#bob mueller

[neomachine]

bible silver corner - rodan

[americanahighways]

Bentley’s Bandstand: February 2025

Bentley’s Bandstand: February 2025 @shanealexandermusic @americanahighways #bentleysbandstand #wesracepresents #thealnicoallstars @bobbralove #pattiweiss #stevehowell #themightymen @lillyahiatt @thedavemayfieldparade @exiledeve @mikebckband @hudsonmuellermusic @kidramosmusic @thewildwoods @official.raycharles @elvis #beforeelvis @diondimucciofficial #newmusic2025 #musicreviews #billbentley #americanahighways

Bentley’s Bandstand: February 2025 By Bill Bentley Shane Alexander, FOREVER SONGS. There are singer-songwriters throughout America who sound like they are on the edge of greatness, and keep getting closer to breakthroughs. Alexander is surely one of those, and has been that now for several albums. On Alexander’s eighth release, it’s crystal clear this is the release that could go all the way…

[ghostpalmtechnique]

Public Sector DEI (TM) largely takes the form of annoying-but-irrelevant mandatory training, and the idea that it caused a degradation of the quality of civil servants comparable to the consequences of the TrumpMuskovite purges (explicitly claimed in today's AC10 links post) is so grossly absurd that it should produce Gell-Mann skepticism about Scott's writing on topics you know less about.

Contrary to the claims of his haters outside the greater rationalist-adjacent sphere, Scott is not right-wing. He is, however, credulous and intellectually lazy -- something that was especially apparent when he was bamboozled by Bob Barr's mischaracterization of the Mueller Report and has only become more obvious since -- possibly in a way that is selectively charitable to right-wing sources.

[angeldcgs]

i wanna get some new things started so like this for a realistic smut starter from one of the muses below the cut!! and by "realistic smut" i mean stuff like finishing too soon, not being able to finish at all, getting the giggles mid-stroke, accidentally elbowing your partner in the ribs, etc.

griffyn aimes (j.acob e.lordi fc)- he/him, 26, pansexual, switch, baker

bobbie childs (c.ailee s.paeny fc)- she/her, 23, bisexual, submissive, diner waitress

fern caruso (k.rysten r.itter fc)- she/her, 40, queer, dominant, therapist/dominatrix (verse dependent)

rory gifford (d.ominic s.essa fc)- he/him, 21, bisexual, submissive, hacker

marnie babbitt (t.aylor r.ussell fc)- she/they, 27, queer, submissive, nomad/doppelganger

esme cortez (a.lexa d.emie fc)- she/her, 28, bisexual, switch, exotic dancer/nail tech

buffy bloom (m.ia g.oth fc)- she/her, 26, bisexual, switch (dominant preference), exotic dancer/adult film star

leon ebert (b.ill s.karsgard fc)- he/him, 31, heterosexual, switch, jazz pianist

charlie gomez (r.uby c.ruz fc)- they/them, 24, lesbian, submissive, movie theater concessions clerk/projectionist

ari olsson (a.lexander s.karsgard fc)- he/him, 44, heterosexual, submissive, ceo

fiona rousseau (j.az s.inclair fc)- she/her, 27, queer, switch, vampire hunter/bounty hunter (verse dependent)

gwen michalchuk (m.addie p.hillips fc)- she/her, 28, pansexual, switch, witch/super human mutant (clairvoyance, telepathy, compulsion, power absorption, conjuring/spell-casting abilities)

romy chung (l.ondon t.hor fc)- they/she, 28, lesbian, dominant, personal assistant

keanu zhao (d.erek l.uh fc)- he/him, 28, bisexual, dominant, trust fund brat

gael campbell (a.sa g.ermann fc)- he/him, 24, bisexual, submissive, amusement park employee/super human mutant (strength, necromancy, advanced healing)

dominic "nickie" hagen (b.ill s.karsgard fc)- he/him, 27, bisexual, submissive, thief

winifred "winnie" perkins (m.ia g.oth fc)- she/her, 26, bisexual (closeted), submissive, farmer's daughter

priscilla mosyakov (k.aia g.erber fc)- she/her, 22, bisexual, switch, fashion blogger/nepo baby

josefine "jo" obasi (a.yo e.debiri fc)- she/her, 26, bisexual, switch, television writer

frenchie horowitz (r.achel s.ennott fc)- she/her, 25, pansexual, switch, escort/podcast host

lemon doyle (n.iamh m.ccormack fc)- she/her, 22, bisexual, switch, fashion magazine intern

bronte ferguson (m.argaret q.ualley fc)- she/her, 27, queer, switch, cult leader

jonah darke (b.ill s.karsgard fc)- he/him, 25, heterosexual, dominant, guitarist/lead singer/grafitti artist

august "gus" mueller (j.eremy a.llen white fc)- he/him, 31, heterosexual, dominant, landscaper/painter

julian "jules" hicks (t.imothee c.halamet fc)- he/him, 25, bisexual, switch, bassist/record shop employee

juliette feng (h.avana r.ose l.iu fc)- she/her, 26, pansexual, submissive, costume designer

envy adams (m.ia g.oth fc, m.addie p.hillips alt)- she/her, 27, bisexual, switch, lead singer of the clash at demonhead

gideon graves (b.ill s.karsgard fc)- he/him, 33, heterosexual, dominant, ceo/inventor/music executive

scott pilgrim (j.oe k.eery fc)- he/him, 27, bisexual, submissive, bassist for sex bob-omb

roxie richter (r.uby c.ruz fc)- she/her, 25, lesbian, switch, artist

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

More accurate ....

* * * *

TRUMP OPENS FIRE ON THE MEDIA

TCinLA

Dec 17, 2024

The point is not necessarily winning. The point is fear. Now that Disney has surrendered and paid their initiation fee, Trump is ready to commit more extortion, er, I mean start more lawsuits.

