I really enjoyed the book and it does provide a great deal to think about. I'm a little lefter than Molly Haskell but that's fine. For example, I don't think Jane Fonda's Bree in KLUTE is less strong than a Bette Davis 40s character because Bree is a sex worker. What's sad is that she wrote this book in 1974 and not a lot has changed in all the time since.
New topic, Joel Shannon (USA TODAY) reports:
Regularly
eating chile peppers is linked to a lower risk of death from
cardiovascular disease, according to a new study of Italian adults. But
experts suggest the findings don't necessarily mean you should
drastically spice up your diet.
The
research, published in the December issue of the peer-reviewed Journal
of the American College of Cardiology, was prompted by a lack of
research on the traditional Mediterranean diet's regular inclusion of
chile peppers.
The
study analyzed more than 20,000 Italians and their estimated intake of
chile peppers; it found a link between regularly eating peppers and a
lower risk of death, including deaths caused by heart disease.
It's
not the first time a study has linked chile pepper consumption with
longer life. University of Vermont researchers found people who reported
eating hot red chile peppers had a 13% reduced risk of death, according
to a report in 2017.
Colleen Killingsworth (FOX 51) explains capsaisin is the substance in the pepper that makes it so beneficial. And WIKIPEDIA offers:
Capsaicin
(8-methyl-N-vanillyl-6-nonenamide) is an active component of chili
peppers, which are plants belonging to the genus Capsicum. It is an
irritant for mammals, including humans, and produces a sensation of
burning in any tissue with which it comes into contact. Capsaicin and
several related compounds are called capsaicinoids and are produced as
secondary metabolites by chili peppers, probably as deterrents against
certain mammals and fungi.[4] Pure capsaicin is a hydrophobic,
colorless, highly pungent,[2] crystalline to waxy solid compound.
Hopefully,
that's the case, that it helps reduce heart attacks and strokes. But I
have lived long enough to see various fads passed off as health. I can
remember when Jane Fonda had to write about "the much maligned potato"
in one of her workout books because we'd been told they were no good for
us. And I can remember the don't eat eggs, no eat eggs in moderation,
updates. It all reminds me of SLEEPER, when Woody Allen, who ran a
health food store, finds out that all the things we thought were bad for
us in the 20th century are actually good for us.
And,
by the way, that's why I don't slam people as crazy re: Autism. First
off, Big Medicine is a con. Big Tobacco lied to us, I don't trust Big
Medicine not to. Second, it wasn't all that long ago that a cure
involved leeches. We learn as we go along. We learn about medicine
constantly. I would have my child vaccinated (and that's an
oversimplification of the opposing view, sorry) but I would never slam
anyone who didn't as crazy. Medicine changes too often and what we
thought was right sometimes turns out to be wrong.
Closing with C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Friday, December 20, 2019. A look at the hideous debate.
Last night, Democrats vying for the party's presidential nomination gathered for a debate -- if they were lucky enough to be invited. Or if they showed. Did US House Rep and Iraq War veteran Tulsi Gabbard carry out her threat to boycott or was she not invited? It's all so confusing. She says she won't be at a debate and then retracts it. Now its a debate or two later and she's announced she wouldn't be there but was she even invited? Who knows, who cares, she can't stand up to War Hawk Joe Biden to begin with.
Tiny Pete showed up -- with all his usual lies and a new spin.
Uh, Miss Amy Kobulcher, what you don't know about me, about this "gay dude," is that I was re-elected in Mike Pence's Indiana.
Really, Tiny Pete, the state is Mike's? Wow. He owns a whole state.
More to the point, "gay dude" Pete, the bro bottom of the neolib movement -- excuse me, the bro power-bottom of the neolib movement -- wants to ignore reality.
The most powerful thing any candidate has in an election is being an incumbent.
Pete wasn't elected as "a gay dude" in Indiana. He was in the closet for his first two terms. He did come out in 2015 and was re-elected in 2016. He'd already been elected twice. That does shine a different light on his boast.
