#and also the way he generally ignores Colin; like even before his travels because what do you mean he was courting an got engaged to Marina

[rainybraindays]

once again do not get why people act like Anthony is such a good brother

[gleefullypolin]

Bridgerton therapy, indeed.

He's a self declared gentleman and he's been writing her letters without courting her for how long now? Seeking her out? Whether or not he's ignorant of how that might look to her, he's very much benefitting from her attentions and I think he will have felt the sting of not having it quite a bit. It's unintentional on his end but he's given her the worst whiplash a few times. He is definitely the flower to her gardener in that relationship and she really does tend to him so well.

I once saw someone say that Penelope had much more in common with Anthony than Colin and as an abstract, I can see it in a way. But I don't think abstracts are where love stories lay, tbh. Both of them being the third born, Colin with no expectations and Penelope with no attention would have far more in common to me and that's disregarding them both being writers. Adding that in gives so many more additional layers to their relationship, layers I don't think can be easily hand waved away either.

I really do enjoy the added elements of the show vs the book, I think there's a lot of expectations people may have of the book when it comes to the new season but in a totally different medium, I can see where it has to be different. I think the inclusion of a suitor for her is a good way to manifest the yearning Colin will go through--not because he's only going to see her romantically out of seeing with her someone else since I think the seeds have been there the whole time but because with the changes they already made to their storyline (the not courting her line and constant reminders from him to her of friendship), the audience needs to see him, visually, yearn and go through jealousy. I know a lot of people are both longing for and hating the idea of him going through some sort of "groveling" but I don't think that's the goal of it, I think it's for him to finally understand why the idea of life without her, when he cannot neatly place her in the platonic friend box, in unacceptable to him.

They've already shown us that he's missing something without her, he misses her when she won't even write to him while he's gone, how is he going to handle when she's married and gone from his life completely?

(to be very honest, I can never remember what Debling looks like other than a plot device, haha)

Oh I agree, I don't necessarily think it's going to endear him to anyone and I think that the rumors are vastly exaggerated but I also think if he comes in with the pastel blues and his boyish cheeks, lacking experience the audience isn't going to buy him as a serious contender to Penelope's Lord Debling. Seeing him flirt and be charming and, yes, even a scene of him leaving a woman's bed, etc, will be vital for the general audience to see that is very much a man now. A boy on his knees for a girl would be called infatuation. A man on his knees for a woman won't be considered anything less than love.

I just realized how overly wordy I am, sorry for that!

The other day I was playing stories in my head, as I often do, and I laughed to myself playing this in my head between Eloise and Colin.

“This plot of yours to marry Penelope off is quite flawed, brother.” Eloise stared intently at her brother, glaring at him with an irksome grimace on her face.

“And why is that? It’s working quite splendidly if I don’t say so myself. Debling seems quite enthralled with her.” Colin dismissed his sister and turned back to his reading.

“What ever will the two of you do once she is married? With no one to care about your travels or respond to your letters, you’ll be bored and lonely.”

Colin looked up at her in confusion. “I’m sure Pen will have plenty of time to hear all about Greece.”

Eloise voice sounded with a tort laugh laced with a scolding tone. “Brother, you wouldn’t dare continue to behave in such an ungentlemanly way with a married woman.”

“But it’s Pen, surely she would continue to want to hear…” he started before she cut him off, her finger in his face, admonishing him in anger.

“She would be a married woman, Colin. Your travels would be none of her concern. Once she is married, she will have her own travels with her own husband to worry about. For all you know, she may move to Spain once she is wed. You would be wise to remember that before you carry on with this behavior.”

“Move to Spain!” He exclaimed, wide eyed. “Pen would never, she could not, would not do such a…” His mouth opened, then shut as he thought about the possibilities. Did he really know Lord Debling’s intentions? Why did he even think he had a say in what would happen with Pen after her suitor laid claim on her.

Laid claim on her? On his Pen? His Penelope? Someone was to claim her and take her away from him?

“Flawed.” Eloise said with a smug look on her face, leaving Colin to contemplate why suddenly he hated everything about his ridiculous plan.

Ok sorry I don’t know where that came from, I don’t write fanfiction for Bridgerton but that was kind of fun to get out of my head.  Oh how I need Eloise to come back into play in the story. I need someone to point out how silly he’s being.

I don’t even care who it is. Eloise, Benedict, Hyacinth. Just someone to whack him in the head and go, oh hey yeah that might not be a friendly thing to be thinking about your “friend”. Hahaha!

But I digress and got lost there for a moment, where were we?

Anthony, interesting to see the Anthony/Colin comparison. I can see the abstract as far as the commonality in how they feel the need to take care of everyone. Anthony as the head of the family, Penelope in the shadows taking care of everyone as LW. But beyond that you are correct, abstracts are not where love stories lie.

I’m so very curious honestly how adding Eloise knowledge of LW changes the show. Because that was huge in story changes from the book.

Obviously Colin still needs to find out because if he doesn’t that changes everything so I’m looking forward to that reveal but what does it do for Eloise and Penelope because that was a huge part of her relationship and character and its huge to Colin as well so the foundation there is big. Even bigger than Debling and what that does because I truly believe the “Debling” of it all is gone by Part 2. (Debling honestly just looks like Ewan McGregor woke up and decided to be in Bridgerton) take it or leave it. I’m sure he’ll be nice for someone one day. lol

I think this idea of groveling won’t really be in the form of begging for forgiveness because lets be honest, the girl would forgive him anyway. She loves the hell out of him and forgives him by episode 2. The groveling will be in the form of him suffering his own feelings. His waking up to realizing holy hell she’s a goddess and I didn’t realize it and look at what I had and why is she not looking at me. And I hope she lets him linger in that for a moment because she earned that.  

And she would love him in blue and pastels and she will love him in his pirate costume (Because damn who wont) and at the end of the day with the smoldering way he’s staring at her all season, she will be remiss to not notice the boy grew into a man but imagine her surprise when all his looks, all his stares are right at her. As she is being courted and danced with at balls, there is a man standing at the edge of the ballroom, with a look JUST for her! That girl is NOT ready!

Holy hell I think I beat you in wordy!!! I think we both get carried away with these 2! Sorry not sorry!  

[bleulone]

i love your analysis so much! i have a question as well, like, how do you envision polin's sex scenes ? thanks for your answer (:

    Hey! Thank you very much :)) I have no idea if they are that even good but I’m happy you like them. It’s just my brain tending to produce some iNsIGhiTfUL analyses though they usually end up drowned under a huge wave of stupidity and horrid spelling/grammatical mistakes XD. So, about Penelope and Colin’ sex scenes, I guess we’re getting spicy in this house 🌶. I mean, I don’t blame you. Who’s not hot for Polin ?! The steamy Polin hours have already begun and they’re legit challenging my patience. (Be still my Polin heart, be still).

   Okay, without further ado, let’s talk about sex baby, shall we ? It’s a pretty long answer/meta so bear with me.

    I don’t know if you’ve read Romancing Mister Bridgerton, but a quick reminder (for those who haven’t... yet), there are a bunch of iconic steamy scenes that I’m dying to watch on screen. First we have the famous “thank you” scene where Penelope, now a 28 year-old spinster, asks Colin to kiss her because she doesn’t want to die without having been kissed... then ends up thanking him— which happens to be humiliating for our 33 year-old boy because he thinks that she thinks he did it out of pity while he absolutely did not. The man definitely felt butterflies in his stomach... and in other places as well lol. We also have the ICONIC carriage scene where Colin gives Pen’s generous bosoms™ the attention they deserve. This is followed by his proposal. Later on, after the announcement of their engagement, there’s a pretty hot make-out scene on Lady Violet’s sofa. Finally, we have their first time in Colin’s bedroom, after sneaking out of their own engagement party... which leads Colin to push the wedding date forward. At this point, I just love their horniness, especially Colin’s who’s just so freaking amazed by Penelope for more than 300 pages straight (duh! who isn’t ???).

    When you say envision, I suppose you mainly refer to the way those scenes will be filmed right ? I’m afraid I don’t have an advanced knowledge in film-making but let me start by telling you what elements need to be depicted. I would love Shonda and Chris to capture the real essence of our boos’ feelings : the yearning, the love, the respect and the guilt (specifically on Colin’s side) in their eyes. The more we move forward throughout the seasons, the more we see different layers of the perceptions of they have of each other, going from a childish idealization/immature ignorance to a sudden realization. A mature one. Penelope goes beyond the facade of the charming devil-may-care guy to meet the seriousness and temper of her significant other. Meanwhile Colin discovers how confident, powerful and attractive this woman is and always has been. It echoes what I’ve written about the importance of the gaze in Polin’s love story in this meta. By the time season 4 hits, man... their heart eyes and eye-fucking will jump OUT XD, all fibers of their beings, burning with need. The fact that this evolution took literally years is very emotionally painful, which is why I find it important to keep the slowness aspect of their relationship before and during their love making. I’m really looking forward a slow build-up toward their intimacy. It would differ from Daphne and Simon who merely shared one hell of a kiss in Lady Trowbridge’s garden then shared their sexy times after they married or Anthony and Siena’s rough sex... In fact, there’s a certain (sweet) ardent tenderness in Polin I like due to the fact that they’re slowly (re)discovering each other, as adults. Since they were both introduced in season 1, the audience will have all the time in the world to notice numerous evidences of the many natures of love they have for one another : from an affectionate and friendly love to a more carnal and enduring one.

    Okay so, in terms of filming, with Netflix’s Bridgerton being a show which promotes the female gaze, it wouldn’t be that much of a surprise watching those sex scenes being shot from Penelope’s perspective, like it was the case with Daphne in the first installment of the series. Most of the time, sex scenes in Historical Romance are not gratuitous. Their presence serve an important purpose in a hero/heroine’s journey. In Penelope’s case, they’re here to help her learn to embrace and love herself. In other words, sexuality is synonym of freedom. I don’t know if they’ll show a lot of skin, but I won’t be complaining considering the fact that we’ll have the chance to get a chief kiss treat on screen : a plus size woman in a major successful Netflix period drama getting a love story as romantic and steamy as other more “fit” female characters. No, your weight doesn’t prevent you from being desirable at all. As far as I’m concerned, I haven’t watched a plus-size female character portrayed as an attractive protagonist in a period drama (please if you have, let me know, I can be wrong). Having a beautiful half bare curvy body like Nicola’s being equally filmed like numerous slim actresses will be so inspiring and powerful to watch, especially for (young) women who struggle, like Penelope, to love their body shape which, to them, doesn’t “fit” the “beauty standards”. By showing her female gaze and portraying her as seductive, Pen’s “supposed” imperfections transform themselves into mighty assets, loved and worshipped by our dashing Mister Bridgerton. That’s body positivity at its finest darling ;).

    It will be deliciously erotic watching the undressing process being exquisitely slow, garment by garment, while their gaze are all heated and hungry. Their sex/make-out scenes should be tender and passionate, sweet and raw. The lightning, colored by a dark blood orange yellow or a blue depending the locations^^. Moreover, the depiction of the exploration of Penelope’s desire can translate itself thanks to multiple close ups. For instance, I can imagine a few ones on Pen’s fingers gently roaming over the smooth skin of Colin’s firm chest and back/touching his hair right after he removed his shirt. And a disheveled Colin letting his hands and lips making a journey of their own, mapping, conquering the alluring unknown territory that is her gorgeous voluptuous body... kissing her on the places he knows oh too well will give her pleasure (is this me wanting him to go down on her?— um yeah I sure hope it IS! If he doesn’t, trust me imma riot... AGAIN). Even a close up on her face while Colin is performing his addictively pleasing torment will be a marvelous proof of the female gaze. By the way, why not even adding a post-coital scene after their first time ? I can picture Penelope waking up first and contemplate her handsome soon-to-be husband. She’d bring her hand to his face and let it travel all around his forehead, his cheeks, his lips, his neck and let it rest on his heart— making sure that what she’s just experience was real... obviously, Colin will wake up in the process and he’ll take this as his cue to go for another round of sexy times under the sheets.

   Showing Pen reaction is essential according to me because she was stuck with the idea that she would never experience the luxury of being loved, giving pleasure nor receiving it... she ended up being happily wrong. Throughout her multiple intimate encounters with Colin, I want her to progressively realizes that she can be an active partner. In the carriage, she knew she had an effect on him, but it’s not until their first time that she actually realizes it. Hence the reason why I WANT the mirror’s introduction in one of their sex scenes. Here’s as a little reminder an excerpt from chapter 18 :

“I want to see you sitting up," he groaned, "so I can see them full and lovely and large [about Pen’s breasts]. And then I want to crawl behind you and cup you." His lips found her ear and his voice dropped to a whisper. "And I want to do it in front of a mirror."

“Now?” she squeaked.

He seemed to consider that for a moment, then shook his head. "Later," he said, and then repeated it in a rather resolute tone. "Later.”

   It would be such a shame if the show doesn’t use the incredible potential of this object (/kink). I mean, the symbolism is pretty clear. Penelope has always fled her “ugly” reflection but it seems like Colin wants to show the real her, the beauty that holds every single inch her alabaster skin and the effects they have on him. Thus, I would love to watch a scene where Colin just praises the alluring goddess and siren that is Penelope Featherington. Just imagine! Just IMAGINE the power of this scene : a shirtless Colin sitting behind her on a bed, meeting her gaze in the mirror, his lips touching her right ear, biting and licking the lobe sometimes, whispering all kinda of dirty yet poetic words to her while letting his hands caress her thighs, her hips, her arms, her lovely bosoms™... oof. At the same time, a wonderful and harmonic instrumental music will play in the background and match the melodic partition of shudders, breathes and moans let out by our lovers. I can imagine Luke inspiring himself from his performance in the 2019 short film, Youth In Bed. The way he conveyed the awe and the yearning on his face, in his eyes with his mouth slightly open when he knelt before his partner Shun Yin was just captivating and— and so Colin! I cannot help but bring myself to picture Ethan, the character he played in YIB, in a Polin steamy scene. I cannot unsee this anymore jsksk. I mean, all this gifset radiates this book4chapter18!Colin, you cannot tell me otherwise!

    Also, I would love Shonda and Chris to keep Pen and Colin’s cute/emotional pillow talk. One thing I really love in JQ’s books is the concern she gives to her male protagonists about potentially hurting their partner during the act of penetration. Colin is a rake, and what his experience with women taught him is that he needs to be very gentle with the love of his life. It was so adorable seeing him not wanting to harm her and asking her to tell him if he does anything she doesn’t like 🥺. Plus, before actually doing it, Colin and Penelope shared a few kisses and just laid down side by side, confessing their love. Though our boy kept feeling guilty about not returning her love after all these years. He desires nothing but to make up for the lost time and show his love and desire during this special intimate moment. I hope they’ll keep all of chapter 18’s dialogue. It’s just so telling of our boos’ feelings, you see.

