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Friday Open Thread

Twitter is down here, part of an earlier DOS (denial of service) attack that may have also hit Amazon and Netflix. I can get Amazon and Netflix now, just not Twitter.

Here is the DYN company's status page with updates. (Their website seems to be down.)

Trump got booed at the Al Smith Charity dinner. He's toast and he knows it.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

< Hillary's Best Takedown of Trump During Debate | Trump's Friday Night Funk >
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    Speaking of Toast, (none / 0) (#1)
    by Mr Natural on Fri Oct 21, 2016 at 02:34:45 PM EST
    The Rocky Horror Picture Show got a FauxCorp remake.  They say it stinks on sanitized-for-your-protection ice.

    I wonder if the people who thought ... (none / 0) (#2)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Fri Oct 21, 2016 at 03:30:22 PM EST
    ... of redoing "Rocky Horror," which is the greatest and most popular cult film of all time, are the same creative wizards who recently figured that there was a market for a remake of "Ben-Hur," which is only the most honored film in the history of the Academy Awards.

    What's next from these geniuses -- a surreal adaptation of "Gone With the Wind," with black actors assuming the roles of the story's white characters and vice versa?

    If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

    Parent

    i recently saw (none / 0) (#14)
    by linea on Fri Oct 21, 2016 at 11:00:46 PM EST
    Gone With the Wind (in colour) and was suprised how much i enjoyed it. in contrast, i recently watched the original True Grit (movie) and felt it was horrible and campy compared to the excellant version by the Coen Brothers which i read is more true to the novel.

    Parent
    I find the movie to be dated, ... (5.00 / 1) (#17)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Sat Oct 22, 2016 at 04:10:11 AM EST
    ... but it's still very much worth watching, because even though it's a long film at nearly four hours, the plot is well blocked and not at all ponderous.

    Vivien Leigh and Olivia de Havilland were two of the great actresses in their day, and were marvelous as Scarlett O'Hara and Melanie Hamilton. Clark Gable was born to play Rhett Butler -- or more precisely, Rhett Butler was born to be played by Clark Gable, since author Margaret Mitchell later admitted that she had envisioned and developed the character for her 1936 novel precisely with Gable in mind.

    But 46-year-old British actor Leslie Howard was grievously miscast as Ashley Wilkes, and was really much too old for the part of a young and strapping Southern gentleman, who was only 21 in Mitchell's novel when then-16-year-old Scarlett first sets to seduce him on the eve of the Civil War. On screen, the scenes between Howard and Vivien Leigh rang false to me, because she was swooning over a man who was old enough to be her father.

    And with the exception of the regal and imperious Mammy, the enslaved black nanny who had raised Scarlett from infancy, and who was the only person in the entire story whose opinions and approval Scarlett consistently respected and craved, the African American characters bordered on vicious caricature and stereotyping, which of course was reflective of the 1930s era when the novel and film first took the country by storm. The dimwitted Prissy still makes me cringe every time I see her.

    As far as "True Grit" is concerned, the Coen Brothers 2010 film is one of the very few cinematic remakes which I consider to be infinitely superior to the original movie. Everything about it was awesome, and its my favorite Coen Brothers film after "Fargo." From its conception, the original 1969 version was always intended by Paramount Studios as a star vehicle for John Wayne. Co-stars Glen Campbell and Kim Darby were laughably bad, and Wayne looked like Sir Laurence Olivier in comparison. And of the rest of his supporting cast, only Robert Duvall stands out as the outlaw Ned Pepper.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    Ned Pepper was cool (none / 0) (#19)
    by MKS on Sat Oct 22, 2016 at 10:14:50 AM EST
    We're still a fortnight (none / 0) (#3)
    by Repack Rider on Fri Oct 21, 2016 at 04:20:25 PM EST
    ...away from impact.  Trump's deterioration is increasing at a geometric rate that should actually hit vertical/infinity BEFORE the election.

    The crater is going to be yuuge.

    And speaking of "yuuge craters," ... (none / 0) (#4)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Fri Oct 21, 2016 at 05:09:44 PM EST
    "Yes, I know who Judas was. He was a man I worked for and admired, until he disgraced the four stars on his uniform."
    - Col. Martin 'Jiggs' Casey (Kirk Douglas), "Seven Days in May" (1964)

    ... "The Chris Christie Show" will be likely be ending its extended New Jersey run very soon. In today's episode, Bridget Anne Kelly, who took the stand in her own defense during her political corruption trial in federal court, reached up to the governor from under that bus where he had earlier thrown her, and pulled him down into the gutter with her.