And he knows the power of incumbency -- after all, he used it to install his White friend as his replacement and to keep anyone else from advancing in the Democratic Party primary. Typical Tiny Pete. South Bend's never had a mayor of color or a female mayor so, naturally, Tiny Pete endorses the White man in the race.
Another fun fact that Tiny Pete misrepresented?
He was elected in South Bend. After two terms, he came out and, yes, he was re-elected mayor. He was the incumbent and he had no real challenger that year on the Democratic Party side. So, of course, he was re-elected.
Last night, Democrats vying for the party's presidential nomination gathered for a debate -- if they were lucky enough to be invited. Or if they showed. Did US House Rep and Iraq War veteran Tulsi Gabbard carry out her threat to boycott or was she not invited? It's all so confusing. She says she won't be at a debate and then retracts it. Now its a debate or two later and she's announced she wouldn't be there but was she even invited? Who knows, who cares, she can't stand up to War Hawk Joe Biden to begin with.
Tiny Pete showed up -- with all his usual lies and a new spin.
Uh, Miss Amy Kobulcher, what you don't know about me, about this "gay dude," is that I was re-elected in Mike Pence's Indiana.
Really, Tiny Pete, the state is Mike's? Wow. He owns a whole state.
More to the point, "gay dude" Pete, the bro bottom of the neolib movement -- excuse me, the bro power-bottom of the neolib movement -- wants to ignore reality.
The most powerful thing any candidate has in an election is being an incumbent.
Pete wasn't elected as "a gay dude" in Indiana. He was in the closet for his first two terms. He did come out in 2015 and was re-elected in 2016. He'd already been elected twice. That does shine a different light on his boast.
And he knows the power of incumbency -- after all, he used it to install his White friend as his replacement and to keep anyone else from advancing in the Democratic Party primary. Typical Tiny Pete. South Bend's never had a mayor of color or a female mayor so, naturally, Tiny Pete endorses the White man in the race.
Another fun fact that Tiny Pete misrepresented?
He was elected in South Bend. After two terms, he came out and, yes, he was re-elected mayor. He was the incumbent and he had no real challenger that year on the Democratic Party side. So, of course, he was re-elected.
Some pictures of Pete Buttigieg struggling to endure in “Mike Pence’s Indiana”
And his "Mike Pence's Indiana" is really a lie.
It was South Bend.
South Bend that has elected a Democrat as their mayor every year since 1972.
For forty-six continuous years, South Bend has elected a Democrat as mayor.
Tiny Pete's big boasts shrink like a scared turtle when examined.
He was loud -- if not proud -- on the stage. Curiously, Tiny Pete has been seizing -- bit by bit -- on his sexuality in the debates. But it's as though he sprung from the head of Zeus like Athena. He has no history to cite. Barack Obama would invoke Selma, for example. Barack would invoke the names of Civil Rights leaders. Tiny Pete is apparently the first gay man on the face of the planet.
He doesn't even give lip service to Stonewall -- and this is the fiftieth anniversary of that historic moment.
Moderators: Judy Woodruff, Yamiche Alcindor and Amna Nawaz of PBS; Tim Alberta of Politico. That's from THE WASHINGTON POST transcript and all debate excerpts are from that transcript as well.
When not lying in the debate, Tiny Pete was flashing his substantial ignorance.
At one point, when he wanted to insist he valued the First Amendment more than anyone else, he hid behind his service in the military -- truly a cowardly move.
But as he was attacking Senator Amy Klobuchar and trying to use his military service to shut her down, he only flashed his ignorance.
I took an oath to defend the Constitution!
Did you, Tiny Pete?
I think if you're going to float that you then have to follow up with how you view defending the US because nothing you did says you're defending the US -- you have no accomplishments there. Maybe White America? You could claim your service as mayor was an attempt to defend White America while tearing down people of color?
But here's the thing that no one in the press after -- or at the debate -- thought to mention.
Amy Klobuchar's taken an oath as well.