In his rambling fact-challenged press conference yesterday, Trump targeted Bob Woodward, CBS, and the Pulitzer Board for awarding its 2018 Prize to the New York Times and the Washington Post for their coverage of Trump’s campaign, the Steele Dossier, and the Mueller investigation into Russian interference with the 2016 election. Trump also described recent visits from Apple CEO Tim Cook, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, and other tech barons. “In the first term, everyone was fighting me. In this term, everyone wants to be my friend.”

On Monday night, less than 48 hours after securing a $15 million settlement from ABC News, Trump filed a lawsuit in Iowa District Court accusing venerated pollster Ann Selzer and her polling company - and well as The Des Moines Register and its parent company, Gannett - of “brazen election interference” and “consumer fraud” over her November 2 poll showing Kamala Harris winning by 3 points in Iowa.

Whether Seltzer’s polling error constitutes an “election-interfering fiction,” as the suit alleges, is now the question before a Polk County court. Iowa lacks an anti-SLAPP law, a protection that gives judges the ability to swiftly toss out frivolous attacks on free speech. Trump’s newest legal adventure leans on an extremely aggressive reading of Iowa’s consumer fraud law intended to prevent businesses from making misrepresentations to deceive purchasers.

Selzer’s spent three decades in the polling business and boasts an A+ rating from Nate Silver, Her sterling reputation was the main reason why many in Washington and the media took her startling Iowa result at least somewhat seriously. Even among veteran political operators who wrote off the Harris +3 number as an outlier, the prospect that pollsters might be significantly undercounting Democratic votes fomented a temporary media narrative that Kamala’s campaign had crucial momentum heading into the final days of the race.

Two weeks after the election, Selzer announced she would be retiring from the polling business to explore “other ventures and opportunities,”a decision she said she made last year. “Would I have liked to make this announcement after a final poll aligned with Election Day results? Of course,” she wrote in a guest essay for The Des Moines Register. “It’s ironic that it’s just the opposite.”

Trump was still fuming over the last-minute narrative shift that the poll generated. He now appears eager to run up the score.

Ahead of filing the lawsuit Monday evening, Trump previewed his plans in an afternoon press conference. “We have to straighten out our press,” he said. “Our press is very corrupt, almost as corrupt as our elections.”

Besides the ABC News suit, Trump is suing CBS News for $10 billion for the way it edited Bill Whitaker’s 60 Minutes interview with Harris - claiming the edited broadcast amounted to “partisan and unlawful acts of election and voter interference.” He is now pursuing a case against the Pulitzer Prize board for awards to journalists from The New York Times and Washington Post who investigated his ties to Russia during the 2016 campaign.

Never before has a candidate sued a pollster for setting off a negative news cycle. Typically, if a pollster is wrong, their reputation suffers, but they are rarely blamed for damaging a campaign.

The Des Moines Register said they stand by their reporting and believe a lawsuit would be “without merit.” It will be interesting to see what Gannet does here - they are a major company in the news business without other corporate interests.

As with Trump’s other lawsuits against media organizations, the objective isn’t to win but to intimidate.

Litigation is expensive for all parties, especially in high-profile cases such as those involving a former and future president, even if the suit is ultimately found to be frivolous. There is also the burden of the discovery process, which is always invasive and frequently ugly. Already, nervousness is spreading, with media companies preparing for litigation targeting journalists, including charges like defamation or even violations of the Espionage Act. Axios recently told its staff to expect an increased number of lawsuits from the Trump administration.

The fact that Trump has filed litigation against Selzer, and 60 Minutes could undercut his argument he’s too busy as president-elect to shoulder the burdens of civil litigation.

The two dominant theories about ABC’s surrender are that either Trump has unearthed potentially damaging information or correspondence at ABC News that Disney doesn’t want revealed, or that this is CEO Bob Iger’s gesture to Trump to avoid his vengeance and the lightning-rod spectacle of a public trial against a sitting president. Iger, since he returned to Disney, has been willing to placate the right to keep the company out of its crosshairs He knows he can’t give $1 million to Trump’s inauguration without causing an internal firestorm, and he hasn’t made his own tail-between-legs pilgrimage to Mar-A-Lago. But he knows this settlement is a way to buy some insurance for the next four years. The question is how much goodwill it actually buys. If Trump sees an opportunity to benefit from attacking Disney, he’ll do it, regardless of Disney’s surrender.

Michelle Goldberg wrote of these events, Collectively, all these elite decisions to bow to Trump make it feel like the air is going out of the old liberal order. In its place will be something more ruthless and Nietzschean.”

Anne Applebaum, an expert on descents into authoritarianism, said, “Many people assumed in the past that the news media in the United States was too big, too diverse, and too complex to be intimidated.”

So much for that cornerstone of democracy.

“When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.” - Edmund Burke

“You were given the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour, and you will have war.' - Winston Churchill

[TCinLA]

[brookstonalmanac]

Birthdays 12.17

Beer Birthdays

Thomas Cooper (1826)

George Frey (1826)

Balthas Jetter (1851)

Michael Ash (1927)

Yuri Katunin

Five Favorite Birthdays

Milla Jovovich; Russian model, actor (1975)

Mike Mills; rock bassist (1958)

William Safire; writer (1929)

John Kennedy Toole; writer (1937)

John Greenleaf Whittier; poet, writer (1807)

Famous Birthdays

Burt Baskin; ice cream maker (1913)

Paul Butterfield; blues musician (1942)

Paul Cadmus; artist (1904)

Erskine Caldwell; writer (1903)

Domenico Cimarosa; composer (1749)

Sarah Dallin; pop singer (1961)

Humphrey Davy; English chemist (1778)

Earl Dotson; Green Bay Packers T (1970)

Peter Farrelly; film director, writer (1956)

Arthur Fiedler; conductor (1894)

William Floyd; signer of the Declaration of Independence (1734)

Ford Madox Ford; English writer (1873)

Duff Goldman; pastry chef (1974)

Bob Guccione; magazine publisher (1930)

Thomas C. Haliburton; Canadian writer (1796)

Joseph Henry; scientist, inventor (1797)

Bernard Hill; actor (1944)

Ernie Hudson; actor (1945)

Eugene Levy; writer, actor, comedian (1946)

Willard Libby; atomic scientist (1908)

George Lindsey; comedian, actor (1928)

Armin Mueller-Stahl; German actor (1930)

Art Neville; R&B musician (1937)

Sy Oliver; trumpet player, bandleader (1910)

Sarah Paulson; actor (1974)

Bill Pullman; actor (1953)

Giovanni Ribisi; actor (1974)

Paul Rodgers; rock singer, pianist (1949)

Tommy Steele; pop singer (1936)

[daggerzine]

Throwback Thursday #70!- Soul Asylum- Made To Be  Broken (1986- Twin Tone/ 2016- Omnivore)

This Minneapolis band's 1984 debut, Say What You Will, was definitely a solid outing, but not great by any means as it showed a band trying to break out of its hard-core roots.

