DramatistDreamer

Looks like Johnson has decided to change his tone. As recently as yesterday there were reports that he was practically ordering Scotland to get with the program. He must have realized that orders won't work with the Scots, so now he's attempting a charm offensive. Well, he usually gets the offensive part down pat.

Hm.

Okay, I had to go back and do a bit of reading because I admit to being less than fully conscientious in paying attention to Northern Ireland. (True story: I used to watch a weekly broadcast of RTE years ago, but since dropping cable, I haven't really watched on a regular basis. I'll have to try to catch a regular livestream in the immediate future.) From what I remember, the DUP seemed to have tied their party and the fate of their party to a semi-partnership with the Tories. It didn't work out, to put it mildly. From what I've been reading, Ireland pretty much rejected parties that were not in the center. Both the DUP and Sinn Fein (fun fact: a member of Sinn Fein once spoke to my class when I was a student in London, but that's whole n'other story) lost seats overall (DUP was the biggest loser of all) in yesterday's elections, while the Alliance party took the most gains. So the parties that were considered either extreme right or extreme left actually lost ground and the party in the center gained seats. We'll have to see how it impacts Northern Ireland going forward but based on this article in The Irish Times, the results seem to suggest that most Northern Irish prioritized looking toward the EU over the possibility of a united Ireland, which, tbh, I never truly thought a united Ireland was actually a genuine possibility, despite mulling it over in my mind a couple times in the past. By the way, here is the article in The Irish Times that I was referencing. https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/editorial/the-irish-times-view-on-the-northern-ireland-election-heartening-results-1.4114734 Despite the fact that it's an Op-Ed, I thought it gave a concise summary without too much prognostication.

Is it any wonder that the Trump administration has been in such a frenzy to try to remake the courts? The courts are literally the only institution standing in the way of the country's complete undoing, at this point. Of course, someone might make the claim that the courts started this mess in the first place with Citizen's United. I just hope that Republicans don't figure out a way to disenfranchise Samoans some other way, like at the ballot box now that they can actually vote in elections.

Pretense? Which people say that? I would say that there is a veneer of politeness and wit but the racism and xenophobia are always there and it's always made plain. When I was studying in London. I saw a play about a young black man, a teenager, who had died in police custody after being beaten nearly to death by a horde of white youths. This was based on a true story and as it would turn out, years later, I discovered that the guy who died was born the same year and from the same ethnic group as me. I remember as a child in the '80s there was a case of a young black man, a teenager, who had died after being beaten nearly to death by a horde of white youths in Queens, NY. It was the talk of every public affairs show. In the U.K. and the U.S., it's like what flavour of racism can you expect. A death in police custody after being beaten to death by truncheons or a death in police custody after being shot in the back. And both use the n-word. A Bangladeshi friend once told me about England "they never let you forget that you are a guest in their country, you could have lived there for decades and they'd never let you forget". I'd say that in America, you are led to believe that you belong until you claim that you belong, then you will be put in your place to show that, actually you don't belong here, even if you were born here. And I personally met a lot of people who lacked a modicum of respectability in England, lol, same as in the good 'ole US of A.

Initially, I think that was the main criticism of Corbyn just after the referendum, that he didn't embrace the Remain campaign, under suspicions that he may have been a closet Leave proponent. That's not how he campaigned. I will say though that from what I saw, he seemed to try to split the difference between trying to grabbing those pro-EU voters and the 'red meat' issues that appeal to Labourites. And in the waning weeks of his campaign he seemed to throw himself at the issue of the EU/Remain but by that time, I think many voters believed that Brexit was a 'done deal' and just wanted someone who they believe would negotiate the best deal for Great Britain. JMO but I think that the Brits are delusional if they think Brexit is going to be anything less than hardship. I have been following the deadly shooting at a Kosher deli in NJ and I was struck by how the media desperately tried to tamp down any suggestion that it could have been a hate crime, though to most people with a brain it was obvious that it was. The media is carrying water for Trump (who pays lip service to being against Antisemitism)I don't think the U.S. has any moral ground over the U.K. I've had experience living and studying in both countries and find both to be vehemently racist, the difference is that the U.K. doesn't bother to try to hide this, while the U.S. tries to make one believe that you can ascend to any height in life irrespective of your color and gender, points to the few examples that managed knowing that it's not true.

The consensus on the livestream that I was watching (Johnson started talking and I turned it off) seemed to be that Corbyn lacked humility. He kept his seat but it will be interesting to see whether he remains in his position within the party. Ultimately, he's the leader of the Labour party, so it's Corbyn's Labour party that lost. Maybe it's me but imo, the U.S. and the U.K. seem to be on parallel tracks these days. Maybe I'm being 'glass half empty' but I just don't see that much of a difference between the two.

Presidential candidates? Because that one guy from the Young Turks is apparently running for office and Bernie apparently he has Sanders' support.

