Ellen DeGeneres Is…‘Offensive’

Emmy-winning comedienne and talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres recently came under fire for hanging out at a NFL game with 43rd U.S. president George W. Bush.

DeGeneres’s ABC sitcom Ellen (originally These Friends of Mine), which I watched regularly, premiered 25 years ago, in 1994, and lasted until 1998. Her character Ellen Morgan’s coming-out episode, “The Puppy Episode,” won DeGeneres and her co-writers the 1996–97 Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series. Oscar-winning actress Emma Thompson won the 1997–98 Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for the episode “Emma.” DeGeneres has hosted her syndicated talk-show entertainment program since 2003.

I have not made a point of following DeGeneres for her politics. Part of what explains this is that I do not watch her talk show. I generally don’t like to watch talk shows. So, prior to my writing and posting this blog topic, I did not research whether she has made endorsements other than knowing, from little moments I have seen of her talk show, she does endorse corporate products. In the video, from Jimmy Dore, DeGeneres does mention she is a liberal.

In the above video, which was posted in comments section last week, Jimmy Dore well-researches and -reviews Ellen DeGeneres. But, I want to add this: George W. Bush nationally exploited LGBT persons (one of whom is DeGeneres) for the purpose of political and electoral gain. And he did with a willingness to possibly bring destruction to LGBT people. My home state is Michigan. In 2004, when Bush was re-elected and won the U.S. Popular Vote by +2.46 percentage points (it was George W. Bush 50.73% vs. John Kerry 48.27%), he tried to flip Michigan with a motivator being the ballot proposal to constitutionally ban same-sex marriage statewide. While John Kerry carried Michigan with 51 percent of the vote (a margin of +3.42 percentage points), the ban passed with almost 59 percent. In fact, it passed in all of the state’s counties.

We also know Bush, with help from the likes of Colin Powell and Robert Mueller, lied to the people of the United States to get the country into war in Iraq. (The fact that there were three faithless 2016 electors from the Democratic-aligned state of Washington who cast their presidential votes not for losing nominee Hillary Clinton but for Republican Colin Powell—and the “mainstream” Democrats were also on their knees for Mueller with Russiagate—speaks as well to the hypocrisy and moral bankruptcy of the corrupt, corporate, Democratic Party Establishment.)

Jimmy Dore uses some accurate words to describe Ellen DeGeneres. But, there is one particular word—and it is not needing to be one that is dramatic—which should also be applied. That word is…offensive. Yes, Ellen DeGeneres is offensive.

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In addition to the video by Jimmy Dore come related ones by Graham Elwood, Kyle Kulinksi of Secular Talk, Tim Black, David Doel of The Rational National and, as one who is out as a gay man, Mike Figueredo of The Humanist Report.

‘The Phony Liberalism of Bill Maher’

I stopped watching HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher circa January 2017. I recall it last going through a change in its production design for the set decoration. Some red was incorporated. By then, enough of a focus of the program was in going after Donald Trump.

I know this was not too unreasonable given Trump was, at the time, the incoming 45th U.S. president. But, I also knew the Democrats, with Hillary Clinton, should not be dismissed for rigging the 2016 Democratic presidential primaries and everything related to WikiLeaks’s report of the DNC e-mails, the Podesta Files, and how that political party is a sham.

I had the sense Bill Maher’s program was taking a turn for the worse. So, I bailed. It turns out I made a personally wise decision. From what I have seen from videos, and from what I have read, the nowadays Bill Maher, and his Real Time, is one I chalk up to with recognizing that who owns HBO has ownership of Bill Maher—and I find myself not drawn in to reacting with anger. I dismiss Bill Maher. He is owned. But, this has not stopped me from reading a recent take on Maher. And I will share in this blog topic.

The Phony Liberalism of Bill Maher

Remembering Diahann Carroll

The groundbreaking actress, model, and singer Diahann Carroll died last Friday, October 4, 2019, at age 84.

Here is a report: Diahann Carroll, Actress Who Broke Barriers With ‘Julia,’ Dies at 84.

Born July 17, 1935, in Bronx, New York, Carroll’s parents were a subway conductor and a nurse. She was married four times, perhaps most famously to the late singer Vic Damone.