Well, less than two years later, the band certainly did just that with this brilliant second album. The record was produced by Bob Mould, who did a great job on it. Dave Pirner on vocals/guitar, Dan Murphy on guitar/vocals, Karl Mueller on bass, and Grant Young on drums really came together with a ton of energy, charisma, and a batch of fantastic songs.

The twin guitar attack has a ton of muscle and the rhythm section, especially with new drummer Young, is better than on the debut.

And oh man…..did I mention the songs?! Holy moly.

The first three songs, "Tied To the Tracks," "Ship of Fools," and "Can't Go Back" really hit the trifecta, but keep listening otherwise, you’ll miss brilliant cuts, like the charging “Whoa!," the folksy “Never Really Been,” and the soaring, galloping ”New Feelings.”

The re-issue from Omnivore in 2016 added a whole other disc full of rarities so that’s the one to get. But yeah, 40 years on this one still sounds great so yeah, discover now (or rediscover).

www.soulasylum.com

www.omnivorerecordings.com

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Elie Mystal at The Nation:

There has probably never been a president who was more ignorant of the government, the Constitution, and the laws of this country than Donald Trump was in 2017. The man came to power with a child’s understanding of civics and a mob boss’s understanding of power. Instead of using the power of government to effectuate his agenda, he thought he could simply bend the law to his will. Trump was wrong, and the Department of Justice showed him why. Trump fired FBI director James Comey (whose decision to reopen the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails happened to be one of the proximate causes of his election in the first place) for his lack of loyalty. That led the DOJ to investigate Trump’s abuse of power. Trump likely assumed that his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, a longtime senator and an early supporter of Trump’s vile candidacy, would put a stop to the inquiry. But to Trump’s surprise, Sessions followed department rules and norms and recused himself from the case, leaving Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to handle the investigation. Rosenstein eventually appointed former FBI director Bob Mueller as a special counsel, and while Trump was never held accountable for this crime, he learned that the Justice Department could be a threat to his lawless abuse of power.

It’s a lesson he will not have forgotten if he wins or steals a second term. Mandate for Leadership, the Project 2025 blueprint for an eventual authoritarian takeover of the federal government, contains a lot of dangerous proposals for how Trump and his ruling conservatives can remake the executive branch. The authors’ ideas for the Department of Justice reflect not only their lust for unchallenged power, but also a deep fear of the DOJ’s independence—and, more particularly, the way that independence might be used against them if the DOJ is not brought to heel. Put simply: The conservatives hope to use the DOJ to make their darkest desires legal, while at the same time taking away the best legal means to stop them. As a first step, the Project 2025 Mandate recommends hollowing out the FBI. Why the FBI? Think of it this way: If Project 2025 is basically a conservative heist plot, then the chapter on the DOJ is the part where the plotters explain how they plan to take out the security cameras and floodlights so they can proceed under the cover of darkness.

The chapter begins like the Seinfeld holiday of Festivus: with an airing of grievances that the conservatives have against the FBI, including its alleged attempts to “convince social media companies and the media generally that the story about the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop was the result of a Russian misinformation campaign.” There are also entire paragraphs dedicated to railing against the FBI and the DOJ for trying to halt the spread of lies about the 2020 election—and, again, if you understand who these people are, you can see why stopping the government from policing their lies is a key goal. In order to accomplish this, Project 2025 proposes pushing Congress to demote the FBI, and its director, to a lower rung on the DOJ’s organizational chart and make the director report to a political functionary. It also wants Congress to eliminate the 10-year term of the FBI director to make it easier for the president to replace the director at will, like most other political appointees. Again, Trump got burned for firing Comey, and this proposal would make sure any future FBI director is sufficiently loyal.

If the conservatives simply wanted to destroy the FBI, I might agree with them. Even a cursory knowledge of the bureau’s history shows that the FBI is problematic: a dangerous tool of the surveillance state that, more often than not, has been deployed against civil liberties, civil rights, and social progress.

The problem with Project 2025 is that it doesn’t actually want to destroy the FBI; it wants to get rid of its independence—while keeping all of the FBI’s jackbooted thuggery so that it can hurt the “right” people. The Project 2025 Mandate calls for renewing the bureau’s focus on “violent” crime—and that word choice is important, because it leaves out nonviolent crimes like bank fraud, tax evasion, bribery, and document theft—you know, all the things that Trump or his business or donor-class friends are accused of doing. The document further suggests stripping the FBI of its legal workforce—the 300 or so attorneys employed by the bureau—which would turn the FBI into an even blunter weapon than it already is, completely untethered from the Constitution or civil rights. In line with the mission of hurting the “right” people, Mandate’s chapter on the DOJ details big plans for resuming Trump’s campaign against immigrants. Those plans include deploying the power of the Justice Department against Democrats who govern in “sanctuary cities.” Indeed, there’s a whole paragraph devoted to the wild idea of using the DOJ to sue district attorneys who use their discretion in ways that the conservatives don’t like—including, though hardly limited to, refusing to help deport immigrants.

