Pete1111

I'm somewhat relieved to hear you are not worried, because I am very worried. But maybe I worry too much. Nevertheless here are two things I worry about. First, denying service for creating a web site seems nearly benign. I am definitely one of those people that prefers not to have service from someone that is antigay. I'm careful, e.g. I would never consider surgery at our local Catholic hospital. And so on. But the idea that it is acceptable to deny service because I'm gay sounds like a scary world. Again, I worry a lot. Second, I am not confident marriage equality won't be overturned. Do we know there are already members of SCOTUS that would undo Obergefell v. Hodges? We just don't know how many. We also know there are members of far right think tanks and alt right Xtian groups that want to re-criminalize being queer. Frankly, it's slowly happening already in red state legislatures. The pendulum is swinging in the wrong direction. When Niki Haley recently campaigned how great life was back in the 1950s I thought of Tab Hunter, just turned 24, arrested in 1955 for attending a party that was busted by the cops. It was all gays and lesbians, dancing together. Tab wrote in the Hollywood Reporter he had been invited to a party by a friend and gone for the free food. Some folks prefer those terrible old ways. So I worry.

Funny (HA-HA!!!) how the lamestream media parrots Trump's claims "the indictments have driven up his poll numbers". Why bother reporting facts any longer when drama sells? My sense is the anti Trump floodgates are slowly opening. The Bret Baier interview on Fox followed by Fox unfavorable commentaries looked pretty bad. Trump got cooked. And then Brit Hume rubbed salt in the wounds. Not a machete up Trump's ass but a good start.

Former AG Bill Barr on Face the Nation suggested a former president should not serve prison time. He also compared Trump's behavior to a 5 year old boy, and that the United States should not serve as a therapy session for Trump's outrageous behavior. That said, he also confirmed Trump's legal defense is baseless, that he is guilty. As far as J6, Barr was not as forthcoming other than to reconfirm the idea that VP Pence unilaterally reversing the election result makes no sense in the same way Trump's document case defense makes no sense. Trump tends to latch onto the best sounding ideas for himself, no matter how bad, just like his MAGA and QAnon adherents latch onto nutty ideas they find on the Internet. That's frightening, especially considering a candidate with a 5-year-old mentality is running for the GOP nomination. While one might claim indicting Trump is akin to a therapy session for TFG, I would circle back to the OP, and respond that no matter how Bill Barr frames Trump's crimes, indicting TFG is necessary and important for our democracy and important for our allies to see that the US has not lost all of its marbles.

Disney canceled a 1 billion dollar investment in Orlando. That slowed his mouth a little.

I finished this one. Honestly my interest diminished as I read. Perhaps this is one young adult book that truly is meant for young adults only.

I watched the documentary Being Mary Tyler Moore and thought about the film's discussion of feminist criticism of her TV show. Nowadays are we cheated out of entertainment of that caliber when it doesn't pass a woke litmus test? A small majority of whiners and bots can make a big enough stink on Twitter to make investors and advertisers extra careful. While people have a right to their opinion, the passage of time shows how silly some criticism seems, like the feminists that didn't like The Mary Tyler More Show. It was a comedy, so one should expect a lot of squirrelly behavior. Yet it was a show where the majority of the players were women (Leachman, White, Engel, Harper and Moore) and the major dufus was a guy. The character Mary Richards ultimately inspired Oprah to pursue television. I suppose the woke mob can find fault with Oprah as well if they look hard enough. That is our world now.

I started reading All That's Left in the World. I belonged to a book club where the leader would call this book a good "beach read". A popular book. I'm liking it.

I have a memory like an Elephant. I stopped listening years ago when Warren Olney produced a piece on Jerry Sandusky abusing boys at Penn State, emphasizing the dangers of the foster care system allowing pedophiles around minors. Even though the Sandusky crimes didn't really involve foster care, Olney used it to bang the drum about sexual predators and foster care. For the 2nd half of the show Olney interviewed the president of Family Council of Arkansas discussing whether gays should be allowed to adopt children. A counterpoint was offered, but not much of one. Overall it was pretty disgusting. By the next day KCRW had launched damage control but the damage was done. People were pissed. I never saw Olney as well informed or well read. Hopefully he's faded away by now.

