Monday, February 28, 2022

Truest statement of the week

There is a tendancy on the left that's been exploited by the intelligence community where they exploit people's emotions and they exploit this need to feel good about being on the right and moral side -- which is a good thing: to want to be a good person.  But what happens is, it's not coming from a place of actually wanting to get to the bottom of the situation, to get to the truth.  It's coming from a place of wanting to feel self-righteous about this.  And so what happens is the intelligence community has been exploiting that.

 

-- Fiorella Isabelle on THE CONVO COUCH below.

 

 

Truest statement of the week II

From Hunter Biden’s laptop to influence peddling to financial dealings, the media has presented a fairly unified front dismissing allegations and blacking out coverage. As I previously wrote, the Biden family made an elephant disappear on stage and the media was invested in the trick. The media has largely allowed President Joe Biden to repeat without challenge that that his son did “nothing wrong”  . . .  despite many of us writing for years that what he did was very wrong indeed. Yet, it is becoming increasingly hard to spin out of this scandal as David Weiss, the U.S. attorney for the District of Delaware, continues to call people before a federal grand jury to testify on Hunter Biden.

For over two years, Weiss has been investigating tax and financial issues connected to Hunter Biden’s foreign dealings. Biden has engaged in some of the most open and raw influence peddling schemes in history. That itself is “wrong,” to use his father’s standard, but not necessarily criminal. The Biden family has long been accused of such influence peddling generating millions in windfall payments. Even diplomats complained that his actions during the Obama/Biden Administration were setting back anti-corruption efforts in Ukraine.

The problem is not that Hunter Biden allegedly shook down foreign countries and companies for millions. The problem is that he may not have reported or paid taxes on all of that largess.

Weiss is calling witnesses to testify on Hunter’s lavish lifestyle and spending habits, including a former stripper who Hunter impregnated. Lunden Roberts spent years fighting to get child support, even as Joe Biden was running for president. A court finally forced Hunter to support his child.

Also called was ex-girlfriend, lingerie entrepreneur Zoe Kestan. She testified for five hours on Tuesday, the New York Post reported. Kestan reportedly detailed how Hunter would withdraw thousands of dollars and spend wildly during their relationship.

What is striking about these witnesses is that they are the type of witnesses that poison both grand juries and trial juries against a defendant. Such lavish spending details were used by the Justice Department against figures like Paul Manafort. More importantly, the testimony appears directed at showing that Hunter had far greater income than reported. That is a curious effort if Biden has “come clean” on simple reporting errors for taxes.

 

 

Jonathan Turley, "Word to the Weiss: Why the Delaware U.S. Attorney is Still Calling People Before a Grand Jury on Hunter Biden" (JONATHANTURLEY.ORG).

 

 


A note to our readers

Hey --

Sunday night on the west coast still..


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? 

 

 

Peace.

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Editorial: Wearily, they roll along

US President Joe Biden is now a threat to the world as his actions risk all out world war.  He wants to bring Russians ''to their knees."  What did Russians do?


We'll come back to it.


But look how quickly they all rush to fold and do his bidden.  Less than 24 hours after observers noted that Canada was still allowing Russian flights to land, there is a quick push to end those flights.


Failed drug addict and cheating husband John Mulaney 'hosted' SNL last night because not many other outlets will have him -- his whole act was built around what a great guy and loving husband he was -- you know, back before he cheated his now ex-wife repeatedly?  He wasn't up to an opening monologue so they ended up doing government propaganda in support of war.


That passes for 'activism' and 'informed.'


The reality is that the so-called left in terms of little media and CODESTINK and the others really haven't done s**t since 2008.  Now they don't even know how to stand up if they wanted to and, judging by last Friday's DEMOCRACY NOW broadcast, they don't want to stand up.  

They're all eager to pimp war on Russia.


Why?

It's what the US government wants and has wanted since Barack Obama was in the White House.  This is a long plan coming to fruition and yet the corporate media -- and much of the 'independent' media -- wants to pretend like it started last week.


They're a bunch of liars and they have blood on their hands.


No to war -- it's that simple.


TV: Cringe-worthy TV

Was Springer this bad?  That's what we had to wonder last week as Sabby Sabs showed up to produce cringe-worthy TV.  If you're hoping for the piece where we eviscerate Sabby, this isn't it.


3 JESS


What do you cover?


If you're covering anything, you have to make determinations.  You have to stage your area.  You have to decide what's worth it to you.


For us?


We take a pass on many things.  


On critiquing our friends?  


No.  In fact, we've lost a friend -- and angered many more -- over what we've written here.  If we're covering it, we're covering it.  And there have been mistakes.  Like when we were covering an ABC drama and our friend, the show runner, called to tell us that we'd just outed an actor.  Huh?  We thought X number of actors on the show were out.  It was X-1 -- and some 'fans' think we can't do math!  We knew four were gay and we thought four were out but only three were out.  On that, we did go back in and change it by removing reference to 1 being gay.  Normally, we don't change what goes up here but having already been accused of outing Neil Patrick Harris (really?) and Wentworth Miller (maybe), we weren't in the mood to rack up more charges.


