Friday Open Thread

Posted on February 16, 2018 by rikyrah

TGIF, 3Chics Family & Friends!

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

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108 Responses to Friday Open Thread

  2. rikyrah says:
    February 16, 2018 at 9:01 pm

    ‘Black Panther’ Is Marvel’s First Genuine Masterpiece

    Ryan Coogler’s highly anticipated
    superhero movie is even better and richer than could have been imagined,thanks to a fantastical world that evokes real questions about history

    By K. Austin Collins
    Feb 14, 2018, 11:00am EST

    ……………………..

    That’s not the sole reason Black Panther seems poised to trounce box office records this weekend, to say nothing of its other benchmarks, like exceeding
    the Fandango presales of every other Marvel movie to date, or being one of Twitter’s most talked-about movies of 2017—despite not coming out until 2018. But it helps. If we’re going to have a conversation about what makes Black Panther feel so essential, we may as well start there. We can do the whole song and dance of spelling out the basic reasons for the movie’s importance: what it means for Hollywood that a project of this size, with this budget, and with a nearly all-black cast, can finally seem like a worthwhile risk for a major studio and the timely impact of a movie about a mythical African kingdom, a so-called “shithole country,” to be released at this moment in our political history. The movie is a symbolic solution to issues that, when Black Panther was just a rumor, a dream getting tossed to and fro in a Marvel Studios boardroom, we didn’t think could grow so much more dire.

    …………………….

    On the other hand, it has to work as a movie, too. It has to be a banger. The clapbacks have to be good. The fights have to be great.I’m trying to imagine being Ryan Coogler, the movie’s 31-year-old superstar director, at the start of this project, tasked with a job as monumental as this, burdened by a keen sense of the inherent inability to please everyone, and still having to make the movie. The central triumph of Black Panther, though it’s merely one of many, is
    that the story Coogler and his cowriter, Joe Robert Cole, have devised is even better and richer than could have been imagined—not only because it owes so much to racial questions of the kind the Marvel Universe hasn’t encountered before, but also because we’re 17 movies deep into said universe and well versed in its foibles and missed opportunities.

    Black Panther is a feat in its own right. It is
    very much the Black Panther tale dreamed up by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in the 1960s, a retelling of the origin story in which Wakanda becomes the sole possessor of vibranium, an indestructible alien element from a fallen meteorite, and over time becomes the most technologically advanced society in the world, in part by cutting itself off from said world, hiding under the cloak of unassuming third-world poverty.

    ……………………

    It’s a complicated plot centered on the question of what Wakanda is
    and—most urgently—what it means, not only to the Wakandans themselves nor even to Africans broadly, but to blacks everywhere. Imagine knowing there was a black utopia, a place at the root of all blackness, self-sufficient and untouched by slavery or colonialism. It’s a fantasy:a reversal of history. “Wakanda itself is a dream state,” says director Ava DuVernay to The New York Times, “a
    place that’s been in the hearts and minds and spirits of black people
    since we were brought here in chains.” The question that envelops Black Panther, in other words, is a question baked, poignantly and also fraughtly, into its script. What Wakanda—a booming black metropolis that mixes technological Afro-futurity with the spiritual and ancestral past—means to the black people within the movie is analogous to what it means to us outside of it.

    https://www.theringer.com/movies/2018/2/14/17011910/black-panther-film-review-marvel-ryan-coogler-michael-b-jordan-chadwick-boseman

    Reply
    • yahtzeebutterfly says:
      February 17, 2018 at 8:26 am

      Rikyrah, thank you SO MUCH for all of the Wakanda excitement you have brought here!!!

      Your countdown, articles, and postings have been super!

      Reply
  24. Ametia says:
    February 16, 2018 at 6:42 pm

    Is it me, or is there something just not setting right with me & that Yamiche lady from NYT?

    Reply
    • eliihass says:
      February 16, 2018 at 7:10 pm

      I’ve shared about her and a few others in the past..

      Darlene superville – Associated Press, Helena Andrews – WaPo, Abby Phillip – WaPo etc.

      I’m all for ‘black representation’, but not when it serves no real positive purpose, and worse, does more harm than good..

