BlueMTexpat
BlueMTexpat's JournalOrange Is the New Black Almost Ended Very Differently...
https://www.eonline.com/news/1060797/orange-is-the-new-black-almost-ended-very-differentlyI know that most OPs today are focused - and rightly so - on last night's Democratic debate. But this OP has a tangential relationship to current US prison-ICE-related actions. It certainly has a relationship to the treatment of incarcerated women.
OITNB recently dropped its seventh and final season on the streaming platform. The conclusion, which was a smattering of happy endings, deaths, releases from prison and heartache, was almost very different. In the series, Taylor Schilling plays Piper Chapman, a character loosely based on Kerman. At one point, she toys with writing a memoir, but Judy King (Blair Brown), a Martha Stewart-esque character, beat her to market. The show almost ended with a big wink to the origins of the Emmy-winning series.
"Since season one, the joke ending that would come up occasionally was to get super meta and cast an actress to be Jenji who goes into Netflix and pitches a show!" Herrmann said.
"Piper having a meeting and then selling the show and having her watch someone playing her. We toyed with it. I was at dinner and joking about it and my 13-year-old son was like, No. You cannot do that,'" Kohan said.
"That made it all seem fictionalized and a joke, and the show deserves more than that," Herrmann concluded.
It took me awhile to warm up to this Netflix series and some seasons were, IMO, much better than others, especially when the series focus shifted to characters/situations other than the life and loves of "Piper Chapman." In its quirky way, however, it is as much of of a social commentary as was one of the absolute best series ever, IMO, "The Wire."
I am posting this today because I finished watching the last - and final - series (of 7) last night. If you don't have Netflix, please view this series with someone who does. Please also watch the whole series run.
The final series, while there are some redeeming moments if one has made the journey with the characters, is absolutely devastating. It is especially devastating when we know what is happening with the current sweep-ups, separation of families and incarceration of immigrants already in the US - even though it doesn't even deal with what is happening for those who are seeking asylum at the border.
What have we become?
Politicians, pundits, others defend Baltimore, Elijah Cummings after Trump's 'completely unacceptabl
https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-md-pol-trump-baltimore-reactions-20190727-rkn2npfghfgtdm4ikex77szjgm-story.htmlFrom the link:
Cummings represents Marylands 7th congressional district, which includes much of Baltimore, but reaches into Baltimore and Howard counties as well.
Trumps tweets appear to be related to a congressional hearing on July 18 over conditions at facilities holding children suspected of crossing the border illegally. Cummings during the hearing lashed out at Kevin McAleenan, head of the Department of Homeland Security, for what he described as conditions in which children were left to defecate on themselves and did not have access to a shower.
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Additionally, the Council on American-Islamic Relations on Saturday joined the Maryland State Conference of the NAACP in denouncing Trumps tweets.
Its no secret that Donald Trump will resort to racism to deflect and distract the public, but this outrageously racist tirade is the latest reminder that he is unfit to serve as president of the United States, said Zainab Chaudry, CAIR director of Maryland outreach. He clearly believes he can attack one of the nations great cities because he perceives it to be primarily African-American - just another example of his racist and white supremacist mindset.
Chaudry also pointed out that earlier this week, Trump doubled down on his previous attacks targeting Congresswomen Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar, urging them to go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.
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FWIW: Cummings's Balto district includes Johns Hopkins University and the SSA. These two institutions actually WORK, unlike ANYTHING tRump touches.
Elizabeth Warren pitches private equity regulations, taking aim at 'legalized looting'
I am so glad to see this. I have been outraged by these practices since such looting first began by "corporate raiders" like Carl Icahn, etc., primarily in the 1980s. They have worsened since then ... and I haven't seen many - if any - other Dems in power actually say this out with meaningful specificity or proposals to address them.
https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2019-07-18/elizabeth-warren-2020-pitches-private-equity-constraints
Warrens plan, the latest in a series of policy ideas that have propelled the Massachusetts senator to the top tier of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, would hold private equity firms liable for debts and pension promises made by the companies they buy up. It would restrict the firms ability to pay dividends as well as high fees that shift money out of acquired companies.
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I am tired of big financial firms looting the economy to pad their own pockets while the rest of the economy suffers, Warren wrote in a Medium post announcing her plan on Thursday. I am done with Washington ignoring the evidence and acting as though boosting Wall Street helps our families. Financial firms have helped push our economy badly off track.
Warrens private equity proposals also include new rules that would require worker pay to take precedence over other obligations when companies declare bankruptcy as well as more open disclosure of investment firms fees, both of which are included in private legislation shes set to introduce later Thursday alongside Senate and House Democratic colleagues. Her platform further calls for the restoration of dividing lines between commercial and investment banking that were repealed in 1999, a change that was part of both the Republican and the Democratic platforms during the 2016 presidential election despite Trumps lack of emphasis on it during his campaign.
