DramatistDreamer

Decided to try to watch a couple episodes from '00. The casting is pretty decent (baby Hope looks like a mix between Denise and Kim, TBH) but the stories seem sort of disjointed, like some stories start out promising but end up being clumsily plotted along the way and you can really tell that there is a noticeable lack of interaction between some characters- some of this began in the late 90s but it's really become a permanent MO on ATWT by 2000. Also, the 'warmth' factor that P&G shows historically had seems to be fading on ATWT at this point. Being reminded of Chris' history with Katie at this time and it makes it all the more bizarre that the show put them together in the end. I'd sooner buy Katie marrying Henry or them bringing Simon back somehow. The show is going in a weird direction at this point.

I think this will backfire on Zucker and CNN, makes it look like he/CNN is in Trump's back pocket. People will have even less regard for CNN, those people who actually still have any regard for CNN and cable news, that is.

There is a lengthy open letter written by one of Trump's former lawyers that was published in the Huffington Post in which he states at length, why no one in their right mind should even consider voting for Trump. #1 Reason: He lies all the time. We all pretty much know what's wrong with Trump so I didn't feel the need to post this article but I will say the open letter states all the reasons very succinctly and in detail why Trump would make a terrible president. And the lawyer, dealing with Trump since back in 1987 provides examples to demonstrate that Trump lacks the most basic of integrity. It will remind all but the most willfully blind Trump-stans how distasteful this man truly is.

Are people just now questioning Trump's mental and emotional stability?? I guess, what, 15-20 years of making irresponsible, sometimes dangerous off the cuff pronouncements without supposition of accompanying facts weren't enough to make media, GOP party leaders and primary voters think twice and maybe look deeper at his disturbing history? Hm. Can't decide whether this guy running against Paul Ryan in the Wisconsin primary is an opportunistic troll of the highest order or a nutter like Trump. Paul Ryan’s Rival, a Long Shot, Tries to Gain an Edge From Donald Trump’s Praise

Every politician that has run for or held the White House over the past decade has made statements that were untrue...yes, even Bernie! There was an organization that checked a handful of politicians and put out a chart, which I posted many threads back, showing that Hillary, to my shock, had told the least amount of false statements. Bernie had told more, even though, his statements were considered to be of relatively small consequence. Even Obama registered slightly more than Hillary, even though, again, his false statements were considered relatively inconsequential. These three, of course, paled in comparison to Trump whose numbers were pretty big on the falsehood meter. Speaking of lies, Trump's latest is about how supposedly he saw video of the U.S. paying ransom to the Iranians for the Navy personnel that had been held as hostages. Another video that Trump claims to be 'out there', that in reality, does not exist. The video is merely footage of the Navy personnel being released. No money was exchanged. By the way, the billions of dollars that U.S. paid, they owed Iran, since the time of the Shah, decades ago for services rendered for oil! Did Iran time it so that their demand coincide with the release of the Navy personnel? Probably, since we know how dearly they want to save face. Was that money legitimately owed to them? Yes. No matter who tries to frame it as a ransom, it was not a ransom, it was collection of an overdue debt.

So this is what has had "Birthers" in a tizzy all these years?? What is essentially...a hoax?! These people are not strong readers, are they? Not to mention, the lack of any existing form of comprehension.

Weellll, I peered into the B&B thread and noticed some complaints about how vapid B&B's episodes shot on location in Monaco are and how devoid of story and it made me appreciate a time when daytime soaps had actual storylines built around their location shoots.

Was this the last time Rick Ryan was seen in Oakdale? The more times I see these episodes, the more I wish they had brought Rick Ryan back. Instead of ruining Craig, they could have created a lot of fireworks bringing Ryan back. Can you imagine all the havoc that would've wreaked on Kim, Bob, Barbara, Emily and if John were there as well?

Who's naive enough to believe that good relations with Russia can be achieved as long as Putin is at the helm? The man double-crossed his own mentor who made it possible for Putin, an unremarkable KGB agent to rise through the ranks of the Russian government! There is no loyalty there.

"Shade...boy, bye!" LOL. This was so funny and so good.

