* "Russia banned from Winter Olympics over state-sponsored doping:"
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/dec/05/russian-olympic-committee-banned-winter-games-doping* "Julia Ioffe - Figuring Out "What Putin Really Wants":"
( Embed: )* "Donald Trump to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and move US embassy:"
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/06/trump-recognise-jerusalem-israel-capital-move-us-embassy-white-house* "Germans see Trump as bigger problem than North Korea or Russia:"
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-germany-survey/germans-see-trump-as-bigger-problem-than-north-korea-or-russia-idUSKBN1DZ0GY* "Trump team turns to specious legal arguments as pressure builds:"
( Embed: )* "Trump lawyers change defense on collusion and obstruction:"
( Embed: )* "Trump's personal banking information handed over to Robert Mueller:"
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/dec/05/donald-trump-bank-records-handed-over-robert-mueller* "Trump lawyer denies Deutsche Bank got subpoena on Trump accounts:"
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-deutsche-bank/deutsche-bank-gets-subpoena-from-mueller-on-trump-accounts-source-idUSKBN1DZ0XN* "Patagonia to sue Trump: 'The president stole your land':"
http://money.cnn.com/2017/12/05/news/patagonia-trump-national-monuments-utah/index.html* There isn't enough nope in the world for how bad an idea it is. "The Trump Administration Is Mulling A Pitch For A Private “Rendition” And Spy Network:"
https://www.buzzfeed.com/aramroston/trump-administration-mulls-private-rendition?utm_term=.toYaDm5VQ#.mjWLypP23* "Mueller looking at Deutsche Bank in Trump Russia probe:"
( Embed: )* "Trump to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital:"
( Embed: )* "Protesters out in droves objecting to Republican tax bill:"
( Embed: )* Is anyone surprised they lied to fuck over their own Senators? "House Republicans Already Shooting Down Tax Bill’s Promises:"
https://www.thedailybeast.com/house-republicans-already-shooting-down-tax-bills-promises* The Fight isn't over on the Deadly Tax Bill:
https://vaspider.tumblr.com/post/168243131183/lily-antigone-lily-antigone-artbytesslyn* "Hundreds of protesters fight the GOP tax bill on Capitol Hill:"
https://thinkprogress.org/protesters-gop-tax-bill-5a85ba098507/* Help Save the Internet:
http://lovingmyselfishard.tumblr.com/post/168247250349/love-buckybarnes-if-net-neutrality-dies-imagine* Net Neutrality:
http://flowisaconstruct.tumblr.com/post/168242945597/pilferingapples-mediamattersforamerica-this-is* Republicans want to starve children:
http://gwydionmisha.tumblr.com/post/168255104367/tenderstatue-republicanidiots#notes* Fuckssake. "FEMA Staffers Told They Might Be Billed for Working Too Much:"
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-05/fema-tells-staffers-they-might-get-billed-for-working-too-much* "Trump fully endorses accused child molester Roy Moore:"
( Embed: )* "RNC quietly slips back into supporting Roy Moore in Alabama:"
( Embed: )* How pro-child molestation are mainstream Republicans? This much! "RNC is getting back into Alabama Senate race:"
https://www.cnn.com/2017/12/04/politics/rnc-roy-moore-alabama/index.html* "Conyers Resigns Amid Sexual Harassment Allegations:"
https://www.npr.org/2017/12/05/567160325/conyers-resigning-amid-sexual-harassment-allegations* "Black lawmakers resentful after Conyers resignation:"
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/05/conyers-resign-congressional-black-caucus-281044* "A congressman's accuser: Blackballed and baby-sitting for cash:"
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/04/blake-farenthold-sexual-harass-greene-278869* This is fascinating and I was not expecting the pipes in particular to sound like that. "Five Ways To Listen To The Music Of The Ancient World Today:"
https://www.forbes.com/sites/drsarahbond/2017/11/28/five-ways-to-listen-to-the-music-of-the-ancient-world-today/#4ac0725a7d9d* "How Queen Boadicea waived the rules in Britannia:"
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/15698897.How_Queen_Boudica_waived_the_rules_in_Britannia/* Early Modern and Victorian Women, Books, and Sexism.