    All in all, I can’t wait to watch those Polin steamy scenes. As much as I may sound crazy, I want them after two other seasons of pure pining and yearning in order to have a very good payoff. I’m not an expert on depicting intimacy on screen, but I loved so far what Lizzy Talbot, the intimacy coordinator who worked on the show, have done in season 1. Sex scenes in Bridgerton seem very real and dive you in the intimacy of the moment, leaving you all flustered and hot. So probs to her! I have faith in her work and have no doubts about what her and the directors will serve us in future seasons. Though, in the end, I think it’s mostly up to the actors, Nicola and Luke, to see if they’re comfortable filming sex scenes.

    If you guys have any suggestions or wishes for those steamy polin scenes, please do share them :) by commenting on this post or by sending me asks! I’d love reading your thoughts/take on this very important matter ;)) 

[michelles-garden-of-evil]

Ian Martin’s Strange Paradise, Part II: The Top 5 Worst Things

Last week, I listed my top five favorite things about the first 44 episodes of Strange Paradise, when Ian Martin was headwriter and when the show had a very different feel to it than in the final four weeks of the Maljardin arc. But no creative work is perfect, and, despite my fondness for this show, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think that the writing for early Maljardin had several glaring flaws. Unlike Danny Horn, I don’t think that Ron Sproat was a better writer than Martin (actually, I consider Sproat the worst writer on SP), but that doesn’t mean that I don’t also feel that his writing needed some improvement. Note that this entry is specifically about the writing during this period, so things outside his creative control (e.g. the Conjure Man’s questionable casting) will be excluded from the list.

That said, here are my top five least favorite things about the writing in the first nine weeks of Strange Paradise:

5. Cheesy dialogue

More specifically, (1) bad jokes and (2) slang that was already outdated when these episodes originally aired in 1969. This one is #5 because, while these lines are cheesy, I can’t hate them because most of them make me laugh. Even my personal least favorite of Jacques’ jokes, the “pose” line from Episode 18, is kind of funny in an ironic, anti-humor sort of way, like the dad jokes that have become fashionable in recent years. While there are some jokes in this show that I find genuinely funny--Elizabeth’s Song of Solomon joke, for instance, or “the lady doth detest too much”--most others are the epitome of cornball. Sometimes you hear both in the same episode: Episode 21 is loaded with Devil jokes/puns that would be unforgivably corny if Colin Fox didn’t possess enough charisma to sell them, and yet the same episode also features a genuinely hilarious double entendre. The good jokes sneak up on you, sometimes amidst a hurricane of bad ones.

As for the slang, some comments that I’ve read mention that it was largely out of date even in the late sixties. My good friend Steve (with whom I often discuss SP) has told me that “you might not be aware of how campy that slang sounded in 1969 since you obviously did not live through the Sixties--this happened with a lot of TV shows during that period, the most egregious examples being the various ‘evil druggie Hippie’ episodes of DRAGNET.” Apparently Martin became infamous for using outdated slang later on when he wrote for CBS Radio Mystery Theater, putting lines like “I dig a man who’s far-out!” and “I think bein’ around here’s gonna be kicks!” in the mouths of some of his younger characters. Even if he had used up-to-date slang, it most likely would have still aged poorly (as slang typically does), especially for generations born after phrases like “the most” and “making the ___ scene” fell out of use.

4. Slow pace and excessive repetition

This one is also low on the list, because slow pace and repetition weren’t flaws when the show originally aired, but instead have aged poorly because of advances in technology that made them unnecessary. Before the advent of the programmable VCR, you had to be able to catch the program you wanted to watch on time or have someone you knew catch it on time and record it--which, in 1969, would have meant an audio-only tape recording. This meant that only the most fortunate and/or most loyal viewers would have been able to watch Strange Paradise every day, making it necessary to recap all the major events in subsequent episodes for those who missed out. This is also likely the reason why early SP (like most soaps of the time) has a relatively slow pace: if too much happens in one episode, you have to recap more and the people who missed the big episode are more disappointed.

Nowadays, with DVRs, video streaming, and DVD sets--not to mention certain legally-questionable means--it’s nearly impossible to miss an episode of your favorite show (with few exceptions), making extensive recap largely obsolete. Screenwriters can cram as many plot points as they want into one episode and no longer have to write five episodes of the other characters reacting to the news if they don’t want to.

Even so, just because the constant recap served a function at the time doesn’t mean I have to like it. It gets annoying hearing the same plot points reiterated episode after episode. Like I said while reviewing Episode 21, “if someone were to remake this show for Netflix or another streaming service, they could safely ignore about 75 percent of the original scripts and condense the remaining 25 percent quite a bit without omitting anything important.”

And don’t even get me started on the lampshading of absent cast members, like in Episode 9 when Jean Paul and Quito wasted two minutes searching for Raxl just to slow the plot down. It’s nothing compared to Ron Sproat’s “we must search for Quito” filler episode in Desmond Hall (Episode 78), but still, those scenes were pointless.

3. Extreme artistic license with certain historical/cultural details

Although Ian Martin did a surprising amount of research on certain subjects for Strange Paradise, there are some subjects where he either didn’t do enough research, or (more likely) made extensive use of artistic license. The first one is his portrayal of Jacques’ wife Huaco as an Inca princess despite their marriage occurring over a century after the fall of the Inca Empire. I discussed this all the way back in Part II of my review of the pilot, where I invented the theory of Jacques traveling back in time to marry her, but other possible explanations include Huaco being a 17th-century descendant of Inca royalty (as the Quechua people are still alive today), extreme artistic license, and/or critical research failure. I don’t know if we would have eventually gotten a good explanation if Martin had continued writing the series, but we would need a damn good one for the approximate equivalent of having a 21st-century character marry the Russian Grand Duchess Anastasia. I’m willing to suspend my disbelief and accept it considering that this is a fantasy series, but it still creates a lot of plot holes that need to be filled.[1]

Another example of artistic license about which I feel more ambivalent is the conflation of voodoo with the Aztec-inspired indigenous religion of Maljardin, which I’ve discussed before both in my Episode 23 review and Part I of this post series. I’m not sure if this is genius--religious syncretism is a real phenomenon throughout the Caribbean and Latin America, and some people today do syncretize the vodou Serpent God with Quetzalcoatl--or just an instance of Martin playing fast and loose with facts. I would like to think it’s the former, but it could just as easily be the latter (hence why I referenced it on both lists--I have mixed feelings about it).

2. Annoying inconsistencies

Does Raxl know that Jean Paul is possessed by Jacques Eloi des Mondes? Does Vangie? Why does Jacques’ portrait disappear in some episodes after he possesses Jean Paul, but not in others? All three of these things vary from episode to episode, and change annoyingly often as the plot demands. Steve and I have also discussed this subject in the past, and he believes that Martin used this device to make the story easier to follow; if that’s the case, it appears that he used Raxl and Vangie as audience surrogates, especially for new viewers or people who didn’t tune in every day. But surely there were other ways to do that without creating continuity errors? It may have served a function, but that doesn’t make it good writing. What Martin is essentially doing is filling and reopening the same plothole, episode after episode.

Regarding the portrait, I don’t know how much to blame Martin’s scripts for this inconsistency and how much to blame the directors, as I don’t have access to any SP scripts beyond the pilot script and the Vignettes. However, I’m going to assume that he’s at least partially to blame, because at least the pilot script mentions the disappearing portrait (which literally disappears in all three of the Paperback Library novels), Also, while none of the characters ever mention the portrait vanishing (unlike in the tie-in novels), some of his episodes have characters looking at it while Jacques is controlling Jean Paul and commenting on the uncanny resemblance. See also the diegesis tag for more discussion and analysis of the disappearing portrait.

1. Tim’s subplot

It should surprise none of my regular readers that Tim’s subplot is my #1 least favorite thing about the first nine weeks of Maljardin. I’ve already written an entire post about why I dislike this subplot, so I’ll keep my discussion of it here brief. Jean Paul saves the life of artist Tim Stanton when he hires him to paint Erica’s portrait, but then does nothing to make the commission easy for him--which is not a bad set-up for a plot in and of itself, but the execution is terrible. Tim chooses to use Holly as his model despite her barely resembling Erica, and Martin mostly uses their subsequent interactions to drive the old, tired, clichéd plot where two people who bicker and hate each other at first eventually fall in love (or at least he appears to be setting that up[2]). The payoff for the Holly portrait subplot finally occurs in Episode 33, but it’s underwhelming (not to mention barely recapped) and the already bland Tim quickly becomes a background character. In short, his subplot is a boring waste of time and should have either had more payoff or--preferably--been scrapped altogether.

That concludes my list of the worst things about Ian Martin’s Strange Paradise. Stay tuned for my review of Episode 45 within the next two weeks.

{<- Previous: The Top 5 Best Things }

Note

[1] Interestingly, there is a possible (if unlikely) historical explanation for Huaco’s sister Rahua having “skin as white as goat’s milk” and “hair like ripened wheat.” An early Spanish account of the Chachapoya people (aka Cloud People) of the Northern Andes describe them as “the whitest and most handsome of all the people that I have seen, and their wives were so beautiful that because of their gentleness, many of them deserved to be the Incas’ wives and to also be taken to the Sun Temple.” Assuming the Spanish account isn’t made up, this proves that reality is sometimes unrealistic.

[2] Thankfully, given the soap opera genre, it’s unlikely that Tim and Holly would have stayed together forever, even if they had eventually fallen in love during their painting-and-bickering sessions. Even so, that doesn’t make it a good subplot.

[thejoshscogin]

In most tragic events, both global and regional, I typically like to do my part to assist or help, while remaining in the background. Whether it is donating money, protesting, physically building houses, traveling out to give food and water to people, or any other potential aid I am able to contribute...these are done as “under the radar” as possible. Because, I am not usually a fan of the “look at me“ spotlight mentality, while the issues of the world should be getting the spotlight.

Now, I understand it is 2020 and “If you didn’t Gram it, it didn’t happen!“ but as a very private-introvert with a very strong moral compass, I personally don’t need the verification from social media to affirm my actions. Or, to put it more correctly, I don’t need the verification of social media to stroke an ego. In short, social media can often (but not always) take advantage of the “Never let a good crisis go to waste“ dogma. It can feel more about gaining “LIKES” and followers and a general “look at what I did“ pat-on-the-back, than focusing on the real issue at hand.

With all of that being said, this time it feels different. I’m still contributing in areas that I’m able, but the overwhelming morality of making it clear where I stand, outweighs the morality of not seeking vanity/self-aggrandizement. Obviously I’m still NOT here for vanity/self-aggrandizement but keeping in the background doesn’t feel like the correct path to take on this particular event dealing with race and humanity. So let me be clear.

The short version goes like this…

- I support Black Lives Matter! (duh)

- I support peaceful protests of civilians.

- I don’t support the violent looting and destruction of properties, but I understand them. I’ll speak more on that later.

- I don’t support the riots brought on by the police.

- I don’t support any authoritarian/dictator/tyrant in office that tries to hinder or remove our freedom of speech.

The long version goes like this…

I love America, or to put it more correctly, I love the potential of America. I have been fortunate enough to travel around the world many, many times (sweet brag Josh 😑) and there are so many wonderful places on this planet I would love to live but I always return home, to America.

We are not perfect (duh, no country is) and the harsh truth is that we will probably never fully end racism. I reckon there will always be idiots who hate other humans for something as pointless as skin color or as trivial as “Your pants are too tight.” or (insert any other juvenile scenario) but as Americans, if we feel like those idiots have become the people in power (police, leaders, presidents etc etc.) we have the right to freedom of speech. We have the right to voice our feelings against authority, and make a change. We have the right to protest.

Now let me be very clear, I am a full believer in peace! I believe that hate breeds more hate. I believe that violence breeds more violence. So, when these protests turn into looting and destruction of properties, it can feel like those people have lost the focus of the original task at hand. However, I also understand that when the pendulum has been so far on one side for so long, it is only natural for it to swing to the other side with brute force. Also, when the (very) peaceful protests of people like Colin Kaepernick are ignored, and in many ways punished, I can fully understand why stronger actions are felt justified and needed.

As Americans, we have the right to raise our voice when we see something needs to be corrected. So, when the peaceful, “indoor voice”, of the calm and collected Kaepernick doesn’t reach the ears of the giants in power ...or to put it more correctly, when it reaches the ears of the giants in power and yet, is completely ignored... it is only a matter of time before America feels like only a scream will suffice.

We must not forget that Kaepernick originally sat on the bench during the national anthem. It was only later that he decided it would be MORE respectful if he joined his team mates on the field and simply took a knee. I don’t know how he could have protested in a more peaceful (and respectful) way. That was like 4 or maybe 5 years ago, and yet, here we are. He tried. He gave peace a chance. Yet, here we are.

The cyclical tragedy of what happened to George Floyd is a real shame to the American powers that be. If only real measures and actions would’ve been taken from the lessons that should have been learned from Breonna Taylor or Freddie Gray or Eric Garner or Michael Brown or any of these people below (to name a few) with very similar scenarios.

Now I don’t even claim to know how to instantly fix these problems, but there are a few basic things that sure seem like it would have at least helped. First of all, people should have been fired! I’m not just talking about the individuals directly dealing with the deaths, they should be in jail, but I’m talking about any and all police officers who had a history of racism or known violent tendencies, they should have been fired, all across the nation. Secondly, real actions should have been taken after these events. I understand that eventually things like body cameras etc. came into affect but what’s the point, if it’s okay to just turn them off whenever they feel like it, with no repercussions in doing so.

Side Note: Hey cops, if you feel the need to turn your cameras off, then you are doing something wrong. If you feel the need to cover up your badge in anyway, then you are doing something wrong. If you feel the need to force other people with cameras to leave the scene, then you are doing something wrong. And there should be deep and drastic consequences for any cops doing any of the above mentioned. Also, to be clear, I am not necessarily anti-cop (in theory). I know a few cops and in fact, I feel like some of our other issues of today’s police force might have been sorted or at least minimized if, a long time ago, we would have paid cops a whole lot more money. But that’s a topic for another time and not on social media. End of side note:

1991 is the first scenario I can personally remember of police brutality of an unarmed black man that became very publicized. If only dramatic measures would have been taken from the lessons that should have been learned from way back when Rodney King was in the spotlight. Imagine what nearly 30 years of progress would look like today if we would have started it back then. Our situation now, would be very different and I could assume many lives would have been spared and generally just an overall quality-of-life would be better. Shame on the powers that be, that nearly 30 years later we are still watching, shot for shot, the exact same movie unfold again and again. It blows my mind that we are still dealing with the vastness of this issue.

So where do we go from here? What are some productive steps towards ending police brutality on black people? Well, unfortunately, the quickest and most sustainable solutions would have to come from the top. If the police chiefs of the nation would fire all of the racist idiots, there would be an instant and obvious difference in the right direction. I have more thoughts on that but, assuming there is no Chief of police reading this, I’ll save you the time...

As civilians, there are still things that can be done to assist the steps to getting us further towards the right direction. Since the majority of the people reading this are most likely NOT the closed-minded-racists who are the problems, the solutions can seem less direct but every step (big or small) in the correct direction adds up.