I'm looking for new sources for political news and commentary, specifically the newspapers, podcasts and vlogs you consider worthy. I read the Washington Post and the New Yorker and I listen to YouTube channels like Brian Taylor Cohen and Pod Save America. I don't plan on converting to a MAGA conspiracy adherent so anyone that enjoys Steve Bannon and the like can start their own thread to share alt right news sources. Those aren't what I'm asking about in my post. I hear folks mention Rolling Stone, The Atlantic and New York Times. What about LA Times? Politico?

Oh....they'll be indictments! Those are coming. Jail time? Time will tell. Rikers? Guantanamo? No more golf? No more YMCA jiggy? I think so.

If the TFG returns to the White House our Democracy will continue to suffer. Maybe we are fooling ourselves there is even a chance to fix things. Our state legislative bodies are elected by gerrymandered minorities. The Supreme Court has lost its prestige. The House is full of uninformed nitwits. The mainstream media is treating Biden like he's the problem while they give candidate Trump a voice as if he is not an insurrectionist. To answer S.K., IMO there is no alternative to Biden. He has done a credible job. He didn't fuck up in Afghanistan. Trump fucked that up, giving the Taliban such a sweet (art of the) deal, yet the media never focused on that. You guys love to bitch about Harris yet let's hear you list all of Pence's accomplishments. His was a great ass kisser. That's the one talent I recall. IMO the black lady has done her job like all Veeps do. Lastly will the landscape improve when Fanni Willis and Jack Smith put the hammer down with their indictments.

^ Aunt Wacky Devolder.

...and if Trump wins, all the insurrectionists and other guilty parties get out of jail, including some still not indicted yet. Our Democracy needs Biden to win. Back to the comment about our country has taken a left turn....that is just news media bullsh!t. The Dems chose Biden because he is not far left. The country is at risk from far right loonies and fascists. There is no "left turn."

I thought Bartiromo would be the first to go. That fits.

I wonder how many of the Fox viewers bother to read mainstream reporting about recent events. I doubt they understand much.

I still want to believe he's Sinatra's son. The resemblance is undeniable. Ronan Farrow attended Frank's funeral with Mia. She admited remaining close with Frank. Of course, it's all their private business. Some try to call Trump's situation as no more than a sex scandal, that too much is being made of his private business. But unlike Trump's escapades with McDougal, Cliffords, and the situation with the doorman, where he manipulated funds illegally to hush a story, Mia Farrow and Frank Sinatras' was a private relationship and is essentially none of our business. And really, Ronan may have summed it up best on Twitter when he responded. "Listen, we're all *possibly* Frank Sinatra's son." Do we need to know any more than that? But IMO we do need to know all about all of Trump's crimes.

I didn't see the article as all that nuanced, other than to remind that Bragg has not revealed what the felony crime(s) are yet, and to cover some background on the crime Trump was indicted, especially how it relates to Farrow's own researching A.M.I. and the doorman. Listening to Michael Cohen drone on last Thursday on Ben Meiseles pro democracy podcast about how "dirty" the prosecutors are in the DA's office relating to Cohen's own indictment, reinforces my suspicion of why such momentum is building against Bragg. It seems odd. Farrow obviously would have no complaints about these chickens finally coming home to roost. Me either. A crime is a crime, even if the perp is a powerful, rich white dude. If Farrow isn't your cup of tea that's fine. I enjoy him. I was quite struck by Catch and Kill so this follow up piece caught my attention. And I will always respect him for the risks he took and sacrifices he made going after Harvey Weinstein. Of course he gives all the credit to the women that went on the record for his research. He's noble that way.