http://gwydionmisha.tumblr.com/post/168253902872/aethersea-fitchersvogel-mariaslozak* "Bryan Cranston on the Shelf:"
( Embed: )* TW: Pedophilia "Trump and the RNC: Morally Degenerate Enough to Back Roy Moore:"
( Embed: )* "Not a Good Look: What Michael Flynn's Guilty Plea Means for Trump:"
( Embed: )* "The GOP Gives America's Neediest Millionaires a Tax Break:"
( Embed: )* "CNN Is Skipping The White House Christmas Party:"
( Embed: )* "Is It Okay To Say The 'D' Word About Trump Yet?:"
( Embed: )* "Trump's Anti-Muslim Propaganda Snuff Film Tweet Party:"
( Embed: )* "Trump Said There's Nothing Like 'First Rate P****':"
( Embed: )* "Robert Mueller's 12 Days Of Christmas:"
( Embed: )* "Trump Tweet-Confesses Obstruction Of Justice:"
( Embed: )* "Graduation Cards From Roy Moore:"
( Embed: )* "The Madness Of Defending Roy Moore:"
( Embed: )* "Paul Manafort Is Colluding From Home:"
( Embed: )* "GUY.EXE by SUPERFRUIT:"
( Embed: )* Today I took a fish light to Fix it. There were hardly any things to fix, so they were working in teams of two. I got the alpha engineer and another guy, who switched out towards the end for a circuit board expert. They fixed three things with the light before settling it to work on the ballast circuit board. The circuit expert discovered a blown diode so they are going home to check their hoards. This took the entire evening. O.o. Still, there is a chance of a working light next week if I get my shit together.
Cat progress may be occurring. If I can catch Livia all sleepy and cuddled up with Tavy, she will let me pet her, and there is purring. If she sees me approach, normally, she still backs away and doesn't come for pettins. We did get a good game of two cat string going and I got her to play without using the earlier fishing technique. Tavy's worked out a better schedule for things like cuddles. We had a really good one today before I got up, followed by the first game of wrigglers since Livia came to live with us. she saw him having fun and actually came up on the bed even though I was sitting up instead of lying down. She didn't join in and the combination of his wildness and me being upright eventually proved too much and she went off to play witrh her ball ring. Still, progress.
* So there is this underwear/detergent issue I've been struggling with for a month. Half of my underwear have reached the "Can't sew them back together" stage in the last year and a half, and as I can't afford "luxaries" like replacements, I've having to do laundry twice as much. (Squirrel and I combine for obvious economic reasons). Twice as much means detergent, and because my skin breaks out in all over body hives if I don't confine myself to two particular expensive brands of detergent in either free and clear or lavender (a lot of commercial scents in cleaning products also cause me sinus or Sensory problems. I have to be super specific about any scented product going on my body as a result because I love scents, but some can make me really sick and things like systemic rash and struggling to breath are not fun), and rationing only goes so far... I've been watching the dwindling supply with alarm. Things like meds, toilet paper, and cat food have to come first. I'm still in hock to Squirrel for the car and subtracting his share of house hold stuff out of it. Early last month he said he'd buy it this time, no problem. I showed him the bottle, which is distinctive, and pointed out the key things on the label to look for, secretly dubious, but finances remain scary and he seemed so earnest.... When I reached the last capful, I tried asking Squirrel if I could have half in cash, because even then, that would be my meds money, but still feasible. He said yes, but no cash being forth coming, I gave up and bought the meds yesterday.
He just came home from work with detergent. Remember we had the what exactly he needed to buy conversation a month ago. He is totally understanding about my allergen situation, but he's very forgetful and not good at noticing detail.
He got it exactly right! He came home more than a week after the "this detergent situation is getting serious" conversation, not only with the correct brand, but the exact right thing in proven safe for my skin, nose, and eyes free and clear! I suspect he went in there an took a refresher squint at the bottle while I was at the library fix it session before he left for game, which is impressive in itself.
Anyway, Squirrel really came through today. I'm still looking at this month's medical debt, which I have no chance of paying, but at least I can be impoverished in clean underwear and change the sheets which need it.
* "The Hanmaid's Tale Pt. 2:"
http://gwydionmisha.tumblr.com/post/168244244047/thecrashcourse-atwood-has-said-that-she-wanted-to* Versailles is such a MESS. It makes the Tudors look accurate by comparison. They actually film it at Versalles and have amazing costumes and set design, but the writing is mostly impossible. Some of the dialog isjust so terrible. I said in first season that it is a massive indictment of the writers that they looked at all the interesting women with different personalities, histories, and interests and thought, lets mostly not write about them so we can focus on our crappy Original Characters. It gets sooo much worse second season, but the fundamental problem started in the first season with the decision to take Madame de Montespan, and do everything possible to make her dramatically less interesting presumably to make their blandest OC more important. IDK why you would waste Madame de Montespan on this crap, but they decided to. They took someone who RL was a curvy, lively, witty, seductive, bold liver for of drink, gaming, sex, food, and life and decided to make her austere and humorless for no reason. Seriously, why would you do that. you could have so much fun contrasting her with other women at court like Mme de Sévigné, Louise de La Vallière, Marquise de Maintenon, Princess Henrietta of England, Princess Palatine Elizabeth Charlotte, Queen Maria Theresa of Spain, etc.. Why the fuck would they waste that? They skipped most of the height of her popularity, never once had her say anything interesting, let alone witty, and showed zero reason why anyone would be attracted to her. Yes, she did get nasty and desperate towards the end, but they completely skipped all the best and most fun to watch parts.