    And as an aside, why Ms. Kelly allowed Gov. Christie to treat her like she was a junkyard dog, I'll never know. I would never tolerate anybody's verbal abuse the way she apparently did with him, according to her testimony. I don't care if he IS the governor. The state legislature ought to impeach and toss this guy out on his ear.

    And then, lock him up.

    Parent

    A little more than 2 weeks out (none / 0) (#5)
    by CoralGables on Fri Oct 21, 2016 at 05:27:39 PM EST
    may be a good time for going on the record as to where you think the electoral vote count will wind up on election day.

    I expect something close to 358-180 (none / 0) (#6)
    by CoralGables on Fri Oct 21, 2016 at 05:33:45 PM EST


    i been following nate silver's 538 from the start (none / 0) (#7)
    by linea on Fri Oct 21, 2016 at 07:18:14 PM EST
    at no point was donald trump ever close to securing the needed states to win the electoral college.

    Parent
    It's felt closer than that (5.00 / 1) (#18)
    by FreakyBeaky on Sat Oct 22, 2016 at 04:42:14 AM EST
    Partly because the polls didn't really start to separate until after the first debate, and partly because a Trump election is a low-probability but high-consequence event, like a meteor strike. Such things do happen.

    Also the white nationalist, alt-right, and conspiracy theory mainstreaming has been stressful. So has the awareness of how fragile our norms and institutions really are. There has been a persistent atmosphere of threat.

    But it's true that if things hold HRC will have led wire to wire.

    Parent

    Al Smith Charity (none / 0) (#8)
    by linea on Fri Oct 21, 2016 at 07:42:07 PM EST
    what was the hilary anti-catholic reference? was that part of a joke i didnt understand? they played in on npr but the context wasnt there.

    Wikileaks release of John Podesta's e-mails (5.00 / 1) (#9)
    by The Addams Family on Fri Oct 21, 2016 at 09:11:46 PM EST
    allegedly John Halpin, affiliated with the Center for American Progress (founded by John Podesta), wrote in a 2011 e-mail to Podesta (cc'd to Jennifer Palmieri, then a fellow member of CAP) that many of the most prominent US conservatives are Catholics

    Halpin is alleged to have said this:

    It's an amazing bastardization of the faith. They must be attracted to the systematic thought and severely backwards gender relations and must be totally unaware of Christian democracy.

    Palmieri, now communications director for Hillary Clinton's campaign, is alleged to have replied as follows:

    [It's] the most socially acceptable politically conservative religion. . . . Their rich friends wouldn't understand if they became evangelicals.

    "alleged," of course, because Podesta has not confirmed the authenticity of this e-mail, which appears to have been hacked from his Gmail account

    Parent

    PS (5.00 / 1) (#10)
    by The Addams Family on Fri Oct 21, 2016 at 09:13:38 PM EST
    & the opinions that Halpin & Palmieri expressed in the purloined e-mail are supposedly & somehow all Hillary Clinton's fault

    Parent
    That's one helluva stretch to link ... (5.00 / 4) (#11)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Fri Oct 21, 2016 at 09:56:17 PM EST
    ... John Halpin directly to Hillary Clinton, unless one's playing the game "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon." Further, and speaking as a practicing Roman Catholic, I don't necessarily disagree with or take offense at anything that Halpin and Palmieri said in that alleged email exchange.

    There are indeed a lot of Catholics, particularly fervent converts like Newt Gingrich and Ross Douthat, who are clearly attracted to the Church because of its leadership's well-known penchant for patriarchal diktat. These are the sort of holy rollers who wield their faith as a weapon or a means to an end, and I tend to disdain them as "more Catholic than the Pope." (Particularly our current pontiff, Pope Francis.)

    That's long been a sore point for me and other Catholics who are moderate or lean leftward. My own faith is introspective rather than projective, and in that regard I tend to subscribe to the wisdom of Susan B. Anthony, who publicly noted her instinctive distrust for those who know so very well what the Lord wants them to do and don't hesitate to tell us, because she noticed how it always coincides with their own personal desires.

