illst

Instead, TRUTV, of all things, ends up providing her the platform so many other outlets have denied her.  AT HOME WITH AMY SEDARIS is 2017's instant comedy classic.  This weekly half-hour show has done what so many other situation comedies (THE GUEST BOOK, THE SEARCH PARTY, etc.)  have failed to do: Yes, it actually makes you laugh.

And not polite little chuckles but belly busting laughs.

Amy's created another comedy classic and another classic character -- one that lives up to all the laughs Jerri provided on SWC.

This time around, the character is named Amy Sedaris.  She doesn't appear to be as well traveled as Jeri was.  But who knows what pass may yet surface for 'Amy Sedaris.'

For now, the character is a host of a TV show for home makers and dispenses tips on hosting parties, cooking and crafts.

Needing to dig a "doodoo ditch" for that impromptu outdoor party?  Well a coconut can be broken in half, Amy and her guest explain.  And for a handle?  How about using the handle off a spade?

And if you're wondering, "Why not use the spade in the first place?"

Well your logic won't stop the runaway comedy train.

'Amy' is surrounded with friends like Ruth "the lady who lives in the woods" (Heather Lawless).  She may live in the woods, but she also gets lost easily and is confused when 'Amy' points out Ruth's home.   It doesn't look like that from the inside, Ruth explains.

(Amy Sedaris fans who do not get TRUTV should click here for show clips they can stream and here for two episodes that you can stream without 'unlocking' via your cable or satellite provider.)

It's very funny and the only thing even remotely like this before would be Carol Leifer's LEIFER MADNESS which aired on VH1 in 1989 and had friends dropping by (Leslie Lawson, one of the world's first real supermodel Twiggy) mixed with videos (that episode it was Carly Simon's "Coming Around Again" -- picked by Carly fan Lawson who named her daughter after Carly Simon).

Leifer brought actual comedy to VH1 and deserves praise for it.

Amy Sedaris is going even further and TRUTV should realize how lucky they are to have her.

Comedy isn't easy.

A point Eve Peyser makes at VICE.

The alleged comic possesses a whiny voice.  That can be used to comedic effect -- unless it's the only tone someone has to offer and they can't even create a character to fit it.

The character Eve offers is that of an amused intellectual and there hasn't been casting this outlandish since Denise Richards played a nuclear physicist in THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH.

Intellectuals usually have at least one field of expertise.

Eve has none and appears to mistakenly believe that as long as she tosses her nose in the air, we won't catch on to her lack of skills.

She showed up on VICE's little podcast last week to offer very little.

Jill Stein, she insisted, was a nutcase.

Yes, about half-way through, she allowed that Jill was a medical doctor.

But the woman is a nutcase, insisted Eve.

Why?

Well, for one thing, she ran for president and she had no chance of winning, according to Eve.

Hmm.

We seem to remember the day before the election -- in fact, many months before the election -- as the press told us Donald Trump had no chance of winning.

He proved them wrong.

No one ever knows who will win a race until the race is over.

Before that moment, everything is just a prediction and predictions are often wrong.

Jill had no impact, Eve wanted to insist.

Then Eve took to talking about healthcare being a human right and how Bernie Sanders really registered with that.

Really?

Isn't that the issue that Jill helped popularize?  Both in 2016 and 2012?  And didn't the 2008 Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney (as well as her running mate Rosa Clemente) also popularize that?  And, in fact, can't we go back to Ralph Nader's 2000 presidential run?

Yes, to all of that.

We don't believe you do a safe-state run.  You either run or you don't.  If you do a safe state run -- or give your delegates up in Iowa's Democratic Party caucus -- don't whine to us that you didn't get invited to the debates because you're not running a real campaign.

That said, we are fully aware that many people also run to raise issues, to introduce concepts into the national discussion.

Somehow that reality has never reached Eve Peyser.

In Eve's world only the duopoly can run for president.

It's a tiny little world and possibly she's preaching to it for applause and cheers -- anything but laughs because her 'jokes' contain neither insight nor humor.

We started thinking about that Peyser 'logic' and how it could be applied.

For example, no one listens to VICE's podcast -- maybe 15 people.  (We heard about it from one of the 15.)

So by Eve's 'logic' why is she even doing VICE?

She's not going to get an Emmy for it.

Nor is it going to be any kind of stepping stone.

So why is she wasting her time?

And does she realize how pathetic she is?

And then it hit us: She is funny!

The self-involved, whiny, Valley Girl speak dead-ender getting no where in life?

Sure it sounds a lot like who Eve actually is but truth is at the heart of the best comedy which is why the more pathetic Eve gets, the harder we laugh.









Hillary Doormat Clinton and her lies (Ava and C.I.)