In the short term, I think the most direct thing you can do is to donate money or protest if you are able. If you are someone in power then you should fire all the racist idiots. I’m not just talking about the police force. If you are an employer of any sort, you should remove the bad apples and do your best to never hire them in the first place.

In the long term I think the best actions are to vote! Or, to put it more correctly, study up on politicians, know where they stand on topics that are important to you, and then VOTE! Please, for the love of America, don’t JUST VOTE without the due diligence. Vote big, like the presidential candidates etc. Vote small, like local jurisdictions and authorities etc. Lastly, I think it is very important to mix and mingle with folks outside of your top 8. It will do you good, it will do our country good. As I mentioned before, if you are reading this then you’re likely already fairly open minded but just remember, it can be a subtle and steady danger to ONLY communicate with the same inner sanctum of people that believe the exact same intricacies as you do. Communicate with lots of people, with lots of backgrounds. Diversify, and remember, communication is a dialogue not a monologue.

There are so many other things that can be done. These are just the first few that popped in my head.

Last thing and then I’m out. I do believe we will come out on the other side of this better than when we went in. The death of George Floyd is a tragedy and it is compounded by all of the previous tragedies that took place before him, regardless if they got publicity or not. But, look around, we are not sitting idly by.

When we all share the same voice and sing the same song, the mountains can be moved.

I would love to, in my lifetime, live in a country where every human felt safe, respected and appreciated. I would love to, in my lifetime, live in a nation where we celebrated all of our extensive differences. I would love to, in my lifetime, live in a land where the police were there to protect and the police were there serve. And I would love to, in my lifetime, have all humans feel truly equal. Change is coming. Or, to put it more correctly, change is upon us.

Sincerely,

Josh Scogin

“Your old road is rapidly agin'

Please get out of the new one

If you can't lend your hand

For the times they are a-changin' “

-Bob Dylan

[irarelypostanything]

Unnecessary Arguments - Presidential Election 2020

Person #1: Biden is going to win, and the nightmare is finally going to be over. We can finally get this country back on track

Person #2: ...to socialism, an unnecessary and seemingly never ending lockdown, and all the Obama policy Trump had worked to overturn

Person #1: Exactly, a return to normalcy. And no, Biden is not a socialist. Biden represents moderate democrats

Person #2: Before you know it, there won’t be a such thing as moderate democrats. Biden’s rhetoric has been bending to the will of Harris, who has voted with Bernie Sanders 93% of the time

Person #1: Oh, how horrible. A moderate democrat attempting to appeal to progressives like Bernie Sanders. It’s almost as if Americans were finally waking up to the fact that they had elected someone who was putting children in cages, denying climate change, fanning the flames of racial division, and consistently responding to every situation by saying and doing the worst possible thing a president could

Person #2: Actually, the polls were completely wrong because Americans DIDN’T reject Trump the way mainstream media claimed they would. No blue wave in the house. No blue wave in the senate. Biden hasn’t even won yet, but if he does it’s going to be an incredibly tight election. Why do you suppose that is?

Person #1: You know, I still remember the day in 2016 when Trump was elected. I took a deep breath and asked myself...is this really because people hate Hilary that much? Or is it because this country has become so completely lost, so utterly fked that it has chosen the worst human being imaginable to lead the country?

Person #2: Significant support among Latinos. Significant support among Black voters, Asian voters...the numbers haven’t gone down, they’ve increased. Why do you think this is happening?

Person #1: Enlighten me

Person #2: These are Americans who recognize the threat of socialism. These are Americans who left dictatorships to come to a country that stood for freedom. Now the democrats have used COVID-19 to turn this country into a police state...unless of course they were out protesting racial injustice, in which case everything was fine

Person #1: Did you just lump in Black voters? Yeah, their ancestors came to this country because they wanted more freedom

Person #2: Though they can’t be generalized, republicans tend to believe in freedom. The second amendment, for example, ensuring that we have the means to prevent a horrific communist dictatorship from rising to power like it has in so many other countries. The freedom to worship freely. The freedom to visit their dying loved ones, to come home this Christmas without worrying that their family gatherings will be broken up

Person #1: Trump does not believe in religious freedom, as he demonstrated in the Muslim Ban

Person #2: Travel Ban. It targeted the countries most likely to bring in terrorists, in fact it did not apply to countries that had more Muslims

Person #1: Muslim Ban, something he campaigned on and only pretended to go back on later when he realized how illegal his actions would have been. Visiting your dying loved ones? 236,000 Americans died because of COVID-19

Person #2: Right, and you’re acting like Trump personally assassinated every one of them. Look at the rest of the world...no one had a good plan for COVID

Person #1: Trump downplayed the threat, provided inconsistent directives, ignored health experts...Trump is responsible for how bad things got

Person #2: No, the Chinese government is responsible for intentionally suppressing critical information. Because that’s what they do

Person #1: You really love blaming China, don’t you?

Person #2: Yes, because they ARE to blame. They also pose a threat to us in military might, and Trump was providing the defense department and the military the resources they needed to address this threat.

Person #1: Yeah, it’s a good thing Trump has such overwhelming support from the military. Just ask Defense Secretary Mattis, or McCain’s family, or Colin Powell. Oh wait…

Peson #2: If you look behind the occasionally unwise rhetoric

Person #1: “occasionally unwise rhetoric”

Person #2: ...and just look at policy, Trump has been a fantastic president. He has removed restrictions and allowed our economy to thrive...until COVID-19, which no one had seen coming.

Person #1: According to numerous sources, Trump had

Person #2: ...Trump got us out of the disastrous Iran deal, which gave millions of dollars to - well, the enemy, really. Trump has championed policy for Christians and pro-life people. He has raised defense spending, stood by the police, brought back jobs, put republicans in the Supreme Court. Trump is for order, a thriving economy, and the half of this country that believes in its ideals, believes that it is the greatest country on Earth. Biden and the democrats are becoming increasingly radicalized and unwilling to accept any form of dissent. They want to tear these institutions down, rewrite history, take away our freedoms, and cancel anyone and anything that stands in their way

Person #1: I get it. You’re angry. You’ve been watching a lot of Fox News, and you believe that the democrats are universally against you. You’re a Christian, so you’ve elected a president who went on national television, said The Bible was his favorite book, and couldn’t name a single verse and said he likes the old and new testaments equally because he’s obviously never read it. You believe in the military, yet you’ve elected someone who mocks them. You believe in big business, so you’ve elected a corrupted individual who has had numerous bankruptcies and lawsuits made against him for openly unethical practices he has carried out. You believe the effects of climate change are exaggerated, so you elected someone who tweeted, and I quote, “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.” You believe in tightening border restrictions, so you’ve elected someone who used emergency defence funds to help build a wall that even the majority of republicans are against. I can understand the rationale behind some of your policy, even if I disagree, but this man you call a president is completely out of his mind. THAT’S why Biden is going to win

[enamouredsonder-blog]

So in the last week, I had to go away for a few days for work. It was actually a really pleasant trip. I had the opportunity to enjoy coastal Australia. I sat in a lovely restaurant eating my delicious breakfast of Torch-wood Mushrooms, Poached eggs and Polenta cakes whilst watching Whales breach in more shallow waters.

The picture above was taken by me at the stunning Middleton Beach in Albany. Pretty breathtaking really. I spent a good 20 minutes walking down that beach in the brisk cold. But I can tell you I enjoyed every minute of it. I love the ocean so much. But what I love the most is the calmness that it brings to me. Whenever I am near ocean waters I automatically feel at ease.

Apart from all of the stunning scenery and actually doing some work whilst I was away. Something else managed to happen. Whilst on my way travelling down, I received a message from a Tinder match. Given network coverage and driving laws, I waited till I had reached my destination before replying.  It turned out the match appeared to be fairly communicable, which ensured further conversation.

Actually the conversation was so good that the Individual ... who for the purposes of confidentiality I will call Colin, decided to call me. It seemed like a good conversation at the time. Colin was very easy to chat to, created exceptional amounts of banter and seemed to want more than just a one night stand. (My aim is to avoid these as much as I can, I will discuss this more in another post).

When I got off the phone that night, I may have been a little Tipsy from delicious local wine, but I kind of felt hopeful, that maybe this time I could get past the first date goal post. When I awoke in the morning, Colin had messaged me a courteous good morning message, and I replied graciously. A few "How’s your day" messages were reciprocated to each other for the remainder of the day.

It reached the later afternoon, and my work for the day was complete, I was shooting off a few last minute emails, when Colin called me. The regular what did your day entail? Conversation was had, followed by more witty banter.  We both decided that despite the potential of the both of us being incredibly tired as a result work; we would aim to catch up for a date the following evening. Towards the end of the phone conversation Colin asked me to send him a picture of me (A general one). I attempted to say no, on account of being very tired and in a casual state of no makeup and messy tied back hair. At this point in time Colin had seen pictures of me with makeup and with and without coloured contact lenses, and also dressed semi casual. Regardless of my hesitation to send a non glamour portrait of myself, I went against my better judgement and took a very average selfie and sent it away. What a mistake that was. Colin seemed to think I looked completely different. I did try and forewarn him, but I guess that was not enough.  I then had to send some other pictures of myself from previous occasions in a semi casual state. It was damage control.

Putting all that aside, I went off to dinner, only to make myself feel bad for indulging in a carbohydrate heavy meal, inducing a "Carb Coma". Sometimes you just need to eat pasta. Upon return to my temporary abode, I called Colin as had been the plan. He didn't sound as enthused as the previous two conversations. The witty banter from before was not so present, and I wasn't quite sure when this left things. But we both en devoured to continue talking. The focus of the conversation had changed from the night before. I was even presently trying to firmly trying to communicate my want for a more long term and meaningful arrangement and Colin although stating he was on the same page seemed to be testing the waters on if a more casual encounter occurred. The plan to go out for a drink had turned into lets just hang out at home (the ever so present "Netflix and Chill' scenario. I protested the idea, and we decided to see how we both felt.

I could go on in detail and tell you all the laborious details of the date, but I am going to cut the chase, so I can actually talk about the main point of this post. A date was had, and it did end with Colin wanting to pursue a more physical and sexual ending. How could I be surprised, its generally how most dates end, these days. And how glad I am that I decided to leave before things reached a level of instant physical gratification. It would have been easy to go there. Colin was attractive enough. Not my normal type, but physically appealing in his own kind of way . But it wasn't the point, he knew it wasn't what I wanted and made a pretty dismal effort into avoiding it. The date ended awkwardly, with me trying to scurry away after things had ended hot and heavy, and me strongly confirming my want for it to not progress any further. It would be okay if that was it. But no. It's what follows that messes with your head even more.

I got home, knowing that was the end of that. But then Colin randomly messaged me a sleeping Bitstrip cartoon. Odd but maybe a small attempt at letting me know there was still room for communication. I had to reply with an equally lame message, communicating my desire to go to sleep. The next day was busy for me, but the realisation on how the previous night had ended had me wondering where exactly did i stand now? I wasn't sure if i even liked Colin, He was odd, maybe even a little socially awkward for me, but he messaged me before going to bed, so did that mean he was still interested in me?

Roll on 7pm that evening and Colin messages me asking me how my day was? A pretty evident gesture, that he was still interested perhaps. I waited half an hour before replying (I didn't want to seem too keen). Then there was nothing!!! I waited a full 24 hours before feeling exceptionally confused. Why message me if your not going to reply? Sure we all get busy. But so busy that you cant reply to one message, of someone you messaged in the first place. Would you message a friend ask them how their day was, only to actually not care. What shit is that ?

I waited till lunch time the next day, and in that time had realised that Colin was never a good match for me. Personality wise we were too different. My want to make things work probably blinded by capacity to see that we actually wanted different things. It was time to put this to bed. So being the transparent person that I am, i bit the bullet and sent a message saying that things had gotten weird, and perhaps I wasn't miss right, but i wish him luck in finding her. Funny how I got a pretty instant reply saying He wanted to message but was too busy and wasn't looking for something long term. Okay mate, why didn't you say that 2 days ago and save us both the hassle. Oh that's right you were taking you chances to see if you would get lucky in the bedroom, because you already knew I was never going to be the girl that you settle down with.

Guys these days seem to avoid responding to anything or owning anything. Maybe we have to move away from the time of "if I say anything he will think I am a psycho". We are all adults dating. How did it get to stage if it doesn't work, we ignore each other rather than acknowledging it, or we "hook up" because that fills one void, while only placing a band aid over the other. But it’s okay, right? You knew what this was.

[dippedanddripped]

On Nov. 4, 2016, less than a week before the Election Day showdown between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, Supreme took to Instagram to encourage their followers to vote. “This might be the most important decision of your life, make it count. Go Vote Tuesday, November 8th,” the caption read, underneath a photo of skater Sage Elsesser holding an “I Voted” sticker, flanked by his cohorts Tino Razo, Jason Dill and Bianca Chandon designer Alex Olson. The text also included two telling hashtags—#imwithher and #fucktrump—that pinpointed the exact political allegiances of the legendary New York skate brand.

As noted in press coverage at the time, this was the first instance of Supreme endorsing a political candidate, although it wasn’t the first time the brand had waded into politics—in 2005, for example, they memorably released a batch of stickers that read “Fuck Bush” in the typeface of their famous box logo.

As far as political statements go, the Instagram photo and caption weren’t especially nuanced; they didn’t even mention Clinton by name. But, what Supreme did accomplish was tell their customers and fans exactly where they stood politically, a disclosure that, according to some, is becoming more and more important to shoppers in the current political climate.

“Consumers are actively looking for brands that share their values,” Celine Semaan says. The founder of socially conscious clothing and accessories label Slow Factory—you may have recently caught Selena Gomez wearing the brand’s “We The People” necklace, created to benefit the ACLU—Semaan is an outspoken proponent of fashion activism. “There is an urgency in brands to be more engaged in politics,” she says, noting that the traditionally safe practice of remaining silent for fear of alienating customers who vote with their wallets is no longer a viable option for any brand, including those in the fashion space. “We need to have a serious commitment from brands to embrace their power and leverage their audience to raise awareness, empower, and support change,” she says.

Streetwear industry veteran Bobby Hundreds has regularly used social media to call for similar action. “I think it’s risky to not speak to truth,” he tells Complex. “The most effective brands channel the people behind the label and their perspective. If you’re quiet in this climate, you appear disingenuous or sycophantic. Thirsty. And I guarantee that it will backfire. Whether today or in the future, your silence will speak volumes to the marketplace.”

A recent survey conducted by public relations firm Edelman lends credence to his claim, confirming that 57 percent of global shoppers say they buy from or boycott brands based on the brand’s stated political stance.

Semaan believes that in the realm of fashion, streetwear brands are inherently well-positioned to speak up. “Streetwear has always been avant-garde in fashion, as it has always been able to grasp the energy and the movement the youth was bringing forward,” she explains. The category has a legacy of social activism, dating back to examples like PNB Nation’s “Intention and Deed” T-shirt commemorating the Black Panther Movement or Freshjive taking on police brutality, or the retailer Digital Gravel supporting brands unafraid to make bold political statements. “Historically, streetwear was founded on the principles of response,” Hundreds explains. “Like most subcultures, the artists and designers who pioneered streetwear were outspoken and sought change. Streetwear, especially, is a political statement.”

