kimmy

This whole thing is so crazy that if you took the story to a Hollywood studio, they'd tell you it was just too far-fetched. -k

Divisive or not, it's a fact that Republican governments in the US have done their level best to kill unions, which makes the new "fighting for the working man" act pretty tough to believe. -k

Yes, I understand that this move reduces Bell Media's ability to charge premium prices for advertising spots during the Superbowl, and I understand that this will reduce the NFL's revenue from the Canadian sale of their broadcast rights. I understand why Bell Media and the NFL are unhappy about this. But who cares? BC2004 is always reminding us that Canada is a trivial country and not worthy of US notice, but apparently they care about protecting Bell Media's advertising revenue by asking Canadian cable providers to continue to enforce the "sim-sub" policy. -k

Why does the President of the United States give a crap which TV ads Canadian viewers watch? -k

Maybe you aren't, but the Republicans and their supporters have been fighting to demonize and destroy unions for decades, and that hasn't changed any. -k

I couldn't resist checking out the first episode of "Riverdale". Archie, Jughead, Betty, Veronica, and the rest of the gang have been around for longer than most of us have been alive, and somehow they have become an enduring institution, much like Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang. This TV adaptation puts America's oldest highschool kids into a format that's part teen drama, part Heathers, and part Twin Peaks. The characters are much as they've always been, spruced up with some angst. Archie Andrews-- the happy-go-lucky girl-chasing carrot-top! In this version he is handsome and charismatic, and he's buff from a summer of working at his dad's construction business. He's torn between football and the family business, and he has discovered a new passion... music. Betty Cooper-- the all-American girl with a heart of gold, who somehow never wins. The new TV version has her as an insecure perfectionist, desperately trying to please her bullying mother. She is being eaten alive by her unrequited crush on Archie, who considers her his best friend and nothing more. Veronica Lodge-- the spoiled, self-absorbed rich girl. Here, she's new in town. She and her mother have moved to Riverdale from New York, where Mr Lodge is has become the face of financial crime and is being prosecuted for fraud or embezzlement or something. Veronica is intent on turning over a new leaf in Riverdale, and immediately bonds with Betty. But she's also attracted to Archie, and the feeling is mutual. Jughead Jones-- in the comics he is a carefree slacker who has a zen-like disdain for the worries of life and focuses mostly on simple pleasures like hamburgers and milkshakes at Pop's Diner... he is also a modern-day Tom Sawyer and astute student of human nature. Here he is the character most changed from the comics, a scowling black-clad loner (though still with his signature "crown" cap). Little has been revealed about him so far, other than that he and Archie have had some sort of falling-out. Jughead is also the narrator of the show. The show opens with the kids returning to school from summer vacation, following the death of the school's star football player Jason Blossom. His twin sister, Cheryl Blossom, is the last person who saw him alive. She's kind of a stock villain for this sort of show, pretty much a redhead version of Rachel McAdams' character in Mean Girls. The Archie comics I remember as a kid were full of wacky hijinks, zany tomfoolery, and offbeat shenanigans. This TV adaptation is quite different in tone. The highschool angst and drama seem more drawn from movies like Mean Girls and Heathers, and the slightly weird small-town atmosphere and murder mystery reminds me bit of Twin Peaks (no talking owls, dancing dwarves, or Log-Lady so far, thankfully, although they did cast Madchen Amick as Betty's mom.) Overall I thought this was a pretty interesting adaptation of the classic comic series for a modern TV format. I will probably watch next week. -k

You think that if goods are produced in Canada and the US, companies will stop trying to cut costs? Wrong. They'll be under more pressure than ever to cut costs. Perhaps trade agreements could be a way to improve working conditions and environmental protections in those countries. "If you want access to our market, you have to meet minimum standards on child labor and environmental regulation. Sadly, of course, trade agreements usually work the opposite way, giving corporations a way to resist environmental regulation they feel is overly strict. But it doesn't have to be that way. Is that why Trump picked Andy Pudzer to be Secretary of Labor? Pudzer is, after all, a guy who has made a career of fighting to create ways for corporations to pay workers less, so I guess that makes him something of an expert on the subject. -k