In fact, she's taken one oath three times already because she's been elected to the US Senate three times. Does Tiny Pete not know this?
Let's explain it to him via the US Senate's website:
Upon taking office, senators-elect must swear or affirm that they will "support and defend the Constitution." The president of the Senate or a surrogate administers the oath to newly elected or re-elected senators. The oath is required by the Constitution; the wording is prescribed by law.
I hear Tiny Pete howling but, like a true power-bottom, begging for more swats, so let's give him what he wants.
Here's the oath Amy -- like every other member of the US Senate -- has sworn/affirmed:
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.
Tiny Pete's exhausted himself across my lap. While he composes himself, let's talk about his oath. I believe he was in the Reserves. That would mean he took this oath:
I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the State of (STATE NAME) against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the Governor of (STATE NAME) and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to law and regulations. So help me God.
Not all that different is it?
Tiny Pete can't answer. True power-bottom, he's taken it upon himself to stand in the corner with his hands on his head.
But, here's the thing, this was Amy Klobuchar's entire point. Pete was ignorant of the reality of what others do and had done on the stage because he'd never done it himself.
It was Mike Seaver skipping school on GROWING PAINS all over again. Mike was shocked to learn that life would go on at school without him. ["Career Decisions," written by Neal Marlens, Bob Brush and Tom Walla.]
Tiny Pete wanted to snarl at Amy that he took an oath. Yeah, he did. I don't know that he followed it but he took it. So did Amy. So has Joe Biden. So has Elizbeth Warren and Bernie Sanders.
Tiny Pete is one of those average people who has been told too many times that he's special and started to believe it -- despite all evidence to the contrary.
Grasp what a self-entitled tool he is, lecturing Amy about how he -- HE -- took an oath while he's so stupid -- don't they have a course in government at South Bend high schools? -- he doesn't grasp that Amy took that same basic oath.
Pete's ignorance of that -- intentional or not -- goes to the point Amy was making about how Pete denigrated the experience of those on stage.
But, hey, when you really don't have any experience, attack those who do, right?
It's hard to get high, Pete, when you're living on the bottom -- didn't you hear Kelly Clarkson?
Tiny Pete was awful and the biggest winner there? His all grown up self Joe Biden. War Hawk Joe spoke less -- always a gift.
Doesn't mean he didn't make crazy statements.
ALBERTA: Just to follow up, Vice President Biden, if elected, if elected you would turn 82 at the end of your first term. You'd be the oldest president in American history.
BIDEN: More like Winston Churchill.
ALBERTA: Are you willing -- are you willing to commit -- American history.
BIDEN: Oh, American history.
ALBERTA: Yes. Are you...
BIDEN: I was joking. That was a joke.
ALBERTA: OK.
No, it wasn't a joke. You couldn't hear the question or were spacing and wanted to liken yourself to Winston Churchill (well, we all needed a laugh). Winston wasn't a president. Forget that you didn't hear "American history," Joe, Winston was a prime minister. You honestly don't understand the difference?
When not providing laughter (unintentional laughter), Joe played weasel.
ALCINDOR: Thank you. Thank you, Senator Warren.
Vice President Biden, why couldn't you close Guantanamo Bay? Why couldn't the Obama administration close Guantanamo Bay?
BIDEN:
We attempted to close Guantanamo Bay, but you have to have
congressional authority to do it. They've kept it open. And the fact is
that we, in fact, think it's greatest -- it is an advertisement for
creating terror.
Look,
what we have done around the world in terms of keeping Guantanamo open
or what Trump has done by no longer being an honest broker in Israel, [. . .]
Joe was on the ticket that, in 2008, promised Guantanamo would be closed.
It has not been closed. Two terms in office and the promise was not kept.
A clear promise on that was made to the American people and it was not kept. Where did Joe take any accountability for that?
Joe Biden doesn't do accountability, never forget that.
He demonstrated that again -- and his hearing problems -- in the exchange below.