      Reply
  26. rikyrah says:
    February 16, 2018 at 4:15 pm

    Very important thing Mueller showing in the indictment:

    He views Russian election help as a campaign finance law violation.

    That’s very bad for any American who knowingly accepted such help.

    — Ari Melber (@AriMelber) February 16, 2018

    Reply
  27. rikyrah says:
    February 16, 2018 at 4:14 pm

    Elijah Cummings on Russia indictments:

    “This is the criminal conspiracy. This is what President Trump and his allies have repeatedly called a ‘hoax’ and ‘fake news.’ This is what they tried to cover up.” pic.twitter.com/yObB2pdcF3

    — NBC Politics (@NBCPolitics) February 16, 2018

    Reply
  28. rikyrah says:
    February 16, 2018 at 4:13 pm

    From Silverman at BJ:

    There are actually five parts to what Special Counsel Mueller and his team are investigating. They are:

    1) Russian interference in the election. This includes the hacking and phishing, the troll farms and the bots. The Russian deployed human and signals and electronic intelligence. Basically the active measures and cyberwarfare campaign to influence the American electorate in order to prevent Hillary Clinton from being elected president and to ensure that Donald Trump was elected president. And, perhaps, suppressing enough of the vote by various means to ensure that the Democrats couldn’t flip the Senate and/or the House.

    2) What, if any, connections exist between the Trump campaign, including surrogates, as well as other campaigns such as Jill Stein’s, and any other Americans and/or American organizations with the Russians to influence the American electorate in order to prevent Hillary Clinton from being elected president and to ensure that Donald Trump was elected president. And, perhaps, suppressing enough of the vote by various means to ensure that the Democrats couldn’t flip the Senate and/or the House.

    3) Whether the President and/or others conspired to and/or actually tried to cover up the second item above in order to frustrate both the counterintelligence and criminal investigations.

    4) The financial crimes investigation into the President’s, his children’s, his son in law’s, his son in law’s family’s, and many of the President’s associate’s (Felix Sater and Michael Cohen for instance) businesses that have been uncovered as a result of the counterintelligence and criminal investigations.

    5) Any other criminality that is subsequently discovered as a result of the investigation.

    Reply
  29. rikyrah says:
    February 16, 2018 at 3:54 pm

    Mark Corallo, former spokesperson for Trump’s legal team, spoke with Robert Mueller’s team on Thursday for over two hours, two people familiar with the matter told The Daily Beast. https://t.co/atPOndy9j5

    — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) February 16, 2018

    Reply
    • Liza says:
      February 16, 2018 at 2:50 pm

      Damn, this is heart wrenching.

      If I lost a child this way, I don’t think I would ever be able to speak about it publicly. I think I would end up sitting in a chair and staring out the window. Probably for years.

      Reply
  33. Ametia says:
    February 16, 2018 at 2:34 pm

    No WH briefing since Tuesday.. WHY?

    Reply
    • eliihass says:
      February 16, 2018 at 5:52 pm

      Ms. Huckabee is said to be tired of ‘answering’ for ‘general’ Kelly and thinks he and Dan Mcgahn ought to take a turn at the liars podium for a change ..perhaps she’s on strike ..or hoping that it’ll all blow over by Tuesday, or coordinating her many lies with the 2 men if they are to indeed take to the podium..

      P.s:
      Quite the shame …the alt right cohort holding the People’s House hostage are clearly no longer enamoured of or awed by ‘general’ Kelly .. He’s now common …A common ‘big fat liar’ as one of the cohort described him to some media folks..

      Turns out, familiarity (with not well-executed or potent enough lies and deceit easily churned out by a previously touted former ‘general’) does indeed breed contempt ..

      Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy..

      Reply
  34. rikyrah says:
    February 16, 2018 at 2:12 pm

    Just got back from lunch.
    We had a pot luck.
    No, it wasn’t like that. Everyone participating knew how to cook…
    None of those surprises that wind up in someone’s Twitter Feed under
    ” What the Holy Hell is this?”

    LOL

    I feel the itis coming…

    Reply
  35. Ametia says:
    February 16, 2018 at 1:49 pm

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAjEDUYsbsY

    Lord, have Mercy

    Reply
    • Liza says:
      February 16, 2018 at 2:31 pm

      God help us.

