DramatistDreamer

That a scandal rag doesn't respect its employees?  Sorry but this is the least surprising of them all. 

BREAKING: Former employees accuse top editor at National Enquirer, other gossip publications of sexual misconduct in newsroom.

— The Associated Press (@AP) December 5, 2017

I've been reading about the worsening crisis in Yemen, on and off for months and just a few days ago about their former President Ali Abdullah Saleh was killed by the Houthi (said to be backed by Iran) rebels that he once collaborated with. Apparently the rebels believed he was working with the Saudis against them.

Yemen has been the staging ground of the enmity between Iran and Saudi Arabia yet Trump Inc. is now creating such a mess in the Middle East that it is having the unexpected effect of united the Saudis and the Iranians together against the U.S.  Whoa!

A little Olympics ban humor.

TFW Russia can't compete at the Olympics but they can pick our president. pic.twitter.com/R2E1Qp6cst

— David Kane (@DKTNNS) December 5, 2017

New York City Ballet and the School of American Ballet both stress that their investigation is based on an anonymous letter and have so far found no substantiating proof of misconduct but decided to proceed with the investigating process anyway.

Perhaps it has to do with the claims in hushed tones by former dancers and former staff that Martins had often slept with dancers and as a result promoted some dancers over others.

New York City Ballet Is Investigating Sexual-Harassment Claims Against Chief Peter Martins

Potentially, this could be interesting. I wonder what this investigation might unearth?

Mueller Subpoenas Trump Deutsche Bank Records

Haaretz points out the likelihood that Flynn, Kushner and co. violated the Logan Act, which no one has ever really been prosecuted for but hey, we're clearly living in "unpresidented" times.

Explained: What Michael Flynn’s Guilty Plea Means for Jared Kushner and Israel read more: https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/1.826651

1 minute ago, Soapsuds said:

I thought the same thing about George. Maybe he could make a guest appearance. I never cared for Booker though...never found anything great about him. Same during his time on Facts.

 He was such a goofball on Facts of Life but he wasn't hurting anybody so it didn't bother me.  It would be fun to see Clooney try to play working class again but then again, nobody's got time for that!

Honestly, Clooney's best sitcom/pre-ER role was when he played that goofy detective Bobby on The Golden Girls.

Okay, I've been reading this thread on and off and it looks like they have all the ingredients necessary for a successful reboot! They damn near got everybody back (can they get George Clooney too?) which is rare!

And "mini Darlene" Emma Kenney is perfect for that role!

These reboots are getting better and better these days.

Speaking of karmic justice...

JUST IN: Special counsel urges judge to deny Paul Manafort's request to lift home arrest, says he recently ghostwrote draft op-ed with a Russian tied to intelligence services - court filing pic.twitter.com/XRarfdCqIq

— Reuters Politics (@ReutersPolitics) December 4, 2017

If only this were true...

GOP strategist: Impeachment is "closer" than people think https://t.co/QOqOxnaquu pic.twitter.com/uaW99mx1Vb

— The Hill (@thehill) December 4, 2017

3 hours ago, Juliajms said:

^ That's potentially good too, right? Unfortunately, people tend to gravitate towards NY and Cali, it seems. That's less good.

Even from New York, people tend to move on and branch out. 

There are large PR populations in CT, MA (especially the Boston metro area) and even noticeable populations are emerging in the Philadelphia area. 

Since so many have been migrating to the Tampa area, even before the hurricane (due to the economic crisis), I expect more of those populations to fan out in the South to possibly GA (Atlanta metro) and the Carolinas.

Trump's anti PR rhetoric since the hurricane may focus recent Puerto Rican migrants to register to vote.

Since Brexit happened, I've been cautioning people to look out for Ireland (border issues with N. Ireland) and Scotland (sovereignty issues) especially as it concerns access to the single market of the EU.

"It feels like a big blow for the UK government today because it is" — @BBCLauraK on what on earth happened during the #Brexit talks https://t.co/N9w1ZMn9MZ

— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) December 4, 2017

Also, has anyone read these latest developments on the Masterson news?

Netflix Exec Tells Woman The Company Doesn’t Believe Actor’s Rape Accusers. Then She Said She Was One.

58 minutes ago, ChitHappens said:

Nicole Eggert wants folks to rt one of his tweets to Chachi 🤔🤔🤔

I've noticed that he seems to be good friends with Eggert and Sara Gilbert (who has a very prominent media platform).

Chachi might want this to go away but I don't think it will, especially if bigger media platforms pick this up.

One of these days Bill O'Reilly will wrap his head around the fact that it is a new day and he's no longer in charge of the narrative.

A woman who reached a settlement with Bill O’Reilly over harassment allegations is suing O’Reilly and Fox for defamation and breach of contract, saying statements he and the network made violated the settlement, portrayed her as a liar and extortionist. https://t.co/kGdHmIKnmv

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) December 4, 2017

I think Kushner and Mohammed Bin-Salman (MBS) in their secret meeting must've agreed to try to break things apart so that they can recast the Middle East to benefit themselves and their ilk, regardless of whether it leads to war.

Sure MBS has decided to enact some long overdue reforms (including giving Saudi women the right to drive) but his heavy-handed approach, including jailing just about all the princes that had some political clout (and therefore could've posed a challenge to his leadership) over 'corruption charges' even while nobody dare ask how MBS and his family 'earned' their massive fortune.