Also, by making her super skinny and angular like every other woman in the cast except the OC doctor and the Princess Palatine, it is incredibly hard to pick out which one she is, so I often waste a bunch of time in each scene trying to figure out if I'm looking at The Queen, Montespan, or Maintenon. Why not go with an historically accurate woman, who is period appropriate beautiful with a lusher figure? Then she would be easy to spot. It's not like we don't have an embarrassment of riches when it come to portraiture. While we are at it, why not go with an historically accurate pear shaped woman with blonde or light brown hair to play the Queen? It seems to me that having her also visually distinct from the nearly identical woman the casting director decided were hot. There also is a massive shortage of woman with different body types in media and here is an ideal chance to show women with different body types as attractive.
And then there is the nearly complete nonsense they made of the plot. I can spot things that actually happened embedded in the vast pile of shit they made up sprinkled with anachronisms, but they aren't even trying to pretend by season two. I just read an excellent book on the Poison Plot last Spring. The actually events are very dramatic, but they seem to have taken a few things that happened or were rumored to have happened and made the rest up. I just... Why? Why would you do that when the history is so much more interesting and makes way more sense? And so much of it is like that. There should be a shit we know isn't true drinking game, but likely it would result in alcohol poisoning. I also read a book that heavily featured the war they are fighting in the show about a year ago, so that is also pretty fresh, so you can imagine.
Why am I still watching it? Now that Black Sails is gone, this is just about it for an openly gay and bisexual man in a relationship in an historical setting wearing pretty outfits. (Outlander has M/M rape, and gay men longing for straight ones, which is not the same). This relationship may be even more shitty and dysfunctional than the historically accurate version would be and full of weird shit they made up, but it's more an exaggeration of the real one with comparatively smaller distortions than the mess they made of Louis/Montespan so I think that's more the crap writing and love of anachronism than actual homophobia, though obviously I can't swear to that.
So basically I'm here for Phillippe/Chavalier, some of the acting, and the pretty visuals, but it's getting harder to stomache the more dramatically they diverge. Sigh. It's not a Troy situation yet, but are they doing a third season? Because it could end up that way.
I think it infuriates me because it's such a waste of resources, acting ability, costuming/set design brilliance and historical source material. They had the budget and locations to make this Amazing, and they chose to do this instead. On purpose.
* Terrifying Murder Muppets:
https://vaspider.tumblr.com/post/168247588913/zagreus-zagreus-8abbott-of-odd0*****
* Full list of Resistance and charity links has been migrated to my profile as it was getting out of hand.
* "Help us stop the humanitarian crisis on Manus:"
https://www.asrc.org.au/donate-now/* "RISE (Refugees, Survivors and Ex-Detainees):"
https://www.givenow.com.au/riserefugee/donate* How to help Rohingya refugees:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/29/world/asia/rohingya-aid-myanmar-bangladesh.html?emc=edit_nn_20171012&nl=morning-briefing&nlid=50784086&te=1&_r=0* A list of organizations to help you run for office:
http://lovingmyselfishard.tumblr.com/post/167330144634/psst-hey* Trans Lifeline is one of those organizations you can call at (877) 565-8860 in the US and in Canada (877) 330- 6366.
* The Trevor Project has a 24 hour hotline geared toward helping our youth, and you can call it at 1-866-488-7386
* Resistance links for the tax cuts for the rich:
http://gwydionmisha.tumblr.com/post/166977878817/fullhalalalchemist-the-gop-is-aiming-for-a-65vc* Scripts for resisting the Tax Bill:
https://laughingacademy.tumblr.com/post/168175070608/the-tax-bill-just-passed-the-senate-heres-what* Republicans are trying to kill library funding. Help us save the libraries.
http://www.ala.org/advocacy/advleg/federallegislation/fight-for-libraries* Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to the representative of your choice.
* This App phones your rep for you:
http://takeastance.us/* Here is one that will send your reps a fax:
https://resistbot.io/* Help pay for cat food, litter, meds, medical copays: Paypal Lethran@gmail.com
* Birthday/Solstice master list:
https://gwydion.dreamwidth.org/1925021.html* Want Game of Thrones without the creepy? We need new players. We are very inclusive. "Game of Bones MUSH:" gobmush.wikidot.com
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