An aspect that kept getting mentions is that many thought that Corbyn focused too much on Brexit and not enough on other concerns of the electorate. I'm not sure how true (or not) that is, I will have to ask some of my friends and fam on this one. I'm not so sure about the far left being far better. The Young Turks spring to mind. Some guy named "Nick the Incredible Flying Brick" wearing an outrageous hat is standing on the stage with other candidates, including Jeremy Corbyn for elections in Islington. Jeremy Corbyn maintains his seat. FWIW, the Brexit Party did pretty awful in these elections. Maybe the sentiment that people wanted focus on issues other than Brexit carries some truth to it.

Labour continues to get those "L"s tonight. Whew! Some area named Workington, which had been Labour for 100 years just went to the Conservatives. Meanwhile SNP continues to "clean up" in Scotland. EDT: And turnout was down? Really? At a pivotal time like this??

Part of me feels as though and this is jmo, May wasn't seen as "committed" to the Brexit cause as Johnson and many of the men in her party were determined to get her out of the seat of power and replace her with a man that they thought more passionate about Brexit and yes, even if it meant putting in place a big sh*t talker like Johnson. As for N. Ireland and Scotland...I guess being an outsider has its upside. I don't know whether the well-heeled U.K. media (comprised mainly of private school boys pretending to be everyman) put either N. Ireland or Scotland very high on their list of priorities. N. Ireland seemed to be mostly regarded as a problem (or potentially a problem) that needed to be managed. Scotland's economic status has moved it up in prominence but this has been in the last decade or so. I remember when I was studying in London, Scotland was mainly seen as this exotic (a world away without really going too far) place where people could take a weekend trip to get away. It was odd but I never really got the sense that Scotland was actually a part of Great Britain. That was just the sense I got but that was in the 1990s, sentiment may have changed since then. Johnson has disparaged the idea of Scotland having another referendum but the SNP insists that the British government must respect the will of the Scottish people and the promises made that they would respect Scotland's status as a part of the EU.

I'm watching Election Coverage via livestream and there are still people who believe that the results don't look as bad for Labour as people think and it's too early to call it catastrophic for Labour but others give the impression that British Bernie has flopped. Labour has made some inroads in certain regions but from what I'm hearing/seeing, not enough to undo what's been happening at the polls in Wales. Some people think that Northern Ireland should be included in the list of possible breakaways but Northern Ireland is far more complicated, imo. Extraction from the U.K. is likely to be messy for any country that leaves but Scotland is better much positioned to have a cleaner break than N. Ireland. Scotland has a healthy employment rate and has oil, which still counts as a valuable commodity for now and likely over the next decade, at least. Given that many Scottish voted to stay with the U.K. because they were promised that the U.K. would stay in the EU, I'm not sure how the U.K. convinces Scotland to stay for the long haul, especially since #Brexit has been so damn messy. If things were orderly, as the Tories had promised, that aspect might have counted for something in the minds of the Scots but since it has been anything but orderly and been described as a "shambles", I just wonder how many people will now see trying their luck on their own as a republic as not so risky after all. Because as Mary J. Blige once said "I can do bad all by myself". Surely much of Scotland (who voted to Remain, as well as heavily Labour today) must be pondering this same idea.

Nobody's truly surprised by those results in Great Britain, are they? That's 40+ years of conditioning. I know I must sound like a broken record because I've been saying this for years (since the referendum years ago) but it's going to be interesting to see what moves Scotland makes after this.

Looking at the character of Thelma Evans and the elegance that BerNadette Stanis exuded as her, I would've preferred someone like Condola Rashad in the role. They already had the comedian in the bunch in Jay Pharoah, no need for another JJ.

Having witnessed her in action personally, Viola Davis is certified gold onstage, I expect greatness as far as she's concerned. Andre Braugher will make a great James too. I'm not sure about Haddish onstage but I can't quibble about any of the rest of the cast.

He likely saw his daughter's marriage as some sort of strategic financial decision to merge his family with another wealthy real estate family. DJT's father made the decision to move the family out of their Queens church to a church in Manhattan where the wealthier and well-connected chose to worship. Religion and worship as a form of currency to be transacted. Like father, like son.

I don't subscribe to Disney but I've heard that Ming-Na Wen (Lien Truoung Hughes #1, ATWT) was in the Mandalorian. Apparently people are also complaining that her character was vastly underutilized.

I'm guessing that, like last time, Russian athletes who have proven to not have tested positive can compete under a neutral Olympic flag. The prospects for team sports like The World Cup look pretty slim though.

Has anyone seen The Irishman on Netflix? It was a blink and you miss it moment but I could've sworn I saw Marie Marshall (Denise Darcy, ATWT) in a wedding scene. The character had no dialogue so I doubt she would've been in the credits. I even checked un-credited actors on IMDB but the only non-speaking actors mentioned in the wedding scenes were mobsters. I admit this woman looked a bit older than the picture on IMDB but that photo could've been from years ago, or the actress could've been 'made up' to look a certain way. I guess I'll never know.

Watching an early '90s episode of GL and came across this commercial, does anyone remember it?

Speaking of Who Shot Roger? stuff, I was jonesing for some GL but there are no further episodes of this storyline have been posted yet, so somehow I've ended up watching a Christmas episode from 1986 and seeing these scenes with Phillip and Dinah, it occurs to me that they were cousins. Were there any emphasis on this fact going forward in the show, in subsequent years, after re-casts? I really don't remember this.