DRW50

And more chilling abortion restrictions on the way. @Vee So many times what the polls say doesn't seem to matter in policy, because the Beltway creates its own reality, but I hope this might mean some kind of sane policy going forward, if Republicans do not take over Congress, anyway.

As @Juliajms mentioned on the last page, our immigration processes are so backed up. I am already seeing the clampdown used by scumbag leftists like Hasan Piker to give pro-Putin talking points, jeering at the US and the UK for not letting enough refugees in. Unlike the UK, which is headed by a very zealous anti-immigrant figure (Priti Patel), I think Biden and those under him have more compassion (even if, realistically, we would not be getting a lot of Ukranian refugees anyway - they would be more likely to want to stay in Europe). It just feels like, similar to the Post Office issues and Merrick Garland at the Justice Department, there are so many combinations cautious, fearful officials and the far right figures Trump installed at all levels of government still being there to gum up the works.

Some of the members of the media being harassed by "truckers" in the "freedom convoy."

Lynda Baron has passed at age 82. A UK stalwart who had memorable roles, big and small, on everything from Doctor Who, to EastEnders, to Open All Hours. She was beloved by a generation of children for her leading part in the series Come Outside. https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-60647760.amp

Thanks as always for keeping this going.

A long, and demoralizing, thread on Putin's propaganda efforts in Russia and also on attacks in the Ukraine. Some have pointed out that this is unfair as the rallies are likely staged/forced,, but I imagine, similar to the US with Iraq, there are also many Russians who are happy to go along with this massacre.

I feel like these sources tend to start out as a minority then steadily creep their way up, as happened with a lot of COVID debate. But I know you are right. Here's another example of propaganda going around, disproven by someone working for loathsome Tom Cotton.

I hadn't seen that. Fallows is right. The media loves to build narratives and force everyone to go along. They have been more laser-focused on this with Biden than ever, from the start...to the point of trying to get the public to laugh at him for going to his son's grave. Maggie Haberman fired off a passive-aggressive, sneering response when it was pointed out that she is an access journalist (which she is!) On the topic of the NPR poll @Vee mentioned in the politics thread...what a laugh:

Some care, and could do more if we had any proper leadership out there more of that caring could be focused, but it's demoralizing at how much time and effort is spent framing any attempt at caring as "virtue signaling," and how this seems to end up becoming the default position of many in the public, over and over. A lot of this comes from bots and far right agitators then trickles down. I saw George Takei's tweet saying that we should accept higher gas prices and food prices to go against Putin. On the one hand, I get why people would feel a rich celebrity doesn't have as much to lose, but he has a point. Instead of just nodding along with the vague "drill baby drill" esque pronouncements that aren't going to do anything, we need to make harder decisions on a future that is coming whether we like it or not. There's a poll going around basically used to talk about how stupid the public is, because a majority of Americans in the poll do not want our troops in conflict, yet do want no-fly zones, which will speed up a nuclear holocaust. You would be less likely to get these types of results if you had clearer-communicating politicians and a media that is not full of attention whores and warmongers and bought and paid for assets. I'm not surprised at the result. I just hope something changes in the long-term because in a week, when people change their Ukraine flag avatars back, the problems this invasion is highlighting will still be there, and the next time will be even worse.

They did the same fake ceasefires in Syria. Yet so many tankies continue to worship him and so many on the left continue to whatabout to try to numb the public into seeing it as no big deal. I sometimes wonder how many of us are left who do care, or even pretend to care. Another slaughter on their hands: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60578293 Meanwhile, Russia has been holding a WNBA player prisoner for 3 weeks.

Sorry, I posted about Brown and Tim Considine on the last page but I don't think it had official confirmation.

A lot of soap fans want to be - or are - soap writers themselves, and they want to support their own. Far more than Jamey and DC ever tried to support the PP soaps, which is why I will never join in with the congratulations.

Baily also had a lengthy career in anime and other voiceover work.

Tim Considine. I don't think My Three Sons was ever the same without him. When I was a kid I remember watching in reruns and thinking how pretty Mike was. Johnny Brown, who was very fun on Laugh-In, but likely best known as Bookman on Good Times. Bookman was the constant butt of jokes, and, as the show went on, seemed to become more and more of a focus for those jokes, but Brown's inherent likeability made the formula less offputting. I'm glad that, in the end, Bookman got to be a bit of a nice guy.

Oh that's right - I always forget that Andrea Martin sitcom was the same as her K&A character...I guess because they changed the name. Here's the premiere of George and Mildred. The premise is probably about the same as The Ropers, but I guess some things just don't translate. I also wonder if ABC starting to fall off by the time the show debuted didn't help. Many years ago I read a large book, from 1980 or so, about sitcoms, which would list each new sitcom from about 1950 on, and have longer writeups for certain sitcoms. They complained about Rhoda because they said that Rhoda was just turned into Mary Richards, and Brenda became Rhoda. And that by the end of the show, Brenda had also become Mary, so who was Rhoda? I actually liked Joe, but marrying them off so quickly was a mistake, and so was the divorce. I would have killed him. By the end of the show you had Rhoda's mother getting divorced and also going through a psychiatric crisis, and so on, and all I could think was, who really wants to see that? It's like an Alan Alda movie.

The plant has now been taken over by Russian forces. I'm already seeing the bots/grifters/dead end leftist types proclaiming this invasion a success because the South is what matters in the Ukraine and the tanks outside Kyiv were clearly just a distraction, etc. So many need Putin to be their hero, their god, or are paid for him to be. That and all the money he's still getting for gas and oil make me feel like his just grinding down Ukraine and knowing the West will move on after some performative outrage is all too likely to work.

Three's Company also had the flop post-TC spinoff, Three's A Crowd, whereas the UK spinoff, Robin's Nest, ran for several years. I'm not sure if the writing was better, or if the UK took those characters into their hearts in a way that the US - in spite of TC having a long run - did not. There were even several popular films for Man About the House and George and Mildred.

I think @Vee and @ChitHappens are two of the last left here who used to post a lot in the Game of Thrones thread (sorry for anyone my bad memory missed). Thought you might like to know about this. I mainly remember his very intense scenes with Richard Madden in season 3. Here's a 1992 interview he did for Take The High Road, which he was on for 20 years.

Facebook and Twitter have now been banned as well. It's a total lockdown for propaganda and disinformation. I guess this is something Putin wishes he'd d one from the start, so now he can have more brainwashing.