NAWAZ:
Vice President Biden, let's turn now to Afghanistan. Confidential
documents published last week by the Washington Post revealed that for
years senior U.S. officials misled the public about the war in
Afghanistan. As vice president...
BIDEN: Afghanistan, you said?
NAWAZ:
Yes, sir, Afghanistan. As vice president, what did you know about the
state of the war? And do you believe that you were honest with the
American people about it?
BIDEN:
The reason I can speak to this -- it's well-known, if any of you
followed it, my view on Afghanistan -- I was sent by the president
before we got sworn in to Afghanistan to come back with a report. I said
there was no comprehensive policy available. And then I got in a big
fight for a long time with the Pentagon because I strongly opposed the
nation-building notion we set about.
Rebuilding
that country as a whole nation is beyond our capacity. I argued from
the very beginning that we should have a policy that was based on an
antiterrorism policy with a very small footprint that, in fact, only had
special forces to deal with potential threats from that territory to
the United States of America.
The
first thing I would do as president of the United States of America is
to make sure that we brought all combat troops home, entered into a
negotiation with the Taliban. But I would leave behind special forces in
small numbers to be able to deal with the potential threat unless we
got a real good negotiation accomplished to deal with terrorism.
That's
been my position from the beginning. That's why I think Secretary Gates
and some members of the Pentagon weren't happy with me.
NAWAZ: Mr. Biden, the question was about your time in the White House, though.
BIDEN: I'm talking about the White House.
NAWAZ:
In that Washington Post report, there's a senior national security
official who said that there was constant pressure from the Obama White
House to produce figures showing the troop surge was working, and I'm
quoting from the report here, "despite hard evidence to the contrary."
What do you say to that?
BIDEN:
Since 2009, go back and look. I was on the opposite side of that with
the Pentagon. The only reason I can speak to it now is because it's been
published. It's been published thoroughly. I'm the guy from the
beginning who argued that it was a big, big mistake to surge forces to
Afghanistan, period. We should not have done it. And I argued against it
constantly.
NAWAZ: Senator Sanders, you had your hand up.
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS:
Well, in all due respect to my -- Joe, Joe, you're also the guy who
helped lead us into the disastrous war in Iraq. What we need to do is, I
think, rethink -- and the Washington Post piece was very educational --
what we need to rethink is the entire war on terror.
We
have lost thousands of our own men and women, brave soldiers. Hundreds
of thousands, if not millions of people have been killed abroad or
forced to leave their countries. It is time right now that we bring this
world together to try to end these endless wars and address the root causes which are causing these wars.
NAWAZ:
Senator Sanders, you do often point to your vote against the war in
Iraq as evidence of your judgment on foreign policy, but you did vote
for the war in Afghanistan. And as recently as 2015, you said you
supported a continued U.S. troop presence there. Was that support a
mistake?
SANDERS:
Well, only one person, my good friend, Barbara Lee, was right on that
issue. She was the only person in the House to vote against the war in
Afghanistan. She was right. I was wrong. So was everybody else in the
House.
Please note that was also the only time Iraq was raised in the debate.
The moderators ignored it.
This was a lousy debate -- the only thing worse was the commentary PBS provided -- anti-Elizabeth Warren, pro-Tiny Pete (until he flamed out finally) and pure corporate nonsense. They should all be ashamed. It wasn't commentary, it was fan club clippings.
I loathe Amy Klobuchar. That's not a secret. Did I not defend her above. Did I not note how she was right and do so in ways that even she missed? Is this a fan post of Bernie and Elizabeth? No. They're barely noted. They did a fine job. The ones who failed -- Joe and his mini-me Tiny Pete -- are the focus. They're awful and note that Joe wants to say I-was-against-it-on-Afghanistan (he was) but wants to pretend like he wasn't vp for 8 years and lying to the American people because that's what he was doing.
He's standing right by Barack . . . except when he isn't.
Over 500 protesters in Iraq have been killed in the last months and that's not an issue to PBS or their airhead moderators.
The following sites updated:
