‘Obama Joins Club of the Super-Rich—Defends Global Capitalism in Lecture’

The above is a very interesting video, uploaded to YouTube just yesterday [Sunday, July 29, 2018], by The Real News.

OW | Happy Birthday, Jimmy Dore!

Happy Birthday, Jimmy Dore!

And now for this early Open Weekend [OW]…

Anniversary: The DNC E-Mails

Last Friday [July 20, 2018], I originally posted a blog entry reminding readers that that weekend was the second anniversary of WikiLeaks reporting the DNC e-mails, showing collusion and rigging of the 2016 Democratic presidential primaries for Hillary Clinton and against Bernie Sanders. (Well, this was not only against Bernie Sanders. This was also against every person who voted the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination to Bernie Sanders.)

I deleted the blog entry because I was not pleased, let alone satisfied, with what I had written. Readers here at Progressives Chat are certainly informed. So, I was feeling like I had nothing to write that would be new for readers. But, I suppose I can write something that I don’t recall seeing appear on Progressives Chat.

I assign blame for this as well to Democratic Party Establishment Voters.

I assign blame to not just 2016 Hillary Clinton’s primaries voters—and all insiders and their allies in media—but also to Loyal Democratic Party Voters.

Two years after those DNC e-mails, and here in 2018, Loyal Democratic Voters continue to vote nominations—and, as applicable to incumbents, re-nominations—to corrupt, corporate Democratic Party Establishment candidates and officeholders.

I am not interested in reasons and excuses expressed by Loyal Democratic Party Voters. They tend to offer up their same tune from a generation ago. I turn 47 in August. My first presidential election of eligibility was in 1992. Loyal Democratic Party Voters were singing their song of desperation back then and, no doubt, before then. I have to conclude that, with so many of them, however many of them, well they are—along with the Democratic Party Establishment—full of shit. Not full of shit with every single reason and excuse. Overall full of shit—especially after the DNC e-mails—with a sufficient number of their reasons and excuses to continue being Loyal Democratic Party Voters for a corrupt and garbage Democratic Party Establishment. I recognize more than enough of these Loyal Democratic Voters are also their own version of a con artist.

Open Weekend

This “Open Weekend” thread is a regular thing for Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.

Please take this Progressives Chat to wherever you may want it to go.







UPDATE—07.20.2018 @ 04:45 p.m. ET: I originally posted on this date a blog entry titled “OW | Remembering the DNC E-Mails.” It was this weekend, in 2016, that WikiLeaks reported the DNC e-mails about the presidential primaries rigged for Hillary Clinton and against Bernie Sanders. I opted to delete that original blog entry because I was not pleased with it.

—Candy83

‘This Is’…‘Knots’ [Reboots]!

The 70th prime-time Emmy Award nominations, for television achievements for the 2017–18 season, were announced last Thursday [July 12, 2018]. One of the nominated series is mentioned.

I recently came across a YouTube-uploaded video in which actress Donna Mills, who starred from 1980–1989 as Abby Cunningham on the CBS serial Knots Landing, was interviewed on KTLA in February 2018.

Mills was asked, given this television trend of rebooting sitcoms from the past (NBC’s Will and Grace, originally 1998–2006; ABC’s Roseanne, 1988–1997; and, coming this fall, CBS’s Murphy Brown, 1988–1998), whether she would up for a reboot of Knots Landing.

“Nostalgia seems to be the way right now. In my opinion, Knots Landing was the This Is Us of the ’80s. It had much more depth and heart and real stories about real people than any of the other shows. So, it was more along that line. That would be the show to bring back.”

There is a timeliness to looking at Knots. This past May marked the 25th anniversary since its final episode aired May 13, 1993. It was broadcast from 1979–1993. Two other 1980s serials were rebooted in recent years: Dallas, which was on CBS from 1978–1991, by TNT in 2012 (and ended in 2014); Dynasty, which was on ABC from 1981–1989, was rebooted—with an entirely different cast—by the CW in 2017 (and it will get its second season this fall). So, it’s not like this would be unthinkable.

I think Mills was on to something when she drew a comparison to the current NBC drama series This Is Us. It’s that Knots, compared to the other 1980s prime-time soaps, was a more relatable, all-American prime-time serial. Why? I think it was economics. The economic class of most of its lead characters not having been born into money—and that, as adults, they earned their way. Those on Dallas, Dynasty, and Falcon Crest (CBS, 1981–1990, starring Ronald Reagan’s ex-wife, Oscar winner Jane Wyman) were already the 1 percent. For those on Knots, there was a deeper probing into the economic backgrounds of the characters: Karen Cooper Fairgate MacKenzie (Michele Lee), Valene Clements Ewing (Joan Van Ark), and even Abby (Donna Mills). Karen’s second husband, Mack MacKenzie (Kevin Dobson), was not born into money before becoming an attorney. The only two long-running lead characters who were born into riches were Dallas original Gary Ewing (Ted Shackelford) and Greg Sumner (William Devane)—the former born into the oil business; the latter into a political family. Gary and Val, true loves from early adulthood, were from opposite ends of the economic class—a rich man/poor woman pair. Karen and her first husband, Sid Fairgate (played in the first two seasons by Don Murray), who was Abby’s brother, built their life from his automobile dealership, before his death in the third season, and Karen branched out afterward as a widowed mother, a business woman, and she rebuilt her life with her second husband, Mack.

A lot of this to which Mills was speaking refers to the 99 percent who, if they eventually have anything in the way of money, well they struggled before they could achieve. That is also the case with characters on NBC’s This Is Us. The period of Knots Landing covered parts or wholes of four U.S. presidents: Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush, and Bill Clinton. Like the current period’s This Is Us, that period’s Knots Landing reflected the zeitgeist.