Diahann Carroll has been described as pioneering and trailblazing, especially when you read the reports on the career of the actress and her life. She was not only the first black actress but also the overall first black actor to reach completion of receiving lead-acting nominations for the Tony (winning in 1962 for Best Actress in a Musical for No Strings); the Emmy (a 1963 nomination for Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for ABC’s Naked City; a 1969 nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for NBC’s Julia); and the Oscar (a 1974 nomination for Best Actress in Claudine).

I came across some interesting clip interviews of Carroll; ones in which Carroll spoke at length, and with clarity and insight, of her experiences at different points in her career and her life. Although there are plenty more clips than I will post, the ones appearing below are worth sharing and viewing.



In the first clip, published to YouTube in 2011, Diahann Carroll speaks of the 1954 Otto Preminger film Carmen Jones (for which leading lady Dorothy Dandridge became the first black actress Oscar nominated for Best Actress). Carroll touches on how some actors are treated as being no better than just being actors.

In this second clip, published to YouTube in 2012, Diahann Carroll speaks of her 1963 Emmy nomination for Naked City and, as one who was reluctant to move from New York to California, of her general distrust of Hollywood.

In this third clip, published to YouTube in 2011, Diahann Carroll speaks of the controversy—and a lot of pain—with her NBC series Julia (1968–1971).

In this fourth clip, published to YouTube in 2009, Diahann Carroll speaks of the John Berry film Claudine; having replaced the actress originally cast, her Tony- and Emmy-nominated friend Diana Sands (the original Beneathea in Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun who died from cancer at age 39 in 1973); and why she was surprised she received a 1974 Oscar nomination for Best Actress.

• ARCHIVE • ‘The Election March of the Trolls’

I made the decision to post a topic that was published in 2011. It was eight years ago which marked the last time the U.S. had an upcoming presidential election which was an incumbent year; meaning, the voters had the choice to re-elect an incumbent U.S. president—or unseat that president with the opposition-party nominee. Chris Hedges was not caught up in it. Here is his great piece, The Election March of the Trolls.

‘The Plan to Trip Up Trump’

Here is an excellent report from Consortium News: The Plan to Trip Up Trump.

‘FULL Story: Trump/Biden–Ukraine Corruption & Impeachment Media’

Discussing the topic are the host of The Jimmy Dore Show and his journalist–guest Aaron Maté.

Happy Anniversary, ‘Progressives Chat’!

It was two years ago this week—actually, it was the date of Monday, September 25, 2017—that marked the official beginning of Progressives Chat.

I launched this website to pick up from The Far Left Chat (and its sequel) by cathyx. I did not want to lose having a blog site for progressives—ones who were more aligned with Bernie Sanders (not Hillary Clinton) from the 2016 Democratic presidential primaries—as it is more relatable and very comfortable given we are basically on the same page for politics.

The timing coincided with the start of the 2017–18 television season. The date of this blog topic is also the first day of 2019–20 television season. It is pretty cool it worked out that way because I, a past television junkie (I now watch regularly less than five of the broadcast networks’s series), am good at recalling the calendar.

I want to thank cathyx for helping me create and launch Progressives Chat. I want to thank everyone who has posted comments. I will keep this going for however much longer it will last.

I want to leave this with a video. I am a private person. And this means I haven’t revealed much about myself. I will keep myself private, for the most part, but I will reveal the following: My name is not Candy. It is Dave. I go by Candy83 because, from 1983–1997, I had a beautiful beagle who I named Candy and have since not had any more dogs. I have never been good at creating user names for discussion forums requiring registered membership. I go with something I know I will not forget. I chose CoolBlue71, for Twitter, because blue is generally my favorite color; it is a cool hue on the color wheel; and I was born in the year 1971. I live in a suburb of Detroit, Michigan.

(Everyone should go ahead and still refer to me by Candy83, or Candy, because it is my user name.)

On Friday, August 30, 2019, I called The Tim Black Show (a.k.a. TBTV) to share a little information and insight. (He runs a live program, taking calls, on Friday nights. Duration tends to be around three hours.) In the following video, you can hear me speak around the mark of 2:26:50. Host Tim Black, when taking a call, tends to prompt the upcoming caller he/she is about to go live by referring to the person’s area code. I am in 313 (which is Detroit, Michigan). So, if you want to hear me, go ahead and play the video. (It was published to YouTube on Sunday, September 1, 2019.)