[...] Toward that end, this chapter proposes transforming the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ into a tool to fight for white supremacy instead of against it. It aims to do this by using the division to prosecute institutions and organizations that promote diversity as violating the civil rights and equal protection of whites, and it’s the logical conclusion of the conservative assault on affirmative action and DEI programs. [...]

Using the DOJ to sue companies that hire people of color or women is meant to dissuade companies from hiring people of color or women, because according to conservative whites, anytime a person of color or a woman is hired for anything, it is because of affirmative action or DEI. This section is an attempt to whitewash America through force of law, since “the market” has rejected white supremacy (at least superficially) as a sound business practice.

When you break down what Project 2025 wants to do with the Justice Department, it’s chilling and terrifying, and yet I’m also struck by how petty and mean-spirited the tone of the document is. These people are consumed by their personal grievances (against Black people, against the media, against Hunter Biden and his laptop). There are multiple passages devoted to complaining that the DOJ has prosecuted people who threaten abortion clinics and parents who threaten school boards, as if being vile and hateful toward pregnant people and schoolteachers is their most precious “freedom.” Giving these people the DOJ is like giving a chimpanzee a gun: It’s inherently dangerous even when the chimp wields it like a crooked club.

Next time, Trump will not be handing the DOJ to people like Jeff Sessions and Bill Barr—people who wanted to use the department to further the MAGA agenda but felt bound by the rule of law. Next time, Trump will let someone like Stephen Miller, a ghoul who wants the law to promote bigotry instead of eradicating it, run the Justice Department. He’ll hand it to a devout loyalist and unreconstructed racist who wants to weaken the DOJ so it can’t hurt Trump, while weaponizing it against Trump’s enemies and the vulnerable communities he has decided to harass and terrorize. Project 2025 is telling us exactly how the conservatives plan to take away the rights of women, people of color, and the LGBTQ community. I beg the American people to believe them. This dystopian future isn’t a threat, it’s a certainty, should we give these people power again.

Elie Mystal wrote in The Nation that the DOJ under a 2nd Trump term would be the legal wing of the MAGA movement. The extreme MAGA movement must be crushed at all costs.

See Also:

The Nation: June 2024 Issue

[the-bitch-files]

Great LAW & ORDER: SVU Guest Stars (And Where Else You Might Have Seen Them)

As one of the longest-running prime-time crime procedural dramas on TV, which is currently entering its 26th season, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit has had its fair share of guest stars. From those actors appearing on the show before making it big, to big stars (including Oscar and Emmy winners!) popping in for a guest appearance, SVU has attracted a range of talent, just like its parent show, Law & Order.

Below is a list of various guest stars from Law & Order: SVU, split into different categories to tell you where you might have seen them before. The list is under the cut, since it's a pretty long list!

BOARDWALK EMPIRE

Michael Pitt (Jimmy Darmody) - S3xE13 "Prodigy" Paul Sparks (Mickey Doyle) - S2xE08 "Manhunt" Michael Shannon (Nelson Van Alden/George Mueller) - S6xE13 "Quarry" Christiane Seidel (Sigrid Mueller) - S12xE01 "Locum" Michael K. Williams (Chalky White) - S5xE11 "Escape" & S8xE07 "Underbelly" Paz De La Huerta (Lucy Danzinger) - S1xE18 "Chat Room" Bobby Cannavale (Gyp Rossetti) - S3xE11 "Monogamy" Patricia Arquette (Sally Wheet) - S14x09 "Dreams Deferred" Brian Geraghty (Agent Warren Knox/Jim Tolliver) - S11x11 "Quickie" & S16xE20 "Daydream Believer"

RIVERDALE

Lili Reinhart (Betty Cooper) - S13xE09 "Lost Traveler" Casey Cott (Kevin Keller) - S18xE19 "Conversion" Skeet Ulrich (FP Jones) - S12xE03 "Behave" Marisol Nichols (Hermione Lodge) - S05xE03 "Mother" Luke Perry (Fred Andrews) - S10x01 "Trials"

CHILD STARS

Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine) - S06xE01 "Birthright" Jennette McCurdy (iCarly) - S06xE11 "Contagious" Elle Fanning (Somewhere, Maleficent, Super 8) - S08xE08 "Cage" Anna Chlumsky (My Girl) - S13xE03 "Twenty-Five Acts"

MODERN FAMILY

Julie Bowen (Claire Dunphy) - S10xE01 "Trials" Sarah Hyland (Haley Dunphy) - S03xE01 "Repression" & S10xE12 "Hothouse" Ty Burrell (Phil Dunphy) - S03xE15 "Execution" Ariel Winter (Alex Dunphy) - S21xE02 "The Darkest Journey Home"

ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK

Natasha Lyonne (Nicky Nichols) - S13xE08 "Educated Guess" Samira Wiley (Poussey Washington) - S16xE21 "Perverted Justice" Pablo Schreiber (George 'Pornstache' Mendez) - S08xE15 "Haystack" as Dan Kozlowski), S14-15 (as William Lewis) Elizabeth Rodríguez (Aleida Diaz) - S13xE14 "Home Invasions" Laura Gómez (Blanca Flores) - S16 Laverne Cox (Sophia Burset) - S09xE16 "Closet" Taryn Manning (Tiffany 'Pennsatucky' Dogget) - S12xE12 "Possessed"

TEEN SHOW & MOVIE STARS

Melissa Joan Hart (Sabrina the Teenage Witch) - S9xE03 "Impulsive" Peter Gallagher (the OC) - S16, S17, S18, S19 & S20 James Van Der Beek (Dawson's Creek) - S13xE20 "Father Dearest" Sophia Bush (One Tree Hill) - S16xE07 "Chicago Crossover" & S16xE20 "Daydream Believer" Mischa Barton (the OC) - S11xE14 "Savior" Ian Somerhalder (the Vampire Diaries) - S4xE20 "Dominance" Paul Wesley (the Vampire Diaries) - S2xE01 "Wrong is Right" & S7xE04 "Ripped" Hayden Panettiere (Heroes, Scream 4, Ice Princess) - S02xE11 "Abuse" & S06xE15 "Hooked" Amanda Seyfried (Mean Girls, Jennifer's Body) - S06xE05 "Outcry" Brittany Snow (John Tucker Must Die, Pitch Perfect) - S07xE22 "Influence" Jennifer Love Hewitt (I Know What You Did Last Summer, Party of Five, Can't Hardly Wait) - S12xE03 "Behave" Matthew Lillard (Scream, She's All That) - S10xE16 "Ballerina" Mae Whitman (the Perks of Being a Wallflower, Tinker Bell, One Fine Day) - S09xE11 "Streetwise"