    Anyway, thank you for sharing that and clarifying Trump's remarks from last night.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    Kevin Bacon? (none / 0) (#12)
    by The Addams Family on Fri Oct 21, 2016 at 10:14:41 PM EST
    how about six degrees of pig in a poke?

    Parent
    And there is nothing in those comments (5.00 / 2) (#15)
    by Peter G on Fri Oct 21, 2016 at 11:17:44 PM EST
    to suggest that the authors (much less HRC) "hate Catholics." They speculate on why political conservatives might be attracted to the conservative wing of U.S. Catholicism. The correspondents (themselves Catholic, I believe) are clearly opposed to those views, but they express no personal hatred or prejudice.  

    Parent
    Trump was completely unscripted. (none / 0) (#16)
    by Mr Natural on Sat Oct 22, 2016 at 01:18:55 AM EST
    That was a surpassingly ugly moment.  Donald bigfooted or ignored whatever his writers had prepared.  I was stunned.  I shouldn't have been surprised but I was.  He broke all the rules.  

    His campaign managers must be banging their heads into bloody pulps.  Trump isn't listening to anyone.  He was winging it because in his mind he's the only guy who knows what's right.

    Clinton was scripted and stuck to it.  It showed because she doesn't have the timing or talent of Bill or the reigning grand master of political rhetoric and elocution, President Obama.  You can learn to speak well but you can't be taught greatness.  She stuck to the script and survived the roast.

    Trump is running for an office in which nearly every decision is guided by advisors and advice.  From that perspective it is hard to imagine a more worst case scenario than a Trump Presidency.


    Parent

    Query - how (none / 0) (#20)
    by BackFromOhio on Sat Oct 22, 2016 at 04:06:56 PM EST
    do you know he was unscripted?  

    Parent
    He was definitely scripted (none / 0) (#21)
    by CoralGables on Sat Oct 22, 2016 at 04:58:07 PM EST
    for the first ten of his fifteen minutes, rarely looking up from the paper with his lines. It was the last five where he went off the rails.

    Parent
    the quotes (none / 0) (#13)
    by linea on Fri Oct 21, 2016 at 10:31:19 PM EST
    do not read to me as complete sentences and seems to lack context.

    It's an amazing bastardization of the faith. They must be attracted to the systematic thought and severely backwards gender relations and must be totally unaware of Christian democracy.

    i understand the reference to Christian Democracy^ and i believe the author is asserting that conservative american Catholics are a bastardization of Catholicism. but i dont understand... "attracted to the sytematic thought [of what?] and severely backward gender relations [of what?]"

    ^ this does not seem a very american thought.

    thank yoi.  


    Anyone watching Westworld? (none / 0) (#22)
    by McBain on Sat Oct 22, 2016 at 06:23:20 PM EST
    I'm doing my best but can't seem to get into it yet.  The 70's sci fi film was fairly simple.  This reboot seems overdone.  

    I have been enjoying Billy Bob Thornton in Goliath.... another solid lawyer show.  

    ... "Bad Santa" to me.

    Parent
    recent (none / 0) (#26)
    by linea on Sun Oct 23, 2016 at 02:35:53 AM EST
    fargo mini-series to me

    Parent
    I've been wathcing Goliath too - really good (none / 0) (#32)
    by ruffian on Mon Oct 24, 2016 at 03:07:06 PM EST
    Have not started Westworld yet - want to wait until I have a few solid hours to catch up but that does not seem to be happening! I've heard good things though - looking forward to it.

    Parent
    Cubs lead 4-0 over the Dodgers (none / 0) (#23)
    by caseyOR on Sat Oct 22, 2016 at 08:30:20 PM EST
    in the bottom of the 4th. Kershaw can't find his mojo.

    Is it possible I can hold my breath for all nine innings?

    GO, CUBS!!!!!!

    Cubs win! Cubs win!!! (none / 0) (#24)
    by caseyOR on Sat Oct 22, 2016 at 09:53:12 PM EST
    For the first time in 71 years the Cubs have won the National League Pennant. They beat the Dodgers 5-0.

    Kyle Hendricks pitched a great game. And the Cubs figured out how to hit Clayton Kershaw.

    I am ecstatic as this is the first Cubs pennant win in my lifetime. It is tinged with sadness that my mom, who died four months ago and my uncle, who died a year ago this week, are not here to see the Cubs win. They were stalwart Cubs fans through all the tough times, always holding out hope for " next year."