If we're covering you -- and you're a friend -- we're covering you.  And some friends who have asked us to cover their shows have lived to regret it. 


But we draw our lines and pick our fights and determine what we will cover and what we won't cover.


And PAM & TOMMY?


We took a hard pass.  


And we did so for a number of reasons.  First, why is anyone interested in a series about a sex tape?  We have no idea but one reason people would be encouraged to put time and effort into making this series and then airing it would be to discredit Pamela Anderson.  She has been a strong and vocal supporter of Julian Assange.


As the US government brings more pressure to bear on Julian (and The First Amendment), forgive us if we don't see altruism or mere profit as the primary motives for HULU's series.  


Another reason we took a pass?  Pamela doesn't want the series made.  


We knew Aretha Franklin.  Some of her family were very public that they were behind (supported) Jennifer Hudson's film but were opposed to the mini-series Cynthia Erivo made.  We planned to pass on both in terms of reviewing.  Then we ended up seeing RESPECT and needed to review it.  How to make us review your product?  Lie.  Lie and fool people and we'll be outraged and cover it.  Jennifer gave a strong performance in a hideous movie.  It had no real point -- drama and three act structures apparently escaped everyone working on the film.  But what angered us was the stupidity in pimping the lie that AMAZING GRACE was Aretha's best selling album.  It was not.  "Double platinum!!!!!"  That doesn't mean two million copies of AMAZING GRACE were sold.  Two million were not sold.  Up until the 1990s, the 1972 album was only at gold status.  That means half-a-million copies . . . if . . . it's a single disc album.  AMAZING GRACE is a double-disc album and so the 'double platinum' on a double disc album just means it sold a million copies.  Every now and then a multi-disc set will come out and the industry will use it to educate on this fact but few seem to pay attention even then.  WHO'S ZOOMIN' WHO and THE VERY BEST OF ARETHA FRANKLIN VOL. 1 have both sold as much (and probably more) than AMAZING GRACE.  The lie tells the story the filmmakers want -- Aretha back in church!!! Men do love that, don't they, look at the abomination Stephen Spielberg made of THE COLOR PURPLE by doing just that to Shug.  But it's not reality.


And it's not reality that the album was a gospel music album either.  The film RESPECT doesn't clue the audience in on that.  Another lie.  Aretha was a great singer.  People paid for her singing.  Her singing.  Not for tracks she didn't sing on and AMAZING GRACE features many tracks without Aretha.  Another thing, a music experience usually can't recover from spoken word interludes, another problem for AMAZING GRACE.  She's goes on to do the same thing in 1987 with ONE LORD, ONE FAITH, ONE BAPTISM.  Had adult Aretha ever wanted to record an actual gospel music album, it might have sold very well.  But we don't know how it would have sold because she never recorded an album which was nothing but gospel music.


RESPECT piled one lie on after another and still managed to be boring as hell. 


Not long ago, we bumped into one of Aretha's relatives -- not any of the children who objected to season three of GENIUS where Cynthia Ervio played Aretha -- and her positive praise for GENIUS led us to check it out.  It offered actual drama and it presented Aretha as a real person.  We enjoyed it.


But just as we tried to respect the children of Aretha's feelings, we try to respect Pamela's feelings.  Why was the mini-series made?  


We talked before about how it could be used to ha-ha Pamela and to dismiss her statements of support for Julian.  But why on another level?


Meaning, why does this need to be made?  Was there some great outcry for a behind-the-scenes on the sex tape?  


Nope.  It wasn't needed and it wasn't really wanted.  And it is a part of Pamela's personal life.  We're not saying it shouldn't be made.  We're the last to ever say that.  But we are saying that it hurts someone's feeling, it's no work of art (as the ads make clear, as the giggles of the penile prosthetic make clear) and there was no historical point to it.  


So we ignored it and focused on other things that we felt were worthy of praise, or important, or worth noting (to praise or to call out).


This past week, Sabby focused on Nick Brana.


And it was cringe worthy viewing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


At the end of the long interview, Nick went off screen (replacing himself for a moment with an avatar) and (we assume) cried.  


Our hearts went out to him.


Sabby had been asking if rumors meant that the Movement for a People's Party would be better off without him as national chair?


Nick started the political party.  And he tried to answer Sabby's question -- after a great many tough ones had already come before -- but was clearly struggling not to cry.  


It was hard to watch.  We had to put it on pause for a moment.


Sabby -- unlike the five women noted at the end of last week's piece -- actually believes in something beyond the corporate duopoly.  So this topic matters to her immensely.  But as she spoke about state level and members being represented, honestly, we did recall that it was the week before where she had a Green Party member on and was saying that Jesse Ventura should have been the party's presidential nominee.  What is it about YOUTUBE personalities that they keep insisting that someone who would not run for the nomination of a political party should be gifted with it?  How is that democracy?  And having argued that position on a previous show, how did that jibe with some of the questions she was now asking of Nick.


