DRW50

Shameful. And frightening. I keep being surprised by how high up the corruption goes. https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/say-hello-to-your-boy-a-special-guy https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/28/us/politics/trump-anthony-kennedy-retirement.html But they had a connection, one Mr. Trump was quick to note in the moments after his first address to Congress in February 2017. As he made his way out of the chamber, Mr. Trump paused to chat with the justice. “Say hello to your boy,” Mr. Trump said. “Special guy.” Mr. Trump was apparently referring to Justice Kennedy’s son, Justin. The younger Mr. Kennedy spent more than a decade at Deutsche Bank, eventually rising to become the bank’s global head of real estate capital markets, and he worked closely with Mr. Trump when he was a real estate developer, according to two people with knowledge of his role. During Mr. Kennedy’s tenure, Deutsche Bank became Mr. Trump’s most important lender, dispensing well over $1 billion in loans to him for the renovation and construction of skyscrapers in New York and Chicago at a time other mainstream banks were wary of doing business with him because of his troubled business history.

Thank you. I really liked Aunt Jessie. And the best Dolly... I know that time period is past when you enjoyed it, but someone gave me some This Morning interviews from 2000-2002 - a few have Clive Hornby and Chris Chittell. If you want me to post them for you I will.

I think so, yes. I didn't really know a lot about Ellen's past when I started ATWT, but I still appreciated her and her being dumped was another sign 'my' ATWT was gone. She had such a good dynamic with Emily and Susan that always enriched their relationship, which it needed with the more one-note KMH playing Emily.

You mean he actually mentioned it? Sad to say I'm surprised. Oh - a spokesperson did, not him. No surprise.

During the start of the Frannie/Sabrina story, Frannie lived with Penny in London, where she interacted with Penny and Amy a few times. I guess he must have been a part of that. For some reason I thought he also was there when Nancy visited Penny or when they had a party for Mac and Nancy in Oakdale or something. I don't know. I think Amy was in Oakdale briefly as I remember her meeting Lien. That 1998 one has to be wrong. I don't remember him appearing on there then - not as Anton, anyway.

Thanks. I think Patrick Horgan was credited as Anton so he may have popped up during one of the late '80s visits (unless it was a different Anton).

@vetsoapfan I was wondering what you thought of Penny's relationships. I know Jeff was her most popular pairing (the first "supercouple" of soaps). All I remember about Neil Wade is he went blind from the bookstore and didn't he die in a fire? Who were her other love interests? I think everything with Anton was offcamera, or with Phoebe Dorin, right? What did you think of Penny's adopted daughter Amy? I know she and Penny had some scenes together in 1986, but otherwise did they ever actually interact on the show? Irna Philips seemed to keep trying to integrate Asian characters into soaps. It's too bad it didn't ever work.

A look back at 1925, hosted by Mel Torme.

I never can remember how many knew about the initial Bob and Kim affair. Jennifer, obviously, and I guess John (?), and Rick Ryan. Maybe it became public with Rick? I wonder how public it was in those years as I can't remember if Nancy even knew until 1986. Margo did get backlash from Nancy, but yes, that was about it. I guess by then Oakdale was not exactly a moral place. The irony is that when Irna Philips returned to ATWT she was reportedly sickened by the Liz/Dan/Susan/Paul quagmire, killing off and writing out all of them, yet she went on to have Kim seduce her sister's husband, and was going to let her raise the child on her own. I suppose it shows the fragility and fickleness of a writer - Irna saw a lot of herself in Kim and was going to give Kim the life Irna had never really had. I've often wondered what audience reaction would have been if P&G hadn't stepped in and if Kim had had the child.