SITCOM STARS

Debra Messing (Will & Grace) - S12xE17 "Pursuit" Eric McCormack (Will & Grace) - S11x02 "Sugar" John Stamos (Full House) - S12xE22 "Bang" Bob Saget (Full House) - S8x09 "Choreographed" Jane Krakowski (30 Rock) - S05xE23 "Bound" Dreama Walker (Don't Trust the B- in Apartment 23) - S16xE10 "Forgiving Rollins" Rainn Wilson (The Office) - S04x08 "Waste" Brad Garrett (Everybody Loves Raymond) - S17E22 & E23 "Intersection Lives" & "Heartfelt Passages" Henry Winkler (Happy Days) - S03xE20 "Greed" Bebe Neuwirth (Cheers, Frasier) - S01xE03 "...Or Just Look Like One"

MCU STARS

Bradley Cooper (Rocket Raccoon) - S6xE20 "Night" Zoe Saldana (Gamora) - S5xE21 "Criminal" Alfred Molina (Otto Octavius/Doctor Octopus) - S6xE20 "Night" Emily VanCamp (Sharon Carter) - S08xE14 "Dependent"

TV STARS

Kyle Maclachan (Desperate Housewives, Twin Peaks, Sex and the City) - S06xE06 "Conscience" & S13xE03 "Blood Brothers" Cynthia Nixon (Sex and the City) - S9x01 "Alternate" Bradley Whitford (the West Wing, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip) - S15xE22 "Reasonable Doubt" & S24xE15 "King of the Moon" Jennifer Love Hewitt (Ghost Whisperer, 9-1-1) - S12x03 "Behave" Pedro Pascal (Game of Thrones, the Mandolorian, the Last of Us) - S12xE24 "Smoked" Lynda Carter (Wonder Woman) - S07x02 "Design" Wentworth Miller (The Flash, Prison Break) - S11x01 "Unstable" (as Nate Kendall), S21xE06 "Murdered at a Bad Address" & S22x06 "the Long Arm of the Witness" (as Isaiah Holmes)

DISNEY STARS (both movie & channel)

Britt Robinson (Avalon High, Tomorrowland) - S10xE05 "Babes" Hilary Duff (Lizzie Maguire, Cadet Kelly) - S10xE19 "Selfish" Sabrina Carpenter (Girl Meets World) - S12E12 "Possessed" Peyton List (Jesse) - S12xE12 "Possessed" (also star of Cobra Kai!)

MOVIE STARS

Kate Mara (The Martian, Fantastic Four) - S02xE09 "Pixies" Rooney Mara (The Social Network, Carol) - S07xE20 "Fat" Sarah Paulson (Down With Love, Ocean's 8) - S11xE12 "Shadow" Lili Taylor (Mystic Pizza, Say Anything) - S16E15 "Undercover Mother" & S16E23 "Surrendering Noah" Martin Short (Father of the Bride, Three Amigos) - S06xE18 "Pure" Alec Baldwin (Beetlejuice, Glengarry Glen Ross) - S15x18 "Criminal Stories" Whoopi Goldberg (Sister Act, Ghost) - S17xE04 "Institutional Fail" Mahershala Ali (Moonlight, Leave the World Behind) - S11x01 "Unstable" Jeremy Irons (Die Hard With a Vengeance, the Lion King) - S12xE13 "Mask" & S12xE20 "Totem" Adam Driver (Star Wars, Marriage Story) - S13x11 "Theatre Tricks" Sharon Stone (Basic Instinct, Casino) - four episode arc as ADA Jo Marlowe in season 11 Patricia Arquette (Bringing Out the Dead, True Romance) - S14x09 "Dreams Deferred" Joan Cusack (Working Girl, Toy Story 2, Addams Family Values) - S12xE01 "Locum" Lea Thompson (Back to the Future, Red Dawn, Some Kind of Wonderful) - S06xE01 "Birthright"

DEAD POETS SOCIETY

Robin Williams (Mr. Keating) - S09xE117 "Authority" Robert Sean Leonard (Neil Perry) - S16xE21 "Perverted Justice," S17xE03 "Transgender Bridge" & S17xE10 "Catfishing Teacher" Josh Charles (Knox Overstreet) - S10x302 "Confession" James Waterson (Gerard Pitts) - S09xE14 "Inconceivable" & S18xE17 "Real Fake News"

BROADWAY / THEATRE STARS

Raúl Esparza - S14-19, Rafael Barba Andy Karl - S17, Mike Dodds Alex Brightman - S22xE05 "Turn Me On, Take Me Private" Eve Noblezada - S22xE05 "Turn Me On, Take Me Private" Roger Bart - S14xE03 "Twenty-Five Acts" Billy Porter - S15xE07 "Dissonant Voices" Patti LuPone - S16xE11 "Agent Provocateur" Daveed Diggs - S17xE05 "Community Policing" & S17xE13 "Forty-One Witnesses Leslie Odom Jr. - S17xE05 "Community Policing" Laura Benanti - S13-15, Maria Grazie (Nick Amaro's wife) Jefferson Mays - S16-17, Carl Rudnick Audra Macdonald - S01xE19 "Contact" & S01xE22 "Slaves" Aaron Tviet - S11xE10 "Beef" & S13xE02 "Personal Fouls"

HOUSE M.D.