It came off, honestly, like badgering.


Guess what?  Interviews don't have to be soft balls.  Sabby may be playing devil's advocate in either of the two instances we've cited or in only one or in none.


She's allowed to define her style just as much as she's allowed to define her scope.


Equally true, she took the issues at play seriously.  What Mikea was wrongly praised for pretending to do with Joe Biden regarding Tara Reade's charges, Sabby actually did.


Nick was accused of inappropriate behavior.

 

Charges like that need to be taken seriously and praise to Sabby for doing that.


However, with Tara, she came forward.  


In fact, Tara's still coming forward and was on HARD LENS MEDIA last week speaking with Kit Cabello and Daniel Luepker.




She has a funny idea of what constitutes a truth-teller.  In her HLM media appearance, she finally talked about what we've been talking about since April of 2020 -- how Time's Out put a media hit out on her.  And she wants you to know Ryan Grim's a truth teller.  Funny, though, we never heard this from Ryan, now did we?


We noted what was going on.  Ryan knew what we were noting.  A friend spoke to him about it and multiple people contacted him via e-mail and Twitter but he wasn't interested, now was he?


Tara seems like a good person but she doesn't have a clue.  

 

Every time we watch an interview with her, all we hear is Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman in BATMAN RETURNS saying, "You make it so easy, don't you?  Always waiting for some Batman to save you."  


Because that's her and that's, sadly, far too many women who've survived victimization.


She needs Ryan to be a hero so she can feel okay.  It's some crap about playing a damsel in distress.  She should have long ago berated him for so many things -- including failing to follow up on the claims that her position as a legal expert in trials was being challenged. 


We do like Tara, we just wish she wasn't so damn stupid.  That also involves her hero worship of Rose McGowan.  We like Rose.  We do not mistake her for a functioning human being nor do we play into that game.  To not know Rose is hurting is to be willfully blind.


To not know that Tara is damaged is to buy into her lie that she's smart and she knows what's going on and always has.


Tara, just stop pretending.  


Life will a lot easier for you if you stop pretending.


Your notions of politics are still in the same limited range that they were before you came out about Joe Biden assaulting you.  The 'solutions' you offer in interviews are nonsense and the sort of b.s. conventional wisdom that serves no one.   We'd rather you admit you have no answer about something than repeatedly mouthing tired cliches that you attempt to pass off as insight.


You're in pain.  Talk about the pain.  Don't try to pretty it up or to put a band aid on it.  What was done to you has been done to others (women and men) and it will be done to others.  If you really want to be of service, help people by talking about this.  People who speak out get attacked  Acknowledge that and speak to it.  That's so much more important than how you think we can change the world, one vote at a time.  

 

Back to Nick.

 

Sabby compared what's going on there with Tara Reade.  And we understand there are many reasons to make that comparison.  Chief among them?  She's trying to do a job.  Mika wasn't.  Mika acted tough but had no follow ups.

 

Nick was being accused of some bad things.  Sabby felt the need to make clear that she was there to ask questions, real ones.  Hard ones.  

 

But the accuser isn't Tara.

 

Tara came forward.  She stepped out in public.  She was attacked and smeared for it.  And she needs to talk about that -- seriously and in depth so that others know what to expect and what to be prepared to combat.  We're still the only ones who noted that unlike NPR, PBS, THE NEW YORK TIMES, MSNBC, et al, CSPAN actually put the issues regarding Tara charges to a survivor's advocate.  

 

Nick's accuser hasn't come forward.  

 

Unless, the accuser is Jordan Chariton in drag, the accuser remains hidden.

 

Bob Dylan's been accused of assaulting a young girl back in the sixties.  The story makes no sense and we're less inclined to believe it because the woman hides behind a lawyer.  Supposedly, she wants some form of justice.  But apparently wants it without gaining it in public.  We don't believe her.

 

We're not Tara Reade, we don't mouth slogans like 'believe all women.'  Anyone can lie, gender has nothing to do with it.  

 

The woman in question, the one accusing Nick, has elected not to come forward.  She wants to make charges from the darkness, in hiding.  At some point, the charge was rape.  At some point, it was something else.  

 

Sabby wanted receipts and we thought that honestly derailed her interview.


She knew he didn't have them.  He couldn't have them.  Sabby's asking the accused to provide proof of innocence and that's now how our system works.  She was also asking for him to back up this or that statement and he referred to others that she should be speaking to.  He hadn't brought along witnesses.  It was all very frustrating to watch.  


As for her question about whether he should resign?


No.


He shouldn't resign.  If he feels he's innocent -- and he currently is -- then why should he step down?


We encourage every woman and every man who has been assaulted to step forward.  But we do know some who step forward are not telling the truth.


We also know that every one accused has a right to defend themselves.  And should.  Also true, Sabby (again) has the right to do any interview she wants and to do it any way she wants.


So did David Letterman.  When people hear of the moment Cher was on his show for the first time and revealed that she had avoided him because she thought he was an ass, they think ha-ha and don't get what Cher's talking about because so much time has gone by.  He was an ass to Cher and others because of rudeness to guests -- mainly women.  There was the time Nastaja Kinski was reduced to tears, for example.  She was not fluent in English and she did not know what Dave was talking about or why he was making fun of her but, by the end of the interview, she certainly was aware that he was mocking her in front of an audience.  Valerie Perrine shows up and is an amusing guest that the studio audience loves.  She leaves the studio and is shocked when later on she watches the broadcast and discovers that after she left, she was dubbed "The Divine Perrine" in a mocking manner as Dave and another guest trashed her.  It was this sort of thing -- mocking people who weren't fluent in English and mocking someone after they were out of the studio -- that led to the image of Dave being an "ass."


Sabby can be whatever she wants but she should be prepared that right now people could consider her a bit of an ass.


After her questions and the way she presented them have made her guest cry, she then goes after his father.  In what world?  If you want to be an ass, that's the way you do it.  And don't pretend that you're doing journalism because you waited until the very end of the interview to bring up his father.


We're often called bitches for what we write here.  We're fine with that.  We can live with it.  This is how we want to do what we do here.  We're just wondering if "ass" is how Sabby wants to be seen.


But mainly, we're troubled by the segment that caused tears.  Specifically, we're bothered by the question of Nick stepping down.  If Nick's innocent -- and Sabby goes to great pains to insist that she knows nothing of guilt or innocence -- why should he step down?  What message does that send -- both in this case and in subsequent ones?  As it stands now, Nick appears to be the victim so what is served by his stepping down due to a false smear that was told in order to . . . force him out?


That just don't make sense and may be the most cringe-worthy moment of the entire interview.


 

Ty's Corner

ty

As I spent the weekend looking at NETFLIX's self-reported top ten and noting that Tyler Perry's A MADEA HOMECOMING has been number one since Friday, I was reminded that the apparently hugely popular DON'T LOOK UP barely stayed in the top ten.  

Here's DEADLINE (via YAHOO NEWS) on Jennifer Lopez' MARRY ME:

Anecdotally, the studio has said that Marry Me, which cost an inexpensive $23M, was the No. 1 title on Peacock on both Friday and Saturday, though it provided no figures to support that claim. We hear that there were “ingestion” problems when it came to Samba TV monitoring smart TV viewership for the movie over the weekend. That usually means that the studio doesn’t want the streaming numbers out there.

Where was that same skepticism -- needed skepticism -- when DEADLINE was just parroting the claims NETFLIX made regarding DON'T LOOK UP?  

OZARK has been in the top ten for weeks now on NETFLIX.  If that top ten is accurate -- if -- then a lot more people in North America have watched OZARK than ever watched the crap-ass DON'T LOOK UP.

It's time for people to be rightly skeptical of the claims NETFLIX makes when campaigning for Oscar nominations.

 

Tweet of the week

Margaret Kimberley on the Chicken Little of The Commentariat, Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon


 Ukraine has support in congress, the corporate media and with academics like Ms. St. Julian-Varnon. I have never seen so much propaganda created on behalf of one country in my life. They lit up the empire state building in blue and yellow FFS. What is she talking about?

 

 

 

 

Stopping World War III !

Stopping World War III !

 Francis A. Boyle is a professor of international law at the University of Illionis.


 This war must be immediately terminated before it expands and sucks in the  European NATO States and the United States. Towards that end President Biden must publicly announce that NATO Expansion is over for good  and that Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova  will not be joining NATO as  member States. President Biden must also call for an international peace conference for the conclusion of a treaty that will establish  the permanent neutrality of Ukraine which will be guaranteed by the United Nations Security Council under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter. Then negotiations can take place between the United States and Russia over the de-nuclearization of Europe including the removal of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons from NATO States that are there in violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a restoration of the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty   that was so foolishly  and recklessly terminated by the Trump administration. Then a new round of the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty Negotiations should be conducted in order to substantially lessen the tensions on land, sea and air between Russia and the U.S./NATO States including over  the emplacement of alleged U.S. ABM sites in Europe that threaten Russia.

        Make no mistake about it: The Origins of both the First World War and the Second World War hover like twin Swords of Damocles over the heads of all humanity!

Francis A. Boyle

Professor of International Law.

 

 

 

Francis A. Boyle

Law Building

504 E. Pennsylvania Ave.

Champaign IL 61820 USA

Phone: 217-333-7954

Fax: 217-244-1478

(personal comments only)



 

 

NAOMI (Marcia)

From SICKOFITRADLZ:

 

Naomi

Naomi is a new show on The CW and a new episode aired tonight.  Episode five, by the way.  


She's from another planet and has super powers.  A lot for anyone to deal with but especially for a high schooler like Naomi.  


So this episode was mainly Naomi and her Scooby gang going to a camp in the woods.  


Meanwhile, Dee formed an alliance with bad guy (or 'bad guy') Zumbado.  He wanted them to work together to find the bounty hunter who was trying to grab Naomi.  In the end, Dee faced him alone.  


Meanwhile, the US military has found the glowing rock where Greg and Jennifer found baby Naomi so many years ago.  This upsets Greg and Jennifer and has Jennifer wondering if they should grab Naomi and move -- like they've done before.  Point: If they've moved off before for safety, why did they return?


Anyway.  They decide to go to the base and find out what the military knows.


The scene is largely Jennifer distracting a military flunkie while Greg snoops.


Watching the scene, I was thinking, "Oh, like they don't have recording equipment."


They do.  They did.


And Greg's military superior tells them at the end of the episode that they know nothing of value.  And?  They walk off (trying not to come off overjoyed) and he looks at his laptop where he's watching a recording of them from earlier.


Greg's supposed to be a major in the military but he can't even anticipate that, finding a rock as they search for alien life, the military might be recording everyone who comes to look at it?


 Meanwhile, Naomi's been torn between Jacob (who helps and likes her) and her ex-boyfriend Nathan.


This episode, she chose Nathan at the end.  He asked, "So we're doing this?  The real version?"  Yep and I think it's a mistake.  I don't trust him and he's got family in the military and I see him selling her out in an instant if he finds out she's an alien.


On TV, be sure to read Ava and C.I.'s "TV: Some people court and deserve scorn."


 Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

 

SNL lets John Mulaney pretend his persona isn't over

Repost from THE COMMON ILLS:

 

SNL lets John Mulaney pretend his persona isn't over

 Ajamu Baraka Tweets, "It's now official. The U.S. has gone mad."  And he's referring to this Tweet:

'SNL' ditches the jokes in solemn show opener to honor Ukraine. bit.ly/35fP4tR
'SNL' pays solemn tribute to Ukrainian people
'SNL' ditched the jokes to honor Ukraine in the their show opener.



DIdn't cathc it because, like most Americans, I stopped watching SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE years ago.  Who made Donald Trump a hero?  That's right NSL.  Who made Rudy G a hero?  Again, SNL. 


The bubble heads from the bubble of we-think-we're-left NYC wanted to share but no one cared to hear their political thoughts.  I still hven't gotten over SNL lettting Seth Meyers blame the banking crisis on African-Americnas -- but he did do that, remember?  Back before Black Lives Matter, he got away with it.  And he's still not held accoutnable all this time later.


Now where did John go?  John Mulaney?  When the drug addiction got so bad?  Well, rehab, yes.  But before that last sting, he went to Seth's show to be a writer.


Why would a stand up reduce himself to being a staff writer?


Because he realized what Americans will the minute he starts his stand up back up at full speed: He's a fake and a fraud.


Look at me, I'm John Mulaney, I love my wife, shes so great and she said just dont call her a bitch and I can say whatever on stage, I just love her, I just love her . . .


Oh, look, I'm sticking my dick in acelebrity.  Oh, I guess I'm not sweet John anymore.  I guess my entire stand up was built arond a lie.


I'm just a whorish man who got back on the drugs, betrayed my wfie (repeatedly on my drug bender with many, many women) but still want you to see me as something other than scum.


Hey, mayb I can hide behind Ukraine and people won't realize what a piece of s**t I am or how I destroyed my now ex-wife's life!


John skips the jokes because no one finds liars funny.  No one finds drug addicts funny.  No one finds cheaters funny.  His image is trash and he needs the NYC bubble to build him back up because it's not going to happen on the road.  It's over, his persona is over.  And by skipping comedy for the monologue, he's able to pretend for a little while longer that nothing's change.


SNL did state propaganda.  It's only surprising if this is new to you from SNL.  


It's not a comedy show, it doesn't know how t do comedy.  It's too Woke to be funny -- too Woke to joke.. 

ENDGAME? (Marcia)

 From SICKOFITRADLZ:


Endgame?

Is The Endgame worth watching?


I gave the NBC series a try -- or tried to.  I was a fan of ABC's V and the woman who played the evil alien Anna, Morena Baccarin, is on this new show.  I figured she'd be worth catching and hoped the show itself would be worth watching.


Watching, I saw Noah Bean as well and I loved him as Fletcher on The CW's Nikita.


But the show?


Did it move.  I got 24 minutes into it before I said enough and bailed.


It was not a pleasure to watch.  It was an endurance test.  It's the worst written opening episode I've ever seen.   Because of Noah and Morena, I will give it another look when episode two rolls around but that first episode, or at least the part I made it through of the first episode, was just awful.

 

Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

SUPERMAN AND LOIS (Mike)

From MIKEY LIKES IT:


SUPERMAN AND LOIS

Starting off with Jimmy Dore.



I like it when Jimmy does comedy.  :D


Tonight, SUPERMAN AND LOIS returned with a new episode.  We do get what C.I. said in Friday's gina & krista round-robin, right?  No one watched the Olympics.  And this was with CBS, NBC, ABC and THE CW sitting it out.  Only FOX offered new episodes of scripted shows.  