If progressively minded states did secede, the more conservative areas of those states would likely just overtake them, especially since in many cases those pockets are more extreme in their conservatism than many red states. Like Vee said, I think back to 2004 and 2005, where Republicans expanded their control of Congress and Bush was reelected with what he and the media smugly called a "mandate." The Patriot Act gave the government carte blanche to spy on anyone and detain anyone indefitinely. We had just pushed through an invasion of Iraq over the objections of the world, also leading our close allies in the UK to a trainwreck that led to a politician's suicide and helped destabilize Tony Blair's government and ultimately put the UK where it is now. Here at home, anyone who even questioned the idea of the Iraq war was viciously attacked, in some cases their careers and lives destroyed. 2002 had seen an election where Republicans viciously attacked Paul Wellstone's children after they lost their parents in a plane crash, and where Republicans ran an ad putting a quadraplegic Vietnam war hero next to Osama and Saddam - and they won handily. John Kerry had been smeared by an organization actually named "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" a few years later - they won again, handily. Partial-birth abortion laws had just been passed through Congress, complete with a notorious photo of W with a sea of old white men, smirking and grinning. Two Supreme Court justices were out, one through death and one through retirement; the latter was called a crucial swing vote. She was replaced by a very reliably right wing, cookie cutter conservative - only after Bush's attempt to replace her with an unqualified crony was shot down. We were bogged down in Iraq after shaming and alienating most of our allies. We were exposed as mindless, perverted torturers with Abu Ghraib. The education secretary barred PBS from showing an episode of a TV show solely because it had a gay character. There was talk of social security 'reform.' Myriad states were ramping up more anti-gay legislation since it had been a ballot box winner in 2004. The main talk at that time was of the "permanent Republican majority," with only Obama seen as a hope for the future on the Democratic side. It took the Terry Schiavo fiasco (with the Senate Majority Leader diagnosing a brain dead woman as still being cognizant via videotape and pushing through laws to "save" her because he wanted to run for President), the "heckuva job, Brownie," Katrina fiasco and the Mark Foley page fiasco to get Republicans to lose their grip on Congress. I do think things are worse in a number of ways - Trump is going out of his way to alienate seemingly all of our allies, and they are moving on in ways that will affect us long after he is out of office. The economy is going to crash hard, very soon, and none of our social safety nets are left. The veneer of, as W and the media laughably called it, "compassionate conservatism" is long gone - Republicans have slashed and will continue to slash so many programs and are happy to see many suffer and die. We're putting immigrant children in cages and separating them from their families as our attorney general jokes about it. Voting rights are thrown out the window, more and more every year. Women's right, lgbt rights - going, going, gone. We could be thrown into a war at any time, as it's obvious that Trump is salivating at the idea. I think the main reason it feels worse is because Trump is so unhinged and his people don't even bother to hide their craven, sick ways. It's demoralizing. And there is no more idea of Republicans in Congress being a check for Trump. They have shown they simply will not be. Worst of all is that a man who simply doesn't even try to hide that he is a bigot and a misogynist is actually popular with wide swathes of the country - last time I checked, his approval ratings are about the same as Obama's. Of course I could say that's because the media hated Obama (which they did for most of his Presidency) while they have given Trump more leeway (and the media in general has less influence now than they did at that time), and I could say that it's because Trump is white and Obama is black, but still, it makes me feel sick to know someone can be so vile and still have that level of support. In some ways, even more, because a lot of people are going to turn out to vote this year in support of Trump's policies, whereas many people did [!@#$%^&*] all to support Obama's policies in 2010 or 2014. I think the other reason is social media. I used to read political blog sites during the W years, and saw much of the same hopelessness mixed with righteousness (and endless purity tests and superiority dances) that is around now, but social media adds more mania and toxicity. And people trying their best to be so profound and special they just bring their own points down. This also seems to lead to the never-ending need to remind everyone of Nazis and Hitler and how Trump and the Republicans are the Nazis and Hitler. Any and every cause or low point becomes about this need. A few days ago when the "civility" debate was still all the rage, someone dug up some 1934 NYT article about a Quaker leader who had urged Jews not to be too aggressive in their views of Hitler. And just in case this wasn't enough, I saw someone posting blog entries about this and claiming that this had been an NYT "editorial," not just an article they had printed. Some people seem to almost want to wallow in how everything is dead and everything is going to be taken over by Hitler and Nazis who will put them in camps. At some point it starts to feel like a fetish, and the more it goes on the more disturbing it is to me. Many people are fighting back, but many will remain stuck in what they want the world to be and even if it means demoralizing and distracting, it just doesn't matter to them.