Protest T-shirts, in general, date back even further than what we now know as streetwear. “We saw a surge in political statements on tees during turbulent times like the Vietnam War and the Cold War era,” Scott Tepper, founder of the Los Angeles brand Ignored Prayers, says. “We are currently living in one of these times.”

James Bond, co-founder of L.A.’s Undefeated, agrees with that characterization of our present era. “If you really look at streetwear as a culture, it’s under attack from the police, politicians, and the right,” he says. “As a culture, we need to educate and inform each other when we can.”

As such, politically-tinged streetwear is easy to find. For spring, Supreme released pins that said “Fuck the President,” a T-shirt just after the election that encouraged wearers to fight racism and sexism, and pieces that honored former President Obama. Tepper’s Ignored Prayers created a “Nuclear Summer” tee last month, warning of World War III. Nike publicly disavowed President Trump’s Muslim travel ban and his withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord. After Trump told French First Lady Brigitte Macron that she was “in great shape,” Reebok released a flowchart explaining why the comment was inappropriate. The all-female Bronx skate team Brujas designed a streetwear capsule collection advocating for prison reform, London’s HypePeace flipped the Palace logo into a pro-Palestine hoodie, and everyone from Brain Dead toBianca Chandon has denounced Trump on social media. Bobby Hundreds tweeted a call to arms for streetwear designers to incorporate their anger about the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, VA last month into their designs, then provideddownloadable, hi-res artwork to encourage DIY-minded activists to make their own anti-Trump and anti-Nazi garb. Undefeated added a mural of Colin Kaepernickkneeling during the National Anthem to their L.A. store on La Brea Avenue.

“Colin K. used his platform to speak his voice, and we will continue to use our platform to inform and inspire change,” Bond says. “Ironically, we have a diverse consumer, so it's great to see them come in and be inspired or shook by our visual protest [that] forces them to think how they want to participate.”

Perhaps no one more fully embraces the platform streetwear designers occupy than Brendon Babenzien, founder of the clothing line Noah. In addition to making an effort to run a transparent business by critiquing his own packaging or explaining, dollar for dollar, why certain pieces he designs cost what they do, Babenzien frequently takes to his blog to advocate for a wide spectrum of timely concerns, fromtransgender rights to environmental consciousness. He often does so with pointed criticism aimed at the current administration. Noah has released Black Lives Matter T-shirts with proceeds donated to the cause and a “Human Rights”-themed capsule collection. After Charlottesville, Babenzien revisited the Human Rights product and introduced a sticker, sales of which benefitted the ACLU. He also temporarily shut down the Noah e-commerce site, replacing it with a looped recording of the Dead Kennedy’s “Nazi Punks Fuck Off.” Prior to the election, he offered to give full refunds to any customers who are also Trump supporters. It’s impossible to speculate how much potential business Babenzien lost by rejecting passengers on the Trump Train, but it’s safe to say he places his principles ahead of right-wing dollars, at least.

A representative for Noah said Babenzien was traveling this month and unavailable for comment; he did not respond to a request sent to his personal email. Last year, he told Highsnobiety that he has modest expectations for the effects of his work. “We’re pretty small, so we’re not changing the game with the money we raised,” he told the site in an email. “But the debate might have some small impact. Our approach to everything is brick by brick.”

Our President himself, it should be noted, is among those who’ve harnessed the power of fashion activism. Last November, Bobby Hundreds observed that Trump’s red Make America Great Again hats—ubiquitous among his base before the election and since—take a page from a familiar handbook when he tweeted that “Trump is basically starting a streetwear brand now.”

MAGA hats are but one example of how the same medium can be used by opposing sides of the political spectrum and those with any number of motives—which includes, inevitably, brands simply looking to cash in on a movement. “For some, I call bullshit,” Tepper says. “For some, the formula is purely about generating dollars, and that is ok.”

Semaan is confident that an emboldened and educated consumer will be able to see opportunists for what they are. She cites examples from other industries, like the backlash against Kendall Jenner’s ill-advised, protest-themed Pepsi commercial. “Brands looking to jump on the activist wagon because of hype and trend will be exposed,” she says. “Their customers are 10 times smarter than their marketing consultants and will find out if the brand is just trying to gain profit.”

It’s unclear what the end result would look like if we had an economy in which every company adopted the uninhibited activist stance taken by streetwear brands like Noah. For what it’s worth, according to the same Edelman study, 51 percent of consumers worldwide report that they believe brands are better suited than governments to solve social problems. “It would be a wasted opportunity not to take advantage of the medium we have at hand,” says Tepper of streetwear brands. “At the very least, make something to stir up a conversation.”

Semaan would like to see streetwear labels go even further. “I challenge them to think of ways to create a positive impact with the sales of their items,” she says. “It goes beyond the statement T-shirts.”

Adds Hundreds, “Last I checked, ideas carry much more impact in the universe than cotton T-shirts. They certainly last longer.”

[newagesispage]

                                                                        JULY              2020

PAGE RIB

Tammy Duckworth or Stacey Abrams for VP PLEASE!!!!! Thus is one of the most important Vice Presidential picks ever. Since Biden was not the first choice for a lot of people, I think many want to see if at least he will make good choices for the slots he must fill around him.** Shut up Klobuchar, nobody was going to make you VP, why do U need more spotlight?

*****

Hooray for the LBGTQ community! The Supreme Court has ruled that a human can’t be fired because of sexual orientation or gender identity.** On the down side, the Trump administration overturned protections for transgender people against sex discrimination in health care. It now defines gender as a person’s biological sex.**Also, Single sex homeless shelters can turn away our trans friends. ** The Supreme Court also ruled that Trump is blocked from ending Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival.** Another court ruling struck down the Louisiana law that had never really went into effect.  The rule was to make Dr.’s register with hospitals. Next up: The Court is taking on the issue of Trump’s tax returns.

*****

You have to check out Kubrick.life. It is fab!!

*****

The reason there’s never been a Rolling Stones musical is that it’s so hard to find a casting director without sin. –Gary Delaney

*****

Native Americans are set to protest Trump’s visit to Mt. Rushmore for the 4th.

*****

AP Bio is moving to Peacock.

*****

Great to see Search Party back for season 3 now on HBO max.

*****

The Brockmire jacket is on display now at the Baseball Hall of Fame.

*****

Hooray for Pete Davidson and his basement living. Times have changed and families are living together again, often because financially, they have no choice. ** Pete and Colin Jost will star in worst man.** Jost also has a memoir, A very Punchable Face, on the way. He will also star in a live action/animated Tom and Jerry.

*****

Days alert: I think Brady is beyond redemption. ** I am always so glad when Lucas or Wilhelm come back!!!!!** Jack and Jen need a story! **I hope Sarah gets over her shit and runs to Xander before he starts acting like a thug again.** Marci Miller is on the way back. ** The Daytime Emmy’s were held on June 26. There were wins for Ellen, The View, Heather Tom and Sesame Street.  Days did not fare too well this year but did honor Olivia Rose Keegan. ** So glad to some returns for Eli’s wedding!!!

*****

Can’t wait for the film, Never too late. The Michael Lembeck directed project stars Ellen Burstyn, James Caan, Ann-Margret, Jane Curtin, Loretta Devine, Christopher Lloyd and French Stewart.

*****

Other Countries are starting to ban us from travel in theirs because of our rampant covid-19.** The WH wants to end Federal funding for testing and research in parts of the country.** 1.4 billion in taxpayer $ went to aid dead people since the Government did not check death records.** Kid Rock’s bar had their liquor license revoked for covid-19 violations.** There are so many spoiled rotten Americans who seem to care nothing for the safety of others and only their own “rights.” People are dying, how long do we ignore the crazy people?? Can we stop harassing law abiding minorities and protestors and start arresting those that refuse to wear a mask? Thank you to the Governors, like JB Pritzker who have been level headed and kept us safe

*****

I am so looking forward to I’ll be gone in the dark. We miss you Michelle McNamara..

*****

Ozark will come back for a 4th and final season!!!!!

*****

“Shaming doesn’t lead to learning.” –Willow Smith

*****

I wanna see a buddy movie with Amy Sedaris and Amber Ruffin!!! Wouldn’t that be delightful?? They could be besties running a shop or estranged sisters or long lost cousins. I just think they would have great chemistry.** At least we can look forward to the Amber Ruffin show which has been in the works for a year, coming to Peacock!

*****

The RNC had not updated its platform since 2016. Their site said “the current administration has abandoned American friends and rewarded its enemies.”** The much touted Oklahoma rally was a complete dud. Word is that campaign manager Brad Parscale and Jared are getting most of the blame. They and the secret service are reportedly in quarantine now. Next, Mr. Brilliant was off to the equally intelligent Dream City Church in Arizona. The mega church said that they had installed an air filtration system that kills 99,9 % of the Corona virus in 10 minutes.  Their FB page soon took that statement down. **  “Still the most believable thing that’s ever been said in a mega church.” –Stephen Colbert. The administration uses the lag time between exposure and test results. By the time these crowds of people may start to test positive, Trump will have moved on and take no blame. ** It seems all that has been accomplished since Scary Clown 45 took office is angst. From reporters to Doctors to politicians to the public there have been disagreements and turmoil. Behind the scenes, however, the agendas being pushed thru are trampling all over our rights.

*****

The Government has purged 174 thousand fake accounts that originated in China.

*****

Studies show that cop shows make us believe that police are mostly good and mostly break the rules only for really bad perps. 21% of the public interact with police on a regular basis. Can we not separate fact from fiction?

*****

Paul McCartney is pretty pissed at the Italian government after they gave no refunds to fans for a cancelled concert. ** A story that turned out to be a non-story is Penny Lane. Someone wrote ‘racist’ above the famous Penny Lane sign because they thought the street was named for slave trader James Penny. It turns out that this had been researched before and this is not a true story .  The street was originally Pennies street and had no connection.

*****

Jimmy Kimmel is taking a couple of months off.  Guest hosts will pop up in July. He has had some backlash from old blackface controversy and some questionable interviews.

*****

What we’ve seen now is how fragile a democracy is. –Sherilyn Ifill

*****

70% of companies have cancelled internships. The rich have gotten a lot richer.

*****

Hooray for the young! Many are volunteering for the Corona virus trials in which they will have to be given the virus.** What a wonderful world it would be if we could all get along and play fair and help each other. Why do some so hate that idea?

*****

Army for Trump.com???? Did he get this idea from Gene Simmons????** People are starving, there is unrest in the streets, protesters beaten, racial inequality, over 110thousand dead to a virus and Trump wants a military parade for the 4th of July??? WTF?? The people of Washington are not too happy as they ponder the weight of tanks ruining their streets.

*****

Why does Trump talk of his love of Police and yet in Dallas he did not have the Police Chief, the Sheriff or the DA at his event?

*****

The Senate armed services committee has adopted an amendment to remove the names of confederate General from military assets within 3 years. ** Traitors statues are being removed. Will the faces of slave owners on currency be next???** Princeton is taking Woodrow Wilson’s name off of the school. ** Why do we even have to take flags, statues and imagery from Naval ships and the halls of our Government buildings?? They should have been removed long ago.** We do not live in a country to which Braxton Bragg, Henry L. Benning or Robert E. Lee can serve as an inspiration. –Gen. David Patraeus**Perhaps Scary Clown could just be President of the Confederacy since they seem to want it miss it. Is it time to secede and this time, just let them go??** Free speech is very important in this country and those who want confederate flags on personal property should be able to. It is good to know who the traitors are. Things do not change, from parading the possible communists to Japanese internment to Native Americans to the Irish, the Jewish, to Black lives matter. The uninformed, the bully’s and the haters just seem to need someone to blame for their problems.

*****

Dolly Parton and Nina West will sell products which declare, “Kindness is Queen.”  The sales will fund Imagination Library and Nina West foundation.

*****

This month in “alleged” creep news : Actor Danny Masterson has been charged with 3 counts of rape.** Chris D’Elia is accused of sexual harassment and grooming under aged women. **Justin Beiber is accused of sexual assault from 2014.** Ron Jeremy has been charged with the rape of 3 women and sexually assaulting another. His bail is 6.6 mil.** Mythbuster’s host Adam Savage has had a lawsuit filed against him by his sister, Miranda Pacchiana for sexual abuse.** The Weinstein global settlement is 46.7 mil.

*****

There is word that they may replace Tennessee’s statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest with Dolly Parton. That is pretty good thinking!!

*****

Don’t worry about those confederate statues being torn down. They’re getting what they always wanted: Out of America.** I think the statues of the white European they claim is Jesus should also come down.  They are a form of white supremacy. –Shaun King

*****

Slavery is still legal by way of the industrial prison complex and privatized prison systems. –Wolfe the Chef

*****

Trump has a half billion in loans coming due. –Mother Jones

*****

Perhaps Trump thinks between, the protests, the Covid and the cop killings, many of those against him will just die off. Moscow Mitch and the boys are right there with him. Bill Maher would call it the red wall of silence. Next up to kill us off: the draft?

*****

The Senate armed services committee has adopted an amendment to remove the names of Confederate Generals from military assets within 3 years.

*****

Trump signs executive order renaming the Pearl Harbor memorial, ‘Fort Yamamto.’ –Danny Zuker

*****

Asst. Secretary of State for legislative affairs, Mary Elizabeth Taylor is out.

*****

Let us never forget the name Darnella Frasier, the 17 year old girl who took video of George Floyd’s murder.

*****

Hollywood never told us that 1 in 3 cowboys back in the day were black. Legend has it that the Lone Ranger was based on one of those very cowboys by the name of Bass Reeves.

*****

Nascar has banned the confederate flag from events thanks to Bubba Wallace, the first black driver in 50 years to win one of the top 3 National touring series.  He has introduced his new #43 Chevy which  states Black Lives Matter with  black and white fists clasped with the caption, “Compassion, love and understanding.” Fans were asked in 2015 to stop with the flag but many ignored the request. Driver Ray Ciccarelli says that he will leave at the end of the season.  Kyle Larson was suspended from Nascar and fired by his team for a racial slur during a streaming event. Kyle Weatherman unveiled a blue lives matter flag car with the slogan “Back the Blue.”** Why was taking a knee so bad? The NFL says they made a mistake. This country is so slow to change which is why we must keep the pressure on.  To focus on punishment after and not prevention of these crimes is a huge mistake.** The June 21 race was delayed for rain but it will be remembered for the plane that flew overhead with a confederate flag that declared ‘Defund Nascar’ and a noose that was found in the garage stall of Bubba Wallace. The next day at the postponed race, the other drivers walked Wallace to the front. It was something to see.  Mike Skinner’s son, Dustin wrote, “My hat is off to who put the noose at his car. I wish they would of tied it to him and drug him around the pits.” **The next day the FBI declared that the noose was just a garage pull that had been there for months. WTF???? The right has gone crazy with clever turns of phrase like, ‘fake noose.’ Was it an honest mistake?  I suppose these things can happen when everybody gets jumpy . The crew member that found it asked others what they thought so it wasn’t lie they jumped to conclusions. It was Talladega that should have known. Mike Skinner’s son,

*****

Trump began his term promising to build a wall to protect America from the world. He ends it building a wall to protect himself from Americans. – Nick Confessore

*****

The Dems are happy to let Biden stay safe at home. Journalist Jonathon Lemore mentioned that with all the polls, mishandlings and faux pas from Trump, he may want to change the nickname he has given from sleepy Joe to President –elect Joe. Not so fast, we know the die-hards will not give up even in this ‘Trump fatigue’ slide, but voting is happening in record numbers.