Even with nothing else to watch, people avoided watching the Olympics.  


So Lois found out that her partner in journalism, Chrissy, was meeting with cult leader Ally Allston (the one whose cult Lois' sister Lucy was a part of).  Before much can happen, Superman shows up but is quickly attacked by Doomsday.  Clark takes him to his half-brother's Fortress of Solitude (where the hologam of his mother lives).  


Meanwhile, Kyle has stepped out on Lana and the woman comes to him to tell him that their affair is known (remember, Lana's running for mayor).  


So it's Sara's big day, she's a woman and it's her party.  And when Kyle dances with her, she has to rush from the floor after making it clear that she heard what was discussed.  She knows he had an affair.  She runs outside.  Lana joins them and Sara demans that he tell Lana.  Lana quickly realizes that it's the woman from the bar that Kyle said he was just blowing off steam with.  She tells Sara that this is her day and she needs to focus on that.


Back in the hall, she gives a speech about what an amazing woman Sara has become.  


Jordan thinks Jonathan has powers but it's the steroids that his girlfriend is giving him (or I think that).  


Chrissy tells Lois that while she was checking Ally Allston out, Ally drugged her tea.  She saw another world.  In that world people feared Ally and she was destroying the world.


Lois goes to Sara's party.  She and Clark kiss before he darts off because Doomsday is awake.


With his mother's help, Clark speaks to Doomsday (Lara makes it so Clark can understand Doomsday's language) and finds out that he is on this earth to destroy Ally, that she destroyed his world and will destroy Clarks.  


It was a strong episode to return on.


By the way, be sure to read Ava and C.I.'s "TV: Some people court and deserve scorn."

This is from Finian Cunningham (INFORMATION CLEARING HOUSE):


This weekend marks Joe Biden’s first year in office since his inauguration on January 20, 2021, as 46th president of the United States. In that time, it’s quite staggering how rapidly relations have deteriorated between the U.S. and Russia on the one hand and China on the other.

Right now, Europe is on the cusp of a war breaking out between a U.S.-backed regime in Ukraine and Russia. The volatile situation has the potential to drag the U.S. and other NATO powers into a proxy war with Russia, if not a full-blown international military conflict that could escalate into a nuclear conflagration.

Washington’s baleful relations with Beijing have been eclipsed by the recent stand-off with Russia. But make no mistake, U.S.-China tensions have also been heightened with the attendant risk of war. Much of the tension has been increased by the Biden administration’s provocations towards China over the breakaway island province of Taiwan. Under Biden, U.S. arms sales to Taiwan have burgeoned as have the large-scale maneuvers of American military forces near Chinese territory – in the name of “freedom of navigation”.

Let’s rewind to Biden’s inauguration on that cold, sunny day of January 20 last year. There was the usual jamboree that often accompanies a new Democrat president. We saw it when Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were installed in the White House. Likewise, with Biden’s tenure, there were expectations of a more professional president, a more multilateral president, a more proficient president on foreign policy, and, dare we say, a more refined and law-abiding president. As usual, there was rosy rhetoric about how Biden would recover America’s international image that had been tarnished under his boorish predecessor, Donald Trump.

Biden declared over and over again that “America was back” as he took office. European leaders swooned at the prospect of again having an American ally who respected them. The expectation was that the “adults were back in control” of U.S. policy (whatever that’s supposed to mean) and that the feathers ruffled by Trump would be smoothed.

Strategic Culture Foundation can take pride in not having bought into any of the wishful thinking regarding a Biden administration. We predicted in several articles at an early stage of his presidency that international relations would take a serious turn for the worse under Joseph Robinette Biden Jr.




Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"


Peacemaker season one finale (Trina)

From TRINA'S KITCHEN:

Peacemaker season one finale

I covered Peacmaker (HBO Max) because Stan couldn't that week and because my grandkids really like the show.  It wrapped up season one this week and Stan suggested I go ahead and grab it.  


So the gang had to defeat the cow -- which turned out to be a massive catepiller.  The butterflies that came to this people -- and took over people -- chose this planet because it had air and water they could consume but it did not have food.  So they transported the cow from their own world.  Without it, they may not be able to live.  (I say may not be because of the final scene.)


Note, there will be spoilers.


John Cena stars as Chris who is the Peacemaker (from The Suicide Squad film).  Danielle Brooks plays Adebayo who is secretaly the mother of Amanda Waller (government official over Suicide Squad and played by Viola Davis in the films and cameo in the first episode of this series and a cameo in the final episode I'm covering right now).  Freddie Stroma plays Adrian who has a secret identity (well, he thinks it's a secret) as Vigilante.  Jennifer Holland plays Harcourt (she's the most experienced government operative now that Clemson is dead).  Rounding out the team is Steve Agree as John Economics.  Chris teases John constantly about his beard and how John must dye it.  That's been a constant between the two since they met on this show.  (I'm bringing that up for a reason.)