    Now it is on to Cleveland.

    GO, CUBS!!!!!!!


    Parent

    I as also thinking a lot about my parents (5.00 / 2) (#31)
    by ruffian on Mon Oct 24, 2016 at 01:26:54 PM EST
    Espcecially my Dad, the Cubbies stalwart who passed away 6 years ago. He owuld have been jsut ecstatic. He was 17 the last time they were in the WS, and of course never saw them win is all of his 82 years.

    He bought one of the commemorative bricks in the sidewalk outside Wrigley, and it has his name on it. That brought me a smile thinking of all the happy people walking on it the other night!  I love that it is the same stadium that he went to as a boy, and then brought all of us to as kids. And now they will play there in the WS again finally. So happy they have kept that continuity.

    Parent

    How 'bout dem Cubbies!!!! (none / 0) (#30)
    by ruffian on Mon Oct 24, 2016 at 01:21:42 PM EST
    I walked around all day yesterday saying 'The Cubs are in the World Series' out loud. Words I have never uttered in my life!!!!

    It is such a great feeling. The team is so much fun to watch too. I want to adopt Javy Baez.

    On to Cleveland!

    Parent

    Today google news (none / 0) (#33)
    by fishcamp on Mon Oct 24, 2016 at 04:29:06 PM EST
    Said Cubbies tickets are going for $7 k in Chicago, and $4 k in Cleveland.

    Parent
    RIP, Tom Hayden (1939-2016). (none / 0) (#27)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Mon Oct 24, 2016 at 04:19:54 AM EST
    The noted and articulate political and anti-Vietnam War activist, who co-founded the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), was one of the defendants in the infamous Chicago 7 trial, and later represented Santa Monica and west Los Angeles for 18 years as a member of the California State Legislature (1982-2000), died today at age 76 after a long illness.

    I saw this on the CBS scroll (none / 0) (#28)
    by Chuck0 on Mon Oct 24, 2016 at 07:37:53 AM EST
    this morning. I worked on Tom Hayden's 1976 Senate campaign while a junior college student in Stockton, CA. I wasn't even old enough to vote at the time. I got to meet him when he came to the campus radio station for an interview.

    Parent
    Why are Politicians so Comfortable Lying? (none / 0) (#29)
    by Mr Natural on Mon Oct 24, 2016 at 01:11:22 PM EST
    "How do politicians get so comfortable with lying? One theory: practice."

    I asked Sharot if she thinks her work has any bearing on politicians. Can a long public life of small lies make you completely comfortable with lying?

    "If someone has been repeatedly engaging in dishonest behavior, it is likely that that person has emotionally adapted to their own lying," she says.

    But what about Trump -- is he a special case? Sharot wouldn't answer.

    - Brian Resnick, Vox

    GO BRONCOS (none / 0) (#34)
    by fishcamp on Mon Oct 24, 2016 at 05:40:41 PM EST
    And BTW, I am now officially rooting for the Cubbies.  Hopefully I didn't pi$$ off any Cubb fans for previously rooting for the Dodgers.  That's just the way west coast guys roll, even though I now live in the east.  Go Cubbies.

    You're on the south coast (none / 0) (#35)
    by CoralGables on Mon Oct 24, 2016 at 05:53:34 PM EST
    Thanks CG (none / 0) (#36)
    by fishcamp on Mon Oct 24, 2016 at 06:57:04 PM EST
    Actually I never know where I really am, since it's all a big jungle to me down here.  Glad you got in and out fast to vote.  Now that it's finally cooling off, the bonefish are showing up.  Tomorrow I plan to launch and look for the silver ghosts.  Hope I remember how to make them eat chicken feathers.

    The gym is too stressful, now that those guys know they have lost.  I'd rather get my daily exercise on the poling platform of my skiff.  It's a Houdini situation to pole and cast at the same time, while up on my tiny platform.  One has to be good, lucky, and careful, all at the same time.

    Parent

    When you lose the chicken feather touch (none / 0) (#37)
    by CoralGables on Mon Oct 24, 2016 at 08:29:59 PM EST
    resort to the finger mullet for those big boys :)

    Parent
    Let us know how you do, I've never (none / 0) (#44)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Tue Oct 25, 2016 at 01:53:09 PM EST
    chased bonefish. i would like to know how one poles a skiff and throws featherb8s at the same time!