*****

A judge has ruled that children must be released from the detention centers after 20 days.

*****

It has been reported that Scary Clown found out in March that Russia offered Afgan militants bounties to kill US troops. Once a traitor, always a traitor. Of course he supports confederate traitors.

*****

The Georgia Secretary of State spent $400thousand on a commercial. He wanted to pat himself on the back for buying new voting machines.**The Republican party is reportedly spending $20 million to hire people to intimidate voters that they call ‘pollwatchers.’

*****

Blue Apron will close facilities on Election day and give employees a paid day off. Anybody else wanna step up?

*****

Raven Symone married Miranda Maday.

*****

Michelle Williams and hubby Thomas Kail had a baby.

*****

There are no good cops as long as there are bad cops.** With all the insanity, Marianne Williamson sounds pretty good right now.

*****

If you have not seen this Trump coloring book that sells for $20, it is something to see. He looks like a super hero which seems like just one more step to dictator.

*****

AG Barr told the US attorney for the Southern District of NY, Richard Berman that he was stepping down but he refused.  Barr then said that Trump was removing him. Trump says he has nothing to do with it. Have we ever heard of a bigger coward?

*****

I suppose it is too much to ask but I hope the people who still don’t get what is going on in this country will pay attention and at least try to understand. There are such intelligent points being made and we need to listen. I will share many of those with you. U may have seen a lot of these for yourself but I wanted to highlight some wonderful words.  Slavery, minimum wage, payday loans, can you blame the few looters? Some may be protesters but most are profiteers . Corporate America does not keep a lot of their promises so many feel they have no deal with these people. Most of the protests are peaceful so leave them alone. When the police go after innocent people who assemble, they prove the point that the force is out of control.  It is time to demilitarize and defund the police. Changing policy is nice and all but there are still many cases and those officers remain on the job. ** The protests are about a lot more than George Floyd.** Is this true that some police are covering their badge numbers and names?? Why wouldn’t a person want to serve and protect instead of being so covert? They are proving the point of the protests.

*****

It’s Boogaloo, not Antifa.

*****

James Bodenstedt, CEO of Muy who has stake in many Wendy’s, Taco Bell and Pizza Huts has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Trump campaign. ** Defund Tucker Carlson, let’s keep an eye on all who advertise on FOX and boycott those. Disney and T mobile have pulled out. I cannot believe Disney was showing ads on there anyway but they claim that it was some 3rd party ad buyer and they did not know. In return, Tucker is telling his listeners about the nasty companies that support Black Lives Matter. ** Why have so many of the Fox employees and their frequent guests been arrested?** I suppose many republicans are quite happy that the Federal government is doing next to nothing to help its citizens. They often scream that they do not want the government involved and we should all be on our own.

*****

Oh Joy, to wake up and see that The Politician S2 was up! Woo Hoo!! I saw a review in the Reporter that stated , ”Nor does it have anything vaguely insightful to say.”  Well I enjoyed it , mostly due to the wonderful Bette Midler, Judith Light, Joe Morton and the fashion!! Not everything needs a message. There is some outright preaching and a few clever lessons here though.  The last episode could have been better but the line about the older generation and game theory really hit home. Not only do older generations think different, we were taught different. Computers can confound them, gaming can confuse them. Of course, this does not include everyone. But it does seem that the logic we use is just different.  As far as season 2 though, sometimes you just want to watch something delicious and ornery FUN!!

*****

Givers beware: Many have been finding out that when they donate to the Black Lives Matter Foundation, it is not the Black Lives Matter movement. Do your research!

*****

I saw a point from a talking head that answered the question of why do blacks keep killing each other? She wondered if people have seen the ID channel which is whites killing each other every day. There seems much plotting and hiding on these shows and somehow they get away with it for so long. I myself have seen much violence in my own family.

*****

North Carolina would not let the RNC hold its big night there because of restrictions. West Virginia Gov. Justice welcomed Trump to have it the convention there and in fact invited any President there but not Obama. Scary Clown went with Florida.** A white hate group opened a FB page to pose as ANTIFA.

*****

Scary clown 45 can’t legally employ army against citizens. He declared a dictatorship. –John Cusack** Never forget: Posse Camatatis: The President can’t use the military as his own posse. The insurrection act is the exception if there is an ongoing problem and the Governor has to invite them in.** It is confusing in D.C. for there are secret service, local and Federal all vying for jurisdiction. There is also the ‘correctional police force.’ The AG is combining multiple forces like the DEA, military police, prison and National Guard. Huh? It is time to make D.C. a state. ** After his big show of force for his Bible day, he sent most military leaders back to their home bases.** General Milley has apologized for being a part of the photo op.

*****

Intel reports show that Russia is so happy with their plan to destroy us from within. It has worked like a charm!** Many in China are saying that Trump is a godsend because he is ruining the rep of the U.S.** It is quite sad to hear leaders and journalists from around the world reporting that America’s time has passed and is no longer a super power.

*****

He desecrates the Bible. He desecrates a Christian church and he desecrates the Presidency. Shame. –James J. Zogby** The Episcopal Bishop of DC who oversees the DC church that the President stopped at to hold up his book, was outraged. Neither she nor the rector was asked or told that they would be clearing peaceful protesters with force and smoke bombs or that one of their churches would be used as a prop. ** A truly sacrilegious use of the Bible to bless a brutal stunt. –Michael Gerson, GW Bush speechwriter

*****

Trump has asked CNN to apologize for a poll that claimed that Biden was winning. Fox had a similar poll so WTF?

*****

Oh no, I see that Loews gave 25 mil to help minority owned business’s while Home Depot gave 7 mil to Trump. I have my own issues with service at Loews in the past and good things to say about the Depot. Thus does make one think.

*****

White supremacists and racist terrorists pose a greater risk of violence. –FBI

*****

Judge Jed S. Rakoff has declared ICE’s policy of courthouse arrests to be illegal.

*****

He who is reluctant to recognize me opposes me. –Frantz Fanon

*****

ABC senior executive Barbara Fedida is on administrative leave after allegations of racial remarks and insensitive comments.

*****

Kristen Wiig and Ari Rothman had twins.

*****

The Hollywood walk of fame is adding Kelly Clarkson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dom McLean, Zac Efron, Shia LaBeouf, Missy Elliott, Luciano Pavarotti and August Wilson.

*****

Holland Taylor and PBS have brought us Ann. The Tony nominated play is about Governor Ann Richards.

*****

North Korea has recently added enough material for 20 more nukes. While we are distracted, Kim Yo-Jung, Un’s sister had come front and center. She has said, it’s time “to break ties with South Korea.”

*****

Employees had told me that Costco samples were a thing of the past but it looks like they are coming back.

*****

A new book about Melania, which she calls fiction is here. There are many stories inside like how Ivanka calls her step mother, The portrait because she never smiles. ** A Trump niece, Mary L. Trump has also written a tell all. The courts have it held up at the moment. ** A judge denied an injunction to block Bolton’s book. Did he think he would be a savior because he says he is telling the truth NOW?

*****

A judge had to order Mnuchin to give $679 mil in emergency covid-19 relief funds to Native tribes.** Be aware- Covid tests are free but they sometimes test for flus first and they are not always covered. This happened to Katie Porter.

*****

“There isn’t a coronavirus second wave.”- Mike Pence. This is also a man who once wrote ,”smoking doesn’t kill.”

*****

Save the Merit System Protection Bureau!!  The backlog gets bigger and bigger and will cost the taxpayers more and more.

*****

The U.S. now faces allegations of human rights abuse because of treatment of protesters.** Private jet companies got $300 million in bailout $. What about small business?** Bullfighters in Spain have asked for Government help since they can’t kill their bulls.

*****

It is such a shame that George P. Bush (who I once thought could steer the Republican Party back) is solidly in the Trump camp. Yikes!!

*****

Doug Mills won the WH correspondents Association photo of the year for the Pelosi clap pic from the State of the Union.

*****

The ACLU has filed suit against Minnesota police for ‘targeting’ journalists.

*****

How can the black community dismantle a problem they did not create? – James Corden

*****

Mississippi voted to remove the confederate emblem from the state flag.

*****

I swear if I ever hear Stephen Colbert talk about his hair again, I will scream!! The rest of us need haircuts too.  I wish he would stop whining about it before he turns to the “dark times” of the day. But hugs for Colbert though for his Bolton interview. It is pretty sad when a comic minded talk show host digs deeper in an interview than the news pundits. The jack ass needs to be called out cuz his arguments are ridiculous.  ** Oh no, Since I wrote this, Seth Meyers has now bitched twice about his hair.** They are teaching the thoughts of Trevor Noah in classes now. And BTW when will we have more diverse late night hosts?

*****

Hooray for John Cusack, Elizabeth Warren, Madonna, Tammy Duckworth, Dick Durbin,  J.B. Pritzker and Mitt Romney for coming out to march. More of that!!

*****

There is word that an old sketch from David Cross and Bob Odenkirk is being pulled. I am not sure that what they were doing was understood. There are many shows taking out the blackface scenes such as Scrubs and 30 Rock.

*****

I just keep seeing the scene in my head from The Wall: “UP against the wall.”** It is simple, I always think, half of this country just has a completely different idea of what America is or should be than the other half.** And what kind of number did Trump’s parents and Roy Cohn do on him? He really has this thing about weakness.** Why was Trump allowed to visit a swab production plant without a mask? They had to throw away the days production. President does not mean ruler.** Trumpism is that state of having insane racist moron candidates running for offices that they’re completely unqualified for is alive and well. – Molly Jong-Fast

*****

Hurry up Fall so we can see The Trial of the Chicago 7 with Eddie Redmayne, Sasha Baron Cohen, Joseph Gordon- Levitt, Frank Langella, Jeremy Strong, John Carroll Lynch, Yahya Abdul- Mateen II, Mark Rylance and Michael Keaton.

*****

HBO Max has pulled Gone with the Wind and sales skyrocketed. Hattie McDaniel won an Oscar but was seated separately at the event. It is now back with a discussion.

*****

How many broken or new machines or outlets that don’t work do we have to put up with before we strictly go to PAPER ballots?? I get so tired of writing this. I am all for states running their elections but this is ridiculous. In the elections that I have worked, the only real problems were with machines!!!!!!!!!!

*****

Planet of the Humans was banned for a time it now it is back. Don’t they get that it only makes people want to see it more?

*****

The DOJ filed a civil action against Bolton to stop his book but it did not work,  It is chock full of info that would have come in handy months ago.** This whole administration is one big reality show, move in, move on and make $ out of it. They have no shame!

*****

No one is ever a victim, although your conquerors would have you believe in your own victimhood. How else could they conquer you? –Barbara Marciniak

*****

R.I.P. more Covid victims, Bonnie Pointer, Christo, Joanne Lara, Robert Fuller, Michael Daly, Rayshard Brooks, Victoria Sims, Oluwatoyin Salau, Sirlan Holm, Jean Kennedy Smith, Dame Vera Lynn,  Keith Blocker, Mary J. Wilson, Joel Schumacher, Steve Bing, Mexico city earthquake victims,  covid victims, Stuart Cornfeld, Lucius J. Barker and Carl Reiner.

[crookedmediatranscripts]

Pod Save America - Facebook Live

2017.09.27 (0:31:24)

“We’re live taking your questions! Please do what you can to help Puerto Rico, visit globalgiving.org”

TV: Hello, Facebook.

JL: Hey, guys. We’re doing a Q&A.

TV: It’s the guys from Crooked Media. We’re gonna do a little Q&A. We’re gonna try to do this weekly. Hold us to it. If we don’t do it, tweet at Jon Favreau and ask him why.

JL: We’ll do it if we want.

TV: I wanna start with the really big news, Lovett.

JL: Okay.

TV: That the Scaramucci post released a web video. They’re gonna have everything in moderation, including moderation, he said.

JL: Anthony Scaramucci is such a pathetic figure and I just- it- it also speaks to, like, the broken culture inside of finance that he was a respected, or a semi-respectable, figure for such a long time.

TV: [laughs] Yeah.

JL: Because he is such a, kind of just- thirsty mediocrity it’s out of control. I just- I like-

TV: Very true.

JL: I mean, man. That, you know, that guy is exposed.

TV: Yeah, he is terrible. In real news, the big- the big story of the day is Puerto Rico. The first thing we should say is if you wanna donate then you should donate because it is a disaster that I think is beyond comprehension. Go to globalgiving.org. You can donate there. We’ll put up some more organizations that are doing great work in Puerto Rico. We’ll tweet them out. But one of the first questions we had was- people wanna know about the Jones Act. Is there a solid reason not to waive it for emergency response, or this decision nonsense as usual per this administration?

JL: Tommy, what is the Jones Act? [Laughs]

TV: The Jones Act, otherwise known as the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, requires goods shipped between American ports to be carried out exclusively by ships built in the U.S. This is a very dated law.

JL: That’s weird. 1920s protectionism, did it cause any problems?

TV: Yeah, I mean the idea behind the law at the time was to ensure that we had enough boats and the U.S. had a big enough maritime fleet to take care of whatever it needed to do. In this instance, it is insane that we would- that we would not waive the Jones Act. Like, whether or not there are foreign ships waiting to take supplies to Puerto Rico, to fight this is nonsensical from the Trump administration. They waived it in past hurricanes. John McCain is calling on them to waive it. Like, I can’t understand their obstinance here.

JL: I don’t know. It might be that the people in Puerto Rico are not the correct color.

TV: Yeah, I mean I think this does go back to a problem we talked about early on which is, when you have a couple of these disasters in a row, you do have a limited bandwidth to, like, make decisions and execute on a response effort. I mean, I remember when- after the earthquake in Haiti, it was all consuming for months. And that was a foreign country. But we, I mean, we had people from the White House, myself included, we flew down there. Alyssa was down there too, like living on the ground for 4 or 5 days trying to coordinate things. Dennis McDonough went down there. Tens of thousands of U.S. Marines and Coast Guard – Coasties -- were there, like doing relief. It is- it’s a- problems like this are never done. There’s always gonna be something else and you need to have a President that’s like- that’s focused on it all the time. And he’s just clearly not.

JL: No, he doesn’t- I mean, we don’t know- like, you know. Clearly more is going on behind the scenes than what Trump is saying publicly. L

TV: Right.