Although MBS seems to be saying many of the 'right' things when he speaks of reform in his country, but many of his actions, especially those that are reverberating outside the Kingdom, into the Middle East, appear to be reckless (e.g. Yemen) and it makes him look like some unstudied dilettante princeling (a feature that he would have in common with Kushner) who wants to ride roughshod over people to get what he wants, regardless of whether it has disastrous effects on huge populations of people.

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright says the vacancies at the State Department are a "national security emergency" https://t.co/LVk4O56lbY pic.twitter.com/cLWDBczOiQ

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) December 3, 2017

19 minutes ago, Khan said:

 

Exactly.  This is why I regard all the criticisms of the current administration on SNL as little more than posturing.  In a way, that's a shame.  Once upon a time, SNL was where you could speak truth to power.

 

True.  In fact, women and POC have been exiled from the news business for far, far less.

 

Also true.  Of course, back in Louis B. Mayer's day, being a Republican meant something different from whatever it means today.  If Louis B. Mayer and his ilk were alive today, they'd definitely be considered centrists, or maybe even libertarians.

Maybe but we know that it wasn't just working class whites who voted Republican in this election. Kathy Griffin (God bless her rant) unmasked quite a few Trump supporters who are media bigwigs. If Mayer were alive today, I have no doubt he'd be screeching about how "unpatriotic" those entitled NFL players are as he was a big producer of patriotic propaganda films during WWII.

The studio bosses of the biggest names (WB, 2st Century Fox) are conservatives, which speaks a lot to why the current Hollywood slate of films feature a majority of comic book heroes and white male centered movies.  The only reason why that is changing is because so many of those franchises are losing money.

Just now, I Am A Swede said:

 

This hasn't happened yet in the US?

Here we have had stories from not only actresses, but also from musicians (both in the popular genre and in the classical genre), politicians, athletes, people in the legal profession, teachers, people in health-care, people who work backstage in film and theater etc. It feels like hardly a day has gone by without new revelations.

Sadly, it looks as if The Met has been shielding Levine for decades. From what I read, the first allegation goes back to 1979 and there was a police report filed as recently at last year.

There was also a scandal revealed in the theater world with a very celebrated playwright, Israel Horovitz, who had made himself a "mentor" to quite a few 20 something actresses over the decades. Horovitz is also known as the father of one of the members of the Beastie Boys, Adam Horovitz, who has publicly stated that he believes the women's accounts about his father.

I've noticed a pattern, in that many of these accounts that are finally coming out now, began as rumors that have been swirling around for what seems like decades, in some cases, complaints were even registered publicly and police reports were even sometimes filed.  For whatever reason, the perpetrators are only now being called to task for their actions, likely because many were being protected by large esteemed institutions.

1 hour ago, marceline said:

 

NBC is pro-Trump. This is the network that airs "The Apprentice" and let Trump host SNL. 

Which is why I scoff at people lumping Lauer, Rose et. al as part of the "liberal" corps.  No they're not. In fact, most media veer toward conservative in the way they run their businesses.  FoxNewsChannel is so right-wing, that they've skewed the metrics.

It's also like I've been posting in the Hollywood predators thread, although many actors and some directors and a few producers tend to be liberal, the vast majority of studio executives and bosses espouse Republican beliefs and vote in that manner. 

Going all the way back to Louis B. Mayer, the head of MGM was a staunch conservative and the head of the California Republican party. Consequently, he was a co-founder of AMPAS, the organization in charge of the Academy Awards (AKA Oscars).

Does anyone really believe that the likes of Les Moonves is a liberal??

(and before anyone starts going on about Harvey Weinstein/Miramax and The Weinstein Company were always niche, boutique studios compared to the likes of Warner Brothers and 21st Century Fox)

We know how many media corporate executives promoted the idea of Trump's legitimacy as a viable candidate for ratings, which is why I feel little sympathy for them being treated so poorly in the press corp by the WH. They helped to unleash this beast.

And now, allegations starting in the world of classical music and it doesn't get much bigger than the Met Opera in the classical world.

Metropolitan Opera investigating James Levine misconduct allegations

Hey, why doesn't the U.S. just withdraw from the UN?  Why stop there, just withdraw from every pact, every bloody institution for international cooperation.

US quits UN global compact on migration, says it'll set its own policy

Let's face it, a whole lot of misogynistic men (and some women) screwed this country's prospects with the 2016 election. Fortunately many of them are being thrown out of their jobs (I'm looking at you, Matt Lauer).

I have not forgiven Comey for his role in this entire election travesty.

I also could give a sh*t who trolls the Troll-in-Chief. Personally, my preference is for Vicente Fox Quesada.

The dignity ship has sailed, as far as optics in this country are concerned. We're in WWE territory.

Comey trolls Trump for admitting he knew Flynn lied to FBI: The truth "cannot be long hidden" https://t.co/XM4ec6NKqb pic.twitter.com/RVNKgZEncx

— The Hill (@thehill) December 2, 2017

Well, that's quite a thing for a Trump official to have said in an email. https://t.co/CHqYHf2b9b pic.twitter.com/Cq7YvUWSJ2

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) December 2, 2017

His resume looks a lot like underachievement but I used to love to watch him play. (he was a Davis Cup stalwart who was pretty reliable at destroying opponents-it was fun to watch ).

When he was really intent on winning, he was capable of beating anyone.

And yes, he was magnificent eye candy.

I know he got tired of the training but I wish Safin hadn't left the game when he did but he insisted on adhering to that declaration that he'd leave by the time he was 30.