DramatistDreamer

Politico claims that Trump tweets disapproval of the gutting of the ethics legislation because he used the word unfair but Trump shrugs at any aspect of life being unfair because he simply doesn't give a damn. This fits a certain pattern that when Bibi Netanyahu goes raving abroad, he's clearly got problems at home. Benjamin Netanyahu Questioned in Israel Graft Inquiry

Their fear of "populist backlash" if they are seen as conspiring to shove off the alleged populist candidate who got into the White House. Trump has historically low approval rating for a president-elect but Congress has had consistently low approval ratings over the years.

I hesitate to try to decipher what's in the minds of others but it seemed to suggest that somehow Bernie might have pushed the story to WAPO?? Otherwise, I have no early idea. Bizarre. I'm no fan of WAPO but NYPost is tabloid trash best known for writing headlines that elicit chuckles- no one truly takes them seriously. At least, no one literate.

...and so it begins...

After all that maneuvering to get Donna Vekic a wildcard, she loses in the first round to Asia Muhammad, who emerged from guess where? The Qualifying rounds, as Donna probably should've done.

He will use Twitter as a means to circumvent the press, and considering all the kowtowing/tap-dancing MSM did for that man, hoping to curry favor, this is what they deserve. BTW, he still hasn't done a single proper newsconference since getting the Election.

Bittersweet but watching these clips may bring a bit of a smile to the faces of most.

Waiting for a statement from Patrick and Bernie. Will we get one?

Yesterday, a TV pundit described Trump's speech and tone as being "bipolar". Why aren't more people alarmed by the fact that this man is going to be POTUS in less than a month?! He sounds so unstable. Just yesterday, I started watching (online) the documentary about Robert Durst, a scion from a wealthy real estate family. At one point, a neighbor completely negated something Durst told the police, which he repeated again during the interview in the documentary and couldn't help but notice the similarities between the two real estate scions- to lie with impugnity! It's downright pathological! Trump may not be homicidal but nonetheless America could really be swearing in a sociopath a few weeks from now.

I think Trump may just find that it will be harder to undo something things than he may have thought. Meanwhile, he'll be on the hook to the Russians, who no doubt have intel on him as they hacked the RNC records but opted not to use any information. The Russians need only have a third party embarrass Trump on the world stage and he becomes a national liability. I think you'll like NHK. Google NHK English, it'll come up. I swear, I saw a 30 minute documentary about hairdressing and barbering in Japan and thoroughly enjoyed it for reasons I cannot explain! The hairdressers and barbers were so meticulous in their work and the barbershop was so upscale, those hair tools were sparkling!

There is also a segment of the American public that (mistakenly) equates money with virtue. I saw this in the NYC mayoral race when Bloomberg was running. People somehow assumed that by virtue (there's that word again) of being a billionaire, Bloomberg could elevate all of NYC's fortunes, and he did for some- they're called the 1%, who moved to NYC in droves. Unfortunately, the homeless population exploded during his three terms and after one half-explored "remedy" the Bloomberg administration ceded that problem to his successor (who still struggles with it). Things only really improved for the wealthy as many left NYC because they could no longer afford it. When people demanded to know why Bloomberg seemingly spent so much time courting the tourists and the billionaires- Bloomberg's response "Why wouldn't NYC want more billionaires? Billionaires make it better for everyone". Tone-deaf, of course, and it illustrated that a billionaire, even a successful one does not necessarily make an empathetic mayor or the most knowledgeable on how to run a city and the myriad of services that it must provide for its people. NYC learned from that time and elected not to vote for the billionaire in 2016 but many segments of America have yet to learn that lesson. It may come soon and it may just end up being a very tough lesson.

So apparently, the US government released a detailed report on the Russian led hacking by a hacker identified as Grizzly Steppe. Anyone who knows about Russian culture, geography, knows about the lore of the Steppe as well as the fact that the Bear is to Russia what the Eagle is to the U.S. Another note to give the name of the hacker a bit further context- remember the last hacker was named Fancy Bear. https://www.us-cert.gov/security-publications/GRIZZLY-STEPPE-Russian-Malicious-Cyber-Activity

Serena Williams is engaged to Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian. Serena Williams Reveals Surprise Engagement to to Reddit Co-Founder Alexis Ohanian – on Reddit!

Breaking News- US expels 35 Russian diplomats, closes two compounds

Unless there is a debate that a CNN host is moderating and CNN is broadcasting it and there's nowhere else to see it, that's the only time you will ever catch me tuned into CNN. I will stream it online as CNN streams things for (sort of) free during that time and I just hit refresh for the duration of the debate. Otherwise, I gave up on CNN and cable news in general, a long time ago. BBC is a bit more meticulous with their methods. They're more prone to get confirmation before broadcasting and they seem to have a wider range of news stories that they tell- it's more of a global perspective. They are not perfect. Their behind the scenes politics has been an utter mess in recent years but they've shown at least some acknowledgement that it is a mess that needs remedying (after a public scandal, no doubt). Years ago, I tried to watch RT news before it got so bad and so obvious that they were a tool of the Kremlin- let's just say that there was a striking difference in tone between when Medvedev was President than when Putin got back into the position. I also occasionally, try to stream NHK news, the English language site -- NHK is a Japanese broadcaster which has a really good livestream- not only news but other programming (culture, science, documentaries, etc) as well. I don't expect them to have the most objective view of say, China, but overall they present pretty well rounded perspectives and they report news stories that U.S. news wouldn't have, from countries like the Philippines, Thailand, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Pakistan and India- and they have reporters on the ground and in the case of Thailand, a news desk. So it's not from a perspective of "what's in it for us in the U.S?" it's from people inside those countries as they are being interviewed by reporters, who don't offer an opinion one way or the other. Very interesting.

Julianne Moore and her daughter Liv at MSG watching the Knicks vs. the Celtics.

Succinctly put! Will pundits ever acknowledge this truth? In other news of delayed acknowledgements, Germany is belatedly dealing with its African Genocide. Germany Grapples With Its African Genocide

@DeeeDeeI don't go for the popular couples by daytime fans standards (never did), but that's just me. If I was all about popular couples I would've watched General Hospital. Just because a character isn't heralded by the masses doesn't mean they're not well written. A lot of people I've seen posting on You Tube don't know Roy or even Roy and Jessica because they weren't watching at that time and in the last 15 years, ATWT had a poor grasp on the show's history. Many of ATWT's later fans didn't even know who Duncan McKechnie was, other than Bonnie's father. I can't vouch for why people remember or don't remember a particular couple and I disagree that there is an inherent connection to whether the writing was complex. People, particularly soap fans have various reasons why they cling to a certain couple (or not), that's not for me to say. In any case, ATWT was never a soap that relied on couples too often. Bob and Kim were individual characters who became known before they became a couple, even though they became tentpole characters who became known as a couple later on. And Jessica and Roy weren't known for being a couple (and that's more than okay, imo), they were known as two individual characters who got together during a specific time. Perhaps Count Stovall left before a reconciliation happened but I thought it was a mistake for them to break Jessica and Roy up, especially seeing that Duncan and Jessica wouldn't last but Marland did this to a lot of other couples, he tended to break people up frequently and even long term couples like Tom and Margo spent massive amounts of time apart. Like I said, ATWT was not a "couples soap". At least, not during its best written years.

@DeeeDee In a way, we're talking about slightly different things. Overall, yes, of course, I agree with what you're saying but I wasn't making generalizations, I am talking specifically about the characters that ATWT had, namely Roy and Jessica and later Jessica and Marshall. ATWT could always have done better and especially in the last 15 years of the show, there was no excuse for them not to do better. Even regarding my complaints about the deficiencies in the writing for many of the Black characters, on the show, when I look at what Marland was writing for ATWT's Black characters in the 80s vs. what Bill Bell Sr. was writing on Y&R for the Black characters in the 80s-- hands down, Marland did a superior job. Despite my issues with the exit storylines for certain characters like Heather (who should've stayed), ATWT did a lot more with her character than Y&R did with Amy and thankfully there were no Kongs on ATWT! Lien, despite being played by a Chinese American actress and not a Vietnamese, was not written as a token. Of course, daytime should have done better as a whole but at this point, in this thread, I really am being specific to these particular characters and their histories. As for a Japanese John Dixon, John for many years, was a terrible person, he raped his wife Kim, so I could imagine the complaints that would happen had John been portrayed by a man of color. The backlash would probably have been sizeable.

This article for FoxSports Australia, which describes what they essentially describe as luring Stan to play a tournament that he normally doesn't play by using Vekic as bait (via wildcard offer) was referred to by New York Times tennis writer Ben Rothenberg as "...remarkly greasy....even for tennis". Stan Wawrinka’s partner to play Brisbane International after unusual wildcard swap

I wasn't entirely satisfied with how Roy and Jessica's relationship was written but at least Marland had sense enough not to demonize either character. Now that I come to think of it, Roy and Jessica had some complicated undertones to what connected them and what (perceivably) drove them apart, compared to what would follow a decade or so later with most couples on the show. To be honest, I slightly disagree that complications were the domain of white characters only. Even though there was a lot lacking in Roy and Jess' romantic relationship, each had a complicated relationship with his/her family. Marland did do that pretty well. I can't speak for the disaster that followed in the last 12-13 years or so.

In post-Presidential news, this is concerning the redistricting project that POTUS Obama and former Attorney General Eric Holder. Ward picked to lead Obama-Holder redistricting project

Jessica and Marshall were tragic. I can only watch bits and pieces, it angers me to no end what the writers did with Marshall and with that entire relationship, so except for an occasional clip, I cannot even watch. I'm glad both actors moved onto better things and Tamara Tunie was smart to ride with L&O.

ICYMI, There was a very moving meeting between President Obama and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Hawaii. I actually got to see the livestream through the English language version of a Japanese broadcaster.