JL: Like, for whatever reason -- well, for some obvious reasons -- Trump does not care about getting credit for helping Puerto Rico. He’s not doing as much as he should. It doesn’t seem like they’re doing nothing. I mean they’re totally ignoring it. His Twitter feed is not totally instructive about what’s going on. But still, like it’s a massive humanitarian crisis affecting millions of Americans and it’s not getting the attention it deserves.

TV: And things are just happening slowly. Like there’s a navy ship called The Comfort, which is a- essentially a floating hospital. And it is one of the- first of all, like, the ship itself is incredible. You can perform operations, you can care for hundreds and hundreds of people at a time. It’s also a symbol. Like this massive ship steams into a port and it says, “America is here.” In this case it would be “America is in America” because Puerto Rico is an American territory. But it says like, “We’re here and we’re ready to help.” And they waited days and days. Hillary Clinton was tweeting at them, like please deploy the Comfort.

JL: Right, it’s a big white ship with a red cross on it called the Comfort. It’s- it should be there.

TV: Baffling. Okay, Lovett.

JL: Okay.

TV: Elizabeth wants to know, why is Trump doing campaign rallies? What does this do to American consciousness? How does it compare to dictatorships around the world, like Venezuela?

JL: That’s a great question. So, some thing’s Trump is doing- some of the things Trump is doing are normal. Some of the things he’s doing are abnormal. It is not abnormal for a President to go down in support of a campaign in an off-year race. That’s a reasonable thing and that would be a campaign rally. There’s nothing abnormal around that. Obviously, the way he campaigns is abnormal. What is strange and what is new is, Donald Trump isn’t just campaigning for other candidates, he is going on the road for himself and doing 2020 campaign events now. That is new. That is unprecedented and it’s gotten absolutely no coverage whatsoever. It’s one of those things where if another President who was causing less- fewer problems elsewhere, it would be a big story. You know, you’re supposed to be governing now. You’re in your first two years, it’s not-your first year! We’re still in the first year, you know. The way it works is you get- the president’s supposed to get his first- he or she- well you know, she- is supposed to get her first year. Let’s just do it. We should just refer to generic presidents as women, until- So a President is supposed to get some- a period of time, or expects to get a period of time to just govern. And she is supposed to have that first year and a little bit more - that’s why they talk about the hundred days. And then you get to midterms and then that happens. Then you’re in reelection and then you’re off to races. And then every President’s second term, if there is a President’s second term, has been preoccupied with foreign policy disasters and other crises and problems you can’t see coming. The point is, we’re still in the beginning and he’s already campaigning. He got nothing really significant legislative done in the first 100 days so that is a departure. That is strange. How he compares to foreign dictators, I don’t know the answer to that.

TV: Yeah. I think he filed for reelection the day after he was sworn in, or something right after, right. It was a very strange decision that I think people kind of raised eyebrows at the time but there was so much going on. What I think this speaks to is most Presidents run for President because they want to do things when they get there. Donald Trump ran for President never thinking he would win, with no real course

JL: He ran for President to goose his negotiation with NBC for Apprentice, so that’s why he ran. That’s how dumb we are.

TV: Now, what is particularly strange though is that he is not out like on the stump fighting for priorities. Like, the fact that Graham-Cassidy was his last-ditch hope to get ObamaCare repealed, which, you know, presumably his number one priority. And he’s picking a fight with the NFL and Colin Kaepernick and Steph Curry, speaks to the fact that he doesn’t really care about substance and he’s focused on the wrong shit. Is it like Venezuela? Sure, insofar as, like, a nationalist running around demagoguing people and cultural issues and whipping up fear, has a frightening whiff of that kind of campaigning. But, you know, comparison only goes so far.

JL: Yeah, and he’s also- one thing that is I think a fair comparison is, it’s not that he’s campaigning now. It’s that he has blurred the lines between campaign events and official events. You know, he’s used official events, including in front of the military, to make very political statements which is not something we’ve really seen before. And you know conservatives at, you know, garbage publications that do whataboutism will say, “Well, one time Obama mentioned the fact that Congress existed in front of the troops.” And it’s like, no, these things are fucking different.

[Laughter]

TV: Michael wants to know, how do we keep up the resistance on multiple fronts for a very long time, especially when the same battles keep happening? How do we keep each other motivated? I think Michael or someone else asked a similar question and mentioned the fact that the travel ban, the Muslim ban, was reinstated this week and it was like, the 6th story.

JL: Yeah, it’s- I don’t know. I don’t know. We’re not built for this. It sucks. You know, we- we, you know, we mount a big response to the Muslim ban when it was first announced because it was so crazy and so poorly conceived and everybody shows up at the airport. Then he does a revision and there’s less action. Now he does this and there’s basically no response. And he kind of mutes the criticism by adding countries like North Korea and Venezuela, that makes it easier for them to claim it was never about anti-Muslim bigotry. It’s tough. It’s tough. You know, the good news is- I think that the lowest point in terms of, successfully motivating people to get involved was after the first time the healthcare bill failed and then all of a sudden it came back to life and everybody was kind of unprepared. And then it just passed the House, and that was pretty shocking. I think that was a big lesson. I think it changed out behavior. I think that we all- even most- even during this kind of healthcare push, you saw these disabled advocacy groups and you saw MoveOn and you saw Indivisible and other groups, sort of, coming to the fore and being attentive. I think it’s hard. I think it’s hard to stay motivated. It’s hard to stay motivated on a lot of different fronts. I think it’s hard to stay ahead, but the good news is we’ve been activating really well around key moments, whether it’s the DACA decision or the healthcare votes, and that is positive. I don’t know.

TV: Yeah, I think that’s a really good point. I mean, on the Muslim ban, it was very weird. I mean, one answer is that we’ll continue to fight these things in the courts. Them reinstating this new version of it means, I think, the courts sent a lot of people back to the drawing board to right new briefs, new arguments, whatever. I’m not a lawyer, but the ban itself-

JL: I got a good LSAT score.

TV: The ban itself is weird.

JL: So, I pretend to be one. I like talking to lawyers.

TV: They removed Sudan, which-

JL: Our lawyers.

TV: May surprise people. They added North Korea when, like, maybe 100 people a year come here from North Korea to visit, so-

JL: Yeah, North Korea has their own travel ban.

TV: Yeah, not a big- not a lot of tourism exchange there. Venezuela, I think, it’s specific because the leadership, so you could have sanctioned them other ways. Not travel bans and other ways. They added Chad, which confused a lot of people. Because Chad is a country in Africa that has been a pretty reliable counter-terrorism partner that we’ve done a lot of work with. People are actually worried this might harm our security relationship with them. So, the whole thing is just confusing. You’re right it’s an effort to paper over the fact that they’re banning a religion. But to you point about, you know, how do we keep this up? It is exhausting. And like, you’re allowed to give yourself a break on certain things and like I don’t think any of us benefit from sort of the hourly outrage on Twitter. But being there for the big moments, being there for elections and getting people out to the polls in 2018, that is the key.

JL: Matt Dougherty has an important question. Well really, it’s more of a statement- really a command. “Jon, look deeply into Tommy’s eyes awkwardly, please.”

[Jon and Tommy look into each other’s eyes.]

TV: You wanna make yourself cry? Lovett can make himself cry on command. Are you gonna do it? [Turning red and shielding his eyes with one hand] No, don’t do it. Please don’t do it. Matt, I’m sorry. It’s happening.

JL: I’m not doing it.

TV: This is good TV.

[Laughter]

TV: Jon Lovett, what are your thoughts- Jenna Powers asks, what are your thoughts on the newly announced tax bill? What’s the best way to ensure it does not pass.

JL: I have to say one of the best ways to make sure it doesn’t pass is to have people like Lindsay graham and Ron Johnson insist they tie healthcare to it as well. So, one of the things that’s happening is…so, just backing up for a sec. So healthcare failed. Well they’re not gonna bring this version of Graham-Cassidy up for a vote and they’re gonna miss their deadline for September 30th. What does that mean? Details. Details that I don’t- that are often explained to me multiple times until I retain them and lose them soon after. What matters is they get one shot at a bill every year where they don’t need 60 votes. It’s a budget reconciliation bill, it has to do with numbers and they get to do whatever they want as long as it relates to the budget. And they get that twice a year. They tried to use the one for 2017, the one that they would pass in 2017, for healthcare. And that meant that they had til September 30th to pass it with 50 votes cause they don’t have the 60. Everybody has said, “We’re gonna move on to tax reform. We’re gonna move on to tax reform.” And they’re gonna do the next years reconciliation budget bill for tax reform. Which is a little bit of an easier lift for taxes than healthcare because healthcare and the Affordable Care Act relates to a lot more than just tax rates and numbers and budgets. It has to do with regulations, it’s complicated, made reconciliation a difficult thing for them to use as a vehicle for undoing the Affordable Care Act. Put that aside, they’ve all talked about how they wanna use tax reform. The question is, does that get lumped in with healthcare. Whether that happens or not, I think we don’t- I think we’re gonna get more and more details about the Trump proposal on tax reform this week, maybe even today. I’m not sure, I’d have to look.

TV: Yeah, I think maybe speech today.

JL: Speech today. We’ll see what they come up with, you know. Bannon had been leaking when he still worked at the White House that he wanted, like a high rate for rich people. He seems to have been pushed aside for the more, kind of, whatever old school anti-regulation Paul Ryan types which means, of course, they’re gonna call this simplifying and reforming the tax code. [bad Paul Ryan impression] “We haven’t updated the tax code since 1986. These are what the skirts looked like back then. Skirts today are different. And can you believe how much cameras have changed? That’s why we should cut taxes for billionaires.” [Normal voice] Assholes. So, they’re gonna come out with a plan that’s gonna be about simplifying and reforming the tax code and of course a huge percentage of the money is gonna go to the richest people in the country. That’s gonna be the case we have to make. If they are stupid enough to try to tie this to healthcare, God help them. The bad news about that is, if they do decide- and we will know soon, in the next weeks, if they decided to do just tax reform or tax reform and health care. If they decide to do both, the bad news is we’re gonna have to have a knot in our stomach about healthcare for a whole ‘nother fucking year. But the silver lining to that is, I don’t think that there’s an easier case to make against a Republican tax proposal than, they literally want to take money from disabled children and seniors and working people with Medicaid, they wanna take that money and they wanna give it to the richest people and the biggest companies in the country. That is as clear a case that we could make, as you could ask for. But we’ll see and that’s all I have to say about that

TV: Yeah, I mean, from the early reports it sounds like they’re gonna try to increase the standard deduction and do a couple other things that may make it so they can try to sell this as a tax cut for working people. Just remember that they’re still trying to cut the tax rate for the highest earners from 39% to 35%. They’re still trying to get away with entirely the estate tax. Which means the richest people in the country will be able to hand down their wealth, create these little dynasties. It is deplorable.

JL: They call it a death- they wanna- they, like, do this thing about branding it a death tax. You’re fucking dead! It’s a tax for the next generation to pay on money they’re getting -- that they’re just getting! And by the way a huge amount of it is already exempted, so this is really about a giant tax cut for the richest of the rich. You also see Paul Ryan tweeting about how, like, “Look how many rates there are. Look how many tax rates there are. We should have fewer rates. We should have three different categories of taxes. That’s how we simplify it.” That’s not simplifying the tax code. The number of steps on the- on the, like, marginal tax rate scale has nothing to do with how complicated the tax code and it’s total fucking bullshit. We have a tax code problem. It’s absolutely true. In the same way that there are problems with the Affordable Care Act that need to be fixed. But these guys cannot get past the ideology that they bring to the table to make it possible to actually do something sensible that could actually get Democrats on board and actually do some good. You know, the tax code is- the corporate tax code is larded up with tons and tons of deductions and loopholes and special interest shit, that makes the overall tax rate for our corporations high, but the overall taxes ultimately paid a bit lower. And there’s a huge difference between what some companies pay and what other companies pay. And that’s really fucking unfair and we should fix that. But of course, they’ll never do tax reform that doesn’t ultimately redown to the benefit of the richest people and the biggest corporations and that tries to, at the same time, shrink the federal government and undermine social- the social safety net so it’s a nonstarter for us. Same thing on the individual income taxes. Be great to do some kind of reform that- that you know gets rid of some of the economic inefficiencies built into the tax code that mean everybody ends up paying a little more and rates are a little bit higher than they need to be. But we can’t do that with these fucking people, because they’re not adults and they’re not responsible because you know one thing you would hear is like, “What about something like revenue neutral tax reform where you’re not trying to blow up the deficit with this and you’re just trying to low- what about making sure it’s progressive. So, making sure the tax code is simpler but give the benefits to middle class people and working people.” Never happens. Never fucking happens. So, anyway.

JL: Taxes.

TV: Taxes. Here’s a depressing one. “Do you think we’ve reached the point where this administration has now generational damage?” Unfortunately, I think that they’re Supreme Court pick, Gorsuch, alone, means that answer is yes.

JL: Yeah.

TV: I think when you factor in the lower courts, other officials, we’re already there. Credit to the resistance, like, people have done an unbelievable job of fighting a lot of things that we thought were a done deal. Like ObamaCare repeal, a whole bunch of other terrible shit. But, damage is done.

JL: Yeah, for sure, so-

TV: And the midterms are when we can cauterize that wound.

JL: The right wing of the United States, which is a global aberration to the right of all the major parties around the world, has control of all three branches of government. We are lucky they have not done more damage. We are- we have played our hand really well and stopped a lot of bad shit. At the same time, what Scott Pruitt is doing at the EPA is costing- causing lasting damage. What Donald Trump is doing to our reputation in the world is causing lasting damage. The rulings that Gorsuch will make 5-4 will cause lasting damage. What Tillerson is doing to undermine the State Department will have lasting damage. What Jeff Sessions is doing will have lasting damage. And by the way, lasting or not, people are being hurt right now, you know. TV: Did you see the thing today about Scott Pruitt having a 25 thousand dollar, like, quiet booth installed in his office.

JL: I can’t even. I don’t.

TV: [Laughing] It’s just like crazy shit

JL: The shit that’s going on between- between Mnuchin-

TV: Let’s talk about Tom Price.

JL: Well, yeah, we’ll get to- between Mnuchin trying to get a honeymoon military aircraft escort in like a fucking, you know, navy warship to take him to St. Bart’s or whatever. And Scott- and Tom Price being like, “I wanna have lunch with my son. So lemme go- lemme go visit a pharmacy and call it a work trip and get a fucking private jet.”

TV: So, breaking news on Tom Price. The Washington Post reported that Donald Trump has said he’s really mad about Tom Price taking, I think the last count was 300 thousand dollars’ worth of private jet flights. And like Lovett was saying, like, he flies somewhere for 90 minutes, barely speak to anyone, on a route that he could’ve easily taken a commercial flight to get to, have lunch with his kid, dick around, and then fly right back.

JL: Look, anybody that has traveled for work in the world knows that, you know, oh, you know what, I wanna, I’m visiting a friend somewhere. But you know I could set up some meetings there and then my company will pay for it. There are people watching this live feed right now that know what we’re talking about.

TV: And that’s fine if you’re taking Southwest

JL: You’re buying. That’s fine, that’s fine! You play a little fast and loose. But imagine if you told your boss, oh by the way, I had lunch with my sister in New York and I met with some of our clients. I took a fucking Learjet.