Harking back to the NYC doorman, Ronan Farrow contributed a recent piece in the New Yorker focusing on the hush money case and specifically the doorman. Anyone familiar with Farrow might agree he is in a separate, more reasonable category from the hysterical talking heads on cable TV and YouTube. His article is a sanity check the hush money indictment is not the nothing-burger that too many Dems and RINO's are admitting they believe it is. When I think back to Farrow's book Catch and Kill I tend to not trust where these sound bites that throw cold water on DA Brag are coming from. Not that I suggest opening up some conspiracy rabbit hole, but rather to remind we've been lied to before, by NBC for example. Read Catch and Kill ! You'll have a deeper understanding of these players involved in the indictment, plus much more, e.g. the Harvey Weinstein cover up. https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/inside-the-hush-money-payments-that-may-decide-trumps-legal-fate?utm_campaign=falcon_FCzP&utm_social-type=owned&utm_brand=tny&mbid=social_twitter&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social Finally, I think highly of Ronan Farrow. I expect his mother and his husband are both very proud of him.

Though smaller potatoes I'm looking forward to the Rudy & Sydney Show

America needs to start taxing religion. It's total BS. But back to the Minneapolis. I escaped that place 20+ years ago and will never return. The people are too quirky for me and that's putting it nicely. They deserve having a Muslim horn blowing in their ears at all hours. One man's opinion.

The suggestion that the Wisconsin election is a warning to the GOP reminds me the night Obama won the first time, how the mainstream media predicted the times are changing for the GOP, that demographics heavily favor the Dems in years to come. Do we know how wrong that prediction was? There were many, many Obama counties in the Midwest where now the pendulum has swung so far to the right it seems stuck there. A lot of pundits try to explain what is going on with these voters. Bless them for trying. What scares me the most (and maybe this is part of our modern voting behavior) is how many Bernicrats thought Trump was clearly a better choice vs. Hillary Clinton and to a lesser degree with Biden vs. Trump. My nephew was attending U of Iowa in Iowa City (which is a very Blue place) when Biden ran. Obviously Biden was unpopular in Iowa. But I was shocked when my nephew parroted how strong the mistrust of centrist Dems, that when Bernie Sanders lost the nomination, his belief how Trump was as good a choice as any of the rest of the Dems. For example he definitely reflected the trend to hate on Buttigieg. Perhaps that is just an anomaly, how Buttigieg is gay, the lefties feel betrayed he is not positioned at the far left end of the teeter totter, just hanging on by his fingertip, where they believe all gays ought to be. But back to Wisconsin, if their Supremes can fix their gerrymandering problem, then yes the GOP might be a little worried. Beyond that, I wouldn't bet the farm on voting behavior.

Amazon Prime recommended it. I avoided paying for it before. I'm not attracted to Eichner's schtick. But now BROS is included with my membership. So I watched this morning. The reason I tire easily of Eichner is also the main theme of the movie: gay men that are a loud, whiny construct that have no off switch. Big surprise. Still, that theme would have been more entertaining if Eichner remembered that less is more. We still would have got it. That said, I loved Luke McFarland, Bowen Yang and Deborah Messing, plus a bunch of other funny supporting characters and clever jokes. Lot of good stuff. A well made movie that could have been better without Eichner playing himself.

Pence looks stunning He would need to keep sweeping up a lot of breadcrumbs to afford that shiny look!

A lot of tough men have been brought to tears by his arrest, tis true, that the Dems have pursued their champion over a mere fling with a woman, which Trump is known to deny ever happened. Such is the Repub's MO, totally forgetting their pursuit of Clinton over the blue dress.

Mary Renault portrayed same-sex affection and love in her books, although there were limits on what publishers allowed. The Last of the Wine (1956) portrays three instances when Alexias and Lysis made love. In The King Must Die and Bull From the Sea, the hero Theseus is not portrayed as homosexual yet being with another man was strongly suggested at least twice. It was within is nature in the right situation. These two books describe certain gay men and women characters as heroic. Her writing was so beautifully subtle and symbolic that some readers refuse to interpret a young man's attraction to another was more than a strong bond of loyalty. Renault and her partner lived in South Africa to avoid trouble at home in England. I recall her books were published in the States.