Since I mentioned the 2017–18 Emmy nominations were announced last week: This Is Us, which premiered on NBC at the start of the 2016–17 season, won Emmys last year for outstanding lead actor in a drama series Sterling K. Brown and guest actor Gerald McRaney. They, and others, are nominated again this year. So are two past winners from rebooted comedies: Will and Grace’s Megan Mullally and Roseanne’s Laurie Metcalf (who, at 63, is on a hot streak; she received, at the very least, nominations at this year’s Oscars, Tonys, and Emmys). Knots Landing, which broadcast 14 seasons, garnered nominations only for lead actress Michele Lee and supporting actress Julie Harris (as Val’s mother Lillimae) in 1982. (Donna Mills won a Daytime Emmy, for a guest performance on ABC’s General Hospital, in 2015.)

I don’t seriously give thought to whether I would want a reboot specifically of Knots Landing. But, come to think, I don’t tend to want to see any past series rebooted. I think the late film critic Gene Siskel (1946–1999) was onto something when he opined about movie sequels. What he said about those has me applying that to television-series reboots. I can’t remember the exact quote. It goes something like this: Why not redo something that originally was badly made? In other words: If a given production was fouled up the first time, that is a reason to try a second time; to get it right. Well, that isn’t how people tend to think. But, that is a pretty good way of looking at this.

OW | Jamarl Thomas Interviews Jared Beck

This interview was uploaded on [Tuesday, July 10, 2018] to YouTube by Jamarl Thomas.

He interviews attorney Jared Beck, who brought the lawsuit against the DNC for fraud committed with the 2016 Democratic presidential primaries.

The running time is one hour and 52 minutes. There are some periods in which they’re not totally talking about the corruption of the Democratic Party Establishment and DNC. But, it is very interesting. (I recommend streaming it from a device connected to one’s television.)




And now for this Open Weekend [OW]…

U.S. Supreme Court … Voter Shaming

On the schedule tonight [Monday, July 9, 2018] is the announcement from President Donald Trump for his nomination selection to replace Anthony Kennedy as the next justice on the United States Supreme Court.

I will not be making a point of tuning in.

The U.S. Supreme Court is often tossed around when Democrats know they are running on empty (or near to it), and desperately want people to be willing to vote for their party. Rather than offer a terrific candidate with a platform to get the people on board…it’s the Supreme Court. Worry about the Supreme Court.

Was Hillary Clinton worried about the U.S. Supreme Court when she and her campaign employed the “Pied Piper Candidates” strategy to push for Donald Trump?

Were the 2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries voters who voted the nomination to Hillary Clinton—and who follow politics and who knew she was a problem candidate and pushed for her anyway—concerned about the U.S. Supreme Court?

I don’t let those who are #StillWithHer voter shame me especially after they backed a corrupt and horrible candidate who lost to a reality-competition television host.

OW | Updates to ‘Recommendations’ … Ed Schultz (1954–2018)

I want to alert readers to some updates to Recommendations.

This past Wednesday [July 4, 2018], I eliminated links to the YouTube pages of H.A. Goodman and Hard Bastard and replaced them with a link to ShadowProof.

I personally follow H.A. Goodman and Hard Bastard. But, I no longer feel it is necessary to list them. Their videos are now routinely an hour or more. (Hard Bastard often runs past two hours.) When I have provided in comments, along with readers also having their comments, video links—especially to ones of Jamarl Thomas—some have been past a half-hour and somewhat close to an hour. That, right there, is asking a lot of people to be giving much of their time for those viewings. So, this isn’t a matter of content. It’s a matter of readers’ time. So much time. Too much time.

People here know about H.A. Goodman and Hard Bastard. They know about, say, The Young Turks (which, since Cenk Uygur’s 2016 general-election endorsement of Hillary Clinton, I do not recommend). So, there is no need for me to continue to Recommendations-list the H.A. Goodman and/or Hard Bastard shows.

I should have included a link a while ago to ShadowProof. I don’t know all the details about how ShadowProof started. I discovered it, perhaps a couple years ago, when I was trying to revisit Firedoglake. (I used to go to Firedoglake in the late-2000s and early-2010s, during which it really was enlightening for me regarding then-empowered congressional Democrats’ shapings of what became the Affordable Care Act.) Then I found out Jane Hamsher’s site was shut down in 2015 and, if I am correct, replaced by ShadowProof. The content there makes it very appropriate to include in Recommendations.

I hope this does not disappoint readers. But, to also be frank about the continued use of even having Recommendations, a part of me is wondering if this area matters much. If one is reading this site from a smartphone, he doesn’t see the sidebar for Recommendations. The regular readers here know enough to check out what is listed. (Or some of what is listed.) I think Recommendations comes off more like Endorsements. But, this does not actually mean I no longer endorse following the YouTube-uploaded videos of H.A. Goodman and/or Hard Bastard. It means I don’t feel there continues to be a need to direct readers to their YouTube pages from my Recommendations.



UPDATE: Ed Schultz (1954–2018)

Friday, July 6, 2018 @ 06: 45 p.m. ET: Earlier today, I briefly commented on the death of former MSNBC and recent RT America host Ed Schultz (1954–2018). I included, in the comments, a video from Lionel Nation. Well, with this “Update,” I am going to include a better video, here with a revising of this blog entry topic, from Jimmy Dore.

And now for this Open Weekend [OW]…

Happy Independence Day!

Happy Independence Day 

to everyone here at Progressives Chat!

UPDATE

I am going to continue, as I did during June, having just one regular blog entry topic per week. Those will be on Mondays. The “Open Weekend” threads will continue, as they are regularly scheduled, on Fridays. This will actually continue throughout not only July but also August. It has to do with the summer. I will return to having another blog entry thread, usually on Wednesdays, in September.