TV: The easiest decision- the easiest and most popular thing Donald Trump could do right now is fire Tom Price.

JL: By the- Tom Price should be fired! Maybe he shouldn’t have been flying around the country, he could’ve helped pass Donald Trump’s signature piece of legislation. I’m glad he didn’t!

TV: And also, this speaks to what a coward Donald Trump is.

JL: He couldn’t do it.

TV: If he was really the “you’re fired” guy, he would just fire him. And he would make an example out of him about waste and government abuse and the editorial pages would applaud him and Democrats- and he might have a rough ride for his next HHS secretary in a committee hearing. Who cares?

JL: Yeah, it’s- it’s so clear he should fire Tom Price. It’s like, the biggest win for him. It would- he could blame him for healthcare, which is obviously something trump wants to do, I don’t know why he hasn’t done it yet. One thing I wanted to come back to. Matt Cooper said, “Do you think eliminating the legislative filibuster- “

TV: I was just reading that one.

JL: Well then, we’re on the same page. “Could actually end up doing some good in the long run?” that’s a great question. I’m glad you brought it up only because we didn’t mention it when we were talking about tax reform and when we were talking about healthcare. There is always a risk. Donald Trump has been pushing for the end of the filibuster. We’ve been a little bit protected by the fact that there’s such a- there’s such acrimony between Trump and McConnell and McConnell has said- you know McConnell has values. He seems to have some desire to protect the filibuster. But that could change, it depends on who he’s maddest at -- is he mad at Trump or is he mad at the Democrats? Is he mad at his own colleagues? I don’t know. I don’t know about eliminating the filibuster. You know, I see both sides of it. I think probably in the long term, I think it’s probably something that will go and is a relic and we’ve gotten rid of basically every other aspect of the filibuster except for the legislative one. And by the way, a lot of the rules and comedy and procedure of the Senate has also gone. So, the legislative filibuster is sort of the last thing. I guess- whether it’s good to get rid of it in the long term, I honestly don’t know the answer. It’s very clear the filibuster has been used in history to stop some good stuff and prevent progress on a lot of things like, including civil rights. But right now, the legislative filibuster is the only thing standing between us and a Thunder Dome of garbage and just- I mean, like, “Oh no! Congress passed a bill that allows polluters to dig in your backyard and bury toxic waste as long as they label it.” You know, I don’t know! Like, who knows what they would pass? The 60 votes is protecting us from a lot of heinous shit.

TV: Yeah. Rashmi Halankar says, “Is there any plan of adding more female podcasters to the Crooked Media family?”

JL: Yes

TV: Rashmi, stay tuned. We’re working on a lot of big stuff. It’s gonna take us a little bit of time. But, this Crooked Media thing is not stopping with the people you hear on Pod Save America or with DeRay’s show or with Ana’s show. We want to keep expanding and have a stable of voices that reflects the United States and the Democratic party. And is much, much, much bigger than this. So, stay tuned.

JL: Yeah, I mean, look, I’ll continue to seek and demand attention. But beyond that I want us to broaden the number voices as much as we can. Tanya’s laughing at that.

[Laughter]

TV: Am I drinking a plain la Croix? Yes, I am. And someone asked what Lovett was drinking, I assume it was…

JL: A diet coke, it was a diet coke.

TV: Lovett woke up at 5 in the morning this morning and there’s- went to two different work out classes.

JL: I’m trying to stay ahead of my-

TV: I ran into him at the second one, which was uncomfortable. And then Jon F was there. And then it felt like an episode.

JL: We did-

TV: And none of us were happy about it

JL: We literally were standing outside a gym talking about Graham-Cassidy and I was like, we can’t do this.

TV: This is too much!

JL: But no, but I will, I- last night after dinner I took a special trip to buy myself a piece of sheet cake? I can’t- I am out of control, and so I went to the gym twice to make up for my ridiculous behavior. Who buys a single piece of cake? At night? For themselves? Who’s that Senator who says he always goes to the store and buys birthday cake?

TV: Oh, was that Ben- no Tom.

JL: It’s Tom cotton.

TV: Tom Cotton.

JL: And the question is, what does he mean by birthday cake? Is it just a sheet cake or does it have to say, “Happy Birthday?” And if it does-

TV: That’s crazy

JL: That’s insane!

TV: That’s insane. When will there be new merch? Guys.

JL: There is new merch. We’re putting it-

TV: [Pushing mic toward Lovett] Talk into the microphone

JL: There is gonna be such great merch coming your way. There’s gonna be Lovett or Leave it stuff, Pod Save the World stuff, DeRay’s show, Ana’s show, Crooked stuff. There’s gonna be [clicking and speaking under his breath, pointing at hat] this stuff.  We’re working on it. The store is coning very soon. What Tommy mentioned about how we’re gonna have more stuff to announce and the store [interlocks fingers] think about it.

TV: Piece of the puzzle

JL: Think about how it’s connected

TV: Brent says, “When Tommy looks into the camera I feel like he’s looking right into my soul and telling me to stop eating this brownie.”

JL: I want you to know-

TV: [Pointing into the camera] Keep eating that brownie.

JL: You know what, Brent. You know what, Brent. I’m glad you raised that. It’s real. It’s like- it’s like, you feel judgment from Tommy specifically for your habits because you can tell- Tommy’s like one of these people like, “I can’t believe I ate pasta.” But then it’s like-

TV: I have no self-control.

JL: Give me a fucking break. “I have no self-control-” Yes of course he does! Of course, he does!

[Someone speaking off camera, directing Tommy to the correct camera for his single.]

TV: [Looking directly into the camera and pointing] Eat the fucking brownie.

JL: [Points to one camera] Don’t listen to him. [Points to another camera] Don’t listen to him. Don’t- which is my single?

TV: [points to each of the 3 cameras] Listen. To. Me.

JL: Okay. Don’t listen to him. He’s full of shit. Tommy is all the time like, “Oh, I can’t believe what I ate for dinner last night. I had a whole piece of sushi.”

TV: [Obviously changing the subject] Where’s Pundit?

JL: Pundit’s down there on the floor. Pundit’s chilling.

TV: Any other questions here?

JL: Oh here, you know what-

TV: Cool. Can I ask a good one?

JL: Do it.

TV: “How dangerous is it for the Trump administration to pull out of the Iran deal. Certainly diminishes our word, right? How can we pressure Congress to do the right thing, keep America’s global commitment? Especially since there are other nations involved.” [Spreads arms] This is a great question. The Iran deal is not a bilateral agreement between- a one on one agreement between the U.S. and Iran. The UK’s involved, the French, the Russians, the Germans, UN. The whole world came together to forge this deal because the entire world felt it would slow down Iran’s path to getting a nuclear weapon. If we pull out of that, it is not likely that our allies -- or if we throw it to Congress to pull out of that -- it is not likely that our allies are gonna be with us there. They will more likely continue to take their own diplomatic steps to solve global problems, like we saw Germany do and others try to do. The French have tried to step into a bunch of things. It will hurt us. It will isolate us. It will reduce our standing. It will make us have less credibility with North Korea. It is a horrible idea.

JL: That to me- that to me is the biggest thing right now. So pulling out of it would be incredibly dangerous on its face. Because, look, if we want- there are countries that want nuclear weapons and we wanna stop that. How are we gonna do that? Do you think the deals are gonna be so fucking perfect? You can criticize the Iran deal, there are plenty of things to criticize with the Iran deal. But like, of course it’s not gonna be a deal everybody loves. It’s a deal with fucking Iran! You know, like, they’re not the best. And so, it’s like, well there’s only- it either we let them continue to pursue because they see it as the only path to continue to protect themselves, or you make some kind of deal, or you have to go to fucking war! And you look at- you look around the world and like, what are the successful models? You don’t think North Korea is paying attention to what happens with the Iran deal? They saw what happened in Libya. They saw what happened in Iraq. If our word doesn’t mean anything when we say we wanna negotiate a- out of a nuclear crisis. If our word doesn’t mean anything, if there’s no actual way a country like North Korea can get a deal that they can live with – as heinous and despicable as they are, as vicious and awful to their own people as they are. If there’s no way they can get a deal because they’re- because it’s not possible, then what options do we have? What is the option? Like, it’s- you know, we open this Pandora’s Box and now we’re desperately trying to get the snakes back in and there’s no good options. And these- every person who’s out of power thinks they could do it better, you know. But then look at what Trump’s doing. Do you think North Korea’s going well? I don’t think it’s going well. So.

TV: Yeah.

JL: You know, every administration has struggled with North Korea, you know. We unleashed the greatest of all evils on the world. And we don’t know what to do.

TV: There are real concerns with the deal. We need more access to their military sites. They have an ICBM program that’s continuing apace. But the enriching of materials that could be used to make a bomb is under control. The IAEA, the international community is monitoring it. It’s a good deal, guys. It’s a good deal, don’t believe the bullshit.

JL: And one other thing about it, one other thing about it- just it’s like, you can debate, like- there’s a reasonable debate about the role of, like, carrot and stick. And how threatening you need to be and where to set those dials, right. I get that. And if there are conservatives who are reasonable who are like, “Oh, Obama was too- didn’t send a strong enough signal which made the deal less. Or they seem too desirous to get a deal and that made the deal worse.” Like okay, that’s a reasonable critique. But the damage of pulling out of the Iran deal would be so catastrophic and, anyway. It- you know, it seems like Trump is hell bent on doing it, not because he’s given a fucking thought about this but because he wants to punish Obama. Which is why he pulled us out of Paris, so- you know. Who knows.

[Tommy has returned to the table with Pundit in his arms]

JL: Oh, good. Pundit.

TV: [In Pundit voice] Paris accords was the deal breaker for me.

[Laughter]

TV: [normal voice, handing pundit to Lovett] here’s your pup

JL: [All smiley now] Pundit! Oh, hey buddy. [Lovett growls?] Look at this dog, guys.

TV: Everyone wanted to see Pundit.

JL: Pundit-

TV: What are the pod tours America going to be like? Will there be a rant wheel? You know what, Kathleen, we’ve been thinking about this a lot. I think we’re gonna try to make it…like the shows you know and love.

JL: Plus!

TV: Conversation, great guests, some Q&A with the folks who are there. We wanna do a plus. We want some extra, some games, some fun things

JL: Some games. And we’re gonna do Lovett or Leave it. We’re doing Lovett or Leave It in Madison, we’re doing one in D.C., we’re doing two in New York, so. But I don’t- I don’t know, we’ve gotta figure it out. Maybe we could have kind of a pod rant wheel that just shows up randomly at various points.

TV: Hm. I like that.

JL: That’s an idea. That’s a new idea that I just had.

TV: Jacob Waddingham asked, “Tommy, any upcoming insight on the recent election in Germany? Or Markel feature on what she has/is doing on Pod Save the World.” [looks solemnly into his single camera] Jacob, I’ve never been disappointed in the questioner. Or in you.

JL: [Chuckling.]

TV: I released an episode about the German elections this morning. This very day.

JL: Get your head in the fucking game!

TV: It was very informative

JL: [whispering into mic] Get in the goddamn game.

TV: Slaved away on the questions.

JL: [Snickers]

[Camera finally goes to Tommy’s single]

JL: Oh, man. You guys- I gotta tell ya-

TV: Are Pundit and Leo related?

JL: If you wanna, if you wanna- Tommy, Tommy is- when Tommy is preparing for Pod Save the World, it is like…Stations of the Cross, I mean-

[Laughter]

JL: It’s like, [dramatic impression of Tommy] I can’t do a meeting then, I’m preparing for Pod Save the World. [TOMMY HAS GOTTEN SO RED]

TV: Don’t make me talk about you’re-

JL: Nope, nope.

TV: Your nap times.

JL: Don’t.

TV: On Friday.

JL: I’ve talked about it on the show. I talk about my pre-, my pre-Lovett or leave it disco nap is not something I’m ashamed of-

TV: Are Pundit and Leo related? Yes. Right?

JL: Yes, they are half siblings.

TV: [Gazing adoringly at Pundit] Look at that angel.

JL: They’re half siblings.

[Silence while looking at their computers]

JL: [Blows a raspberry]

TV: Anything else guys?

JL: [Laughing] Look at me moving Pundit around, it looks- I see the shot- [someone speaks off screen] What?

Most likely Tanya: [off-screen] People wanna know if Tommy’s getting a dog.

TV: I’m working on getting a dog. I just got engaged, dog’s coming next. We’re working on it

JL: Come on. Get a dog, get a dog.

TV: I’ll tell Hannah.

JL: Can you guys not see that Pundit’s face is like hidden back here,

TV: Um, okay. We’re gonna close out.

JL: [Finally has made Pundit’s adorable face visible to camera] We’re closing out?

TV: If you wanna help out Puerto Rico, go to globalgiving.org. Donate money, they desperately need it. It is like- the, people there are saying it set the country back 20, 30 years. All the agriculture has been destroyed. I mean, it’s a- it’s a disaster and these are American citizens. So, globalgiving.org.

JL: Globalgiving.org.

TV: Thanks for listening.

JL: Thanks, it was fun.

TV: We like Q&As.

JL: Oh, shit! We forgot to tell Jon we were doing this!