      I keep waiting for the tipping point on this problem from hell. It doesn’t get fixed until there is sustained public outrage sufficient to oust these GOP politicians who have sold out to the gun lobby. And, of course, Trump has to be gone.

      This reminds me of the Vietnam War. By about the end of 1968 and into 1969, almost everyone knew someone who had been killed or maimed. Eventually this turned people against the war, especially when they realized there were no good reasons for all of the carnage.

      Well, the bodies from these shootings are certainly stacking up. The affected community is growing and growing. There has got to come that day when people get serious about this and stop listening to those gun lobby voices. That’s the only way this ends.

      Reply
    • rikyrah says:
      February 16, 2018 at 7:24 pm

      this broke my heart

      Reply
  37. SouthernGirl2 says:
    February 16, 2018 at 12:41 pm

    Robert Mueller coming for THAT ASS! #13Russian

    Reply
  38. Ametia says:
    February 16, 2018 at 12:32 pm

    Sorry, but don’t be surprised if Bernie Sanders’ name appears somewhere in all the tweets and articles that appear, and the Mueller investigation as well.

    Reply
  40. Ametia says:
    February 16, 2018 at 12:17 pm

    And the children shall led the way…

    Reply
  42. Ametia says:
    February 16, 2018 at 12:14 pm

    ‘Every Single Word’ Reveals The Alarmingly Low Amount Of Lines Spoken By PoC In The Biggest Films

    https://shadowandact.com/every-single-word-poc-big-films/?utm_content=bufferf874a&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

    View all 34 of the videos in the Every Single Word series here:

    Reply
  43. SouthernGirl2 says:
    February 16, 2018 at 12:09 pm

    HOT DAMN! It’s on & poppin….

    Breaking: Mueller indicts 13 Russians for election meddling.

    Reply
  44. Ametia says:
    February 16, 2018 at 11:50 am

    HEAD’S UP. If you go to see Black Panther movie, don’t leave the theater until the screen goes completely BLACK.

    Just sayin’

    Reply
    • yahtzeebutterfly says:
      February 16, 2018 at 3:09 pm

      I am so glad I wanted to listen to all of the words of the hip hop/rap music during the credits!

      Reply
    • yahtzeebutterfly says:
      February 16, 2018 at 3:54 pm

      I wish that I could have seen a movie like this when I was a child. It is fantastic and so uplifting and inspirational!

      Reply
  45. Ametia says:
    February 16, 2018 at 11:40 am

    MSNBC Andrea Mitchell and guests are all but blaming the FBI for the Florida shooting & murders

    SHAMEFUL

    Reply
    • Ametia says:
      February 16, 2018 at 11:47 am

      Don’t fall for the FBI “failed protocol” bullshit.

      They didn’t buy the AR assault weapon and blow away 17 people.

      Reply
      • eliihass says:
        February 16, 2018 at 6:49 pm

        And the FBI isn’t responsible for Rick Scott and his other greedy, soulless GOP-NRA flunkies, and the lax gun laws they steadfastly maintain on behalf of their NRA overlords …lax gun laws that allow kids who can’t vote or buy alcohol legally, and every manner of other psychologically off folk, to legally buy assault weapons just for the heck of it..

        Reply
  47. Ametia says:
    February 16, 2018 at 11:12 am

    I saw Black Panther late last night. It was everything I imagined and MORE. Won’t say more, because folks still haven’t seen the movie yet. IT WAS LIT. :

    My favorite character thus far is SHURI. She’s a breath of fresh air.

    WAKANDA FOREVER!!!!!!!

    Reply
  48. SouthernGirl2 says:
    February 16, 2018 at 9:25 am

    I want my face painted like Shuri for the movie….

    Reply
  49. rikyrah says:
    February 16, 2018 at 8:52 am

    Excuse for EPA chief’s first-class flights turns farcical
    02/16/18 08:00 AM—UPDATED 02/16/18 08:07 AM
    By Steve Benen
    As if Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt weren’t facing enough controversies, we learned this week that the Oklahoma Republican has spent quite a bit of taxpayer money on first-class air travel. Donald Trump’s EPA chief responded by saying he’d “had some incidents” that made the expensive plane tickets necessary.

    This was, however, an odd response. Why would “incidents” be more common in coach?