Robert Sean Leonard (James Wilson) - S16xE21 "Perverted Justice," S17xE03 "Transgender Bridge" & S17xE10 "Catfishing Teacher" Kal Penn (Lawrence Kutner) - S08xE12 "Outsider" Peter Jacobson (Chris Taub) - S13xE23 "Rhodium Nights," S14xE01 "Lost Reputation," S14xE02 "Above Suspicion" (as Bart Ganzel), S19xE01 "Gone Fishin'" & S19xE13 "The Undiscovered Country" (as Randy Dworkin) Michael Weston (Lucas Douglas) - S08xE16 "Philadelphia," S08x19 "Florida," S08x22 "Screwed," S13xE16 "Child's Welfare," & S21xE06 "Murdered at a Bad Address" Zena Grey (Ruby) - S04xE15 "Pandora" Andre Braugher (Darryl Nolan) - 6 episodes across seasons 13, 14 & 16

DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES

Marcia Cross (Bree Van de Kamp) - S16xE16 "December Solstice" Kyle McLachlan (Orson Hodge) - S06xE06 "Conscience," S13xE03 "Blood Brothers" Mark Moses (Paul Young) - S09xE14 "Inconceivable," S18xE16 "The Newsroom" J.C. MacKenzie (Walter Bierlich) - S7-24 as Brian Ackerman in S7 & S12, and Counsellor Richard Price in S18 & S23-24 Cody Kasch (Zach Young) - S07xE06 "Raw" Richard Burgi (Karl Mayer) - S11xE15 "Confidential"

[tomorrowusa]

Obstructing justice includes tampering with or destroying evidence. Guess what Donald Trump has been up to. It's almost comical how Trump keeps digging a bigger legal hole for himself.

In the middle of the linked vid, Anderson Cooper talks with George Conway. In addition to being a columnist, Conway is an attorney who understands the deep legal shit Trump continues to envelop himself in. Conway seems genuinely astonished and comes up with some great lines. (emphasis added).

I mean, everything stands out to me. They have him dead to rights -- they had him dead to rights back when they executed the search warrant and they came up with those documents. I mean, there is literally a smoking arsenal here. I mean, people are making a big deal about what we saw in the superseding indictment yesterday, but the fact of the matter is, it's just icing on a very, very large cake of mind bogglingly inculpatory evidence against Donald Trump. I mean, he's like a never ending bottomless pit of illegality. Here, he is basically, by asking his workers to destroy the videotape, I mean, he was obstructing justice, but maybe he wasn't just obstructing justice, he was obstructing justice about his prior efforts to obstruct justice, because those videotapes showed how he and Walt Nauta were moving these boxes around and it was just like in the Mueller report. The Mueller report explains how Trump tried to get his White House counsel to get the special counsel, then Bob Mueller, to resign. And then when it hits the newspapers that he did that, then Trump asked the White House counsel to write a false memo saying that it didn't happen. And again, he's obstructing justice about obstructing justice. He's like, a Matryushka -- a Matryoshka doll of criminality, this man. And it's just -- he's not making it -- he's not making it any easier for himself. If anything, it's sort of being unfair to himself because he's making it so easy for prosecutors. One-tenth of the evidence that they have could put him away for the rest of his life.

Trump's growing legal problems aren't stopping him from telling Republicans what they want to hear.

Trump tells crowd he is the only Republican who can win 2024 election

Trump also said "I alone can fix it" in 2016 at the GOP convention.

Fool me once...

[leanstooneside]

THE HAYES YEARS

JANUARY JONES'S GUSTY NOSTRIL

SEAN LENNON'S GUSTY NOSTRIL

RYAN DUNN'S GUSTY NOSTRIL

MARY-LOUISE PARKER'S GUSTY NOSTRIL

BILLY BOB THORNTON'S GUSTY NOSTRIL

TAYLOR MOMSEN'S GUSTY NOSTRIL

TOM FELTON'S GUSTY NOSTRIL

CARSON PALMER'S GUSTY NOSTRIL

ANDY SAMBERG'S GUSTY NOSTRIL

LEA MICHELE'S GUSTY NOSTRIL

ASHLEE SIMPSON'S GUSTY NOSTRIL

PITBULL'S GUSTY NOSTRIL

BALTHAZAR GETTY'S GUSTY NOSTRIL

LISA MARIE PRESLEY'S GUSTY NOSTRIL

NICOLAS CAGE'S GUSTY NOSTRIL

VANESSA MINNILLO'S GUSTY NOSTRIL

BROOKE MUELLER'S GUSTY NOSTRIL

ALI FEDOTOWSKY'S GUSTY NOSTRIL

ASHLEY GREENE'S GUSTY NOSTRIL

DAVID KATZENBERG'S GUSTY NOSTRIL

[adversarialharrow]

Beauty and That Guy (From Highschool)

Once upon a time, in a bustling city filled with the rhythmic hum of daily life, there was a mistress of nostalgia and escapades. Her attractiveness flickered seductively in the twilight, inviting passersby to lose their heads and relive the magic of times that would otherwise have been long forgotten if they involved other people. But within her enticing walls lay a mystery, an enigma that would soon unravel in a most peculiar way.

One fateful evening, as the last rays of sunlight slipped beyond the horizon, casting playful shadows, a young man named Oliver found himself drawn to her siren call. He was a creature of habit, captivated by the promise of job opportunities that whisked him away from the mundane. A curiosity that would lead him into the depths of absurdity.

As he wandered through the aisles, his mind was interrupted by scenes of sex between two people he went to high school with, one was a pretty girl he thought about and the other was Mike Pizzioni with the song quote “I hope you had the time of your life” playing in the background And this was the best lay that this was the best sex. Really fulfilling too, and the ultimate manifestation of the bonding I never got from society. A girl, tanned, slender, smooth with hands running down.

Oliver had this in his head and he was like oh I guess Mike Pizzioni got to do that then and then Oliver wanted to kill himself and then a voice in his head was like hold on a minute.

