Third Estate Sunday Review

Sunday, November 15, 2015

Truest statement of the week

With Clinton, poor judgment is referred to as a regrettable mistake. Owning a personal server was a “mistake,” voting for the Iraq War was a “mistake,” she “wasn’t raised” to envision gay marriage, and now opposes the TPP based upon “What I know about it, as of today.”
Generally, poor decision-making is addressed as an honest error, then acknowledged wholeheartedly, while supporters find every way to justify the flip-flop. Accountability is a foreign concept to the Clinton campaign and any reasoned critique is met with“You sound like a Republican!” Even accepting $100,000 from Donald Trump is simply part of Washington politics.
Hillary Clinton has evolved on war, gay marriage, Keystone XL, the TPP, in addition to marijuana legislation, and her supporters believe this is a good thing. All human beings evolve, therefore politicians who do the same must be doing so for altruistic reasons. For the rest of America, 57 percent of voters nationwide find Clinton to be “not honest and trustworthy.”

-- H.A. Goodman, "Hillary Clinton is on wrong side of everything: Stop telling me I have to vote for her because of the Supreme Court" (SALON).

Truest statement of the week II

She reminds me too much of the slave plantation white wife of the white 'Master.' She talks down to people, is condescending and pandering.

-- Sister Souljah to TIME magazine on Hillary Clinton.

A note to our readers

Hey --

Oh look, a Monday. First, we 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 K itchen,
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: Already forgotten Sinjar

The Kurds took Sinjar last week.

The Peshmerga defeated the Islamic State.

The attack on Paris overwhelmed that event.

American news outlets, after all, can only do one foreign story a week.

So, yes, the Peshmerga get cheated out of credit they earned.

But, more to the point, the meaning of the victory gets ignored.

Shoved aside.

You better believe the White House is happy the media's side-stepping meanings and takeaways.

If the media was paying attention, a few key questions would be popping up.

First of all, why can the Peshmerga do what the Iraqi military can't?

Training?

Possibly.

If that's the case, we're probably looking at a decade or so of training for the current forces.

Second, who gets Sinjar?

Both the KRG and the Baghdad-based government claim Sinjar.

But only one stood up and fought.

Right?

Those are just two questions that the press should be exploring.

They are significant ones.

And, thing is, there are a lot more significant questions to ask as well.

TV: The networks forget the viewers

"The only thing," a friend insists, "that I learned is that Jeremy Sisto finally grew out his chest hair -- but did so way too late to be an otter and was still too spotty to be a bear."

And that, apparently, is about all WICKED CITY had to offer.

Despite this fall featuring some of the all time worst new series, despite cratering ratings for 'hits' like SUPERGIRL, ABC's WICKED CITY is not just the first fall offering to be cancelled, it's the only one at this point.

How bad are the fall offerings?

WICKED CITY is a People's Choice Awards nominee for Favorite New TV Drama.

That's how bad things are.

In a more sensible environment, ABC would never have green lighted the show, let alone aired it.

For starters, Steven Baigelman created the show.

Who?

Exactly.

20 years of filmography and not a single success.

His work has been muddled at best.

This was true of WICKED CITY as well.

Who the hell thought anyone wanted to see SERIAL KILLERS IN LOVE?

A vice president at ABC tells us that they wanted edgy, they wanted "something like HANNIBAL."

That would be NBC's chronically low rated series which finally got the axe after a second dismal season.

ABC has never been able to do edgy.

Never.

And HANNIBAL wasn't edgy, it was just trash.

That's what ABC got with WICKED CITY in which no character was someone you wanted to root for.

The alternative to serial killers?

Cocaine snorting, cheating on their spouses, corrupt cops like Jack Roth played by Jeremy Sisto.

What someone thought was 'gritty' was just repulsive and not all the promotional spots playing up the sex angles could result in ratings success.

Who in the world thought audiences wanted this?

But who -- at CBS -- thought audiences wanted SUPERGIRL?

Was their some heavy clamor for this character from a failed film (1984)? A character who couldn't even carry her own comic title for any significant length of time?

Supergirl has always been a colorless character -- even for DC.

Batgirl, created for the BATMAN television series, has a real following.

Certainly, Wonder Woman does as well.

In fact, Wonder Woman is a DC comic book star on par with Batman and Superman.

But it's not Wonder Woman CBS wanted to bring to the small screen.

Nor fan favorite Batgirl.

Nor was it the edgy Batwoman.

Or the anti-hero Catwoman.

Or Huntress . . .

Or Black Canary . . .

Or . . .

It's Supergirl.

A bad photocopy of Superman.

A character so bland that there's no significant difference between her in a costume and her in secret identity.

Before watching the show, you could hope that the new series would finally give the character a personality and a purpose.

But episodes quickly revealed that far more characterization was present in Filmation's seventies SHAZAM! series.

There was no intent to craft anything, just a cheap move to toss off the most insulting version of a cartoon.

And the question is why?

It's the same question we ask about WICKED CITY.

Maybe next time the networks will keep in mind the viewers when selecting from various pilots?

Probably not.

Diana Ross Sings The Songs Of Michael Jackson

Diana Ross fans are gearing up for a new Motown release -- DIANA ROSS SINGS SONGS FROM THE WIZ due out November 27th.

And while those 1979 recordings will be a treat, everyone seems to be missing the obvious Diana album: DIANA ROSS SINGS THE SONGS OF MICHAEL JACKSON.

Diana's one of the few artists to have sung a duet with Michael ("Ease On Down The Road"), been produced by Michael and had songs written for her by Michael ("Muscles" and "Eaten Alive").

An album like this would not only be a fitting tribute from Diana to her friend who has passed away, it would also remind the world of Michael's songwriting gifts.

Our suggested track list?

1) "He's Out Of My Life"

2) "Remember The Time"

3) "The Way You Make Me Feel"

4) "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough"

5) "Wanna Be Starting Something"

6) "Leave Me Alone"

7) "They Don't Really Care About Us"

8) "Keep The Faith"

9) "Love Never Felt So Good"

10) "Will You Be There"

11) "Heal The World"

The victims you don't see

The US government backed thug Nouri al-Maliki as prime minister despite his targeting of Sunnis. In fact, even after he lost the 2010 elections, they backed him -- demanding he get a second term and going around the voters and the Iraqi Constitution to craft The Erbil Agreement which allowed his second term.

Though currently not prime minister, his replacement Haider al-Abadi has not ended the targeting of Sunnis.

#IRAQ شمرية العراق ‏@moonnor27 Nov 6

#Iraqi army crimes arrested and killed Iraqi Sunni man Fadel Zobaie 70 years without charge or guilt in Abu Graib

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