    Yesterday, as the Washington Post reported, the EPA elaborated on the nature of Pruitt’s travel habits.

    Verbal confrontations with members of the public prompted Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt to switch to flying first or business class whenever possible, officials said Thursday.

    Henry Barnet, who directs EPA’s Office of Criminal Enforcement, Forensics and Training, said in an interview that the head of Pruitt’s security detail, Pasquale Perrotta, recommended in May that he fly in either first or business class to provide “a buffer” between him and the public.

    It’s generally not a good sign when public servants, traveling at taxpayers’ expense, look to create “a buffer” between them and the Americans they ostensibly serve. (One wonders whether Pruitt might be better off if he also considered creating a buffer between his office and lobbyists for polluters.)

    But even putting that aside, what kind of “confrontations” are we talking about here? According to Politico, at an airport in Atlanta, someone approached Pruitt with his cell phone recording, yelling at him, “Scott Pruitt, you’re f—ing up the environment.”

    Reply
  50. rikyrah says:
    February 16, 2018 at 8:51 am

    VA Secretary Shulkin worsens scandal with dubious explanation

    Rachel Maddow shares details of an inspector general report about VA Secretary David Shulkin using taxpayer money for personal travel with his wife, which he tried to explain away with the excuse that his staffer’s computer was hacked.
    Feb.15.2018

    Reply
    • eliihass says:
      February 16, 2018 at 6:14 pm

      Ironic how some of these guys who acted like a cabinet spot was all beneath them …and they were doing the Obamas a favor – but were quick to slip into groveling/kiss-ass mode for a common white supremacist buffoon … and worse, soon quickly threw all caution to the wind, and started taking extra illegal freebie gulps at the teat …because they saw the buffoon was flaunting his and getting away with it, and they thought they could too ..

      Reply
  51. rikyrah says:
    February 16, 2018 at 8:50 am

    ‘Queen for a day’ likely means another witness flip for Mueller

    Barbara McQuade, former U.S. attorney, helps Rachel Maddow understand what it means that former Trump campaign staffer Rick Gates had a “Queen for a day” interview with Robert Mueller’s team, and why Donald Trump should be worried.

    Reply
  52. rikyrah says:
    February 16, 2018 at 8:49 am

    Trump team uses gun tragedy as cover, reveals financial documents

    Rachel Maddow notes the particular timing of the Trump team’s release of financial documents showing questionable use of tens of millions of dollars of campaign funds.

    Reply
    • Ametia says:
      February 16, 2018 at 1:45 pm

      #45 & co are THUGS, GRIFTERS, LIARS of the highest order. That sham of an inauguration wasn’t worth 2 cents. They can’t account for all of the $107 million dollars

      And $26 million for Melania’s friends’ business? WTF?

      THUGS, THE LOT OF THEM.

      Reply
  53. rikyrah says:
    February 16, 2018 at 8:47 am

    Trump words on gun tragedy ring hollow given past legislation

    Rachel Maddow points out that the first significant piece of legislation Donald Trump signed was to give mentally ill people easier access to guns, so his concern that the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter was mentally ill and shouldn’t have been allowed a gun doesn’t carry much weight.

    Reply
  55. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    February 16, 2018 at 8:37 am

    5 minute video: “Ronald Reagan ‘Snookered’ Civil Rights Commission”

    https://youtu.be/48EKNC2yP14&rel=0

    Reply
  56. rikyrah says:
    February 16, 2018 at 8:35 am

    Ex-GOP lawmaker to voters: If you want to stop mass shootings, kick Republicans out of office https://t.co/icPOofBgxH pic.twitter.com/s6RkNj9Puh

    — The Hill (@thehill) February 16, 2018

    Reply
  58. rikyrah says:
    February 16, 2018 at 8:14 am

    Gates isn’t the only one singing:

    Steve Bannon was reportedly interviewed by Robert Mueller over multiple days https://t.co/PTPjxQQaqy

    — The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) February 15, 2018

    Guys. You see that it’s not a subpoena, right. It’s an interview. Meaning not compelled. FLIPPED. https://t.co/Su5PZIu4Xn

    — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) February 15, 2018

    Reply
  59. rikyrah says:
    February 16, 2018 at 8:13 am

    BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

    A new report claims that porn star Stormy Daniels for years has held onto a dress she wore during a sexual encounter with President Donald Trump — and now she plans to get it tested for his DNA.