Warren is headed to Iowa for a two-day campaign swing during which shes likely to tout her new private equity plan, the latest installment of a broader self-described economic patriotism agenda that also includes a $2-trillion investment in environmentally friendly manufacturing .
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Here's an article from Forbes magazine from 2010, that points out exactly what has happened with retirement pensions in the private sector.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2011/10/19/retirement-heist-how-firms-plunder-workers-nest-eggs/
What Immelt didnt mention was that GEs pension plans had actually contributed billions of dollars to the companys bottom line over the last 15 years, earnings that the executives had taken credit for. Nor did he mention that GE hadnt contributed anything to the workers pension plans since 1987 and still had enough to cover all the current and future retirees.
Nor did he mention that the executive pensions for GE executives were a burden. Unlike the plans for the 250,000 workers and retirees, the executive pensions had a $4.4 billion obligation that steadily drained cash from the companys coffers, including $573 million over the past three years alone.
Why was GE closing its fully funded pension plan, while continuing its financially burdensome executive plan? This is the question to which Ellen Schultzs incisive new book, Retirement Heist: How Companies Plunder and Profit from the Nest Eggs of American Workers (Portfolio, 2011) offers a powerful answer.
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Takeaways from 2020 Democrats' second quarter fundraising reports
This is an interesting article.
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/07/16/politics/2020-field-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-and-other-takeaways/index.html
From the link:
Buttigieg raised nearly $25 million in the April-to-June fundraising quarter. And he entered July -- typically a slow fundraising period as donors turn to vacation plans and away from politics -- with more than $22.7 million remaining in his bank account, one of the field's biggest war chests. He's already using the money to build a ground force of more than 250 staffers in early voting states.
The other four candidates in the top fundraising tier: former Vice President Joe Biden, who collected nearly $22 million, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren at $19.2 million, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders at $18 million and California Sen. Kamala Harris with $11.8 million.
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Former Texas Congressman Beto O'Rourke, who shattered political money records in his near-miss Senate campaign in 2018, saw his fundraising plummet as a presidential candidate. He raised just $3.6 million in the second quarter -- down from $9.4 million in the first 18 days of his campaign earlier this year.
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Sanders outspent the rest of the Democratic field over the three-month period, spending roughly $14 million -- including $3 million directed to salaries.
Biden, running in his first presidential race since 2008, racked up $11 million in expenses, including more than $250,000 with a private jet operator based in Arlington, Virginia.
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Much more, with graphs, at the link.
2020 ELECTION NBC/WSJ poll: Biden, Warren top 2020 Democratic field
As with all polls, especially with early ones, these results need caveats.
But Warren's increase seems to be a steady one.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/nbc-wsj-poll-biden-warren-top-2020-democratic-field-n1028971
From the link:
New candidate Tom Steyer didnt enter the race until July 9, and the survey didnt test support for the billionaire activist.
The poll also asked Democratic primary voters about their second choice for president. The top responses were: Harris (14 percent), Warren (13 percent), Sanders (12 percent) and Biden (10 percent).
But importantly, only 12 percent of all Democratic primary voters said their mind is definitely made up, which suggests how malleable these numbers are
I am still officially "undecided"
and I am not necessarily a believer in polls, which can change so easily from one day to the next. Or not.
But this is a good article, IMO, and expresses what I am seeing and feeling. https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/7/3/20679930/2020-presidential-election-polls-harris-biden-warren-sanders
The state of the 2020 Democratic primary, explained
Sanders, meanwhile, has lost his position as the one major alternative to Biden. The Vermont senators support level in polls has dropped significantly since the early months of the year and has remained stagnant for the past two months while Warren and Harris have surged. On average, that trio of candidates is now about tied for second place.
The only other candidate to escape the bottom tier in polls so far has been South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg. But Buttigieg has declined a bit of late, as he deals with a police shooting back at home and more support has gone to Warren and Harris. While both senators now enjoy double-digit support, the mayor is stuck in the single digits in most recent polls. The other 20 candidates have failed to gain any traction.
Seven long months remain until the Iowa caucuses. The big question for the race right now, though, is whether this post-debate slump is a temporary setback for Biden or whether its the start of his campaigns collapse.
There is an excellent graph included with the article.
I have a long memory and remember and have lived through many Presidential cycles. Just sayin' ....
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My only guarantee is that I WILL VOTE FOR whichever candidate is selected as the Democratic nominee. That should go without saying.
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