He called 911 in a fit jealousy to say that he should not have seen Mike Pizzioni with this girl in his head, and it must’ve been a rape, unaware that his actions would set off a chain of events spiraling into the bizarre.

He actually saw this girl working in a video store, he turned to leave out of fear, but the mistress had other plans. She was like I need to introduce you to the plumbing business. My husband is a manager and a CEO.

In a moment of reckless abandon, Oliver unzipped it and pulled out a pipe In a fit of whimsy, he decided to insert the pipe into the slot.

At first, a playful act that would elicit a chuckle from anyone who might witness it. But as the pipe slid further inside, an unsettling sensation gripped him. A soft thud echoed in the confines, followed by an unnerving silence, as if the universe itself paused to take stock of this audacious act.

His heart raced. Oh f—king yeah. The once benign now loomed larger. Panic set in as he feared the manager. The pipe was lodged firmly, that sh-t was done.

Glancing around, Oliver half-expected someone to emerge from the shadows. But the place remained empty, save for the flickering light above, casting a glow. He stood as an eternity, felt like each second was being stretched.

With a deep breath, Oliver succumbed that each desperate act only deepened his frustration, transforming the playful act into a surreal torment.

Minutes turned into what felt like hours. The thing now symbolized a gateway to chaos. The pipe, now a prisoner of his own making, mocked him from its darkened lair. What had started as a spontaneous moment of foolishness had morphed into a battle of wills between man and his, not his mistress, but the manager.

A grizzled man with a penchant for what’s new—emerged from the back room. This was the manager and CEO named Bob Mueller, who is the founder of “Mueller Water Commodities” where “water” was a metaphor. His eyes widened at the sight before him. "Going on?” he asked, smiling lines across his face.

Oliver’s cheeks flushed crimson as he stammered, “I... I put a water pipe in the.” The owner’s expression shifted from incredulous laughter to anguish and a distraught disappointment, an expression that sucked from the space any warmth or relief.

With a few gentle tugs and a little ingenuity, they managed to free the pipe.

As Oliver stood there, his manager told him that the line between humor and humiliation is paper-thin. The torment had transformed a shared moment into life’s experiences often forge connections in the most unexpected ways.

And so, with the water pipe finally liberated, he needed to get a drink.

[darkmaga-returns]

Trump Cabinet picks. CNN 'will axe top stars. Biden to ask for more money for Kiev. Pezeshkian: Tehran has to deal with Washington. Houthis Target US Aircraft Carrier. Large explosion in Louisville KY

Lioness of Judah Ministry

Nov 13, 2024

Trump Cabinet picks: Here’s who’s on the list to carry out his agenda

President-elect Trump is assembling his Cabinet and senior staff for his second term in the White House before taking office in January.

Trump must nominate leaders for 15 government agencies and other top administration jobs that require Senate confirmation, along with appointing senior staff. Here’s a look at who has been tapped to serve so far…

BREAKING: President Trump Nominates Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense in Shock Move

President Trump has his Secretary of Defense and it is a name no one saw coming.

Just a short time ago, Trump announced he had selected Fox News’s own Pete Hegseth to lead the Department of Defense (DOD). He cited Hegseth’s stellar America First credentials and decorated service on as an army combat veteran. He also cited Hegseth’s book “The War on Warriors,” which analyzed the left’s betrayal of those who have risked their lives to serve our nation.

BREAKING: Trump Announces Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will Head Department of Government Efficiency (“DOGE”)

President Trump on Tuesday announced Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will head the Department of Government Efficiency.

“I am pleased to announced that the Great Elon Musk, working in conjunction with American Patriot Vivek Ramaswamy, will lead the Department of Government Efficiency (“DOGE”). Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies – Essential to the “Save America” Movement,” Trump said in a statement.

Dark Horse for Attorney General Is a DEI-Peddling Lawyer Who Refused to Defend Trump Against Mueller

President-elect Donald J. Trump is said to be considering New York lawyer Robert (Bob) Giuffra, co-chair of Sullivan & Cromwell, for his U.S. Attorney General pick.

While Giuffra has much legal experience, many Trump supporters see him as having questionable loyalty and lacking the fortitude needed to take on the level of partisan entrenchment at the Department of Justice (DOJ). Giuffra’s political donations include gifts to ‘Team DeSantis 2024,’ the McConnell Senate Committee, and Ted Cruz’s campaign against Donald Trump in 2016. As Trump took the lead in late summer, Giuffra donated to the Trump Victory Committee.

CNN 'will axe top stars in layoffs that'll see hundreds fired as ratings continue to tank'

CNN is planning to wield the axe on some of its high-paid staff after dismal election ratings that cap off a disastrous period for the cable news network. 

According to an explosive new report from Puck, network executives will unleash sweeping lay-offs in a bid to save the network's flailing reputation. It comes after the departure of stalwart Chris Wallace, and amid reports senior stars like Wolf Blitzer and Jake Tapper have both been denied raises. 

[ear-worthy]

Bad Movies Rule Podcast: When Bad Films Produce A Good Podcast

Here's the irony surrounding podcasts about movies: 125 major films are released every year, a number that has decreased over the decades. Yet, there are tens of thousands of movie podcasts. The attraction of doing a movie podcast is easy to understand. Recording and releasing a movie podcast doesn't require a degree, certification, or even extensive knowledge of films.

The setup that has dominated this genre for years goes as such: three dudes in their 20s who were in a fraternity get together over some IPAs and try to be funny while discussing movies. Fart and tit jokes fly, and movie criticism is perhaps secondary to having a good time.

A few of the best movie podcasts include Filmspotting, hosted by Adam Kempenaar and Josh Larsen, which has produced shows since 2005, Verbal Diorama by Em, and Every Single Sci-Fi Film Ever by Ayesha Khan.

Every once in a while, however, a podcast crashes through its own trope and succeeds where others have failed. That movie podcast is Bad Movies Rule.