    Celebrity gossip site The Blast, which first broke news that Daniels planned to break her silence on her affair with Trump, now claims that the adult movie actress is in possession of a “Monica Lewinsky dress” that she will use as proof of her claims of her affair with the president.

    “Sources close to Daniels tell The Blast the shimmering gold mini dress with a plunging neckline was kept in pristine condition after her alleged 2006 sexual encounter with Trump at the Lake Tahoe hotel suite,” the publication writes. “We’re told Daniels is planning on having the dress forensically tested to search for any DNA that proves she isn’t lying about her tryst with Trump, including samples of skin, hair or… anything.”

    The article notes a potential complication with the dress, however — proving it has Trump’s DNA on it would require Trump to submit some of his own DNA so it could be compared to any DNA found in the dress.

    Nonetheless, the publication writes that “any DNA that may be extracted from her dress that could possibly prove Trump was with her in the hotel room will be a big deal.”

    Reply
  60. rikyrah says:
    February 16, 2018 at 8:10 am

    UH HUH
    UH HUH

    @MaggieNYT and @kenvogel report some Trump inaugural committee $$$ went to Apprentice producer Mark Burnett, who was involved in producing inaugural activities – and whose unaired Trump footage never saw light of day https://t.co/xzT6GWT0K9

    — David Folkenflik (@davidfolkenflik) February 15, 2018

    “Don’t think of it as a bribe…think of it as a payment to improve the security of those tapes with the Apprentice outtakes.” https://t.co/OUkYVg4cXW

    — Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) February 16, 2018

    Reply
  61. rikyrah says:
    February 16, 2018 at 8:09 am

    Don’t know if true, but it would be irresponsible not to share..

    Steeplejack (phone) says:
    February 15, 2018 at 11:11 pm

    Guess this thread will do to throw in my little bit of inside dirt.

    I had lunch yesterday with the media-connected friend I’ve known since J-school. One of my friend’s other friends is currently covering the White House for a major publication. That person says that the relationship between Trump and Melania is now so toxic that White House aides and interns have to perform elaborate “traffic management” so that the two of them don’t even meet accidentally in the halls. Good times.

    Reply
  62. rikyrah says:
    February 16, 2018 at 8:07 am

    ICYMI,

    Gates is FLIPPING!!

    I was watching MSNBC, and they were talking about ‘Queen for a Day’.

    It’s when someone, trying to work out a plea, goes in and tells EVERYTHING that they’ve done. If they tell it, then they can’t be charged on it, UNLESS they try and renege, or lie on the stand.

    Found this over at BJ in their Gates flipping discussion:

    Adam L Silverman says:
    February 15, 2018 at 9:32 pm
    Just a quick note/important point regarding Rick Gates: Gates did not, I repeat did not, leave the campaign with Manafort. He jumped over to the RNC and served as RNC liaison to the campaign. So he was involved all the way to through the end of the campaign. So if he’s cut a deal for testimony, he’s not only giving Mueller Manafort, he’s potentially giving Mueller details on the campaign all the way through to election day. After the election he, along with Brad Parscale (who was the campaign digital director) and Nick Ayers (a long time Pence aide/staffer) formed American First Policies, which was funded by Rebekah Mercer. So he also has the potential to deliver Parscale, Pence, and Mercer.

    The window of opportunity for Paulie is closing rapidly….but…

    mike in dc says:
    February 15, 2018 at 11:09 pm
    Mueller going 3 for 4 should scare the hell out of everyone in the Trump team, and every Republican in the House and Senate. If Paulie Walnuts flips next, they have to assume the worst about the allegations and factor that a lot more heavily into their craven political calculations. If Mueller goes 4 for 4, a lot of the President’s team, and his supporters in the Congress will decide it’s time to cut and run.

    Reply
  64. rikyrah says:
    February 16, 2018 at 6:18 am

    The Countdown Is Over!
    WAKANDA is HERE!🎆😎😎🙌🙌👏

    Reply
  65. rikyrah says:
    February 16, 2018 at 6:18 am

    Good Morning Everyone 😄😄😄

    Reply

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