I'm a little out of the loop myself, having not lived in Alberta for a long time. But I believe the situation is quite similar to the "unite the right" efforts in federal politics that eventually led to the Progressive Conservative and Reform parties merging. It seems likely that vote-splitting between the two "right wing" parties will result in more NDP victories in the future. The Wild Rose party sprang up largely as a right-leaning protest against the Progressive Conservatives who had been in power for decades and had grown too cozy with business and too corrupt. Now that the Progressive Conservatives have been unseated and undergone a housecleaning, one wonders if there's any further need for the Wild Rose party. I believe that the Wild Rose has gobbled up a lot of the rural voters who want a more socially-conservative government, and that might be the new divide between the PC and Wild Rose voters at this point. -k

I'm all for better working conditions in China and Bangladesh and India and wherever it is that they're making cheap clothing nowadays. But the notion that putting heavy tariffs on everything is going to put large numbers of Canada or US workers to work seems incredibly optimistic. The cost of everything is rising a lot faster than my salary. Tariffs aren't going to help. -k

Why would you anticipate that they might? Canadian and US companies have a secret pipeline of super-strong cotton that they're keeping secret from Mexico, India, Vietnam, etc? US or Canadian machines make stronger stitching? I have some expensive, rugged pants that last 3 times longer than cheap foreign made pants. My Carhharts are so tough they're almost bulletproof. Let me check the label... um, Mexico. Oh well. Really it'll just vanish into the pockets of some corporation whose shareholders might be in Canada or the US or Antarctica. -k

Initially I had a bit of trouble with the new software because I didn't know how to use it. Now I wouldn't go back. Selective quoting used to be a chore, and now it's a two-click operation. That alone makes it a worthwhile upgrade, IMO. -k

Another possibility is that there's a close relationship between the current US administration and the Saudi kingdom. -k

Remember when Sean Hannity said that waterboarding is no big deal, and he offered to get waterboarded for charity and donate the proceeds to injured soldiers? He still hasn't followed through. Hopefully if Trump is reviving the waterboarding controversy, Trump's Media Buddy will follow through. I'd certainly donate. -k

Hillary got more votes than Romney OR Trump!! -k

See, you're illustrating the point I was making about the difference between spin and lies. Saturday he came out and said that Trump had a record crowd at his inauguration-- LIE-- and that the media framed photographs of the National Mall to make the crowd look smaller than at Obama's inauguration-- LIE-- and that Washington Transit had more rides on Friday than it did at Obama's inauguration-- LIE. He claimed that the lawn coverings on Friday made the crowd look smaller than it was-- hilarious, and LIE. Today Spicer comes out and says that Trump had a record AUDIENCE, if you include international viewers and streaming video. That might be true, but it's not the same as having a record CROWD, which he claimed was true, and it certainly doesn't support his Saturday claims that the Washington Transit had more rides or that the media used different photo angles, both LIES as discussed earlier. So as I was explaining earlier, "spin" is when you massage the facts to support your preferred narrative, and "lies" are when you say things that are flat out lies. The things Spicer said on Saturday were LIES. The stuff Spicer said today-- that Trump may have had a larger total audience if you count viewers in around the world watching on streaming internet video-- is SPIN. Today he comes out and presents information-- a hypothetical international audience watching on streaming internet video-- that may support the narrative that he wanted to create. We all know that Spicer wasn't talking about hypothetical viewers watching on Youtube in Stanstanistan when he talked about "record crowds" on Saturday, but at least there's an element of plausibility to it, even though we all know that's not really the point he wanted to make. Spicer's statement on Saturday was like Baghdad Bob saying "There are no American soldiers in Iraq!" Spicer's statement today was like Baghdad Bob clarifying that when he said there are no American soldiers in Iraq, he just meant that no American soldiers had recently entered the country at border-crossings using passports. -k

Sending out Spicer to make such obviously false and easily disprovable statements makes him look like a complete joke. Why should anybody take him seriously anymore? Why should the media even bother attending his events, for that matter? Every time he says something, they should just ask "is that a fact, Sean, or is that an Alternative Fact?" On Sean Spicer's first day on the job he full Baghdad Bob. Remember Baghdad Bob? "There are no American soldiers in Iraq! In fact a few crossed the border and were immediately beaten to death with their own shoes!" Baghdad Bob can retire now... his torch has been passed to Sean Spicer. I noticed that the Breitpravda coverage of the Kellyanne interview completely omitted her use of the phrase "alternative facts". -k