TV: [Laughs]

[piraticalarchive]

REALLY  LONG CHARACTER SURVEY. RULES. repost, don’t reblog ! tag 10 ! good  luck ! TAGGED. no one. I stole it TAGGING. @twisted-but-pretty

BASICS. FULL  NAME : Killian Jones NICKNAME : Captain, pirate, Hook AGE : 32 in main verse BIRTHDAY : March 21, 1685 ETHNIC  GROUP : White/Caucasian NATIONALITY :  Irish LANGUAGE / S : English, Gaelic, Latin, Greek, bits of Spanish SEXUAL  ORIENTATION : Bisexual ROMANTIC  ORIENTATION : Demiromantic RELATIONSHIP  STATUS : usually involved with either Milah or Guy. Verses vary. Other than that - hes just a flirt  CLASS : a bastard born of an English lord in English society, a Captain of suitable rank in the King’s Navy, pariah once he becomes a pirate HOME  TOWN / AREA : Was born in Waterford, Ireland - went to school at Eton in Berkshire, England near Windsor. CURRENT  HOME : On board the Jolly Roger, or in Nottingham with Guy of Gisborne, or Storybrooke. Verse dependent PROFESSION : Pirate Captain ( though verse dependent)

PHYSICAL. HAIR : black, tends to curl ever so slightly along the nape of his neck. EYES :  Blue eyes that harbor a sort of melancholic look, but also an aura of danger. Average size. Excessively expressive eyebrows NOSE : slightly pointed, turns up ever so slightly at the end FACE : Soft and slightly round, charming smile, unremarkable chin. Considered by most to be quite handsome LIPS : more on the thinner side, often chapped from the salt of the ocean and chewed extensively. COMPLEXION : fairly flawless BLEMISHES :  n/a   SCARS : A fairly generous and horrid one across his left wrist, one right under his right eye and a fairly large one across the expanse of his back TATTOOS : None  HEIGHT : 5′11″. WEIGHT : 180ish lbs. BUILD : Lanky. Wiry.   FEATURES : handsome features  ALLERGIES : None. USUAL  HAIR  STYLE : can be messy and disheveled from the wind, but more often than not its styled. He takes great care in making sure his appearance is more than acceptable. It comes from his upbringing USUAL  FACE  LOOK : He appears fairly jovial, though on occasion he can be quite intimidating.  USUAL  CLOTHING : leather pants, some form of leather jacket. Usually loose fitting tunic style shirts under a vest. Prefers the colors red and/or black

PSYCHOLOGY. FEAR / S : fading out of all knowledge, death, his own blood (back to the death thing), failure, rejection ASPIRATION / S : to never die, to be the most infamous and well known pirate in the history of the world POSITIVE  TRAITS : witty, charming, strong leader, clever, knowledgable  NEGATIVE  TRAITS : jealous, arrogant, vain, manipulative, abusive, violent, impulsive MBTI : istp ZODIAC : aries TEMPERAMENT : choleric SOUL  TYPE / S : Performer / Leader ANIMALS : eagle VICE  HABIT / S : drinking, impulsively giving in to emotions FAITH : catholic, but hardly pays attention to such things. GHOSTS ? : no  AFTERLIFE ? : doesn’t care REINCARNATION ? : no. ALIENS ? : no POLITICAL  ALIGNMENT : in a more modern verse, if pressed, Killian is most often fiscally conservative and socially liberal. In canon, Hook is very anarchist ECONOMIC  PREFERENCE : In canon he comes from the household of a British Lord, but is considered a bastard. In most modern verses, he and his family are incredibly low on the socioeconomic ladder SOCIOPOLITICAL  POSITION : wanted criminal EDUCATION  LEVEL :  in canon, he attended both Eton and Bailol. He was a part of the King’s navy before defecting. 

FAMILY. FATHER : Patrick David Jones (Lord in canon) MOTHER : Eveline Jones SIBLINGS : Liam Jones (legitimate child of his father) EXTENDED  FAMILY : N/A NAME  MEANING / S : strife/battle/small/fierce HISTORICAL  CONNECTION ? : in canon he was the boatswain to edward teach (Blackbeard)

FAVOURITES. BOOKS : In modern he likes Treasure Island and The Old Man and the Sea. In canon he will read anything he can get his hands on. MOVIE : likes adventure movies such as Indiana Jones. Likes Bridge over the River Kwai. Also a fan of campy horror films 5 SONGS : Hotel California, The Immigrant Song, Hurt, I’ll be Good, Into the Jungle DEITY : God HOLIDAY : not a fan of holidays. Though if he had to pick, Christmas. Especially in modern times when he is spending it with Guy  MONTH : March SEASON : Summer PLACE : The Jolly Roger  WEATHER : clear skies and smooth seas. SOUND : waves crashing, steel against steel, clanking of tankards, low murmur of a tavern crowd, seagulls. snapping of the masts SCENT / S : salt spray, leather, spices TASTE / S : apples, rum, salt, roasted chicken FEEL / S : sun on bare skin, salt water sting in the eyes, hands running along rough wood, curved steel sliding on to wrist, curling fingers through the hair along the nape of Guy’s neck ANIMAL / S : not particularly fond of any animals unless pressed  NUMBER : 3 COLOUR : black or red

EXTRA. TALENTS : leadership, manipulation, seduction, fencing, navigation, swimming, drinking ( ;) ), sailing,  BAD  AT : controlling emotions, patience, staying out of danger, maintaining civility, science TURN  ONS : humor, wit, appearance, experience, cockiness, danger, secrecy TURN  OFFS : dullness, not aesthetically pleasing, disloyal, ignorance, short stature HOBBIES : drinking, sailing, fencing TROPES : Aloof Ally, Bold Explorer, Adaptation Personality Change, Descent into Addiction, Functional Addict, Misery Builds Character, Just a stupid accent,  AESTHETIC  TAGS : N/A GPOY  QUOTES : the ocean - poem by nathaniel hawthorne

FC INFO. MAIN  FC / S : Colin O’Donoghue ALT  FC / S : None. OLDER  FC / S : None. YOUNGER  FC / S : Logan Lerman/ Jordan Bennie VOICE  CLAIM / S : Colin O’Donoghue GENDERBENT  FC / S : None.

MUN QUESTIONS. Q1 : if  you  could  write  your  character  your  way  in  their  own  movie ,   what  would  it  be  called ,  what  style  would  it  be  filmed  in ,  and  what  would  it  be  about ?           A1 : Oh, crap ... is it cheating to say Peter Pan? I think it would follow the same premise of that movie but focus more on Hook than Peter. I would focus more on what led Hook to be the man he was, where that residual anger and those good manners came from ... what led him down the path to becoming a man both obsessed and terrified of death  Q2 : what  would  their  soundtrack / score  sound  like ?           A2 : A lot of the darker elements of the potc soundtrack combined with a lot of hanz zimmer. I would probably include some of the songs from the titanic soundtrack and definitely some nox arcana. Q3 : why  did  you  start  writing  this  character ?           A3 : He literally just popped into my head one day and I guess he’s here to stay seeing as how its been over three years now. I love the mess out of Captain Hook, I always have, and the elements of the character that Colin O’Donoghue brought to the table really nailed it down for me. While I am not OUAT based, I love the wit and charm that Colin exudes and I think its really fun to play off of. Hook is this character whose motivations always change, who can be selfish and a bully but who also can be romantic and a great drinking partner ... its just two halves of the same coin that I really appreciate Q4 : what  first  attracted  you  to  this  character ?           A4 : His cocky attitude. I loved his ego, that ‘better than thou’ vibe he gives off. I think I recognized a lot of that in myself along with a few other things. I have a lot more in common with Hook than I would ever admit and being able to play on those negative traits we share in a place where its not me actually hurting anyone or breaking social ties .. it is pretty freeing.  Q5 : describe  the  biggest  thing  you  dislike  about  your  muse.           A5 : The facade he constantly puts up. There are so many plot ideas and things I have with so many different muses but sometimes none of them ever come to fruition because Hook just never trusts the other character enough to be open with them. It also makes it hard to do these great ‘ we ride together, we die together’ type of friendships etc because its so rare for him to find anyone he feels that strongly about. He is very in it for himself except in very specific circumstances like with Amy’s Guy. Q6 : what  do  you  have  in  common  with  your  muse ?           A6 : SO MUCH. I think we can both be huge ego freaks, we both like to try and manipulate people to our own purpose. We both like travel and have a sense of adventure and enjoy a good drink/joke. We even have some of the same mannerisms Q7 : how  does  your  muse  feel  about  you ?           A7 : He thinks im too hung up on social constraints haha Q8 : what  characters  does  your  muse  have  interesting  interactions  with ?         A8 : literally everyone. But some of my favorites are with Guy of Gisborne just because that relationship has really forced my muse into a place he’s never been before and I absolutely love that. I also really like interacting with Jack Sparrow because that relationship sort of pushes Hook to be more aware of himself. He is jealous of Jack and he hates that he recognizes that fact so I’m a bit hopeful that maybe it ends up with Hook reevaluating himself a bit and adopting those qualities he envies rather than just pretending to hate them. I also love Hook and Vane. I dont even know how that started but their brotp thing they’ve got going on is always a good laugh for me.. Q9 : what  gives  you  inspiration  to  write  your  muse ?         A9 : listening to classical music, watching Peter Pan 2003, sometimes reading.  Q10 : how  long  did  this  take  you  to  complete ?         A10 : literal days. Maybe even more than a week hahah

[thejoshscogin]

In most tragic events, both global and regional, I typically like to do my part to assist or help, while remaining in the background. Whether it is donating money, protesting, physically building houses, traveling out to give food and water to people, or any other potential aid I am able to contribute...these are done as “under the radar” as possible. Because, I am not usually a fan of the “look at me“ spotlight mentality, while the issues of the world should be getting the spotlight.

Now, I understand it is 2020 and “If you didn’t Gram it, it didn’t happen!“ but as a very private-introvert with a very strong moral compass, I personally don’t need the verification from social media to affirm my actions. Or, to put it more correctly, I don’t need the verification of social media to stroke an ego. In short, social media can often (but not always) take advantage of the “Never let a good crisis go to waste“ dogma. It can feel more about gaining “LIKES” and followers and a general “look at what I did“ pat-on-the-back, than focusing on the real issue at hand.

With all of that being said, this time it feels different. I’m still contributing in areas that I’m able, but the overwhelming morality of making it clear where I stand, outweighs the morality of not seeking vanity/self-aggrandizement. Obviously I’m still NOT here for vanity/self-aggrandizement but keeping in the background doesn’t feel like the correct path to take on this particular event dealing with race and humanity. So let me be clear.

The short version goes like this…

- I support Black Lives Matter! (duh)

- I support peaceful protests of civilians.

- I don’t support the violent looting and destruction of properties, but I understand them. I’ll speak more on that later.

- I don’t support the riots brought on by the police.

- I don’t support any authoritarian/dictator/tyrant in office that tries to hinder or remove our freedom of speech.

The long version goes like this…

I love America, or to put it more correctly, I love the potential of America. I have been fortunate enough to travel around the world many, many times (sweet brag Josh 😑) and there are so many wonderful places on this planet I would love to live but I always return home, to America.

We are not perfect (duh, no country is) and the harsh truth is that we will probably never fully end racism. I reckon there will always be idiots who hate other humans for something as pointless as skin color or as trivial as “Your pants are too tight.” or (insert any other juvenile scenario) but as Americans, if we feel like those idiots have become the people in power (police, leaders, presidents etc etc.) we have the right to freedom of speech. We have the right to voice our feelings against authority, and make a change. We have the right to protest.

Now let me be very clear, I am a full believer in peace! I believe that hate breeds more hate. I believe that violence breeds more violence. So, when these protests turn into looting and destruction of properties, it can feel like those people have lost the focus of the original task at hand. However, I also understand that when the pendulum has been so far on one side for so long, it is only natural for it to swing to the other side with brute force. Also, when the (very) peaceful protests of people like Colin Kaepernick are ignored, and in many ways punished, I can fully understand why stronger actions are felt justified and needed.

As Americans, we have the right to raise our voice when we see something needs to be corrected. So, when the peaceful, “indoor voice”, of the calm and collected Kaepernick doesn’t reach the ears of the giants in power ...or to put it more correctly, when it reaches the ears of the giants in power and yet, is completely ignored... it is only a matter of time before America feels like only a scream will suffice.

We must not forget that Kaepernick originally sat on the bench during the national anthem. It was only later that he decided it would be MORE respectful if he joined his team mates on the field and simply took a knee. I don’t know how he could have protested in a more peaceful (and respectful) way. That was like 4 or maybe 5 years ago, and yet, here we are. He tried. He gave peace a chance. Yet, here we are.

The cyclical tragedy of what happened to George Floyd is a real shame to the American powers that be. If only real measures and actions would’ve been taken from the lessons that should have been learned from Breonna Taylor or Freddie Gray or Eric Garner or Michael Brown or any of these people below (to name a few) with very similar scenarios.

Now I don’t even claim to know how to instantly fix these problems, but there are a few basic things that sure seem like it would have at least helped. First of all, people should have been fired! Not just those directly dealing with the deaths but any and all police officers who had a history of racism or known violent tendencies, they should have been fired, all across the nation. Secondly, real actions should have been taken after these events. I understand that eventually things like body cameras etc. came into affect but what’s the point, if it’s okay to just turn them off whenever they feel like it, with no repercussions in doing so.

Side Note: Hey cops, if you feel the need to turn your cameras off, then you are doing something wrong. If you feel the need to cover up your badge in anyway, then you are doing something wrong. If you feel the need to force other people with cameras to leave the scene, then you are doing something wrong. And there should be deep and drastic consequences for any cops doing any of the above mentioned. Also, to be clear, I am not necessarily anti-cop (in theory). I know a few cops and in fact, I feel like some of our other issues of today’s police force might have been sorted or at least minimized if, a long time ago, we would have paid cops a whole lot more money. But that’s a topic for another time and not on social media. End of side note:

1991 is the first scenario I can personally remember of police brutality of an unarmed black man that became very publicized. If only dramatic measures would have been taken from the lessons that should have been learned from way back when Rodney King was in the spotlight. Imagine what nearly 30 years of progress would look like today if we would have started it back then. Our situation now, would be very different and I could assume many lives would have been spared and generally just an overall quality-of-life would be better. Shame on the powers that be, that nearly 30 years later we are still watching, shot for shot, the exact same movie unfold again and again. It blows my mind that we are still dealing with the vastness of this issue.

So where do we go from here? What are some productive steps towards ending police brutality on black people? Well, unfortunately, the quickest and most sustainable solutions would have to come from the top. If the police chiefs of the nation would fire all of the racist idiots, there would be an instant and obvious difference in the right direction. I have more thoughts on that but, assuming there is no Chief of police reading this, I’ll save you the time...

As civilians, there are still things that can be done to assist the steps to getting us further towards the right direction. Since the majority of the people reading this are most likely NOT the closed-minded-racists who are the problems, the solutions can seem less direct but every step (big or small) in the correct direction adds up.

In the short term, I think the most direct thing you can do is to donate money or protest if you are able. If you are someone in power then you should fire all the racist idiots. I’m not just talking about the police force. If you are an employer of any sort, you should remove the bad apples and do your best to never hire them in the first place.

In the long term I think the best actions are to vote! Or, to put it more correctly, study up on politicians, know where they stand on topics that are important to you, and then VOTE! Please, for the love of America, don’t JUST VOTE without the due diligence. Vote big, like the presidential candidates etc. Vote small, like local jurisdictions and authorities etc. Lastly, I think it is very important to mix and mingle with folks outside of your top 8. It will do you good, it will do our country good. As I mentioned before, if you are reading this then you’re likely already fairly open minded but just remember, it can be a subtle and steady danger to ONLY communicate with the same inner sanctum of people that believe the exact same intricacies as you do. Communicate with lots of people, with lots of backgrounds. Diversify, and remember, communication is a dialogue not a monologue.

There are so many other things that can be done. These are just the first few that popped in my head.

Last thing and then I’m out. I do believe we will come out on the other side of this better than when we went in. The death of George Floyd is a tragedy and it is compounded by all of the previous tragedies that took place before him, regardless if they got publicity or not. But, look around, we are not sitting idly by.

When we all share the same voice and sing the same song, the mountains can be moved.

I would love to, in my lifetime, live in a country where every human felt safe, respected and appreciated. I would love to, in my lifetime, live in a nation where we celebrated all of our extensive differences. I would love to, in my lifetime, live in a land where the police were there to protect and the police were there serve. And I would love to, in my lifetime, have all humans feel truly equal. Change is coming. Or, to put it more correctly, change is upon us.

Sincerely,

Josh Scogin

“Your old road is rapidly agin'

Please get out of the new one

If you can't lend your hand

For the times they are a-changin' “

-Bob Dylan