It's particularly startling when someone builds their entire campaign around not being 'owned' by anyone. The 'liberal' media was fixated on the 'Never Hillary' people which drew attention away from the fact that there is this underbelly of not just money but influence peddling from Russia that has oligarchs (and possibly Putin himself through well-connected associates) that invest in Trump properties/ventures and vice versa. This is probably worse than Dick Cheney and Halliburton.

Kind of alarming that the media is just starting to look at Paul Manafort, who apparently has a history of advising authoritarian leaders like Mobutu Sese Seko (Zaire) and Ferdinand Marcos (Phillipines) in addition to Viktor Yanukovych of Ukraine whom everybody knows was being guided by Russia and now protected by Russia after he fled the Ukraine and left it in chaos. I would assume that Manafort is the real mouth piece for Trump's views on Russia.

Trump is on par with Palin right about now, except it worse because Palin wasn't running for President. Trump claiming that Putin won't go into Ukraine, he seems unaware that Russia has already gone into Ukraine and annexed Crimea.

Many who have also expressed interest in voting for Donald Trump are delusional and believe that they can turn back the hands of time when White men felt they had more social and economic mobility, enough to be the sole breadwinner, and everyone else knew their place. For many of these people America was a better place and when they claim to want to 'take back the country', they essentially want to take America back to the 50s before the 'turbulent' years of Civil Rights, the Women's Movement and Gay Rights movements. So many have claimed that back then, a White man knew where he stood...basically at the top of the socio-economic hill. Any doubts, look at the demographic core of Trump voters and who constitutes his largest part of his voting constituency.

Corbin Bleu got married. http://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwtv/article/Broadway-HIGH-SCHOOL-MUSICAL-Alum-Corbin-Bleu-Ties-the-Knot-20160725?platform=hootsuite

Dear God. Does this man never intend to actually know what is going on in America? Or does he plan to continue 'winging it'?

I saw this online the day before and I laughed so hard!

Boy, it's really a shame that some factions of Congress refused to President Obama's request for proper funds regarding fighting/preventing Zika: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/30/health/zika-virus-florida-case.html?_r=0

Although, I do think that Hillary will arrive at the debates fully prepared to demolish Trump, it's hard to wrap my mind around the possibility that Trump could "duck the debates" how would that even be possible? http://www.aol.com/article/2016/07/29/mark-cuban-i-bet-this-is-donald-trumps-biggest-debate-fear/21440871/

True, she's not the most natural of public speakers but she was proficient and when she started to talk about her upbringing, her parents, you could actually see her body relax into it and she became more conversational, her words started to flow for the rest of the speech. I was glad that she talked about her Mother because the fact that her Mother was pretty much abandoned, left to fend for herself at a shockingly young age, it provided a window into what drew HRC to children's advocacy and her desire to help the most vulnerable, particularly when she talked about imagining her Mother as a little girl walking to a café with coupons, all by herself at four years old! I had read that she had been reluctant to talk about her Mother's childhood in the past but I think it provides so much insight into HRC's motivations. Also, her recounting how her Mother pushed her to deal with bullies (perfect allegory for dealing with Trump!) And HRC really launched into taking Trump's bluster apart piece by piece in a very methodical way. And the part about how a man who can be baited with a tweet cannot be trusted with the nuclear arsenal. That is definitely a reusable line and kind of brilliant. Her speech was an effective mix of the personal and the policy.

It doesn't even occur to these people what lame attempts at a snap back this kind of thing is. Pathetic and desperate but he tried it anyway.

I see President Obama being like Jimmy Carter in that he becomes gets even more done as a private citizen who no longer has to conform to the strictures and constraints of the office. Yes, I will miss the self-affirming image of he, Michelle and Malia and Sasha (and Bo and Sunny) at the White House but I look forward to what moves they will all make in the future. First, though, I have this image of President Obama, post inauguration, somewhere on a beach, drinking directly from a coconut, relaxing at some tropical destination. Speaking of our current President, this interesting tweet from Nate Cohn:

What can anyone say about that dress? Speechless. Obama's speech was brilliant. Too tired to say much more now, though.

Trump goes back on his promise to release his tax returns? Trump is also basically trying to commit treason now? How desperate is he to show how unfit his is for office! With his base, though, him possibly committing treason won't stop them from voting for him. http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/07/donald-trump-asks-vladimir-putin-to-help-him-win.html