Tina Brown and Lena Dunham both warned Hillary Clinton aides about taking money and help from Harvey Weinstein. Dunham's warning in '16: “I just want you to let you know that Harvey’s a rapist and this is going to come out at some point."







As THE NEW YORK TIMES revealed yesterday, both Tina Brown (as early as 2008) and Lena Dunham (2016) warned Hillary about predator Harvey Weinstein.


And Hillary?

Did nothing.

Kept cozy with him, let him host fundraisers and took his donations.

Our 'feminist' Hillary, did nothing.

Not only did she not cut her ties to him, she also didn't refer him to any law agencies.

As a member of the Senate in 2008 (when Tina Brown's warning first came), she was required to follow up.  Her oath of office required her to follow up with law agencies.

But she didn't.

The world found out Harvey assaulted women and harassed them and, yes, raped them in 2017.

But Hillary knew already.  Senator Hillary Clinton knew while she was in the Senate.

She was warned.

She knew and did nothing.

Worse, she stayed tight with him.

But isn't that her pattern?

Bill Clinton cheats on her repeatedly and she stays with Bill.

Women come forward saying Bill harassed them (and Juanita Broaddrick states Bill raped her) and Hillary stays with him, attacks the women, but stays with him.

She tried to distract Monica Lewinsky the first time she publicly spoke of her, remember that.

And she lied then, remember that?

She said she'd learned of Monica from Bill on January 21st despite the fact that it had already been discussed January 18th on ABC's THIS WEEK (as well as elsewhere).

Remember what else she said in that interview?

Last week, in "The media works overtime not to believe the surviv...," we noted how Hillary's great, great friend Philippe Reines was attacking Senator Kirsten Gillibrand for the senator stating that Bill Clinton should have resigned over his affair with Monica Lewinsky (that's not exactly what she stated, we covered it last week, read the piece).

That struck us as strange, that attack.  Did Philippe also plan on attacking Hillary?

Because Hillary came closer to what Philippe accused Kirsten of doing.

From that infamous interview:



LAUER: Let me take you and your husband out of this for a second. Bill and Hillary Clinton aren’t involved in this story. If an American president had an adulterous liaison in the White House and lied to cover it up, should the American people ask for his resignation?

CLINTON: Well, they should certainly be concerned about it.

LAUER: Should they ask for his resignation?

CLINTON: Well, I think that—if all that were proven true, I think that would be a very serious offense. That is not going to be proven true.


But it was proven true, this "serious offense" (Hillary's words).


Has anyone ever followed up on that with her?

How when she was part of the lie that no affair took place, she agreed it was "a very serious offense" if true?  Did she still feel that way after the truth was exposed?

If not, why not?

It's worth noting, as we did last week, that Hillary's great friend Philippe is accused of harassment of women while working at the State Department under Hillary.


Strange the men that surround our 'feminist' Hillary, isn't it?

Certainly would appear she has a type.


Last week, she Tweeted "Every day I believe more in karma" in reference to NBC firing Matt Lauer for harassment.

Karma?

So she believes he got what was coming to him?

Feels like another lie.

If we don't like someone, and we don't like Matt Lauer, we don't do our part to promote their careers.

So if Hillary didn't want to help Matt, explain September 13th to us.

That's when she sat down for the live interview with Matt Lauer.

Now, yes, she could have demanded Savannah Guthrie interview her.

But we're not talking about that.

She gave Matt the first live interview.

Hillary Doormat gave it to Matt.  Could have given it to Rachel Maddow or Joy Reid or any number of people at GOOD MORNING AMERICA.

But she went with Matt.

Mind you, GOOD MORNING AMERICA was the number one network morning show in September.  But she didn't go for the biggest audience, she gave her first live interview to NBC's TODAY.  The second highest rated show.  And she gave it to Matt Lauer.

Hillary may talk about karma today but in October she was helping Matt's career.

Our great feminist?

More like our well traveled doormat.

Those e-mails?

She caused the problem.

She caused it originally by setting up her home brew server, by using non-government e-mail accounts, by sending confidential information in those e-mails.

She became the first presidential candidate to be under federal investigation while running for president.

But she made it worse.

Huma Abaden.

Why did Hillary keep her on the campaign?

The reason the FBI announcement of re-opening the investigation right before the election took place was because of Huma's husband.  Anthony Look At My Weiner -- who had some of Hillary and Huma's e-mails on his computer (which the police seized because Weiner's a pervert).

That would be Huma's husband who is currently behind bars in a federal prison in Ayer, Massachusetts.

That would be her husband who is a registered pedophile.

How do you let that happen?

How do you keep someone on your campaign -- while insisting you have the judgment and skills to be president -- who is married to a child molester?

Hillary Doormat Clinton didn't need to insist Huma divorce Weiner (Huma filed for divorce finally in May of 2017), she did need to kick the staffer off her campaign.