    Parent
    Actually sarc, (none / 0) (#48)
    by fishcamp on Tue Oct 25, 2016 at 07:38:46 PM EST
    they have these little $150 clippy on thingies that you snap the push pole into, and it drags behind the boat.  Saw a couple of schools over near the Everglades, but they saw me first.

    Parent
    Went trout fishing on Sunday, did well! (none / 0) (#49)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Wed Oct 26, 2016 at 01:26:31 PM EST
    Speaking as a lifelong Dodger fan, ... (none / 0) (#39)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Mon Oct 24, 2016 at 08:52:48 PM EST
    ... if we had to lose the NLCS, I'm happy that it was to the Chicago Cubs and not the #&$%@*! San Francisco Giants. Seeing the city explode with pure joy Saturday night was beautiful. The Cubbies and their loyal and long-suffering fans deserve this World Series.

    Parent
    ... and I'm citing the Irish as a sterling example of proper behavior:

    The Irish Independent (Dublin) | October 24, 2016
    Aer Lingus removes man 'abusing' Muslim passengers from flight - "Aer Lingus cabin crew removed a man from a flight due to his alleged verbal abuse of Muslim passengers, it has emerged. The incident took place on flight EI0330 from Dublin to Berlin this Sunday."

    Memo to Delta, American and Southwest: This is how you deal with the problem. You boot the disruptive instigator, not his or her innocent victims.

    ;-D

    "Clarence Thomas's Twenty-Five Years (none / 0) (#41)
    by Mr Natural on Tue Oct 25, 2016 at 07:03:43 AM EST
    Without Footprints" - Jeffrey Toobin, The New Yorker, [published today]

    "Thomas is not a conservative but, rather, a radical--one whose entire career on the Court has been devoted to undermining the rules of precedent in favor of his own idiosyncratic interpretation of the Constitution. By his own account, Thomas is an extreme originalist, one who is guided exclusively by his own understanding of what the words of the Constitution mean rather than what the other hundred and eleven people who have served on the Court in its history have judged them to mean."


    He's not an "originalist" (none / 0) (#50)
    by jondee on Fri Oct 28, 2016 at 11:02:45 AM EST
    he's a Thomasinst.

    Parent
    Site Violator Extraordinaire (none / 0) (#42)
    by CoralGables on Tue Oct 25, 2016 at 07:33:58 AM EST


    It's unfortunate that the ACA (none / 0) (#43)
    by fishcamp on Tue Oct 25, 2016 at 01:26:40 PM EST
    Or Obamacare is taking such a beating on the recent alleged increase in cost.  The GOP is really hammering the Democrats on this by saying " we told you so".  As I have previously pointed out in past posts, it took the French fifteen years to roll out their health care plan, and it still has many problems.  Hillary's idea to work with the plan and make it happen seems much better than the Trump plan of just going to the emergency room.  While I realize he has modified this somewhat, I still have no idea what he thinks he means.  Hopefully Hillary will be in office, and begin to iron out the problems.  It's a massive project, and I know Trump has absolutely no idea  how to handle it.

    Take heart, the truth will come out (none / 0) (#45)
    by vicndabx on Tue Oct 25, 2016 at 04:00:16 PM EST
    Given informed advocacy by surrogates talking to media.

    Table at the link shows both the percentages (or some at least) the media's been hyperventilating about to try to gin up controversy (IMO) before the election to impact the outcome.  Table also shows what people will likely see as an actual out of pocket increase.  Most will see none, one may go up about $20.

    Link

    Parent

    Do (none / 0) (#46)
    by FlJoe on Tue Oct 25, 2016 at 04:21:19 PM EST
    you really think the media will sit down and explain this to the people? Sure the surrogates may try to do some wonksplaining, but it  most likely be drowned out by the howlers.

    Parent
    Well, Ezekiel Emanuel was on CNN (none / 0) (#47)
    by vicndabx on Tue Oct 25, 2016 at 04:54:01 PM EST
    about an hour ago pushing back on Jake Tapper's "lead" re: premium hikes saying the same thing I reference above - with subsidies, most won't see hikes.

    What's a shame is rarely is there discussion around why there are hikes.

    Here's Ali Velshi on MSNBC also.

    What's also a shame is the d@mn media not reporting these hikes were predicted by the CBO 7 years ago.

    Good news re: the howlers - social media helps tamp down these teapot tempests.

    Parent