DramatistDreamer

The intersection of a potentially catastrophic communicable virus with political cronyism is a dangerous thing. https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/world/coronavirus-infection-found-after-cruise-ship-passengers-disperse/ar-BB104WtX?li=BBqdmGR&fdhead=nohdflt2 "In Cambodia, the cruise line found a country whose leader, closely allied with Chinese officials, has cast doubts on the seriousness of the coronavirus outbreak, which has infected some 68,000 people and killed more than 1,600 in China. “Is there any Cambodian or foreigner in Cambodia who has died of the disease?” Prime Minister Hun Sen said earlier this month. “The real disease happening in Cambodia right now is the disease of fear.” And on Friday, President Trump tweeted his thanks to Cambodia for allowing the ship, more than 600 of whose passengers were Americans, to dock." So, all the other neighboring countries (Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, etc.) refused entry to this cruise ship but Cambodia, an ally of China and also a Communist country allowed the Westerdam cruise ship to dock in their port and allowed the passengers off the ship to take in the local sights and get massages, etc. Then Cambodian officials discovered that an American passenger tested positive for the coronavirus, (after taking the word of the Westerdam's management that there were no infections on the ship) already allowing hundreds of other passengers to depart from Cambodia's port to other destinations worldwide. Now apparently, there is a scramble to try to cull all those passengers to be tested. Good luck with that.

That was a fun match. People talk a lot of junk about Monfils but this statistic is pretty impressive indeed.

Apparently, Lis Smith, Pete Buttigieg's senior adviser, got caught out there operating this burner account that was posing as a black man on social media??? Just madness. SMH.

Folks are so obsessed with the so-called Squad that they are ignoring the very real work being done by other freshman Congresswomen of color. For instance- https://couriernewsroom.com/2019/11/05/rep-lauren-underwood-defying-legislative-expectations-for-a-freshman/ Also- I'm really starting to think that the ignoring of certain women's accomplishments in politics compared to others is deliberate rather than just an oversight.

Given Avenatti's track record with his shady previous business dealings, this was likely to happen eventually. While I'm no fan of them, Nike seemed the best positioned to do it. I can't believe that people actually wanted this dude to run for president. SMH.

Make way for the Russian propaganda! Surely, we all knew this was coming, right?

According to this article, Bloomberg was in favor of policies that did real damage to people and communities yet folks want to argue that the woman of color who showed confidence and a sense of humanity was un-likeable and un-presidential, but by all means, go awwf. 😒

There are photos of Jeremy Chardy, wife and newborn son, who was born on his birthday.

The homeless population exploding during Bloomberg's tenure should be as noteworthy as Stop and Frisk but few people seem to really care about poor people in this country so that won't be an issue.

There are always people who will act brand new (I mean, the woman who claimed she did "eenie-meenie-minee-moe" tells you all you need to know about some parts of the electorate) and as I've been repeatedly told Twitter is not real life anyway, so I only expect a ripple from this. Half the candidates in the presidential had enacted racist policies anyway and with the racist man in the WH, it seems to be par for the course in U.S. electoral politics. Bloomberg has been blanketing states with ads, despite the fact that he thumbed his nose at the first two states during primary season, he has just as much chance as any of the candidates in the race, due to his deep pockets. Remember, the U.S. loves billionaire white men. The more crotchety and racist, the better. And I think I have a pretty good idea why you never cared for Kamala. 🤐

Sarah Lawrence College said "Hold my beer". This is simply disgusting. https://abc7ny.com/students-father-charged-in-alleged-sex-cult-at-ny-college/5921035/

Bloomberg is racist is currently the #2 trending topic on Twitter. Can't say that I'm surprised, it was bound to happen. Oh yeah, NH totally deserves their place as holding the first primary in the nation. (*sarcasm*)

I saw a clip of Renée Zellweger's Oscar speech and she mentions Venus and Serena, lol! That's clout!

Something tells me, if given the opportunity, Marland would have happily written that story.

