DramatistDreamer

I had no idea Halperin was managing a... (*squints at image*) newsletter. How 1990s.

Well, if it's of any comfort, there were no shortage of empty seats yesterday too. Honestly, I think the only matches that will be full/sold-out are the Spanish matches. The issue of empty seats is a problem that often happens with regular tournaments that run during the weekdays, which is why Davis Cup's weekend atmosphere was usually something I enjoyed. It seems like the Pique Cup is conscious of the empty seats issue and is trying their best to get the camera to "squeeze in" (or is it out) on the sections where there are clusters of spectators, hoping that viewers won't 'zero in' on the empty seats, I guess.

It's too early to be talking about the ATP Cup @Faulkner. One messy tournament at a time, lol. Yesterday, Day 1, the Rakuten Sports website (which I didn't know existed until the day before the tournament started) had a free livestream for the matches but the quality was pretty bad. Lots of freezing and the need to constantly reload the page.

Who TF is gonna watch Davis Cup during the God*amn weekday??! I tried to stream a match on the "official" website and the livestream was f*cked! I gave up and I no longer care about Davis Cup. Sorry but Pique trying to make DC like FIFA World Cup is not a good idea. As it is I won't be able to care about DC until the weekend, Thursday afternoon at the very earliest.

For years, this man tried to defend the indefensible, suddenly now that he's running for president, he's apologizing? He must think some of us are stupid.

On the one hand, twitter can be an informative, entertaining platform in the exchange of ideas. OTOH, twitter can be a garbage platform where the loudest mouth prattle on and on, thinking a lack of response to their tweets signals some sort of assent. There was a tweet that made me chuckle from a woman (I tried to find it but I didn't save it and I don't follow her, so it sort of got lost) who was mocking progressive twitter for railing against Obama--she basically said something like "look Obama knows how to win elections and none y'all will ever know, so stfu". Of course I noticed the pushback from certain progressive activists who, although they wouldn't respond directly to that woman's tweet, railed on about Obama on their twitter thread (I don't follow any of these people but Twitter has an annoying habit of floating out tweets from people that you don't even follow) and this one person taunted that supposedly no one is defending Obama like "y'all used to". People are not responding to this person, not because they agree with what this person is tweeting but because I think people just no longer feel like engaging in these meaningless, energy-sucking arguments. But the provocations are not just coming from keyboard activists, it is also coming from the media. Has anyone watched the forum that was hosted by Jorge Ramos on Univision? Case in point, Ramos, who has been prone to nicknaming Obama the "Deporter-in-Chief" couldn't wait to ask Sen. Kamala Harris about the Obama administration record on deportation and whether she though it was a mistake/wrong. Harris very deftly told Ramos that the ICE policy of detaining undocumented for non-criminal and minor violations was not mandatory, for instance she advised the California state government that they should not/did not need to detain people who did not commit serious crimes. Ramos, for his part, acknowledged that Pres. Obama instituted DACA, ACA and other remarkable laws, initiatives, etc. and Harris bluntly stated her thoughts on Pres. Obama being one of the greatest presidents in our lifetime. I think she was so insistent because she's wary of how her remarks came out during a previous debate and used the time that was allotted to her in this forum very well.

Ironically, Dennison is in that movie Bombshell, which is all about the sexual harassment scandal at Fox Newschannel.

Whether or not it was a guess, Chit can answer for herself, I think. You won't get any arguments from me on the value of the YEC though. On both the WTA and the ATP, the entire tournament means very little, other than points and money. Still, I think the winners will be pretty happy with both the money and the points. Especially on the women's side, where the WTA's prizemoney totals eclipsed the men's, lol.

And by Jove, you thought correctly! With the Brexit shambles on the horizon, it is only right that the tournament move out of Brexit-land. The majority of the finalists over the past decade hail from countries that will still be within the Eurozone come 2020/21.

Yeah, I realized a few months ago, that I hardly watch anything on that channel anymore. I managed to binge-watch two seasons of The Good Fight on a friend's CBS All Access account but that's it! You're right about the culture at CBS. The depravity is obviously so deep-seeded that I'm unsure of what it will take to change it. I've read that some changes were made to the News department, but what about the rest of the company?

Does anyone even watch this show? I had absolutely no interest.

Also, 'Progressive Twitter' was railing on Obama for something that was a partial quote/misquote in a newspaper. It reminds me of how many went bonkers on Kamala Harris over something she didn't even say. That full transcript of what Obama actually said was very consistent with what he has said repeatedly over the years, especially about the need to expand and improve Obamacare, which was always supposed to the start of something, not the final version of healthcare, but people only hear what they want to hear. I also found his somewhat oblique remarks on his campaign in '07-08 to be very enlightening, particularly when he mentioned how far down and out he initially was in the polls and how he was virtually counted out, but I doubt most people read that much of his remarks to get that. People will run with their particular narrative of choice. Speaking of false narratives, it should become crystal clear that the narrative of prosperity that Trump's Tax plan spread was patently false, at least the one that claimed that ordinary people would somehow benefit. Many of us knew from the start that that was a lie and that corporate America would be the beneficiaries. Here's one example of just how much corporations benefited from the sham Trump Tax law.

Okay, this goes beyond some misleading stock photos. This is unsufferable. Lord knows, I'm no fan of Slate either but there is an article on the whole topic on their site.

News like this can really be dispiriting, which is why whenever I read about people/states fighting and suing Trump, it feels like such a breath of fresh air. Speaking of cleaner air.

A well placed body serve can truly be effective sometimes. Venus and Serena have been really effective at serving up some pivotal body serves in their careers, it wouldn't surprise me if Mouratoglou noticed by watching the Williams Sisters use this shot and advised his players on how effective it can be.

This seems like a good and worthy cause but seeing Kamau's name attached makes me think that there is more than a bit of damage-control at stake here.

I thought the same thing about Buttigieg but the funny thing about Bloomberg is that he spent 2 out of his 3 terms as NYC mayor as a Republican. After he left office, he went back to being known as a Democrat but personally, I don't think he really knows what that means.

TBH, I didn't read the actual article because I genuinely know what you mean about The Intercept. Still, I was struck by the photograph and how easy it was to see that it was not done in the U.S. It's not surprising but mind-blowing nevertheless to see these politicians act so disingenuously. It's as if they think we're all stupid. I think it would be more understandable to me if Bloomberg, Buttigieg and Patrick were all running as Republicans why they have decided to campaign for president.

Yeah, I know what you mean but the stock photo itself is very easy to find and source.

He should be embarrassed.

Roger Stone. Guilty.

Listening to Yovanovitch now and she is clear, forthright and compelling.