So they descend upon the farm where the cow's out and it is, of course, surrounded by butterflies possessing human bodies.  John's the only one who can go through it without raising suspcisions.  So he carries a Peacemaker helmet (which has several bombs in it) in a backpack.  At one point, he gets stopped but he bluffs his way through much to the relief of the others.


He gets in and he sees the cow and nearly freaks out but gets out.  He's stopped by the same guy again.  This time the guy wants to know why the human whose body John is in dyed his beard.


He hits the roof when Chris brings that up so the whole gang is tense wondering if he's about to explode in anger and blow his cover.  Instead, he explains that the human (himself) spent too much time at work and didn't have anyone in his life so he thought dying the beard would make him look younger and might let him find someone.  But it didn't work.  


This is enough for the butterfly asking and John starts to walk off but they find the bomb and go running for him.

 Adebayo is supposed to set off the first bomb but can't because her hands are sweaty from nerves and the detonator slips through her hands and falls somewhere on the ground.  As she looks for it.  the butterflies knock John to the ground and begin pouncing on him.  She finds the detonator and off goes the first bomb causing the butterflies to run towards the barn.


John gets up and makes it back to the gang as  Adebayo detonates another bomb and another.  I believe that there were four in total.


But, though it's done damage, the cow is not destroyed.  


Chris is going to go into the barn (what's left of it) and Vigilante and Harcourt will take on the butterflies in the yard.  Adebayo says she's a trained agent but Harcourt says they need her to stay behind because if they fail she is all they have left.  "What about me?" asks John.


Harcourt and Vigilante do a good job battling the butterflies while Chris heads to the barn.  But they are outnumbered.  Vigilante is shot in the back but we know he's just down, not dead, because of his protective bodysuit.  Harcourt doesn't have a bodysuit.  She gets shot and manages, as she staggers, to shoot and kill the butterfly who shot her.  But then there's another and she's shot and she's down and blood is pouring out of her mouth.


In the barn, Chris encounters the detective that's been pursuing him since the start of the series.  But remember, she's not her anymore.  A butterfly possesses her.  She tells him he will be on their side when he knows the truth.

Adebayo grabs two guns and hits the barnyard, killing butterflies as she makes her way to Harcourt.  Harcourt is bleeding badly.  She tells Adebayo to go into the barn and help Chris.  Otherwise?  The mission was for nothing.


Vigilante is alive.  He comes to and stands up.


In the barn, the butterfly explains why they came to the earth and tells Chris that he has to side with them because what the butterflies did to their own planet, humans are now doing to the Earth.  By sideing with the butteflies, Chris will be saving the world.


Adebayo finds the torpedo helmet of Chris' (not the one with the bombs, this one she didn't know how to work) and puts it on.  When she shows up with it, Chris activates it with his voice and she goes torpedoing into the bottom of the cow.  When she coems back out, covered in slime, the cow is dead.  Chris also tells the butterfly he's sorry but he's got to kill the detective body she's in.


So Chris comes out and finds Harcourt out of it.  They take her to the ER.  Adebayo holds a press conference where she explains that Chris is not a crook, that they planted a diary on him to make it look like he was a killer and more, she explains that he's part of a program that uses convicts and makes them do things to shave time off their sentences.  She explains that Waller is over it and that she knows this because she is Waller's daughter.  That's when Viola Davis pops up for another cameo, she's watching it on TV and is furious.


Harcourt comes to several days later.  She knows Chris has been at her side this whole time and they hold hands.  John returns to his regular job and puts up a frame of hmself with the gang.


We see Chris at his home.  A butterfly is knocking against the glass.  It's the one that was in the detective who was earlier in a glass gar that Chris kept in his home after the senator was killed.  Chris gets some honey and pours it out on the porch and the buttefly consumes it. 


End of season one.  HBO has already announced that there will be a season two (it's their biggest hit of the last three years).


This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for Friday:




BIG SKY? (Betty)

 From THOMAS FRIEDMAN IS A GREAT MAN:

BIG SKY?

BIG SKY returns with new episodes tonight.  (Actually, if you are in the Central or Easter time zone, it's already aired.)  I will be watching tonight.  


There was an issue tonight in the gina & krista round-robin where we were asked about the show and did we have something against it?  Stan thinks (and I believe he's right) that he wrote about the show and noted he enjoys it but just doesn't want to write about it.


I feel the same way.  Season two would be easier to write about but I was not going to write about season one.  I did watch.  BUt it was too dark for me and too scary.


Yes, children are being targeted by the mob this season.  But I did not like the kidnapping of the young girls and the sex slavery of last season.  It was too dark.  Yes, I watched.  Cassie and Jenny are great characters.  But the main story line just wasn't something I wanted to write about.


This season, it's drugs and the mafia.


I can't stand John Carroll Lynch.  He made be a wonderful actor but the two characters he has played on this show are so disgusting and vile.  


Jenny and Cassie are the reason to watch.  They're a good team, you believe that they are friends.  They both loved the same guy (Ryan Phillipe) and when he died in episode one they were forced together but they became friends and their journey is as important as any twist or turn.