If Procter & Gamble actually had a decent social media footprint, or at least a YouTube page for their entertainment/production company, they could easily keep up with the most senior veteran soap stars from some of their shows. Sadly, there aren't a whole lot left, at this point. There are many people who voluntarily do blogs and Twitter, even FB pages, those people could easily be doing the same thing for an official page/YouTube channel. Many would volunteer but P&G could throw some freebies their way a few times a year via downloadable coupons (so many companies already do coupon giveaways for no particular reason as it is). If those pioneer and senior veteran soap stars really felt as though people were genuinely interested in hearing from them, I think they'd really make themselves available to do a podcast interview here and there, but no space has been made for them to do this on a big platform on a consistent basis. Many of the blogs have either faded or were very limited to begin with.

What's sad (but not as sad as the doctor's death) is that the U.S. is in absolutely no position to say a damn thing about it since there is an autocracy currently going on in the U.S.

Is this the country that Americans want?

Where the hell has he been? Living in willful ignorance, I guess.

Very interesting that Sinn Fein is now called the party of Irish reunification, especially considering their role in The Troubles. https://www.msn.com/en-ie/news/generalelection/for-the-irish-varadkar-may-have-won-brexit-but-he-lost-the-war-at-home/ar-BBZJkro

I've heard that but I've never actually heard her sing.

LOL. In my imagination, Spaulding didn't produce anything but acquired other companies to fill out their various divisions and their company portfolio. It seemed as if most of those companies were like that, including Walsh Enterprises, which I remember wanted to take over the Snyder farm, Lucinda mainly wanted to get rid of the Snyders but I remember Tad Channing suggesting partnering with Lucinda to industrialize the farm, likely to make it one of those agro-businesses. I think early Kirk Anderson suggested a similar proposition. Walsh, in maneuvering to take Simply Barbara (and not give it back once Barbara got out of prison) seemed more of an acquisition (remember how Walsh flopped the business once Barbara started BRO and began to compete? Walsh also briefly acquired the television station WOAK. Yeah, why did Lewis Oil move from Tulsa to Springfield?? Unless they were a big proponent of 'fracking' and believed that Springfield had a source of oil underneath the surface like Nebraska, it doesn't make much sense as to why they'd move their headquarters to Springfield when their rigs were still rooted in Tulsa (and Venezuela).

That's a fair point. I definitely agree that, with their level of talent (Tunie and Morgan) they should be getting more opportunities to lead series. I do think that Davis has been quite a bit more vocal early on about her level of talent and where she believed she should be and that her career was not at the level that she felt it should be. I can remember from at least the time that Davis did Doubt with Meryl Streep and Phillip Seymour Hoffman, maybe even earlier, speaking of not being satisfied with the types of roles that she was often offered and that she felt that she deserved better. It's a shame that a talented actress has to even bring this to anyone's attention but I do think that Davis being so consistently vocal had a lot to do with her being in the forefront of influential directors and producers' minds. Then, there is the George Clooney factor.

That's actually not true. By the early 1970s, Procter & Gamble was an international conglomerate, whose products were being sold worldwide (according to what I've read about Crest toothpaste, that product was definitely being sold abroad by then) and the P&G headquarters were located in the midwestern city of Cincinnati, OH. That's true, in a way. In 2009, the U.S. was still trying to extricate itself from a gaping maw of a recession, so people were definitely (and still do) going through hard times, although much of media did not reflect that. For as much as I love 1980s American daytime soaps, they often had a bit of a difficult time truly reflecting reality in a consistent manner. This was the point of my initial post on the topic. You clarified that point in a nutshell, lol.

Soaps have had trouble with getting aspects of culture right, we've seen this in other areas like how certain characterizations are made that don't quite ring true. My quip is not about being against soaps being set in a midwestern location, it is the fact that it is basically a vague setting that is often not imbued with any specificity, which is key to people believing it. That's why I suggested Denver, not L.A. L.A. makes sense for B&B, but wouldn't make sense for the residents of ATWT, for example. Bill Bell Sr., was a resident of Chicago when he started Y&R, so it makes sense the show is set in a midwestern city but a lot of the aspects have morphed over decades to more closely align with a city on the West Coast (including women in stilettos and off the shoulder or short-sleeved dresses with no coat on, in January and February). Denver is more of a midwestern city than west coast, it draws big business, has Fortune 500 and 100 companies and is more believable. Cincinnati, OH (the home of P&G) is much more believable than a city in Wisconsin (sorry Greenbay fans). I'm not arguing against the midwest, I'm arguing for more accuracy in which midwestern city/town gets picked.