This excellent movie podcast began in September 2021 and has 170 episodes in the can. The show's premise - unique because it focuses on bad movies like The Razzies - foes as such: "We're a bunch of blue-collar folks that talk about all the movies that don't get enough love. We give out awards to each film and try to determine whether they are actually bad, good-bad, or straight-up good! We hope you will enjoy being part of our group and hanging out with us." This twist on a familiar trope usually separates a podcast from the crowded podverse. Bad Movies Rule is a solid example that found a unique premise and executed its essence with superb discipline. The podcasting team of Bad Movies Rule continues: "We are a group of friends and filmmakers who started a sketch comedy group back in 2005 in Chicago. "That eventually turned into a string of independent movies from 2006 to 2010. We approach talking about films from the standpoint of having made them (on a much smaller scale), and can commiserate with some of the challenges. Bottom line - we love movies, and many of the movies we love wouldn't be called good by the common arbiters of quality (critics/award shows). "We've all gone on and started families, but this podcast became a way to get the band back together and bring in some new friends as well." Understanding who's talking during an episode is a problem except for the most faithful. I listened to ten episodes and was still a bit fuzzy on the shifting lineup. Apparently, the podcast has James Hauser, Joe Goratowski, TWO Ryans - Mattila and Mueller, somebody named Bob, and the lone female named Jen.

Despite the musical chairs hosting situation, the group mesh well together with minimal talking over one another, and each person is free to display their comedy chops, film analysis acumen, and social commentary.   Let's face it. Dissecting any form of art that's bad is much more fun than, say, trying to define the genius of the Mona Lisa or a great film like Rear Window by Alfred Hitchcock. The format of the show is simple yet effective. The team's chosen bad movie is dissected scene by scene, with plenty of comedic interludes and caustic comments throughout the scene-by-scene review of the film. At the end of the episode, the team gives out awards for overacting, bad acting, and underrated performances with names for actors that exemplify that skill. For example, the bad acting award is named for Steven Seagal, who, I agree, maybe one of the worst actors of all time. Can we also add Chuck Norris to that list? Some of my favorite episodes include the January 2, 2024, show about Jaws 2. In the episode, the co-hosts imagine what the film would be like if Arnold Schwarzenegger played one of the teens trapped in the raft and in danger of becoming a shark snack. With their talents on full display, all the co-hosts break out their "Arn-old" impersonations, and, as TV Guide used to write, hilarity ensued. In the Tremors 3 episode on December 22, 2023, the co-hosts ridicule the silly six million-dollar budget, which the producers seemingly wasted on a few special effects, as the co-hosts poke copious holes in the ludicrous plot and reuse of the footage from earlier films in the franchise to save money.    The episode from March 2023 on the 1986 film Cobra with Sylvester Stallone is a can't-miss. It's Stallone with a matchstick in his mouth, which doesn't help his muddled diction and sunglasses that he wears day and night. In a welcome departure in January 2024, the show actually reviewed an excellent movie—Predator —which was a special preview of the first episode of their Patreon-exclusive show, Good Movies Rule, which originally aired on June 1st, 2023. What I like about this movie podcast include:

The co-hosts have a genuine affection for one another

Unlike some movie podcasts, the co-hosts raise the level of wit and humor above that of the middle-school level.3. The co-hosts invest their time in studying and assessing these bad films and explaining why they are so bad. 

The show had a "good nose" for bad films that were ripe for the peeling.

The awards they give out for acting in these flicks are both silly and well-scrutinized. Plus, making fun of Putin's buddy, Seagal, the actor, is deliciously satisfying. What I also like about the show is that the hosts do not take themselves too seriously. This comment is on their website." From the beginning, we've been very honest about the quality of our show. You can listen….but it's not good"   Check out Bad Movies Rule. The movies are often so bad, and the podcast is so good.

[brookstonalmanac]

Birthdays 12.17

Beer Birthdays

Thomas Cooper (1826)

George Frey (1826)

Balthas Jetter (1851)

Michael Ash (1927)

Yuri Katunin

Five Favorite Birthdays

Milla Jovovich; Russian model, actor (1975)

Mike Mills; rock bassist (1958)

William Safire; writer (1929)

John Kennedy Toole; writer (1937)

John Greenleaf Whittier; poet, writer (1807)

Famous Birthdays

Burt Baskin; ice cream maker (1913)

Paul Butterfield; blues musician (1942)

Paul Cadmus; artist (1904)

Erskine Caldwell; writer (1903)

Domenico Cimarosa; composer (1749)

Sarah Dallin; pop singer (1961)

Humphrey Davy; English chemist (1778)

Earl Dotson; Green Bay Packers T (1970)

Peter Farrelly; film director, writer (1956)

Arthur Fiedler; conductor (1894)

William Floyd; signer of the Declaration of Independence (1734)

Ford Madox Ford; English writer (1873)

Duff Goldman; pastry chef (1974)

Bob Guccione; magazine publisher (1930)

Thomas C. Haliburton; Canadian writer (1796)

Joseph Henry; scientist, inventor (1797)

Bernard Hill; actor (1944)

Ernie Hudson; actor (1945)

Eugene Levy; writer, actor, comedian (1946)

Willard Libby; atomic scientist (1908)

George Lindsey; comedian, actor (1928)

Armin Mueller-Stahl; German actor (1930)

Art Neville; R&B musician (1937)

Sy Oliver; trumpet player, bandleader (1910)

Sarah Paulson; actor (1974)

Bill Pullman; actor (1953)

Giovanni Ribisi; actor (1974)

Paul Rodgers; rock singer, pianist (1949)

Tommy Steele; pop singer (1936)

[procurement-insights]

Who Really Cares About An SAP Senior Executive Departure?

Why would anyone care if an SAP executive left the company?

We highlight on Supply Chain Matters yesterday’s sudden announcement of another SAP senior executive departure, that being Chief Technology Officer and Executive Board Member Juergen Mueller. https://lnkd.in/gcCtx4_m – Bob Ferrari LinkedIn post (September 5, 2024) The first thought that comes to my mind is this: Bob Ferrari: How does this benefit the end customer? How does this help the…