After them, I would praise Jesse James Keitel who plays Jerrie Kennedy.  Jerrie was one of the young women kidnapped by Ronald in the first season and we learned she was a transgendered woman.  She's a great character and I'm kind of concerned that she's still visiting her dying mother.  I worry that she's not coming back.

 

Season two has some additions worth noting: Logan Marwshall Green as Travis and Janina Gavankar as Ren.  Ren is insane and a mafia queen-pin.  She makes a good villain.  Travis?  He's a good character and he's attractive and we want him to be with Jenny .  

 


I also like the kids who got involved this season.


It was not a bad show before but season one was too dark for me and way too dark to write about.  I'll be watching tonight and may write about it next time.  

 

"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):





The Cleaning Lady (Rebecca)

 From SEX, POLITICS, SCREEDS AND ATTITUDE:


the cleaning lady

1 of my favorite bands, florence + the machine, has a new video released a few hours ago.





so that's 'king.'


now let's talk  'the cleaning lady.'  it airs monday nights on 'fox.'  


i have told you repeatedly while writing about the show that olvier stone needs to take a shower.  and he was told that this episode by his boss at the f.b.i. (after which, he raised 1 arm and sniffed his pit, then raised the other arm and sniffed the other pit.)


i don't know why you'd hired some 1 as attractive as oliver hudwon and put him in such a cuck role.


he's committed to it and delivering a performance. but it's not a role i want to see him in.


so what else?


thony's husband is hideous.


he had a hissy fit - even after his sister told him that thony was not sleeping with arman -  because arman was going to pay for luka's surgery - the surgery luka needs to live.


arman, thony and fiona are all stressing the importance of saving luka but luka's own father is too busy being jealous.


on top of that, the $20,000 thony did have to pay for the transplant (to pay the woman donating)?  lukea's father stole it and went to gamble it.  (remember, he has a gambling addiction.)


he looks like a creep and like aa asshole, unwilling to save his own child.



let's close with c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:'



AMERICAN DAD (Kat)

Repost from Kat's Korner:


AMERICAN DAD

The latest episode of AMERICAN DAD aired Monday night on TBS.  How bad was "Epic Power Dump"?  So bad that a Klaus subplot was better than the Roger story and the mains tory when it came to providing laughs.


In fact, setting aside the shows' Chrismas episodes (only the one with Lisa Kudrow worked -- of their Christmas episodes), this was the worst episode of the show ever.


Stan took the family on a snow vacation.  It had the ability to be somehting and there were some good drama notes but nothing funny.  Roger was part of that storyline but also on a party mission in  a solo storyline.  There was nothing in the solo to make it worth watching.  He really needs to play off Hayley or Frqncine or someone else.


Meanwhile, Klaus spoke to a woman over the phone and fell in love with her.  Yes, like on FAMILY GUY when Brian fell in love with the woman on the phone in India.  Only it was less inspired and Klaus was teamed up with Snot.


I wanted it to be funny.  It just wasn't.


Closing with C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

 

 

THE GOLDBERGS (Mike)

Repost from MIKEY LIKES IT!

THE GOLDBERGS

First up, Jimmy Dore.





He didn't have a new one, so I'm just going to note that one from last week again.


Now for THE GOLDBERGS.


First up, Janice e-mailed asking what I thought of Erica's hairdo this season?  Hadn't though much of it.  I guess I don't care for it but it may be 80s perfection (that's the deacde THE GOLDBERGS is set in).  I don't know.  I just liked her hair before the bangs.


I don't hate her hair but if I were chossing between the hair do before and the current one, I'd go with the one before.


So this was a bit of pre-wedding partying.  Except for Beverly who was at war with Geoff's father over who would sit where, who would be in the video, who would have their photo in the paper, etc.


Adam was saddled with a minor story involving the video and a bad 70s folk rock song.  They had him with a new character for his story.  It wasn't interesting, it wasn't funny.  I'm referring to the storyline; however, it also describes Adam.


Erica and Geoff were taken by Barry and Joanne at a beach house and Barry invites his and Geoff's other friends as well as the three women he dated before Joanne.


That included Lacie (for longterm viewers).  It was funny as Barry was convicned that it was all too much for the three women -- seeing him happy with Joanne.  He couldn't accept that they had long ago moved on.  :D


It was a good episode.

Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"




This edition's playlist

Women In Music Pt. III

 

1) Haim's WOMEN IN MUSIC PT. III,


2) Diana Ross' THANK YOU.

 

3) Adele's 30.

  

4) Laura Nyro's GO FIND THE MOON: THE AUDITION TAPE.

 

5) Bob Dylan's ROUGH AND ROWDY WAYS.


6) Chase Rice's THE ALBUM.

 

 

7) Billy Davis Jr. and Marilyn McCoo's BLACKBIRD: LENNON - MCCARTNEY ICONS.




8) Diana Ross' SUPERTONIC MIXES.









6) Harry Style's FINE LINE.  


7) Brandy's B7.

 

 

 

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