You're the one who brought Hillary back into the thread. It seems like a recurring theme lately... perhaps Trump supporters are getting stage-fright and want to talk about Hillary to deflect from Trump's issues. -k

Both of you! Grow up! -k

No, there's a difference between "spin" and flat out false. Spin: "Yesterday's inaugural crowd was tremendous, and exceeded our expectations, both in terms of the turnout and the incredible enthusiasm! We're tremendously grateful that so many Americans came out to support our new President in spite of the bad weather, and we're proud that so many of you shared such a momentous occasion with President Trump! We're grateful that the small number of badly behaved protesters were not able to take away from this special event, which was truly a great celebration for all Americans." Flat out false: "Yesterday's crowd was the largest ever." -k

Ok, so now that we're at least agreed that Kellyanne is full of it, why are Trump supporters so supportive of his lies when you're so angry about lies that others have told in the past? I mean, Trump has told at least two big fat lies in just the past two days, and I don't hear any complaint at all from Trump Nation. Just "Yeah, b-b-b-but Bill lied about getting a hummer from Lewinsky" or "b-b-b-but Hillary lied when she blamed the Benghazi attack on the youtube video." I mean, it seems that lying is completely ok now. We have a Press Secretary that came out and flat-out lied his ass off, and the President's "counsellor" is trying to rationalize it as "alternative facts". Is that the new Trump world we live in, where they'll just lie their faces off and rationalize it afterwards? Is that what you're supporting? -k

There's no such thing as "alternative fact". She lied. Period. Trying to spin the idiocy that came from Sean Spicer's mouth yesterday as "alternative fact" is laughable and deserves only contempt. -k

The Atlanta Falcons put a serious beating on the Packers today! I'm not particularly interested in the Falcons, but I do get a little tired of seeing the same handful of teams-- Patriots, Steelers, Packers, Seahawks, Broncos-- in the post season every year, so seeing somebody new rise up is a nice change. -k

Perry himself had a couple of hilarious lines at his confirmation hearings. He told Al Franken he enjoyed their meeting before the hearing, and Franken asked him "Did you enjoy our meeting?" Perry replied "I did! I hope you're as much fun on the dais today as you were on your couch." This apparently caused everybody to double over in laughter... after he recovers, Perry offers to rephrase that, and says "I think I just gave SNL their sound bite." Later somebody asked Perry how he'd respond to politicians who think the DoE should be abolished... Perry replied that based on his experience, he thinks they'll forget they ever wanted it abolished. -k

I don't think anybody would even be talking about the size of Trump's crowd at this point if Trump hadn't ordered Sean Spicer come out and lie to the press about it. I think this is somewhat an example of "the Streisand Effect" in action. Another example of his inability to resist lying for the sake of self-aggrandizement: his Tweet of his picture where he's supposedly writing his own speech. With a Sharpie... at the Mar-a-Lago reception desk... and now two days later we know that most of the speech was written by Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller. I mean, it's not a big deal that he used speech-writers. Every President uses speech writers. That's a complete non-story. So why did he have to go out and pretend like he was writing it himself? "Guys! We need to stage a photo op where it looks like I'm writing the speech. Go down to the reception desk and get rid of that fat ugly receptionist, and move those brochures, and replace that computer monitor with a statue of a bald eagle, and I'll sit down behind the desk and pretend I'm writing a speech with this black marker." -k

I saw that! I, for one, fully embrace this new idea where we can simply create "alternative facts" to support our preferred narrative. Fact: Sean Spicer came out and flat out lied to the press. Alternative fact: Sean Spicer came out and presented Alternative Facts! Fact: Trump's inauguration crowd did not measure up to either of Obama's. Alternative fact: Trump's inauguration crowd was the biggest ever! Fact: Today is Sunday and I have to go to work tomorrow. Alternative fact: Today is Saturday and I get to sleep in tomorrow! Fact: it's 2 degrees and cloudy. Alternative fact: It's 29 degrees and sunny! Fact: ... Alternative fact: Nobody can turn straw into gold like Kellyanne Conway! Some conservatives have been complaining that it's sexist that people have been making fun of Kellyanne Conway... but if somebody is going to come out and say stupid crap like trying to rationalize flat out lies as "alternative facts", how can you not laugh at them? The idea of "alternative facts" is flat out idiocy, and she deserves to be laughed at for saying it. -k