Weiner had already been involved in one scandal after another -- one led to his 2011 resignation from Congress; his 2013 mayoral run was destroyed as three more women stepped forward.

All of that was enough to make sure Huma wasn't part of the campaign.

But if she couldn't do it then, she should have done it in August of 2016 -- months before the election as Weiner was involved in yet another scandal.

To be president?

You have to be able to make hard choices.

The inability to remove Huma from her campaign despite Weiner's notorious and repugnant history (which led to his 2011 Congressional resignation) and his notorious and repugnant present (the August 2016 exposure) demonstrated Hillary didn't have what it takes.


It also nailed another hard doubt into her claim of being a feminist -- let alone a champion of women and children.

She wasn't championing the women victimized by Anthony Weiner.  And she wasn't championing the poor underage girl either.




From The TESR Test Kitchen

general tsos chicken


A product we love is Kahiki's General Tso's Chicken Bowl & roll.

The frozen dinner is tasty.

But that's not why we're noting it now.

You can learn a lot in the kitchen.

Even from the cover of a frozen dinner.  Not only do you have carb (87g) and other nutritional information, you also have some historical background.

From the back of the box:

This famous dish was created in 1952 and named after General Zuo Zongtant, a Chinese military leader in the late 1800's.  The creator of this popular dish, Peng Chang-kuei, died in 2016 at the age of 98!  That's a long, delicious life of eating General Tso's.  Coincidence?  WE THINK NOT.

Not being THE VIEW, we won't go with just one published claim.

From Joshua D. Bateman (TIME MAGAZINE):

During the height of the Korean War in the early 1950s, Peng catered a three-day banquet for General Douglas MacArthur and his troops in Taiwan. It was an important event and Peng needed to alter the menu daily, so he experimented and created General Tso’s chicken — named after a Hunanese general whose name is also rendered as Zuo Zongtang. He lived from 1812 to 1885, quashed the Taiping Rebellion, and made contributions to agriculture, education and science.
Peng brought the recipe with him when, uneasy at Taiwan’s ongoing tensions with mainland China, he emigrated to New York City in 1973. He opened a restaurant on 44th Street, between Second and Third Avenues. Owing to the restaurant’s proximity to the U.N. headquarters, Taiwanese diplomats often hosted events there.



In the AP's Peng Chang-kuei obituary, they note:

Americans quickly took to the deep-fried chunks of floured chicken, smothered in sweetness that usually includes soy sauce, sugar, ginger and other spices.
The story of the delicacy is told in a 2014 documentary called "The Search for General Tso," which traces the roots of Chinese food in America through the iconic dish.


And Keoni Everington (TAWAIN NEWS) explains:


According to an interview with the China Times, Peng says that his most famous dish was created in 1952 during a four-day visit by U.S. Seventh Fleet commander Admiral Arthur W. Radford. After three days, he had served the guests most of his repertoire of dishes, so to try and mix things up a bit, he decided to chop some chicken into big chunks, fry it to a golden hue and then added a different combination of sauce and seasoning to create a new dish.
The admiral was so impressed with the dish that he asked Peng what it was called, he thought quickly on his feet and said "General Tso's Chicken" (左宗棠雞).
Peng chose the name to honor General Tso, a famous military leader from Hunan who helped put down the Taiping Rebellion as well as other rebellions in the 1800s during the Qing Dynasty. He was well respected not only for his successes on the battlefield, but also for his contributions to Chinese agricultural science and education.


For those enjoying Kahiki's frozen dinner or Chinese buffets this month and throughout the year, that's the story of General Tso's chicken.



Hillary knew

Remember when it took Hillary Clinton five days to comment on Harvey Weinstein's exposure as a predator by THE NEW YORK TIMES -- five days to comment on her friend and donor Harvey Weinstein?





She and Harvey were tight.  In fact, she looks a little like Senator Groper Franken in the photo below.




  1. Hillary Clinton—the only woman Harvey Weinstein pushed away.





  1. Hillary Clinton’s Harvey Weinstein problem detailed in new report



Five days it took the self-proclaimed feminist to speak out.

Five days.


That NEW YORK TIMES article took five days for a comment from Hillary.

It's one day and counting since the latest NEW YORK TIMES piece on Weinstein -- the one that implicates Hillary:

Tina Brown and Lena Dunham both warned Hillary Clinton aides about taking money and help from Harvey Weinstein. Dunham's warning in '16: “I just want you to let you know that Harvey’s a rapist and this is going to come out at some point."





Tina Brown warned in 2008.  Lena Dunham in 2016.

Yet Hillary continued to hob knob with Harvey.  And to take his money.

And when he was exposed as a rapist and more, she has no comment.

For five days she stays silent.


Hmm.