There are already plans underway to try to split California into three. I won't be too shocked if it happens sooner rather than later the way things are going.

Sorry to go on but I think Anna Stuart ended up playing the end of the story with him as Maeve was on maternity leave. I think the episodes are on this channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGd-CMhNwvTZ_b7flg44FdA

This was the end of line for Mart Hulswit. He dated Vanessa for a few months after he had dumped Rita - I think the idea was she reminded him of Rita. Vanessa kept big secrets from him (I think it was her role in Rita's downfall - I can't remember) and when he found out, he dumped her and left town for a few months. When he returned, he was played by Peter Simon. Those episodes are on Youtube, I think, if you ever want to see them.

Were you surprised when Prinz eventually returned for brief appearances, after saying things like her mother would have to be put in front of a firing squad to get her back? I always wish more of Prinz's time as Penny was available, as her acting style seems to have a bit more life than a lot of ATWT at that time. I guess she does have the heavy neuroses that you can see in others though (Fulton, Wagner). I wonder if it was just the women who were played as neurotic in those years or if any of the men were.

Thanks. Meanwhile I get to read Donald Trump Jr saying "lit." My day is complete.

That last article says what I've been thinking this term. I do think on gay rights he is more of a swing or quasi-left vote, but on many other areas, not so much. Still, it's a sobering loss. The best I can hope for is that no one is appointed before November and that Democrats win back the Senate. I doubt that will happen though. What was the article on the recession? I know many have said one has to be coming in the next year or two, the only question is how bad it will be. Right now with the trade stuff and more and more countries actively avoiding working with us, I think it will be pretty bad.

I saw in one of the comments on the videos that there is another brother, Tommy, who was given away before the family hit it big, and has no real contact with them. If true, what a mess. No wonder Kristy struggled so. Did you ever hear the story about the dead woman found in a hotel or a room where Reynolds and Susannah York were staying for a movie? That and the Dinah Shore stuff and then Sally Field kept Reynolds in the trash magazines every month for much of the '70s.

I read Mary Fallon said she would call a special session to try to take away a lot of the law. I hope that won't happen. (I know some also felt Lamb lost because of her) I read Mick Cornett is the more moderate of the two Republicans who are in the runoff, but these days moderate Republican means...a whole lot of nothing.

Yes. I don't know why the hell I called her Simone. Sorry about that.

Hayley's scenes with Simone here crack me up. Kelly Ripa was not a good actress for many years but she had a lot of charisma and threw herself into scenes.

Imagine that today... (I don't hear any actual reggae...) The bits I've seen of her solo show are always interesting. I wish it had been a hit. I don't care for Sonny.

Not a surprise, but: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/27/supreme-court-deals-blow-to-public-sector-unions-678819

Thanks for finding all those posts. I know at the time someone felt the comments about the clips were negative (the 79-80 clips) but I did try to view each one fairly and enjoyed many of the moments. I just wish that more were around. I'll admit I can be overly critical of the show, and certainly I probably sound like I don't enjoy the Marland era as I often seem to go on about one point or another. But it was that era which hooked me on the show, and I love it. I'm not able to be very balanced about anything from about 1996 on, because for me, bar certain stories and characters, ATWT died after 1995. If others are upset by that, I respect their opinion, and they may just want to put me on ignore.

The part where he talked about the books he reads and how it takes him longer to read more serious books like Shogun - it felt like a parody. Did you ever see his SNL hosting gig? I remember the sketch they wrote where he was going to the home of a high school girl and taking her out. I guess they were playing up on the skeevier elements (not that he did that, obviously). I didn't know she ever sang that song. It's one of my favorite songs. I listened to her version. It - well it could have been worse. I saw an Oprah WATN clip of Jimmy from 5-6 years ago. He didn't look that bad...

Rick Thomas put up an episode with her. I can't say I was thrilled there either (although she was decent enough on Too Close for Comfort) as she seemed to be trying a bit too hard to be cute, but she was better. I have to admit I zipped past a lot of the Reynolds interview. It was so bizarrely serious for somebody who only became popular because of trash movies. I did laugh at the part where he was talking about his hair.